Film Persona

  Abel Gance's "Napoleon" In 1927, Abel Gance released his most ambitious project yet. It's scale and filmmaking range were as epic and grand as its subject matter. The film, " Napoleon ," centers on the Napoleon Bonaparte, the famous French military commander and emperor. The film was originally planned as being the first film in a series of six films dedicated to the titular French hero. However, because the costs of making the first film were so enormous, Gance realized that he could not accomplish his full, grand vision. Because the film is the first of a planned six films, it only centers on a portion of Napoleon's life. It begins with Napoleon as a child in military school. His obvious military-like strategies during a snowball fight foreshadow who he will become. When he becomes a young army lieutenant, he witnesses the French Revolution and remarks on the unnecessary bloodshed. He flees the chaos and makes his way back to his home island of Corsi...

  Clarence G. Badger's "It" Contemporary Hollywood is known for throwing around the phrase 'It Girl.' The phrase is generally attributed to an actress that audiences become infatuated with due to her screen presence. But, where did this phrase come from? In 1927, Clara Bow became one of the most popular actresses in Hollywood. The reason for such a meteoric rise is due to the popularity of her star vehicle, " It ." Despite the phrase stemming from people's reference to Clara in the film, the phrase "It" originally came from Rudyard Kipling in his 1904 short story, " Mrs. Bathurst ." However, the phrase entered the public zeitgeist when Elinor Glyn defined it in her two-part serial story in the February 1927 issue of " Cosmopolitan ." She defined the term as, "the quality possessed by some which draws all others with its magnetic force. With 'It' you win all men if you are a woman and all women if you are a m...

  Albert Parker's "The Black Pirate" In the 1920s, color film was a rarity. First utilized in 1922 with " The Toll of the Sea ," two-tone Technicolor processing required two strips of 35mm film to be fused together back-to-back to create a two-tone palette. Because this process was so difficult to film as well as project, it was used sparingly. 1926's " The Black Pirate " was only the third film that used this method for the entirety of the film up to that point. Douglas Fairbanks, the world-renowned screen action hero, produced the film. Fairbanks issued extensive camera tests before filming began to work out an appropriate visual style. He did not want the color in the film to be a distraction. The finished product resulted in a more muted look, rather than the stark coloring of " The Toll of the Sea ."  Because of the extensive work done on the film's coloring process, not much work was put into story, as the story needed to be fai...

  Ewald Andre Dupont's "Variety" At the height of the German Expressionist movement in the 1920s, German filmmakers were dazzling international audiences with the most creative films ever seen. One such director, Ewald Andre Dupont, created a film that enthralled audiences everywhere, including in the United States. The film, " Variety, " can off-handedly be remembered as a film about trapeze artists. However, its stunning use of camerawork, cinematography, expressionism and its plot involving infidelity, lies, and murder is what makes the film a critical marvel.  " Variety " begins in a prison, where a prisoner designated "Prisoner 28" must recount how he ended up there. His name is Boss Huller, a former trapeze artist. He recounts how he left his wife and child to join a younger woman named Berta-Marie in their own trapeze show. Boss and Berta-Marie become so good that they attract the attention of a renowned trapeze artist named Artinelli ...

  Rupert Julian's "The Phantom of the Opera" Based on the 1910 French novel by Gaston Leroux, " The Phantom of the Opera " was a studio spectacle film that is widely remembered for its lighthearted scares. Production of the film was incredibly lengthy. The reason for this was that the studio could not decide on a proper tone for the film. Varying cuts and edits were made to shift the film from having empathy for the phantom to making him more of a monster, as well as changing the film from a tension-filled drama to more of a romantic comedy (and then back again). Even the director of the film, Rupert Julian, was replaced by various other filmmakers. Overall, creating the film proved to be a tremendous pain for everyone involved.  The film is most widely remembered for Lon Chaney, who played the titular phantom. Universal Studios was searching for a lead vehicle for their star. After the success of " The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in 1923, the studio allo...

  Fred Niblo's "Ben-Hur" The 1925 epic " Ben-Hur " is the most expensive silent film ever made. At a whopping $3.9 million, the film contained epic sets, thousands of extras, large action sequences, and even technicolor sequences. The technicolor sequences used in the film are some of the first color used in film history (1922's " Toll of the Sea " was the first technicolor film).  The plot of the film centers around a young Jewish prince named Ben-Hur at the time of Jesus' life. After a false accusation, Ben-Hur is arrested by a corrupt Roman named Messala and enslaved by the Roman army. After spending years as a slave on a Roman galley, he saves the life of an elder Roman officer. The officer then grants him freedom. With his freedom, he becomes a famous chariot racer. He eventually faces off with Massala and defeats him. After the race, he is reunited with his mother and sister, whose leprosy has been cured by Jesus Christ.  The film is base...

   Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Gertrud" In the last effort of his career, Carl Theodore Dreyer divided critics and audiences alike with " Gertrud ." The plot of the film centers on the titular Gertrud, a former opera singer who ends her relationship with her politician husband. When she tries to start a new life with her artist lover, things fall apart, as he is expecting a child with another woman. Gertrud then moves to Paris alone to study psychology. Thirty years later, she regrets nothing.  The reason for such a divide among audiences was the fact that the film is nothing but heavy dialogue for the two-hour runtime. The story is driven by the characters' ability to effectively communicate (or a lack thereof). Dreyer, in reading the original 1906 play, was inspired by the story and wanted to create a film where speech is more important than images. Because of this, there is very sparse camerawork. There are incredibly long takes in which scenes last up to ten ...

  Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Ordet" In 1955, Carl Theodor Dryer directed his most celebrated film outside of " The Passion of Joan of Arc ." Based on a play by Kaj Munk, " Ordet " is a film that seems to discuss its own spirituality. Often cited as being an incredibly strange film, " Ordet " has an ambiance that can entice you in, and make you question or confirm your own faith.  The film centers around the Borgen family in 1925 Denmark. The patriarch of the family, Morten, is a widower with three grown sons. The youngest son, Anders, is attempting to court and marry the daughter of a fundamentalist Christian. The eldest, Mikkel, who is agnostic, is married to Inger and has two small daughters with a third child on the way. The middle son, Johannes, believes himself to be Jesus Christ after heavily studying Kierkegaard. He wanders the house and the dunes outside professing that we are living in the age of non-believers. The family chooses to igno...

Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Day of Wrath" After the failure of his 1932 film, " Vampyr ," Carl Theodor Dreyer spent the next ten years trying to figure out what to do next. He spent this time working as a journalist, unsuccessfully trying to adapt " Madame Bovary " into a film, a Mary Stuart film, and even a documentary. However, after the Nazis invaded and subsequently occupied Denmark in 1940, Dreyer went to work on a film that would depict the national temperament of this terrifying occupation. To accurately capture the paranoia and fear by the Danish people in 1943, Dreyer adapted a 1909 play called " Anne Pederdotter " by Hans Weir-Jenssen. The play is based on a 16th century Norwegian case in which Anne, the protagonist, was accused of being a witch. Dreyer's film, " Day of Wrath ," takes place in a Danish village in 1623 and begins with the accusation of an elderly woman, Marte, of witchcraft. She finds shelter from the mob at...

  Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Vampyr" Because Carl Theodor Dreyer was locked in a legal battle over his previous film, " The Passion of Joan of Arc ," he could not start making his next movie for several years. By 1930, once he started production on " Vampyr ," the advent of sound had swept the film landscape. However, Dreyer's original idea for " Vampyr " was intended as a silent film with no dialogue. Because of this, only a select amount of dialogue exists in the film and was only added during post-production.  " Vampyr " tells the story of a man named Allan Gray who is researching ghosts, vampires, and other evil spirits. He stays at an inn in Courtempierre and is one night awakened by a mysterious man. He puts something in an envelope titled, "To Be Opened Upon My Death." Afterward, Gray begins to investigate mysterious circumstances that could only point to evil dwellings. The man whom he saw in his hotel room dies, t...

Carl Theodor Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc" In his 1925 critical success, " Master of the House ," Carl Theodor Dreyer utilized confined spaces and close-ups to create a more intimate setting for his audience to sink into. This film caught the attention of the Societe Generale des Films in France, who reached out to Dreyer about coming to France to make a film about a female heroine. The society told Dreyer that he could make a film about either: Marie Antoinette, Catherine de Medici, or Joan of Arc. This was a relatively easy decision for Dreyer, as Joan of Arc had been canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 1920 and was named one of the patron saints of France. Because of this, she was more popular than ever. Dreyer spent over a year researching the historical documents dealing with Joan. The script he wrote for the film was based on original transcripts of her trial. For the film, however, he condensed 29 interrogations over the course of...