90 Movies in 90 Days: Terje Vigen (1917) and He Who Gets Slapped (1924)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Today it’s a two-fer from director Victor Sjöström

Title: Terje Vigen (English: A Man There Was)
Release Date: 29 January 1917
Director: Victor Sjöström
Production Company: Svenska Biografteatern
Summary/Review:

Victor Sjöström directs and stars in a film about the horrors of war, grief, vengeance, and ultimately forgiveness.  He plays Terje Vigen, a man in Norway during the Napoleonic Wars who attempts to break a British blockade to smuggle food for if family.  Instead he is captured and imprisoned for five years losing everything.  Later in life as a pilot he gets the opportunity to take revenge on the man who ruined his life. This movie looks terrific, especially for being over 100 years old.  The ocean is a major part of the film, almost a character in itself, and the cinematography captures it beautifully.

Rating: ****

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Title: He Who Gets Slapped
Release Date: 11/9/1924
Director: Victor Sjöström
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Summary/Review:

Victor Sjöström moved to the United States and shortly afterwards directed one of the first films produced by the new MGM studios.  Scientist Paul Beaumont (Lon Chaney) is betrayed both by his wife and his benefactor, Baron Regnard (Marc McDermott).  Humiliated, he joins a circus where he performs as a clown whose act is getting slapped by other clowns. He falls for Consuelo (Norma Shearer), a trick horseback rider who is also the daughter of a count who has lost his fortune.  Beaumont is obsessed with Consuelo and when he learns that Consuelo’s father plans to marry her off to the Baron, he plots a gruesome revenge.  This is a strange movie, but a stylistic triumph, especially the numerous cut scenes featuring clowns and spinning globes. This is definitely not a movie for anyone with a fear of clowns.

Rating: ***1/2

90 Movies in 90 Days: A Goofy Movie (1995)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: A Goofy Movie
Release Date: April 7, 1995
Director: Kevin Lima
Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures | Disney MovieToons | Walt Disney Television Animation
Summary/Review:

There have been numerous cultural touchstones of the Millennial Generation that I initially missed out on by being a Gen Xer that I discovered later were actually pretty good.  In the case of A Goofy Movie, though, I think only 90s kids will understand.  The sitcom-ish story involves Max finally getting a date with the girl of his dreams, but all of his plans are ruined when his father Goofy wants to go on a cross country trip.  The humor in this movie feels like the type of stuff that out-of-touch adults who don’t understand kids would write, at least to my jaded Gen X eyes.  There are some good parts with Goofy just trying to be a good single father and actually bonding with Max, but they come late in a film full of cringeworthy gags.  This is definitely a movie that was not for me.

Rating: **

 

 

90 Movies in 90 Days: Hospital (1970)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: Hospital
Release Date: February 2, 1970
Director: Frederick Wiseman
Production Company: Osti Productions
Summary/Review:

“No one wants to stay here. No one wants to stay in a hospital!”

When someone is a patient at a hospital it is typically one of the worst times of their lives.  To deal with both the volume and individual trauma of patients, hospital staff fall back on bureaucratic procedures to deal with the uncertainty.  Frederick Wiseman’s Hospital deals with the tension that arises when bureaucratic practices don’t meet people on one of the worst days of their lives.

That said the hospital staff at the Metropolitan Hospital Center in East Harlem, New York are always compassionate.  We see them lose their cool only when having to deal with jumping through the hoops of insurance companies and other regulations.  It’s most frustrating when a doctor tries to get welfare for a LGBTQ child who has been abandoned by their parent. Perhaps the most infuriating thing about watching this movie 55 years after it was made is that despite advances in medicine, the American healthcare is still dealing with inequality  and an overwhelmed public health system.

But Wiseman’s camera typically focuses on the patients dealing with traumatic injuries, drug and alcohol overdoses, and possibly cancer. The little vignettes of these patients really capture human vulnerability.  It can be difficult to watch, not just because of the emotion, but also because the camera doesn’t shy away from the gore. We see surgery and an autopsy, we see blood and we see vomit – so much vomit.

This is the the third Wiseman documentary I’ve watched after Titicut Follies and High School, and I need to watch more (although his later films come nowhere close to qualifying for 90 movies in 90 days due to their extensive length).

