1. (-) New England Patriots (11-2)
2. (-) Atlanta Falcons (11-2)
3. (-) Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3)
4. (5) Baltimore Ravens (9-4)
5. (4) New York Jets (9-4)
6. (9) Philadelphia Eagles (9-4)
7. (8) New Orleans Saints (10-3)
8. (10) New York Giants (9-4)
9. (6) Chicago Bears (9-4)
10. (7) Green Bay Packers (8-5)
11. (12) San Diego Chargers (7-6)
12. (13) Jacksonville Jaguars (8-5)
13. (11) Kansas City Chiefs (8-5)
14. (-) Indianapolis Colts (7-6)
15. (-) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-5)
16. (18) Miami Dolphins (7-6)
17. (16) Oakland Raiders (6-7)
18. (17) St Louis Rams (6-7)
19. (20) Houston Texans (5-8)
20. (23) Washington Redskins (5-8)
21. (19) Cleveland Browns (5-8)
22. (21) Seattle Seahawks (6-7)
23. (22) Dallas Cowboys (4-9)
24. (26) San Francisco 49ers (5-8)
25. (24) Minnesota Vikings (5-8)
26. (25) Tennessee Titans (5-8)
27. (29) Buffalo Bills (3-10)
28. (30) Detroit Lions (3-10)
29. (31) Arizona Cardinals (4-9)
30. (28) Cincinnati Bengals (2-11)
31. (27) Denver Broncos (3-10)
32. (-) Carolina Panthers (1-12)
Monday, 13 December 2010
Friday, 10 December 2010
SOYLENT GREEN (1973) - film vs book
SOYLENT GREEN
(1973, USA)
(1973, USA)
You can't say they didn't warn us...
Soylent Green is set in near-future Manhattan, when the population explosion is outrunning supplies of water, food, materials and even living space. In the middle of the overcrowded city a wealthy businessman is murdered, but as Detective Thorn (Charlton Heston) tries to solve the case, he starts making deadly enemies...
The script was based on Harry Harrison's book Make Room! Make Room! which imagined the effects of extrapolated population growth. Set in 1999 Manhattan (while the film is pushed up to 2022), he simply plotted a graph as if no other factors will come into play - like for instance property prices that would force people out of the city. The premise is that Manhattan simply fills up to bursting point. With natural gas depleted, cars are left in the road to rot. With a lack of manufactured goods, society slows down.
While the film reverts to an unfolding murder-mystery conspiracy, the book is more of a slice of life showing the city through the different seasons. The murder connects the characters, but the author teases us that it could all just have been an accident. Instead Harrison shows us what conditions are among all walks of life. A scenario where Americans are forced to resort to a soya and plankton diet to survive, could be the author's joke at the expense of a meat-loving country.
Besides changing the emphasis of the novel from birth control to food shortage, the film uses the same overcrowded ground rules. While the only sci-fi 'gadget' in the book is a self-untangling barbed wire fence dropped from helicopters to cordon off rioters, the film replaces it by the people 'scoops'. The script also adds a chilling name for the women provided as part of a luxury apartment itinerary, they're called 'furniture'. The detective's ageing flatmate, Sol (Edward G. Robinson), gets upgraded in the film from an ex-cop to a human search engine, working for the police by using his lifetime of knowledge and research. Sol's demise in the film is also far more frightening and central to the story.
Harrison wrote an essay about the screen incarnation of his story for Omni magazine, reprinted in Omni's Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies (1984). Harrison was only half-happy with the resulting movie. After the script had been written without him, he put on a brave face and was present during filming to consult with the actors and designers. Annoyed that the plot had been switched to a more cliched, Hollywood thriller, he still gave the director, actors and production design credit for presenting a convincing premise. He also mentions there was studio pressure to cut Sol's death from the film, for fear it would cause offence as Edward G. Robinson passed away just after filming ended.
I'd agree that some of Harrison's propagandising on birth control should have stayed in the film. But the novel's murder plotline ends more by accident rather than detection. The film's famous reveal of the source of Soylent Green satisfyingly indicates that there's been wide damage to the ecosystem far beyond New York. While I can understand that Harrison is upset with the changes (maybe exaggerated by his raw deal while selling the rights to the book) I now feel that the film improves on the book as a story.
I was drawn back to the film after learning that Harry Harrison is still writing. He's just published a new story about his long-running character The Stainless Steel Rat. I loved these books in the seventies, and started reading the comic 2000AD when it started adapting his stories (artwork was by Strontium Dog's Carlos Ezquerra, with The Rat drawn to resemble James Coburn). Indeed Soylent Green also helped shape Mega-City One in 2000AD's Judge Dredd stories, like the horrors of Resyk...
Back in the mid-seventies when I first saw Soylent Green, it was part of a sci-fi wave of disaster warnings from the near future (three of which starred Charlton Heston). Planet of the Apes threatened nuclear annihilation. The Omega Man and The Andromeda Strain described planet-killing viruses. Westworld warned of malfunctioning entertainment androids. Silent Running predicted an Earth without forests... (Five years packed with futuristic catastrophe films then gave way to five years of modern-day disaster movies.)
At the time, I assumed these future worlds would always be fictional and never achieve science fact. After all, if the dangers of overpopulation had been publicly pointed out in something as major as a feature film, then everyone would be scared enough to steer us all away from disaster. In the nick of time? Wouldn't they?
The film shortens the timeframe and ignores Harrison's changing seasons. It even mentions the term 'greenhouse effect', adding green smog and permanently high temperatures. The last massive food source left in the world is plankton, but after decades of pollution the oceans are also in trouble. One scene casually depicts New York's Tree Sanctuary as literally containing one tree.
