The Theodore Huff Memorial Film Society |
Oct. 18 1960 |
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Announcements |
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TONIGHT'S PROGRAM: "Social" Films of 1905 - 1914 - 1915 - 1937. THE KLEPTOMANIAC (Edison, 1905) Directed and photographed by Edwin S. Porter One reel Last month, in The Count of Monte Cristo, we saw Porter very much at the end of his cinematic trail. Here we pick him up two years after The Great Train Robbery, in a remarkable little social essay which is both savage and courageous for its day -- showing how the rich can get away with crime when it is not perpetrated from necessity, while the poor, acting only from motives of self-preservation, cannot. It's an interesting piece, nicely photographed, with many nostalgic New York exteriors (including Macy's) but its merit is thematic, rather than filmic. It is confusingly put together and too long winded in spots; and surprisingly, the one place that cries out for a closeup (the thief pocketing her stolen goods in the store) is done in such extreme long shot that it is difficult to know what is going on. It seems to re-confirm that Porter's promise of The Great Train Robbery may well have been a matter of accident -- and the now established re-editing that the film underwent in later years. MAKERS AND SPENDERS (Reliance, 1914) Written by Forrest Halsey; director not credited; with Ralph Lewis, Norma Phillips, Jessie Lewis, Irving Cummings, George Siegman. One reel Like most capital-vs-labor stories of this period, Makers and Spenders really takes no sides, The boss of the factory is a humanitarian (with a vengeance) and the exploitation of the workers is done without his knowledge. (Needless to say, George Siegman is the lecherous foreman who is the cause of all the trouble!) It's a rather naive little Cinderella tale, but nicely done and well acted by a crew of old Griffith players. Norma Phillips, whom we don't see too often these days, was billed as Our Mutual Girl, and is best remembered for the Runaway June series. THE MAKING OF CROOKS (Selig, 1915) Dir: William Robert Daly; written by William H. Lippert; with Jack Pickford, George Hernandez, Thelma Crain, Wheeler Oakman. Original length: 3 reels; this print; 1 reel. A surprisingly topical essay on juvenile delinquency, this little film still carries a surprising dramatic punch, and builds up to an extremely powerful climax. It's well above average for Selig product of this period. The narration is a bit obtrusive, but at least is seriously-intentioned; since the film has been condensed quite a bit to its present form, the narration is in any event a necessity for full understanding of what le going on. |
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THEY WON'T FORGET (WB-First National, 1937) Produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy; screenplay by Robert Rossen and Aben Kandel, from the novel Death in the Deep South by Ward Greene; photographed by Arthur Edeson; Art Director, Robert Haas. With Claude Rains, Gloria Dickson, Edward Norris, Otto Kruger, Allyn Joslyn, Lana Turner, Elisha Cook jr., Cy Kendall, Clinton Rosemond, E. Alyn Warren, Elizabeth Risdon, Clifford Soubier, Granville Bates, Ann Shoemaker, Paul Everton, Donald Briggs, Sybil Harris, Trevor Bardette, Elliott Sullivan, Wilmer Hines, Eddie Acuff, Frank Faylen, Leonard Mudie, Harry Davenport, Harry Beresford, Edward McWade, Joe Downing, John Ridgely, Paul Maxey, Thomas Jackson, Robert Fiske, Earl Dwire, Alan Bridge. 10 reels Perhaps it isn't really a surprise that They Won't Forget was made at all - especially by Warners. But it is a surprise that, made so late, it turned out so well. Warners, who had started off the 30's with some of the better gangster films, and with films like I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang had made the happy discovery that the "social" theme, allied with melodrama, could be boxoffice. By the mid-thirties however, most of the crusading enthusiasm had worn off, and all that remained was a shell - almost a formula - to be filled by standardised action. Despite the acclaim it still receives, Black Legion is really little more than a dressed-up gangster film, just as White Bondage is no more than a dressed-up horse opera. But happily, They Won't Forget is not only one of Warner's best films in the genre, but it stands up today far better than do the few other "social" films made in the later years of the 30's. Dead End, fun to watch today because of its great camerawork and fine performances, is as phoney and dishonest as they come. Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once is today so loaded and contrived that one squirms at the false picture it paints in sledge-hammer strokes -- despite the clever lighting and suspense sequences that Lang evokes. Yet They Won't Forget, which treads on dangerous ground by attacking a number of targets -- race prejudice (against the Negro, and between North and South), mob law, political opportunism -- somehow maintains a perfect balance without either pulling its punches, or loading the arguments against those it condemns. It is a beautifully made job, which seems all the better as the years go by. Less cynical (and less of a melodrama) than LeRoy's earlier Five Star Final, less hysterical than Wilder's later Ace in the Hole, it is quite one of the best films of its kind that Hollywood has given us -- better even, I think, than Boomerang (which was just a little too orderly and tidy, especially in its ending). The acting is fine, the "faces" of the supporting players just right, and Lana Turner, bouncing through her brief role, a real "find". And the unshowy camerawork of Arthur Edeson is another great asset. |
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| ------- Wm. K. Everson --------------- | |
| © William K. Everson Estate |