Film Persona

  Howard Hawks' "The Big Sleep" After watching Howard Hawks' 1946 film noir " The Big Sleep ," I have to say that it is not one of my favorite film noirs. That being said, it was definitely the best Howard Hawks film I've seen thus far. It did not have the typical dark ending that permeates the whole film with bleak darkness, which probably made it a lesser noir for me. In fact, it felt more like a 'studio noir,' if that makes sense. I'm not going to go into the entire plot of the film, especially because the entire plot is incredibly convoluted. In fact, this was a major strike against the film at the time of its release. Many reported that they could not keep up with what was happening. I've got to say that, for myself, this was the case as well. I found myself having to rewind to figure out what exactly I missed or who was who. However, upon reflection, the convoluted plot may only add to the feverish intoxication of the film.  Because...

  Howard Hawks' "To Have and Have Not" Howard Hawks' " To Have and Have Not ," to me, ultimately, just feels like it is riding on the aesthetic coattails of " Casablanca ." Like " Casablanca ," the film takes place on the edge of World War II in a foreign land being disputed by small-time militia forces, where a mysterious yet heroic Humphrey Bogart, along with a former lover of his, try to outsmart the German forces working there. Not only does the plot bear a striking resemblance, but Hawks' direction seems to pay allusions.  That being said, " To Have and Have Not " is nowhere near on the same level of film as " Casablanca ." In fact, " To Have and Have Not " can sometimes be a fairly boring affair, mixed with slight elements of thrill and romance. In fact, my favorite parts of the film involved fairly innocuous moments from Lauren Bacall's character. The first being her infamous "you know how...

  Howard Hawks' "Ball of Fire" If I am to surmise correctly, I believe that " Ball of Fire " would be one of the last 'screwball comedies' in Howard Hawks' filmography. Starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, the film is about a group of professors working on a new encyclopedia while living in a Manhattan mansion who take in a mouthy nightclub singer who is wanted by the police to help bring down her mob boss lover. As far as films go, it's a fairly mild and standard product. The plot is pretty predictable and Stanwyck is perhaps the highlight, as she is in most of her films. " Ball of Fire " is nothing to write home about, but it certainly wasn't a complete bore either. 

  Howard Hawks' "Sergeant York" In watching Howard Hawks' 1941 film " Sergeant York ," the only thing I was struck by was how grotesquely propagandist this film is. Coming out in July of 1941, the U.S. had yet to enter the global war taking place. However, plenty of propaganda films were getting its citizens ready for conflict. " Sergeant York " is one such film.  Starring Gary Cooper as a small-town Tennessee simpleton, the film semi-documents semi-dramatizes the true story of Alvin C. York, one of the most decorated soldiers of World War I. Beginning his military career as a conscientious objector, York eventually comes to a divine conclusion that killing others is worthy of God's grace only if you're protecting people.  I began to gall at the scene in which Sergeant York reaches this divine conclusion. He reads in the Bible, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's." At this moment, the clouds open...

  Howard Hawks' "His Girl Friday" " His Girl Friday " is perhaps the best film in Howard Hawks' filmography up until 1940. I know most would consider " Bringing Up Baby " for that honor, however " His Girl Friday " seems to have both a higher entertainment value as well as a more biting commentary within the themes.  Perhaps the most notable aspect of the film is the insanely high-paced dialogue between the characters. On top of this, the film seems to point to the thematic notion that media and news writers will do just about anything to sell a story. At a time when mass media was on the rise in the U.S., especially at the onset of the second World War, newspapers and media sources started to become a corporate machine selling sensational news. While watching the film for its screwball comedy, you can also notice the underlying subtext regarding the ways in which Americans are transforming into fast-talking, bottom-line-caring soul-less ...

  Howard Hawk's "Only Angels Have Wings" I think that it's safe to say that " Only Angels Have Wings " is so far my least favorite of the Howard Hawks films I have seen in my deep-dive. It became tedious to watch the longer and longer the film went on. Starring Cary Grant and Jean Arthur, the film takes place in South America at an airline run by Americans. The Jean Arthur character falls in love with both the danger that comes with the perilous flights made by the pilots as well as the rough and tough Cary Grant character. If the film had something deeper to say, it didn't keep my attention well enough to iterate it. 

  Howard Hawk's "Bringing Up Baby" I feel as though Howard Hawk's 1938 screwball comedy " Bringing Up Baby " is definitely a great 'comfort' film to have around to house. I found myself not having any existential reckonings or thematic revelations to say the least. However, the film does exactly what it was intended to do - make you laugh. For me, a found a lot of modern rom-coms borrow for the genre of 1930s screwball comedy and it appears that " Bringing Up Baby " is the holy grail.  What catches my attention most in this film is the writing. Written by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde, " Bringing Up Baby " is a masterclass in situational comedy. As a viewer, the film started to become more and more absurd as the characters travel farther and farther into the story. It even becomes apparently how insignificant plot occurrences manage to pop back up and make trouble for the characters later in the film. This seems to take the film ...

  Howard Hawks' "Twentieth Century" What can be said about Howard Hawks' 1934 film " Twentieth Century ?" For me, not much unfortunately. For a screwball comedy, I've seen a lot better. This is not to say the film is bad by any means. In fact, I found some of it rather comedic and enjoyable. However, I also found myself bored and uninterested in the happenings between John Barrymore and Carole Lombard.  There was one small aspect of the film that I did notice and perhaps it was incidental on the part of the filmmakers. The film is called " Twentieth Century " because the name of the train the characters are in for most of the film is called " 20th Century Limited ." However, if you take the title more literally to mean the actual twentieth century, it could seem from a certain lens that the film muses on the selfishness, ego, fame-mongering, and wealth obsession of the people of the century. After all, all of the characters seem to ac...

  Howard Hawks' "Scarface" As I am beginning my discography deep-dive into Howard Hawks, I come in seeing that his filmography mirrors the landscape of American cinema through the many decades of his work. In the mid-to-late 1930s, he did screwball comedies. In the 1940s, it was war and noir films. In the late 1940s into the 1950s, he excelled at the Western. All of this to say that I journey through Hawks' discography, I will also be travelling through the terrain of American cinema and its varied cultural moments. My journey begins in the early 1930s, when the Great Depression was in full swing and the Gangster movie movement echoed this swing.  I personally am not a fan of the 1930s gangster flick. I typically find that they are pulpy, hollow entertainment for a restless Depression-era audience. A gangster flick has action, suspense, violence, and acts as a purging experience for a downtrodden viewer of the 1930s. After watching " Scarface ," my opinion h...

  Akira Kurosawa's "Dreams" Akira Kurosawa's " Dreams " is the final film I will be watching in my Kurosawa deep dive, despite him having two more films after this one. I wasn't sure what to expect when I began the film. I knew that it was a collection of vignettes from Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams. As a film, perhaps it is not the most lively and entertaining experience. It can be quite slow and quite uneventful at times. However, I was still experiencing contemplations over the film that I thought were quite engaging.  Because we are seeing visions of Kurosawa's dreams, we also seem to be engrossing ourselves in the man himself - his fears, his anxieties, his hopes, etc. Because of this, the film seems to be a subconscious rendering of the human being that is Akira Kurosawa. I found this to be slightly rewarding after watching 15 films in his discography. Perhaps this would not be so rewarding if a viewer was going in blind. Although, I th...