I can excuse the 1973 film failing to also predict cordless telephones or even computers (you could argue that it's because of the lack of manufactured resources or the unpredictable power supply), but it gets it right about global warming. Seeing it again, it's saddens me to have learnt about a growing ecological problem nearly forty years ago, when it's still not being taken seriously now. The world of Soylent Green is coming true. I expect that the director's commentary track is 97 minutes of Richard Fleischer yelling "I told you so".
Anyone who knows the last line in the film, may think they know what the film is all about. But jumping to the punchline is cheating yourself of many disturbing and well-constructed ideas. Two flatmates studying meat and vegetables as if they were blocks of gold. The food riot being controlled by dumper trucks that randomly scoop trouble-makers away. Families sleeping on staircases, the only way to get a roof over their heads. And of course, the unforgettable scene of Edward G. Robinson's character 'going home', cleverly, gradually unveiled.
Charlton Heston initially plays Thorn as a rational cop keen to tow the line and keep his job. But when his life is repeatedly threatened, his interrogation tactics get distinctly nasty. An interesting contrast to the scene where the apartment manager beats up his 'furniture', Thorn shows restraint by not decking the guy. I can't imagine a scene like that in a modern film, without the bully getting instant knuckle-justice. Instead it keeps the tension brimming and underlines that Thorn doesn't care (or being seen to care) about those women either.
This viewing, I was surprised to see a vintage arcade video game Computer Space appearing in the film, gameplay looking like a forerunner of Space Wars and my beloved Asteroids. The Computer Space arcade game was first available in 1971 - that's ten years before Tron! It was a shock to learn just how long video games have been around.
The fast-cutting, photographic, split-screen, title sequence describes American progress from country life to a car-clogged industrial nation. It strongly reminded me of the pace and imagery of Koyaanisqatsi, though it predates it. (It can be viewed in a blog devoted to movie title sequences, The Art of the Title.)
Other imagery from the film echoed in David Cronenberg's Rabid (1977), where bodies were also carried away in garbage vans, and in Blade Runner (1982), which also staged a gunfight in an overcrowded street.
I think Soylent Green still stands up as serious sci-fi and a gritty vision of a harsh future.
The current DVD release is 2.35 widescreen anamorphic, with a director's commentary track, an original trailer (that very nearly spills the Soylent beans) and two vintage featurettes that include behind-the-scenes footage of the food riots.
The CD soundtrack was recently released as a limited edition.
Here's the spoilery trailer on YouTube...
Soylent Green is set in near-future Manhattan, when the population explosion is outrunning supplies of water, food, materials and even living space. In the middle of the overcrowded city a wealthy businessman is murdered, but as Detective Thorn (Charlton Heston) tries to solve the case, he starts making deadly enemies...
The script was based on Harry Harrison's book Make Room! Make Room! which imagined the effects of extrapolated population growth. Set in 1999 Manhattan (while the film is pushed up to 2022), he simply plotted a graph as if no other factors will come into play - like for instance property prices that would force people out of the city. The premise is that Manhattan simply fills up to bursting point. With natural gas depleted, cars are left in the road to rot. With a lack of manufactured goods, society slows down.
While the film reverts to an unfolding murder-mystery conspiracy, the book is more of a slice of life showing the city through the different seasons. The murder connects the characters, but the author teases us that it could all just have been an accident. Instead Harrison shows us what conditions are among all walks of life. A scenario where Americans are forced to resort to a soya and plankton diet to survive, could be the author's joke at the expense of a meat-loving country.
Besides changing the emphasis of the novel from birth control to food shortage, the film uses the same overcrowded ground rules. While the only sci-fi 'gadget' in the book is a self-untangling barbed wire fence dropped from helicopters to cordon off rioters, the film replaces it by the people 'scoops'. The script also adds a chilling name for the women provided as part of a luxury apartment itinerary, they're called 'furniture'. The detective's ageing flatmate, Sol (Edward G. Robinson), gets upgraded in the film from an ex-cop to a human search engine, working for the police by using his lifetime of knowledge and research. Sol's demise in the film is also far more frightening and central to the story.
Harrison wrote an essay about the screen incarnation of his story for Omni magazine, reprinted in Omni's Screen Flights/Screen Fantasies (1984). Harrison was only half-happy with the resulting movie. After the script had been written without him, he put on a brave face and was present during filming to consult with the actors and designers. Annoyed that the plot had been switched to a more cliched, Hollywood thriller, he still gave the director, actors and production design credit for presenting a convincing premise. He also mentions there was studio pressure to cut Sol's death from the film, for fear it would cause offence as Edward G. Robinson passed away just after filming ended.
I'd agree that some of Harrison's propagandising on birth control should have stayed in the film. But the novel's murder plotline ends more by accident rather than detection. The film's famous reveal of the source of Soylent Green satisfyingly indicates that there's been wide damage to the ecosystem far beyond New York. While I can understand that Harrison is upset with the changes (maybe exaggerated by his raw deal while selling the rights to the book) I now feel that the film improves on the book as a story.
I was drawn back to the film after learning that Harry Harrison is still writing. He's just published a new story about his long-running character The Stainless Steel Rat. I loved these books in the seventies, and started reading the comic 2000AD when it started adapting his stories (artwork was by Strontium Dog's Carlos Ezquerra, with The Rat drawn to resemble James Coburn). Indeed Soylent Green also helped shape Mega-City One in 2000AD's Judge Dredd stories, like the horrors of Resyk...
Back in the mid-seventies when I first saw Soylent Green, it was part of a sci-fi wave of disaster warnings from the near future (three of which starred Charlton Heston). Planet of the Apes threatened nuclear annihilation. The Omega Man and The Andromeda Strain described planet-killing viruses. Westworld warned of malfunctioning entertainment androids. Silent Running predicted an Earth without forests... (Five years packed with futuristic catastrophe films then gave way to five years of modern-day disaster movies.)
