ROLL THE REEL: THE ROARING TWENTIES - 1922

      The Roaring Twenties.  The Jazz Age was home to the Harlem Renaissance, Al Capone, fedoras (when they were cool), my family's original business, flappers, and Ernest Hemingway's African Safari trophy room.  Let's face it, from the Jazz to the Art Deco, the Twenties era is the original epitome of cool.

      The era was fun-loving, modern, and fast-paced while at the same time seeking a "Return to Normalcy".  The Progressive Era seemed to be a failure to most because World War I didn't end all wars like Wilson had promised when America entered it following the Russian Revolution of 1917 (Wow. HUGE shocker right there).  In the end, people voted for business-oriented Republicans and supported Prohibition while Congress amended the Constitution, granting women the right to vote and more liberal expressions of art were being explored.  The liberating world of art boomed in the Twenties, in the face of a rise in religion and conservatism in public culture.  At the forefront of this boom was the newest artistic medium: movies.

      As the Hollywood System developed and grew, plus the experimental cinema of the rest of planet Earth, movies grew and expanded faster and far beyond anything we could comprehend even now.  The Twenties really are one of the most exciting eras in movies, so let's get on with the show!  Today it's...

1922

I.     NOSFERATU, EINE SYMPHONIE DES GRAUENS (MARCH 4th, 1922)

 

Directed by F. W. Murnau

        What defines a horror movie?  Nowadays it seems that if it mentions the devil, has some brief nudity, and more fake blood than a Marilyn Manson concert, it's the next Night of the Living Dead and everybody loves it.  This folks, is untrue.  If you want to see what defines a horror movie, look no further than Nosferatu.

    Nosferatu is an unlicensed adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula novel, and illegal, bootlegged scripts have never been better.  From the innovative make-up work, to the German Expressionist set design that's influenced everything from The Night of the Hunter to Frankenweenie, to the creeping, shadowy camerawork that made Roger Ebert cry as a child, this movie pretty much laid down all the foundations for a masterful horror film.

    Nosferatu's influence can be seen elsewhere in the world of entertainment.  My personal favorite is the "Hashslinging Slasher" episode of Spongebob where they use several of the motifs and shots from the film.  Keep on the look out readers, I bet you'll see references to this film in everything from music to movies to normal people walking across the street acting like creepy vampires.  And not Cullens. I mean actual vampires like Nosferatu or Count Blackula.

II.     GRANDMA'S BOY (SEPTEMBER 3RD, 1922)

Directed by Fred C. Newmeyer

     The world of comedy is a sad one nowadays folks.  Every hipster wants to make the next Annie Hall and every big budget Hollywood fat cat grips a dart in his pudgy fingers and aims a dart at a dartboard and whatever unoriginal, stereotypical romcom plot he hits is the next Friends with Benefits.  Cheesy romantic comedies started in 1922 with Grandma's Boy.

     Now, I may sound opposed to cheesy romantic comedies, but this one is the original.  Every motif we call lame now because they've been so overused are so overused because Grandma's Boy is so good.  Everything you know about these types of movies started here: the nerdy leading man who becomes a hero, the girl who won't notice him, the purely evil antagonist, the grandma/older figure who's smarter than you think, "magic" of any kind, and even the "you had the magic all along" bit we all loved in Space Jam.  In terms of screenwriting, Grandma's Boy is responsible for the invention of the modern, feature length comedy film.

     Before Grandma's Boy nobody ever imagined a feature length comedy film; comedies were the 3 minute snippets for children that came on before a Western or Drama.  After Grandma's Boy this attitude changed and comedies finally had a place next to the big guns on the movie trophy rack.

III.     NANOOK OF THE NORTH (JUNE 11TH, 1922)

Directed by Robert J. Flaherty

     Americans love to feel intelligent, decadent, and most of all, compassionate.  Naturally so, documentaries are a big deal to us (hence people like Ken Burns and Michael Moore have jobs). The father of the documentary/docudrama film is Mr. Robert J. Flaherty and his film Nanook of the North solidified the documentary's place in cinema as a medium equal in excitement and intrigue as dramas, comedies, and what have you.

     Nanook of the North was shot on a giant hand crank-operated camera somewhere in the Hudson Bay near Inukjuak.  With the aid of his small Inuit crew, Flaherty was able to give many people their first taste of Inuit culture plus the first feature-length documentary.

     Although some scenes were staged, Nanook of the North is regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made and set the stage for documentary filmmaking to come in terms of ethics, production, and cool subject matter like badass Eskimos who use harpoons to eat dinner (although they usually used guns; Flaherty had them use spears and harpoons to give non-Inuits a look at what the culture was like before the influence of whites).

     If one were to ascribe a character from an overplayed high school comedy-drama that you still love to the year 1922 in terms of cinema, it would be the trend-setter.  The one who wore scarves and thick glasses with no lenses actually before it was cool.  "Have you ever heard of this band, 1922?" we'd timidly ask 1922.  "Yeah, I heard them before they got big, they're so good" is what 1922 would say because it's not pretentious about it, it's too good for such things.  1922 set the stage for cinema to go new places and try wild things, and it just got better as the decade went on.  Next time on Merrick's March Movie Madness it's...

