Film Persona

  Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor's "Safety Last!"  Everyone is familiar with the image of Harold Lloyd dangling from the clock on top of a skyscraper. This iconic image is from the 1923 comedy " Safety Last! ' The film was both commercially and critically successful, often being cited as an explosive new form of comedy. Part of the reason is due to the increasing levels of death-defying danger Lloyd's character goes through, ending with him scaling a large building. How exactly was this stunt performed and what did it add to the overall comedic tone the filmmakers were looking for? The film sees Lloyd's character move to the big city to make it big so he can have enough money to propose to his girlfriend and start a family. However, things don't go according to plan, as he is only ever to become a sales clerk at a department store. When his girlfriend stops by for a visit, he enacts a ruse to make it appear like he is the manager of the store. Thro...

Benjamin Christensen's "Haxan" While Robert J. Flaherty was inventing the documentary style structure with his 1922 film " Nanook of the North ," Benjamin Christensen was creating the 'essay film' in the same year with " Haxan ." Containing both a documentary-style story structure as well as dramatized narrative sequences, the film recounts the historical roots of superstitions surrounding witchcraft. Although the film was well received within its own country, many other countries, such as Germany, France, and the United States, banned the film because of its salacious depictions torture, nudity, sexual perversion, and anti-Catholicism. The film itself hints that the real demons of history are the church, not any sort of real actual witches or demons. However, in the later part of the 20th century, the film was rediscovered via restoration processes. Through this rediscovery, many film historians view it as Christensen's masterpiece, citing...

  Robert J. Flaherty's "Nanook of the North" We all know what a Documentary Film is. We know that it consists of an explorer, historian, journalist, etc. documenting non-fictional events through the lens of the narrative they've constructed. However, where did this format originate? The answer lies with Robert J. Flaherty's " Nanook of the North ," which seemingly documents the harsh conditions and daily life of an Inuk family in the Canadian Arctic. We see Nanook and his family hunting walruses, building igloos, and performing other tasks. The film is presented as an inside look into a non-colonized world. Audiences who flocked to see the film marveled at an environment, a people, and a daily routine that was all too alien to them. However, despite the film's legacy of creating the documentary format, the film itself was a staged production. While most documentaries capture life as it happens in front of them, Flaherty constructed a fictionalized ve...

  Rex Ingram's "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" Rex Ingram's " The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse " is widely considered the first anti-war film. In its depiction of the tragic events of World War I, it neither glorifies war nor looks past its losses. It had a huge cultural impact and even became the highest grossing film of 1921. The film also ignited the career of Rudolph Valentino, who would become the typcast actor for the 'Latin Lover' trope. The film was written by June Mathis, whose rose from the success of the film to become one of the most powerful women in Hollywood, only following behind Mary Pickford. The massive popularity allowed its writer, its director, and its stars to skyrocket to national fame. The film follows Julio, a smooth-talking womanizer, who is the favorite grandson of a rich landowner, Madariaga. The character of Julio sparked the 'Latin Lover' trope that would become famous in Hollywood films at the time. No...

  Karlheinz Martin's "From Morn to Midnight" 1920 brought an explosion of Expressionism to German films after the massive success of " The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari." Karlheinz Martin attempted to recreate the magic from that film by attempting a film that mirrored its minimalist set pieces. With " From Morn to Midnight," Martin was able to use stylized sets, like "Caligari"  to demonstrate an avant-garde way of illustrating an abstracted environment around the character.  The film is broken down into 5 acts. The 5 acts tell a story about a banker who suffers an exestential crisis. He begins to see skeletons in the faces of others. This makes him think about him impending death. On top of this, he gets sick and tired of his wife, daughter, and mother at home. So, he steals money from the bank and decides to spend the rest of the day being frivilous.  The film sees an attempt at the representation of the Germany way of thinking after the war. Wh...

  Paul Wegener & Carl Boese's "The Golem" In this German Expressionist work, writer/director Paul Wegener brings to life "The Golem," the clay figure from Jewish folklore. Wegener came to the idea to create this film when he learned about the legend in Prague while filming his 1913 film, " The Studen Price on Prague ." He created a film in 1915 about the Golem creature, however he was vastly underwhelmed with the film, due to the compromises he had to make during production. When he re-did his film in 1920, it was hugely successful (unlike his previous). According to Mia Spiro, who wrote " Containing the Monster: The Golem in Expressionist Film and Theatre ," the film "sold out the Berlin Premiere at UFA-Palast am Zoo on October 29, 1920, and played to full theaters for two months straight." It released in the United States to packed houses, playing at New York City's Criterion Theater for 16 consecutive weeks.  The film tel...

  Robert Wiene's "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" Robert Wiene, a German film director during the silent years of cinema, directed one of the most important pieces of art ever put to screen. " The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" is considered a masterpiece of visual expression and psychological horror. The film is an examination on authority, fear, and the blurred lines of perception between sanity and insanity. This haunting piece would go on to inspire the German Expressionist movement of the 1920s, and would forever be associated with the fear and disorder of the Weimar Republic. The film was written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer, who both experienced a distrust of authority during the first World War. Janowitz served as an officer, which left him embittered and a pacifist. Mayer, during the war, feigned insanity to avoid military service, leading to an intense examination from a psychiatrist. This psychiatrist served as the template for the character of Dr. Caligari...

  Fritz Lang's "The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse" In 1960, Fritz Lang returned to Germany to make his last film before his death, The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse . Lang adapted the story from Mr. Tot Buys a Thousand Eyes by Jan Fethke. The story does not contain Dr. Mabuse in actuality, however, his name is used to carry out grand destinies. The film is about a hotel owner who manipulates political diplomats in his hotel by spying on them with cameras and see-through mirrors. As all of Lang's Mabuse stories, the film is a representation of a contemporary Germany. At the height of the Cold War, Germany was in a surveillance state, as differing factions of Russian and Americans occupied it. The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse envisions a scenario in which the surveillance state is used to escalate global conflict, resulting in a Nazi-esque plan to create chaos and destruction so that a true leader will dominate in the ashes.