At the time, I assumed these future worlds would always be fictional and never achieve science fact. After all, if the dangers of overpopulation had been publicly pointed out in something as major as a feature film, then everyone would be scared enough to steer us all away from disaster. In the nick of time? Wouldn't they?
The film shortens the timeframe and ignores Harrison's changing seasons. It even mentions the term 'greenhouse effect', adding green smog and permanently high temperatures. The last massive food source left in the world is plankton, but after decades of pollution the oceans are also in trouble. One scene casually depicts New York's Tree Sanctuary as literally containing one tree.
I can excuse the 1973 film failing to also predict cordless telephones or even computers (you could argue that it's because of the lack of manufactured resources or the unpredictable power supply), but it gets it right about global warming. Seeing it again, it's saddens me to have learnt about a growing ecological problem nearly forty years ago, when it's still not being taken seriously now. The world of Soylent Green is coming true. I expect that the director's commentary track is 97 minutes of Richard Fleischer yelling "I told you so".
Anyone who knows the last line in the film, may think they know what the film is all about. But jumping to the punchline is cheating yourself of many disturbing and well-constructed ideas. Two flatmates studying meat and vegetables as if they were blocks of gold. The food riot being controlled by dumper trucks that randomly scoop trouble-makers away. Families sleeping on staircases, the only way to get a roof over their heads. And of course, the unforgettable scene of Edward G. Robinson's character 'going home', cleverly, gradually unveiled.
Charlton Heston initially plays Thorn as a rational cop keen to tow the line and keep his job. But when his life is repeatedly threatened, his interrogation tactics get distinctly nasty. An interesting contrast to the scene where the apartment manager beats up his 'furniture', Thorn shows restraint by not decking the guy. I can't imagine a scene like that in a modern film, without the bully getting instant knuckle-justice. Instead it keeps the tension brimming and underlines that Thorn doesn't care (or being seen to care) about those women either.
This viewing, I was surprised to see a vintage arcade video game Computer Space appearing in the film, gameplay looking like a forerunner of Space Wars and my beloved Asteroids. The Computer Space arcade game was first available in 1971 - that's ten years before Tron! It was a shock to learn just how long video games have been around.
The fast-cutting, photographic, split-screen, title sequence describes American progress from country life to a car-clogged industrial nation. It strongly reminded me of the pace and imagery of Koyaanisqatsi, though it predates it. (It can be viewed in a blog devoted to movie title sequences, The Art of the Title.)
Other imagery from the film echoed in David Cronenberg's Rabid (1977), where bodies were also carried away in garbage vans, and in Blade Runner (1982), which also staged a gunfight in an overcrowded street.
I think Soylent Green still stands up as serious sci-fi and a gritty vision of a harsh future.
The current DVD release is 2.35 widescreen anamorphic, with a director's commentary track, an original trailer (that very nearly spills the Soylent beans) and two vintage featurettes that include behind-the-scenes footage of the food riots.
The CD soundtrack was recently released as a limited edition.Here's the spoilery trailer on YouTube...
Monday, 6 December 2010
Power Poll - Week 13
1. (-) New England Patriots (10-2)
2. (-) Atlanta Falcons (10-2)
3. (5) Pittsburgh Steelers (9-3)
4. (3) New York Jets (9-3)
5. (4) Baltimore Ravens (8-4)
6. (7) Chicago Bears (9-3)
7. (8) Green Bay Packers (8-4)
8. (9) New Orleans Saints (9-3)
9. (10) Philadelphia Eagles (8-4)
10. (12) New York Giants (8-4)
11. (13) Kansas City Chiefs (8-4)
12. (6) San Diego Chargers (6-6)
13. (16) Jacksonville Jaguars (7-5)
14. (11) Indianapolis Colts (6-6)
15. (14) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-5)
16. (20) Oakland Raiders (6-6)
17. (18) St Louis Rams (6-6)
18. (15) Miami Dolphins (6-6)
19. (21) Cleveland Browns (5-7)
20. (17) Houston Texans (5-7)
21. (23) Seattle Seahawks (6-6)
22. (25) Dallas Cowboys (4-8)
23. (19) Washington Redskins (5-7)
24. (-) Minnesota Vikings (5-7)
25. (22) Tennessee Titans (5-7)
26. (-) San Francisco 49ers (4-8)
27. (28) Denver Broncos (3-9)
28. (31) Cincinnati Bengals (2-10)
29. (27) Buffalo Bills (2-10)
30. (29) Detroit Lions (2-10)
31. (30) Arizona Cardinals (3-9)
32. (-) Carolina Panthers (1-11)
2. (-) Atlanta Falcons (10-2)
3. (5) Pittsburgh Steelers (9-3)
4. (3) New York Jets (9-3)
5. (4) Baltimore Ravens (8-4)
6. (7) Chicago Bears (9-3)
7. (8) Green Bay Packers (8-4)
8. (9) New Orleans Saints (9-3)
9. (10) Philadelphia Eagles (8-4)
10. (12) New York Giants (8-4)
11. (13) Kansas City Chiefs (8-4)
12. (6) San Diego Chargers (6-6)
13. (16) Jacksonville Jaguars (7-5)
14. (11) Indianapolis Colts (6-6)
15. (14) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-5)
16. (20) Oakland Raiders (6-6)
17. (18) St Louis Rams (6-6)
18. (15) Miami Dolphins (6-6)
19. (21) Cleveland Browns (5-7)
20. (17) Houston Texans (5-7)
21. (23) Seattle Seahawks (6-6)
22. (25) Dallas Cowboys (4-8)
23. (19) Washington Redskins (5-7)
24. (-) Minnesota Vikings (5-7)
25. (22) Tennessee Titans (5-7)
26. (-) San Francisco 49ers (4-8)
27. (28) Denver Broncos (3-9)
28. (31) Cincinnati Bengals (2-10)
29. (27) Buffalo Bills (2-10)
30. (29) Detroit Lions (2-10)
31. (30) Arizona Cardinals (3-9)
32. (-) Carolina Panthers (1-11)
Friday, 3 December 2010
DANTE'S INFERNO (1935, 1924) - black and white visions of hell
Three films inspired by storyboards from the 19th century...
