Film

THE FRONT PAGE (1974)

December 4, 2020

(DVD) I love adaptations. Give me an adaptation of a work I’ve previously seen or read, and I’ll always glean something interesting from it. Consequently, I was curious about Billy Wilder’s THE FRONT PAGE, which has its roots in the 1928 stage play of the same name about a Chicago newspaper writer trying to escape the business and get married and the boss who tries to thwart him, all under the umbrella of a hanging. THE FRONT PAGE became a reasonably successful film in 1931, but then Howard Hawks and Charles Lederer gender-swapped newspaper writer Hildy Johnson, threw away half of the script and let the cast riff, and created the classic screwball rom-com HIS GIRL FRIDAY.

Wilder’s FRONT PAGE is a glossier, overtly bluer, more expansive Cinemascope version of the original 1931 film — as you can immediately tell from the gorgeously crafted title sequence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwuo9NjflGs — and that is not a compliment. The tightly-wound anarchic feeling of both the original FRONT PAGE and HIS GIRL FRIDAY is what made them feel vibrant, and that’s missing from this production due to its over-produced adherence to the initial film.

While there are a few grander comedic moments and set-pieces, Wilder’s version often feels hum-drum and sluggish, completely antithetical to what one should expect from a FRONT PAGE adaptation. However, it includes one notable bit of interplay between boss Walter Matheu and writer/Wilder regular Jack Lemmon: Lemmon says ‘Cigarette me!’ and Matthau obliges by popping a cigarette into his own mouth and lighting it for his favored employee. He then slips it into Lemmon’s mouth, all while Susan Sarandon — Lemmon’s fiancée — watches. It’s is a cute Hays Code callback back to when swapping cigarettes was shorthand for fucking, but it doesn’t resonate nearly as much as Wilder thinks it does.

While I wish Wilder had extended himself further, he’s never wasted my time. Sure, it’s the lesser of the three major versions, but it has its moments and worth a watch if you’re into scrutinizing the machinations of adaptations.

THE FRONT PAGE’s (1931) opening scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlsW0qbbcjs

HIS GIRL FRIDAY trailer:

THE FRONT PAGE (1974) trailer:

THE LIFE OF REILLY (2007)

December 2, 2020

(YouTube) Charles Nelson Reilly’s one-man show. Yes, most folks know him from the ‘funny’ (a.k.a. best) episodes of THE X-FILES. People with too much time on their hands know him from the best episodes of MILLENNIUM. Game show dorks and people like me also know him from TV schlock like HOLLYWOOD SQUARES. However, he was far more than that — he was one hell of an individual, a queer pioneer. He made his own space in his own way, and THE LIFE OF REILLY features him regaling us about his life, his trials, tribulations, and trailblazing in his own words, on the stage for one last time.

“The things we go through when we’re young… it’s amazing.”

For reasons beyond me, it’s not available to stream or buy, either digitally or physically, so I feel no compunction about sharing the link below.

The film, as a YouTube playlist (better than nothing! Think of it as a series of vignettes.):

BORN IN FLAMES (1983)

December 1, 2020

(kanopy/VOD)? An electric 80s NYC ’10 years in the future’ dystopian film from Lizzie Borden (yes, the director legally changed her name) shot in the vein of Godard’s ALPHAVILLE in which nothing about the city is changed apart from the context. In this case, it’s: ‘what if socialism occurred in the US, but it ultimately sidelines all women, compromising their health and their right to work?’ Nearly 40 years later, it’s still shamefully relevant.

The end result is a vibrant exploration of activism helmed by a DJ and divergent feminist movements trying to organize and radicalize women to upend the machine, all pasted together from a mixture of pre-shot footage, on-the-street footage, and documentary footage, and paired with an amazing array of proto-punk feminist songs.

Warning: the end of the film coincidentally mirrors real events and might be painful to watch. To say why would spoil matters, but you’ll see it coming well before you actually have to watch it.

Please note: the following trailer is briefly NSFW.

THE HAUNTING (1962)

October 31, 2020

(AMC+/SHUDDER/VOD) If you’re reading this, there’s probably a 50/50 chance you’ve watched THE HAUNTING and, if so, it’s well-worth a re-watch! If you haven’t? Well, that’s what these electronic missives are for!

