Singing the praises of a cinematic study of native peoples

Before Chloé Zhao took the cinematic world by storm when she directed the Best Picture Oscar-winning Nomadland and captured the Academy Award for Best Director (only the second of three females to claim that trophy), she created a lesser-known work that earned her kudos and admiration from cineastes worldwide: Songs My Brothers Taught Me. Our CineVerse squad focused on this feature last week and came away enthralled. Below are talking points about the film we shared (to listen to a recording of our group discussion, click here).

How did this film surprise, captivate, impress, or interest you?

• There’s a naturalistic look and vibe to this film, thanks in large part to the casting of primarily nonactors (many of whom are residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota), choosing to film without a complete script, and featuring many shots and scenes that feel spontaneous. All of these elements grace Songs with a documentary-like feel and realism. It helped that the director reportedly lived on the reservation for four years before production.
• The movie doesn’t feel exploitive or misrepresentational of the Lakota people or Native Americans.
• Qwipster.net reviewer Vince Leo wrote: “Making a cross-cultural film as an outsider is always a tricky proposition, as it can be very easy to misrepresent the culture depicted. Indeed, Hollywood's depiction has often been criticized in depicting Native Americans as either savage or full of eternal wisdom, and Songs My Brothers Taught Me certainly avoids those stereotypes, giving us a rare look at an American community that isn't often represented in films of any sort in the modern day.”
• It cuts against our expectations and isn’t predictable. Johnny doesn’t leave at the conclusion as we anticipated, he resists the affections of Angie, and the tension between him and the other bootleggers doesn’t turn into a significant subplot or lingering source of conflict. Also, the ending is fairly ambiguous. We don’t know what will happen to these siblings, their mother, or their community in the near- or long-term future.
• Arguably, the picture suffers from a fragmented narrative and tonal inconsistencies. We feel the tension and uncertainty coursing through Johnny, who must eventually decide if he will move away with his girlfriend, but this plot isn’t followed consistently. Expository dialogue is, thankfully, discarded in favor of allowing a scene to unfold naturally with the help of visual context.
• The outdoor photography is often sublime, capturing the natural beauty of the badlands and their desolate visuals.

Major themes

• Feeling stuck and duty-bound to kin, community, and location despite a strong desire to branch out on your own.
• The sociocultural and psychological/emotional effects of addiction, economic hardship, and intergenerational trauma upon an ethnic group, in this case indigenous peoples.
• Will the sins of the father be visited on his children? Johnny and Jashaun have irresponsible and negligent parents; most of the movie silently ponders the degree to which these siblings may fall into the same traps as their parents and be faced with many of the same challenges as they age—including alcoholism and poverty.
• Honoring your culture and ethnic traditions. While the Native Americans on this reservation have assimilated western culture and its trappings, we see occasional examples of how they proudly incorporate indigenous songs, art, and spirituality into their lives.
• Family is forever, or blood is thicker than water. Johnny ultimately cannot abandon his sister and the reservation, nor can his father’s 25 children forget their roots and ignore their lineage.

Similar works

• Naturalistic and visually arresting movies by Terence Malick, including Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, and Tree of Life
• The Last Picture Show
• Pather Panchali
• Salaam Bombay
• Winter’s Bone
• Sami Blood
• The Dynamiter
• Four Sheets to the Wind
• Shouting Secrets

Other films by Chloe Zhao

• Nomadland
• The Rider

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A cinematic game of Clue

Nobody dunnit better than everybody’s favorite whodunnit author Agatha Christie. And no book of hers was as popular, based on sales (over 100 million claimed), as And Then There Were None (also known as Ten Little Indians), which was adapted for the big and small screen numerous times. Yet the version that probably remains the most beloved among film critics and scholars is the 1945 production directed by René Clair. Our CineVerse club played the role of movie detective last week when we attempted to examine the clues that point to quality filmmaking at work in this picture. Here’s a recap of our conversation (to listen to a recording of our group discussion, click here).

What was noteworthy, memorable, unforeseen, or enjoyable about this movie?