I'm not interested in the concept of hell as a final destination, but it's a great scenario for a horror movie - demons, chaos, torture and the like. The new video game (and spin-off animated movie) of Dante's Inferno demonstrates that the story still powerfully captures the imagination.
While 13th century poet Dante Alighieri wrote his Divine Comedy in three sections, the first part Inferno focussed on the punishments of hell. While Dante's epic poem is highly regarded in Italian literature, it's the 1857 illustrations by Gustav Doré that are regarded as definitive. Doré's printing methods off wood engravings make his visualisations appear deceptively older.
Doré's fantastic and evocative work also drives the cinematic visions of Dante's Inferno, able to inspire camera composition and lighting effects. The movie adaptions that I've seen (1924, 1935) are more interesting to me than any recent incarnations, because they bring to life the black and white gothic of Dore’s engravings. The scratchy faded quality of unrestored film even adds to their dreamlike quality. The films could almost be ancient newsreels of expeditions through the depths of hell.
I first became aware of the movies called Dante's Inferno from a few startling stills in Classics of the Horror Film and A Pictorial History of the Silent Screen (all shown here), before I encountered any of Gustav Doré's work. In both films, ambitious underworlds were realised through huge sets shrouded in flame and smoke, with special make-ups to transform actors into demons. The limited information around repeatedly guessed that the 1935 film had recycled the 'hell' footage from the 1924 version. But having seen both, this doesn't appear to be true.
The biblical morality and the classical precedents of art and literature also enabled film-makers the licence to fill the screen with torture and nudity...
DANTE'S INFERNO(1935, USA)The title actually refers to a fairground attraction, the story is of the people who run it. Spencer Tracy plays Jim Carter, a lazy sailor who loses his job as a ship's boiler stoker. He hits rock bottom when he has to make up as a black guy, (gulp), poking his face through a hole in a sideshow tent as a target for Coney Island punters to throw wooden balls at! I shudder to think what that game was called... Tracy remains in blackface for several more scenes, even as Pop McWade (Henry B Walthall - a regular performer for D.W. Griffith, also the scientist in Tod Browning's The Devil Doll) shows him around his elaborate exhibit devoted to Dante.
The two team up when Carter drums up new business for the empty attraction by hyping up all the famous, beautiful women of history that have been damned for eternity and the tortures they now endure. (Ironically, the film also sold itself by exaggerating the horrors of hell and the nudity of its inhabitants.) As the exhibit becomes a hit, Carter builds up an entertainment empire, only to fall foul of too many shortcuts in health and safety and the results of bulldozering his rivals...
The meandering storyline fails to portray Carter as being that much of a baddie, as his business practices are infinitely less shoddy than Gordon Gecko's. At home he's such a convincing family man it's hard to dislike him. He's hardly 'hell' material and the story is often far removed from anything from Dante. The climax is also confusingly off-topic, a spectacularly fiery disaster at sea which, luckily, only an ex-boiler stoker can avert.
The movie's highlight is Carter's guilty fever dream - an eight-minute descent into hell that absolutely looks like Gustav Dore's engravings. This haunting sequence is quite extraordinary, the focus of the film's publicity and posters. Huge elaborate sets, incorporating pools, fires, smoke effects and stuntwork, covered in dozens of half-naked extras. Cavernous functional scale models and matte paintings blend with the live action. Admittedly it all looks like it's from an entirely different film.
Obviously the writhings of the nearly naked actors had to be sufficiently subdued to get past the Hays Code, but the visible lessening of their suffering makes hell look, well, not that bad, and even a place I'd like to visit. There are only fit young men and women in this underworld. The women's bodies are practically obscured by overlong wigs, leaving the men to bear the brunt of the nudity. Frankly, they're all rather hot.
The hooded figures trooping around the underground mountains obviously inspired the hellish sequence 'inside' Disney's The Black Hole. Most of the 'vision of hell' is on YouTube, re-edited to the music of Enigma...
As Judd reads the book, the curse visits him in the form of a demon, causing him to visualise Dante's story. As the poet strays from the path, Beatrice summons Virgil to protect him (pictured) and lead him to safety, but the only way out is through hell... An angel even flies in with a blade of light, to force away attacking the demons and predatory creatures. As Judd watches Virgil leading Dante through hell, his life also descends in a downward spiral. The demon sends a few just rewards his way while he's alive, as a taster for his inevitable punishment in the fiery pit.
The story owes much to A Christmas Carol, though it's harder hitting in many ways, showing enthusiastic devils arriving to take away doomed souls from their expired bodies. The difference is that, unlike Scrooge, Judd can't see the supernatural visitor who is inspiring his visions and steering his fate.
Like the 1935 remake, hell is realised with huge sets, crowded caverns covered in naked extras, surrounded by flame and clouds of smoke. Foreground miniatures and forced perspective angles expand the scale of the vision, adding giant demons. The smaller devilish inhabitants are a lively lot, wielding flaming pitchforks and, ahem, whips. I noticed that the tableau of the naked girl being whipped (pictured above) had been censored out of this print, only showing the whipping, not the whippee. Possibly it was too sexual, too violent or too naked!
The damned being trapped under slab-like tombs, the curtain of fire, the forest of suicide victims, all come from the pages of Dante as drawn by Doré. But while several tableau are inspired by the same images as the 1935 remake, the footage has been filmed very differently, as far as I could see.
