Dug up

Can I be completely honest? I've been dreading the musicals. I haven't liked them since I was a little kid and there was singing in every movie that I saw. Class is class though.

I gotta say I dig the coin outfits! Haha ZOOM!!!!! we lost a little bit of focus though.

The Ragtime is on par though! I hope we keep up this sense of swing!

Hahah STOP!!!! MILK THIEF!!!!

Our dialogue is solid though. Same clever brand of humor.

Ok I know that they are trying to make it seem like these musical numbers would be possible in everyday life but if that was true these people would be mad creepy. How many girls have we tried to woo by singing out your window huh buddy? The days before myspace were awfully charming.

I saw this happen in Calendar Girl. Guy plays music out of window that becomes the theme for the whole movie. Here we go.

Hahaha oh god, I can't handle this guy. Oh my dreams flew up into the clouds romance just passes me by. Bring back the jazz.

The Big Parade of Tears! Ok...if the wailing is good.

I'll make them laugh at you starving! That's a hell of a line!

This guy is the Charmer of the century! Yes, I sing and write and I'm putting up 15,000 for a show.

There's a well composed scene of anxious waiting when they're waiting for brad. There's close shots of elements of tension. It impacts the viewer pretty well.

The New AllStars Revue. That's a sweet name!

I dunno, this movie is altogether too predictable. Ohh the lead man is out, you'll have to go on! You're the only person who knows the part and there's no understudies! I hope there's a twist at the end of this somewhere. I'll be disappointed if this movie goes as I predict.

Ah god where's no wailing here. There isn't even jazz. This is Do-Wop or whatever they call it. It's like jazz's indistinguishable and uninteresting cousin. It's all based on a simple melody that progresses though different variations and climaxes by the returning to the original phrase. What does this have to do with the depression??? I'm so Disappointed! This is like a gap commercial featuring one of the little rascals. I want write a musical now just to do this right. What happened to blues about starving to death??? That was inspiring, this music lacks a grungy feel. This guy needs to stop writing music and be a banker, or give up all this money and start writing actual music about the depression.

How dare you write musicals instead of bank! The board doesn't approve! How ridiculous. I guess the older brother role had to be old school upperclass snob, but come on. Aren't we going a little too far.

Did that bellhop work for disney? Wasn't he the snake in jungle book?

We're MEN! and we don't succumb to feminine allure! Hah dang happens to me all time. Why?Because they're girls not harpies.

Dang ok we're on identity mixups. This is an old trick, you would think that the older brother would be able to tell immediately who his younger brother actually loved. I guess you have to be pretty thick

You're obviously a girl of breeding! That's terrible, worst pick up line ever!

I like that the J. Lawrence and Carol are both playing each other. Their chemistry is the strongest despite the situation. Cheap and Vulgar!! Lawrence is the biggest goon in the world though. His lines are priceless. I couldn't think of worse things to say to a girl. Maybe he doesn't deserve the best girl in the movie.

Brad's kind of messed up. Framing his own brother like that is a little low. You have to have family's back. There's a darker side to his character then I expected to see. I really don't like Brad actually. I think he's corny. Carol is my favorite character for sure. She's gorgeous and intellectual. She hangs Lawrence's check on the wall to remind herself not to get involved with his type of people! That's a coolheaded move, you have you command respect to get it and she does.

I will gush over the violin dance sequence it is a beautiful capture. Black background, white dresses, reflective pools and light up violins! Yup, I think so.

Remember my forgotten man came out alright. The lyrics are kind weak, but the brass back up does a good job and the rhythm is composed of the right air. The Chorus does it for me though, it captures the down and out feeling of the depression. Jesus what it would look like to see a man starving on the corner with his army medals still on his coat.

This play became quite the spectacle. I would have gone to see it if I had the chance. Even if it was a play about being poor written by a rich guy.

St. Louis Woman

These are my notes for Baby Face

Ah god we're into existentialism, is this going to be a theme? Suddenly i'm not so sure that this movie won't be a downer. The our heroine didn't read it though so maybe theres hope for her.

