Film Persona

  William Wyler's "The Little Foxes" William Wyler's 1941 film " The Little Foxes " would go on to be the very last time that he and frequent acting collaborator, Bette Davis, would ever work together. Davis and Wyler had such a great working relationship, which is what originally got Davis cast in the role when Wyler took over directing duties. The film, based on the 1939 play of the same name, was written by the playwright herself, Lillian Hellman. In Hellman's original production, the lead role belonged to Tallulah Bankhead, who garnished much critical acclaim. However, Wyler refused to work with Bankhead and wanted Davis instead. Samuel Goldwyn, the film's producer, agreed due to the fact that none of the films Bankhead starred in went on to any commercial success. After being cast, Davis wanted to go a completely different direction that Bankhead. This, along with other insistences about makeup and stage production, lead to the heated arguments ...

  Roberto Rossellini's "Stromboli" Perhaps the most famous note taken from the result of Roberto Rossellini's 1950 film " Stromboli " is that it united him with his muse and future wife, Ingrid Bergman. The creation of the film was sprouted after Bergman wrote Rossellini a note saying that she would like to work with him. After the two of them set up a joint production company to start working on the film, they set up a production deal with RKO and its then owner, Howard Hughes. While working on the film, Rossellini and Bergman, who were both married to other people at the time, had an extramarital affair that would not only unite them as future spouses, but would cause much controversy globally. The film itself centers on a young Lithuanian woman, Karin, who secured release from an internment camp in Italy by marrying an Italian ex-POW fisherman. He takes her to his home island of Stromboli, a volcanic island located between Italy and Sicily. She soon disco...

  Preston Sturges' "The Palm Beach Story" By 1942, Preston Sturges was on a roll in Hollywood with a string of commercial successes. That is until " The Palm Beach Story ," which ended up being panned by critics who had felt like the typical Sturges charm had deteriorated with this film into something more bland and banal. Like most of his films, I suppose you could call " The Palm Beach Story " a screwball comedy. In this film, an inventor, Tom, and his wife, Gerry are down on their luck financially. Gerry decides they both would be better off if she left. Gerry takes a train to Palm Beach where she meets John D. Hackensacker III (an obvious replication of John D. Rockefeller III), who offers to take her on his boat. When they arrive in Palm Beach, Tom is there waiting for her. She pretends that Tom is her brother and more shenanigans ensue.  I suppose the main thematic pull from this film is its observance of class divisions. Tom and Gerry are both f...

  Rene Clair's "I Married a Witch" During the second World War, many Western European filmmakers escaped to the US in order to continue their filmmaking career. Rene Clair, the father of the French poetic realist movement, was one of these prominent directors. While in Hollywood, he filmed what would be his most memorable Hollywood film, 1942's " I Married a Witch ." The film was brought to Clair by Preston Sturges, who offered it as a vehicle for actress Veronica Lake. Lake, who had just starred in Sturges' 1941 film " Sullivan's Travels ," would make " I Married a Witch " the role she was most remembered for in her career.  Personally, I found " I Married a Witch " to be far too silly and uninteresting. I was captured by its charm at the beginning of the film, but it quickly devolved into utter nonsense. I also am completely uninterested in Veronica Lake, as I find her acting to be very bland and boring. 

  Sacha Guity's "Desire" and "Quadrille" I recently watched this pair of Sacha Guitry films, 1937's " Desire " and 1938's " Quadrille ." I was excited to watch after thoroughly enjoying his previous two efforts, 1936's " The Story of a Cheat " and 1937's " The Pearls of the Crown ." I felt as though Guitry had some quirky and comedic style that really entertained and was able to tell stories in a unique and fruitful way. It was a style that seemed very out-of-the-box and almost proto-New Wave in its simplistic yet innovative metatextuality and unconventionality. That being said, it was TOO out of the box to create an imbalance in the filmmaking climate at the time. These films still adhered to a level of conventionality that still was necessary for the sake of storytelling and entertainment.  I felt, though, that " Desire " and " Quadrille ," although having this Guitry aesthetical flare...

  Sacha Guitry's "The Pearls of the Crown" In the late 1930s, French film and poetic realism had reached its zenith and there were plenty of filmmakers that were coming out of the French market that attracted artistic fervor. One of the these filmmakers was Sacha Guitry, who had his own unique style of storytelling. Often presenting his stories through an intercut and flashback narrative form, stories were told through Guitry and his character's own flavor of quirky stylings. One of the two films he made in 1937, " The Pearls of the Crowns ," has Guitry's character recounting to his wife the history of the seven crowns of England. Through a series of flashbacks and Guitry's narration, we see much of the history of France, England, and Italy, all told with creative irreverence and comedy. When we arrive back to Guitry, he and his wife (along with two other gentlemen), go out scavenging for the missing three pearls that remain.  I found " The Pear...

  William Wyler's "The Letter" William Wyler and frequent acting collaborator Bette Davis teamed up once again for the adaptation of the 1927 stage play " The Letter ," written by W. Somerset Maugham. The story, based on the true events of the Ethel Proudlock case, in which the Eurasian wife of the headmaster of a school in Kuala Lumpur was convicted in a murder trial after shooting dead a male friend in April of 1911. In the film, Davis' character defends herself by declaring self-defense, while a mysterious letter threatens this story. I found the film to be rather boring and uninteresting. The whole crux of the film hinges on a letter than must be obtained in order to secure a guilty woman's innocence. There is nothing much to say about it, as it is a simply straightforward drama with no real juice. It has the aesthetics of something more noir-ish or melodramatic, but it did not engage with me in the slightest.