Paths of Glory

Paths of Glory with Kirk Douglas as Colonel Dax.

Kunnian polut / Ärans vägar.
    US © 1957 Harris–Kubrick Productions. Bryna Productions, Inc. presents. P: James B. Harris, Kirk Douglas. D: Stanley Kubrick. SC: Stanley Kubrick, Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson – based on the novel by Humphrey Cobb (1935). Cin: Georg Krause – b&w – negative ratio: 1,37:1 – theatrical ratio: 1,66:1. AD: Ludwig Reiber. Cost: Ilse Dubois. Makeup: Arthur Schramm. SFX: Erwin Lange. M: Gerald Fried. Song: "Der treue Husar" (trad. German folk song) sung by Christiane Kubrick. S: Martin Müller. ED: Eva Kroll. Military adviser: Baron von Waldenfels.
    C  Kirk Douglas (Colonel Dax, commanding officer, 701st Infantry Regiment), Ralph Meeker (Corporal Philippe Paris), Adolphe Menjou (General Georges Broulard, corps commander), George Macready (General Paul Mireau, divisional commander), Wayne Morris (Lieutenant Roget, company commander), Richard Anderson (Major Saint-Auban, Mireau's aide de camp), Joseph Turkel (Private Pierre Arnaud), Timothy Carey (Private Maurice Ferol), Peter Capell (President of the Court Martial), Susanne Christian [Christiane Harlan / Christiane Kubrick] (German girl), Bert Freed (Staff Sergeant Boulanger), Emile Meyer (Father Duprée), John Stein (Capt. Rousseau, artillery battery commander), Harold Benedict (Captain Benedict, artillery liaison officer), Fred Bell (shell-shocked soldier).
    2395 m / 88 min
    Loc: Bavaria. Studios: Bavaria Studios, Pacaria-Filmkunst Studios. Filming dates: 18 March – May 1957.
    Premiere: 1 November 1957 in Munich.
    Finnish premiere: 14 Feb 1958, Savoy, Helsinki, distributed by United Artists Films – telecast 30 Aug 1965 MTV1 etc. – dvd 2011 Future Film Distribution – VET 48170 – K16
    A 35 mm print from Park Circus at 85 min.
    Screened at Kino Regina, Helsinki (Stanley Kubrick), 24 Feb 2019.

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
– Thomas Gray: "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" (1751). ["Elegia maakylän kirkkomaalla", fine Finnish translation by Yrjö Jylhä in Englantilaisen kirjallisuuden kultainen kirja, 1933].

In Finland Paths of Glory was immediately recognized as a masterpiece. It was voted as the best film of the year 1958, and it also received the Jussi Award (the Finnish equivalent of an Academy Award) for the best foreign film. An affectionate correspondence with Stanley Kubrick documents that the director was pleased with the acknowledgements. A special Finnish passion for Stanley Kubrick lasted to the end, until Eyes Wide Shut – and after.

Paths of Glory is still one of the great WWI films and one of the great war films in general. Its special distinction is in its focus on military command.

A standstill on the front is embarrassing for the headquarters, and something has to happen. General Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) orders General Mireau (George Macready) to act. Mireau gives orders to attack Ant Hill, an operation that is nothing but a futile and doomed collective suicide mission.

When the capture of Ant Hill fails, three arbitrarily picked soldiers are court-martialled, given a guilty verdict and executed. Colonel Dax is furious and defends his men to the end, but General Mireau is only interested in promotion, and General Broulard just wants to protect the public image of the military.

Paths of Glory is full of controlled rage in its account of the madness of military technocracy and the machiavellian manipulations in high command. Kubrick's look is cold and precise, yet there is a lot of passion brewing.

Finns could sympathize with the character of Colonel Dax who reminds us of Lt. Koskela in The Unknown Soldier. The soldiers are seen as individuals who try to maintain their dignity in circumstances that are beneath dignity.

Paths of Glory is a story of men without women but in the finale the soldiers are relaxing in a bar in which a German woman prisoner is ordered to perform. With tears in her eyes she sings the folk song "Der treue Husar". The humanity of the brutalized soldiers is restored at least for the time being.

The print screened was good.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: OUR PROGRAM NOTE BASED ON ALEXANDER WALKER:

"Der treue Husar" (a song)

Paths of Glory, a film about men without women. The only woman in the movie, a German prisoner-of-war (Christiane Harlan, the future Christiane Kubrick), sings "Der treue Husar" to the brutalized French soldiers.

    1. Es war einmal ein treuer Husar,
    Der liebt' sein Mädchen ein ganzes Jahr,
    |: Ein ganzes Jahr und noch viel mehr,

        Die Liebe nahm kein Ende mehr. :|

    2. Der Knab' der fuhr ins fremde Land,
    Derweil ward ihm sein Mädchen krank,
    |: Sie ward so krank bis auf den Tod,

        Drei Tag, drei Nacht sprach sie kein Wort. :|

    3. Und als der Knab' die Botschaft kriegt,
    Daß sein Herzlieb am Sterben liegt,
    |: Verließ er gleich sein Hab und Gut,

        Wollt seh'n, was sein Herzliebchen tut. :|

    4. Ach Mutter bring' geschwind ein Licht,
    Mein Liebchen stirbt, ich seh' es nicht,
    |: Das war fürwahr ein treuer Husar,

        Der liebt' sein Mädchen ein ganzes Jahr. :|

    5. Und als er zum Herzliebchen kam,
    Ganz leise gab sie ihm die Hand,
    |: Die ganze Hand und noch viel mehr,

        Die Liebe nahm kein Ende mehr. :|

    6. "Grüß Gott, grüß Gott, Herzliebste mein!
    Was machst du hier im Bett allein?"
    |: "Hab dank, hab Dank, mein treuer Knab'!

        Mit mir wird's heißen bald: ins Grab!" :|

    7. "Grüß Gott, grüß Gott, mein feiner Knab.
    Mit mir wills gehen ins kühle Grab.
    |: "Ach nein, ach nein, mein liebes Kind,

        Dieweil wir so Verliebte sind." :|

    8. "Ach nein, ach nein, nicht so geschwind,
    Dieweil wir zwei Verliebte sind;
    |: Ach nein, ach nein, Herzliebste mein,

        Die Lieb und Treu muß länger sein. :|

    9. Er nahm sie gleich in seinen Arm,
    Da war sie kalt und nimmer warm;
    |: "Geschwind, geschwind bringt mir ein Licht!

        Sonst stirbt mein Schatz, daß's niemand sicht. :|

    10. Und als das Mägdlein gestorben war,
    Da legt er's auf die Totenbahr.
    |: Wo krieg ich nun sechs junge Knab'n,

        Die mein Herzlieb zu Grabe trag'n? :|

    11. Wo kriegen wir sechs Träger her?
    Sechs Bauernbuben die sind so schwer.
    |: Sechs brave Husaren müssen es sein,

        Die tragen mein Herzliebchen heim. :|

    12. Jetzt muß ich tragen ein schwarzes Kleid,
    Das ist für mich ein großes Leid,
    |: Ein großes Leid und noch viel mehr,

        Die Trauer nimmt kein Ende mehr. :

– Source: Wikipedia.

Im Nachlass des in österreichischen Diensten stehenden Offiziers Caspar Josef Carl von Mylius (1749–1831) fand sich eine auf das Jahr 1781 datierte handgeschriebene Textfassung, die er aus Österreich nach Köln gebracht haben soll. Der Heimatforscher Peter Paul Trippen fand diesen Liedtext mit dem Textanfang „Es war einmal ein roter Husar“ 1929 auf. Diese Fassung ist die älteste derzeit bekannte. 1808 veröffentlichten Achim von Arnim und Clemens Brentano unter dem Titel Die gute Sieben eine Textvariante im dritten Band ihrer Sammlung Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Diese Textfassung hatte Achim von Arnim aus fünf verschiedenen Fassungen zusammengestellt, die von Bernhard Joseph Docen, Auguste Pattberg, Bettina von Arnim und zwei unbekannten Einsendern aufgezeichnet worden waren.

