[Something clever and appropriate is here]
First, the meme stolen from a lot of my f-list at this point.
Pick any character I've played / created and I will tell you:
* what initially prompted me to like the character enough to write about him/her.
* one of his/her best traits.
* one of his/her worst traits.
* how easy/difficult I find it to write the character.
* the story/thread/chapter/post/etc where I feel that I truly captured them.
* my plans (if any) to write the character in the near future.
Should you need reference as to who I am at the moment, there's an up-to-the-moment list on my profile.
So I have now seen Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's Black Narcissus.
Hell's Angels is, in some important ways, a completely remarkable film. However, it can be difficult to care, because in other ways it's an absolutely awful film.
Technically, it is at many points astounding. This being Hughes, no expense was spared. While it is for the most part a black-and-white film, it actually does make great use of color. Early in the film, there's a duel scene set at dawn, and it was tinted to be purple and black, which I've never seen before. The ball scene features and early use of two-tone technicolor. Another scene, lacking technicolor, manages to tint different parts blue and orange (fire at night). So the visuals are quite compelling. They are more compelling in the aerial fights, which are wonderfully shot. There are two major aerial battles, the first between a German zeppelin and the English planes, the second all planes. And really, these two scenes make the entire movie worthwhile. The zeppelin features what must have been excellent model and set work, and the shot of it finally coming down was so well-staged that we rewound and watched it again. He demanded some serious aerial stuntwork in the plane on plane battle, and it's a joy to watch them fly.
The problem is that you have to sit through all of the movie where they're not in an aerial battle. Our two "heroes," whom we must remind ourselves are supposed to be British, as while Hughes could buy plenty of planes he couldn't find people who could even be bothered to fake an accent, are pretty much completely unsympathetic. Our introduction to them features one brother, Monty I think, running off, leaving the other, Roy, to be injured in a duel Monty was challenged to after being caught with another man's wife. Charming. Monty, in spite of joining the army, only gets more cowardly, if you can believe it. And Roy proves to be pretty damn thick, especially considering that he keeps putting up with Monty. At some points we are forced to wonder why we are focusing on these two at all. In the fight against the zeppelin they play next to no role. On one hand, this is rather realistic, since if they had been more involved it's quite possible they would have died. On the other hand, this kind of realism is exactly what movies are sort of meant to bypass. For us to be invested in the British fight and sacrifices, our supposed emotional link should, you know, at least be there for the entire fight. (They crash before the zeppelin is brought down.)
The narrative has quite a few problems, really. At the beginning of the movie the brothers are spending time with a good German before the war. The good German is naturally forced into service. One expects a sort of "battle between brothers." Cliche, yes, but it would validate the German's presence in the story. But the guy dies without the brothers ever seeing him again, having fought the system briefly from within.
It's also completely sexist. The only female character exists to pursue her own pleasure, and it's basically stated that all women are like this. The only person a man can rely on in this world is his brother! Except not, because his brother actually has the spine of a worm.
So Hell's Angels is the story of the wimpy men who fight a war and the woman who doesn't give a damn about them. But it does have great planes!
Really, in spite of the level of innovation in Hell's Angels, Black Narcissus is a much better film. In fact, there's considerable skill there. Being from 1947, much of its use of color was new. Its sound direction is actually in many ways quite strong, and there surprisingly little music involved. Though, interestingly, it also suffers from a lead who lacks the appropriate accent.
Black Narcissus is about Anglican nuns who find that they are really wrapped too tight for this part of India. ...Really, you could say that to a certain extent it's Heart of Darkness stuck in one place. (For those of you who sat through my reaction to The Dark Knight, I swear I do not see Heart of Darkness everywhere, only where it is.) The acting on the part of some is quite good. Kathleen Byron does an excellent job with all her little twitches being an already unbalanced woman going completely off the deep end. I rather though David Farrar did a good job as the bitter but rather charismatic semi-Kurtz figure in shorts. Deborah Kerr really wasn't bad, in spite of not sounding Irish. The visuals are wonderful, the sets sumptous and compelling, the costumes appropriate and in some cases quite vibrant. Some of the shots are magnificent, especially the ones that must have been shot from cranes or something similar. One interesting aspect is that, before Bollywood, they insert a bit of Bollywood with the sensual Indian girl who has a scene where she dances by herself and who later manages to claim the local prince.
Of course, the most amazing thing is that when you're watching it you would really not believe it was shot entirely in England. The set of the palace alone would have been hard enough to build, I can't imagine getting and placing all those plants.
It's a strange creature, in some ways completely avoiding what you'd expect and in others completely embracing it. But I would actually recommend it.
It's a shame, though, that even in this edition from the Criterion Collection the print hasn't been completely restored. (This is not Homicide, those jump cuts were not intentional.)
Oh, funny little side note. We ended up watching Black Narcissus because Mom said she wasn't really up to testosterone city, so The Departed was out. After it was finished, she got curious and decided to watch some extras. And who should be a commentator on the use of color? Martin Scorcese. There's no escape.
