#film recommendation
The Star
Born into show business, Dolores Costello’s parents, Maurice and Mae, were both performers on stage and in early films for Vitagraph. Dolores had multiple credits in Vitagraph films before she even celebrated her tenth birthday. In fact, I’ve already covered one of Dolores’ early films on this blog, as part of my Christmas movie throwback list.
As Dolores and her sister Helene aged out of child roles, they hopped over to New York and worked as models and on stage for Florenz Ziegfeld. Famed Broadway producer Ziegfeld ran a series of very successful revues on Broadway featuring showgirls who exemplified a specific brand of free-wheeling, vigorous femininity. Such was their popularity that the nickname “Ziegfeld girl” had nationwide recognition. Many Ziegfeld girls found success on film – Dolores and Helene were brought back to the movie business by Warner Brothers. After some minor roles, Dolores was picked by John Barrymore to star alongside him in The Sea Beast (1926), which was loosely inspired by the novel Moby-Dick. Dolores’ star rose dramatically over the next few years and she would marry Barrymore in 1928.
The Cosplay
When I originally saw these portraits of Costello, I immediately wanted to recreate them in closet cosplay. But, even now, I haven’t been able to definitively pinpoint when they were taken or if they were taken to promote a specific film. Based on her styling, I reckon they were likely shot around 1928-29. Then I came across an uncited suggestion that they were taken during the production of Noah’s Ark (1928). So, I watched it and the assumption seems probable. I did not intend to make this a post about a movie, but Noah’s Ark is so interesting, I couldn’t help myself!
The Film
Noah’s Ark is fascinating. It stands firmly between the silent and sound eras. Darryl F. Zanuck conceived the film as a dual story: a World War I romance tale and a creative retelling of the story of Noah from the book of Genesis. Originally planned as a fully-silent epic, the production of Noah’s Ark was extended due to the emergence of talkies. Sound segments were filmed making Noah’s Ark one of many hybrid films made in this transitional period. Though it was released at the end of Hollywood’s sound/silent hybrid cycle, it was a big box office success.
The film begins with a preface likening biblical stories to contemporary life, easing the viewer into the mirrored story of the flood/WWI. The story commences with our cast of characters on a train traveling through Europe, carrying a very international crowd. We meet two all-American types, Travis (George O’Brien) and Al (Guinn “Big Boy” Williams), a German showgirl, Marie (Costello), a minister (Paul McAllister), and a Russian intelligence agent, Nickoloff (Noah Beery). The train is violently derailed over a bridge, but Travis and Al manage to save Marie and end up at a local inn with other survivors, including Nikoloff. Travis saves Marie once more that night, as Nickoloff sneaks into her room with ill intent. At the same time, soldiers arrive at the inn announcing that war has broken out.
Later, in Paris, Marie and Travis have fallen in love and marry, while Al enlists in the army. Travis finds it hard to say goodbye to his good friend and gets swept up when he sees Al marching away. Travis quickly joins up too, leaving Marie to fend for herself–a German citizen stuck in France in the middle of the war(!!!). All three lose touch. In a heart-wrenching turn of events, when Al and Travis by chance end up in the same trench together, the chaos of the battlefield leads Travis to accidentally kill Al with a grenade. Back in the city, Marie has resumed working as a showgirl where she is recognized by Nickoloff, who has her arrested as a German spy. Nickoloff plants evidence on her and uses his influence to ensure that she gets the firing squad. In another chance encounter, one of the military men assigned to carry out the execution is Travis, who immediately attempts to stop the execution. At that moment, however, a German attack buries the whole lot of them under a ton of rubble. As they sit without much hope of survival, the minister (the same one from the train), recounts the story of the flood.
Noah (McAllister) lives in a kingdom ruled by King Nephilim (Beery) who worships a god called Jaghuth. God warns Noah of the oncoming flood and Noah has his sons begin constructing a massive ark. One of Noah’s sons, Japheth (O’Brien), is in love with their servant girl, Miriam (Costello). King Nephilim plans to sacrifice Miriam and kidnaps her. When Japheth tries to save Miriam, he is captured, blinded, and forced into hard labor. The flood comes suddenly just as Miriam is about to be killed. Japheth manages to escape his chains and his sight is restored divinely. He finds Miriam and the two make their way to the ark. Meanwhile, a whole menagerie of animals also make their way to the ark while masses of people are battered by waves and washed away.