• The filmmakers changed Christie’s original ending, in which (SPOILERS) everyone dies and UN Owen commits suicide, for a more cheerful conclusion featuring two young survivors who discover romance.
• The ensemble cast includes an impressive array of fantastic character actors and former leading stars, including Walter Huston, Barry Fitzgerald, Roland Young, Judith Anderson, C. Aubrey Smith, and Richard Haydn. Including familiar and beloved faces like these helps create a rich tapestry of delightful performances.
• It employs Hitchcockian black comedy, such as when the shoes of Thomas Rogers, the dead male servant, are revealed, as well as comic relief in the form of Mischa Auer’s Prince Nikita and Richard Haydn’s Rogers.
• The players break the fourth wall by looking directly at the audience, a practice sometimes used in theater performances, particularly in mysteries where the director wants the crowd to suspect or remember that character.
• While it’s obvious to see how this would have been a popular stage play, the director and his collaborators use the power of film and editing to expand the narrative beyond the confining handful of rooms in which the events occur.
• TCM reviewer Jeremy Arnold wrote: “The most impressive thing about And Then There Were None is how cinematic it feels. While it's true that the screen credits say the script is based on Christie's novel, the ending comes from her stage version, and the entire concept of ten people trapped in one space trying to puzzle through a mystery primarily via dialogue is at heart a theatrical conceit. Yet Nichols' script finds fluid ways of moving the action fairly constantly to different locations around the house or on the island, and director Clair uses ingenious methods of breaking up the space cinematically in scenes that do linger in one specific space. For example, if several people are gathered in a room or hallway for several minutes, talking, Clair will use deft editing to create tension or humor and make the scene feel anything but stagy. This is very tricky business, as Clair is not cutting on action so much as using editing to create action, and turning theatrical space into cinematic space. Even though the film is not technically adapted from a play, it is still a model of how to make such an adaptation and should be studied by any filmmaker doing so today.”

Major themes, motifs, and tropes

• Captive characters: The players in these tales are often trapped, sequestered, or cut off from the outside world
• Darkness and shadows: Shades of black and grey engulf the characters and obscure identities and facts for the audience
• Whodunnits: The viewer is dependent on learning the facts and deciding who the antagonist is, often by process of character elimination.
• Fiendishly clever crimes: The murderer in this tale kills his victims in keeping with the lyrics of a song, Ten Little Indians.
• Red herrings: It’s important in old dark house mysteries for the filmmakers to mislead the viewer and throw the audience off the true scent by suggesting a character’s guilt or participation in foul play, only for us later to learn that we were deceived.
• There’s strength in numbers, usually: By sticking together and forming alliances, some of the 10 characters avoid being killed; nevertheless, the doctor meets his doom despite teaming up with the judge.

Similar works

• Subsequent adaptations of this tale, including film and TV versions from 1965, 1974, 1987, 1989, 2015, and 2020.
• Old dark house subgenre films like The Cat and the Canary (1927 and 1939), The Old Dark House, The Ghost Breakers, Clue, Murder By Death, House on Haunted Hill, and The House of Fear
• Thrillers in which the villain dispenses with his victims in diabolically crafty ways meant to merit out poetic justice, such as Theater of Blood, or conform to a myth, song, or work of literature, such as Seven or The Abominable Dr. Phibes
• Incite Mill
• Twitch of the Death Nerve
• John Carpenter’s The Thing
• The Trouble With Harry

Other films by René Clair

• The Ghost Goes West
• I Married a Witch
• It Happened Tomorrow
• Beauty and the Devil
• Beauties of the Night

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Bunker blues

It’s challenging to assess a movie about major combat—especially one representing WW I or II—and not deduce its primary message as “war is hell.” That’s because the vast majority of pictures portraying armed conflict and the experiences of its military members are violent, downbeat, disturbing affairs designed to jolt us out of any semblance of spectator stupor and impart a cautionary tale of sorts about the physical and psychological casualties of battle. Journey’s End, a 2017 production directed by Saul Dibb and based on the famous play by R.C. Sherriff, falls within that category, certainly. But it also resonates as a different spin on the war drama subgenre in how it showcases the insular interpersonal dynamics within a confined setting, serving as a rare treatise on what happens between the bomb blasts and between the ears of officers and grunts struggling with PTSD. We gave this film the CineVerse treatment last week and offer the following postulations (to listen to a recording of our group discussion, click here).

What elements did you find unanticipated, surprising, impactful, or unusual about Journey’s End?

• There have been numerous films depicting World War I combat, trench warfare, and the plight of soldiers during that conflict. However, this story provides a rare glimpse inside the world just adjacent to the trenches: the underground bunkers where the officers reside and make vital decisions that will impact the infantry. We are intimately shown their living conditions, diets, and social undercurrents.
• Despite being a part of a massive and extensive western front that stretches across France, the story and its visuals are claustrophobic, confining, dank, dark, and oppressive. To capture an authentic look and enhance the restrictive setting, the filmmakers shot all interior scenes via candlelight and employed Steadicam and handheld cameras for intimate mobility around the actors.
• Unlike other films that dramatize an especially important battle or turning point in a war, like The Longest Day, Dunkirk, or Saving Private Ryan, this picture focuses on a relatively pointless week in the lives of a company who has the misfortune of having to serve their six-days-per-month rotation on the front lines, just as the long-anticipated German offensive is about to strike. The building dread, foreboding vibe, and lack of advancing action are what’s important here.
• Also, this movie presents minimal action or combat. It’s more of a character study that centers on revealing dialogue and relationship dynamics between officers.

