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Films of 1920: Pollyanna and Suds

It’s only fair to follow up a post about Douglas Fairbanks with one about the other half of Hollywood’s Royal Couple, “America’s Sweetheart” Mary Pickford. Mary began her film career in 1909, joining the American Biograph Company to act for D.W. Griffith in silent one-reelers. At that time the sixteen-year-old had already spent eight years on the stage. She was capable and mature beyond her years, as she was supporting her mother and two younger siblings. At that time studios did not release the names of their players, but audiences noticed the girl with the round face and the golden curls right away, and clamoured to know who she was. Theatres advertised her as “the girl with the curls” or “the Biograph Girl” until her name was finally released to the press. In this way she was among the very first movie stars.

(Her real name was Gladys Smith. The stage name of Mary Pickford was selected for her by theatrical impresario David Belisario.)

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1. 8 1/2 (1963)

The last of 100 consecutive movie nights!

8 1/2 (1963) dir. Federico Fellini, starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimee, Sandra Milo, Claudia Cardinale. The story of a film director who, with an entire crew and cast awaiting, realizes that he has no idea what to do next. While dodging the everyone’s demands of him and managing his complicated love life, he daydreams about his childhood and imagines scenes for his floundering film.

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2. Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

The penultimate movie in 100 consecutive movie nights! Only one more to go!

Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), dir. Ingmar Bergman, starring Ulla Jacobsson, Eva Dahlbeck, Gunnar Björnstrand, Harriet Andersson, Jarl Kulle, Margit Carlqvist.

I had planned to watch Bergman’s Persona tonight, but the times being what they are, I decided I needed something more lighthearted and so watched instead a Bergman comedy. Also, the story is set around midsummer’s eve, which is this week, so it seemed like the perfect choice.

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3. Seven Samurai (1954)

Continuing my countdown of the last ten of 100 consecutive movie nights

Seven Samurai (1954) dir. Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, and many more! This is an astonishingly epic action movie that set the standard for the genre for decades to come. It is hard to fully appreciate how innovative it was when it came out, as so many aspects of it (plot points, characters, structure, camera and editing techniques) have since been borrowed and reused many, many times. The entire genre of the ‘spaghetti western’ is pretty much just a retread of this film.

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4. Pather Panchali (1955)

Continuing my countdown of the last ten of 100 consecutive movie nights.

Pather Panchali (1955), dir. Satyajit Ray, starring Kanu Bannerjee, Karuna Bannerjee, Uma das Gupta, Subir Bannerjee, Chunibala Devi. Music by Ravi Shankar.

This was independent India’s first big film success. It was also the debut of Satyajit Ray, who had never directed a film before and cinematographer Subrata Mitra, a stills photographer who had never operated a film camera before the first day of the shoot. On a shoestring budget and with a novice crew, production proceeded in fits and starts over a three year period. The end result is astonishingly mature in its pacing and storytelling, and the cinematography is stunning. Both Ray and Mitra went on to lengthy successful careers because of the international acclaim the film received.

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5. Threepenny Opera (1931)

Continuing my countdown of the final ten in 100 consecutive movie nights!

Threepenny Opera (1931), dir. George Pabst, starring Rudolf Forster, Carola Neher, Lotte Lenya, Reinhold Schünzel, Fritz Rasp, Valeska Gert, Ernst Busch. Adapted from the hit stage musical by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.

I have to admit I was fully prepared to love this movie before it even began, which makes this review a little suspect. Oh well. The fact is I’ve been watching an awful lot of German films from between the wars, both silent and sound, and I am familiar enough with some of the actors that when they pop up in small roles I feel like I’m seeing an old friend. (“Oh look! The minister is Hermann Thimig!”)

That disclaimer aside, here’s my take on the movie.

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6. Day of Wrath (1943)

Continuing my countdown of the final ten in 100 consecutive movie nights!

Dir. Carl Dreyer, starring Lisbeth Movin, Thorkild Roose, Preben Lerdorff Rye, Anna Svierkier.

I felt a sudden urge to find another film made during WWII under German occupation, this time in Denmark, but Day of Wrath could not be more different than Les Enfants du Paradis.

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7. Les Enfants du Paradis (1945)

Continuing my countdown of the final 10 in 100 consecutive movie nights!

Les Enfants du Paradis / Children of Paradise (1945) dir. Marcel Carné, starring Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur. Another film shot in wartime, with a fascinating backstory. During the occupation of France, German authorities decided to keep the French film industry going, as a kind of public relations move, and many French films were produced during this period, under Nazi supervision. The Germans restricted subject matter and put limits on film length, which is why this three-hour epic is ostensibly broken into two parts – it was shot as two films, but has always been shown as one.

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8. Ivan the Terrible, Pt. 1 (1944)

Continuing my countdown of the final 10 in 100 Consecutive Movie Nights!

Directed by Sergei Eisenstein, starring Nikolay Cherkasov. I thought I’d pick another film made as WWII was still raging. As the Axis forces were approaching Moscow, Sergei Eisenstein and many other Soviet filmmakers were evacuated to Alma Ata in the Kazakh Republic, where he came up with the plan to make a three-part film about the 16th century tsar who united Russia. With Stalin’s enthusiastic approval, the project launched into production at the Mosfilm studio in Alma Ata.

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9. Henry V (1944)

Counting down the last 10 of 100 Consecutive Movie Nights…

Last night I watched this epic, directed by and starring Laurence Olivier, backed up by a cast of thousands. This lavish production was made while Britain was still at war, in fact it was partly financed by the British government as a morale booster, and Churchill himself had input in the script revisions. (Besides shortening the play for time, several instances were cut in which the King does some extremely not-nice things. Apparently they wanted to keep the film as uplifting as possible.) Henry V was a good choice for a rousing, patriotic picture, with Henry’s memorable pre-battle speeches (“Once more unto the breach! Dear friends, once more…” and “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers…”), not to mention a plucky British army beating all the odds to win a decisive victory over a foreign foe.

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