Returning to the 1910s, the people buried under the rubble are rescued and learn that the armistice is signed and the war is over.
READ MORE below the jump!
The production of this film was a massive undertaking. All of the special effects are dazzling. The compositing, miniature work, and matte paintings all really stood out to me. Now, the flood sequences were a lot to take in. It’s been reported that some stunt performers were killed filming these scenes and many were badly injured. I managed to track down five different books that report this, all with slightly different accounts. However, none of them cite a source for this information, so I’m not sure how much of it is apocryphal. Regardless, it’s easy to believe. Many of the shots of the flood waters bombarding these extras are wide shots with lots of people and lots of water. Trying to film those shots while adequately monitoring the safety of all performers seems likely impossible. (One reason we should be very grateful for CG nowadays IMO.)
I’d honestly recommend this movie broadly because its excess alone is remarkable and the dual-story format is entertainingly strange. However, watching this on the other side of the Second World War makes the hopeful ending totally gut wrenching.
Also, the relationship between Al and Travis is so so so queer. O’Brien and Williams have a lot more chemistry together than O’Brien and Costello. But, honestly, that chemistry imbalance actually makes the 1910s section more interesting.
Despite the film’s extended production, it made a very tidy profit. While Costello’s films during the silent/sound transition were popular, she had a minor speech impediment that made the process bumpy for her. And so, a few years later, Costello chose to retire to focus on raising her children. After divorcing Barrymore, Costello made a strong, but unfortunately short comeback to films. Thankfully, before her re-retirement in the 1940s, we all got her wonderful turn in The Magnificent Ambersons(1942).
Dolores Costello, for me, represents a kind of sehnsucht. The fits and starts of her career gave us captivating glimpses at what could have been a full and ranging filmography, but never came to fruition. Noah’s Ark is one of those glimpses. The gravity of Marie’s situation settling on to her is so effectively communicated through Costello’s face and body language–all of the uncertainty, anxiety, abandonment–that little needs to be made explicit in the 1910s section. What a gift she had!
Hey guys.
This year I decided to watch as many horror films as possible for the month of October. Some films I have never seen before. Some I have seen many times and others has been a film I have seen bits and pieces of but not in its entirety. On Instagram, I’ve been posting and live watching (through stories) of my experiences so if you missed those, you can check those out! So what did you watch this October?
Popcorn
C.H.U.D.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Queen of the Damned
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare
Night of the Living Dead
American Psycho
Night of the Demons
Dawn of the Dead
Dawn of the Dead (original)
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
Stephen King’s IT
The Return of the Living Dead
Creepshow 2
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror
Alice, Sweet Alice
Crypt TV (Youtube)
Creepshow
Scream
Halloween
The Evil Dead
Michael Jackson’s Thriller/Making Of
The Fog
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
Phantasm
Child’s Play
Ginger Snaps
Salem’s Lot (1979)
Bored in quarantine?
Want some good movies to watch but don’t want to support the careers of racists, r!pists and general jerks?
Worry not! There are plenty of good movies out there that you might not know about
If you liked:
Baby Driver
Watch:
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
Why?
They have the same editors (Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos), director of cinematography (Bill Pope) and the same director (Edgar Wright) so that cool style and pace is there that a lot of people love about Baby Driver
And if you loved the music aspect of Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World is full of it! The soundtrack is awesome and includes original songs written for the film (and performed in it) including ‘Black Sheep’ by Metric, and you can even listen to songs by the bands in the film on Spotify. Another great addition to the album is 'It’s getting boring by the sea’ by Blood Red Shoes.
Here’s a gif that showcases the classic whip-pan that Wright’s work often uses so well
Note: Given the context that prompted this post, I feel I should make you aware that at the start of the film, Scott (22) is dating 17-year old Knives. Although they only ever hold hands, are never alone together and her parents are aware and ok with it, please don’t watch if this will be triggering for you. To give an example of the nature of their relationship, Knives wants to kiss Scott and says “I’ve never kissed a guy before”. Instead of kissing her or initiating any contact, Scott responds “Hey… me neither”. Scott decides he’s too old for her but doesn’t handle this particularly well, not wanting to upset her (don’t worry- he gets called out for it) She remains a key character throughout the film and really develops as the story goes on. Bonus points for having her own arc and not being there as the foil for the white love interest. I love you Knives!