1816 wurde von Johann Gustav Gottlieb Büsching erstmals eine Melodie zu dem Lied veröffentlicht, die von Carl Hohnbaum in Franken aufgezeichnet worden war, aber mit der heute verbreiteten Musik nicht übereinstimmt. In den Münsterischen Geschichten findet sich 1825 eine dem heute verbreiteten Text ähnliche Fassung. Hoffmann von Fallersleben nahm in seine Schlesische Volkslieder 1842 drei Textfassungen und zwei Melodien auf. Ludwig Erk veröffentlichte 1856 in der Erstausgabe des Deutschen Liederhorts drei verschiedene Fassungen des Liedes. Johann Lewalter veröffentlichte das Lied 1891 mit einer anderen Melodie, die in Rengershausen aufgezeichnet wurde. In der 1893 von Franz Magnus Böhme bearbeiteten Fassung der Sammlung finden sich insgesamt sieben Text- und fünf Melodiefassungen. Eine weitere Fassung aus Ottweiler veröffentlichten Carl Köhler und John Meier 1896. Die Volksliedsammlerin Elizabeth Marriage verweist 1902 auf die weite Verbreitung des Liedes und erwähnt, der Held – in ihrer Textfassung „ein junger Husar“ – erscheine „meist als ‚ein feiner Knab’‘, auch junger Knab’, braver Soldat, roter Husar“. In den Zupfgeigenhansl fand das Lied nach 1911 in der Textfassung War einst ein bayrischer Husar Aufnahme.

Die heute verbreitete Liedfassung wurde von dem Kölner Karnevalskomponisten und früheren Militärkapellmeister Heinrich Frantzen (1880–1953) als Marschlied komponiert. Der Kölner Musikverlag Gustav Gerdes OHG (jetzt Teil der Musikverlage Hans Gerig in Bergisch Gladbach) veröffentlichte das Lied 1924. Die Karnevalsgesellschaft Treuer Husar nimmt für sich in Anspruch, dass der Marsch zu deren Gründung 1925 komponiert worden sei. Wohl erst seit diesem Zeitpunkt ist das Lied mit dem Karneval assoziiert; noch in den 1890er Jahren war es als Karnevalslied völlig unbekannt. Das Lied wurde zu einer „Nationalhymne der Kölner“, obwohl es im Grunde weder mit Köln noch mit dem Karneval etwas zu tun hat.

– Source: Wikipedia.

Sherlock, Jr.

Sherlock, Jr. / Kovaa kyytiä ja kaunokaisia (1925) / Fart, flickor och kärlek (1925).
    US 1924. PC: Joseph M. Schenck Productions / Buster Keaton Productions. Original distributor: Metro Pictures Corporation. P: Joseph M. Schenck. D: Buster Keaton. SC: Clyde Bruckman, Jean C. Havez, Joseph A. Mitchell. Cin: Byron Houck, Elgin Lessley. PD: Fred Gabourie. Cost: Clare West.
    C: Buster Keaton (projectionist / Sherlock, Jr.), Kathryn McGuire (Ruth), Joe Keaton (Ruth's father / man on film screen), Ward Crane (the local sheik / the villain), Jane Connelly (the mother), Erwin Connelly (the hired man / the butler), George Davis (conspirator), Kewpie Morgan (valet), Ruth Holley (the heroine of the screen), Ford West (theatre manager / Gillette), John Patrick.
    Loc: Los Angeles (around Los Feliz, Echo Park, 3630 Pasadena Avenue, Larchmont Blvd. near Beverly Blvd.), Chatsworth, Glendale.
    Premiere: 11 May 1924.
    Helsinki premiere: 22.2.1925 Piccadilly, distributor: Aktiebolaget Royal Film Osakeyhtiö – telecast: 26.11.1972 TV1, 14.2.1987 TV1, 29.9.2002 YLE TV2 – film control 12969 – S – 4065 ft, 1239 m, 1126 m / 48 min
    A sonorized 35 mm print of the Raymond Rohauer re-release version with a music score by Lee Erwin recorded at Carnegie Hall Cinema and with Norwegian subtitles, 43 min.
    Screened at Kino Regina, Helsinki (Buster Keaton), 24 Feb 2019.

Buster Keaton's third independently produced feature film.

In Daphne Merkin's review of David Thomson's new book Sleeping with Strangers: How the Movies Shaped Desire she quotes Thomson: “The movie screen is a window, and the trick of the medium is to let us feel we can pass through it” and comments: "We first watch, in other words, and then we connect so intensely that the frame falls away and we are part of the picture instead of outside it."

The distinction of Sherlock, Jr.  is that it is an early masterpiece of meta-cinema, and its approach to cinema as a dream space has not been surpassed. There have been homages and imitations from Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo to Renny Harlin's A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. Sherlock, Jr. is a study of "the movie screen as a window". It shows how cinema can be a vehicle of escaping into a world of dreams, tempting us to live virtual fantasy lives, but it can also become a means of encouraging us to live our real lives to the full.

Sherlock, Jr. is also an incredible achievement of techno-comedy. The special effects were the most elaborate in Keaton's career. Also included are some of the most astounding of his magical circus stunts such as the disappearance into a suitcase or a jump into a man's stomach. The chase on the driverless motorcycle remains breathtaking no matter how often one sees it. The timing is brilliant at all times.

Keaton's character is somewhat Chaplinesque. His poverty is established in scenes that resemble Chaplin. He is also an ultra shy lover in scenes with Ruth. He is deeply humiliated by a scheming rival, but in dreams he remains a hero, Sherlock, Jr. the master detective. When Ruth returns to apologize for her groundless suspicions Keaton keeps looking at the screen for advice in romance.

A film full of fun, tenderness, and amazing comedy action. And, yes, pathos, like in the films of Chaplin.

A very watchable 35 mm print.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: OUR PROGRAM NOTE BASED ON DAVID ROBINSON:

One Week

One Week. Sybil Seely,  Buster Keaton. Photo: IMdB.

Viikko rakennusmiehenä / Asuntopulan aikana.
    US 1920. PC: Joseph M. Schenck Productions / Buster Keaton Productions. Original distributor: Metro Pictures. P: Joseph M. Schenck. D+SC: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton. Cin: Elgin Lessley.  Technical director: Fred Gabourie.  ED: Buster Keaton.
    C: Buster Keaton (the groom), Sybil Seely (the bride), Joe Roberts (piano mover).
    Loc: Los Angeles (Congregational Sunday School, Inglewood Train Station). 
    Premiere: 1 Sep 1920.
    2K DCP from Lobster films with a Timothy Brock score (2004), 23 min.
    Screened at Kino Regina, Helsinki (Buster Keaton), 24 Feb 2019.

A parody of a Ford Motor Company film called Home Made (1919). The wedding, the Model T car and the pages of a daily calendar are among the features copied. (Source of information: Wikipedia).

The first released independent Buster Keaton production. The High Sign was filmed earlier but released in the following year.

Buster Keaton loved parody: The Frozen North was a William S. Hart parody, and his first feature film Three Ages was a D. W. Griffith parody. One Week is a parody of a build-it-yourself home instruction movie, but it grows into something bigger.

One Week belongs to the silent cinema's beloved catastrophe comedy trend. When things start to go wrong there is no stopping until a final disaster is taking place. A plot number sign turned upside down, a jealous rival mislabeling boxes of the DIY home, and a rainstorm are key steps in this progress.

The exposition is full of warning signs for the newlyweds. "The wedding bells have a sweet sound but such a sour echo", teaches the first intertitle. "Another good man gone wrong" is written on the honeymoon car. "Good luck, you'll need it" is among the greetings.

A fundamental source of delight is the newlyweds blithely ignoring all warnings and escalating catastrophes because love conquers all. The theme can be summed up as "through thick and thin" and "for better or for worse".

