Foul Play - The Kubrick Edit

When I think of the New Year I think of The Shining, I mean, as far as movies are concerned. Some people think of The Apartment, others The Godfather, Part II and those of lowly breeding, When Harry Met Sally. And it's not like the New Year is even explicitly mentioned in The Shining but between the revellers, the flowing drinks and the men in bear suits giving blow jobs it sure feels like a New Years celebration. Of course, the famous picture at the end says "Juy 4th" and it would have to be since the story goes to great lengths to tell us the Overlook is closed in the winter so clearly it can't be New Years or we have no caretaker shut in with his family with which to propel the plot.

But still, it feels like New Years, and so, that's the movie I think of when December 31st rolls around. And when I think of The Shining, as I did recently, I think of Foul Play with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. Huh? What? Yes, while we cinephiles busy ourselves connecting the dots between the Fords and the Hitchcocks and the Godards the dots between Colin Higgins, writer and director of Foul Play, and Stanley Kubrick go completely unnoticed.

Behold, and Happy New Year:




Go to the actual HD YouTube page for a much bigger, and better, picture.

Nothing means Anything: Random Shorts

When I'm unfocused I often start to put together a video to help concentrate my mind. It can be anything really and often the result is less than 30 seconds long. Sometimes I upload them to YouTube, sometimes I don't. Here are three recent examples of my idle mind.

First up is The Bump and Grind Boogie Woogie. I have tons of old vintage photos as well as tons of old sound effects and royalty free music clips. I took four pics of an anonymous couple from long ago, a thirty second snippet of a generic bebop number and threw them together for a bit of momentary focus. Here's the result:



Next up is We are Legion. My wife and I were taking a walk downtown last week and passed through a neighborhood on our way there. To my delight there were a couple of thousand blackbirds milling about and always having my camera on me, pulled it out and began to shoot just as they flew up and over my head en masse. My immediate thought was, "When I get home I must make this demonic!" And so I wrote and recorded some of my patented freaky music and the results are below:



This last one is probably the hardest to explain. Not what it is, that's easy. It's the "why" that's hard. See, I pulled out some old stock footage I bought about fifteen years ago on an ancient CD and was sifting through it. There was an inordinate amount of footage of hospital scenes so I grabbed some cheesy eighties stock music I had, picked the scenes that fit best, edited them together in cheesy eighties local commercial style and produced a nursing school commercial circa 1986. Why? Not really sure myself except that I wanted to reproduce the look and feel of the types of local commercial seen in the eighties and personally I think I succeeded. What's the point of it all? Got me. Enjoy:



Outside of that I continue to work on bigger film projects including installments of The Land Before CGI and I'm tinkering with the idea of doing trailers for TOERIFC to help promote it more. I have a much bigger short film I want to do but don't have the proper technical facilities to do it so for now I must wait, unfortunately. Also, I'd need about a hundred extras and well, I couldn't pay anyone. But I'll keep plugging away as always. And now back to random short films that mean nothing. It's what I do.

Creepy Moments:The Blood on Satan's Claw

I've been leaning a little heavy on the video clips lately but I have many videos I want to show and there's only four days left until Halloween. Here's another creepy moment, this time from The Blood on Satan's Claw. Enjoy.

Alternate Dream Sequence fromThe ExorcistWhat Might Have Been

The dream sequence from The Exorcist has become legendary: Father Karras trying to make contact with his mother, she turning away and that mask, the death mask that is Pazuzu. Most horror fans know it frame by frame. But what if the original version had made it into the film as seen in this newly discovered rough cut with it's unmatched lighting between the shots of Karras and his mother? Two famous actors were used for the mother and Pazuzu roles but later the shots were scrapped in favor of unknowns. The footage would never die however. A few years later Sidney Pollack would become intrigued with the footage shot of the famous actor as the mother and build a whole film around it, even using this original footage in that film. But what if William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, had left it in? What might have been.

Scary Face #1

Presenting the "Scary Face" series. Watch at your own risk. Images are terrifying. Small children should be gently but firmly escorted away from computer before playing. Not for the faint of heart. You've been warned.

Building the Scene: The Birds

Alfred Hitchcock is a director so well known and beloved by both cinephiles and non-cinephiles alike that most writers on the art of cinema would prefer to talk about someone else should the opportunity arise. After all, hasn't Hitch been analyzed, critiqued, elevated and deconstructed ad nauseum at this point? Probably, but that's not going to stop me from doing it again. Why? Because sometimes a director is so well known and beloved that we take for granted just how skillful said director is behind the camera. For this extended edition of this October's "Creepy Moments" series I'd like to look at how effectively Alfred Hitchcock achieved extraordinary suspense and tension in the much misunderstood The Birds, a film considered at the time a lackluster follow-up to Psycho (but wouldn't most films ever made suffer from the same perception) but upon further reflection is as brilliant in many ways as Hitchcock gets.