Major themes

• The futility and senselessness of war. The mission that Stanhope’s company is given to storm the enemy’s trench and capture a German soldier won’t make a difference in the war and will result in meaningless deaths. By the end of the story, everyone from Stanhope’s unit will be dead. Yet, the closing titles indicate that nothing was gained from their efforts: The war would continue for several more months, with another million dead before its conclusion.
• The price men pay for engaging in combat. The film shows the toll the war has taken on Stanhope, turning him into a bitter and angry alcoholic, as well as Hibbert, who suffers from so much pain and stress that he can barely function. This film is a cautionary tale of the effects of PTSD on soldiers.
• Fatalism and resignation to the inevitable. Stanhope knows that his men are cannon fodder—expendable pawns in this high-stakes game who won’t live out the week; consequently, he is exceedingly ill-tempered and hostile, focusing on petty complaints like lack of pepper in the soup.
• Innocence lost. Raleigh, who serves as a surrogate for the audience, arrives as a fresh-faced, idealistic, and utterly naive soldier who has personally requested assignment to Stanhope’s company; but he quickly learns that there is little glory or pride in what he’s signed up for, and throughout a handful of days we witness how completely the horrors of war infiltrate his psyche and sour his enthusiasm.

Similar works

• Earlier adaptations of this story, including Journey’s End (1930), The Other Side (1931), Aces High (1976), and a BBC TV film called Journey’s End (1988)
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• Paths of Glory
• Joyeux Noel
• The Trench
• The Fear (France, 2015)
• Dunkirk
• 1917
• They Shall Not Grow Old, a recent Peter Jackson documentary

Other films by Saul Dibb

• Bullet Boy
• Sweet Française
• The Duchess

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Cineversary podcast speaks up about The Quiet Man on its 70th anniversary

In Cineversary podcast episode #49, host Erik Martin takes an audio trip to the Emerald Isle to pay tribute to one of John Ford’s finest works, The Quiet Man, which enjoys a 70th anniversary this summer. Erik is joined in the celebration by two terrific guests: Joseph McBride, a film professor at San Francisco State University, cinema historian, and author of several books including Searching For John Ford, Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge, and The Whole Durn Human Comedy: Life According to the Coen Brothers; and Des MacHale, a mathematics professor at University College Cork in Ireland and author of The Complete Guide to the Quiet Man. Together, they explore why The Quiet Man remains so beloved around the world, its cultural impact, elements considered controversial today, and more.

Joseph McBride and Des MacHale

To listen to this episode, click here or click the "play" button on the embedded streaming player below. Or, you can stream, download, or subscribe to Cineversary wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, PodBean, RadioPublic, and Overcast.

Learn more about the Cineversary podcast at anchor.fm/cineversary and email show comments or suggestions to cineversegroup@gmail.com.

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Discussing a film you can't be quiet about

John Ford's The Quiet Man, from 1952, is a film that can generate healthy dialogue and debate in 2022, 70 years after its debut. Our CineVerse club convened last week to talk about this St. Patrick's Day cinematic staple, including elements that have stood the test of time and others that may not have dated as well.

To listen to a recording of our group discussion, click here. (Notes on the film will be shared next week.)

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An appreciation for an out-of-this-world masterwork

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial turned four decades old last month, which makes now an ideal time to take a closer examination of this work of wonderment and better understand how it has forever impacted cinema and the greater culture. Take a moment to ruminate on the following observations about this film, and consider how Steven Spielberg's masterpiece continues to enthrall audiences across the world (to listen to the latest Cineversary podcast, which celebrates E.T.'s 40th anniversary, click here).

Why is this movie worth celebrating 40 years later? Why does it still matter, and how has it stood the test of time?

• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial still packs a strong emotional punch 40 years after its release, likely because director Steven Spielberg focuses less on science fiction, fantasy, and special effects and more on real-world enchantment to convey a very personal narrative from a kid’s perspective – and that child can be any one of us, regardless of our age, if we put ourselves in Elliot’s shoes.
• Despite old-school special effects limitations of its era, compared to the dazzling CGI wizardry of today, E.T.’s effects hold up, especially the animatronics involved in making the alien look realistic and move and express itself believably. Many are not fans of the 2002 special edition rerelease in which Spielberg took a George Lucas-like approach to snazzing up E.T. with new effects and inserting a few cut scenes. The CGI in that version makes the alien look plastic-perfect; Plenty prefer the rough-around-the-edges rubbery charm of the creature’s appearance in the 1982 original.
• It still matters because of its music, too. The secret weapon behind the film’s effectiveness is the brilliant score by composer John Williams, which ranks #14 on the AFI’s list of 25 greatest film scores. This soundtrack does a lot of the heavy emotional lifting at critical moments, such as when Elliott brings the creature into his home, the flight across the moon sequence, the death and rebirth of E.T., and the poignant farewell.
• Additionally, it has stood the test of time because its legacy hasn’t been diluted by inferior sequels, which often happens to film franchises that suffer lesser subsequent chapters following the first installment. At one time, Spielberg pondered the idea of helming a sequel, but thankfully he didn’t. So E.T. is the rare blockbuster masterpiece that had no follow-ups or prequels. And that means its reputation hasn’t been tarnished in any way.

