100 litraa sahtia / 100 litri di birra / 100 Litres of Gold

Teemu Nikki: 100 litraa sahtia / 100 litri di birra / 100 Litres of Gold (FI 2025) starring Elina Knihtilä (Pirkko, with the hatchet) and Pirjo Lonka (Taina, with the jug).

Data from: Filmikamari Pressipalvelu

    FI/IT © 2025 Smile Entertainment Oy / TCB srl / It´s Alive Films Oy. - I Wonder Pictures. Tuottaja: Jani Pösö. Yhteistuottajat: Andrea Romeo ja Timo T. Lahtinen.

    Ohjaus: Teemu Nikki

Käsikirjoitus: Teemu Nikki

Elokuvaaja: Jarmo Kiuru F.S.C. - colour - 2.66:1.

Lavastussuunnittelija: Maria Hahl (as Maria Hulkkonen)

Pukusunnittelija: Anna Vilppunen

Maskeeraussuunnittelija: Mari Vaalasranta

VFX: Heikki Nummi

Stunt Coordinator: Oula Kitti

Säveltäjä: Marco Biscarini

Soundtrack: - "Kuutamofoxi" (comp. Sten Ducander, lyr. Olavi Virta) perf. Olavi Virta - W. A. Mozart: 21. Klavierkonzert C-Dur KV 467, 2. Satz: Andante [tbc].

Äänisuunnittelijat: Marco Biscarini ja Alessio Vanni

Leikkaaja: Jussi Sandhu F.C.E.

    Pääosanäyttelijät:

Elina Knihtilä - Pirkko

Pirjo Lonka - Taina

Ville Tiihonen - Hauki-Hikkanen

    Sivuosanäyttelijät:

Ria Kataja - Päivi

Jakob Öhrman - Nestori

Elmer Bäck - Jorma

Jari Pehkonen - Ponu-Paavo

Pertti Sveholm - Väinö

Vilma Melasniemi - Pastori

Rami Rusinen - Haaviston isäntä

    Loc: Sysmä

    Pituus: 88 min

    Genret: Draama, Komedia

    Ikäraja: 12

    Festival premiere: 24 Oct 2024 Rome Film Fest.

    Ensi-ilta: 28.3.2025 - cinema distribution: Nelonen Media / Finnkino - Swedish subtitles: Frej Grönholm.

    Viewed on Saturday 17 May 2025 at Tennispalatsi LUXE by Crisp 7, Salomonkatu 15, 00100 Helsinki

Introduction from Filmikamari Pressipalvelu: "100 litraa sahtia on maailman sahtipääkaupunki Sysmään sijoittuva komedia, jossa siskokset Pirkko (Elina Knihtilä) ja Taina (Pirjo Lonka) ovat jatkaneet sukunsa pitkää perinnettä sahdin valmistajina. Kylällä jokainen haluaa osansa maineikkaasta juomasta, vaikka maksukykyä ei aina löytyisikään. Yllättäen kotikonnuille tekee paluun sisarustrion kolmas - Päivi (Ria Kataja), ja tilaa siskoiltaan häihinsä ei enempää eikä vähempää kuin sata litraa sahtia. Pirkko ja Taina panevat tuumasta toimeen täydellisen satsin valmistamiseksi. Pelissä on sekä perhesuhteet että maine. Prosessiin kuuluva maistelu kuitenkin venähtää, ja Sysmän kulta hulahtaa kokonaisuudessaan itse panijoiden sekä kyläläisten kitusiin. Pian häihin on enää alle kaksi vuorokautta aikaa, ja siskosten on keksittävä keino miten toimittaa juhliin luvatut sahdit. Alkaa taistelu aikaa vastaan, ja tilanteen korjaamiseksi käytetään kaikki mahdolliset keinot."

AA: 100 litraa sahtia / 100 Litres of Gold is by now the most popular Finnish film of the year 2025. 

The original title means "100 Litres of Sahti" in literal translation. Described by the English Wikipedia, "sahti is a Finnish type of farmhouse ale made from malted and unmalted grains including barley and rye". Featuring prominently in the movie is the key means of production kuurna, described in the aforementioned article as "a trough-shaped tun".

