Happy 100th Birthday Olivia de Havilland!

Posted on July 1, 2016 at 10:04 am

Happy 100th birthday to one of the greatest and most versatile stars of the golden age of Hollywood, Olivia de Havilland!

She and her fellow-Oscar-winning sister, Joan Fontaine, were born in Tokyo, the daughters of British parents, a professor and an actress. The girls and their mother later moved to California, where she appeared in local theater productions as a teenager. Producer Max Reinhardt offered her an understudy role in “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and when Gloria Stuart (later nominated for an Oscar for “Titanic”) left the production, de Havilland played Hermia, and was asked to perform the same part in the film, opposite Dick Powell.

Soon she was paired with Errol Flynn in “Captain Blood.”

They made eight more films together. My favorite is “The Adventures of Robin Hood.”

Another of my favorite de Havilland performances is opposite James Cagney in “The Strawberry Blonde.”

She played Melanie in “Gone With the Wind.”

She won an Oscar for “To Each His Own.”

She won another one for “The Heiress.” And she won something more important — her rebellion against the oppressive contracts of the Hollywood studios led to a lawsuit that gave actors the freedom to choose their roles.

Happy birthday, Miss de Havilland! Thank you for 100 years of grace, beauty, and intelligence.

List: Tarzan Goes to the Movies

Posted on June 30, 2016 at 3:57 pm

This week’s new “Tarzan” movie should inspire families to check out the many, many earlier versions of this classic story.

In 2012, Neely Tucker of The Washington Post wrote a wonderful tribute to Tarzan in honor of the 100th anniversary of the first Tarzan story by Edgar Rice Burroughs, with a fascinating gallery of portrayals of this now-iconic character. Burroughs had no special calling to be a writer. According to Tucker’s story, after a series of unsuccessful jobs,

Burroughs was suddenly in his mid-30s and pawning his wife’s jewelry for cash.

And then — there’s always a “and then” in these kinds of stories — he was reading a pulp magazine, checking to see whether his company’s ads were correctly placed. He thought the magazine’s stories were so poor that even he could write better.

So he sat down and wrote a science-fiction piece, “Under the Moons of Mars,” and sold it to All-Story. (Today, you know this tale as “John Carter,” which inspired the unsuccessul Disney film.)

He sold it for $400, roughly the modern equivalent of $9,300. This got his attention.

“I was not writing because of any urge to write nor for any particular love of writing. I was writing because I had a wife and two babies,” he later told an interviewer. “I loathed poverty and I would have liked to put my hands on the party who said that poverty is an honorable estate.”

The character of Tarzan was an instant sensation, and Burroughs was a good enough businessman that he not only copyrighted his stories, but he trademarked the character.

Copyrights expire, but trademarks do not. Burroughs wrote two dozen Tarzan books but the character is best known for its many popular movie and television versions, from Elmo Lincoln’s portrayal in the silent era to an animated Disney feature film with music by Phil Collins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWTA8pnyPiI

Olympic gold medalist Buster Crabbe played “Tarzan the Fearless” (and also Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers).

There was a 1960’s television series starring Ron Ely.

And one with Wolf Larson in the 1990’s.

Joe Lara starred in “Tarzan in Manhattan.”

My favorite is still the classic with swimming champion Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan.

Burroughs’ version of Tarzan was highly educated. He had the books left behind by his late parents and was able to speak many languages. But what makes the character so enduringly appealing over a century is the idea of him as completely isolated from civilization, raised in the jungle. That gives us a chance to consider the deepest questions about what makes us human at the same time as we have the pleasure of imagining ourselves, like Tarzan, Jane, Boy, and Cheetah, swinging through the trees.

Werner Herzog and “Lo and Behold”

Posted on June 26, 2016 at 1:56 pm

Werner Herzog is not only one of the most brilliant directors in the history of world cinema; he is also unique in the span of his films, equally impressive in narrative features and documentaries. After a decade of pleading from the AFI Docs festival for the chance to recognize his work at their Charles Guggenheim Symposium, the busy director finally agreed to attend and permit a tribute to his work that included an interview on stage and a screening of his new film about the internet, “Lo And Behold: Reveries of the Connected World.”