1925!

Keep reading Bad Craziness for everything you could ever learn about movies!  follow me on Twitter and like the Facebook Page so you can overload yourself with more information than your brain has room for!  And always remember,

~Viva amigos,

      ~D. Merrick

ROLL THE REEL: THE IN BETWEEN TEENS - 1916

People my age have some trouble remembering a time when we here in America weren't conflicted about going to war.  Imagine an era where everybody was all GUNG HO! about going to war.

The era you're most likely imagining right now is most certainly NOT the World War I era or any era for that matter.  Prior to WWI, some folks (like Emma Goldman) were violently opposed to the idea of going to war and others (including the U.S. Government) were violently opposed to those who were violently opposed.  In 1916, right before we were about to ship our Yanks off to fight the Hun and save the world from any future wars (which makes cold fusion look like tying shoes), the country was in a state of cultural upheaval over whether or not to join the war effort in Europe.  Movies gave us some valuable points of view about going to war.

There was everything!  Pacifists, war hawks, Russians; everything you need to start a good debate.  So let's kick off...

1916

I.     INTOLERANCE (SEPTEMBER 15th, 1916)

Directed by D. W. Griffith

      The Birth of a Nation pissed off everyone around, so D. W. Griffith decided to make another 3 hour epic dealing with controversial takes on controversial topics.  This 3 hour epic dealing with controversial takes on controversial topics is now regarded as one of the absolute masterpieces of the Silent Era and it's one of my favorite films.

      Intolerance contains 4 different stories as only Griffith could put on the big screen.  The four stories follow a chronological order that only jumps through history a little bit:  ancient Babylon (circa 539 BC), Biblical times (27 AD), Renaissance Era France (1572), and "modern" America (1914).  All of them deal with the idea of intolerance and its consequences.

      The estimated budget of this film nowadays is $46 billion which for 1916 was equivalent to EVERYONE'S INCOME EVERYWHERE.  The scale of the movie is almost beyond comprehension and Griffith's utilization of everything involved in the filmmaking process really distinguished his place among the pantheon of true auteur directors.  

II.     THE QUEEN OF SPADES (APRIL FOOL'S DAY, 1916)

Directed by Yakov Protazanov

     Protazanov was one of the Russian Empire's most celebrated filmmakers when the serfs of Russia were still cool with the pogroms and brutal poverty.  Luckily for us, he wasn't!  

     The Queen of Spades is based off of Alexander Pushkin's short story of the same name, which is a cautionary tale about lying, trust, and putting all your turnips in one vodka milkshake.  It's revolutionary use of combination shots influenced directors all over Mother Russia, especially Lev Kuleshov who was so good at it that it was eventually named after him.  

     The themes of the film were quite poignant at the time of its release and annoyed both the Czar and the Bolsheviks alike.  With its imagery, innovative camera work, and in depth adapted screenplay, Protazanov's Queen of Spades is regarded as one of the greatest films to come out of the Pre-Revolutionary Period.

III.     CIVILZATION

Directed by Reginald Barker, Thomas H. Ince, and Raymond B. West

     There are two films of this decade that were real game-changers in the world of cinema.  One is The Birth of a Nation which I went over in the last post and the other one is the pacifist anthem Civilzation.

     Most of the movies that I've listed so far I've listed for their technical merits and achievements, but Civilization has all that and then some.  Besides having one of the most famous and complicated sequences of the Silent Era, it's also one of the first movies (and probably only movies) to be responsible for the outcome of a presidential election (sorry Michael Moore, you tried buddy).  It's the first film to depict Jesus and thus became one of the first films to be condemned by the Catholic Church.

      The famous scene where Jesus walks through the combat zone, showing the King the horrors of war is easily one of the most beautiful and influential scenes ever put on film and one of my favorites.  I wish I could devote a whole post to this one, but I'll have to leave it at this.

     

     Well folks, we'll be moving onto the Roaring Twenties, leaving "the War to End All Wars" behind in favor of flappers, bootlegging, and flag pole sitting!  But we're leaving the In Between teens with hours of film lodged deep in our brains and a hope for even more solid ones to come.  Our next year here at Merrick's March Movie Madness is...

1922!

Stay tuned on Bad Craziness folks!  Follow me on Twitter (@DylanMerrick6) and like the brand new Bad Craziness Facebook Page!  And always remember,

~Viva amigos,

   ~D. Merrick

ROLL THE REEL: THE IN BETWEEN TEENS - 1914

To kick things off here folks in Merrick's March Movie Madness, I'm starting out my journey through cinema with the "In Between Teens".  

