Man With A Movie List

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer Year: 1928 Run-time: 1 hr 26 min Source: Amazon Video So many of the films so early on this list feel full of promise - it is genuinely fun to see certain editing tricks being worked out, or to see talented directors be the first to combine two genres or invent new ones. The Passion of Joan of Arc  is an incredible film, but it also feels like a dead end.  Certainly, that's literally true for its main character.  But I can't imagine a film even remotely like it being made today.  How could a digitally shot film create the same bizarre texture that each mostly-white frame of this picture has?  How could a modern sound film simulate the effect that Joan's whispered replies has to a room full of angry inquisitors? And, of course, will there ever be another director who conceives of close-ups like Dreyer?  It's easy to imagine the close-up as an easy, and even lazy, shortcut to emotional resonance.  But a second viewi...

Director: Sergei Eisenstein Year: 1928 Runtime: 116 min Source: Kanopy The third Eisenstein film on the list, this one doesn't speak to the gut in the same way as Battleship Potemkin or Strike .  Despite the characteristically frenetic pacing, October feels like the most intellectual of his films so far, dealing in symbols (which are occasionally as subtle as a hammer) and analogies.  Although not much beloved at the time - the film makes allusions that depictions of the October Revolution were commonplace at the time - it feels pretty fresh today.  But also, it's a bit tricky to evaluate as someone with limited foreknowledge of those events - the exaggerations and inaccurate portrayals are hard for me to judge. Although it's an interesting film and a fascinating historical document, Eisenstein as usual isn't really interested in storytelling, and while that works for Potemkin , I'm not sure it works here.  Certainly, history is a messy tangle of motivation...

Director: E. A. Dupont Year: 1928 Run-time: 2 hrs 5 min Source: Blu-ray I'm back for the new year with the first British film on the list.  Well, of a sort anyway - the British film industry was a couple decades away from its golden age, and the director and much of the cast were brought in from the continent. Moulin Rouge  isn't related to the Baz Luhrmann film I grew up with, but it does share the same madcap energy.  Although the plot contains a melodramatic love triangle with strong lead performances, and excellent cinematography, the film's real fascination for me was in its authentic depiction of the Paris cabaret scene, in all its triumphs (luscious sets, gaudy costumes, and a mesmerizing can-can), and horrifying relics of the past (a blackface minstrel skit and a gross parody of a Japanese play).  We also get great scripted audience reaction shots, with leering mustachioed Frenchmen, and their snooty wives.  Its a blockbuster that revels in pure s...