Sybil Seely was one of Buster Keaton's most engaging heroines.

An ingenious Keatonian techno-comedy. The house is the machine in this one. Full of wonderful gags. There is also a meta-gag: in Sybil Seely's nude bubble bath scene a hand in front of the camera lens obscures the view.

Timothy Brock has composed a charming score full of fun and romance.

Malyutka Elli / Little Ellie

Little Ellie. The opening scene. Fred (Ivan Mozzhukhin, to the left) is the generous host at a dinner party in his mansion. The photos: screen caps from a low def screener from the Gosfilmofond print.

Little Ellie. Bitten by Ellie, Fred (Ivan Mozzhukhin) examines his wound.

Little Ellie. Fred (Ivan Mozzhukhin) and Clara (Nathalie Lissenko) study Little Ellie's portrait.

Little Ellie. Flashback: Ellie (E. Kudrova) the star student gets a diploma from the mayor (Ivan Mozzhukhin).

Little Ellie. Fred (Ivan Mozzhukhin) and Clara (Nathalie Lissenko). The ghost of little Ellie will never let Fred in peace.

Little Ellie. Flashback: Fred (Ivan Mozzhukhin) first escorts, then harasses little Ellie (E. Kudrova).

Little Ellie. The Russian ending.

Ivan Mozzhukhin

Nathalie Lissenko

Малютка Элли / Maljutka Elli / Maliutka Elli / La petite Elli / [Pikku Elli].
    RU 1918. PC: T-vo I. Ermoliev. P: Iosif Ermoliev. D+SC: Yakov Protazanov – based on the short story "La petite Roque" (1886) by Guy de Maupassant, in English "Little Louise Roque", translated into Finnish by Jorma Kapari as ”Roquen tytär” (in Guy de Maupassant: Novelleja, Helsinki: Otava: Kompassikirjat, 1974). Cin: Fyodor Burgasov / Fédote Bourgassov. AD: Vladimir Ballyuzek.
    C: Ivan Mozzhukhin / Ivan Mosjoukine (Fred Norton, mayor of the municipality / maire in Maupassant's story), Natalia Lisenko / Nathalie Lissenko (Clara Clarson), E. Kudrina (Elli, Clara's little sister), Nikolai Panov (Erikson, svedovatel / police investigator), Polikarp Pavlov (Patalon), Iona Talanov (Doctor).
    Premiere: 06/01/1918.
    Originally: 6 ч., 1700 м. Cохранился не полностью: 4 части. Originally /18 fps/ 80 min
    35 mm print from Gosfilmofond: /18 fps/ 61 min
    Screened at Kino Regina, Helsinki (History of the Russian Cinema curated by Lauri Piispa) with e-subtitles in Finnish by Mia Öhman and with Johanna Pitkänen at the piano, 14 Feb 2019

"But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." (The Gospel according to Matthew, 18:6, King James translation)

Little Ellie, one of the six films directed by Yakov Protazanov in 1918, was produced by the same team that created Father Sergius in the same year. The producer was Iosif Ermoliev, the cinematographer Fyodor Burgasov, and the art director Vladimir Ballyuzek. Cast in both was the husband-wife team Ivan Mozzhukhin and Natalia Lisenko, also starring Nikolai Panov and Polikarp Pavlov. Protazanov (1881–1941) went to exile during the civil war but returned afterwards. Mozzhukhin (1889–1939) remained in France as did his first wife Lisenko (1884–1969).

Renowned as probably the first film on pedophilia, Little Ellie differs significantly from its source, the short story "La petite Roque" by Guy de Maupassant, but is equally unflinching about its dark themes.

The mayor of the municipality has committed the worst of crimes. The guilt on his conscience finally crushes him.

In Maupassant's story, poor Madame Roque's little daughter is swimming in a pond in the wood in summer. (Her first name Louise is mentioned only once in Maupassant's original but several times in the English translation, including in its title). In the film, Ellie is the little sister of the widowed female protagonist, the well-to-do Clara Clarson. Ellie is walking home in the winter in her winter clothes when Fred agrees to escort her along a snowy road. During the investigation that lasts over a year Fred and Clara are engaged and get married.

Interestingly, a little before Maupassant Anton Chekhov had published his detective novel The Shooting Party in 1885, sharing certain affinities. The protagonist who supervises the investigation is an authority figure, himself the offender. Both share a forest milieu central to the story and the crime. In the finale of both there is a nervous breakdown around a written confession (in Chekhov the confession is the story proper). As crime stories, both belong to the "Roger Ackroyd" tradition, also with links to Elio Petri's Kafkaesque Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion.

Maupassant was a genius who created his entire vast oeuvre in ten years. The storytelling in "La petite Roque" is masterful: the style, the psychology, the ethics, the milieu, the references that go deep into French history, the blend of gravity and humour.

The murder of a young girl shatters the community to the core in a way comparable with Fritz Lang's M and David Lynch's Twin Peaks. Everybody is stricken by an unusually profound sense of terror and unease.

The character of the police investigator resembles F. M. Dostoevsky's Porfiri in Crime and Punishment, both in Maupassant's story and Protazanov's film version.

In Protazanov's film adaptation much gets thrown away. Instead of a nuanced and concrete French milieu we have a generalized international setting. Maupassant mobilizes the whole milieu for the tragedy: the mayor has his beloved ancient forest felled and intends to be crushed under the tallest tree. When that fails, he plans to perish in the high watchtower of his ancestral mansion that has belonged to his family for centuries. None of this remains in the film.

In Protazanov's film the mayor harasses the girl and kills her, but in contrast to Maupassant, no sexual act takes place. The girl remains in her winter clothes all the time.

Little Ellie is a transitional film. Much of it is in early cinema mode, based on long shots, long takes, and plan-séquence. Early-cinema strengths include a refined lightning, an engaging Stimmung, a dynamic mise-en-scène, and an assured composition in deep focus.

There are also special accents. Fred's sense of guilt seems displaced in a pain in his arm where Ellie had violently bit him trying to defend herself. There is an interesting mirror shot in extreme close-up in which Fred examines the site of the pain. The apparition of dead Ellie is conveyed via superimposition. In Maupassant's story the girl's wooden clogs have a symbolic meaning. In Protazanov, we have her knit cap.

The story proceeds both chronologically and in flashback. The more Fred remembers, the greater is his guilt and pain. Ellie was the star student. Now she appears as a ghost who will never go away. Fred cannot sleep anymore. Suicide is the only way out.

The acting is mostly in early cinema mode with heavy facial makeup and reactions telegraphed in a stylized and exaggerated fashion. At times it looks alienating, but there is a consistency of style in this mode of performance.

The Gosfilmofond print has been created from obviously difficult source materials. It looks duped but watchable. It tends towards low contrast but conveys a sense of how the original can have looked.

According to all sources the original release version had six reels, but the one preserved by Gosfilmofond has four reels only. However, the print at hand is logical and coherent. This print starts with a lively scene at a dinner table in the mayor's mansion. It ends with a startling scene in which Clara finds Fred dead in his armchair just after she has burned his letter of confession.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: OUR PROGRAM NOTE:

Strekoza i Muravei / The Grasshopper and the Ant (Starewicz 1913) (2006 KAVI preservation from a vintage Finnish nitrate print)

Strekoza i Muravei (1913). The opening scene after the first quote from Ivan Krylov's poem: "Попрыгунья Стрекоза / Лето красное пропела" ["The carefree grasshopper was singing all summer long"]. Photo: KAVI.