Coincidentally, this 1924 movie also has a character in blackface make-up, Judd's butler. A then-typical portrayal of slow-moving, eye-rolling comic relief. Watching some of his short films recently, it was interesting that Buster Keaton used black actors as incidental characters in his short films, around the same time and earlier, without such stereotyping or the need to use white guys in make-up.
This version of Dante's Inferno has the most lively and twisty plot, intertwined with many more ancient visions of damnation. But it isn’t available on DVD either. The consensus is that two reels (about twenty minutes) of the film has been lost forever (the original running time should have been 91 minutes), though the story didn't seem to suffer for it!
While researching this article, I learned of an even earlier silent version from Italy. It's a straightforward recreation of Dante's tour through hell, led by the Roman poet Virgil. There's no 'wraparound' story set in the present day. Typical of the time, the action is presented wide and distantly, like a stage, with few cuts or close-ups.
This very early film starts off resembling the short films of George Melies, with very basic visual effects and pantomime devils, the main difference being the exterior locations, quarries and cliffs standing in for the caverns of the underworld, but rather overlit for somewhere that's supposed to be underground.
The achievements of the film become more evident further on. Dozens of near-naked extras portraying the damned in various stages of suffering, even being buried headfirst in the ground with their legs sticking out. Some basic splitscreen work to make the sky black, render a walking corpse headless, and portray the gigantic Lucifer.
More interesting costumes are the winged demons, and some elaborate animal suits of a lion, harpies and a gryphon. Though the wirework to make them fly is more like a scenery change. It's still an ambitious achievement for a time when movie-making was so young.
This version, the nearly-nude inhabitants of hell at least look like everyday folk, rather than the beautiful denizens of Hollywood's hell. Limbless people are even used to represent the damned, predating the climax of Michael Winner's The Sentinel!
According to a comment on IMDB, this was the first feature-length film to be screened in the US, breaking the feared 'one-hour' barrier, at a time when exhibitors didn't think audiences would sit still that long for a relatively new entertainment! Arguably this could then be described as the first ever horror film. Once again the main draw of the movie was a mix of nudity and torture.
Sadly this, the least interesting version of the three, is the only one out on DVD (pictured), as it was recently restored and rescored by Tangerine Dream.
The 1911 Inferno also has a website with more images.
Watching these again, my allegiances changed from 1935 to 1924 as my favourite film version, though the hell sequence in the 1935 version is easily the most spectacular.
The two team up when Carter drums up new business for the empty attraction by hyping up all the famous, beautiful women of history that have been damned for eternity and the tortures they now endure. (Ironically, the film also sold itself by exaggerating the horrors of hell and the nudity of its inhabitants.) As the exhibit becomes a hit, Carter builds up an entertainment empire, only to fall foul of too many shortcuts in health and safety and the results of bulldozering his rivals...
The meandering storyline fails to portray Carter as being that much of a baddie, as his business practices are infinitely less shoddy than Gordon Gecko's. At home he's such a convincing family man it's hard to dislike him. He's hardly 'hell' material and the story is often far removed from anything from Dante. The climax is also confusingly off-topic, a spectacularly fiery disaster at sea which, luckily, only an ex-boiler stoker can avert.
The movie's highlight is Carter's guilty fever dream - an eight-minute descent into hell that absolutely looks like Gustav Dore's engravings. This haunting sequence is quite extraordinary, the focus of the film's publicity and posters. Huge elaborate sets, incorporating pools, fires, smoke effects and stuntwork, covered in dozens of half-naked extras. Cavernous functional scale models and matte paintings blend with the live action. Admittedly it all looks like it's from an entirely different film.
Obviously the writhings of the nearly naked actors had to be sufficiently subdued to get past the Hays Code, but the visible lessening of their suffering makes hell look, well, not that bad, and even a place I'd like to visit. There are only fit young men and women in this underworld. The women's bodies are practically obscured by overlong wigs, leaving the men to bear the brunt of the nudity. Frankly, they're all rather hot.
The hooded figures trooping around the underground mountains obviously inspired the hellish sequence 'inside' Disney's The Black Hole. Most of the 'vision of hell' is on YouTube, re-edited to the music of Enigma...
This movie is of interest as a Spencer Tracy vehicle, and as a melodrama with two spectacular scenes of disaster. But the vision of hell is easily worth the price of admission. Dante's Inferno (1935) needs a release on DVD, though it can still be spotted on TV on Turner Classic Movies.
DANTE'S INFERNO(1924, USA)
To check if the 1935 version used any footage from the earlier film, I resorted to a 67 minute bootleg of this silent movie version. Here the story sticks closer to Dante's message, and spends far more screen time in hell.
Mortimer Judd is rich and ruthless. He kicks his pet dog, he's that bad. He's a slumlord during the depression, and his business has just bankrupted his next door neighbour, Craig, driving him to the brink of suicide. As a parting shot, Craig sends Judd a volume of Dante's Inferno, inscribed with a curse...
Mortimer Judd is rich and ruthless. He kicks his pet dog, he's that bad. He's a slumlord during the depression, and his business has just bankrupted his next door neighbour, Craig, driving him to the brink of suicide. As a parting shot, Craig sends Judd a volume of Dante's Inferno, inscribed with a curse...
As Judd reads the book, the curse visits him in the form of a demon, causing him to visualise Dante's story. As the poet strays from the path, Beatrice summons Virgil to protect him (pictured) and lead him to safety, but the only way out is through hell... An angel even flies in with a blade of light, to force away attacking the demons and predatory creatures. As Judd watches Virgil leading Dante through hell, his life also descends in a downward spiral. The demon sends a few just rewards his way while he's alive, as a taster for his inevitable punishment in the fiery pit.