How was E.T. innovative or different, especially compared to previous sci-fi films about aliens as well as earlier Spielberg pictures?

• It’s a rare science fiction story about benevolent aliens; many sci-fi works feature extraterrestrials that are violent and destructive to humans. Here, the message is that strangers from different worlds can and should coexist peacefully and find a way to communicate.
• The creature design was quite distinctive compared to previous iterations of extraterrestrials on film. E.T. exhibits characteristics of several types of animals: It has the long neck and wrinkly skin of a giant turtle, the anthropomorphic body of a long-armed ape, the moist membranes of a frog or other amphibian, and the sound of a purring cat when content or sleepy. Its oversized blue eyes are wonderfully expressive, and it waddles adorably like a penguin. Its fingers, skin color, and texture resemble the aliens from the 1953 War of the Worlds. Still, E.T. is a relatively unique otherworldly organism that doesn’t borrow from past pop culture extraterrestrials like a classic Roswell-era alien or a Close Encounters of the Third Kind creature.
• Some believe E.T. turned aliens into pop culture icons and gave a memorable face to an alien being that was safe for and acceptable to children. Nevertheless, this creature was not devised to be undeniably cute and cuddly. E.T. has tactile and visual qualities that give it a strange, outlandish appearance. At the same time, its short stature, enormous peepers, and docile temperament make it non-threatening and endearing.
• Spielberg wisely chose to shoot many scenes from a child’s vantage point and height, bringing the viewer to Elliott’s level. Except for Elliott’s mother, all the adults in the film are shown from the chest down, silhouetted, shot from afar, or facelessly obscured until the third act, when the government officials infiltrate Elliott’s house. As in Charlie Brown cartoons, the grown-ups are secondary, voiceless, amorphous characters on the periphery.
• Although we are shown snatches of the alien early on, we don’t see him in complete, detailed form until the second act, when he becomes a fixture inside the house. As in King Kong, Jaws, Close Encounters, Jurassic Park, and other major genre entertainments, the filmmakers follow the proven rule of not fully introducing the creature until later in the story, which organically builds anticipation and excitement.

In what ways was E.T. was influential on cinema or popular culture?

• This was the feature that proved family films could be commercially successful and popular again. Disney and other studios had difficulty making inroads at the box office with family fare in the years prior to E.T. Hollywood was skittish in this era about putting serious resources into a movie designed to appeal to all ages. But the gamble paid off handsomely.
• In 1983, E.T. overtook Star Wars to claim the title of the highest-grossing film ever; by the conclusion of its theatrical run, it had grossed $359 million in North America and $619 million worldwide. In fact, the movie sold more than 120 million tickets in its initial U.S. theatrical run. Adjusted for inflation, E.T. today remains the fourth highest-grossing motion picture of all time, behind Gone with the Wind, Star Wars, and The Sound of Music.
• It firmly established Steven Spielberg as the world’s most popular and famous director—a man with the Midas touch after consecutively helming Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and now E.T.
• It helped usher the era of product placement into the movies, for better or worse, by featuring merchandise like Reese’s Pieces, Star Wars toys, and Coca-Cola.
• E.T. inspired inferior knockoffs like the notoriously bad Mac and Me. But it also influenced later quality works like Starman, Gremlins, The Goonies, Flight of the Navigator, The Iron Giant, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Lilo and Stitch, Super 8, and Earth to Echo.
• Additionally, E.T. inspired Neil Diamond to record the hit song Heartlight, which rose to number five on the Billboard charts in late 1982.
• We can credit E.T., as well, with catapulting the careers of Drew Barrymore and Peter Coyote.
• It’s an intimate, engaging movie that Steven Spielberg considered his most personal film. Steven Spielberg said in an interview: “E.T. was about the divorce of my parents, how I felt after my parents broke up. [It was] the first movie I ever made for myself.”
• Hence, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial gave Spielberg the confidence to craft more personal films in the years to come. He established himself as the definitive action-adventure and sci-fi filmmaker between Jaws and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. But starting in 1985 with The Color Purple and continuing through Empire of the Sun, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, and beyond, we saw new facets of his talents and different genres explored beyond summer blockbuster fare.

Why was Steven Spielberg the right director for E.T., and what distinctive qualities does he bring to the film?

• Spielberg had the right approach: Treat this more as a story about a fractured family and the effect of the fantastical upon their lives instead of making this a special-effects spectacle heavily steeped in science fiction tropes.
• As he expertly demonstrated in Close Encounters five years earlier, this man knew how to accurately depict suburbia, believable family dynamics, and the authentic architecture of consumerist culture – the products we purchase and the content we watch and value. Every room in Elliott’s home has a lived-in look laced with plausible remnants of the early 1980s, another testament to Spielberg’s golden touch.
• As evidenced in the existing footage of the filming of E.T., the director had an intrinsic knack for casting the ideal child actors and nurturing them to deliver the exact performances he wanted for every shot. He became a kindly and compassionate father figure to these three child actors. Spielberg gave them latitude in improvising some of their lines and letting them be the kids they were, knowing that the story was more about them, not the extraterrestrial. Many like to think that the dad missing from the lives of these three siblings was really offscreen all the time in the form of Spielberg himself.