THE HAUNTING (1962, not to be confused with the 1999 version, which isn’t as bad as you may remember) is probably the closest to a definitive Shirley Jackson adaptation we’ll ever get, and not just because she was actively involved with the adaptation. While it excises and condenses the book, it never loses track of the complexities of Eleanor, the figurehead of the story, wanting to be wanted, but unaware as to how she can be needed.

It helps that THE HAUNTING is shot with a pitch-perfect eye. Director Robert Wise (a goddamn Hollywood legend as the award-winning editor of CITIZEN KANE and director/producer of WEST SIDE STORY, THE SOUND OF MUSIC) and cinematographer Davis Boulton used an experimental Panavision 30mm lens that lends an unmistakably unique look to the film; the occasional lens distortion helps to amplify certain scenes near the end of the film.

The lens, in tandem with the claustrophobic and detailed sets and the intense lighting gives the house a verve (while often framing all of the primary characters as entrapped or jailed) that required almost absolutely no ‘traditional’ haunting visual effects, relying instead on perfect sound design, and all of it dovetails with the intense internal monologuing from Eleanor.

THE HAUNTING is a perfect Halloween film, one that’ll make you think about your surroundings as you lumber off to bed, all while questioning your own place.

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986)

October 30, 2020

(AMC+/hoopla/Prime/VOD) TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 has a similar reputation to its original as HALLOWEEN 3 has to the first two HALLOWEENs: fans felt betrayed. Both films toy with their hallmark villains (in the case of HALLOWEEN 3, Michael is nowhere to be found), neither film tries to repeat their prior efforts, and both look and feel drastically different from what fans expected. While HALLOWEEN 3 has finally been embraced by horror fans, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (TCM2) is still mostly ignored, which I believe is rather unfair.

TCM2 is unmistakably glossier and poppier — just take a listen to the soundtrack. And yes, it’s far broader than the original. In other words, far closer to the tone of similar 80s horror films, but there’s a reason for that.

Hooper and co-writer L.M. Kit Carson (co-writer of PARIS, TEXAS) are using TCM2 to actively undermine what Hooper created with TCM1, by putting a slapstick, circus-like veneer on the entire film. Texas, as a state, is reduced to a brightly colored carnival (Texas Battle Land, chock full of crass Alamo murals and poorly rendered re-enactments), the Sawyer family become a twisted Three Stooges, and Dennis Hopper is reduced to an short-sighted, idiotic buffoon, often over-compensating for his own weaknesses by taking up not one, but two chainsaws.

Is it puerile? Oh, most definitely — there’s even a scene where Leatherface (who quickly falls for our radio DJ heroine) ejaculates in his pants, then quickly becomes frustrated and tears up the radio station upon discovering this new sensation. New Sawyer family member Chop Top has a disgusting habit of picking the skin from around his skull wound with the hook of a clothes hanger and eating it.

Is it satire? I’m hard-pressed to say, but Hooper’s definitely undermining his original creation and having a lot of fun doing so. If they had replaced Leatherface and recast the Sawyer family and hadn’t sold it as a TCM sequel, I’m sure this film would be better regarded today. However, it’s questionable whether the film would have the same bite that Hooper intended if it weren’t billed as a Texas Chainsaw Massacre film, if it hadn’t pulled the rug out from fans’ feet.

THE MIST (2007)

October 29, 2020

(AMC+/fubo/VOD) I read a fair amount of King as a kid and, while I found much of it thrilling, I recall very little of it disturbing me (although the TV film adaptation of IT definitely kept me awake at night) except for one short story from his SKELETON CREW collection: THE MIST. I fully realize it wasn’t so much the story itself, but how the story let my imagination run wild with the fear of what’s unseen.

While Frank Durabont’s adaptation of THE MIST differs in many ways from the source material, it still reckons with the idea of ‘what’s the worst out there that we can’t see?’, taking it to the extreme with what you may feel is a controversial end. In-between the opening and that ending, you have your traditional small-town interpersonal conflicts and blow-ups, mostly structured within the space of a decently sized grocery store with overly spacious front windows.

It includes murderer’s row of fantastic performers, including Laurie Holden and Jeffery DeMunn (both pre-THE WALKING DEAD), Andre Braugher, and frickin’ Toby Jones, stylish shots and cracking sound and monster design, it’s one of those adaptations where everything coalesces into something special.