The story owes much to A Christmas Carol, though it's harder hitting in many ways, showing enthusiastic devils arriving to take away doomed souls from their expired bodies. The difference is that, unlike Scrooge, Judd can't see the supernatural visitor who is inspiring his visions and steering his fate.
Like the 1935 remake, hell is realised with huge sets, crowded caverns covered in naked extras, surrounded by flame and clouds of smoke. Foreground miniatures and forced perspective angles expand the scale of the vision, adding giant demons. The smaller devilish inhabitants are a lively lot, wielding flaming pitchforks and, ahem, whips. I noticed that the tableau of the naked girl being whipped (pictured above) had been censored out of this print, only showing the whipping, not the whippee. Possibly it was too sexual, too violent or too naked!
The damned being trapped under slab-like tombs, the curtain of fire, the forest of suicide victims, all come from the pages of Dante as drawn by Doré. But while several tableau are inspired by the same images as the 1935 remake, the footage has been filmed very differently, as far as I could see.
Coincidentally, this 1924 movie also has a character in blackface make-up, Judd's butler. A then-typical portrayal of slow-moving, eye-rolling comic relief. Watching some of his short films recently, it was interesting that Buster Keaton used black actors as incidental characters in his short films, around the same time and earlier, without such stereotyping or the need to use white guys in make-up.
This version of Dante's Inferno has the most lively and twisty plot, intertwined with many more ancient visions of damnation. But it isn’t available on DVD either. The consensus is that two reels (about twenty minutes) of the film has been lost forever (the original running time should have been 91 minutes), though the story didn't seem to suffer for it!
INFERNO
(1911, Italy, L'inferno)
(1911, Italy, L'inferno)
While researching this article, I learned of an even earlier silent version from Italy. It's a straightforward recreation of Dante's tour through hell, led by the Roman poet Virgil. There's no 'wraparound' story set in the present day. Typical of the time, the action is presented wide and distantly, like a stage, with few cuts or close-ups.
This very early film starts off resembling the short films of George Melies, with very basic visual effects and pantomime devils, the main difference being the exterior locations, quarries and cliffs standing in for the caverns of the underworld, but rather overlit for somewhere that's supposed to be underground.
The achievements of the film become more evident further on. Dozens of near-naked extras portraying the damned in various stages of suffering, even being buried headfirst in the ground with their legs sticking out. Some basic splitscreen work to make the sky black, render a walking corpse headless, and portray the gigantic Lucifer.
More interesting costumes are the winged demons, and some elaborate animal suits of a lion, harpies and a gryphon. Though the wirework to make them fly is more like a scenery change. It's still an ambitious achievement for a time when movie-making was so young.
This version, the nearly-nude inhabitants of hell at least look like everyday folk, rather than the beautiful denizens of Hollywood's hell. Limbless people are even used to represent the damned, predating the climax of Michael Winner's The Sentinel!
According to a comment on IMDB, this was the first feature-length film to be screened in the US, breaking the feared 'one-hour' barrier, at a time when exhibitors didn't think audiences would sit still that long for a relatively new entertainment! Arguably this could then be described as the first ever horror film. Once again the main draw of the movie was a mix of nudity and torture.
Sadly this, the least interesting version of the three, is the only one out on DVD (pictured), as it was recently restored and rescored by Tangerine Dream.
The 1911 Inferno also has a website with more images.
Watching these again, my allegiances changed from 1935 to 1924 as my favourite film version, though the hell sequence in the 1935 version is easily the most spectacular.
Thursday, 2 December 2010
November Screening Log
A large dip in moving watching was made possible for many reasons, most of which included Thanksgiving holiday and going out of town for five days. I was happy I was able to get out to the movies more then a few times, including getting to see Harry Potter at a theater built in 1942.
14) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1/ Theater / B
13) Best Worst Movie/ DVD/ B+
12) Back to the Future/ DVD / A
11) Ken Burns: Baseball: The Tenth Inning/ DV-R / A-
10) Cobra/ Netflix Instant / B
9) Unstoppable/ Theater / B-
8) Lost Boys: The Thirst/ DVD/ C
7) Get Him to the Greek/ DVD/ B
6) I Am Sam/ Netflix Instant/ A-
5) Batman: Under the Red Hood/ Netflix Instant/ C
4) L.A. Story/ DVD/ A-
3) Major League/ DVD/ A-
2) Due Date/ Theater/ B-
1) I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell / DVD/ B-
Stand out movie of the month was a tie between Best Worst Movie, a great movie about how Troll 2 is such a bad movie that people love it and Cobra, a total 1980's film starring Sylvester Stallone as a one liner machine who happens to kick ass.
Monday, 29 November 2010
Power Poll - Week 12
1. (-) New England Patriots (9-2)- Patriots got to feast on Thanksgiving by playing the Lions. Still have some of the best throw back uniforms!
2. (3) Atlanta Falcons (9-2) - Beat the Packers to continue to show they are the best the NFC has to offer.
3. (2) New York Jets (9-2) - Stuffed the Bengals on Thanksgiving (how many more Thanksgiving related jokes can I write?)
4. (5) Baltimore Ravens (8-3) - Besides the Falcons they were the only team in the top 5 to play a good team (Buccaneers) and win.
5. (4) Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3) - I am sure most people thought the game against the Bills would be a blowout, they were a sure handed catch(that was dropped) away from defeat.
6. (12) San Diego Chargers (6-5) - They move up a lot because they are showing they belong in the top and all this with Mike Tolbert at RB.
7. (10) Chicago Bears (8-3) - After next weeks game against Detroit they play the Patriots, @Vikings, Jets, and @Packers check in after that to see if they are for real.
8. (6) Green Bay Packers (7-4) - Stayed close with Atlanta on the road and they still could push Chicago for the division.
9. (8) New Orleans Saints (8-3) - They have seemingly righted the ship and could be a team that flies under the radar come playoff time.