What themes, messages, or morals are explored in E.T.?

• Seeing life through a child’s eyes. This film is told from the emotional and literal viewpoint of a child: The camera is often placed at a kid’s level, and the point of view is commonly Elliott’s or E.T.’s.
• Christ-like rebirth. This is an uplifting story about a vulnerable creature who can work feats of magic yet gets sick and dies before being resurrected. As in the New Testament, this reborn figure must leave this world and his apostles behind. True believer Elliott says: “I'll believe in you all my life, every day.”
• Disconnection from home and family is not healthy. E.T. needs to return to his kind and his world; he is rejuvenated because he has reconnected with his native loved ones. This suggests that Elliott, too, must find a connection and treasure his life with his kin in suburbia, even if he doesn’t always fit in so well and lacks a father. It also underscores how E.T. and Elliott are connected and similar; think about how “E” and “T” are the first and last letters of Elliott’s name.
• The value of maintaining a sense of wonder and imagination. This picture makes you feel young again and taps into the mysteries and energy of childhood—how magical it is to find something genuinely precious that’s your unique secret, trying to find your place in a world where you don’t fit in, and being in awe of the marvels and mysteries of the universe.
• It speaks to the power that children have to possess a powerful sense of imagination, preserve awe and reverence for magic, be resourceful and resilient, remain open and receptive to the idea that aliens, monsters, or the supernatural can exist, and connect and communicate with life and nature in a way that most adults have forgotten or can’t.
• It references Peter Pan in the film and often plays on that tale’s themes: that you can fly, have adventures, wish upon a star for a miracle, and defeat the pirates (or, in this case, the adults trying to take E.T. away). . Remember that the “Keys” adult character is like a grownup Elliott or former Peter Pan—he’s been “wishing for this since (he) was 10 years old.” He, too, wants to be a kid again.
• The importance of tolerance, compassion, and understanding. Film journalist John Kenneth Muir wrote: "E.T. purposefully asks audiences to accept that which is alternative or seem different, and judge it not by how it looks. On the contrary, E.T. and Elliott develop a symbiosis and so come to understand the feelings of one another. No matter how different or alien someone may seem, they possess the same feelings that you do."
• Feeling trapped and imprisoned. Spielberg cleverly frames E.T. and the children behind window and door blinds, grates, screens, and lattices, likely for two reasons: first, to suggest that there is only a thin veneer separating this alien creature from humankind, which implies that we share more similarities than you think; and secondly to symbolically convey that Elliott’s home, while a refuge, can also be a prison keeping E.T. from his true home beyond the stars.

What is E.T.’s greatest gift to viewers?

• Its greatest gift is that it remains one of the best family films ever. Thanks in no small part to the decision to frame the narrative from the children’s point of view and often place the camera at their height, E.T. strikes a chord with our inner child—the one who experienced lonesomeness, awkwardness, misunderstanding, or alienation when we were young. It’s especially relevant to offspring of broken homes and divorce, middle children, and kids who grew up in the suburbs, which ticks all the boxes for Elliott.
• E.T. requires you to be an actively engaged viewer—it involves your feelings and moves you. Films that evoke a strong emotional reaction in audiences are potent pictures that tend to be remembered and revisited. For kids in the 1930s and 1940s, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Dumbo, and Bambi claimed that mantle; in the 1950s, it was Old Yeller; in the 1960s, 101 Dalmations served that role; in the 1970s, it was Benji; and in the 1980s, E.T. continued that tradition.
• Consider that the scenes depicting E.T.’s fading health and death are collectively protracted. Spielberg brings audiences to the depths of sadness and loss and then quickly elevates us to heights of hope and exultation, causing an unforgettable emotional pendulum swing. For younger viewers, this may be one of their first exposures to the death of a major character in a movie: a death that leaves a lasting psychic imprint. Families who want to impart spiritual messages to their children are heartened by the rebirth of the alien, which suggests the possibility of an afterlife. Likewise, E.T.’s message of “I’ll be right here" comforts viewers young and old that our loved ones never really leave us so long as we remember and cherish them.
• Revisiting E.T. can create added resonance for adults who relate to Elliott’s mother and how concerned she is over her children, their well-being, and her home.

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A fine film that explores England at a crossroads

James Ivory and Ismail Merchant created a plethora of prestige pictures and acclaimed period dramas, particularly in their heyday of the 1980s through 1990s. One of their most revered works is Howards End (now celebrating a 30th anniversary), a 1992 adaptation of an E.M. Forster novel that pairs Anthony Hopkins (fresh off his Academy Award-winning role a year earlier in The Silence of the Lambs) with Emma Thompson who earned Oscar gold for her performance in this film. Any self-respecting film society would find several fascinating facets in Howards End worth discoursing about, and that was certainly true of CineVerse, which examined this movie last week. A summary of our chat topics follows (to listen to a recording of our group discussion, click here).