Стрекоза и Mуравей / The Dragonfly and the Ant / Heinäsirkka ja muurahainen / Gräshoppan och myran.
    RU 1913. PC: Akts. o-vo Khanzhonkov i K.  P: Aleksandr Khanzhonkov. D+SC+Cin+AD+AN: Wladyslaw Starewicz – based on the poem (1808) by Ivan Krylov – [inspired by La Fontaine's "La Cigale et la Fourmi", 1668] – [inspired by Aesop, 620 BCE, 373 in the Perry Index, cf. also variant 112 in the Perry Index, and the counter-fable, number 166 in the Perry Index].
    Puppet animation, insect animation, fairy-tale animation.
    Premiere: 22 Feb 1913.
    158 m / 16 fps / 7 min
    From a vintage Finnish original nitrate release print with Finnish / Swedish intertitles (only), tinted copper red for summer, blue for winter, green for titles. Six intertitles.
    KAVI preservation 2006: a 35 mm polyester print with Desmet colour. Supervised by Juha Kindberg.
    Screened at Kino Regina, Helsinki (History of the Russian Cinema curated by Lauri Piispa), 14 Feb 2019.

The original Russian intertitles are excerpts from Krylov's poem.

In Russian language, "Strekoza" had earlier a meaning wider than that of a "dragonfly". The word also signified various insects more generally, including "grasshopper", and also had an association with "chatterbox".

The Strekoza and the Muravei, as well as La Cigale et la Fourmi are often portrayed as female, which is the gender of the respective terms in many languages. This association is unknown in languages such as English and Finnish.

Based on one of the oldest fairy-tales Wladyslaw Starewicz directed one of the first masterpieces of animation based on his skill and artistry in stop-motion insect animation.

Starewicz's was not the first film adaptation of the fable, having been preceded by Georges Méliès (lost), Mario Caserini, Louis Feuillade (live action), and Georges Monca (live action), at least.

There have been many interpretations of the fable. In the original fables of Aesop / attributed to Aesop there were no "lessons" that have been popularly inserted afterwards. Originally they were cryptic, concise and open to many interpretations.

The Starewicz interpretation is tough and grim. Strekoza is busy partying and playing on his violin while the Muravei toils all summer long to build herself a winter home stocked with nourishment. Strekoza is not a nice character. When Muravei is almost crushed under her heavy load Strekoza does nothing to help her.

When winter comes and Strekoza asks for help Muravei is not impressed and repeats her final verdict in classical Aesop fashion. Because all summer Strekoza has been singing and playing, "Now you can go out and dance!" Russian ending: Strekoza freezes to death in the snow.

The film is very well made.

Our print is based on a vintage release print from the 1910s. It is a fine job of preservation but as usual I have my reservations against the Desmet method of simulating tinting. It looks heavy and obscures the quality of light. I don't believe that the film looked originally like this.

Walt Disney: The Grasshopper and the Ants (1934), famous for its theme song "The World Owes Me a Living" (Leigh Harline, Harry Morey). Disney ending: in this version the ants save the grasshopper, he sees that he owes the world a living, and with his music he makes everybody happy. Photo: IMdB.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: OUR PROGRAM NOTE AND OTHER DATA: 

Guy de Maupassant: Little Louise Roque (La petite Roque, 1886) (a short story)

The former soldier, Mederic Rompel, familiarly called Mederic by the country folks, left the post office of Roily-le-Tors at the usual hour. After passing through the village with his long stride, he cut across the meadows of Villaume and reached the bank of the Brindille, following the path along the water's edge to the village of Carvelin, where he commenced to deliver his letters. He walked quickly, following the course of the narrow river, which frothed, murmured and boiled in its grassy bed beneath an arch of willows.

Mederic went on without stopping, with only this thought in his mind: “My first letter is for the Poivron family, then I have one for Monsieur Renardet; so I must cross the wood.”

His blue blouse, fastened round his waist by a black leather belt, moved in a quick, regular fashion above the green hedge of willow trees, and his stout stick of holly kept time with his steady tread.

He crossed the Brindille on a bridge consisting of a tree trunk, with a handrail of rope, fastened at either end to a stake driven into the ground.

The wood, which belonged to Monsieur Renardet, the mayor of Carvelin and the largest landowner in the district, consisted of huge old trees, straight as pillars and extending for about half a league along the left bank of the stream which served as a boundary to this immense dome of foliage. Alongside the water large shrubs had grown up in the sunlight, but under the trees one found nothing but moss, thick, soft and yielding, from which arose, in the still air, an odor of dampness and of dead wood.

CONTINUES BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK:

Guy de Maupassant: La petite Roque (1886) (a short story)

I

Le piéton Médéric Rompel, que les gens du pays appelaient familièrement Méderi, partit à l'heure ordinaire de la maison de poste de Roüy-le-Tors. Ayant traversé la petite ville de son grand pas d'ancien troupier, il coupa d'abord les prairies de Villaumes pour gagner le bord de la Brindille, qui le conduisait, en suivant l'eau, au village de Carvelin, où commençait sa distribution.

Il allait vite, le long de l'étroite rivière qui moussait, grognait, bouillonnait et filait dans son lit d'herbes, sous une voûte de saules. Les grosses pierres, arrêtant le cours, avaient autour d'elles un
bourrelet d'eau, une sorte de cravate terminée en noeud d'écume. Par places, c'étaient des cascades d'un pied, souvent invisibles, qui faisaient, sous les feuilles, sous les lianes, sous un toit de verdure, un gros bruit colère et doux; puis plus loin, les berges s'élargissant, on rencontrait un petit lac paisible où nageaient des truites parmi toute cette chevelure verte qui ondoie au fond des ruisseaux calmes.

Médéric allait toujours, sans rien voir, et ne songeant qu'à ceci: «Ma première lettre est pour la maison Poivron, puis j'en ai une pour M. Renardet; faut donc que je traverse la futaie.»

Sa blouse bleue serrée à la taille par une ceinture de cuir noir passait d'un train rapide et régulier sur la haie verte des saules; et sa canne, un fort bâton de houx, marchait à son côté du même mouvement que ses jambes.

Donc, il franchit la Brindille sur un pont fait d'un seul arbre, jeté d'un bord à l'autre, ayant pour unique rampe une corde portée par deux piquets enfoncés dans les berges.

La futaie, appartenant à M. Renardet, maire de Carvelin, et le plus gros propriétaire du lieu, était une sorte de bois d'arbres antiques, énormes, droits comme des colonnes, et s'étendant, sur une demi-lieue de longueur, sur la rive gauche du ruisseau qui servait de limite à cette immense voûte de feuillage. Le long de l'eau, de grands arbustes avaient poussé, chauffés par le soleil; mais sous la futaie, on ne trouvait rien que de la mousse, de la mousse épaisse, douce et molle, qui répandait dans l'air stagnant une odeur légère de moisi et de branches mortes.

CONTINUES BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK:

Ivan Krylov: Strekoza i Muravei / The Dragonfly and the Ant (a poem)

Jean-Jacques Grandville: La Cigale et la Fourmi (1838). An illustration to La Fontaine's fable, published in Russian Wikipedia on the Strekoza i Muravei page.

Georgiy Narbut: illustration to Ivan Krylov’s fable “The Ant & the Dragonfly” (1912). Source: Sergey Armeyskov / Russian Universe.

Попрыгунья Стрекоза
Лето красное пропела;
Оглянуться не успела,
Как зима катит в глаза.
Помертвело чисто поле;
Нет уж дней тех светлых боле,
Как под каждым ей листком
Был готов и стол, и дом.
Всё прошло: с зимой холодной
10 Нужда, голод настает;
Стрекоза уж не поет:
И кому же в ум пойдет
На желудок петь голодный!
Злой тоской удручена,
К Муравью ползет она:
«Не оставь меня, кум милой!
Дай ты мне собраться с силой
И до вешних только дней
Прокорми и обогрей!» —
20 «Кумушка, мне странно это:
Да работала ль ты в лето?»
Говорит ей Муравей.
«До того ль, голубчик, было?
В мягких муравах у нас
Песни, резвость всякий час,
Так, что голову вскружило».—
«А, так ты...» — «Я без души
Лето целое всё пела».—
«Ты всё пела? это дело:
30 Так поди же, попляши!»