10. (7) Philadelphia Eagles (7-4) - Lost pretty bad in Chicago, Vick threw his first interception of the season.
11. (9) Indianapolis Colts (6-5) - They do not look like the Colts of old but they also have lost so many important guys to injury.
12. (13) New York Giants (7-4) - They managed to make a second half comeback and stay in the hunt.
13. (14) Kansas City Chiefs (7-4) - Dwayne Bowe put Tecmo Bowl like stats over the Seahawks (13 catches, 170 yards, 3 Td's).
14. (11) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-4) - They finally had a chance to beat a team over .500, and hung around with the Ravens until they lost 17-10.
15. (-) Miami Dolphins (6-5) - Ricky Williams rushed for 95 yards and Ronnie Brown had 85 yards as well in a 33-17 win over Oakland.
16. (-) Jacksonville Jaguars (6-5) - Yes this team has the division lead over the Colts.
17. (20) Houston Texans (5-6) - Andre Johnson's fight got all the headlines, no one noticed they beat the Titans 20-0.
18. (24) St Louis Rams (5-6) - Yes this team has the NFC West division lead!
19. (-) Washington Redskins (5-6) - They had the game won and then the refs called back the kick off return due to penalty, 8-8 looks doable.
20. (17) Oakland Raiders (5-6) - The Raiders fall continues, they had 16 net rushing yards against the Dolphins.
21. (22) Cleveland Browns (4-7) - This team loves to win close games! Peyton Hillis continues to be the feel good story of the year (3 more Td's on Sunday), could the white running back be back?
22. (18) Tennessee Titans (5-6) - I must insist they try someone else besides Rusty Smith at Qb. Chris Johnson had 7 carries for 5 yards?!
23. (21) Seattle Seahawks (5-6) - They have lost 5 of their last 6, luckily they have the Panthers and Niners up next.
24. (25) Minnesota Vikings (4-7) - Just when people stopped talking about Mr. Favre he had to win and get his name going again.
25. (23) Dallas Cowboys (3-8) - They had a chance to tie it up but Kicker David Buehler proved to be a turkey and missed the kick.
26. (27) San Francisco 49ers (4-7) - Somehow this team is only 1 game back, but bad news in losing Frank Gore for what appears to be the rest of the season.
27. (28) Buffalo Bills (2-9) - I feel bad for Steve Johnson, he had the game winning catch in his hands and it just slipped through. At least the Bills play close in most games.
28. (26) Denver Broncos (3-8) - They recorded a 49ers practice but that doesn't help your team from having no defense.
29. (-) Detroit Lions (2-9) - Stafford, Johnson, Best, and Pettigrew should give this team hope going forward
30. (-) Arizona Cardinals (3-7) - They looked terrible losing bad on Monday night, almost made me feel bad for them.
31. (-) Cincinnati Bengals (2-9) - I wish I had good news, but remaining games are against: Saints, Steelers, Browns, Chargers, and Ravens.
32. (-) Carolina Panthers (1-10) - In my fantasy league I meant to pick up Panthers RB Mike Goodson and accidentally picked up WR David Gettis, I feel this explains the Panthers season.
2. (3) Atlanta Falcons (9-2) - Beat the Packers to continue to show they are the best the NFC has to offer.
3. (2) New York Jets (9-2) - Stuffed the Bengals on Thanksgiving (how many more Thanksgiving related jokes can I write?)
4. (5) Baltimore Ravens (8-3) - Besides the Falcons they were the only team in the top 5 to play a good team (Buccaneers) and win.
5. (4) Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3) - I am sure most people thought the game against the Bills would be a blowout, they were a sure handed catch(that was dropped) away from defeat.
6. (12) San Diego Chargers (6-5) - They move up a lot because they are showing they belong in the top and all this with Mike Tolbert at RB.
7. (10) Chicago Bears (8-3) - After next weeks game against Detroit they play the Patriots, @Vikings, Jets, and @Packers check in after that to see if they are for real.
8. (6) Green Bay Packers (7-4) - Stayed close with Atlanta on the road and they still could push Chicago for the division.
9. (8) New Orleans Saints (8-3) - They have seemingly righted the ship and could be a team that flies under the radar come playoff time.
10. (7) Philadelphia Eagles (7-4) - Lost pretty bad in Chicago, Vick threw his first interception of the season.
11. (9) Indianapolis Colts (6-5) - They do not look like the Colts of old but they also have lost so many important guys to injury.
12. (13) New York Giants (7-4) - They managed to make a second half comeback and stay in the hunt.
13. (14) Kansas City Chiefs (7-4) - Dwayne Bowe put Tecmo Bowl like stats over the Seahawks (13 catches, 170 yards, 3 Td's).
14. (11) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-4) - They finally had a chance to beat a team over .500, and hung around with the Ravens until they lost 17-10.
15. (-) Miami Dolphins (6-5) - Ricky Williams rushed for 95 yards and Ronnie Brown had 85 yards as well in a 33-17 win over Oakland.
16. (-) Jacksonville Jaguars (6-5) - Yes this team has the division lead over the Colts.
17. (20) Houston Texans (5-6) - Andre Johnson's fight got all the headlines, no one noticed they beat the Titans 20-0.
18. (24) St Louis Rams (5-6) - Yes this team has the NFC West division lead!
19. (-) Washington Redskins (5-6) - They had the game won and then the refs called back the kick off return due to penalty, 8-8 looks doable.
20. (17) Oakland Raiders (5-6) - The Raiders fall continues, they had 16 net rushing yards against the Dolphins.
21. (22) Cleveland Browns (4-7) - This team loves to win close games! Peyton Hillis continues to be the feel good story of the year (3 more Td's on Sunday), could the white running back be back?