What struck you as arresting, unexpected, and memorable about Howards End?

• The filmmakers employ curious fadeouts in the middle of a scene as if to suggest that we must compartmentalize each fragmented mini-scene within the larger scene and reflect upon it briefly before progressing.
• It’s interesting to speculate on why Margaret and Helen decide to marry, as they don’t seem to have great chemistry or express much reciprocal affection. Perhaps Henry feels remorse for ignoring his late wife’s wish to bequeath Howards End to Margaret; and possibly Margaret is “still curiously taking a sort of social revenge based on their song’s slight of her younger sister,” according to reviewer Nicholas Bell.
• This is a film more focused on interrelationships and communication (or lack thereof) between characters than on the typical trappings of a period piece; indeed, Howards End doesn’t indulge in sensationalistic melodrama or linger on torrid romantic angles or eroticized subplots.
• The engine that propels this movie is the cast, and by extension, the performances. This could be Emma Thompson’s best work, and it’s easy to forget how good an actress Helena Bonham Carter was, particularly in her younger years. Likewise, Samuel West elicits great sympathy as Bast.
• This is one of several Forster adaptations that earned high plaudits; among the others were Maurice, and A Room With a View (both by Merchant/Ivory), A Passage to India, and Where Angels Fear to Tread.

Major themes

• Class conflict and the dichotomy between the privileged and the disadvantaged in turn-of-the-century England.
• The contrasts between and coexistence of opposite forces. We are shown bucolic, picturesque visions of nature juxtaposed with close-ups of then-modern machines like the telegraph, trains, and automobiles; likewise, we see how different a high-strung, impulsive, and passionate character like Helen is compared to the prim and proper Henry.
• Bridging the divides and communicating between social classes and different personalities. Emotionally intelligent Margaret serves as the bridge between disparate types: the wealthy, ill-mannered, and morally irresponsible (the Wilcoxes) and the poor but morally virtuous (the Basts). By inheriting Howards End at the conclusion of the story, she provides a safe refuge for her sister and her young nephew, who will later inherit the property.
• Criterion Collection essayist Kenneth Turan wrote: “Margaret Schlegel is the force that powers Howards End, the only character possessed of the moral strength to cope with a society in extremis.”
• Roger Ebert wrote: “There are two conversations in "Howards End" (1992) between Henry Wilcox, a wealthy businessman, and Margaret Schlegel, who becomes his second wife. The first is amusing, the second desperate, and they express the film's buried subject, which is the impossibility of two people with fundamentally different values ever being able to really communicate… The challenge for Margaret in her marriage is to make the best of her new world, to broker communication between two sets of values.”
• The hypocrisies of the rich and powerful. Henry looks down upon Leonard Bast for having an affair with his sister-in-law that ends in pregnancy, even though he years ago had a mistress he treated badly and easily could have impregnated.
• The passing of an era, as exemplified by the antiquated but charming Howards End estate itself, which isn’t valued by the upper crust and is seen as an anachronism in an increasingly industrialized country but which is prized by those with artistic sensibilities and an appreciation for quaintness and simple virtues.
• Reviewer Nicholas Bell wrote: “The eponymous estate is, of course, a metaphor for the crumbling prestige of England, of its honorable, even majestic past which is too quaint to properly function in the increasingly industrialized world. When Redgrave’s querulous and hopelessly self-involved Mrs. Wilcox innocently remarks on how ‘I think about my house,” her obsessive notions about its future are all wrapped up in the blissful memories of her past.’”

Similar works

• The Age of Innocence
• Sense and Sensibility
• Phantom Thread
• Pride and Prejudice
• Gosford Park
• The Rules of the Game
• The Wings of the Dove
• The Golden Bowl
• Downton Abbey

Other films by James Ivory/Ismail Merchant

• The Bostonians
• A Room With a View
• Maurice
• The Remains of the Day

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Bruce on the loose

Bob Fosse’s filmography isn’t extensive, as he only helmed a handful of pictures between 1969 and 1983 prior to his untimely death. One of the standouts in his cinematic resume is Lenny, a 1974 biopic starring Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine. Our CineVerse squad recently used the wayback machine to explore this movie, which generated several observations, summarized below (to listen to a recording of our group discussion, click here).

 

What did you find memorable, satisfying, unexpected, distinctive, or curious about Lenny?