One of the most effective elements of The Birds is its lack of music. Impressive and memorable musical scores are as associated with Hitchcock's films as Italians with guns are with Martin Scorsese's and yet The Birds is silent. It's music is the call of the birds themselves. It's opening credit sequence alone, with fleeting blurred images of crows flying in and out of the frame, their cacophonous caws the only sound we hear, is a marvel of tension filled disquiet. The film is in bold technicolor but without music it appears distant and faded, the conversations feel overheard, and the characters sans musical cues for heroism and courage seem all too human and all too vulnerable.

While there is much to admire here the setup for the attack on the schoolchildren is one of Hitchcock's finest hours as a director. Most documentaries on Hitchcock make the mistake of showing this scene from where Tippi Hedren sits down on the bench. This is wrong because Hitchcock begins the tension at the top of the scene with Hedren's convertible seen driving towards the schoolhouse. The audience doesn't know it yet but this opening shot is a psychological plant on the part of the director. He is fixing the image of the schoolhouse on the hill in the viewer's mind as a serene image of safety and security. Nothing can go wrong here. Later when the children are fleeing we will see this same shot only with hundreds of birds rising up magnificently behind it. It's a visual strong enough on its own to signal extreme and imminent danger but combined with the memory of the peaceful schoolhouse planted in our minds just moments before it becomes something else entirely, something more unnatural and at odds with our perceptions of how the world should look and work.

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By the time Hedren walks into the school to warn the teacher and students the scene is essentially over. The attack follows and works because Hitchcock built up a lingering menace in the playground first but it's superfluous to the tension already achieved. And again, when you watch it, take note of how quiet the scene is. The birds make little to no noise and the children's singing is muted from inside the schoolhouse. The song they're singing provides a kind of tempo to the scene as well as a haunting quality, as if ghostly voices were singing in the distance.

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Next is the attack. The opening swarm from behind the schoolhouse echoes the earlier serene shot with the car approaching it. As I said, the thrust of this scene is done anyway with the setup but is mesmerizing to watch regardless and provides a terrific payoff to the initial setup.

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Finally there is the film's ending. I've talked to many a person unimpressed with this ending. "It just kind of... ends, you know." I don't know how to respond to that. It doesn't "just end" it fades out into quite possibly the end of the world, the beginning of an assault on humanity by nature or just the end of human settlement in Bodega Bay. Whatever the true "end" may be I find this conclusion to the story one of Hitchcock's ballsiest moments as a director. Note just near the end how the crows caws go from natural sound to heightened unnatural sound just before the fade out. What does that say? Again, no music, no credits, not even the words "The End." Note that the camera precedes the three principals making their way outside. For the camera to do this there can be no door, otherwise Rod Taylor would have to reach "through" the camera to get to it and then the camera would block it from opening. In a brilliant solution by the cinematographer Robert Burks, Rod Taylor simply mimes opening the non-existent door while a lighting effect fills in the rest. It works beautifully.

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If you haven't seen The Birds, and I can't imagine there are too many out there that haven't, it is readily available pretty much everywhere. Give it a look but be prepared to meet the movie halfway. The Birds is a movie that keeps its secrets closely guarded, under the wing.

Synthetic Flesh

Continuing the "Creepy Moments" series for this month we move on to Doctor X from 1932, directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray and Lee Tracy, none of whom are in this scene (but Preston Foster is). And yes, it's a scene not a moment. Furthermore, it's not very creepy with all the electronic gizmos and gadgets pulsating throughout the scene probably removing any sense of creepiness to the modern eye but I don't care because I love the movie, the whole damn ridiculous thing, and the scene. And if you've never seen Doctor X and would like to see it fresh DO NOT WATCH THIS SCENE. This scene is in fact the spoiler of the movie where the Moon Killer's real identity is finally revealed. Otherwise please do watch this entertaining and goofy scene in which the Moon Killer disguises himself before the kill by applying mounds of goopy synthetic flesh to his face (which is kind of funny because immediately following this scene he reveals who he is without hesitation to the other characters who have been trying to solve his identity).

Remember These Monsters?

I've been blogging long enough now that I can actually feel comfortable pulling stuff from the archives that I want to highlight again. This is my favorite montage from last year by far, a short celebration of Lugosi, Karloff and Lanchester, the three "monsters" that put Universal horror on the map. Since I won't be covering any old-time Universal Horror or otherwise (sorry, but this year is all Hammer on up) I felt it apt to use this montage from last year as a substitute for any more in-depth posts on the subject. Enjoy.

Young Frankenstein in Five Minutes

Because I can and I was bored. Seen it a million times? Never seen it? Doesn't matter. Here it is in highly abridged form for your Friday enjoyment.

Cinema Styles October - Coming Soon

This October Cinema Styles will be exploring the passion of horror rather than the slashing, killing and maiming. Love, madness, obsession, desire. All those deep primal emotions, feelings and states of mind that horror has always exploited so well. From Dracula to Christine, Peeping Tom to Fade to Black, Lust for a Vampire to The Wolfman and everything in between, before and after, Cinema Styles will be celebrating it all month long. I have a trailer here for your viewing pleasure. I'll have original works in store this October again and new banners for each day. See you then!