There's a shot shortly after where a guy with a mustache is checking her our. Was there a rule in code about where you could show on girls and how close you could zoom in?

I love sarcastic women! How are you doing Lilly? I was great up till now. Hah Excuse me my hand shakes when I'm around you. Our Politician isn't giving up easily though is he? Ah the risks of living in illegal saloons.

Wow our lilly has been on the rough side of life for a while. Sold for sex since she was 14. Daddy's a scum bag. I was ready for him to die in a fire.

Oh God more Nietzsche. And her friend is Gepetto. Life is no more than exploitation? Life is nothing more than getting used? We are off on a rotten hoof.

So they sneak on to the first train to New York. Oh and we're caught. Better start using that charm. Doesn't hurt that you got Indian Jones the railway man though. That's a stroke of luck if you ask me. But it works and we're off to NY. I wonder where that guy ends up? Hey man have I got a story for you.

Ah test number two getting past a secretary for a job interview. Oh now don't tell me in this great big building there isn't room for me. Sex conquest huh, Cue the Jazz!! Oh they were good times. Nice and she got a sweet job hookup to the boss. Maybe it's just because I'm getting close to graduation but sleeping my way into a job doesn't sound so bad.

I like this because it's like Allie McBeal except that they characters are smooth operators. Lilly is a hell of a liar! I like watching her for the same reason I like watching Tony Camonte. She's quick to work her way out of a jam. So far she's gone from the worst situation to holding her own in the business world. She's adorable too, this writer added plenty of wit for her.

Haven't "I told you not to come in front of this desk? Oh but I get so lonely out there." She got caught on purpose though. That's no good, too many bridges too fast. Her bosses fiance sure jumped to conclusions fast though. It was just a hug, what happened to that old timey we used to fix what's broke attitude?

What's her bosses intention with the you're fired conversation? Ha "are you letting me go?" So smooth! "What he was engaged? Oh no what shall I do?" Guys in this movie are suckers but it's so realistic. Wouldn't be surprised if I read the true version in the paper. We haven't seen a newspaper transition yet. What are the headlines I need the headlines!

Got em

She's really got herself in the family now, I have a feeling they'll try to purge her though. She's becoming too dirty of a secret. Nobody seems to foresee it though, the end is going to come dramatically when people start to act on emotion. Not sure how long the movie will go on after the climax.

Mr. Crag the Nihilist. Crush out all sentiment.

I think when Stevenson comes to her house he starts to realize she's dating his dad. Ah ha the next scene is with his dad but he just still hasn't put it together. I'll find that man who's stealing my fling! I will I will!

Ok she gets figured out in three scenes and father and son are dead! Woah that's rash. I called it though! And now she's got a shot to talk to the board with bargaining chips! "I'm desperate but otherwise I wouldn't sell your story and ruin your company." Brilliant, she's so persuasive. She came out without a stain, a free trip to paris and a job arranged. That's a hell of a move. She's in charge of the Travel Bureau. She's set if she can just keep a level head. Anyway I'm rooting for her.

This story has really got me. I want to see things work out for Lilly. Class yesterday sets my expectation to fail though. Her character flaw comes through, when the love of her life, Courtland asks her to give up the things she's gotten for the sake of love, she refuses. She leaves him. Takes all her things and her companion/servant sings a sad song. That man alive left town or something like that. Really good tune actually.

It's like a nightmare when she tries to return to him. She can't find him at home and then finds he's killed himself in his office. She's lost it. She's missed her chance for happiness.

Oh wow he wakes up and smiles at her. There's a happy ending! Sweet! What an uplifting movie. I thought for sure the last shot would be an iris fade of her by his side as he died! Good turnaround and I'm glad that there was no dialogue in the end. That would have been mushy, this film ends like a breath I exhaled after holding it too long and feels so good.

Woah 920 words. Wonder how I can use this for my essay,

The Replacement

Ok So I had to ditch out of class to listen to Ellison Floyd and Provost Bailey Speak about budget cuts on wednesday so I didn't get to catch all of Scarface. Since I decided to do my closer analysis on it this weekend, this weeks notes are on The Big Sleep with Bogart and Bacall.