I also love the female characters in general they’re so different but cool here are some gifs ok bye
Attack the Block
Why?
Attack the Block has the same composer as Baby Driver (Steven Price), and is also edited by Jonathan Amos (Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim vs the World) and co-produced by Edgar Wright.
It stars John Boyega, which is of course a reason itself to watch it, especially because supporting his work makes it harder for Hollywood to drop him (if you didn’t know, he is a vocal leader of the BLM movement in the UK and so stated he might lose his career). He is also just a good actor and general good person which seems rare these days.
Its cast were mostly unknown at the time, and a lot of the dialogue is based on quotes from real teenagers- in the same demographic as the characters- spoken to during research. Joe Cornish (writer/director) also discussed with the actors any changes they wanted to their characters’ dialogue and the last drafts were influenced by their choices.
This is especially important as the movie also deals with race and class issues, as well as treatment of black British people and people of colour by authority
I won’t write a lot about it since I don’t know it as well as I do Scott Pilgrim, but will be rewatching soon and if you need to know if there’s any subjects that might be triggering for you check the website doesthedogdie
I’ll just leave this quote from the film here:
“They arrest us for nothing anyway”
“No, I reckon yeah, I reckon, the Feds sent them anyway. Government probably bred those things to kill black boys. First they send in drugs, then they sent guns and now they’re sending monsters in to kill us. They don’t care man. We ain’t killing each other fast enough. So they decided to speed up the process”
Cast members you may also recognise!
Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who)
Frank Drameh (The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow)
I can do a pt.2, if there’s particular films/actors you want alternatives to let me know
Annihilation Film Review (streaming on Hulu)
So for my next Halloween time viewing suggestion, I’d like to bring something a little bit different to the table. It’s not quite a horror although if you ask me that’s debatable, it is classified on paper as an adventure/drama/thriller. But I’m just going to say it right meow guys, this is a sci fi horror.
Annihilation is a terrifyingly vivid extraterrestrial nightmare. It’s a goddamn work of art. I personally love the sci fi genre because when done right, it’s just as frightening and hopeless as the demon stories, which are my favorite of the horror sub genres, closely followed by zombies ♂️
Here’s a brief synopsis from #google:
Lena, a biologist and former soldier, joins a mission to uncover what happened to her husband inside Area X – a sinister and mysterious phenomenon that is expanding across the American coastline. Once inside, the expedition discovers a world of mutated landscapes and creatures, as dangerous as it is beautiful, that threatens both their lives and their sanity.
My paraphrasing: Basically this super smart scientist goes searching for answers about what happened to her husband and his squad while they were researching what they call “the shimmer”. And it’s exactly what it sounds like - a shimmery oilslick-looking overlay on our world that is expanding from one particular point on the beach. Like a mist or something. It’s so weird and so deep and too awesome for me not to share.
This movie has an awesome cast too and that was the main draw for me when I first saw the poster ads. Natalie Portman leads a predominantly female ensemble, alongside fellow Thor star, Tessa Thompson. This point is particularly important to me as Thor 1 just so happens to be one of my favorite of the Marvel franchises, as well as one of my favorite sci-fi films period. Fight me if you think it’s not sci fi lol. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, and Oscar Isaac’s fine ass are all so great in this.
What makes Annihilation scary to me is the beautiful execution of such a daring and ambitious plot. I don’t want to give too much away before you have a chance to check it out, but I think that may be hard to do anyway. I mean it’s an ever expanding shimmer….bruh, what?! But this film actually poses impossible questions and also attempts to answer those questions that most movies typically have to gloss over for fear of taking up too much time. And I must say…they did a good job of doing just that.
The imagery is beautiful and unnerving, at times making my skin crawl. The final scenes are incredibly innovative in their portrayal of the unimaginable. Its a stunning visualization, a twisted fantasy, a bone chilling spectacle, a total mindfuck and it’s absolutely brilliant. Definitely in my top picks, easily worth your time and undoubtedly going to start some interesting conversations. Should be a great one to enjoy with friends.
Please like share and comment. Especially if you’ve seen it I’d love to hear your personal thoughts. Also if you have scary movie suggestions send them my way!!
Also enjoy the trailer