1808

In the summer’s gaily singing,
Of the future isn’t thinking,
But the winter’s nearby.
Field was green, it’s now reddish,
Happy days already vanished,
And it happens no more,
That a leaf gives roof and store.
All has gone. In cold winters
Want and hunger wait afore.
Dragon-fly sings no more:
Who would like to sing yet more,
If the hungry belly hinders.
She is crawling in dismay
To the ant’s not far away:
“Dear crony, don’t leave me,
I’ll be strong, you may believe me!
But to manage winter storms
Give me food, a bit of warmth.”
“Oh, my dear, it’s very queer!
Did you work in summer here?” –
So Ant his answer forms.
“But in summer I was busy:
In the pleasant grass we’d had
Many plays and songs ahead;
Very often I was dizzy.”
“Ah, you mean:” – “I made a hit:
All the summer I was singing:”
“You were singing. Well done dealing!
Now dance a little bit!”

Based on the fable “The Grasshopper and the Ant” by Jean de La Fontaine. Translated by Sergey Kozlov. Source: Sergey Armeyskov / Russian Universe.

College

College (1927) with Buster Keaton and Ann Cornwall.

College (1927). Buster Keaton between girlfriend (Ann Cornwall) and mother (Florence Turner, 20 years earlier famous as the Vitagraph Girl, one of the very first film stars).

Hyppyä, soutua ja rakkautta / Rodd, hopp och kärlek.
    US © 1927 Joseph M. Schenck Productions (presents). Distr: A United Artists Production. P: Harry Brand, Joseph M. Schenck. D: James W. Horne. SC: Carl Harbaugh, Bryan Foy. Cin: Dev Jennings, Bert Haines. Technical director: Fred Gabourie. Lighting effects: Jack Lewis. ED: Sherman Kell.
    C: Buster Keaton (Ronald), Ann Cornwall (Mary Haines), Flora Bramley (Mary's friend), Harold Goodwin (Jeff Brown, the rival), Buddy Mason, Grant Withers (Jeff's friends), Snitz Edwards (dean Edwards), Carl Harbaugh (crew coach), Sam Crawford (baseball coach), Florence Turner (Ronald's mother), the baseball team of the University of Southern California.
    Premiere: 10 September 1927.
    Helsinki premiere: Kino-Palatsi 30.4.1928 – S – 1803 m /24 fps/ 66 min
    Finnish telepremiere 6 May 1973 Yleisradio TV1.
    Lobster Films restoration in 2K with a John Muri / Mont Alto Orchestra score (1992) (tbc).
    Screened at Kino Regina, Helsinki (Buster Keaton), 10 Feb 2019

Produced between Buster Keaton's epic masterpieces The General and Steamboat Bill, Jr., College was modest in scale. It was the ninth of his ten independently produced feature films.

College would have provided ideal material for Harold Lloyd, and it does have affinities with The Freshman (1925).

Sometimes College is rated as conventional but I beg to differ. I included this film in my MMM Film Guides of the 1000 and 1100 best films of all times (in 1995 and 2005), and I see no reason to revise my opinion.

For 90% of its duration College is a surprisingly dark film, almost a Book of Job of humiliations and disappointments. It borders on the masochistic in its account of Buster's seemingly endless endurance tests. He is a brilliant student, a teacher's pet, but the trouble is that everybody adores physical prowess only.

Also, Buster comes from a poor home and has to work through college, although he is no good at the jobs available (as a bartender and as a blackfaced waiter). The film starts as Buster and his mother (Florence Turner, the Vitagraph Girl, one of the first film stars) emerge from a rainstorm, and enter the festive graduation ceremony soaking wet. Buster has trouble in closing his umbrella, and sitting next to a heater his clothes start to shrink so much that his buttons are opened. In this embarrassing state he has to give his graduation speech. The theme is about "brains vs. brawn", and he manages to offend everybody. When Buster is finished, the hall is empty, and only his mother remains.

This is a nightmare opening, and the film goes on in the same mood. I would almost call it monotonous, but the approach is so audacious and so contrary to the official gospel of success that I keep being amazed.

In every humiliation Buster maintains his dignity. His mother never loses faith, and although his beloved Mary is distanced from Buster's teacher's pet attitudes and his ineptitude in sports and jobs, she never loses her fundamental attraction.

Despite its allegedly conventional script College belongs to the films where Keaton is at his most existential and where we can understand why Samuel Beckett wanted to work with him. Keaton is an outsider in the game of life. When Buster Keaton was rediscovered in Finland in the early 1970s Peter von Bagh noted that he instinctively called him K. like a protagonist of Franz Kafka. Also in College there is a particularly strong sense of the absurdity of existence.

College is full of brilliant physical gags. Keaton, the cinema's most acrobatic comedian, plays the world's most miserable sportsman. In the laugh-out-loud finale he learns that he was meant to be drugged so as not to spoil the grand rowing contest. To everyone's surprise he rises to the occasion and the team wins in a comedy climax. Then he hears that Mary has been kidnapped by his rival Jeff and launches a race-to-the rescue decathlon showing his virtuosity in running, hurdles, triple jump, high jump, discus throw, shot put, baseball, javelin, etc.

The victory course is short after a long account of agony, and the film is capped by a quick montage about the rest of Buster and Mary's lives: large family, old age, gravestones. College is a most unusual comedy. I find it a nightmare comedy, a comedy of anxiety.

A beautiful restoration in which the visual quality is often very good. A fine score by John Muri / Mont Alto Orchestra.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: OUR PROGRAM NOTE BASED ON DAVID ROBINSON:

The Scarecrow (1920)

The Scarecrow (1920). Buster Keaton and Luke the dog.

The Scarecrow (1920). Toothache. Buster Keaton and Joe Roberts.

The Scarecrow (1920). Triangle drama. Buster Keaton, Sybil Seely, Joe Roberts.

Variksenpelätin / Tulisessa kiireessä / Fågelskrämman / Buster Keatons Trauung mit Hindernissen / L'Épouvantail / Les Ruses de Malec.
    US 1920. PC: Joseph M. Schenck Productions. Distr: Metro Pictures. P: Joseph M. Schenck. D: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton. SC: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton. Cin: Elgin Lessley. Technical D: Fred Gabourie. ED: Buster Keaton.
    C from Wikipedia:
Buster Keaton – Farmhand (as 'Buster' Keaton)
Joe Roberts – Farmhand
Sybil Seely – Farmer's Daughter
Joe Keaton – Farmer
Edward F. Cline – Hit-and-Run Truck Driver
Luke the Dog – The "Mad" Dog
Al St. John – Man with Motorbike
Mary Astor - (uncredited)
    Release date: 22 December, 1920. 19 minutes.
    Lobster Films restoration with a score by Neil Brand / Mont Alto Orchestra (tbc).
    2K DCP screened at Kino Regina, Helsinki (Buster Keaton), 10 Feb 2019

Of Buster Keaton's independently produced shorts The Scarecrow was the fourth to be released. It is a farm comedy jam-packed with gags.
    THE ELECTRIC HOME. Two farmhands (Buster Keaton, Joe Roberts) live in a small room full of ingenious devices. Everything doubles as something else, and with a brilliant choreography of wires they achieve everything quickly and efficiently.
    THE RIVALS. They are rivals for the attention of the farmer's daughter (Sybil Seely) but their furious combat enrages the farmer (Joe Keaton) so that the daughter decides to pacify him with cream pie.
    LUKE THE DOG. However, the pie is eaten by Luke the Dog whose mouth remains lined with foam. Buster, thinking Luke is rabid, goes into a wild escape, jumping acrobatically into windows and doorways, running on top of a ruined building and trying to hide in a haystack. When Buster emerges from the jaws of a combine harvester he is reduced to his underclothes but manages to make peace with Luke.
    THE SCARECROW. Having lost his clothes Buster disguises as a scarecrow, and even in that state the combat between the rivals goes on. On the run Buster happens to kneel, and the daughter happens to be next to him, happy to accept his proposal.
    ESCAPE TO MARRIAGE. They run from the father on horseback, but Buster's turns out to be a wooden horse. They grab a motorcycle, and on the way a priest happens between them. They act instantly on the opportunity, proceeding with the wedding on the motorcycle (with a nut [to a bolt] serving as the wedding ring), the church and the river.