100 Litres of Gold is a bold and gross comedy about the sisters Pirkko (Elina Knihtilä) and Taina (Pirjo Lonka) who are top brewers of sahti. They are in constant trouble with their clientele who are always impatient to access the miracle drink but late with their payments. The sisters wear a hatchet to collect what is due and to defend themselves against competition. 

When the third sister Päivi (Ria Kataja) orders 100 litres of sahti for her wedding, the movie turns into a race against time (complete with a countdown display) as they struggle to get the shipment done - and against themselves, because whenever they have the beverage at hand they drink it up.

Besides a comedy and a chase movie, 100 Litres of Gold is a documentary about the centuries-old art and craft of brewing sahti (the earliest surviving record of the word is in Henrik Florinus's dictionary from 1678). The movie has been shot on a site illustrious in sahti lore: Sysmä in Häme (Tavastia) by the Lake Päijänne. Sysmä is also the place of birth of the director-screenwriter Teemu Nikki, whose parents were brewers, too. The movie is full of lovingly observed local detail while Nikki distances himself firmly from the mannerisms of the Finnish Heimatfilm.

Teemu Nikki, who works regularly with his producer Jani Pösö, is a unique talent whose filmography consists of offbeat and deeply felt works such as 3Simoa, Armomurhaaja, Nimby and Sokea mies, joka ei halunnut nähdä Titanicia. Besides movies for the cinema he has made music videos, short films and television series. He charts important territories of contemporary life that others ignore. He breaks conventions and expectations in each film.

That happens also in 100 litraa sahtia. Alcoholism is a popular theme in Finnish cinema, perhaps the Ur-theme: the first Finnish film was Salaviinanpolttajat / The Moonshiners (1907). Unforgettable drinking and moonshining scenes have appeared in the greatest classics The Unknown Soldier (all three versions) and The Eight Deadly Shots. The twist here is that the alcoholic protagonists are sisters, but even that is not unheard-of. In her last movie, Olet mennyt minun vereeni, directed by Teuvo Tulio, Regina Linnanheimo appeared as an alcoholic.

The comedy turns into tragedy. For thirty years, the sisters have ruined their lives with alcohol. Beyond the riotous fun, there is a current of hidden sorrow. The death drive is never far. Alcoholism can be a form of suicide. The sisters risk their lives in dangerous accidents with motorboats and cars. 30 years ago, Päivi was invalidized because of their drunken driving. The burden of guilt has traumatized them during ever since. Now Taina fears for Pirkko who is on the verge of lethal alcohol poisoning.

The screenplay is sharp, the cast is excellent, the narrative moves at a brisk clip, the score by Marco Biscarini is engaging, the dream sequences are genuinely oneiric, and genre influences have been  thoroughly internalized (including those from the Western in the final duel with the sledgehammer vs. the hatchet). Fun features include "the safeword". Among the famous men of Sysmä, the singer legend (and alcoholic) Olavi Virta features on the soundtrack.

One to One: John & Yoko

Kevin Macdonald & Sam Rice-Edwards: One to One: John & Yoko (GB 2024). Photo: IMDb.

Kevin Macdonald & Sam Rice-Edwards: One to One: John & Yoko (GB 2024). John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Photo: IMDb.

Kevin Macdonald & Sam Rice-Edwards: One to One: John & Yoko (GB 2024). John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Photo: IMDb.

One to One: John & Yoko

GB 2024

    Data from Gilda elokuvateatteri / biograf:

Ohjaus: Kevin Macdonald, Sam Rice-Edwards

Pääosissa: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol, Stevie Wonder, Jerry Rubin, May Pang, Allen Ginsberg, George Wallace, Shirley Chisholm, Charlie Chaplin, Dick Cavett

Kesto: 1 h 41 min

Lajityyppi: Dokumentti, Musiikki

Kieli: englanti

Tekstitys: suomenkielinen

    Festival premiere: 30 Aug 2024 Venice Film Festival

American festival premiere: 31 Aug 2024 Telluride Film Festival

English premiere: 9 April 2025 (IMAX), 11 April 2025 (wide)

US premiere: 11 April 2025 (IMAX), 18 April 2025 (wide)