• The filmmakers employ unconventional techniques to tell this story, including using stark black and white photography, elliptical editing and jump cuts, vignettes, a verite documentary style, talking-head interviews with characters conducted by the film’s director (that’s Fosse’s offscreen voice you hear), and long, uninterrupted takes (such as when Bruce attempts to perform while inebriated).
• Blu-ray.com reviewer Jeffrey Kauffman wrote: “Fosse tosses together elements from Lenny and Honey's lives almost willy nilly at times, adding to the drug-fueled ambience of the piece. Timeframes flit to and fro, offering contrasts between Lenny's relatively innocent younger years and the more jaded ‘elder; he became in a rather short amount of time.”
• The language is frank and the content decidedly adult. Even for a 1974 film, the profanity and ethnic slurs are thick, there’s ample nakedness (including full frontal nudity of a dead Lenny Bruce), and we are shown graphic and disturbing imagery like an extended shot of a needle entering a vein.
• The filmmakers aren’t necessarily trying to lionize Bruce or depict him as a martyr to the cause of comedy and the First Amendment. Fosse shows Bruce warts and all, underscoring the toll his drug use, sexual proclivities, nonconformity, and other choices make on his personal life, health, and relationships.
• National Review critic Kyle Smith wrote: “In Fosse’s unsentimental vision, Bruce is not a victim. He is relentlessly the agent of his own destruction, one of the many entertainers who behaved as though the rules didn’t apply to them. The rules had other ideas. Fosse (a Methodist) saw indulgence and doom as sensuously intertwined, aware that his uncontrollable hedonism amounted to digging his own grave and yet fascinated to watch as if from a seat in the audience. That is the subject of both Lenny and the undisguised autobiographical film that followed, All That Jazz (1979).”
• Interestingly, the movie is often told through Honey’s recollections and flashbacks, suggesting that she is the primary surviving witness to the life and legacy of Lenny Bruce. We also get recollections from Bruce’s manager and mother. But we know that Honey was a problematic drug addict, so she in particular may not be the most reliable narrator.
• The performances are memorable, but especially Valerie Perrine as Honey, who shows incredible range and emotional depth.
• Some critics have suggested that this film was a reflection of Fosse’s own life in some ways.
• Smith further wrote: “Fosse evidently saw a kindred spirit in Bruce and turned Lenny into a disguised autobiography. Born two years apart, both grew up in showbiz, did wholesome vaudeville-style routines (Fosse as a tap dancer), graduated to being filler acts at strip clubs and, as they became renowned, indulged heavily in sex and drugs while each remained tethered to reality primarily via love for his daughter. A harsh reckoning awaited both men: At 47, Fosse suffered two heart attacks. Though written by Julian Barry based on his play, Lenny even layers atop Bruce’s character its director’s own fondness for sexual threesomes.”

Major themes

• The creative and chaotic professional and personal life of an artist. We are shown how scattered Bruce’s life and interests are, as evidenced by the unorthodox editing style and sudden jumps in time.
• The price to pay for being a trailblazer. Bruce was among the first comics and artists arrested and prosecuted on obscenity charges at a time when censorship and community standards were stricter. Likely these legal challenges and career setbacks contributed to his overdose and early demise. We also see how Bruce’s lifestyle and personal choices negatively impact his relationships, particularly leading to his divorce from wife Honey.
• The power of reinvention and truth-telling. Lenny reinvents himself from a show biz hack cliché comic to a powerhouse funny force who commands attention and crowds thanks to his raw, honest performances in which he attempts to point out the hypocrisies in language and words, and the laws and mores restricting them.

Similar works

• Raging Bull
• Jo Jo Dancer Your Life is Calling
• Star 80
• Bird
• The People Versus Larry Flynt
• Lenny Bruce: Without Tears, and Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth (1972 and 1998 documentaries)
• 8½
• The films of John Cassavetes
• Citizen Kane
• Man on the Moon

Other films by Bob Fosse

• Cabaret
• Sweet Charity
• All That Jazz
• Star 80

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The vanishing lady reappears

It’s always a treat to revisit works by the Master of Suspense—even if a film in his repertoire predates his arrival in Hollywood in the late 1930s. In fact, some of his British productions equal or best his cinematic efforts from the 1940s through the 1970s. One such example is The Lady Vanishes (1938), which combines elements from various genres to create something unique—at least up to that time. Our CineVerse club studied this picture last week and discussed several fascinating angles (to listen to a recording of our group talk, click here).

What stands out as interesting, distinctive, and unexpected about the Lady Vanishes, especially for a 1938 film?