Herzog was interviewed by another outstanding director, Ramin Bahrani (“Goodbye Solo,” “99 Homes”). Both were championed by Roger Ebert, who brought them together for a collaboration — the wonderful short film “Future States,” with Herzog providing the voice for the existentially troubled central character, a plastic bag.

Herzog’s documentary may cover some of the most advanced technology in the world, but he does not have a cell phone, he says, “for cultural reasons. Our examination of the world should not only be through applications.” When Bahrani complimented his “location-based” images, Herzog said, “I’m good with locations. I can direct landscapes.” Whether he is shooting burning oil fields in Kuwait (“Lessons of Darkness”), the face of a deaf/blind woman on her first airplane flight (“Land of Silence and Darkness”), or the soft-drink-machine size computer that sent the very first two-letter message over the internet (“Lo and Behold”), his camera movements and images are vital and engaging. He spoke of the importance of being on top of the mechanics of filming (“I am a very pragmatic filmmaker”) and of the poetry, a sort of choreography of the camera, as he conveys “the dance between the actors and the location.”

He distinguished his documentary films from the prevalent approach to non-fiction filmmaking, which he considers more like journalism, “belonging more to television than in a theater.” He is frank about his departure from the conventions of cinema verite; he has no hesitation in asking a subject to move or answer again, to “go beyond the mere facts” in search of “narrative power.” “Illumination is more important than facts….I’m looking for deeper poetry.” But that does not necessarily mean pretty pictures. He will avoid shooting a sunset, calling it “romanticized beauty.”

He says there are things you cannot learn in film school, like “know(ing) the heart of men.” What filmmakers should learn in film school are the tools it takes to get the film made: “lock picking and forging shooting permits.”

Herzog makes films when “there is a story so big I cannot resist.” And he does not stop. “I plow on.”

Happy 30th Anniversary to “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”

Posted on June 11, 2016 at 8:00 am

30 years ago today, Ferris Bueller took the day off and in our hearts we all went with him. While kids at school were listening to Ben Stein drone on about tariffs and voo-doo economics, three kids with last names for first names were enjoying the Art Institute of Chicago, a baseball game, fine dining, and a parade!

The John Hughes movie has become a permanent part of our culture, featured this year along in a Super Bowl commercial and a post-credit scene in “Deadpool.”

Interview: Aisha Harris on Slate’s Black Film Canon — The 50 Greatest Films Made By Black Directors

Posted on June 7, 2016 at 3:56 pm

Aisha Harris and Dan Kois got ideas from a range of filmmakers, critics, and historians to prepare Slate’s list of the “50 Greatest Films by Black Directors,” a response to the many “canonical” lists that overlook these films. In an interview, she talked about why it was important to research and publish this list, which they called “The Black Film Canon,” and what she learned. I asked why they limited the list to films by black directors. “The idea came from Dan Kois through the idea of #Oscarsowhite controversy and how big a deal that was earlier this year. And part of the running narrative about the reason why that there were hardly any black people nominated this year is because they often don’t get to tell their own stories. They haven’t made it to the point where they can direct a big budget film. And so we wanted to make sure that this was a list that focused specifically on black people being able to tell their own stories and the opportunities that they’ve had to do that. Obviously there are plenty of really great films not on the list that are about black characters; ‘Cabin in the Sky,’ ‘Stormy Weather,’ ‘The Wiz,’ but we were specifically interested in those who were able to get behind the camera and I think there is something really powerful to be said about black people being able to tell their own story. One of the movies is ‘Malcolm X.’ That was originally supposed to be directed by Norman Jewison who obviously directed some great films about race, including ‘In The Heat of the Night’ and ‘A Soldier’s Story,’ but we all know that movie would have been vastly different and maybe not as powerful as Spike Lee’s version of ‘Malcolm X.’ So I think there is something to be said for being able to tell your own story and that’s what we wanted to get across with this list.”

