Random Thoughts

Daybreak. Marcel Carné. 1939.

*gasp* The first non-English language movie in this blog series!

I’m not familiar with Marcel Carné’s movies… Wasn’t he the director the brats I mean geniuses from Cahiers du cinéma heaped all kinds of scorn upon?

Indeed:

In the 1950s the belligerent critics of Cahiers du cinéma, soon to be film-makers in the new wave, attempted to destroy the reputation of its director, Marcel Carné, accusing him of heavy-handedness and attributing all that is successful in Le jour se lève to his long-time collaborator, the poet Jacques Prévert.

I’m excited!

Dude!

Dude!

Dude!

This is a gorgeously shot movie. And beautifully restored by StudioCanal, as usual.

I love this movie, but it’s not like perfect. Is it possible to be… partially riveted? Somewhat totally fascinated? Sitting on the comfortable edge of your seat? That where I was: Every scene is great, but cumulatively it doesn’t get better than that.

So: A wonderful movie, but not quite as great as it thinks it is.

This blog post is part of the 1939
series.

Charlie Chan in Reno. Norman Foster. 1939.

I may never have seen a Charlie Chan movie before? I mean, I must have, but I can’t recall doing so. So this comes as something of a surprise: It feels pretty much like a TV episode of a long-running show (which I guess it is, except it’s not on TV), but the production values are higher than I expected. I mean, the basics — the film is crisp, the audio’s good, the actors are fine… and Charlie Chan’s son is played by a guy that looks East Asian.

Sidney Toler’s facial prosthetics are horrible, though.

I’m liking this. The mystery is pretty interesting, and it’s got plenty of charm.

They had more fun matches back then.

This blog post is part of the 1939
series.

The Gorilla. Allan Dwan. 1939.

I wonder whether this DVD has been sourced from a recording from a broadcast? Hm… probably not? It’s very artefactey, but it doesn’t look like VHS artefacts.

This is a Ritz Brothers movie? I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never heard of them. But:

That’s a lot of movies. They were Marx Brothers knockoffs or something?

Patsy Kelly is fun.

Finally! The Brothers!

Anyway, this is a cheap and cheerful B movie. Sometimes these can be way better than they have any reason to be… but this isn’t one of those. I mean, it’s fine! It’s amusing throughout, and has some good scenes going, and some dramatic cinematography, but it’s not actually funny? The gags keep coming, but they all make you go “yes, that’s a gag” instead of laughing.

It’s almost good.

I love Dwan’s “partial filmography as director”:

Lovely:

The death of the Ritz Brothers’ father caused production of the film in January to be delayed. Fox placed a $150,000 suit against the Ritz brothers for a breach of contract as the film was stated to start production on January 30, but was halted when the Ritz Brothers did not show up.

This blog post is part of the 1939
series.

Goodbye Mr. Chips. Sidney Franklin & Sam Wood. 1939.

This is a very odd movie… in that it’s so quotidian. It’s basically the story (told in flashback) of a guy that’s worked as a teacher at a public, i.e., private school in England. So we follow him from when he starts as a young, not particularly well liked teacher until his dotage, when he’s very much liked indeed.

So it starts at Sentimentality Level 11 and then takes off from there.

But it’s strangely captivating.

OK, then we divert into a love story.

:

In 1999, Goodbye, Mr. Chips was voted the 72nd greatest British film ever in the British Film Institute Top 100 British films poll.

It was also nominated for All The Oscars… and then Gone With The Win won them all. (Except Best Actor.)

OK, this is a really, really sentimental movie (which I like), but there are parts that drag. It’s fun to watch a movie that has no conflict — it’s a giant middle finger pointed towards modern Hollywood tropes.

This blog post is part of the 1939
series.

Jamaica Inn. Alfred Hitchcock. 1939.

Oooh! Hitch! And I don’t think I’ve seen this one before? Is that even possible?

This has been expertly restored by the Cohen Film Collection and the BFI. Looks really sharp, but with lots of grain.

:

In 1978, film critic Michael Medved gave Jamaica Inn a place in his book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.

That’s harsh, but this is a movie strangely lacking in tension. Apparently the production wasn’t a happy one — Laughton was the producer and lorded it over Hitch, and Hitch lost interest.

This blog post is part of the 1939
series.