Sybil Seely was one of Buster Keaton's most wonderful leading ladies.

A very nice restoration with a charming musical score.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: DATA FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Magritte – Life Line (exhibition at Amos Rex, Helsinki)

René Magritte: La Mémoire. 1948. Oil on canvas. 60 x 50. CR666. Collection of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (FWB), inv. 6.371. Photo: Amos Rex.

René Magritte: from the series À la rencontre du plaisir. 1962. Oil on canvas. Collection privée.

René Magritte: Le Noctambule. 1928. Oil on canvas. 55 x 74. CR271. Museum Folkwang, Essen. Photo: Amos Rex.

The exhibition:
Magritte – Livslinjen / Magritte – elämänviiva / Magritte – Life Line.
Exhibition at Amos Rex, Helsinki, 8.2. – 19.5.2019.
In collaboration with MASILugano.
Curated by Xavier Canonne and Julia Waseige. In collaboration with Fondation Magritte.
Director: Kai Kartio. Organizational coordination: Laura Gutman, in collaboration with Niclas von Bonsdorff, Anastasia Isakova, Susanna Luojus, Itha O'Neill, Katariina Timonen.

The book:
Magritte: La Ligne de vie. Lugano: Museo d'arte della Svizzeria italiano, 2018.
Read in English:
Magritte: Life Line. Edited by Xavier Canonne, Julie Waseige, Guido Comis. ISBN 978-88-572-3897-6. Hard cover, 198 p. Milano: Skira editore S.p.A., 2018.

Opening, Amos Rex, 7 Feb 2019.

Official introduction: "In spring 2019, Amos Rex will be showing the works of the Belgian painter René Magritte (1898–1967) for the first time in Finland. Magritte, who is considered a leading figure in Surrealism, is particularly known for his works that turn everyday reality upside down; an apple fills a whole room and a nose becomes a pipe. The familiar is suddenly bafflingly strange."

"The goal of Magritte’s various surrealistic periods was to solve the enigma of being human – Magritte sought an answer to the universal question of humanity through his art. He probed everyday reality in an attempt to grasp the mysteries hidden within."

"The exhibition puts the artist himself centre stage: it is constructed around Magritte’s Life Line lecture, given in Antwerp in 1938. This was one of the rare occasions when the inscrutable artist revealed his working methods and artistic motivations. Magritte had otherwise always refused to explain his works, which gave glimpses of what “the mystery of the world” might look like in pictorial form."

"The works on display give a multi-faceted view of the development of Magritte’s working process in different periods. The phases of Magritte’s life and his ideas lend wings to this journey through the artist’s chequered career, right from the early days of Surrealism to his “Vache period”. Besides the visual arts, the supplementary programme for this exhibition by the cinephile artist also extends to Bio Rex’s silver screen in the guise of the silent film serial Fantômas by Louis Feuillade."

"The exhibition is realised in collaboration with the MASI, Museo d’arte della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, Switzerland. The curators are two Belgian Surrealism experts: Director of the Musée de la Photographie à Charleroi, Xavier Canonne; and art historian Julie Waseige."

Magrit­te's Sur­re­al­ism

"Surrealism is a movement in modern art, literature and film that was at its most influential between the world wars, but its heritage can still be seen in the visual arts today, too. It sprang up as a protest against realism and Cubism – Surrealism literally means “being above the real”. The movement was led by the French poet André Breton, and the ranks of famous surrealists include Salvador Dali and Joan Miró. The Surrealists emphasized art that comes about without the conscious control of reason, aesthetics or morality, and were interested in dreams and psychoanalytic theory."

"René Magritte and his Belgian Surrealist circle, nevertheless, diverged from the mainstream in their use of reality as a tool for calling that very reality into question. Magritte was not so interested in the subconscious, but used his art to investigate reality as an untrustworthy, ideological structure. Chopping it up and borrowing elements from it, nevertheless, allowed him to address fundamental questions about human existence – in Magritte’s words “the mystery of the world”." (Official introduction)

"L'art de peindre est un art de penser"
 – René Magritte

Today I visited my first René Magritte exhibition. Magritte imagery is certainly familiar from reproductions, and I have always considered Magritte one of the great surrealists. At the same time I have had a tendency to find aspects of his work decorative and ornamental, and to see Magritte an artist-designer in the twilight area between pure art and advertising / graphic design. Indeed, Magritte also created wallpaper designs, advertisements and book illustrations. He was a hard-working professional who often created his works in series. As have many other artists at least since the Renaissance. Andy Warhol was certainly not the first artist to have had a Factory.

Magritte had no factory, or he was the factory. He was a nine-to-five artist, very productive and creative all his life. He spent a lot of time in finding concepts and worked efficiently as soon as the concept had matured. He was an idea-driven painter. The idea came first, the vision followed, and from the ideas and the visions he could produce many variations. The first work was usually an oil painting, and the follow-ups could be in gouache.

Reading the excellent book to the catalogue edited by Xavier Canonne, Julie Waseige, and Guido Comis I realize that I have been wrong in my suspicions about Magritte as a commercial assembly line artist. On the contrary, he was a committed surrealist since the beginning of the movement and to the end of his life. He was politically radical, close to communism, although keeping a distance to political leaders. His mission was always revolutionary. For decades René lived in frugal circumstances but since the 1940s the Magrittes could enjoy a life of ease thanks to the commitment of wealthy American collectors. He lived a very orderly life together with his wife Georgette. Perhaps a little like Sigmund Freud: those with revolutionary views may prefer a conventional lifestyle. But above all, it was a life of love. Love and revolution were the surrealist watchwords. Georgette was René's great love, model and inspiration.

Revolution was inherent in Magritte's mission to see otherwise. There is a marvellous unity and consistency in Magritte's oeuvre, a commitment to see differently, to challenge our way of seeing, to think laterally. Magritte's works are not only pictorial. Words are important, too, and Magritte created many word paintings. The titles of his paintings are meaningful but have usually nothing to do with the imagery. Rather the titles are humoristic puns that undermine interpretation. Magritte's entire work has a philosophical dimension, it is a personal Kritik der reinen Vernunft. In fact, his work is also a critique of seeing itself, of visualization. Edgar Allan Poe was important for Magritte.

All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

It is essential to see Magritte "live", "in the flesh". In reproduction some of his works resemble advertising illustrations, but in this exhibition at close range they come alive. It is rewarding to examine the paintings from different distances. At close range one can usually observe a dynamic and vigorous brushstroke beyond photorealism. Or discover extremely fine and fussy brushwork in a deceptively simple image such as La Chambre écoute in which an outsized green apple fills an entire room. The protective glass is non-reflecting and so subtly installed that it is practically invisible. The Magritte show, the second main exhibition at Amos Rex, is its first traditional main endeavour. The opening number was the mind-boggling digital & virtual reality extravaganza, teamLab's Massless. Now we know that Amos Rex is perfect for a good old-fashioned painting exhibition, too. The hanging and lighting are excellent.

The book is worth reading from cover to cover, and the illustrations include famous works not included in the exhibition. The Helsinki exhibition seems to be different from the Lugano one, but it covers the full range of Magritte from the early days to the 1960s and includes all stages of his evolution. My favourite Magritte series L'Empire des lumières is not included in the Helsinki exhibition, and my favourite painting in the Helsinki exhibition, À la rencontre du plaisir (see image above), is not illustrated in the catalogue. The selection of illustrations in the book is excellent, but the colour reproductions fail to do justice to the originals. They are flat and tame in comparison with the actual paintings.