Finnish premiere: 16 May 2025

Viewed on Friday 16 May 2025 at Gilda, Kulttuurikasarmi, Narinkka 2, 00100 Helsinki

    Introduction from Gilda elokuvateatteri / biograf:

"ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO on kattava ja paljastava katsaus John Lennonin ja Yoko Onon elämään Greenwhich Villagessa 1970-luvun alussa. Immersiivinen filmatisointi herättää eloon säväyttävän ja ennennäkemättömän materiaalin ja vastikään entisöityä materiaalia Johnin ja Yokon ainoasta täyspitkästä konsertista. Elokuvassa kuullaan uutta, tajunnanräjäyttävää musiikkia, jonka on miksannut ja tuottanut Sean Ono Lennon. Filmi on järisyttävä paljastus, joka haastaa käsitykset ikonisesta kaksikosta."

"Oscar-palkitun Kevin Macdonaldin (The Last King of Scotland) elokuva sisältää runsaasti ennennäkemätöntä materiaalia, kuten kotielokuvia, useiden Johnin ja Yokon puheluiden nauhoitteita sekä vastikään entisöityä materiaalia Johnin ja Yokon ainoasta täyspitkästä konsertista. Yhdessä ne tarjoavat ainutlaatuisen näkökulman erään musiikkimaailman tunnetuimman pariskunnan elämän ratkaisevaan ajanjaksoon."

"Vuonna 1971 Lennon ja Ono olivat vasta saapuneet Yhdysvaltoihin ja elivät pikkuruisessa asunnossa Greenwhich Villagessa katsoen valtavasti amerikkalaista televisiota. Elokuva yhdistelee amerikkalaisia TV-ohjelmia luodessaan ajankuvan, jonka keskellä tuolloin elettiin. Oli Vietnamin sota, The Price is Right -visailuohjelma, Nixon, Coca-Cola-mainokset, Walter Cronkite ja Waltonin perhe."

"Eläessään Yhdysvalloissa rakkauden ja muutoksen vuotta John ja Yoko alkavat muuttaa lähestymistapaansa protestointiin, mikä kulminoituu One to One -konserttiin, joka sai alkusysäyksensä TV:ssä näytetystä Geraldo Riveran paljastusuutisesta."

"Kyseessä oli Lennonin ainoa täyspitkä konsertti Beatlesista lähdön jälkeen. New Yorkissa järjestetyssä railakkaassa ja häikäisevässä hyväntekeväisyyskonsertissa oli mukana myös Yoko Ono. Dokumentti käyttää tätä tarunhohtoista musiikkitapahtumaa lähtökohtanaan toisintaakseen 18 kuukauden ajanjakson, joka oli avainasemassa Johnin ja Yokon elämässä."

“Hauska, hurja ja kiihkeä kuvaus Lennonista ja Onosta” ⭐⭐⭐⭐ –The Guardian

Introduction from Gilda elokuvateatteri / biograf

Telluride Film Festival 2024: L/Sat 7:45PM - S/Sun 9:15PM Q&A. One to One: John & Yoko. Jason Silverman: "In 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the most famous couple in the world, moved to New York City, escaping England’s stifling conventionality and casual cruelty. “I really feel I’m home,” Lennon said, and he and Yoko, living in a two-room flat, promptly immersed themselves into a wild countercultural scene. America was grappling with war, race and materialism—only the most visionary could imagine living in harmony—and John and Yoko collaborated with Jerry Rubin, agitated to free political prisoners, built conceptual art exhibits and deepened their love connection. Kevin Macdonald (GALLIANO: HIGH AND LOW, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND) weaves a tale that’s less a biography than a vibe, a whirling, thrilling and intensely evocative collage of TV fragments, glorious concert footage and snippets of phone conversations. ONE TO ONE distills a moment of deep cultural conflict and societal transformation; when “Instant Karma!” rolls underneath Vietnam footage, you know you are in the hands of a master." –JS (U.K., 2024, 100m) In person: Kevin Macdonald .

AA: One to One: John & Yoko is one of the best documentaries about rock personalities. I was deeply moved by the protagonists and the whole cast of characters, including also Richard Nixon, George Wallace and Billy Graham.

