Skip to main content

Lucky Star

Director: Frank Borzage
Year: 1929
Run-time: 1 hr 30 min
Source: Youtube

Wikipedia

Notable For:  With the same director and stars as Street Angel (Gaynor and Farrell would star in 12 films together), Lucky Star is another film that adheres to Borzage's theme of love inspiring people to improve themselves.  Farrell plays a disabled WWI veteran, and the way that his hometown leaves him to fend for himself in a small cabin is a not-so-subtle message.

Verdict:  Farrell takes a paternalistic role towards Jaynor's farm girl character, and in an early scene he even spanks her after he catches her stealing.  (The history of spanking girls in film is explored in this recent video.)  The start of their relationship is pretty creepy from a modern perspective.  Nevertheless, Borzage is an effective director, and there are still some touching scenes in this one.  Even the hokum ending that involves Farrell overcoming his disability through sheer will.  Overall, I think Street Angel wins out, but it is great to see Gaynor again.  She was an early treasure. 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bringing Up Baby

Director: Howard Hawks Year: 1938 Run-time: 1 hr 42 min - Bringing Up Baby  is in my mind the epitome of the screwball comedy, and probably its finest example.  Hepburn and Grant are just so perfect in their roles, and the level of constant absurdity gets to the point where it overrides any cultural datedness and just becomes fun.  (The main exception is the Irish stereotype, but given that he is justified in how he behaves, it's excusable.)  I was a bit shocked to discover that this was not a commercial success, and indeed almost ruined Hepburn's career (she had the most to lose, given how novel her quirky performance is). - Looking back at the three screwballs so far on this list, it never occurred to me before how the genre seems to rely on a rich and "privileged" female lead to be the one to challenge and emasculate the male lead.  Perhaps that was the acceptable way to present it to a depression-era audience?
Post a Comment
Read more

The Cat Concerto

Directors: William Hanna and Joseph Barbera Year: 1947 I'm sure it's no coincidence that music plays such a strong role in many of the animated films featured on the list. By this point, there's nothing especially novel about this Tom and Jerry  short by another great animation studio led by Hanna and Barbera, except that the execution is so spot-on. This is eight minutes of pure delight. 
Post a Comment
Read more

The Land Beyond The Sunset

Director: Harold M. Shaw Year: 1912 Runtime: 0:14 Source: Youtube This is a great short film to watch if you're spending a hot summer in the city.  It was made by a little-known director as something of a PSA about the Fresh Air Fund, a non-profit which let inner-city children vacation in the countryside. (It's still going strong today!) A poor young newsie with an endearingly tattered cap gets to take a break from child labor and parental abuse, and join a group of kids for one day in the great outdoors. In many ways this would be the prototype of the heartwarming Pixar short, if the ending wasn't so poignant and bittersweet.  It's such a simple little film, but one that's absolutely worth 14 minutes of your life.
Post a Comment
Read more