The exhibition and the catalogue are a wonderful adventure in the surrealistic dimension of the insolite, the uncanny, das Unheimliche. Magritte never lost his special talent in finding his way into that secret region. Nor his professional ability to paint his ideas with striking precision.

...

Like surrealists in general, all his life Magritte was an ardent film buff. Luis Buñuel was a friend of his. In the exhibition is included Le Retour de flamme (1943), his riff on the famous Fantômas book cover art (1911, artist unknown). Magritte replaced the bloody dagger in the hand of Fantômas with a rose. In the film poster for Louis Feuillade's Fantômas (1913-1914) the same image was used but the hand was empty. In the 1960s Magritte also painted a portrait of Alfred Hitchcock.

René Magritte: Le Retour de flamme. 1943. Oil on canvas. 65 x 50. CR535. Private collection. Courtesy Foundation Magritte, Brussels. Photo: Amos Rex. Hommage to the original Fantômas book cover art (1911, artist unknown).

Belgian and French surrealists in dream state around René Magritte's painting La Femme cachée (1929). The photograph was reproduced in La Révolution surréaliste, no. 12, December 1929. Photo from the book to the exhibition: Magritte: La Ligne de vie. The 16 photomatons with the surrealists with their eyes closed were compiled by André Breton. Les portraits de seize surréalistes les yeux clos, à savoir de gauche à droite et de haut en bas: Maxime Alexandre, Louis Aragon, André Breton, Luis Buñuel, Jean Caupenne, Salvador Dalí, Paul Eluard, Max Ernst, Marcel Fourrier, Camille Goemans, René Magritte, Paul Nougé, Georges Sadoul, Yves Tanguy, André Thirion, Albert Valentin.

René Magritte and Georgette Magritte in a photograph by René Magritte: L'Ombre et son ombre. 1932. Gelatin silver print. 7.8 x 8. Gift of Edward and Joyce Strauss, Englewood, New Jersey, to American Friends of the Israel Museum. © ADAGP, Paris. Accession number: B90.0282(e). Digital presentation of this object was made possible by: Nancy Wald, in honor of the memory of Benjamin Miller. - They met as teenagers in 1913. Their relationship was interrupted by WWI. They married in 1922. Georgette was the wife and le principale modèle for René.

Our Hospitality (world premiere of the 2019 Lobster Films restoration, 2019 original score by Robert Israel)

Our Hospitality. Buster Keaton with his wife Natalie Talmadge.

Our Hospitality. Buster Keaton, Jr., Buster Keaton and Joseph Keaton.

Our Hospitality. Buster Keaton.

Our Hospitality. The Rocket engine, Joseph Keaton as the engineer.

Our Hospitality. The Olaf Möller moment. When the donkey doesn't budge the railroad must move.

Vieraanvaraisuutta / Ruutia, räminää ja rakkautta / Krut, kulor och kärlek / Les Lois de l'hospitalité.
    US © 1923 Joseph M. Schenck Productions. PC: Buster Keaton Productions, Inc. P: Joseph M. Schenck. D: Buster Keaton, John G. Blystone. SC: Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, Joseph A. Mitchell. Cin: Elgin Lessley, Gordon Jennings. AD: Fred Gabourie. Cost: Walter J. Israel. Technical director: Fred Gabourie.
    C: Buster Keaton (Willie McKay), Natalie Talmadge (Virginia Canfield), Joe Roberts (Joseph Canfield), Buster Keaton, Jr. (William McKay as a baby), Joseph Keaton (Lem Doolittle, locomotive engineer), Kitty Bradbury (Aunt Mary), Leonard Clapham (James Canfield), Craig Ward (Lee Canfield), Ralph Bushman (Clayton Canfield), Edward Coxen (Father John McKay), Jean Dumas (Mother McKay), Monte Collins (the parson Benjamin Dorsey), James Duffy (Sam Gardner, locomotive leader), Tom London (James Canfield), Erwin Connelly (husband quarreling with wife).
    Loc: Lake Tahoe and Truckee River, California.
    Premiere: 3 Nov 1923 Los Angeles.
    Helsinki premiere: Piccadilly, Punainen Mylly 10.10.1924, distributor: Aktiebolaget Royal Film Osakeyhtiö – film control 12831 – S – 1706 / 1880 / 1930 / 1949 m
    2019: Les Lois de l'hospitalité (Our Hospitality, 1923) a été restauré par Lobster Films en association avec Film Preservation Associates, à parti d’un contretype nitrate de la collection Blackhawk conservé à la Motion Picture Academy (Hollywood), et une copie diacétate de première génération issue des collections du Musée d’Art Moderne (MoMA, New York). La nouvelle partition orchestrale a été composée pour le film par Robert Israel, en 2018, et interprétée par le Robert Israel Orchestra. 2K DCP. In colour with a simulation of toning. 76 min
    World premiere of the restoration screened at Kino Regina, Helsinki (Buster Keaton / Lobster Films), 3 Feb 2019

Revisited Our Hospitality which to David Robinson is the first of his two greatest masterpieces, the other one being The General.

Never since its first run has Our Hospitality looked as beautiful as in this new 2019 restoration which we had the privilege to access in this our opening season of Kino Regina.

Our Hospitality is one of Keaton's most beautiful films. It is a romantic film, a family film, a pastoral film and a bucolic film. It is also a film about the sublime of the nature with scenes of an exploding dam, a giant flood, mountains, precipices, and a thunderous waterfall in the final climax. All this gains immensely from the refined look of the restoration. As does the lovingly cultivated wealth of period detail.

It is also a violent account of a family feud. Willie McKay (Keaton) is the last in line in his family, and during his journey on a Stephenson's Rocket train he falls in love with Virginia Canfield (Natalie Talmadge). Only when they reach home do Willie and Virginia realize the antagonism of their families and that the only thought in the minds of the Canfield males is to kill Willie. But as long as Willie is a Canfield house guest they have an obligation to Southern hospitality.

Our Hospitality was Keaton's first mature feature film. The narrative is meaningful, the milieu is convincing, and everything connects. The story belongs to the Romeo and Juliet tradition but is constantly inventive and original.

The gags and the humoristic observations grow organically from the story and the milieu. The corner of Broadway and 42nd Street anno 1830 that looks as rural as the protagonists' homes in the South. Willie's draisine (ancestor of the bicycle). The donkey that refuses to move from the railroad.

"Blessed are the peacemakers". This is the film in which the passer-by Buster tries to act as a peacemaker in a scene of family violence unrelated to the narrative. The result: the harassed wife starts to beat Buster.

Starting with the explosion of a dam Our Hospitality turns into an action film. Among the breathtaking action scenes is the fight of a Canfield with Willie on a high mountain, both tied to each another by rope. The acrobatic stunts of their falling in turns down the high slope to the wild river are amazing.

The climax is a rapidshooting and even a logrolling sequence, familiar in Nordic cinema since Mauritz Stiller's The Song of a Scarlet Flower, but never in our countries was this motif as thrilling as here. To begin with, it is rapidshooting à deux: both Willie and Virginia fall into the river and are in danger of perishing in the waterfalls. No matter how often one sees the climax it remains breathtaking.

Our Hospitality was a family affair. For the only time Buster acted together with his wife Natalie Talmadge (this was her last film). For the only time we see three generations of Keatons on screen (see image above). "I love you, I film you" is a special and distinctive phenomenon in the cinema: directors casting their wives / loved ones in leading roles. Our Hospitality was Keaton's main contribution to this trend.

Robert Israel's approach in his new (2019) score is romantic. The music is warm and tender, and it emphasizes the emotional message of the movie. "Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself" is the motto on the wall of the Canfield living room. First it is seen in the light of brutal irony. In the finale it can be taken at face value.