• It helps set a new template for the romantic comedy thriller formula by infusing plenty of humor as well as social and political commentary with the Hitchcock brand of suspense.
• This is a film with broad tonality shifts between frothy and light to dark and unsettling—shifts that are deftly handled here.
• Consider that we don’t feel the first inkling of foul play and peril until the 24-minute mark. Sudden and quick acts of violence and the suggestion that perhaps Iris is not in her right mind underscore this tonal shifting.
• In regards to the comedy, some critics and film scholars also insist that this movie is the funniest Hitchcock ever made—even more than his lone comedy, Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
• The picture is excellently cast, boasting an array of notable English thespians and talented British character actors for this time, including Margaret Lockwood (then a major box office draw), Michael Redgrave in his film debut (this film made him a star), Paul Lukas, and Dame May Whitty.
• The characters of Charters and Caldicott, in fact, were so popular that they were featured in three later films starring the same two actors in their respective roles.
• It has been theorized that the aforementioned duo are gay characters, making them even more memorable and rare for this period. Hitchcock had a history over his career of slyly but knowingly featuring gay characters in his films, including the college roommate murderers in Rope, Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca, Bruno in Strangers on a Train, and Leonard the henchman in North by Northwest.
• The three prominent females in the story are all strong women characters who at least somewhat buck the mold of subservient, secondary, male-dependent counterparts as are often depicted in films from the golden age of cinema:
• Iris is stubborn and determined to find Ms. Froy, despite attempts to gaslight her.
• Ms. Froy is a resourceful spy entrusted with a significant political responsibility; and
• the adulterous mistress shows pluck and independence in defying her lover and fighting back against the fascists at the movie’s end.
• There’s a fabricated, deliberately artificial feel to the look and setting, with Hitchcock employing transparencies and miniatures, including a quite obvious toy train station in the opening sequence.
• The main action was filmed using a set that was only 90 feet long, consisting of a single coach.
• Additionally, the locale is a fantasyland Balkan country (Bandrika) consisting of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Switzerland.
• The evil forces/soldiers threatening the train passengers are from a make-believe nation that is an obvious surrogate for Nazi Germany.
• These decisions “allowed Hitchcock to establish a playful tone and a sense of quaint, reassuring artifice crucial to his technique. The more secure the audience feels, the more susceptible they are to the horrors of disruption Hitchcock will visit upon them later in the film,” wrote Slate writer Nathaniel Rich.
• This penultimate British film from Hitch has been called a farewell to England and farewell to youth.
• Criterion Collection essayist Geoffrey O’Brien wrote: “The mood is frankly sexy in a way that would never really be matched in Hitchcock’s American films, where even the most impassioned exchanges…seem too carefully planned to allow much room for spontaneity. Lockwood and Redgrave…really do seem like young people who have just met and who, despite their bumpy introduction, can’t wait to run off together. We never forget that these are young people still somewhat on the margins of the grown-up world, with Lockwood rushing too quickly into well-appointed adulthood by way of marrying the wrong man, and Redgrave lingering maybe a bit too long in uncommitted, footloose world roving—a forecast, perhaps, of the Grace Kelly–James Stewart couple in Rear Window, but in a younger and less neurotic mode.”

This film attempts to make not-so-subtle sociopolitical statements about Britain and its place in the world in 1938. Can you cite any examples?

• The filmmakers are using allegory here to suggest that Neville Chamberlain and his government’s stance of appeasement to Hitler was a mistake and that the true grit and unified character of the British people would present itself and help the Brits defeat their foes.
• Consider how Todhunter, who insists that their adversaries are reasonable, is shot in cold blood by the bad guys after waving a white flag.
• The Brits on the train, meanwhile, including the would-be evil nun and the laid-back cricket lovers, turn out to be heroes who fight back and defeat the enemy.
• DVD Savant writer Glenn Erickson wrote: “The Lady Vanishes reinforces 1930s' prejudices against Europeans, who exploit English gullibility and mask their murderous schemes with impeccable manners. When the chips are down the English show their true character. The war is still a year away, but the message imparted is that England can take it.”
• This is also a movie about class distinctions: the middle class, represented by someone like Gilbert, contrasted with the snobby or idle upper class, as exemplified by Iris as well as Charters and Caldicott. By the end of the movie, the Brits from the upper and lower rungs of the social ladder are brought together for a common cause (defeat the fascists) and romantic passion (Iris and Gilbert fall in love).

Similar works

• Hitchcock’s later efforts Foreign Correspondent (which also depicts a crime festering in Europe while the British pay no attention) and North by Northwest (which also takes place partially on trains)
• So Long at the Fair, an adaptation of the true-life story of the strange disappearance of a young woman’s sibling during the 1880 Paris Exposition
• The murder mysteries of Agatha Christie and Ellery Queen, which often also feature a plethora of memorable suspects
• Silver Streak, which also features comedy and foul play and a missing agent aboard a train
• Flight Plan, featuring Jodie Foster as a mother searching on an airplane for her child who’s disappeared during the flight.
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Changeling
• Narrow Margin
• The films of Laurel and Hardy, the comedy duo that Calidcott and Charters, the cricket-obsessed train passengers, are often compared to
• Bringing Up Baby, a screwball comedy also from 1938; Michael Redgrave’s character has been compared to Katherine Hepburn’s chaotic and destabilizing personality in Baby, and Margaret Lockwood’s Iris has similarities to Cary Grant’s David Huxley.
• Two other class-sensitive British dramas of the late 1930s: Pygmalion and Goodbye Mr. Chips

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