I call the 1910's the In Between Teens because this era was the questionable adolescence of cinema.  Cinema was unsure about itself like the lead character in a bad John Hughes movie (or all John Hughes movies) and was searching for a voice.  These years were formative for the entire world; imperialism was the diplomacy of choice; Empires were falling and being created everyday; the world was at war for the later half of the decade; the number of political movements growing and dying in America alone were creating turmoil, but also making the era truly exciting.  Taking a nod from the decade they were made in, films were never sure what was going to happen next.  It was in this decade that such celebrated filmmakers as Cecil B. DeMille, D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chpalin, Yakov Protazanov, and Giovanni Pastrone got their start and cinema became a real contender (ANYBODY CATCH THE REFERENCE??) as an art form even without CGI, color, sound, or Botox.

My first favorite year in this crazy decade is 1914, the year War broke out in Europe and plenty of people in the U.S. were hesitant about getting involved.  1914 marked three watershed events in cinema that also happen to be three of my favorite movies.  ROLL THE REEL, JOHNNY.

1914

I.   KID AUTO RACES AT VENICE (Released Feb. 7th, 1914)

Directed by Henry Lehrman

     Ah, Chaplain you strange little man with a controversial mustache.  This film marked Chaplain's first appearance as his now iconic "Little Tramp" character that has been copied, covered, spoofed, mentioned, stolen, and emulated by everybody from Robert Downey, Jr. (in a film about Chaplain so I guess it makes sense) to Stanley Kubrick.

     Kid Auto Races at Venice is literally just 6 minutes of Chaplain getting booted off camera for getting in the way of almost every shot the director is trying to get of cars zooming past at a Venice Beach drag race.  What makes this film golden is the fact that it was actually improvised and he really was annoying the crowd (not the director who was in on the whole thing).  The facial and physical comedy, fluid editing, and camera movement were unheard of for comedy and are still too complex for most silly, brutally stupid, slapstick comedies of today (The Tooth Fairy anyone?).

     This film (along with Chaplain's debut Making a Living which came out literally 5 days before) established Chaplain as a superstar in the United States and every director, actor, bowler hat enthusiast, and movie lover can thank him and the silly cops and executives at Keyston Studios for that.

II.   GERTIE THE DINOSAUR (Released September 14th, 1914)

Directed by Winsor McCay

     Like all good children of the '90's, I'm an animation junkie.  If I could move into Rocko's Modern Life or into Dexter's Laboratory, I'd be typing this from the sketchbook of Joe Murray/Genndy Tartakovsky in a heart beat.  I've got an IV full of Spongebob and it's never leaving my mainline.  But enough of this Clinton-era nostalgia!  Were it not for this film, I'd be talking about going outside or some nonsense like that.

     Gertie the Dinosaur although is not the first animated feature film, is one of the most influential pieces of animation to ever spill out of the mind of someone with a name as nerdy as Winsor McCay.  The film is simply the chronicles of a dinosaur named Gertie and how she goes about her day in a prehistoric, animated world.  She's a very mischievous dinosaur and often gets scolded by the big bad director, who ultimately ends up jumping into her world to ride on her head into the sunset.

     Everyone from Walt Disney to Terry Gilliam to Trey Parker & Matt Stone have noted this film as an influence on their animation style for its playful nature with subtly subversive humor.  This groundbreaking piece of animated cinema was one of the first films to be recognized as a "masterpiece", and if you watch it, o fair reader, you'll see exactly why.

III.     CABIRIA (Released April 18th, 1914)

Directed by Giovanni Pastrone

     When it was re-screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, Martin Scorsese filmed an introduction about its beauty and importance to Italian cinema and all cinema.  This five part film odyssey is to Italy what Birth of a Nation is to America: the first film epic (...and a tool used by hate groups to get people to join their savage ranks but that's besides the point don't worry about it).  It forged new grounds for cinema in terms of scale, cinematography, and story that had yet to be tried and that most filmmakers are still fearful of today.

     Cabiria tells various stories from the history of the Roman Empire all woven into the life and love of one girl named Cabiria.  I do not want to spoil the plot of the film, nor do I want to spend the next 8 days typing, so I can only say WATCH IT. Although it's denser than Proust and longer than a 2 day acid flashback, it's one of the most amazing feats of film that you'll ever feast your eyes on.

     This movie is, like the others that I listed above, one of my absolute favorites and one of the major jumping points for film.  It came at a time when cinema was looking for a voice, and it gave movies a voice as epic and cool as James Earl Jones singing Rolling Stones songs in the shower.  This one raised the bar and remains an amazing, awe-inspiring sight today, which is not something that can be easily accomplished.  If I were to make a comparison, we watch this movie today the same way my 128 great great great grandkids (whose great great grandparents I didn't know existed or "paid child support" for) will look at The Lord of the Rings series; NOT Avatar or Titanic because everyone in the future will have run James Cameron back into the woods far away from movies where he belongs.

This marks the beginning, folks.

Stay tuned as Merrick's March Movie Madness continues with my next favorite year in cinema:

1915!

Follow me on Twitter ( @DylanMerrick6 ) for all the best movie info and news (plus some other stuff too from time to time).  And always remember!

~Viva amigos,

   ~D. Merrick