The visual quality is brilliant and the colour solutions are subtle and refined.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: OUR PROGRAM NOTE BASED ON DAVID ROBINSON:

The High Sign

The "High Sign" / Malec champion de tir / Henkivartija / Livvakten.
    US 1921. PC: Joseph M. Schenck Productions. Dist: Metro Pictures. P: Joseph M. Schenck. D: Buster Keaton, Edward F. Cline. Cin: Elgin Lessley. VFX: Elgin Lessley. C: Buster Keaton (Our Hero), Bartine Burkett (Miss Nickelnurser), Ingram B. Pickett (Tiny Tim, tall villain), Charles Dorety (gang member), Joe Roberts (leader of Buzzards), Al St. John (man in target practice).
    Loc: Venice Pier (Venice, Los Angeles, California). Production dates: Jan 1920.
    Premiere: 18 April 1921.
    2K DCP from Lobster Films with a Donald Sosin score.
    Screened at Kino Regina, Helsinki (Buster Keaton / Lobster Films), 3 Feb 2019.

The High Sign was Buster Keaton's first independent short to be produced but One Week was the first to be released.

Lobster Films catalogue: "A la recherche d’un travail, un homme est engagé dans un stand de tir. Mais ce stand n’est qu’une couverture pour une association d’assassins. Et lorsque parallèlement il est engagé pour protéger le père d’une charmante jeune fille, et par les assassins pour le tuer, notre protagoniste devra faire face a un quiproquo de taille."

Wikipedia: "Buster plays a drifter who cons his way into working at an amusement park shooting gallery. Believing Buster is an expert marksman, both the murderous gang the Blinking Buzzards and the man they want to kill end up hiring him. The film ends with a wild chase through a house filled with secret passages."

AA: The High Sign, Buster Keaton's first independently produced short, is immediately brilliant, but Keaton was so insecure that he postponed its release.

The basic concept is the same as in Yojimbo and A Fistful of Dollars: the protagonist is hired by both sides. By August Nickelnurser the town miser as a bodyguard, and by the Blinking Buzzards gang of thugs as a hitman to kill Nickelnurser who refuses to pay protection money.

Buster Keaton is not like Yojimbo or The Man With No Name: he cannot shoot. He is just a drifter who would prefer to stay out of trouble.

The film is full of funny detail. The oversized newspaper in which Keaton finds the want ad for the shooting gallery. The banana with which Keaton replaces a policeman's gun. A cup of coffee spiked by the gangsters is superimposed with a shot of a rearing horse.

The structure is based on the escalation principle, and the climax takes place at Nickelnurser's home in which every room has been equipped with trapdoors and secret passages. Keaton handles the double chase brilliantly. A special set was constructed in which we can follow the chase on two floors without cutting. Nobody has done such comedy action sequences with more panache.

Donald Sosin's score has bite and verve, perfect for this comedy.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: SYNOPSIS FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Comizi d'amore / Love Meetings

Pier Paolo Pasolini conducts interviews about love for his documentary Comizi d'amore.

Comizi d'amore: Cesare Musatti and Alberto Moravia discuss the interviews with Pasolini.

IT 1964. PC: Arco Film (Rome). P: Alfredo Bini. D+SC: Pier Paolo Pasolini. Cin (16 mm, blow-up to 35 mm, b&w, 1,85): Mario Bernardo, Tonino Delli Colli.
    M: no original score. Songs "I Watussi" (Edoardo Vianello); "Partita di pallone" (Mario Cantini, Edoardo Vianello); "Son finite le vacanze" (Mario Cantini); "Se mi perderai" (Domenico Colarossi, Pasquale Tassone); "Stessa spiaggia stesso mare" (Piero Soffici). Giuseppe Verdi: "I vespri siciliani", overture.
    ED: Nino Baragli. Commentary: Lello Bersani, Pasolini.
    Loc: Napoli; Porta Capuana; Palermo; San Pietro; Camporeale, Partinico; Cefalù; Rooma; Pasolinin koti; Centocellen kirkko; Fiuminico; Milano; Idroscalo; Firenze; Viareggio; Bologna; Venetsia; Catanzaro; Crotone.
    A documentary film on Italians and love.
    Perf: Pier Paolo Pasolini, Alberto Moravia and Cesare Musatti. In order of appearance: Camilla Cederna, Oriana Fallaci, Adele Cambria, Peppino Di Capri, Squadra di calcio del Bologna (Bulgarelli, Furlanis, Negri, Pascutti, Pavinato, Janich, Nielsen, Haller, Tumburus, Fogli, Perani), Giuseppe Ungaretti, Antonella Lualdi, Graziella Granata, Ignazio Buttitta. Graziella Chiarcossi.
    2572 m / 93 min
    AA add: song: "I'm Counting on You" (Don Robertson) perf. Elvis Presley (from his debut album Elvis Presley, 1956).
    A 35 mm print from Cinecittà Luce with English subtitles, courtesy Compass Film / Movie-Time. Courtesy Istituto Italiano di Cultura Helsinki.
    Screened at Kino Regina, Helsinki (DocPoint / Pier Paolo Pasolini), 2 Feb 2019.

The structure of Comizi d'amore (da Wikipedia, l'enciclopedia libera):
Primo tempo
    Ricerche 1 - Grande fritto misto all'italiana. Dove si vede una specie di commesso viaggiatore che gira per l'Italia a sondare gli italiani sui loro gusti sessuali: e ciò non per lanciare un prodotto, ma nel più sincero proposito di capire e di riferire fedelmente.
        Come gli italiani accolgono l'idea di film di questo genere?
        Come si comportano di fronte all'idea d'importanza del sesso nella vita?
    Ricerche 2 - Schifo o pietà?
Secondo tempo
    Ricerche 3 - La vera Italia?       
        Comizi nelle spiagge romane o il sesso come sesso
        Comizi sulle spiagge milanesi o il sesso come hobby
        Comizi sulle spiagge meridionali o il sesso come onore
        Comizi al Lido o il sesso come successo
        Comizi sulle spiagge toscane (popolari) o il sesso come piacere       
        Comizi sulle spiagge toscane (borghesi) o il sesso come dovere
    Ricerche 4 - Dal basso e dal profondo

AA: We had a sneak start for our forthcoming complete Pier Paolo Pasolini retrospective with this special DocPoint screening to a packed house of Comizi d'amore.

It is a unique film for Pasolini, launched by him and Alfredo Bini during their location scouting tour for The Gospel According to St. Matthew.

The super intellectual Pasolini here displays a genuine popular touch and turns out to be an excellent interviewer. His questions are intimate and direct, but his respect for the dignity and humanity of each and every one is so apparent that people are happy to answer him.

Clearly Pasolini has been inspired by the cinéma-vérité approach of film-makers such as Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin in Chronique d'un été (1961) which we screened at DocPoint earlier this week. The film has been shot in newsreel style on 16 mm by two top cinematographers, Mario Bernardo and Tonio Delli Colli.

The visual distinction of the film is the revelation of dozens of faces and eyes shining with life. The subject of love and sex is always best if you want to have people beaming with happiness: a point of comparison might be Agnès Varda's Daguerréotypes (1975). Comizi d'amore is Pasolini's sunniest and happiest film. There is like a gentle warm breath blowing through the film.

Yet Pasolini is direct in his questions. He starts by asking children where babies come from. (Answers range from "la cicogna" to Jesus and God). He asks about taboos, free love, equality, marriage, divorce, inversion (homosexuality), and prostitution. It must have been painful for Pasolini to record expressions of extreme homophobia, but he does not show it. There are at least five "autocensura" moments in the film where comments have been erased from the soundtrack.

Comizi d'amore is a documentation of the extreme diversity of views between the North and the South, of different social classes, and of men and women. It is also a documentation of the changing conditions: young women are free and independent and expect equality. Old men on the farms of the South are the most traditional, and Sicily is a chapter apart. We hear a remark about poor farmers that "a peasant woman's honour is wealth to them".

The audience had a good time. Italian viewers laughed most and in different moments than others.

The world has changed – to start with, today's children would answer differently to the first question "where do babies come from?" – but the biggest issues never go away.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: OUR PROGRAM NOTE BASED ON WOLFRAM SCHÜTTE: