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Revenge of the Zombies (1943)
Typical Early Zombie script
John Carradine, the same guy who graces my TV often in Grapes of Wrath, comes off much closer to the mad doctor from Woody Allen's "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex..." In this case, he's killed his wife and her brother is coming to a Cajun swamp for details. Turns out, he's building a zombie army for the Nazis and she was part of the experiment.
The brother has a detective in two, as well as comedic relief. Mantan Moreland is the sidekick driver who gets to make some wisecracks in the middle of the horror mystery, which I've seen him do in other zombie flicks with pretty much the exact same plot.
My favorite aspect though is the fact that while the zombies generally follow the will of their master, a couple of them are completely self-aware. One of them says, "I drove a car like this.... when I was alive..." There's a feminist twist included too, should any young riot-grrrl band need a sound-byte for their vinyl release.
The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926)
Well-crafted, but thin
A 1926 silent-era western. The Barbara in question is the adopted daughter of a western pioneer. His plan to irrigate his area from the Colorado river is picked up by a New York financier. One of my favorite actors, Ronald Colman is the engineer set to head up the project. He immediately becomes a love interest for Barbara. His main romantic adversary though, is Gary Cooper; a local hometown boy with unresolved feelings for the lady.
Everyone, however, is faced with a bigger problem. The corporate financier is playing hardball and cutting financial ties with the settlers. While I've always loved Colman, and always hated Cooper; that becomes less relevant being that this is a silent film. Acting is not the biggest conveyor in the storytelling. The film here was remarkably well-preserved; some of it shot in Nevada locations. Not a genre I will be investigating fully, but a fun one-off nonetheless.
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Revisionist Propaganda
D. W. Griffith's silent era flick is almost 100 years old now. At the time, the Civil War had been over for about 50 years. This film starts in the throws of that war, but the bulk of the plot involves the US Reconstruction of the south.
The film is lauded for its technical achievements. Many of what modern filmmakers use as the basic formation of shot compositions and tracking scenes et. al. were established and pioneered in this movie. Including what I'd bet is film's first ever bar fight scene. And that's all fine and academic, but unless you're a film student, you're probably not going to be awed by the wonderment of something filmed in 1914. Especially at three hours long.
So what you'd be watching for is an interesting narrative. Unfortunately that's where Nation gets problematic. While the film was being praised for its grandeur upon it's release, it was at the same time reviled for it's revisionist history, abhorrent racism and the manipulation of using this medium as a means for propaganda.
Because within this reconstruction, black leaders are seen to oppress the white population of a southern town, including suppressing the white voters in an election. One famous scene has a newly empowered black congress holding session in a statehouse as they remove their shoes an rest bare feet on the desks while drinking liquor and eating chicken legs. Later, as whites continue to be harassed, imprisoned and killed, the Ku Klux Klan is shown as heroes. Liberators of the southern whites to maintain justice and their Aryan birthright. It is believed that this film was the catalyst for the new rise of the KKK in the early 20th century.
With such ridiculous hateful plot elements at the helm of the production, it's hard to take the film any other way. Filmmaking achievements aside, it couldn't possibly still stand the test of time for greatness, even if it will for controversy. But, if you're curious, the entire film is on youtube.
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Better Than Rebecca
I found this one to be quite interesting. Hitchcock's 2nd Oscar nominee of the year is a far better movie than the winner. A newspaper sends our hero to Europe to cover the burgeoning war and the subsequent peace movement. One of the most renowned peacenik gets a gunshot to the face on the steps entering the Peace summit. (Pretty heavy gunshot-to-the-face scene for 1940).What follows is a well-written tale of intrigue and espionage. Turns out old dude wasn't assassinated, but a stand in was to make the public think he was dead. They did that so that they could tie him up and torture him to talk about a secret clause of the last treaty that would be beneficial to the war movement. All of this is headed up by the bad guy, who also just happens to be the father of our hero's love interest.
Yes there's a love interest. It's okay. It isn't given so much time to make it in the way. The biggest problem for me in this movie was make Joel McCrea the hero. McCrea is a kid- a pansy. He's too aloof and airheady to bust up an international plot. George Sanders on the other hand, is a great treat as a wiseass London reporter. He also plays a big old asshole in the Rebecca movie. Hitchcock also throws in great director scenes. The assassination and following chase through the streets of Amsterdam, the spying in the windmills, and a terrific airline ocean crash.
It did however, end on a peculiar note. With the hero addressing the American radio audience in a basic call-to-arms with the American National Anthem rolling the credits through. The bombs are dropping and the lights are going out. "Protect your lights, America. They're the only lights left in the world." This scene was added after production finished. Hitchcock returned to England, where the Germans were preparing to start bombing. He came back and cut the scene five days before they did drop bombs.
All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
Been there, done that
Just another tale of unrequited, forbidden love under the setting of wealthy Europeans.Bette Davis goes to work as the nanny to four kids at an English Duke's house. The kids' mother is a complete bitch, who hates being a mother and only "loves" her husband as a means to accomplish something important. They sleep in separate rooms. The kids are perfectly cute and love their nanny. Bette and Duke never express feelings for each other, but you can see it develop. But hubby sticks it out with his wife to save his family scandal. But in the end, he loses it and beats his wife to death. There's a trial and boo-hoo, he kills himself. It's Bette Davis, so it's acted well, but we've seen the story before.
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Dear God, the misery...
The misery of the working man. Tom Joad gets out of prison to find that the family farm is being run out by the big corporate guys. They all move to California. Half the movie is just a f*cked up uncomfortable hillbilly drive. Grandpa dies on the way. Everybody wants to die, though. They make it out to CA only to find that everybody and their father has moved to CA looking for work. The work they get pays sh*t and they live like dogs, getting hassled and abused by "the man". The preacher (who ain't a preacher no more) asks Tom to help him organize a union. But "the man" kills the preacher. Tom kills a union breaker in the mêlée. The family flees the farm and finds a Utopian workers commune run by the government. But the union breakers come to that place too. Looking to keep the working man down. Tom decides to flee that place, and then becomes the subject of a Bruce Springsteen song. "Look in their eyes, ma- I'll be there."