(By the way, there was a barely-promoted TV adaptation of THE MIST that aired on the now-defunct basic cable channel Spike in 2017. Unless you’re hardcore about comparing adaptations — like I am — you may want to skip it.)

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)

October 28, 2020

(AMC+/VOD) A slight cheat, as it’s gothic romanticism disguised as supernatural horror, but the end result is just the same. Horror master Jacques Tourneur (CURSE OF THE DEMON, CAT PEOPLE) was tasked by master producer Val Lewton, to create a film to match the title ‘I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE’. Tourneur did, but leaned heavily on JANE EYRE and Haitian folklore to do so, resulting in the an early ‘elevated horror’* film.

As you might expect from a Haitian folklore zombie film from the 40s, there’s a fair amount of problematic othering going on here, although it’s not as severe as other films of its time, and it’s actively attempting to be progressive.

  • I hate that label, but it’s sufficient shorthand.

NIGHT OF THE COMET (1984)

October 27, 2020

(VOD) A surprisingly rich character-based post-apocalyptic film. Reg, our hero, has her own agency; she stands toe-to-toe against all of the dumb dudebros that she has to endure while still standing by her younger sister, but more importantly, she feels like a unique character — she’s not a prototypical horror archetype. Also, Catherine Mary Stewart plays her perfectly — disaffected and confident. Did I mention that the film opens with her being very focused on her TEMPEST arcade cabinet high-score?

That aside, I will always love this film because of one very particular (non-spoiler) cineaste riff: Reg survives because she’s in a projection booth that was re-enforced due to the explosive nature of nitrate film.*

You could remake this film word-for-word, shot-for-shot today, and it’d still be considered progressive and interesting. But what often gets lost is the fact that the film is surprisingly gorgeous, with some amazing costume and color work. I’m not sure if they were bestowed with a fantastic budget (nope, they shot all of the ‘abandoned streets’ bits at 5am), a brilliant cinematographer and/or production designer, the film stock, the ND filters they were using or whatnot, but everything pops in this film.

  • Fun fact: there are only three theaters in the US that can screen nitrate films because of the risks involved. I was lucky enough to attend a nitrate screening of Hitchcock’s first go at THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH at the Egyptian in LA in 2017, which had recently been reinforced for nitrate screenings, and wow, that was a treat.

CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962)

October 26, 2020

(AMC+/Criterion/fubu/epix/HBO MAX/hoopla/kanopy/Paramount+/tubi/Vudu, anywhere really, although I watched The Directors Cut via my Criterion copy) One of the few films I discovered because of a video game — no, not CARNEVIL — I’d read about it influencing SILENT HILL.

CARNIVAL OF SOULS is a surprisingly singular vision from industrial film Herk Harvey, who only made this one film, but he made that swing count. A woman is the sole survivor of a three-person car crash, and goes about trying to move ahead in life, but can’t shake a gauzy hazy or the stare of a ghostly man.

It’s a surprisingly quiet film, despite the often oppressive organ soundtrack, and while it’s built upon a number of small moments, it culminates in an astounding final sequence. Art-house horror, full of tension and dread, well before such a thing widely existed.

One final note: I believe some song I’m quite familiar with sampled Mary’s meeting with a Dr. Samuels, as well as the exchange: “Now you quit licking your chops, she’s outta your class.” “You wanna bet?” If anyone knows who sampled them, let me know!

FINAL DESTINATION 2 (2003)

October 25, 2020

(HBO MAX/VOD)? I love original recipe FINAL DESTINATION — Wong & Morgan took everything they learned from THE X-FILES and expertly applied it expertly to the slasher genre, all while introducing teens to counterpointing via John Denver (Rocky Mountain High makes a brief muzak appearance in this film as well) — but goddamn, the opening sequence is one of the most memorable set-pieces of the last twenty years, and the kill scenes are astoundingly convoluted.

I’m not going to say it’s as good as the first FINAL DESTINATION, but it’s exactly what you hope for from a sequel. Also, ONE DAY AT A TIME’s Justina Machado is a supporting player!

If you haven’t read it, ‘Death Is Not the End: An Oral History of Final Destination’ is well-worth your time, if for no other reason than learning about how influential the ‘bus kill’ scene was for effect techs: https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/03/final-destination-oral-history/