22. (18) Tennessee Titans (5-6) - I must insist they try someone else besides Rusty Smith at Qb. Chris Johnson had 7 carries for 5 yards?!
23. (21) Seattle Seahawks (5-6) - They have lost 5 of their last 6, luckily they have the Panthers and Niners up next.
24. (25) Minnesota Vikings (4-7) - Just when people stopped talking about Mr. Favre he had to win and get his name going again.
25. (23) Dallas Cowboys (3-8) - They had a chance to tie it up but Kicker David Buehler proved to be a turkey and missed the kick.
26. (27) San Francisco 49ers (4-7) - Somehow this team is only 1 game back, but bad news in losing Frank Gore for what appears to be the rest of the season.
27. (28) Buffalo Bills (2-9) - I feel bad for Steve Johnson, he had the game winning catch in his hands and it just slipped through. At least the Bills play close in most games.
28. (26) Denver Broncos (3-8) - They recorded a 49ers practice but that doesn't help your team from having no defense.
29. (-) Detroit Lions (2-9) - Stafford, Johnson, Best, and Pettigrew should give this team hope going forward
30. (-) Arizona Cardinals (3-7) - They looked terrible losing bad on Monday night, almost made me feel bad for them.
31. (-) Cincinnati Bengals (2-9) - I wish I had good news, but remaining games are against: Saints, Steelers, Browns, Chargers, and Ravens.
32. (-) Carolina Panthers (1-10) - In my fantasy league I meant to pick up Panthers RB Mike Goodson and accidentally picked up WR David Gettis, I feel this explains the Panthers season.
Friday, 26 November 2010
EYE OF THE CAT (1969) - animal attack psycho-thriller still Not On DVD
EYE OF THE CAT(USA, 1969)
(Updated article - first reviewed December 1st, 2005)
A twisty, atmospheric thriller written by Joseph Stefano, the scriptwriter of Psycho no less. After the success of Psycho, Stefano famously turned down Hitchcock's offer of scripting The Birds in order to help write and produce classic sci-fi series The Outer Limits with Leslie Stevens. His career in film, after that decision, was far less busy than his work for TV. But in Eye of the Cat, Stefano mixed eerie elements from both Psycho and The Birds into one carefully tangled scenario.
A twisty, atmospheric thriller written by Joseph Stefano, the scriptwriter of Psycho no less. After the success of Psycho, Stefano famously turned down Hitchcock's offer of scripting The Birds in order to help write and produce classic sci-fi series The Outer Limits with Leslie Stevens. His career in film, after that decision, was far less busy than his work for TV. But in Eye of the Cat, Stefano mixed eerie elements from both Psycho and The Birds into one carefully tangled scenario.
Wylie (Michael Sarrazin) and Cassia (Gayle Hunnicutt) are a scheming young couple trying to worm their way into a hefty inheritance. Wylie's step-mother (Eleanor Parker) is severely ill with a lung condition, but has written him out of the will after he left the family home years ago. As he returns to regain her good intentions, he discovers that 'Aunt Danny' now has a hundred cats in the house, and he's intensely ailurophobic, that is intensely frightened of having any cat around. The cats also seem to be protecting their ailing owner...
I was first aware of the film from Ivan Butler's Horror in the Cinema, which presented it in the sub-genre of cat-horror! A supernaturally-intelligent ginger moggy appears to know all about the murder plot and all its friends will fiercely try and prevent it. Slow-motion photography, harsh lighting and extra-loud growling and hissing (overlaid with a similar ferocity to The Birds soundtrack), together with the terrified reactions of cat-phobic Wiley, sells the idea of the dozens of cats as malevolent and violent. A queasy score by Lalo Schifrin (Bullitt, Dirty Harry - also very SF movies) describes Wiley's paranoia whenever there's a cat nearby. Their appetites are made more threatening by having their catfood awash in bright red blood.
It's also a smartly written thriller, set in San Francisco at its most 'happening', with sixties sexual attitudes and hip-words. One scene, in a smoky pot-den, presented one of the first non-judgemental gay jokes that I'd ever seen. Stefano exaggerates the amount of black humour that he'd subtly laced throughout his script for Psycho.
My favourite scene is when Aunt Danny's electric wheelchair malfunctions on a steep San Francisco hill... It's cleverly laid out, in a suspense sequence obviously inspired by Hitchcock, Eleanor Parker reaching out to the camera just like Martin Balsam did on that staircase.
Eye of the Cat stars Michael Sarrazin (who next starred opposite Jane Fonda in her Oscar-nominated performance in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? as well as The Reincarnation of Peter Proud) and Gayle Hunnicutt (The Legend of Hell House) both at their sexy heights, along with Tim Henry adding extra beefcake as Wiley's subservient younger brother. Eleanor Parker (The Naked Jungle), despite playing an ailing society dame, is still alluring enough to add a vibrant sexual element to the relationship with her stepsons.
You may recognise the doctor, actor Laurence Naismith, from Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The Persuaders (1971), The Valley of Gwangi (made the same year) and the original Village of the Damned (1960).
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| Director David Lovell Rich with Eleanor Parker and Tim Henry (right) |
Eye of the Cat was last available on home video on VHS in the US, but also used to play regularly on late night British TV. The action is framed very low in the 1.33 frame, presumably to protect fully exposing many of the actors' during nude scenes. I'd love to see it available on DVD and the soundtrack on CD.
and here's a clip on YouTube (no spoilers)...
Eye of the Cat location visit - the house on the hill, by the park
The filming location for the exteriors of the great house on the hill, and the park opposite - can be found at the junction of Octavia Street (the name can be seen inscribed on a kerbstone in one scene) and Washington Street. We visited and took these photographs in 1998. The wheelchair hill runs downhill northwards from the big house, which sits on a T-junction backing onto Lafayette Square park, also used in the film.
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