Film Persona

  George Cukor's "David Copperfield" In the first ever sound adapation to the classic Charles Dicken novel, George Cukor's 1935 film " David Copperfield " manages to be the most unanimously verified of all adaptations. The rights to the novel were procured by MGM, after David O. Selznick begged his father-in-law and employer, Louis B. Mayer, to aquire them. The reason for said beggings stems from Selznick's Russian father, Lewis J. Selznick, learning English through the novel. The film was directed by George Cukor, whom was experiencing great success at MGM at the time. The film centers on David Copperfield, a young boy who goes through tragedy, grief, abuse, and all manner of life's difficulties. It is one of the most acclaimed coming-of-age stories of all time. It demonstrates the realities of life through the eyes of a child. However, it also manages to show the redeeming qualities of life through the people you surround yourself with. My sentimen...

  Luchino Visconti's "Senso" The first thing that strikes you when watching Luchino Visconti's 1954 film " Senso " is the picturesque use of vibrant color. It lulls you in. I felt myself almost being able to fall into the textures of the film through the film screen. The lush colors and Visconti's masterful blocking and direction all create a sensual film that beckons to be adored. It's appropriate that the film is called " Senso ," meaning "sense," "feeling," or "lust," because this film does embody this notion simply through its textured images alone. Beyond the image, its an incredibly operatic story about lust and desire and more specifically, tragic desire. The film takes place in 1866 during the Italian-Austrian war of unification. A wealthy countess falls in love with a Austrian soldiers and spends the film meeting with him in secret as the occupying Austrian troops are being driven out by Italian revolu...

  Kenji Mizoguchi's "Osaka Elegy" There seems to be a pre-war Renaissance happening in Japanese cinema with filmmakers like Yasujiro Ozu, Sadao Yamanaka, and Kenji Mizoguchi all contributing to a new, powerful world of film. All of these films all seem to share similar themes, as well. They all seem to deal with poverty, class dynamics, and the social consequences of troubling economic situations. Mizoguchi's first big hit, 1936's " Osaka Elegy " is no exception.  The film focuses on a young woman who descends into prostitution to bail her father out of the embezzlement case against him. She ends up the mistress for the head of a large drug company. She is well provided for, even her very own apartment. The arrangement comes to an end when his wife finds out. She later attempts to reconcile with her previous boyfriend but that too comes to a screeching halt when the police get involved. After she is released from the police station, she returns home to f...

  Federico Fellini's "Il Bidone" Because it falls between two diamonds in Federico Fellini's filmography (1954's " La Strada " and 1957's " Nights of Cabiria "), 1955's " Il Bidone " often goes unnoticed or disregarded. This is unfortunate, as " Il Bidone " warrants its own merit and praise. Although it is not in Fellini's echelon of masterpieces, its style and rhythm, along with shots and compositions, are all Fellini continuing to hone his auteur style and enhance an already great voice and vision. The film stars American actor Broderick Crawford as an aging swindler, Augusto, who scams money from the poor, along with his two pals. As the film progresses, he reconnects with his daughter and begins to realize how over the hill he is and how tired his old hat is getting. After a final con, he turns on his own crew. They beat him and leave him out in the desert to die. While watching the film, I was gripped by its...

  Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, & Tim Whelan's "The Thief of Bagdad" After the rousing success of new technicolor films in the late 1930s, like 1937's " A Star is Born ," 1938's " The Adventures of Robin Hood ," and the smash success of 1939's " The Wizard of Oz ," the United Kingdom tried their hand at making a technicolor epic, 1940's " The Thief of Bagdad ." Produced by Alexander Korda, the film required multiple directors in order to compose the extensity of the film visual landscape. Production began in London but had to be moved to California to be completed due to the start of World War II. The film is essentially a remake of the Raoul Walsh 1924 film of the same name. That film, like this one, is loosely based on the classic Arabic fairy tale, " One Thousand and One Nights ," or as it is commonly referred to in the west, " Arabian Nights ." Most contemporary American would understand ...

  Sadao Yamanaka's "Priest of Darkness" Going into my second Sadao Yamanka film, I was very excited as I found his previous entry, 1935's " The Million Ryo Pot " to be very entertaining and engaging. However, I was less impressed with " Priest of Darkness ," despite it still being a fine film. It had a lot of similarities to " The Million Ryo Pot ," but seemed to focus more on the plot dynamics than on character. " Priest of Darkness " is about a young shop owner whose younger brother steals a small knife from a samurai. This simple theft begins a chain of events that erect innumerable consequences. As the film progresses, the tangled web the characters find themselves only gets trickier to maneuver. I feel as though the twists and turns of the plot are both paradoxically the film's strong suite as well as its weakest. I was fascinated how a single event creates a domino effect with more and more complex consequences. All of...

  Sadao Yamanaka's "The Million Ryo Pot" Going into Sadao Yamanaka's 1935 film " The Million Ryo Pot ," I expected a drama centering on greed. Greed that extends from the titular pot worth one million Ryo. And, to a certain extent, I'm sure you can pull that theme out of the film, for sure. However, as the film went on, I felt myself caring less and less about the money or the valuable pot. It also seemed like the characters did as well. I mean, the straight up don't even want to sell the pot and the end of the film. Instead, I fell far more into the intimate dynamics between the characters and their sense of 'having each others' back.'  The film centers on a quest to find a pot worth one million Ryo that has been sold to junk collectors. The junk collectors sell the pot to a child to use as a holder for pet goldfish. A cast of colorful characters all go looking for the pot.  The film really drew me in with its unique and fleshed-out char...