Humphrey Bogart plays my favorite character. The detective who's instinct and judgement are his best skills. That and a smooth manner. This movie and The Maltese Falcon are primarily about how to play your cards right in sticky situations. It's a sweet character that I feel American cinema has lost. There's nothing here for the kids, all the humor is adult and maintains the an amount of sophistication.

Female characters are more than occasionally token, but Bacall never is. These women are witty and intelligent. Every character has an agenda too! It makes them more realistic. I mean in real life how often do you spend time with people who don't have plans? These people all act in calculated ways that are unique to their identity. I really get the feeling like there's a whole world that I'm not seeing behind this picture. Mice and Spies! or uhh Mise-en-scene? We see important scenes but we definitely don't see all the things that are going on in the story's world.

In fact were always a little bit behind the action. We're on the scene after things are at least in motion and often just right after they've happened. Or maybe I'm just distracted by the sexually intense one liners. It's like whenever our hero detective finds himself in a scene that might have been a dull conversation, his company just so happens to be a model. They're cab drivers or neighboring rare book dealers. Beautiful women are in every other shot and the pick up lines are running wild. This is how James Bond is supposed to be, loveably sleazy!

I'll post more a little later.

Skinned Alive

These are my notes on Redskin

Haha Special effects. Yeah ladies I can take out a cigarette from 30 paces!

Quick! Hide the kids! It's the catholics! I couldn't imagine having to hide my children from a group of people who took over my land and were no demanding my offspring. History definetly repeats itself when we don't learn from it. If we keep fresh in our minds the devastation we've caused to other cultures in our attempts to conform them to "Western Standards" we find ourselves acting against our better judgement today in places like Iraq.

Heh political plug.. Excuse me.

The transition from color to shades of grey in a yellow hue must have been intentional. I didn't know that it was so popular.

This boarding school is such a soft reflection of what they were probably like. This seems more like baby boomer boarding school then an institution reflecting military standards. Are we trying to promote the idea that standardized de-culturization was ok here?

Oh good he grows up to be Mr. Smith goes to Washington. I just saw an american flag transition. He the Anglo-Indian success story. I really hope I'm just being built up on a high note before things start to turn downward.

Man aristocratic parties look like a blast though. Jesus right up until the all out mockery with the indian dance. Then feeling threatened all the white people oust him immediately. I talked about this yesterday, we're so primitive in groups.

One of the truest things I've seen in this movie is how unconscious the white people are of their racism. White characters today are either super conscious of race or cross lines for comedic value. I don't feel like we show the subversive racism of white people.

There's also an race lines between the Navajo and Pueblo indians. These characters seem, to my limited knowledge about the time and the people on both sides of the cultural divide, to be accurate. I guess it's because this movie was current when it was released and most everything else I've seen about the time period was loaded with anachronisms.

On a side note: I'm trying to get a belt I made from a collegiate trophy. That's money!

Ahh geeze our main character comes home and denounces the weight his white appearance and schooling on his sense of identity and then is asked to dress up for his father to show he is still Pueblo. That must have been one of the longest sighs in the movie thus far. The forced costume does add a layer of complexity to the scene where he rejects the position of medicine man though.

There's inaccuracy in the portrayal of the Pueblo people. They wouldn't have refused agricultural technique of white settlers so much. Many groups of Pueblo people had advanced forms of farming before white settlers arrived and many worked for whites on farms well before 1920. Do-Adtin proposal to teach them what he had learned from whites wouldn't have been out of place at all. In fact since the 1800's there had been a mass blending of indigenous and christian religion, comprised of native tradition and both books of the bible.

I suppose the scene wouldn't have been as dynamic as it was with all historical accuracy.

Overall this movie is dramatically captivating. Players say the kindest things before they say the most hurtful, or the worst thing happens to the characters before grace is revealed. It makes the impact great and it attaches the viewer to the characters. Seeing them at their best and worst, when they crack from stress, sink into self conflict or feel relief from burden develops the character for the audience and that keeps us interested.