Rating: ****

 

90 Movies in 90 Days: The King and the Mockingbird (1980)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: The King and the Mockingbird
Release Date: March 18, 1980
Director: Paul Grimault
Production Company: Les Films Paul Grimault |  Les Films Gibé | Antenne 2
Summary/Review:

Over 30 years in the making, The King and the Mockingbird is a surreal animated fantasy film known as an inspiration for Studio Ghibli founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. The film bridges Disney and Warner Bros animation styles with the later Ghibli style and is inventive in its own ways.  The basic plot involves an autocratic king who is deposed by a painting of himself and then pursues a shepherdess  from another painting who is actually in love with a chimney sweep.  All along he has taunted by a bird who unravels all the king’s plots.  The animation is as delightfully weird as the plot.

Rating: ****

90 Movies in 90 Days: Frybread Face and Me (2023)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: Frybread Face and Me
Release Date: November 24, 2023
Director: Billy Luther
Production Company: Indion Entertainment | REI Co-op Studios
Summary/Review:

When 11-year-old Benny’s (Keir Tallman) parents split up he is sent from his home in San Diago to spend the summer on the farm of his Grandma (Sarah H. Natani) on a Navajo reservation in Arizona. He’s soon joined by his older cousin Dawn (Charley Hogan) – who’s known by the nickname “Frybread Face.”  Their relationship is hostile at first but they gradually form a bond over their shared status as outsiders.

The movie is not heavy on plot as it is more about a sense of place and spending time with these characters.  From Grandma (who doesn’t speak English), Benny and Dawn learn of the traditions of the Diné from rearing sheep to weaving.  Their macho uncle Marvin (Martin Sensmeier) is harsher, especially on his expectations for Benny’s manhood, although we learn over time that he is resentful over being the only one of his siblings to remain on the farm.  They also receive visits from their youngest aunt Lucy (Kahara Hodges) a free spirit who helps Benny explore his identity and gender non-comformity.

All in all this is sweet film with a coming of age story that many will find relatable even from very different cultures than those depicted in the movie.

Rating: ****

90 Movies in 90 Days: Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: Bad Day at Black Rock 
Release Date: January 7, 1955
Director: John Sturges
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Summary/Review:

Bad Day at Black Rock blends Film Noir with a modern Western aesthetic to tell a chilling story of racial prejudice and American reactionary politics.  In late 1945, a passenger train makes a rare whistle stop in the tiny desert town of Black Rock. War veteran John J. Macreedy (Spencer Tracy) finds that the people of Black Rock are suspicious of him, paranoid even, within moments of his arrival.  His stated goal of finding a Japanese-American farmer named Komoko only increases their hostility.  Soon it’s clear that Macreedy’s life is at risk as the townfolk coalesce behind the strong man Reno Smith (Robert Ryan).  He does find support from the alcoholic sheriff Tim Horn (Dean Jagger) and the veterinarian/mortician Doc Vellie (Walter Brennan), but Macreedy needs to rely on his own wits to escape Black Rock alive.

Without spoiling things, I liked how the reason for Macreedy’s visit is revealed late in the movie and is not what I expected.  The cast for this film is strong and also includes Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, and Anne Francis.  Tracy is probably too old for the character he’s playing but his performance of a man who is outwardly unflappable but nonetheless clearly fearful for his life is excellent.  The cinematography which emphasizes the wide open spaces of the Western desert is impressive.  And despite the sunshine and bold colors, this is a very dark story about America made during the McCarthy Era and sadly still relevant today.

Rating: ****

90 Movies in 90 Days: Pieces of April

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: Pieces of April
Release Date: October 17, 2003
Director: Peter Hedges
Production Company: IFC Productions | InDigEnt Productions | Kalkaska Productions
Summary/Review:

I’m not sure this is the movie I meant to watch but it turns out to be an enjoyable indie family comedy-drama of the type that’s not made anymore. Even in 2003 it would’ve felt a little old fashioned (like, nobody in this movie uses a cellphone and that makes if feel a longer than 20 years ago).  April Burns (Katie Holmes) lives in a small NYC apartment and is estranged from her family.  When she learns her mother has breast cancer and may not live another year, she invites her family to her place for Thanksgiving dinner.  April struggles to make dinner but gets help from her multi-ethnic neighbors.

