room service is a 1938 rko film comedy starring the marx brothers and based on the 1937 play of the same name by allen boretz and john murray .

it also features lucille ball , ann miller , alexander asro , and frank albertson .

room service ( 1938 film )

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room service ( 1938 ) directed by william a . seiter • reviews , film + cast • letterboxd
room service ( 1938 ) - - ( movie clip ) just before he . . .
room service ( 1938 ) - - ( movie clip ) not dead , just . . .
the marx brothers are three zany producers trying to extend their hotel credit until they can get a play mounted in room service ( 1938 ) .
the marx brothers are three zany producers trying to extend their hotel credit until they can get a play mounted in room service ( 1938 ) . >
nikki visel , bill johns and mike spee in room service at taproot theatre . photo by erik stuhaug .
the 1938 marx brothers movie by that name , not the other way around .
with far too many drawn - out chats lacking in any wit or humor , room service is close to a total marx brothers dud .
what is missing from room service is groucho ' s wit and for that reason it ' s not as funny as it should be .
from left , david edwards , louis michael sacco , scott evans and fred berman in the peccadillo theater company revival of room service .
room service was originally produced and directed by george abbott at the cort theatre in new york city on may 19 , 1937 . in addition to numerous revivals on - and off - broadway , the play was also adapted into a film in 1938 starring the marx brothers and lucille ball .
with the headline : the screen ; ' room service , ' which was daffy enough even without the marxes , skips lightly into the rivoli .
“room service” continues through aug . 5 at the bank street theater , 155 bank street , west village ; ( 212 ) 868 - 4444 .
groucho marx harpo marx & chico marx as gordon miller faker harry binelli film title room service directed by william a . seiter film company rko 21 september 1938 - * * warning * * this photograph is the copyright of the film company and / or the photographer assigned by or authorised by / allowed on the set by the film company at that time of this production & can only be reproduced by publications in conjunction with the promotion of the above film . a mandatory credit to the film company ( and photographer if known ) is required .
producers michael pressman and andrew ames have announced that they have optioned the 1937 screwball comedy room service for a broadway revival in the 2017 - 2018 season .
lucille ball guest stars in this film released in 1938 . the boys are producers trying to keep their play above water and keep from getting kicked out of their hotel room . this film marked the 1st time the marxes had tried doing work they had not created for themselves . ( j . bradley main )
opening with groucho as a broadway producer , alexander asro his waiter , cliff dunstan , his brother - in - law , lucille ball on the phone , in the only rko marx brothers film , and the only one not written for them , but based on a broadway hit by allen boretz and john murray , room service , 1938 . >
wires visible on the turkey when it flies around the room . see more »
producer miller ( groucho marx ) , buddy binelli ( chico ) and playwright davis ( frank albertson ) are trying to figure out how to handle their hotel bill before opening , joined by pal faker ( harpo ) , then hitting on the idea to trick wagner ( donald macbride ) , in room service , 1938 . >
film the story of mankind released . chico , harpo and groucho appear in this film , but not together in one scene
now looking to avoid arrest , producer miller ( groucho marx ) , pal binelli ( chico ) , and the playwright ( frank albertson ) , joined by faker ( harpo ) , hatch another scheme to thwart financier wagner ( donald macbride ) , with support from ann miller , in the marx brothers ' room service , 1938 . >
room service plays its final week on the following schedule : wednesday through friday at 8 pm ; saturday at 3 and 8 pm ; sunday at 3 and 7 pm ; monday at 8 pm .
room service is an unusual picture for the marx brothers , as it contains no musical numbers ( unless you count the occasional warbling of
swing low sweet chariot
during the various death scenes ) .
the off - broadway revival of the 1937 screwball comedy room service will play its final performance at the soho playhouse on april 8 . the play will have played 12 preview performances and 158 regular performances .
the first time i saw
room service
i figured it was going to be very funny . was i ever wrong ! with the marx bros . ( groucho , harpo & chico ) , . . .
in this classic screwball comedy , an unscrupulous broadway producer tries to find a backer for his new show . holed up in a times square hotel room with 19 hungry actors and a ballooning room service bill , he tries to forestall eviction with an outlandish plan . can their new play open on broadway , or will they be evicted for their outrageous room service bill before the curtain has a chance to rise ? this beloved , zany comedy about the lengths some people will go for their art is sure to have audiences laughing from beginning to end .
released by rko on 30 september 1938 , room service was based on a very successful broadway play by john murray and allan boretz . the studio paid $ 255 000 for the film rights and a further $ 250 000 for the marx brothers . zeppo arranged the deal , the only he made for his brothers . groucho ' s only comment on the subject was that his brother zeppo should have arranged a larger salary . the play was adapted and marxified by morrie ryskind .
room service
is the only film the marx brothers made that was not written specifically for them or their characters . it is based on a play , and it is decent . . . but it is less frantic and fast paced as their other films . as usual , the brothers are funny , but the film lacks the nuttiness that make their their pictures so good .
as with real room service , you don ' t know until you lift off the shiny domed cover whether or not the order will match the image in your mind . this did not quite match mine , but still pleased me .
…directed the marx brothers in room service . based on a broadway farce , it was the only film in which the script was not written specifically for the popular comedy team , and the results were mixed . the colonial - era drama allegheny uprising ( 1939 ) was a box - office disappointment , despite the presence of john…
ames and pressman issued a joint statement , saying
with things so surreal in the world today , just being able to laugh can be a big relief . it beats crying . that ' s one reason we think the timing is so right for this project . the marx brothers made room service famous . but it was a huge theatrical hit before that and has been in productions all around the world ever since . now , room service is more relevant—and perhaps more essential to our survival—than ever before . ”
on february 3 , seattle ' s taproot theatre opened its 2017 jewell mainstage season with the classic comedy room service . it sounded as appealing to me as a bowl of hot soup on that rainy , gloomy evening in this particularly dark winter , and it was . it
taproot theatre serves up this production of room service with the perfect place setting . all action happens within a single hotel room complete with just the right furnishings and multiple doors as props . much of the show ' s non - stop action involves them opening and slamming shut as character find themselves locked in or out , coming , going , hiding , and escaping . it ' s madcap fun .
just by way of gilding the lily , or painting a red nose on it , rko radio has turned loose the mad marxes upon the helter - skelter comedy known to broadway last season and to the rivoli yesterday as
room service .
view full article in timesmachine »
film la fiesta de santa barbara released . harpo ' s wig can be seen in technicolor
room service , written by john murray and allen boretz and directed by dan wackerman , began previews nov . 17 , 2006 and opened on nov . 28 . the production originally started off - off - broadway at the bank street theater from july 6 - aug . 5 , 2006 .
a penniless theatrical producer must outwit the hotel efficiency expert trying to evict him from his room , while securing a backer for his new play .
playbill’s complete round - up of the latest broadway rush , lottery , standing - room - only ( sro ) , and student ticket policies .
these shows all began as movies that eventually became broadway musicals that were adapted once again for film .
audiences during the great depression and became a hit . that success led rko pictures to buy the rights in order to produce the 1938 film version , using the marx brothers . it was not as successful as other films written specifically for them , or as successful as the original play itself , which ran through 500 performances . yet , if
interesting story , and i ' m not surprised by the reaction . most people i ' m assuming went in expecting typical marx style comedy and instead got a restrained groucho and chico . the same way i stated a night at the opera is the best movie the marx brothers appeared in but not the best marx brothers movie , i will also state room service , with the possible exception of love happy , is the worst marx brothers movie , but not the worst movie they ever appeared in . one has to develop a taste for 30 ' s studio system comedy in order to appreciate room service , and those folks , like me , are an oddity .
the goal of point park university ' s conservatory theatre company is to produce great works while providing an exciting atmosphere in which our students can expand their repertoire of various styles of theatre . after this season ' s previous classical musical and play , the conservatory theatre company is proud to present allen boretz and john murray ' s farce , room service .
you bring up good points there . it ' s very hard to describe why i don ' t care for this film . i guess the type of humor in this film doesn ' t tickle my fancy for some strange reason .
and rutger hauer , as well as some of the most emotionally intense action set pieces ever put to film . moreover , a good portion of the film’s appeal lies in its incorporation of film noir aesthetics—shadow - filled , rainy metropolitan exteriors , a brooding yet resourceful investigator hero , retro ’40s fashion—into its dreary , dystopian setting . at one point , the film even boasted a philip marlowe - esque voiceover narration that was thankfully excised from future cuts . once regarded as a failed experiment ,
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
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this list collects every film from the starting list that became they shoot pictures don ' t they ' s 1000 greatest films . this…
in both quality of filmmaking and cynicism of spirit . this film not only announced hanson as a filmmaker well beyond his previous work (
warning : this photograph can only be reproduced by publications in conjunction with the promotion of the above film . for editorial use only .