I think a large amount of movies don't play to the broader range of human emotion that these films do. There's "Feel good" or "Pure Horror" or depressing pictures that drone on, usually on one tone throughout the whole movie. What I'm saying is that I'll often feel only one thing as I watch movies where as RedSkin actually does manipulate my feelings like that "Roller coaster ride" cliche that I see so often in the review.

On another hand, there are many movies that swing me right round, but it's in a forced way. Scenes in dramatic movies may be so strong that I'm either repulsed by the intensity or wrapped in a blanket crying for three days.

Snatched

These are my notes for January 26

I don't know why I didn't suspect that an American Film and Culture class would contain a section on American Indians.

Haha the main character got spam mail in the first few minutes! Just sign up for our magazine subscripting to receive 1 million dollars!!! It's a long tradition I guess.

Woah I was not ready for this! We got Shakespeare really quickly. This seems pretty tragic though, there's definitely irony here. No one besides the main character knows that it was suicide except for the main character and even he must not know that she's still alive.

The inaccuracies are startling. There are three chiefs in this village according to the eagle feather bonnets, but there wasn't a single discussion about the proper course of action. Bad Depiction...

Ok now kill your father on the count of three! We're indians we do this all the time. If you don't we're gunna have to dance! 100 years later there would have been a casino joke in this movie. I don't think that White Fawns honorable suicide makes up for how salience of the racism. If anything I find that the stereotype of the Noble Red Man shines a prettier light, but its tinder by prejudice nonetheless.

Oh god, I don't know what I would do if the girl I wanted belonged to a matador. Seems like it would be a hard angle to work. I'll give Alessandro one thing though, great timing and skill with a lute!

I don't really like when the text has to explain key elements in the movie. I feel that if you're film has to be without dialogue then you should rely on your pictures to tell the story. When they finally come together though it's pretty well told.

How did they shoot looking over the cliff towards the village? Was that a screen or an actual cliff?

It would be hard to describe the massacre of your people without words I feel like. I'm glad that our main character has the sense enough to keep the girl. Other characters I feel would have too much conflict and reject her after the trauma.

There's Catholic practice in many of the scenes of this movie. I wonder what a woman like ramona would think of christian religion after being deceived most of her life about her heritage only to be persecuted for a marriage to an indian man.

The idea of property is a main theme of this movie. It still staggers me that in any of the many circumstances in which foreigners came into a place already inhabited, they claimed ownership based on laws that should not have applied to a sovereign nation of people. My conclusion based on this practice is that in groups we are still very primitive. As individuals we can easily adapt to coexistence but as a group we seek to dominate any party that we perceive as a threat. When our actions as a collective are examined I find people to be more primitive than individuals.

Some of these shots have a magnificent background. The landscapes are allowed to occupy a lot of the shot. It seems like there's always something towering over the couple. This movie ended as the relationship ended after Alessandro is killed. In both of these movies the viewer is left with a morbid sort of hope. We are reminded that nothing really ended, tomorrow will come and we will have to work with what we've got.

From the Watchtower

Here are my notes on Within our Gates.

Of the first things I noticed was how light skinned the two women were in comparison to the artists in black face that we saw in birth of a nation. I wonder if even in this film if the stereotype of good skim (lighter complexion) is present.

This director takes time and switches camera shots to show expressiveness in the characters. There is greater care taken here then in previous films.

I love early 20's underworld characters. There's something so wholesome about their grimy doings. Plus I like everything they do in saloons, thats where I would have spend my time.

The pianist has a real sense of soul. This scene in the saloon is an awesome combination of ragtime and classic opera.

Ah I love that they show how he was cheating. Movies that don't show the method are soft and bother me. Too bad about Red though. "It's strange but every time I pass this pawnshop I remember red"!!! Awesome! Long live Red!

In the first shot of Dr. Vivian they shoot him sitting at a distance then fade into a closer shot. Did they not have focus? How did they do that fade? I don't recall seeing another one like it. I thought all the transitions were just cuts.

Saved your purse from a burglar! Classic move. He's getting the girl for sure.

Seeing a group of men rush into to pick up a woman who has fallen on the ground is something that you just don't see anymore. Then again the ad in the paper said that allowing black people to vote is unconscionable. What a strange time, on one end people are so polite, on the other, Americans of a darker complexion aren't considered deserving of basic human rights and are occasionally lynched. This movie reminds me that people can and sometimes must ignore critical analyzation of their core beliefs to construct their idea of reality.

I didn't predict that Rev Ned was going to have an introspective side. He knows he's sold his soul and regrets it on some level. These characters are deeper then on the other films. I felt that previous portrayals were of symbolic characters, like virgin daughter or bank robber. These characters seem more like their own individuals as they muse to themselves and dream.

How much was 50,000 dollars worth in 1920!!!! Woah.

All the players still have their hair done to look like white people. It's part of that same "good skin" stereotype I think. It's like they learned from an early age not to value their natural appearance, as if it were ugly compared to whites. I don't think it's just a style of the time considering that it's still very much popular style. That is to have straight hair and a lighter skin tone.

I need to make up an official story of my life so that I can have flashbacks. I also hope that sometime people give me a title like:

"Nick Tasche, scholar, aristocrat and owner of the neighboring lands." I'll wear the title better.

There is another fade cut of Efrim (sp?) when a slide of himself being hanged appears at about half opacity as if he was envisioning his own demise. There's artistry here. Gruesome and tragic scenes are represented indirectly by focused shots on the elements involved in the act. The plot twist at the end of Sylvia's story was well constructed and conveyed. Cutting back to Sylvia's friend Alma after the quick cuts between the struggle and the fire brought the story back to its original setting in an exciting way.

Births and Blossoms.

These are my notes from yesterday. I'll probably do a more organized post later.

We started Broken Blossoms with 20 mins left of an 88 minute film. The context was that a young white girl, who had been the victim of domestic abuse, has been saved by a chinese man. So wow, through me into a boiling pot of early 20th century culture soup.

She wakes up and they begin to interact. Their relationship moves fast, and is accompanied by an ever evolving score.

There's a full symphony at work behind the piece, it features sweeping piano movements and segments dominated by simple woodwind melodies. A few times the music reminds me of a wind up ballerina. I think this film could be compared to that little metal roller that creates the tunes. Every element of the film is simple in itself. There's no grand shots or even effects, but it all comes together sweetly.

Every so often there is a text slide that explains things in an poetic style that separates it from synopsis. I don't feel that the messages are needed as much as they're used. The action in each shot seems more than expressive enough. The story isn't hard to follow at all even though it's silent.

They really build the chinese shop owner's character as a kind and wonderful person, but because of the lecture I keep thinking about people getting Shanghai'd so i expect her to be eating a heroin cooky or something.

What was the quote? Battling hates nothing more than people who weren't born in his country? Tyson would be proud of a quote like that. Boxing used to be pretty awesome though. I also like how the hue changes from lavender to yellow between the two scenes, and the antagonist music is more than up to par. If I ever need to make a bad guy plot montage I know where to steal the tunes from.

I heard that the leader of the KKK is called the Grand Imperial Wizard. I won't be able to get that out of my head throughout the whole viewing of Birth of a Nation. Again the hue in the picture is changed for different scenes. This time there's red though...sweet.

This film reminds me that you can use triumphant marching music for any occasion. At times it doesn't match the shot at all.

Did they really paint that many extras faces or did they use at least a few actual black people?

Did the white girls father get stabbed in the heart by the poorly paint black man? This action is much harder to follow. I got it all figured out by the 1812 overture though. It's a white supremacists dream. Black people rise up to terrorize whites because of their primitive nature and the Klan shows up just in time for a fully justified massacre.

The irony here is, while I don't recall a situation where black Union soldiers terrorized southern whites, I can think of at least one or two situations in which innocent black people were terrorized and murdered in the south.