October 2009

And So Name That Movie Ends

The clip is below if you'd like to view it. It's the final clip for Name That Movie as Bill R. of The Kind of Face You Hate took home the prize. Congratulations to Bill R.

I've always liked the idea of online games and building up credit or free shipping for DVDs at Amazon allowed me to have a prize to give away but I was always a bit disappointed at the limited number of participants. That said, Name That Movie is officially over. The first ever DVD Giveaway I did here at Cinema Styles took place at one time with everyone competing at once. Bill won that one too but Kimberly, Marilyn and Adam all came within minutes of beating Bill to the punch. If I do another game in the future, it will be more like that one. For now though, Bill has won which means I'll soon be ordering him another Rob Schneider movie and shipping it out. Thanks to everyone who played regularly (Bill, Marilyn, Arbogast, Flickhead, Ed, Fox and Rick mainly) and thanks to everyone else who popped in on occasion and took a guess.

They're Coming

October, 2009.

Name that Movie, Round 2, Clip 16

"You know, it's an interesting thing when you consider"

Name That Movie, Round 2, Clip 14

Last week Arbo guessed correctly and it was good to have him back in the game. After thirteen clips there are only five names on the points board with Bill in the clear lead. Today a short clip and if no one gets it, a second short clip from the same movie will go up just because the first one is so short. Good luck.

Clip Number Two

Name That Movie, Round 2, Clip 13

It's time for Name that Movie again. Will clip 13 be unlucky for Bill and Flickhead? Will someone else - Bob, Thom or someone new to this round - come up with the answer? We shall see. Good luck.

Name That Movie, Round 2, Clip 12

Here's the clip for this week. There's nothing obscure about this one. Most movie lovers have probably seen it at some point so I expect it will be quick work today. Unless of course, it's been a while since you've seen it and you don't remember the scene, which is always possible too. Good luck.

Name That Movie, Round 2 Clip 11

It's Name that Movie time again. Bill and Flickhead are the clear leaders but I have a feeling today they will stumble. Just a feeling. Here's the clip:

Hell's Angels When it Soars

Hell's Angels is no great shakes as a drama. The acting is for the most part servicable, sometimes mediocre, sometimes outright bad. The dialogue, average at best. And yet it gets 7.9 on IMDB's aggregate of user votes and I think I know why: The action sequences, especially considering this was made in 1930 which was not only decades before CGI but a few years before even miniature work was that good, are extraordinary. Howard Hughes, the eccentric billionaire of reality and legend, may not have been much with actors and dramatic scenes (he had to hire in then unknown but soon to be famous James Whale for those scenes since actors and drama were not of his interest), but damn did he know his way around an action/special effects sequence. Watching the action scenes in this movie makes one wonder if Hughes didn't miss his calling as a second-unit director for special effects sequences.

There are other good parts to the film as well. One was the decision to have the Germans in the film speak German, not English. That very year in the far superior All Quiet on the Western Front, the characters, all German, spoke English. Before sound came in, foreign languages weren't a problem as inter-titles took care of all dialogue anyway. But once sound became a part of the film experience directors had to decide whether to go with foreign language and subtitles or just have everyone speak English. Unfortunately, the latter became the standard until fairly recently. But not here. Hughes has the Germans not only speak German, but only provides inter-titles, not subtitles, for the stuff the viewers can't figure out on their own. All the rest is left up to the viewer to translate.

Finally, the plot itself offers a slight change of pace as it takes the old cliche of friends on opposite sides of the battle and gives it a hard-edged, unsentimental ending. [SPOILER] They all die. All of them. [END SPOILER] But mainly, it's the action sequences, the ones Hughes spent millions on, as dramatized in Martin Scorsese's lackluster The Aviator (2005) that make much of this movie worth watching. That Hughes may have been one crazy bastard but when he set his mind to putting together an action sequence, he was a genius. Below is the finale of the Zeppelin attack sequence in the movie. The sequence lasts for about twenty minutes and builds with a slow, methodical pace that reminds one of the expert pacing in the duel scene in Barry Lyndon. I've put up the last two minutes here. As all the fighter planes have been shot down, the last man standing, his machine guns jammed, makes the decision to go kamikaze on the Zeppelin to bring it down. The sequence begins beautifully, shot from overhead, as we watch the Zeppelin, motionless on the screen as the fighter plane goes from the bottom of the screen to the top, moving to the front of the Zeppelin. Then it circles back around and goes into a dive. Hughes used color combined with black and white throughout the film and this scene is no exception, as you'll see with the flames. Be sure and watch until the blazing conclusion, and note the exceptional use of sound, the airplane's engine heightening the suspense of the dive, the immense roar of the flames, the thundering crash. And remember: It was made in 1930!