Madonna and Daughter Lola Dish at Fashion Line Launch...
Face-Off: The Makings of the Facebook Movie...
Mad Max Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Oct 5...
Ladies & Gentlemen... The Rolling Stones on DVD and Blu... JD Jon DanzigerTHE FIRST FILMS OF AKIRA KUROSAWA...
CHICAGO...
THE ONLY SON / THERE WAS A FATHER...
THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA...
THE ART OF THE STEAL... JS Jesse ShanksSPARTACUS: BLOOD AND SAND...
IMDb Turned 19 This Past Weekend...
Rotten Tomatoes Lists The Worst of the Worst Movies of ...
digitallyOBSESSED.com on iPhone...
30 ROCK SEASON 3... RR Rich RosellAFTER.LIFE...
CRUMB (BLU-RAY)...
RED RIDING...
2:22...
THE DUNGEON MASTERS... RJ Ross JohnsonTHE PATTY DUKE SHOW: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON...
Batman: The Brave and the Bold - Season One, Part One...
BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (BLU-RAY)...
THE FACTS OF LIFE: SEASON FOUR...
THE CONSTANCE TALMADGE COLLECTION... CA Chuck AliagaA QUIET LITTLE MARRIAGE...
RED DESERT (BLU-RAY)...
CITY ISLAND...
L'ENFANCE NUE...
LOUIE BLUIE... MZ Mark ZimmerLOST KEATON...
BLACK NARCISSUS (BLU-RAY)...
THE CRAZIES...
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE MOTION PICTURE TRILOGY (BLU-...
THE GENERAL (BLU-RAY)... JC Joel CunninghamYOJIMBO/SANJURO...
SUMMER HOURS (L'heure d'?t?)...
WIZARD OF OZ...
WINGS OF DESIRE...
HORTON HEARS A WHO!... DH Dan HeatonREVANCHE...
LAST DAYS OF DISCO...
NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS...
STARGATE SG-1: CHILDREN OF THE GODS...
STARGATE ATLANTIS: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON... MS Matt SerafiniTHE STEPFATHER...
THE HILLS RUN RED...
MANAGEMENT...
NIGHT OF DEATH...
GNAW... KC Kevin ClemonsFreddy Got Fingered...
The Business of Strangers... NM Nate MeyersKen Burns' America: The Congress...
Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Volume Two... JW Jeff WilsonTouki Bouki... JB Joseph BurkeIs the Greatest American Band: Grand Funk Railroad?...
Apple Updates Remote App for iPhone...
I want my Internet TV!...
Pundit Opinions Duel Over Meaning of Growth on TV and V...
Twitter, Brillstein develop TV series... JK Jane Ellen KnoxSix Points About Inglourious Basterds (spoilers)... JU Jeff UlmerSecure The Second Season of The Border on DVD August 25...
NFB's Behind the Camera: The ABCs of Documentary Cinema...
THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON (1976)...
NFB Blog: Documentary filmmaking from the inside out...
Inside the Vault Part 2: How the NFB restores and digi... RM Robert MandelConquest of the Planet of the Apes...
Saving Private Ryan...
High Noon... DD Dale DobsonFilm-Fest 4: Sundance 2000 & Hawaii... JR Jeff RosadoMe Without You... DL Dan LopezKodo... DW Doris WhelanReflections on the Fade of Daytime's Guiding Light...
HBO's Grey Gardens Explores an Inexplicable Enigma...
What Happens in Vegas Diverting... dm debi lee mandelSome Like It Hot...
EARTH DAY: Digesting our planet...
Warner offers HD-to-Blu-ray upgrades for $4.95...
A Look Back: 1999... DH Daniel HirshleiferBefore Night Falls... dE dOc EditorWELCOME TO THE NEW dOc!...
Share: 
Permalink:
Studio: Flicker AlleyYear: 1927
Cast: Phyllis Haver, Eugene Pallette, Robert Edeson
Director: Frank Urson
Release Date: July 06, 2010
Rating: Not Rated for
Run Time: 01h:43m:20s
Genre(s): silent "This is the drama of a big city—any big city—and of a little girl who was all wrong." - from an opening title card
The silent melodrama, before we paint the town, and all that jazz.Movie Grade: A
DVD Grade: B+
So would this film be getting much attention, much less a swanky DVD release, if it weren't for the Broadway musical and subsequent film, all based on the same stage play? I'd wager that it wouldn't, but it doesn't much matter, because this is a dilly of a silent picture, a Cecil B. De Mille production, no less. You don't need to get caught up in show tunes to appreciate this story, or to see what a barbed, pre-Code look at the media circus it presents. It's terrific at avoiding the overblown gestural acting style that makes so many silent movies difficult to watch—screen acting remains in its infancy here, but the performers are so sly and knowing, and the storytelling so pungent, that watching it is kind of a thrill.
Perhaps you know the story: Roxie Hart is a bored little thing, living a stultifying life with her husband Amos, and stepping out on him with Caseley, who's richer and, well, richer. He gets a little grabby one afternoon, Roxie loses her head, and what do you know, she shoots him dead.
A lot of the boldness of the story comes from its choice of hero: Roxie is a tramp and a flirt and a murderess, and basically unapologetic about all of it. She's got a sociopath's lack of remorse; her only goal is to get off the hook, and to get poor Amos to continue to do her bidding. He does. Principally, that's by hiring a high-priced defense attorney, William Flynn, who turns Roxie's case into the stuff of tabloid fodder and this week's trial of the century.
Newspapermen merrily throw gasoline on the fire, dubbing Roxie the Jazz Slayer, and she falls in love with her own clippings—in our time, Roxie would get a reality show and a gig on Dancing with the Stars. The sex and violence is obviously tame by the standards of basic cable, but still, it's kind of stunning to see the frankness in a 1927 picture, where it's taken for granted that in these circles the women sleep around, get knocked up, and knife anyone who dares to cross them.
You can't help but compare this to the musical, if you've seen it; the silent picture feels a little pokey in picking up steam, and has an unsatisfying story detour, in which Amos steals money from Flynn, then turns around and uses it to pay Flynn's outrageously high retainer. Also, this being a silent movie, Roxie has no showgirl aspirations, and Velma Kelly is entirely absent. But the best things about the story are its observations of the media circus, and how desperate our girl gets when she thinks the paparazzi are ready to move on.
Phyllis Haver is a pip as Roxie, and Victor Varconi is a sad sack as Amos; my favorite, though, is Eugene Pallette, not long for this world as Roxie's victim. He later became a staple as a great frog-voiced patriarch in pictures like My Man Godfrey, so seeing him hear as a priapic little scamp is a particular treat. The film has been lovingly restored and given terrific treatment on this two-disc set. My biggest quarrel is with the accompanying musical score, which sets the tone just fine, but is a little too on the nose with some of its effects, providing things like on-screen car horns and doorbells—it's almost as if we're not trusted to watch and understand a silent movie. Disc One features a look at The Real Roxie Hart (8m:10s), featuring Maurine Dallas Watkins, the Chicago reporter who wrote the original play, which was taken from several prominent murder trials she covered. (Pop the disc into your computer, and you can see reproductions of some of Watkins' original work.)
Disc Two brings a March of Time documentary made in 1950, The Golden Twenties (01h:03m:55s), in which a kid has to do a report on a decade of his choice for school—you'll never guess which one he lands on. And a 1985 documentary, The Flapper Story (29m:35s), features more archival Charleston footage than you'll find anywhere.
Posted by: Jon Danziger - September 14, 2010, 1:28 pm - DVD ReviewKeywords: silent
Agree? Disagree? Have your own thoughts? discuss on facebook
Genres
action, action comedy, adventure, alternative, animation, anime, art, black comedy, celtic, classical, comedy, compilation, country, crime, cult, documentary, drama, educational, epic, experimental, family, fantasy, film noir, folk, foreign, gangster, hip-hop, historical, historical adventure, holiday, horror, jazz, late night, martial arts, metal, music, musical, musical comedy, mystery, new age, offbeat, opera, pop, r-b, rap, rock, romance, romantic comedy, sci-fi, special interest, sports, suspense thriller, techno thriller, television, war, western,
documentary, music, madonna, lourdes, material girl, movie, 'the social network, ' aaron sorkin, david fincher, mark zuckerberg, eduardo saverin, andrew garfield, jesse eisenberg, action, sci-fi, television, david hasselhoff, tony dovolani, the quickstep, wire, lost, freaks and geeks, arrested development, 'rabbit hole, ' nicole kidman, 'let me in, ' 'the debt, ' helen mirren, realty dance competition, florence henderson, carrie ann inaba, margaret cho, bill maher, christine o'donnell, republican nominee, witchcraft, 'stake land, ' toronto international film festival, kelly mcgillis, melanie leis, $23.8 million, jon hamm, jeremy renner, chris cooper, box office, movies, gladiator, rome, musical, oprah, book club, national book award, 'the corrections, ' farrar, straus and giroux, robert redford, mary surratt, robin wright, james mcavoy, tom wilkinson, fake news, fake conservative, jon stewart, stephen colbert, dueling rallies, writer, book reviewer, philip roth, thomas pynchon, saul bellow, don delillo, j.k. rowling, tom wolfe, romantic caper, big-budget blockbuster, florian henckel von donnersmarck, concert, beyonc?, nicki minaj, 50 cent, josh brolin, will smith, action drama, pantelion films, 10 films, hispanic moviegoers, comedy series, penny, jim parsons, mayim bialik, leonard, american idol, steven tyler, randy jackson, singing competition, lady gaga, katy perry, ke$ha, taylor swift, justin bieber, ciara, jane lynch, bryce dallas howard, matt damon, special-effects tsunami, romance
Intrigo says, "Wow, we're on Kindle now... is it tuna-flavored?"
No comments:
Post a Comment