Meanwhile her mother Joy (Patricia Clarkson), father Jim (Oliver Platt), sister Beth (Allison Pill), brother Timmy (John Gallagher Jr.), and grandmother Dottie (Alice Drummond) encounter various misadventures driving into the city (ironically not encountering any of the traffic congestion one would find entering New York on Thanksgiving).  This part reminds me a lot of The Daytrippers.  April is supposed to be the black sheep of the family but the more we see of them the more I wonder how she became a decent person coming from such truly awful people.  But family is family and this film is about a reconciliation of sorts.

Rating: ***

90 Movies in 90 Days: The Docks of New York (1928) and Shanghai Express (1932)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Today a two-fer from director Josef von Sternberg.

Title: The Docks of New York
Release Date: September 16, 1928
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Production Company: Paramount Pictures
Summary/Review:

The silent era of film came to an end with a bang with Josef von Sternberg’s beautifully filmed The Docks of New York.  Coal stoker Bill Roberts (George Bancroft), on shore leave from his tramp steamer, rescues Mae (Betty Compson) from drowning after she attempts to take her life.  They bond over their troubled lives in a saloon and decide to get married there on the spot, an act that everyone in the bar – including Bill and Mae – see as an entertainment rather than a commitment.  But something about their short marriage makes each of them reflect upon their lives with new hopes for the future.

The movie is a melodrama of the best kind.  Everyone in this movie seems so world weary and it captures the pain and small pleasures of working class life. There are brilliant standout scenes that capture so much in the deceptively simple story.  One is the shot of Mae jumping into the river, shot as a reflection in the water.  Other excellent set pieces include the wedding scene where the joyous revelry is contrasted with the uncertain looks on the faces of Mae and Bill.  This is definitely a movie I’d hold up as an example of the strengths of storytelling and cinematography in the silent era.

Rating: ****

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Title: Shanghai Express
Release Date: February 12, 1932
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Production Company: Paramount Pictures
Summary/Review:

During the Chinese Civil War, a train journey from Peiping to Shanghai is hijacked by the rebel army seeking a hostage to exchange for one of their men captured by the Chinese army.  The film focuses on the experiences of several Western passengers, including Shanghai Lily (Marlene Dietrich), a notorious “fallen woman” who is reunited with the one man she ever loved, British army captain Donald “Doc” Harvey (Clive Brook). The heart of the film involves Lily willing to sacrifice herself for an unwilling Doc.  The ensemble cast includes Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, and Lawrence Grant. Despite the main cast being almost all Westerners (with Swedish-born Oland playing the Chinese rebel leader Chang), the movie is surprisingly critical of colonialism and imperialism for 1932.  Dietrich and Wong are also strong female characters.  There’s a certain glamor to this railroad journey, and the film’s strong cinematography captures several iconic shots of Dietrich, but it never hides the rotten core of the society the characters live in.

Rating: ***1/2

90 Movies in 90 Days: Moi un Noir (1959)

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: Moi un Noir
Release Date: March 12, 1959
Director: Jean Rouch
Production Company: Les Films de la Pléiade
Summary/Review:
Rating: ***1/2

This film documents a week in the life of immigrants from Niger who have come to Abidjan, the capital of Côte d’Ivoire to find work.  The premise of the film is that documentarian Jean Rouch has collaborated with several young men to make the movie of their life.  Rouch filmed extensive footage of their daily lives and then edited it together with the subjects of the film narrating their story and dialogue later in a studio. The blurred line between documentary and non-professional actors improvising a story out of their real-life experiences puts this film in the category of docufiction alongside Man of Aran, Las Hurdes, The Exiles and On the Bowery. The film does a great job of capturing the everyday drudgery of these young men’s lives as well as their dreams of success as a boxer or a movie star as well as depicting that the behaviors of young men having fun transcend time and culture.

90 Movies in 90 Days: The Hound of the Baskervilles

Every day until March 31, 2024 I will be watching and reviewing a movie that is 90 minutes or less.

Title: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Release Date: March 31, 1939
Director: Sidney Lanfield
Production Company: 20th Century Fox
Summary/Review:

Based on the most famous of Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels, this is the first of 14 movies starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. John Watson. This is also the first of this film series I’ve ever watched.  I grew up in the time when Jeremy Brett and was assured that his performance was more authentic than the old Rathbone movies.  But this film actually is fairly true to the novel, only leaving out a few details here and there.  I enjoyed Rathbone and Watson’s performances as well as Richard Greene as Sir Henry Baskerville, and the mood and atmosphere of the moors is well done.  There’s also an attack by the titular hound that seems quite intense for 1939.

Rating: ***