The montage film has been edited from vintage early 1970s footage. The look is blurry, low tech and old video. It puzzles me that it is released in IMAX. Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards perform such wizardry with the edit that the low visual quality turns into a means of expression.

The sound is amazing in the professionally recorded performances and intimately touching in the private recordings. "We are there".

It is a labour of love. From their compact time-frame the film-makers conjure a fascinating portrait of an artist couple in a moment of transition. 

They present an epic vision of the age, in turmoil during Vietnam, Watergate and Nixon in China. We witness the young generation who have had enough of war. But we also witness Richard Nixon in a moment of a landslide victory, even he channeling the will of young people who are proud to be called rednecks. This openness to complexity is welcome in today's divisive circumstances.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono become television addicts, and One to One turns into a cross-section of the world as seen through American television. John and Yoko have also a genial television presence themselves.

I love every minute of the music. I first heard these tracks when they were released. Now they move me with a force that has grown with time. "Mother" has me always in tears, especially after the death of my own mother. The live One to One performance, included here in extenso, is extraordinary in the entire John Lennon legacy.

...

FROM: SETLIST.FM: MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK, 30 AUG 1972 (some of which is included in the movie)

– Power to the People (John Lennon song)

– New York City

– It's So Hard (John Lennon song)

– Move on Fast (Yoko Ono song)

– Woman Is the Nigger of the World

– Sisters, O Sisters

– Well Well Well (John Lennon song)

– Born in a Prison

– Instant Karma! (John Lennon song)

– Mother (John Lennon song)

– We're All Water

– Come Together (The Beatles cover)

– Imagine (John Lennon song)

– Hirake (Yoko Ono song)

– Cold Turkey (Plastic Ono Band cover)

– Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow) (Yoko Ono song)

– Hound Dog (Big Mama Thornton cover)

– Give Peace a Chance (Plastic Ono Band cover)

Screenshot from Soundtrack.Net

Laurel & Hardy: Year Two: The Newly Restored 1928 Silents (2-blu-ray, Flicker Alley 2024)

Cover art photo from: Clyde Bruckman: Leave 'Em Laughing (US 1928) with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. At the dentist, they have overdosed on laughing gas. 

OFFICIAL INTRODUCTION FROM THE FLICKER ALLEY HOMEPAGE:

Laurel & Hardy: Year Two

Regular price €40,95 EUR

2-DISC BLU-RAY EDITION

Following their initial pairing in early 1927, Laurel and Hardy ended their first year on top. Their success moving into 1928 galvanized the efforts of everyone at Hal Roach Studios (including famed director Leo McCarey), who proudly upped their game in support of the winning comedy duo. Whether wreaking accidental havoc as a two-man band, doing battle against one another as millionaire and butler, or even becoming grave robbers for a mad scientist, Laurel and Hardy prove in their second year that they have what it takes to not only win over audiences in the twilight of the silent era, but generate enough momentum to make a successful transition to “talkies” in 1929.

Although their names are synonymous with the very idea of comedy, few of the original negatives for Laurel and Hardy’s early silent work survive, elements only available from scattered sources throughout the world, often in substantially less than pristine shape. It took the team at Blackhawk Films four years to gather all surviving film elements, to meticulously compare them shot by shot, and to complete the best digital restorations possible. Today, these beloved shorts look as new as they did nearly a century ago.

Featuring all new restorations sourced from best available materials contributed by archives and collectors around the world restored by Blackhawk Films® and FPA Classics, this comprehensive deluxe Blu-ray 2-Disc collection features their ten 1928 films as a team and additional films from the Hal Roach Studios that showcase their final solo short film appearances, as well as the shift from silent films to films featuring music and synchronized sound effects.

Shorts on the Laurel & Hardy: Year Two set include:

Leave 'em Laughing 

The Finishing Touch

From Soup to Nuts

You're Darn Tootin'

Their Purple Moment

Should Married Men Go Home?

Early to Bed

Two Tars

Habeas Corpus

We Faw Down

Each film features a newly recorded score from some of the best silent film composers working today, including Andreas Benz, Neil Brand, Robert Israel, and Jean-François Zygel. The release is curated by film historians and Laurel and Hardy specialists; Randy Skretvedt, Richard W. Bann, Serge Bromberg, and Eric Lange.

BONUS MATERIALS INCLUDE:

Audio Commentary Tracks – For each film by historians and authors Randy Skretvedt and Richard W. Bann

Exclusive, Rare Audio – Featuring Anita Garvin, Thomas Benton Roberts, and Hal Roach, from personal interviews conducted by historian Randy Skretvedt

Additional Musical Scores – Alternate audio options, including fully restored original 1928 Vitaphone tracks on Habeas Corpus and We Faw Down, and vintage Blackhawk Films® scores on You're Darn Tootin' and Two Tars

Laurel & Hardy: On Location in Year Two – A video essay by historian John Bengtson on selected location exteriors

Now I’ll Tell One (1927) – A rare fragment of a Charley Chase two-reeler featuring appearances by both Stan & Ollie

Eve’s Love Letters (1927) – One of Stan Laurel’s final solo films, directed by Leo McCarey and written by Laurel himself, from rare 35 mm elements

Galloping Ghosts (1928) – Two surviving fragments of a rare solo Oliver Hardy comedy

A Pair of Tights (1929) – A short starring Anita Garvin and Marion Byron, who were teamed to try and replicate the success of Laurel and Hardy

George Mann’s Home Movies – From behind the scenes of Hal Roach Studios, including the filming of Should Married Men go Home? 

A Complete, 20-minute Interview – By Tony Thomas with Stan Laurel, recorded in January 1959, the year after Oliver Hardy’s death

Film Specific Image Galleries – Containing original publicity materials, press reviews, and rare production stills

Souvenir Booklet – Containing a new collection introduction by Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange; A look at the supporting players and other creative personnel in the world of Hal Roach Studios by historian Sara Imogen Smith; A new essay exploring the development of the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system in 1928 by Randy Skredvedt; and comprehensive notes on each film

English SDH Subtitles

Blu-ray Authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion

All Region Encoding (A,B,C)

Release Date: October 29, 2024

Format: Blu-ray

Region: ALL REGION

Directors: Leo McCarey, Clyde Bruckman, Edgar Kennedy, Emmett J. Flynn, James Parrott

Year: 1928

Language: Silent (English Intertitles)

Length: 212 mins.

UPC: 6-17311-68869-0

Official data from the Flicker Alley homepage.

AA: I have just watched the ten films from the main menu of the Laurel & Hardy: Year Two blu-ray box set. I have previously blogged about Laurel & Hardy: Year One. It was a highlight of the year, and the same ranking is inevitable for Year Two. In a multi-year enterprise, a terrific team of experts (see above) has collected the best materials of the beloved movies which have been circulating for decades in often mediocre, sometimes terrible condition. Like a phoenix, they now rise from the ashes in the Flicker Alley / Blackhawk Films project.

These films are called slapstick, which they are, but even more they are masterful character studies. The actors are fantastic, the ensemble playing seamless.

"Laughter is infectious" is a favourite Laurel & Hardy situation, already refined to perfection in Leave 'Em Laughing. "Nauru pidentää ikää" is a Finnish proverb, meaning "laughter prolongs life". The English expression would be "laughter is the best medicine". It has been said that nobody has brought more laughter to the world than Laurel and Hardy, and their silent shorts are a candidate for the funniest films ever made in terms of sheer laughter.

The Finishing Touch is an old favourite of mine. This time my biggest laughter was in sequence of the final examination when the delighted home-owner has just paid a generous reward to Laurel and Hardy. Then a bird settles on the chimney, causing a chain reaction of disintegration, and this is just the beginning of the end. 

In From Soup to Nuts, Anita Garvin, already a familiar presence in Laurel & Hardy films, rises to equal stature and comic energy. As the newly rich Mrs. Culpepper, the hostess at a high society dinner, she struggles with elementary etiquette and the ordeal of catching an elusive cherry. The distinction is that we are not laughing at her but with her, sharing her horror, pain and suffering.

In You're Darn Tootin' the exceptionally fine visual quality of the copy serves as a reminder and rises to a defining moment of the standard in which all the films should be imagined.