Pick any character I've played / created and I will tell you:
* what initially prompted me to like the character enough to write about him/her.
* one of his/her best traits.
* one of his/her worst traits.
* how easy/difficult I find it to write the character.
* the story/thread/chapter/post/etc where I feel that I truly captured them.
* my plans (if any) to write the character in the near future.
Should you need reference as to who I am at the moment, there's an up-to-the-moment list on my profile.
So I have now seen Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's Black Narcissus.
Hell's Angels is, in some important ways, a completely remarkable film. However, it can be difficult to care, because in other ways it's an absolutely awful film.
Technically, it is at many points astounding. This being Hughes, no expense was spared. While it is for the most part a black-and-white film, it actually does make great use of color. Early in the film, there's a duel scene set at dawn, and it was tinted to be purple and black, which I've never seen before. The ball scene features and early use of two-tone technicolor. Another scene, lacking technicolor, manages to tint different parts blue and orange (fire at night). So the visuals are quite compelling. They are more compelling in the aerial fights, which are wonderfully shot. There are two major aerial battles, the first between a German zeppelin and the English planes, the second all planes. And really, these two scenes make the entire movie worthwhile. The zeppelin features what must have been excellent model and set work, and the shot of it finally coming down was so well-staged that we rewound and watched it again. He demanded some serious aerial stuntwork in the plane on plane battle, and it's a joy to watch them fly.
The problem is that you have to sit through all of the movie where they're not in an aerial battle. Our two "heroes," whom we must remind ourselves are supposed to be British, as while Hughes could buy plenty of planes he couldn't find people who could even be bothered to fake an accent, are pretty much completely unsympathetic. Our introduction to them features one brother, Monty I think, running off, leaving the other, Roy, to be injured in a duel Monty was challenged to after being caught with another man's wife. Charming. Monty, in spite of joining the army, only gets more cowardly, if you can believe it. And Roy proves to be pretty damn thick, especially considering that he keeps putting up with Monty. At some points we are forced to wonder why we are focusing on these two at all. In the fight against the zeppelin they play next to no role. On one hand, this is rather realistic, since if they had been more involved it's quite possible they would have died. On the other hand, this kind of realism is exactly what movies are sort of meant to bypass. For us to be invested in the British fight and sacrifices, our supposed emotional link should, you know, at least be there for the entire fight. (They crash before the zeppelin is brought down.)
The narrative has quite a few problems, really. At the beginning of the movie the brothers are spending time with a good German before the war. The good German is naturally forced into service. One expects a sort of "battle between brothers." Cliche, yes, but it would validate the German's presence in the story. But the guy dies without the brothers ever seeing him again, having fought the system briefly from within.
It's also completely sexist. The only female character exists to pursue her own pleasure, and it's basically stated that all women are like this. The only person a man can rely on in this world is his brother! Except not, because his brother actually has the spine of a worm.
So Hell's Angels is the story of the wimpy men who fight a war and the woman who doesn't give a damn about them. But it does have great planes!
Really, in spite of the level of innovation in Hell's Angels, Black Narcissus is a much better film. In fact, there's considerable skill there. Being from 1947, much of its use of color was new. Its sound direction is actually in many ways quite strong, and there surprisingly little music involved. Though, interestingly, it also suffers from a lead who lacks the appropriate accent.
Black Narcissus is about Anglican nuns who find that they are really wrapped too tight for this part of India. ...Really, you could say that to a certain extent it's Heart of Darkness stuck in one place. (For those of you who sat through my reaction to The Dark Knight, I swear I do not see Heart of Darkness everywhere, only where it is.) The acting on the part of some is quite good. Kathleen Byron does an excellent job with all her little twitches being an already unbalanced woman going completely off the deep end. I rather though David Farrar did a good job as the bitter but rather charismatic semi-Kurtz figure in shorts. Deborah Kerr really wasn't bad, in spite of not sounding Irish. The visuals are wonderful, the sets sumptous and compelling, the costumes appropriate and in some cases quite vibrant. Some of the shots are magnificent, especially the ones that must have been shot from cranes or something similar. One interesting aspect is that, before Bollywood, they insert a bit of Bollywood with the sensual Indian girl who has a scene where she dances by herself and who later manages to claim the local prince.
Of course, the most amazing thing is that when you're watching it you would really not believe it was shot entirely in England. The set of the palace alone would have been hard enough to build, I can't imagine getting and placing all those plants.
It's a strange creature, in some ways completely avoiding what you'd expect and in others completely embracing it. But I would actually recommend it.
It's a shame, though, that even in this edition from the Criterion Collection the print hasn't been completely restored. (This is not Homicide, those jump cuts were not intentional.)
Oh, funny little side note. We ended up watching Black Narcissus because Mom said she wasn't really up to testosterone city, so The Departed was out. After it was finished, she got curious and decided to watch some extras. And who should be a commentator on the use of color? Martin Scorcese. There's no escape.