Batchelor Weekend 2007
Today, I just completed another mini-film festival while my wife has been away on a women's ministry retreat weekend.
The first film, The Magic Sword was an interesting B-movie that had the added bonus of featuring Basil Rathbone as the main villain. The other thing I noted was what has been termed "ethnocentrism." This varies from racism in that race takes a backseat to region of origin. For example, Shakespeare would not be termed a racist, despite some of his characters (of different racial background than the protagonists) being portrayed negatively. Rather, he portrayed these minority characters no different than any other character who was not from Elizabethan England.
In The Magic Sword, the hero, George, is apparently from some fantasy version of England. He is aided in his quest to rescue a beautiful princess by six knights, one each from Spain, "Germany," "Italy," France, Scotland and Ireland. The ethnocentrism appears in that each one of these knights (beginning with the ones from "Germany" and Spain) dies, sacrificing himself to help George, the English knight, who happens also to appear most American. There is a dragon that George must slay in order to rescue the princess. All in all, a B-movie.
The second was King Arthur, The Young Warlord. Actually, this was on the 'b-side' of the DVD that also contained The Magic Sword (I picked the disc up for $1.00 new at a big box discount store). This was a completely different film in tone and subject matter.
From what I've read on-line, this King Arthur was originally a BBC television series. It appears as if there are at least three episodes conflated together to create this feature film. There is a clever take on the "sword in the stone" motif to illustrate Arthur's plan to unite the squabbling kingdoms under him. The performances aren't terrible, even if the history is a little skewed. For me, perhaps the most pleasant surprise is to see veteran Brit actor Brian Blessed cast as King Mark of Cornwall. I really enjoyed seeing him chew the scenery once again in this simple, low-budget interpretation of the Arthur legend.
Next, was The Phantom of the Opera This was the 1925 silent film starring Lon Chaney, "the Man of 1000 Faces." I had seen it once before, several years ago, and recall how disappointed I was with way the demise of the Phantom was staged. The copy of the film I saw today includes an operatic soundtrack that appears to have been scored for the film. For example, when Christine Daae is singing, the soundtrack features a singer following along, singing the same song Christine is supposed to be singing. The same singer also covers Carlotta's vocals, as she sings the song that brings down the fabulous chandelier (with the vocal ending in a scream as the lighting fixture drops). I must confess that I did not recall that the Phantom's real name was Erik. Also, I noticed that the intertitle introducing the Masked Ball had a phrase that just seemed so perfectly tuned: "The Merry, Mad Bal Masque." I will have to use that phrase sometime....
The fourth film was also a Lon Chaney vehicle, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I had never seen this one, and was impressed by Chaney's range. Sure, I had read about it, but one can never fully appreciate it until you see it onscreen. The other thing that impressed me was Chaney's physical ability. While I read that he had employed a stunt double, there were too many scenes that could only be Chaney, and he had a fluid movement that defied the makeup prosthesis.
The final film was the German classic The Golem. I was fascinated by the art direction and set design. The skyline architecture of 16th century Prague's Jewish Ghetto looked more like a sepia-toned Seussian cityscape. Also, it is easy to see the connections between director/star Paul Wegener's portrayal of the Golem and Boris Karloff's interpretation of Frankenstein's monster.
The portrayals of the Jews of Prague are not especially flattering, but the overall story is fairly positive, except for the end, where the only thing that can stop the terror is a little gentile girl.
I was struck that the last three films (Phantom, Hunchback, and Golem all contain variations of the Beauty and the Beast motif. Phantom actually sort of interprets the motif in reverse: Christine is attracted to the beast at first, and then repelled. In the end, all three beasts die, after having been rejected by their respective beauties in favor of their chosen heroes. Well, except for Golem, where the beast succeeds in killing his rival.
All in all, not a bad way to spend a Saturday
The first film, The Magic Sword was an interesting B-movie that had the added bonus of featuring Basil Rathbone as the main villain. The other thing I noted was what has been termed "ethnocentrism." This varies from racism in that race takes a backseat to region of origin. For example, Shakespeare would not be termed a racist, despite some of his characters (of different racial background than the protagonists) being portrayed negatively. Rather, he portrayed these minority characters no different than any other character who was not from Elizabethan England.
In The Magic Sword, the hero, George, is apparently from some fantasy version of England. He is aided in his quest to rescue a beautiful princess by six knights, one each from Spain, "Germany," "Italy," France, Scotland and Ireland. The ethnocentrism appears in that each one of these knights (beginning with the ones from "Germany" and Spain) dies, sacrificing himself to help George, the English knight, who happens also to appear most American. There is a dragon that George must slay in order to rescue the princess. All in all, a B-movie.
The second was King Arthur, The Young Warlord. Actually, this was on the 'b-side' of the DVD that also contained The Magic Sword (I picked the disc up for $1.00 new at a big box discount store). This was a completely different film in tone and subject matter.
From what I've read on-line, this King Arthur was originally a BBC television series. It appears as if there are at least three episodes conflated together to create this feature film. There is a clever take on the "sword in the stone" motif to illustrate Arthur's plan to unite the squabbling kingdoms under him. The performances aren't terrible, even if the history is a little skewed. For me, perhaps the most pleasant surprise is to see veteran Brit actor Brian Blessed cast as King Mark of Cornwall. I really enjoyed seeing him chew the scenery once again in this simple, low-budget interpretation of the Arthur legend.
Next, was The Phantom of the Opera This was the 1925 silent film starring Lon Chaney, "the Man of 1000 Faces." I had seen it once before, several years ago, and recall how disappointed I was with way the demise of the Phantom was staged. The copy of the film I saw today includes an operatic soundtrack that appears to have been scored for the film. For example, when Christine Daae is singing, the soundtrack features a singer following along, singing the same song Christine is supposed to be singing. The same singer also covers Carlotta's vocals, as she sings the song that brings down the fabulous chandelier (with the vocal ending in a scream as the lighting fixture drops). I must confess that I did not recall that the Phantom's real name was Erik. Also, I noticed that the intertitle introducing the Masked Ball had a phrase that just seemed so perfectly tuned: "The Merry, Mad Bal Masque." I will have to use that phrase sometime....
The fourth film was also a Lon Chaney vehicle, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I had never seen this one, and was impressed by Chaney's range. Sure, I had read about it, but one can never fully appreciate it until you see it onscreen. The other thing that impressed me was Chaney's physical ability. While I read that he had employed a stunt double, there were too many scenes that could only be Chaney, and he had a fluid movement that defied the makeup prosthesis.
The final film was the German classic The Golem. I was fascinated by the art direction and set design. The skyline architecture of 16th century Prague's Jewish Ghetto looked more like a sepia-toned Seussian cityscape. Also, it is easy to see the connections between director/star Paul Wegener's portrayal of the Golem and Boris Karloff's interpretation of Frankenstein's monster.
The portrayals of the Jews of Prague are not especially flattering, but the overall story is fairly positive, except for the end, where the only thing that can stop the terror is a little gentile girl.
I was struck that the last three films (Phantom, Hunchback, and Golem all contain variations of the Beauty and the Beast motif. Phantom actually sort of interprets the motif in reverse: Christine is attracted to the beast at first, and then repelled. In the end, all three beasts die, after having been rejected by their respective beauties in favor of their chosen heroes. Well, except for Golem, where the beast succeeds in killing his rival.
All in all, not a bad way to spend a Saturday