Random Thoughts

With every purchase.

This is very different from Varda’s earlier movies. I mean, not the subject matter, but the way it’s filmed and edited. It’s so restless and frantic.

The little red book is in such a practical format.

But this is really good. It’s got Varda’s eye for details, and her curiosity about everything.

Black Panthers. Agnès Varda. 1968.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

As musicals go… this doesn’t have a lot of music?

This is a pre Hayes code movie – I don’t think that costume would have flown afterwards?

This is a very odd movie. I just read the Criterion text on the DVD cover, and apparently this was going to be a George Cukor movie, but then Lubitsch got involved and re-shot a lot of the scenes, and… drama!

But I mean, it’s a fun movie, but it’s weirdly aimless. I feels like watching one of those 70s movies? About hippies wearing fringe coats and talking about freedom and stuff?

So it’s prescient and weird, but isn’t not actually that entertaining?

One Hour With You. George Cukor, Ernst Lubitsch. 1932.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Now that’s a train I’d like to ride.

This is very amusing. It’s not hilarious or anything, but it’s got a good flow going on, and the characters are good, and it never stops amusing.

I was disappointed in the previous two Lubitsch movies, but this works.

I really like this movie… but… I’d be hard pressed to actually say what the plot here is. It’s kinda effervescent?

They’re gonna fuck!!!

He’s very happy about that.

The Smiling Lieutenant. Ernst Lubitsch. 1931.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Those are some very complicated credits.

This is another 1.2:1 movie — the early talkies used a portion of the normal 1.37:1 film stock to carry the audio, so the movies became narrower. (The first few sound movies Lubitsch did, and were filmed twice, and released in both 1.37:1 silent versions and 1.2:1 talkie versons.)

So that’s where “simp” comes from!

That’s the simp.

This is fun! Lubitsch’s previous movie was a downer, but this is moving along most amusingly.

Sing it, girl! Sing it!

Jeanette MacDonald is great. But this just isn’t firing on all cylinders. It’s got scenes that should be hilarious, but instead they’re just vaguely amusing. I think it’s mainly a pacing problem? I mean, I know — this is from 1930 — but I’ve seen movies from 1930 that have more snap and zip.

Monte Carlo. Ernst Lubitsch. 1930.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.