i ' ve regretted in print that i ' ve never seen a stooge comedy in a real theater , but oddly enough , i ' ve seen almost all of the marx brothers films in chronological order in a large theater with a full house for every one . this was in college , they had two weeks worth of marx movies , not animal crackers , of course , which was in copyright limbo at the time , and somehow i missed love happy . i specifically remember that after a week of nightly hilarity , boffos from the audience every night , room service got nothing . flat as a flounder . the films bounced back fairly well after that ( i remember that a night in casablanca was a real surprise , big , big laughs ) but room service was unmistakeably the nadir . and
jumping butterballs
got real old real fast .
the peccadillo theater company has its very entertaining production of the 1930’s comedy “room service” revved up to warp speed , and by the end you have a new appreciation for that disclaimer often seen on car commercials : “professional driver ; do not attempt . ” in amateur hands speed can mean recklessness , sloppiness , catastrophe . only professionals , like the ones at work here , can maintain a frenetic pace while remaining completely in control .
room service is unique for other reasons as well . it was the only picture the brothers did for rko , making it while they were under contract to mgm . it is also the only film that wasn ' t written specifically for them . as a matter of fact , the movie was taken from a successful play at the suggestion of zeppo , and tailored by the ever - present morrie ryskind ( who had to invent a part for harpo ) for the marxes . this movie was remade as a musical called
step lively
in 1944 , starring frank sinatra .
like a fast - paced burner . it’s not fincher’s most famous film , but it’s absolutely one of the most underrated thrillers since 2000 . —
aestheticizes violence without fetishizing it . bullet holes and knife wounds help color the film in dark brushstrokes—such is the coens’ wont—and careful attention to shot composition ratchets the film’s morbid elements to almost intoxicating heights . you’ll want to look away , but the coens keep your eyes glued to their somber fatalism . —
treats redemption as a cruel joke , a spell of relief that lasts only long enough for us to view its obsolescence . the film takes jabs at
the play tells the story of a broke broadway producer who needs to stay in his hotel room so he can impress a backer for his surefire - hit next play , while dodging hotel management that is determined to evict him .
highly enjoyable from the marx brothers . unlike many of their other films ,
room service
has a relatively coherent and followable story ( instead of just
random
gags and musical numbers ) and i liked that . harpo has a pretty big role in this , and overshadows groucho . perhaps groucho ' s less prominent role can explain why it ' s not one of their best , seeing that we miss many witty commentaries from groucho . a must watch for the fans nevertheless .
forty years before the blair witch project popularized the idea of a film being told from the camera’s perspective , actor / director robert montgomery gave this radical idea a spin with lady in the lake , his adaptation of one of raymond chandler’s philip marlowe detective stories . ultimately , the case proves to be minor marlowe and the first - person gimmick does eventually wear thin over the course of the film’s runtime . putting aside these reservations , however , the film is most certainly worth a watch if just to witness montgomery’s sheer audacity and inventiveness . it’s the textbook example of a film being ahead of its time . — m . r .
and los angeles , thus necessitating some creative uses of lighting . this commitment to realism would help perfect the film noir style we all know and love . —
was a rarity in its heyday , though if you didn’t know lupino held the reins , you might not guess the film was directed with a feminine touch .
one of the scary movies that lindsay wallace watches on tv is the 1951 version of the thing ( a . k . a . , the thing from another world ) . carpenter would later remake the thing in 1982 , though his version is more heavily based on the source material : a 1938 novella by john w . campbell jr . called “who goes there ? ”
the idea was supposed to be that he is taken in by god - like entities , creatures of pure energy and intelligence with no shape or form . they put him in what i suppose you could describe as a human zoo to study him , and his whole life passes from that point on in that room . and he has no sense of time . it just seems to happen as it does in the film .
plays with noir tropes more than he plays to them , deflating film noir’s inherent machismo by revealing the chief heavies of his cast as scrabbling cowards . depending on your mood ,
michael myers was primarily played by actor nick castle , who was carpenter’s friend from usc film school and who would go on to co - write carpenter’s 1981 film escape from new york , but was also played by production designer tommy lee wallace whenever needed . when myers is unmasked at the end of the film , he is played by actor tony moran who would go on to appear in guest spots on tv shows like the waltons and chips . moran was paid $ 250 for a day’s work and a single shot in halloween .
. soon after , wagner , who is furious at gribble for apparently allowing gordon to escape without paying , inspects gordon ' s room and discovers that the producer and binelli are still there . in spite of gordon ' s promises that money is on the way , wagner orders the duo to pay their bill or be arrested . while wagner is alerting the hotel bouncers , simon jenkins , the investing agent of an unnamed wealthy man , comes to the room and tells gordon that his employer will invest $ 15 , 000 in
the broadway play
room service
opened at the cort theater on may 19 , 1937 and ran for 500 performances ( without the marx brothers ) . cliff dunstan , donald macbride , philip wood and alexander asro originated their movie roles in the play . also in the opening night cast was eddie albert as leo davis , betty field as hilda , teddy hart as faker , sam levene as gordon miller and philip loeb ( also in the movie ) in a role cut from the screenplay . the play was revived in 1953 with jack lemmon as leo davis .
i believe i read , maybe a year ago , about a revival , maybe not on broadway , but in some fairly prestigious venue , of the original broadway play room service , in other words , not the movie rewrite . it is apparently still a riot , quite a bit bawdier and more profane than the sanitized marx version . not that more profanity ( meaning in this case no more than the occasional
goddammit
) makes anything funnier , necessarily , it ' s just that the original is just much funnier than the rewrite , which should surprise nobody .
is the coolest melville film of them all ; odds are , it’ll land upright , because that’s an impossible distinction to make . melville films pulse with ineffable cool . in the case of
film too many kisses is released with harpo in a supporting role . details are lacking of how he came to be in this , which even seems to pre - date their first real broadway play
for the lowly protagonist , david mann , spielberg hand - picked character actor dennis weaver because he loved his performance as the jittery and feeble hotel night manager in orson welles’s 1958 film touch of evil .
, alex proyas’ 1998 magnum opus serves up a cerebral sci - fi extravaganza as filtered through the visual tropes of film noir and german expressionism . the result is a staggering achievement in imagination that , like
obviously , that’s a lot to take in , but it jives with what arthur c . clarke wrote in the 2001 book , both of which were developed at the same time . in the book’s ending , astronaut dave bowman is very obviously on display in an artificial environment , which resembles a swanky hotel room . only this room is furnished with dummy drawers that can’t open , ornamental books that are simply attached to shelves , and hollow televisions , much like an ikea showroom ; the zoo connection is much clearer as a result as clarke walks readers through this strange , faux - human habitat .
the only film the marx brothers made at rko . during salary negotiations with the studio , erstwhile member zeppo marx represented the marx brothers , threatening to rejoin the group if their demands weren ' t met .
over the years people have discussed possible alternate casting options that might have made the film more characteristic , like bringing in zeppo as the playwright , sig ruman as wagner , margaret dumont as the potential backer , etc . another suggestion has been to put zeppo or a zeppo substitute as gordon miller , the producer ; this also fits well for making chico and harpo his primary allies . groucho then would be plugged into the role of the hotel manager , miller ' s brother - in - law , who has been reluctantly providing cover for the company . this would have done a better job of sustaining the marxes ' characterizations even if it meant more changes in the original play . room service was effectively musicalized in 1944 as step lively starring frank sinatra . putting the marxes with ol ' blue - eyes in a combined movie would also have been interesting .
is a masterpiece . funny to think that american critics looked down their noses at the film at the time of its release . maybe they took offense at the inescapable scent of welles’ passion for rita hayworth , his wife at the time and his ex shortly after production wrapped . he captures her in close - up with a hungry , enraptured eye , the most coherent image in a film that’s built on logical incoherence .
shows up at the hotel , penniless and owing money on his typewriter . with no place to go , he stays in a room shared by others who will exploit him in several ways , stealing the typewriter to buy food , and having him fake a serious illness to prevent their expulsion from the hotel .
this is very stagy , and although there are a handful of funny moments ( the aforementioned turkey in what is one of the dopiest special effects of all time , a bit involving poisoning ) , you really have to wait a while to get to them . there ' s actually very little interaction between the
brothers
and none of them seem particularly inspired in this one . there ' s no cutting loose , so it ' s like the marx brothers in a box . i really doubt any single moment in room service will be brought up in a discussion about class marx moments . it ' s disappointing because there was potential with the story .
from the dizzyingly psychedelic “ stargate sequence ” to the strange hotel room and the appearance of the nebulous star baby , 2001 signs off with far more questions than answers—questions that have been discussed and dissected for 50 years . but now we might have a concrete explanation of just what was going on from kubrick himself .
the only film the marx brothers made at rko . during salary negotiations with the studio , erstwhile member zeppo marx represented the marx brothers , threatening to rejoin the group if their demands weren ' t met . see more »
probable the least funny marx brothers film of the 1930s . mostly due to it not being original marx bros material . only later adopted for them , compared to their other films which was writing taken from their own stage shows .
has enormous ambitions that belie its tight running time , the end result of odious studio interference that nonetheless fails to impede the viewing experience . come for hayworth and welles , stay for the film’s dizzying hall of mirrors shootout . —
as the truck rams the car over the cliff and falls off in the final film , there is a low roar sound effect that the filmmaker included to emphasize the death of the truck . spielberg , who wanted the truck to seem
production code couldn’t handle it either , mandating changes in service of propriety , i . e . , social conformity . ( had will hays , joseph breen , and their censoring kind not been around , noir would’ve been an even more nihilistic realm . ) in any case , the m . o . was linear : talk it out , trace the clues , tell us about it with a voiceover .
leave it to the master of suspense to meld docudrama realism with the melodrama of film noir . “ alfred hitchcock ’s powerful portrait of a man … drawn from life ! ” the wrong man ’s original trailer proclaims . it’s to the film’s credit that hitch doesn’t screw around here , telling in full the story of a man falsely convicted for robberies he never committed . unsurprisingly , hitch is every bit as interested in the effects of the outrageous miscarriage of justice that befalls manny balestrero as he is in the lasting trauma his detention inflicts on him and his family . the wrong man puts a high premium on claustrophobic camerawork—we feel like we’re as confined as poor old manny—but the film’s greatest impression is left in its aftermath . — a . c .
they choose this room , which is a very inaccurate replica of french architecture ( deliberately so , inaccurate ) because one was suggesting that they had some idea of something that he might think was pretty , but wasn’t quite sure . just as we’re not quite sure what do in zoos with animals to try to give them what we think is their natural environment .
, however , lynch took his fascination with the subgenre to a whole other level , depicting a world where a character’s interior life influences not only the film’s visual style but its narrative structure as well . in the first great performance of her illustrious career ,
the basic plot has groucho playing broadway producer gordon miller , trying to find backing for his play after running up an enormous tab at the hotel where he and his cast are staying –  $ 1 , 200 , which was a huge amount back in 1938 . the play is ready to open in a day . if they can avoid getting thrown out of the hotel first , they will be able to pay off their bills . to complicate matters , the author of the play comes in . just as groucho , chico , and harpo are about to skip out on the hotel bill .
jamie lee curtis was initially interested in the role because she loved carpenter’s 1976 film assault on precinct 13 and went on to audition for the part of laurie strode three separate times . carpenter initially wanted actress anne lockhart for the role , but cast curtis after her final audition , where she nailed the scene of laurie looking out her window to see michael myers in her backyard . curtis has reprised her role as laurie several times in the near - 40 years since the original film ' s release , and also lent her voice in an uncredited appearance as a phone operator in halloween iii : season of the witch ( the pseudo - sequel that did not feature the michael myers storyline ) . in 2018 , she ' ll play laurie again when david gordon green will add yet another film to the franchise .
quite a letdown from the first two films the brothers did for mgm . don ' t know why zeppo negotiated this film with rko . they would return to mgm for the remainder of their films . this is the only one of their films that was not designed specifically for their talents , being adapted from a broadway play . humor is much below par , although it gets better as the film progresses . the two main female characters , played by lucille ball and a precocious 15 year old anne miller , are barely in the film . for those who prefer their marx films with a minimum of musical interruptions , this fills the bill . even chico doesn ' t play the piano nor does harpo play the harp . however , harpo does accompany the singing of
swing low , sweet chariot
with harmonica .
“a beautiful femme fatale saunters into an unsuspecting man’s life and entices him into committing murder for her . ” this logline could be used to describe any number of classic film noirs . most of this can be traced back to author james m . cain , who wrote two books—
one thing leads to another . they decide to pretend that the author has contracted measles , to keep from being thrown out of the hotel . this leads to one of the madcap moments in the film . harpo spits iodine through a strainer to cover the author with spots for his “measles” . they can’t be thrown out , but they aren’t getting any food , either . o ne attempt has harpo winning a turkey in a drawing . only to have harpo bring a live turkey to the hotel room , and have the turkey “fly” out the window . with wires manipulating the puppet turkey to fly – a very funny moment , with the wires being so obvious that they’re hilarious .
eagle - eyed viewers will catch the word “flammable” scrawled across the back of the truck , yet when it careens off the cliff at the end of the movie it doesn’t go boom . the studio wanted a big explosion , but the director wanted a slower demise for his film’s villain .
film noir or horror—which category does charles laughton’s night of the hunter belong in ? frankly , all such quibbles are needless . the film fits snugly beneath either appellation , for one thing : it’s a hybridized version of both . ( let’s call it “film noirror . ” ) for another , it’s a masterwork , so fie upon labels . night of the hunter lurks in shadows and revels in misogyny . whether you’ve seen it or not , you probably have the image of robert mitchum’s tattooed knuckles imprinted upon your brain thanks to pop culture osmosis . reverend harry powell is quite the villain , a man as quick to distort the truth with honey - coated lies as laughton is to distort reality through oblique perspective , unnerving use of shadows and light , and a dizzying array of camera compositions that make small - town west virginia feel altogether otherworldly . — a . c .
donald pleasence’s character , dr . sam loomis , was named after the character of the same name from alfred hitchcock’s psycho . curtis’s mother , janet leigh , appeared in psycho as sam loomis’s girlfriend marion , and was killed in the film’s famous shower scene . for the loomis character in halloween , carpenter originally wanted either peter cushing or christopher lee , but both passed on the film because the pay was too low . pleasence would go on to appear in four halloween sequels , concluding with halloween 6 : the curse of michael myers , which was released after his death in 1995 .
it doesn ' t matter how many times you ' ve seen it ; john carpenter ' s halloween , which was released nearly 40 years ago , will always be required viewing for the holiday for which it ' s named . here are 15 things you might not have known about the film .
, which centers on two treasury agents who must go undercover to infiltrate a notorious counterfeiting ring . while not boasting any big - name actors or even a particularly novel story , the film is noted for its inventive cinematography , with mann and cinematographer john alton deciding to shoot several scenes on location in
the snakerama gas station seen in the film also appears in spielberg ' s 1979 world war ii comedy , 1941 , with actress lucille benson again appearing as the proprietor . the two elderly people weaver tries to flag down in a car also appear as helpless motorists in close encounters of the third kind .
park chan - wook’s oldboy makes the smart choice most genre homages don’t : the film relegates reference to the soundtrack titles , some of which crop up elsewhere on this very list . it takes more than a few hat tips to tourneur , hawks and ray to make a noir , but oldboy boasts the lion’s share of noir’s best trappings in its story of long - term revenge and dirty family secrets . the film is probably best revered for a single fight scene , one of only a handful to occur throughout its two - hour running time . admittedly , that hallway scrap is pretty glorious , but park boils his protagonist hard , and spoken from beneath star choi min - sik’s grizzled mane , the film’s dialogue crackles with beefy , unhinged ennui . years from now when the next big international neo - noir import arrives stateside , don’t be surprised if you see oldboy ’s moniker on its ost . — a . c .
the silent movie humorisk is made with money raised by a friend . director is jo swerling . it was made in two weeks at fort lee , nj . studios and in a studio at 49th st . and 10th ave . in new york . no copy exists of this ( unfinished ? ) film .
the panaglide was a competitor to the now - ubiquitous steadicam , which allowed the camera to be fitted to a camera operator for far - ranging and smoothly unbroken shots . carpenter loved it because he could shoot copious amounts of footage in one day to make up for the film’s minuscule $ 300 , 000 budget .
lucille ball , who has a supporting role , would later buy the studio that made this film , rko pictures . she and desi arnaz purchased it during the height of their success on i love lucy ( 1951 ) and renamed it desilu studios , now best known as the sponsorship of star trek ( 1966 ) .
we’ll start with the following 100 titles . some 70 years after the term “film noir” was first uttered , take a trip through the screwed - up terrain of the mid - century psyche , with all its sex , lies , and crime scene tape . let’s get going—don’t say we didn’t warn you . — amanda schurr
placed next to the rest of his filmography , jules dassin’s the naked city feels somewhat rote . if you’ve ever watched a single episode of law and order , or if you have a distinct fondness for procedural fare at large , then you really owe a debt of thanks to dassin’s stripped - down work here . unlike so many other noirs , the naked city aims for realism over stylish melodrama . that verisimilitude has kept the film from aging well , but dassin’s commitment to authenticity lends a great deal of heft to his story of brute violence in new york city , even if the plot runs pretty much by the numbers . that’s sort of the point , of course : to showcase the way that law operates in service to justice . the results might be flat , but their influence and dedication to purity call for our acknowledgement . — a . c .
, an adaptation of novelist / screenwriter scott b . smith’s 1993 thriller about three working - class men who end up stumbling upon a crashed plane filled with millions of dollars in cash . seeing this as the answer to their financial woes , the men divvy up the money only to quickly find their close - knit group torn apart by greed and paranoia . while not ostensibly film noir in its construction , the story nevertheless touches upon classic noir themes—namely , the corruptive power of greed and the folly of man in attempting to control life’s chaos . whatever its designation , the film presents an absorbing , if unmistakably devastating , modern - day morality tale . —
lawrence kasdan’s directorial debut remains , to this day , one of the sexiest movies ever to grace the big screen—not to mention , the rare occasion where the phrase “erotic thriller” can be appropriately uttered without the slightest hint of a snicker . boasting a star - making performance by kathleen turner , the film takes the standard double indemnity / the postman always rings twice premise ( femme fatale hires lover to kill husband ) and grafts it onto the humid nightmare that is florida in the midst of a heat wave . memorable sex scenes aside , however , the film is also a master class in how to build suspense and escalate tension . — m . r .
carl franklin’s excellent early ’90s neo - noir walks a razor - thin tightrope of suspense : you get the sense from one minute to the next that any step out of place could send the entire narrative into violent anarchy . franklin’s film has great aspirations , delving into the complexities of modern american race relations just a few years after
although she seems much older and mature , ann miller was actually only 15 years old when she made this film . she had lied about her age and obtained a fake birth certificate when she was about 14 years old , which stated that she was 18 . she was so tall , poised and beautiful that she pulled it off .
, flopped at the box office only to be revived later as a beloved cult classic . the film casts rufus swell as an amnesiac who wakes up one night to discover that his city is ( quite literally ) being manipulated by a band of mysteriously pale men in jet - black trench coats and fedoras . along for the ride is
to brilliantly deconstruct traditional cinematic storytelling , toggling between chronological black - and - white vignettes and full - color five - minute segments that unfold in reverse order while shelby frantically searches for his wife’s killer . the film is jarring , inventive and adventurous , and the payoff is every bit worth the mind - bending descent into madness . —
plays a wide - eyed actress newly arrived in hollywood who stumbles upon a beautiful young woman who can’t remember who she is . that pithy logline only touches the tip of the iceberg , as the film delights in throwing numerous other subplots and mysteries at its audience only to violently pull the rug out from under them in its latter half .
frequently cited as an example of when film noir , to appropriate a tv idiom , “jumped the shark , ” kiss me deadly long ago overcame its initial bad press to become one of the most beloved and influential examples of the subgenre and its ability to tell dark , controversial stories . in that regard , director robert aldrich’s kiss me deadly wears its insanity like a badge . ralph meeker stars as a hard - boiled private eye who ends up bearing witness to the brutal torture and murder of a young hitchhiker ( cloris leachman in one her first film appearances ) . he decides to pursue her case , which results in the discovery of one of film’s all - time great macguffins—a mysterious piece of luggage that emits intense heat and a bright light when opened . ( this visual went on to inspire the glowing briefcase in pulp fiction . ) this all leads to one of the craziest , most jaw - dropping final sequences you’re likely to see in any american movie made during the hays code era . —m . r .
a favorite of martin scorsese , force of evil centers on a lawyer who finds himself involved with an influential gangster looking to take over all smaller rackets in town . the problem ? one of those desirable rackets is run by the lawyer’s older brother . like t - men , the film makes great use of shooting on location . moreover , at times , the film’s familial themes and stylized writing help elevate the conflict to near shakespearean levels ( or biblical levels , considering how frequently it alludes to the story of cain and abel ) . though relatively small in scale , force of evil finds greatness in its aim to convey grandiose , large - scale ideas . — m . r .
. ) kubrick’s work here is no - frills and elegantly straightforward : sterling hayden plans one final holdup before retiring and settling down with coleen gray . no twists and turns , just good old - fashioned theft at the racetrack . the film revels in the gray morality of hayden’s good intentions . crime pays , at least until it doesn’t . —
does any psychopath in film noir’s rogues gallery strike quite as much immediate , stomach - churning terror as tommy udo ? the man’s got a leering , sunken visage only a mother could love , provided she keeps her eyes closed tightly and doesn’t give him reason to shove her down the stairs . richard widmark’s wolf grin might be the only thing about kiss of death that matters . bereft of him , of course , henry hathaway’s film remains solid , but widmark’s oscar - nominated performance makes the entire enterprise feel vital . he’s a villain for the ages , perhaps robbed of his due by hathaway’s need to architect a happy ending . such is life working with production codes . — a . c .
: at first confused , then maybe a little angry , but then ultimately delighted by how fooled they’d just been . perfectly paced , brilliantly scored by director bryan singer and editor / composer john ottman—the film never lets the marks know they’re being conned by the irresistible ensemble or christopher mcquarrie’s dark , mischievous script . and then like that … it’s gone… —
get carter director mike hodges’s last great film was budding star clive owen’s first . in fact , even now more than 15 years after its release , croupier may be the best thing owen has ever done , playing a struggling novelist who takes a job at a casino , looking for inspiration but finding mostly trouble . watch this film now to be reminded where the actor first prompted speculation that he’d make a great james bond : his character jack manfred isn’t a super - spy , but he’s got the jet - black suaveness , lady - killing panache and dry wit we associate with 007 . croupier is a movie attracted to the sleazier side of life , and owen’s antihero was the perfect tour guide . — tim grierson
miller , the part played by groucho marx in the film version , is not groucho , nor does he need to be . without the cigar , monotone voice , and animated eyebrows , this very experienced actor did a fine job of creating his own unique version of a lively character who will do anything to produce the play , even if that involves shenanigans .
kind of funny , but this movie is so unusual that i almost feel like i had a break for one week reviewing the marx brothers . i sometimes accidentally think of at the circus being the follow up to a day at the races , this film seems so non - marxian . it ' s just a fun 30 ' s studio system comedy to me .
only a master like fritz lang could take a trope as hackish as “it was all just a dream” and turn it into nightmare fuel . then again , only a master like lang could surreptitiously flip the board at censors by tacking a happy ending onto a tragedy . the woman in the window isn’t just one of lang’s best films , it’s one of noir’s greatest gifts to cinema , a taut psychological mindscrew about the nature of taking life . when is it okay to take a life ? when is it not ? by the film’s own standards , lang’s protagonist , professor wanley , kills the jealous lover of young alice reed in self - defense , which puts him in the clear from our standpoint . but wanley winds up falling further and further into hot water , and we start to question the lesson he teaches his students at the woman in the window ’s commencement . it’s such a juicy , complex film , made impeccably and with unshakable style , that there’s no need to wonder at its role in validating cinema as art and causing a sea change in film criticism as a discipline . — a . c .
the plot thickens as the author of the play , leo davis ( frank albertson ) , shows up from oswego to see how the production is going . while he ' s not looking , banelli , faker , and miller steal various possessions from him to hock so they can get some food . when the food finally does arrive , it makes for the funniest scene in the film .
ingrid bergman won her first oscar for playing a vulnerable young woman slowly being driven insane by her charismatic husband in gaslight . and while certainly well earned , bergman’s award - winning portrayal is but one reason to catch this exceptional 1944 psychological thriller . for one , unlike other noirs , gaslight is a period story , set in the edwardian era , and reiterates the frightening notion that evil can emerge not just from the corrupt city setting inherent to the genre but from a domestic context , as well . as the film’s villain , charles boyer delivers a hypnotic , chilling performance that perfectly matches bergman’s volatile characterization . if all that weren’t enough , murder , she wrote fans will be delighted at the feature film debut of an 18 - year - old angela lansbury . — m . r .
since its coining in 1946 by french critic nino frank , who observed from afar something dark , quite literally , going on at the american cinema , the term “film noir” has been debated and debated and debated some more . is it a genre ? a subgenre ? a movement ? a trend ? a commentary ? a style ? for the purposes of this introduction , let’s call it a response .
unlike so many of its peers on this listing , edward dmytryk’s obsession doesn’t lean on violence in its plotting and scheming . but the film isn’t gentle by any stretch . in fact , obsession is one of the more gruesome classic noirs , a slow - burning bit of nastiness that could give breaking bad a run for its money in the body disposal department . dmytryk rides on the strength of great work by robert newton , here playing a psychiatrist who determines to kill his wife’s lover , an american diplomat played by phil brown . ( obviously , because everybody knows that all psychiatrists secretly harbor homicidal urges . ) newton’s a creepy hoot , and dmytryk has such a good handle on his suspense that even the tonal dissonance of unwelcome comedy doesn’t break the film’s insidious spell . — a . c .


syncopation is a 1942 film from rko directed by william dieterle set during the early days of jazz .

it is also known as the band played on .

syncopation ( 1942 film )

syncopation restored by cohen film collection at modern videofilm and released by cohen film collection .
casual jazz fans and jazz historians alike have much to cheer about this week as the 1942 film syncopation hits blu - ray , courtesy the cohen media group .
jackie cooper , left , and todd duncan in william dieterle’s “syncopation” ( 1942 ) , which sought to integrate jazz into the american mainstream .
on october 30 , 1940 and closed on january 3 , 1942 after 501 performances . it was directed by
syncopation covers a number of jazz traditions . ( image : cohen media group . )
roger ebert was born on this day in 1942 , and died a little over five years ago . i owe a good part of my success…
there are no featured audience reviews yet . click the link below to see what others say about syncopation !
“the kind of jazz we know is dead . count me out as a pallbearer . ” – johnny ( jackie cooper ) , in syncopation
motion pictures and jazz were both born around the dawn of the 20th century . but did hollywood ever get the music right ? take “syncopation” ( 1942 ) , a snappily titled , wildly ambitious jazz chronicle that might be the last thing you’d expect from warner bros . ’ german - born workhorse , william dieterle ( 1893 - 1972 ) .
cinema scope mag for film reviews , criticism news & comments . one of the most respected publications on film , uniting experienced critics with new writers .
the film was not received well by critics in west germany on its release .
roy hunt’s outstanding cinematography buoys the film throughout . hunt’s credits include the classic silent film beau geste ( 1926 ) and the first fred astaire - ginger rogers musical flying down to rio ( 1933 ) . hunt displayed there and again in syncopation the unique visual aesthetics of a film created from a black - and - white palette — the appealing light - and - shade luminosity that resulted in the categorical metaphor for black - and - white film art : “the silver screen . ”
for the 1919 eight - part silent film , see the mistress of the world .
. the film used only four of porter ' s songs and substituted other songs .
in syncopation , cooper’s jazz trumpeter woos fellow musician granville by forming a band in an attempt to bring them closer together . ( image : cohen media group . )
regardless of their reaction to the feature , jazz fans will want to own the dvd of “syncopation” for its wonderful bonus material . nine classic jazz shorts are here , including
' panama hattie ' film version
sondheimguide . com , accessed january 11 , 2011
this film is not currently playing on mubi but 30 other great films are . see what’s now showing
panama hattie is a musical with music and lyrics by cole porter and book by herbert fields and b . g . desylva . it is also the title of a 1942 mgm musical based upon the play . the title is a play on words , referring to the popular panama hat .
after 60 years now and i , long ago become a professional drummer and percussionist , i finally will see syncopation for the next time , i . e . after a 60 year interval ! can’t wait !
in its treatment of the emergence of jazz , syncopation’s historical span is broad . it follows the evolution of various jazz genres from turn - of - the - century dixieland to ragtime and on to swing .
hunt’s cinematography also gives textbook evidence of how four - point lighting schemes ( key , eye , back , and fill light ) can sculpt screen characters and enhance charisma . the design of the film’s costumes and settings also glow with reflected light . one has to marvel at how the blu - ray disc brings syncopation’s lavish studio “production values” to restored life .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
so what is syncopation ? i asked hazen schumacher , past director of broadcasting at u - m . he is a renowned jazz historian and former host of national public radio’s long - running “jazz revisited” program . here’s how schumacher defines the concept :
this was pretty good , although super white for a movie about jazz . i wish they ' d spent more time / plot on rex , since his experiences on the road with his all - black band would have been worth seeing . but that ' s a lot to ask of a movie from 1942 i guess . the music was good throughout .
is a film historian and critic , and arthur f . thurnau professor emeritus of screen arts and cultures at the university of michigan .
jessie grayson’s “ella” is an integral character in syncopation , and she overcame her stereotyped role to deliver a moving performance . grayson began her acting career with the harlem’s lafayette players stock company . in 1941 she was the dedicated housemaid , “addie , ” for the gibbens family in william wyler’s the little foxes . grayson’s other film work include cass timberlane ( 1947 ) and homecoming ( 1948 ) .
traitors sean gullette’s first feature , shown at film festivals but never released here , concerns the leader of an all - female punk - rock band who finances her recording session by bringing a shipment of drugs from the rif mountains to tangier . on dvd and amazon instant video . ( film movement )
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
for historical background on barry allen’s work as an editor of syndicated tv prints , see eric hoyt’s new book hollywood vault : film libraries before home video .
behind the camera : syncopation’s screenplay was adapted from the story “the band played on” written by valentine davies , university of michigan grad of 1925 . davies would go on to win writing oscars for the enduring christmas classic miracle on 34th street ( 1947 ) and the benny goodman story ( 1956 ) .
david has gone halfway around the world to attend a film festival and will be reporting more on what he sees in hong kong . but in madison we have the wisconsin film festival going on now , and there’s plenty to watch here as well , even if it’s only for four days rather than two weeks .
i have had the privilege of introducing the film and leading the post - film q & a on some of these occasions , including for this year’s feature , victor seastrom’s 1924 classic , he who gets slapped . ( swedish director victor sjöström used the americanized version during his career in hollywood . ) i put the film in context by pointing out three important historical aspects of the film . first , it was the first film made from script to screen by the newly formed mgm studio , formed in 1924 from the merger of goldwyn productions , metro , and louis b . mayer pictures . ( two earlier releases by mgm were norma shearer vehicles which originated at mayer . ) second , it was probably the film that cemented lon chaney’s stardom , after his breakthrough role as quasimodo in the 1922 hunchback of notre dame . starting in 1912 , chaney had been in well over 100 films before hunchback , many of them shorts and nearly all of them supporting roles . third , he who gets slapped was seastrom’s second american film after name the man in 1923 , and a distinct improvement on that first effort .
“syncopation” is available on both blu - ray and standard dvd , and at around $ 20 , is certainly reasonably - priced . if this disc sells well , perhaps cohen will be encouraged to produce more jazz dvds . only next time , cohen can leave off the feature—the shorts are much more valuable !
technologically , this was quite daring for an early sound film , and the actual shot—which basically looks up washington’s dress—probably raised the eyebrows of a few local censors .
the first - rate package delivers a major added delight to complement the remastered film . nine short jazz films showcase the early talents of duke ellington , billie holiday , cab calloway , hoagy carmichael , louis armstrong , bessie smith , and artie shaw . this compilation of film shorts provides an additional 90 minutes of true jazz entertainment .
so far i have seen four films in two days and plan to see five more before the festival ends tomorrow night . that means that so far i’ve sat through the short festival prologue film that announces its sponsors four times . each year we have a different little prologue film . this year director meg hamel and her team found a snappy promotional film for wisconsin that looks like it was made in the late 1950s or early 1960s . its slogan is “we like it here ! ” and it features not only our famous dairy and other farm products but also things which are fast disappearing from local industry–like cars and tractors . i’m not sure how i’ll feel about this little film after watching it nine times , but so far it’s amusing .
during the q & a , spike lee reminded us that some initial reviews of the film ( here shown in a gorgeous 35mm print ) had warned that the film could arouse racial tensions . odie henderson has charted the alarmist tone of many critiques . lee insisted , as he has for years , that he was asking questions rather than positing solutions . “we wanted the audience to determine who did the right thing . ” he added that the film was , at least , true to the tensions of new york at the time , which were–and still are–unresolved .
perhaps no young filmmaker better demonstrates the impact that roger’s support can have on a career than ramin bahrani . roger saw his first feature , man push cart , at sundance in 2006 and invited it and the filmmaker to the “overlooked film festival” that april . ( roger’s sundance review is here . ) the film then played other festivals , notably venice and our own madison - based wisconsin film festival . it won several awards , including an independent spirit award for best first feature . in october roger gave the film a more formal review , awarding it four stars . man push cart never got a wide release , and it certainly didn’t make much money . still , quite possibly the high profile provided by roger’s attention allowed bahrani to move ahead with his career .
there aren’t any villains in ann hui’s a simple life , a film we first saw in vancouver back in 2011 . roger had hoped to bring it last year , but ann couldn’t come , as she was working on her upcoming release , the golden era . this year she was free to accompany the film that had a special meaning for roger at that point in his life .
for a little bibliography . ) for more on art cinema and its commitments to realism and open endings , see my essay , “the art cinema as a mode of film practice , ” in
a late addition to the program was the foreign - language oscar winner departures . steve jarchow , one of the heads of regent entertainment , is a madison native , and he appeared after the film for a lively question - and - answer session . regent has other forthcoming films in the festival’s schedule , including tokyo sonata , which we blogged about from the palm springs international film festival .
a jazz trumpeter tries to woo a fellow musician in mourning for her dead lover , and sets up a band in an attempt to bring them closer together . covering a quarter - century of american “syncopated” music ( ragtime , jazz , swing , blues , and boogie boogie ) , syncopation features music from the turn of the 20th century through prohibition , the great depression , and the outbreak of wwii . featuring jazz greats benny goodman , charlie barnet , gene krupa , harry james , and more . includes selected
jazz shorts
from the cohen film collection as bonus material .
while “whiplash” would be a notable film purely for teller and simmons’ performances , it reaches a different level when one considers the execution of its tempo . editor tom cross and cinematographer sharone meir often put us right on stage with andrew and fletcher , cutting and panning in rhythm with the beat of the drum . it is captivating , to say the least , particularly in a climax that produces more tension than any action film or thriller this year . the title refers to a song played multiple times throughout chazelle’s film . it could also refer to that sense of wowed exhaustion you’ll feel when it’s over .
although roger was occasionally criticized for supposedly lowering the tone of film reviewing by participating in a television series , he and partner gene siskel regularly tried to promote indie and foreign films that didn’t get wide attention . roger did the same in his written reviews , and ebertfest was originally known as the “overlooked film festival . ” inevitably it was shortened by many attendees to “ebertfest , ” and eventually that name became official . it reflects the wider range of films that came to be included , with the silent - film screening and frequent showings of 70mm prints of films like my fair lady that were hardly overlooked .
among the guests at this year’s e - fest was barry c . allen . for over a decade barry was executive director of film preservation and archival resources for paramount . that meant that he had to find , protect , and preserve the film and television assets of the company—including not just the paramount - labeled product but libraries that paramount acquired . most notable among the latter was the republic pictures collection .
the problem bahrani faces is that the film has to give us personal information about william while retaining tact and respect for characters’ integrity . for william to open up into a tarantino - style confession would tear the movie apart ; even a quiet moment of sobbing vulnerability is too indiscreet here . the film needs its tokens , however awkward they may seem as narrative devices , to keep faith with its people .
streamline is the official blog of filmstruck , a new subscription service that offers film aficionados a comprehensive library of films including an eclectic mix of contemporary and classic art house , indie , foreign and cult films .
wrote that
by hiring a trio of knockabout comedians , mr . de sylva has given it all the advantages of a burlesque show . . . everything is noisy , funny and in order .
merman
rolls though it with the greatest gusto , giving it a shake and a gleam and plenty of syncopation . . . the merman hangs bangles on any song that comes her way .
at the start of the film , you see the names of the actors scroll up as
in front of the camera
and the crew as well as
behind the camera
before the name of the movie finally appears .
best remembered for plodding prestige pictures like “the life of emile zola” ( 1937 ) , movies james agee characterized in the nation as a “high - minded , high - polished mélange of heavy ‘touches’ and ‘intelligent’ performances , ” dieterle has been typecast as a snobbish martinet . still , he has a few surprises in his lengthy résumé , and “syncopation , ” out on blu - ray and dvd in a beautiful digital restoration from cohen media , is one .
“to the early fan , jazz was known as ‘syncopated music’ because of all the changes in the elements as it was being performed . nowadays , jazz fans are more sophisticated ; they are aware of syncopation as it unfolds . a good example is provided by the 1940s glenn miller orchestra playing ‘american patrol , ’ a march where a key change occurs in the middle of the orchestration . you hear an alteration of the normal , a kind of surprise . ”
life itself was picked up for theatrical distribution by magnolia pictures and will receive a summer release , followed by a showing on cnn . ( scott foundas reviewed the film favorably for variety , as did todd mccarthy for the hollywood reporter . )
as an early - era jazz movie , syncopation falls within the storyline traditions of other 1940s films with settings in new orleans and narrative emphases on the historical emergence and rise of jazz performers and bands . two examples are birth of the blues ( 1941 ) and new orleans ( 1947 ) . both are classics primarily because of their great jazz numbers and performers — bing crosby and mary martin in the former , and louis armstrong and billie holiday in the latter .
barry is a true film fan . he has reread brownlow’s the parade’s gone by many times and retains his love for classic cinema . the film that converted him to foreign - language cinema was , as for many of his generation , children of paradise , but he retains a fondness for juliet of the spirits , the lady killers , and other mainstays of the arthouse circuit of his ( and my ) day . he’s proudest of his work preserving john wayne’s pre - stagecoach films .
in 1955 i saw this syncopation on the million dollar movie run channel wor , i believe . i was 11 years old . the movie goes out with an amazing solo by drummer gene krupa . i was hooked on the spot . that was a monday and i watched the repeats from tuesday till friday of that week just to see gene play his animalistic , but very musical , solo again and again ( no video tape , no recording options for me ) .
both the film and al - monsour thoroughly charmed the audience . barker interviewed her afterward , and she revealed that , not surprisingly , the making of the film was touched by the same sort of repression that it portrays . women are not allowed to work alongside men in saudi arabia , so al - monsour had to hide in a van while shooting on location . given that there is no cinema infrastructure in the country , the film was a saudi arabian - german co - production , with arabic and german names mingling in the credits . we also learned that it has since become legal for saudi girls to ride bicycles . perhaps someday filmmaking will become more common there , and male and female crew members can work openly together .
since so many scenes have consisted of a flurry of intensified techniques , simple over - the - shoulder reverse shots might let the excitement level drop . so a new optical device aims to deliver fresh impact in one of the film’s quietest moments .
the introductions and q & a sessions for most of the films , as well as the morning panel discussions , have been posted on ebertfest’s youtube page . program notes for each film are online ; see this schedule and click on the title .
i was joined for the post - film discussion by michael phillips of the chicago tribune , and we talked with donahue and winokur while miller sold the group’s cds and dvds in the festival shop . they revealed that this new score had been commissioned by the telluride film festival and that it was a project that appealed to their taste for off - beat films . there were many questions from the audience , and we suspect that the alloy orchestra will continue to be a regular feature of the festival .
great jazz music but very hokey , old fashioned plot . this is a beautiful restoration in blu ray but the film is a disappointment for me . . not a gem but i guess worth seeing especially if you like jazz . . nice extras included .
goodbye solo is set in bahrani’s hometown , winston - salem , north carolina . it deals with a genial senegalese cab - driver who decides to befriend a prickly white man who he suspects intends to commit suicide . beautifully shot , the film is to winston - salem what collateral is to los angeles , and the final scene in the autumnal great smoky mountains is gorgeous . it’s a moving tale , and one which manages to be emotionally uplifting without falling into the trap of solving all its characters’ problems and becoming a feel - good film .
the only other time i’ve seen this film was at a two - day conference , “garrel éternel , ” held in dublin in june 2001 as an immediate follow - up to the four - day “for ever godard” symposium held at london’s tate modern , and on that occasion i judged it voyeuristically intrusive ; the information that seberg permitted and apparently authorized the intrusion doesn’t entirely reverse my judgment . it’s true that we occasionally see seberg smiling and relatively happy in the film , but the overall misery that we witness makes me regard this film as garrel’s version of the passion of joan of arc , without the trial or any historical context—unless , that is , one views garrel’s camera as one of the inquisitors . what emerges is often shattering and sometimes beautiful , but whether or not it’s decent remains for me an open question .
staking so much on social allegory , the film sacrifices characterization . characters tend to stand for social roles and attitudes rather than stand on their own as individuals . the actors’ performances , especially their line readings , keep the roles fresh , though , and the film still looks magnificent . i was struck this time by the extravagance of its visual style . in almost every scene lee tweaks things pictorially through angles , color saturation , slow - motion , short and long lenses , and the like–extravagant noodlings that may be the filmic equivalent of street graffiti .
what gives the film a more episodic organization than frozen river , i think , and what gives it a greater sense of “dailiness , ” is that it lacks deadlines . there’s relatively little time pressure on the action , except for ale’s sense that he’s getting close to having enough money for the van . chop shop ’s refusal of hollywood’s ticking clock seems to me to confirm the observation , made by geoff andrew and j . j . murphy , that in some respects american indie film is located midway between classical narrative cinema and “art cinema . ”
roger did not live to see the documentary devoted to his life and based on his popular memoir of the same name , life itself . it premiered in january at this year’s sundance film festival . he participated in its making , however , encouraging director steve james ( whose 1994 documentary hoop dreams roger had championed ) to film him during the final four months of his life . some of this candid footage reveals the painful and exhausting treatments roger underwent , but much of it stresses his resilience and the support of chaz and the rest of his family .
barker had brought with him a surprise guest , capote ‘s director , bennett miller , whose appearance had not been announced in advance . he discussed how he and scriptwriter dan futterman learned that there was a second , rival capote film in the works , infamous ( 2006 ) , which also dealt with the period when the author was researching in cold blood . miller and futterman decided to press ahead , a wise move in that their film drew more attention than did infamous . much of the discussion was devoted to hoffman’s performance and his acting style in general .
as you might expect from someone who has mastered stand - up , writing ( the excellent zombie spaceship wasteland ) , tv acting , and film acting , oswalt stressed the need for young people to grab every opportunity to work . he enjoys doing stand - up ; with no need to adjust to anybody else , it’s “the last fascist post in entertainment . ” but he also likes working with other actors in the collaborative milieu of shooting film . he insists on not improvising : “do all the work before you get on camera . ” i was surprised at how quickly young adult was shot—one month , no sets . oswalt explained that one aspect of his character in the film , a guy who customizes peculiar action figures , was based on sillof , a hobbyist who does the same thing and sells the results . oswalt talks about sillof and roger ebert here .
cooper at age nine had major roles in 1931′s the champ and skippy , and was the first child actor to receive an oscar nomination for best actor in a leading role for the latter . he first gained attention in the “our gang” series of film shorts about a precocious group of mischievous children .
unhappy and frustrated , johnny quits and forms his own band , returning to new york city . kit , who’s been working there for a music producer , joins the band for a rousing piano number . famous singer connee boswell , aglow in a glimmering white ball gown , sings a bluesy rendition of “under a falling star . ” thus , an ebullient johnny has achieved his dream of becoming a syncopating jazz impresario . he and kit reunite . a contextualized jam session montage with jazz greats charlie barnet , benny goodman , harry james , and gene krupa brings syncopation to a close .
in the early days of ebertfest , roger personally introduced every film at this five - day event , which took place this year from april 23 to 27 . he would be onstage for the discussions and question sessions after each screening , often joined by directors , actors , or friends in the industry .
why not just call this an italian variant of that broad tradition of naturalism or verismo or “working - class realism” that we find in many national cinemas ? in france there was the work of andre antoine ( e . g . , la terre , 1921 ) and jean epstein’s coeur fidele ( 1923 ) and his lyrical barge romance la belle nivernaise ( 1923 ) . more famous are renoir’s toni ( 1935 ) and the lower depths ( 1936 ) . ( recall that visconti was renoir’s assistant on a day in the country , 1936 . ) in italy , there were harbingers too , not only the famous ones like four steps in the clouds ( 1942 ) but also the charming treno popolare ( 1933 ) . and japan gave us many instances in the 1930s , notably ozu’s inn in tokyo ( 1935 ) and the only son ( 1936 ) .
( 500 ) days plays by the book . tom and summer work for a greeting - card company , a satiric target only a little harder to hit than the pentagon . as in the movies mentioned above , the cutting is intent on making sure we see everybody deliver every syllable . ( what ever happened to offscreen dialogue ? did tv kill it ? ) ( sorry about the parentheses . ) the four - part script layout is as neat as embroidery : the first kiss at the photocopiers comes at 24 : 00 , the splitup comes at 47 : 00 , tom delivers his diatribe against the lies about love at about 72 : 00 , and the epilogue , with its fatal final line , finishes at 90 : 00 . yet i’m not curmudgeon enough to despise a movie so desperate to be liked , and at last i found a film whose narration clicks along in syncopation with my little tally counter .
nicolas pillai is the author of jazz as visual language : film , television and the dissonant image ( i . b . tauris , 2017 ) and the co - editor of new jazz conceptions : history , theory , practice ( routledge , 2017 ) . with tim wall and roger fagge , he is preparing an edited collection on late miles davis . he has published work on jazz and film in the soundtrack journal and darmstadt studies in jazz , 14 . he is currently working on chapters for the routledge companion to new jazz studies , the routledge companion to popular music history and heritage and the oxford history of jazz in europe .
it’s common for viewers to notice that mavis gary , the malevolent , disturbed main character of young adult , doesn’t change or learn . “anti - arc and anti - growth , ” oswalt called the movie . i found the film intriguing because structurally , it seems to be that rare romantic comedy centered on the antagonist .
from steven’s q & a i went off to see goodbye solo , ramin bahrani’s fifth film , and his third since coming to wider public attention with man push cart . roger ebert has been a champion of bahrani’s work , and we’ll be seeing his previous feature , chop shop , at ebertfest in a few weeks .
thus , “syncopation” begins with a vivid montage that segues from a west african village to 1906 new orleans by way of the slave trade , the middle passage and the cotton fields . well - meaning , if condescending , the movie establishes a particular lineage . the music’s founding father is modeled on king oliver and played by an uncredited rex stewart ( a cornetist with the duke ellington orchestra ) ; his hot solos inspire a young boy ( who grows into todd duncan , porgy in the original broadway production of “porgy and bess” ) and , through him , the inevitable white protagonists , jackie cooper and bonita granville .
roger never reviewed the latter , but it is certainly the sort of film that he loved : a glimpse into a little - known culture by a first - time filmmaker with a progressive viewpoint . wadjda is remarkable as the first feature film made in saudi arabia , where there are no movie theaters . moreover , it was made by a woman , haifaa al - monsour , and tells the story of a little girl who defies tradition by aspiring to buy and ride a bicycle in a country where this , like women driving cars , was illegal . ( below , wadjda learns to ride a bicycle on a rooftop , hidden from public view . )
by coincidence i recently saw a tv print of union depot ( warners , 1932 ) that had several minutes of the opening exposition lopped off . we who have turner classic movies don’t realize how lucky we are . fortunately for film collectors , some stations , like barry’s , retained the trims and put them back into the prints .
the more interesting parts of the film for me were manipulations of stereoscope - card images . by quickly alternating the right and left photos on the cards , jacobs creates some remarkable effects of apparent motion . ( david discussed a similar effect last year in his comments on capitalism : child labor . ) even with only two camera positions represented on the cards , at times an illusion of continuous movement is created , especially in a dramatic shot of ocean waves . there are portions of the image where the water seems to be flowing right to left in an unstopping stream . in other shots the camera seems to be gliding in an arc around the subjects . jacobs has been doing a lot of experimentation with creating an appearance of 3d using only regular film equipment and still photos , and i for one would have liked to see more of the stereoscope cards and a little less of the play with the edison shot . but that’s just a quibble . it’s a fascinating film , well worth seeing .
like lee , stone took the virginia theatre audience behind the scenes . he agreed with william friedkin , who was originally slated to do the film : “this is as close as you’ll every come to frank capra . ” instead of using the shuffled time scheme of kovic’s autobiography , friedkin advised that “this is good corn . write it straight through . ” hence the film breaks into distinct chapters , each about half an hour long and sometimes tagged with dates . they operate as blocks measuring phases of ron’s conversion . like many filmmakers of his period , stone deliberately made each chapter pictorially distinct–the low - contrast life - magazine colors of the opening parade versus the lava - like orange of the beachfront battle .
roger leung takes ah - tao , his amah , or all - purpose servant , pretty much for granted . she feeds him , watches out for his health , cleans the apartment , even packs for his business trips . when he’s not loping to and from his film shoot , he’s impassively chowing down her cooking and staring at the tv . a sudden stroke incapacitates her , and now comes the first surprise . a conventional plot would show her resisting being sent to a nursing home , but she insists on going . having worked for roger’s family for sixty years , ah - tao can’t accept being waited upon in the apartment . so she moves to a home , where most of the film takes place .
a simple life is a very quiet film . ebertfest’s highest - profile visitors brought along two of the noisiest movies of 1989 . it’s the twenty - fifth anniversary of do the right thing ( roger’s review ) and born on the fourth of july ( roger’s review ) , and seen in successive nights they seemed to me to put the “agitation” into agitprop .
life itself was the opening night film . james has done a wonderful job of capturing the spirit of the book and in assembling archival footage and photographs , interspersed with new interviews . the result is anything but maudlin , with a candid treatment of roger’s early struggles with alcoholism and an amusing summary of roger’s prickly but affectionate relationship with his tv partner gene siskel .
to say that realist traditions rely on conventions doesn’t make them less worthwhile . chop shops seems to me quite a good film . nor would i deny that realist conventions do capture some aspects of real life . both the crisis structure and the threads - of - routines structure can be taken as realistic . sometimes our lives are in crisis , and at other times we do just plod along . but more stylized narrative forms can capture important aspects of reality too . the searchers , a work of high artifice , renders a portrait of a self - destructive racist that many of us recognize in the world outside the movie house . has any film better caught the adolescent yearning for romantic love and family stability than meet me in st . louis ?
this is fragile stuff , and docter handles it with tact . many movies want you to cry at the end , but up daringly invites you to indulge in its first ten minutes . it then spends the rest of its running time brightening your mood , so that the title could describe the film’s emotional trajectory . it’s one of my two favorite new movies i saw this summer .
rope of sand one of william dieterle’s last hollywood movies ( and possibly the craziest ) is a violent film noir from 1949 set in the kalahari desert . burt lancaster heads a cast that includes three veterans of “casablanca” : peter lorre , claude rains and paul henreid , outstanding as the movie’s crypto - fascist villain . on blu - ray , dvd and amazon instant video . ( olive )
herewith , comments on a batch of titles . there are spoilers sprinkled throughout , but most of what i say won’t harm your encounter with the film . because all my remarks amounted to an even longer blog than usual , i’ve broken it into two parts . the next installment , coming up in a few days , talks about the taking of pelham 123 , public enemies , and inglourious basterds .
his second film , chop shop , brought him to ebertfest a second time , in 2009 . ( roger’s program notes are here , and his four - star review here . ) at about that time , bahrani’s third film , goodbye solo , was released . given its modest budget , it did reasonably well at the box office , grossing nearly a million dollars worldwide ( in contrast to man push cart ‘s roughly $ 56 thousand ) . bahrani inched toward mainstream filmmaking with at any price ( 2012 ) , starring dennis quaid and zac efron , and he is currently in post - production on 99 homes , with andrew garfield , michael shannon , and laura dern . during the onstage discussion , he spoke of struggling to maintain a balance between the indie spirit of his earlier films and the more popularly oriented films he has recently made .
another artifact , reveling in a later form of jazz exoticism , “the connection” — shirley clarke’s 1962 adaptation of jack gelber’s off broadway blockbuster — has been released by milestone on blu - ray and dvd . clarke’s notably self - assured and elaborately self - conscious first feature made a splash at the cannes film festival and became a cause célèbre back home , banned for using an obscenity , here as a term for heroin .
through a lens darkly thomas allen harris’s history of african - american photography is both a chronicle of and testament to the power of self - representation . “mr . harris’s film is a family memoir , a tribute to unsung artists and a lyrical , at times heartbroken , meditation on imagery and identity , ” a . o . scott wrote in the times in august . on dvd , itunes and netflix . ( first run features )
so far i’ve seen some excellent films . agnès varda’s the beaches of agnès was a salubrious way to start . it’s an autobiography of sorts , built around visits to the various seaside locales that have played a big part in her life , from childhood visits to the resorts of belgium to an escape to corsica to the fishing village that featured in her first film , the 1954 short feature la pointe - courte to venice in los angeles . not that her tale is told chronologically . there are numerous diversions , such as meetings with the children who appeared in that first film , now grown old . there are clips from her films and encounters with friends . varda even managed to get the notoriously camera - shy chris marker to participate , though he appears only as a large cat cut - out , and his voice has been altered . ( see below . )
wish - tv ran three movies a day , and two of those would be trimmed to 90 - minute air slots . that meant reducing the film , regardless of length , to 67 - 68 minutes . barry’s job was to look for scenes to omit—usually the opening portions—and smoothly remove them . fortunately for purists , the late movie , running at 11 : 30 , was usually shown uncut , and then the station would sign off .
the celebration continued this year , though on a more upbeat note . some films were chosen from a list that roger had left to his wife chaz and festival organizer nate kohn , and they selected others in the same indie spirit . the tradition of showing a silent film with musical accompaniment was maintained . as always , the festival passes sold out , and the crowd , including many long - time regulars , enthusiastically cheered both films and filmmakers .
“in solaris , an even more original film , the challenge of adapting stanislaw lem’s novel becomes the license and occasion for the most daring , provocative , and beautiful moments : the long journey along a freeway that approximates the hero’s space voyage ; our introduction to the nearly - deserted satellite ; the terrifying resurrections of hari ; and the cryptically powerful closing shots , which synthesize the familiar with the unimaginable even more potently than kubrick’s shifting strategies at the end of 2001 .
stone pointed out that this film marked the beginning of his career as a figure of public controversy . like lee , he was attacked from many sides , and from then on he was a lightning rod . matt zoller seitz ( who’s preparing a book on stone ) pointed out that at the period , he was astonishingly prolific . from 1986 ( salvador , platoon ) to 1999 ( any given sunday ) , he directed twelve features , about one a year .
also introduced in early scenes is 10 - year - old kit latimer , daughter of a prominent new orleans architect . reggie’s mother , ella ( jessie grayson ) is the family housekeeper . ( a cautionary note : ella’s character borders on the regrettable archetype known as ‘mammyism . ’ ) like reggie , young kit also demonstrates an aptitude for improvised jazz , but her instrument is the piano . thus is set in motion the film’s central theme , leading to its title .
someday i must do a blog entry on tokens in narratives . any plot of some complexity seems to need physical objects that encapsulate dramatic forces , spread out information , or become emotion - laden motifs . the photograph is probably the most traditional one , but notes , diaries , rings , and so on are useful too . in goodbye solo , william’s tokens move the drama of disclosure forward , and it’s possible to object to the film’s reliance on so many of them .
ebertfest , once known as the overlooked film festival , has always been keen to support american independent filmmaking . in previous incarnations , roger spotlighted junebug , tarnation , and other movies that flew below the multiplex radar . this year’s crop was especially ripe . besides the fall and sita sings the blues , there were important documentaries like begging naked and trouble the water . in particular , two fiction features set me thinking about types of independent storytelling and how they might be considered realistic .
still , because postwar italian cinema had a big influence on other national cinemas , we have a prototype of the italian neorealist movie . the filmmaker focuses on the lives of working people . he emphasizes their daily routines and travails . the film will be shot on location ( at least in the exteriors ) and may use nonactors in some or all roles . bazin pointed out that we’re likely to find an elliptical or unresolved plot . it’s also very likely that we’ll see washlines and women in slips .
what screenwriter diablo cody has done , i think , is built the film around what most plots would consider the villain . so it’s not surprising that there’s no change ; villains often persist in their wickedness to the point of death . attaching our viewpoint to the traditional antagonist not only creates new comic possibilities , mostly based on mavis’s growing desperation and her obliviousness to her social gaffes . the movie comes off as more sour and outrageous than it would if buddy and beth had been the center of the plot .
the perception of jazz heroes is influenced by many aspects , music being just one of them . in the final presentation of our conference , nicolas pillai looks at the media representation of trumpeter miles davis in his later years , and describes “the dissonant image” of his appearances in film , television drama , music videos , fashion magazines and tv advertising . he considers the industry networks which formed miles’ multi - media personality , taking into account the trumpeter’s own influence on his public image , discussing gesture , speech and costume .
still , the plot is decently engaging , and there’s a taut , unpredictable siege in the desert . that long sequence displays a disciplined interplay of optical viewpoints , a sense of constantly revised tactics , a new aspect of james’s leadership style , and nice details about sharing juice boxes . in another era , the hurt locker would have been a studio picture in the vein of anthony mann’s bleak men in war . i suppose it shows that yesterday’s genre film , executed with conviction and a certain edginess , can become today’s art movie .
roger noted that when he first saw frozen river , he wanted to bring it to his festival , but then it became the very opposite of an overlooked movie . it has grossed $ 4 . 3 million worldwide , a very healthy amount for a small - budget film without big stars . it won eleven national award s and was nominated for fourteen others , including a best original screenplay oscar . by now , you’ve probably seen it . i had been away during its madison run , so i was happy to catch up with it .
as for plot points , chop shop has them . ( at about 15 minutes , the zone of the inciting incident , ale declares his intention to buy the van . at about 30 minutes he discovers that isamar is turning to prostitution . ) likewise , the threaded routines yield poetic motifs , such as the pigeons that are carefully established early in the film . bahrani’s plotting is meticulous , and it highlights the paradox of realism : it takes effort and calculation to “capture reality . ” de sica was said to have endlessly rehearsed the boy in bicycle thieves .
naturally there are passages concerning varda’s late husband , jacques demy , including some candid on - set photos and footage of a very young catherine deneuve in costume . we see varda strolling around an exhibition of her photographs of french movie stars and mourning their deaths , having at 80 outlived most of them . it’s a rambling film and yet somehow all hangs together , with self - deprecating humor , nostalgia , wacky juxtapositions , and moving moments as the director visits old haunts and friends . it was a real crowd - pleaser at the screening i attended , and deservedly so .
the quietness of the film is exemplary . it’s an effort to make a drama out of everyday happenings—people working , eating , sharing a home , getting sick , worrying about money , helping friends , and all the other stuff that fills most of our time . the two central characters are , as roger’s review puts it , “two inward people” who are simple and decent . yet ann’s script and direction , and the playing of deanie yip tak - han and andy lau tak - wah , give us a full - length portrait of a relationship in which each depends on the other .
barry told me quite a lot about conservation and restoration , but just as fascinating was his account of his earlier career . a lover of opera , literature , and painting since his teenage years , he was as well a passionate movie lover . an indianapolis native , he thinks he saw his first movie in 1949 at the vogue , now a nightclub . he projected films in his high school and explored still photography . he was impressed when a teacher told him : “if you want to make film , learn editing . ” soon he was in a local tv station editing syndicated movies .
making us side with the villain also allows oswalt , as matt freehauf , to play a more active role as mavis’s counselor . in a more traditional film , he’d probably be rewritten to be a friend of buddy’s . here he’s the wisecracking voice of sanity , reminding mavis of her selfishness while still being enough in thrall to high - school values to find her fascinating . as in shakespearean comedy , though , the spoiler is expelled from the green world that she threatens . it’s just that here , we go in and out of it with her and see that her illusions remain intact . maybe we also share her sense that the good people can be fairly boring .
resolutely unhollywood in its setting , theme , and characters—deglamorized women , especially— frozen river still adheres to classical script structure . we have characters with goals , encountering obstacles and entering into conflicts , and the turning points come at the standard junctures . the ending is a resolution , although not an entirely happy one . in the course of the plot , suspense is built up at many points . will ray and lila be caught by the state troopers who grimly monitor their comings and goings ? what will become of that abandoned baby ? the film is a sturdy example of how classic principles of construction can be applied to subject matter that is worlds away from our prototype of hollywood filmmaking .