It was great to see titles on the list that some people might consider not serious or prestigious enough for “canon” status, reflecting the same broad range that has what was once dismissed as a genre film, “Vertigo,” on the top of the once-a-decade Sight and Sound ranking. “For us that was another goal. What we wanted with this list was to broaden the scope of what canon means. It doesn’t have to mean high art’ it doesn’t have to mean that every single piece of that film is perfect or that it has a big budget or it is a Hollywood studio film. We wanted to make sure that our list represented films that are culturally significant but maybe aren’t considered ‘great’ by the usual people who make these canons. A lot of people, including me, forget that ‘House Party’ premiered at Sundance in 1990 and that helped redefine what an indie film could look like. It was at the forefront. It was what indie films could look like in the 90s. We also wanted this also to be an accessible list. A lot of these movies are challenging and I am all for challenging films — we should all be challenged by films. But there is room on the list for films that don’t necessarily have to be so heavy. I think we should celebrate the movies that aren’t heavy as well as the ones that are.”

Some of the films reflect the internalized bigotry — and commercial pressures to reinforce stereotypes — of their era. “that is the sort of thing you always have to consider with older movies, especially when you’re talking about black films and black representation on films. I mean ‘The Blood of Jesus,’ the Spencer Williams film, if you are a modern viewer it’s not the easiest film to watch. The acting was theatrical and it has a very old-school mentality about the power of religion and this very antiquated notion of the sinner and redemption. But at the same time you can’t ignore the fact that it’s a very culturally significant film, it’s an historically significant film and it exists. Spencer Williams, if people know him at all, he’s known for being one half of Amos and Andy which obviously has been heavily criticized and does not hold up today by modern standards. So it is important to remember that he was also a filmmaker and a talented one at that at a time when there were barely any black filmmakers. I think is something that is worth looking at and he’s worth being acknowledged as a filmmaker and not just as this character who now is just shorthand for Uncle Tom.”

They also made a point of including black women directors like Kasi Lemmons (“Eve’s Bayou”) and Ava Duvernay (“Middle of Nowhere” and “Selma”). “As polarizing as Spike Lee can be, I think most people acknowledge that he is a force to be reckoned with whether you are talking just about black films or a film in general but when it comes to women it is just a whole different ballgame. A lot of the women on the list have only one or two feature films under their belt and they have been in the game for 20, 30 years. Leslie Harris made ‘Just Another Girl on the IRT,’ and I think that remains to this day her only feature film. And Kasi Lemmons has not made that many movies, Gina Prince-Bythewood did ‘Love and Basketball,’ and then she did ‘Beyond The Lights‘ 14 years later, so they aren’t getting the same opportunities. I mean it’s hard for black males it’s even harder for black women and Ava Duvernay is hopefully turning the tide on that and she’s obviously very vocal and very active about promoting other women and other women of color in filmmaking and I think it’s great that we have someone like her that’s hopefully leading the charge along with the sudden attention to Hollywood being so white and so male.”

Harris was not familiar with all of the films on the list and hopes it will bring them to a wider audience as well. “I just think it gets at the emotional core of slavery and also the politics that happens within slavery that I think a lot of films do not do.
Another movie that I was unfamiliar with was ‘Medicine for Melancholy.’ That’s the 2008 film by Barry Jenkins and it stars Wyatt Cenac and it’s this very beautiful black and white film. I think some people made the comparison to ‘Before Sunrise.’ It takes place in one day. Two people have a one night stand but there is also so much more going on, there are some questions about gentrification and about romance and I was really happy to see that movie and discover it. That’s one of the things I appreciated about the list and I am glad that we did was that we did not just rely on myself and Dan. We didn’t want this to be just a list. We wanted to get as many perspectives as possible and as many informed perspectives as possible and that opened up a whole other realm and I think that made the list all the better to have those suggestions thrown after us.”