Their Purple Moment is the first movie in which Laurel and Hardy are married. The harridan wives are immediately at their blood-thirstiest. ("I'll carve him". The other carries a revolver). A favourite story concept, brilliantly recycled in Blotto. 

Should Married Men Go Home? has been digimastered from brilliant source materials. It is a comedy of daringly long and embarrassing waits balanced with mudslinging galore. The switch between a piece of wet turf and Edgar Kennedy's toupée... what a stupid but irresistible gag!

Although the Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy characters were firmly established, remarkable variations were possible. In From Soup to Nuts, after Hardy's second slip on the banana peel, Stan slips out of character, loses his temper and turns arrogant towards the high society dinner guests. 

In Early to Bed, when Hardy inherits a fortune, his character changes - or his hidden character is revealed. He turns into a bully, like the villains he used to play. He becomes mean and evil. He's not funny anymore. Stan starts to cry and would like to leave. It is not clear if this film is even a comedy.

Two Tars belongs to their epics of destruction. The demolition derby concept was already decades old, even Georges Méliès had excelled in it. This movie also foreshadows Godard (Weekend) and Tati (Trafic). One of the greatest "tit for tat" stories of all times, full of brilliant performances of excess. The oeuvre of Laurel & Hardy is an allegory of our world today, here at its most explicit.

Habeas Corpus to me is a minor piece, but it was the first Hal Roach film released with recorded sound (sound on disc), and the original Victor sound discs have been successfully synchronized. The soundtrack is a real bonus. It consists of popular classics, all detailed in the souvenir booklet. They make special sense in this context and the humoristic vintage arrangements of pieces like "Danse macabre" by Saint-Saëns, "Marche funèbre d'une marionnette" by Gounod and the seventh "Humoresque" by Dvořák sound right. It does not harm that they carry cinematic associations with Renoir, Hitchcock and Borzage.

The all-seeing and all-punishing wives return in All faw down. It is based on a familiar concept, later refined into perfection in the feature film Sons of the Desert. After coming home, before the boys learn that the theatre that they were supposed to visit has burned, Oliver entertains the wives with a run of its production numbers in pantomime, prompted by Stan behind their backs. The sequence parallels one of the greatest scenes in Pass the Gravy, also directed by Leo McCarey.

The marriage story is perplexing in a way similar with Early to Bed. There is not a drop of love. Instead the marriages are based on pure, undiluted hate. Even Oliver's hula hula dance does not help.

The spectacle of Hardy's expressions is at its most amazing.

When the truth finally comes to light, Stan is released from his agony and starts to laugh uncontrollably. Ollie tries to restrain him but can't help joining him in Homeric laughter. This only stops when the wives produce shotguns.

A giant effort has been taken to restore full versions, maximal visual quality and smooth transitions. All this makes better sense of rhythm and duration, and the dynamics of action and contemplation.

I have just read Laurence Leamer's assessment in Hitchcock's Blondes (2023) of Janet Leigh's performance in Psycho, mostly without dialogue. During the long ride into the night, we focus on her face. "Her face reads like a novel, telling tales within tales, exposing Marion's fear and guilt as she slowly realizes the magnitude of what she has done". Hitchcock encouraged Leigh and granted her an exceptional freedom to pursue her ideas. This resulted to a veritable adventure of the face behind the rainswept windshield. It was pure magic and pure silent cinema.

To me the most rewarding experience of the new L&H restorations concerns the exceptionally long facial close-ups, including Ollie's unique camera-looks. The fine visual quality helps appreciate them more, and the smoothness of the edit does justice to the duration.

Oliver Hardy's mastery in facial expressions has always been justly celebrated. In this viewing I paid more attention to Stan Laurel. His mercurial vitality is equal to Hardy's quicksilver talent.

...

My remarks on Leo Kirch based releases of Hal Roach comedies:

Laurel & Hardy Collection Vol. 1-21 (Universal / Canal Plus / Kino Welt / KirchMedia) (2009 in Finland)

Hal Roach: Female Comedy Teams and Leo McCarey: Max Davidson Comedies (Edition Filmmuseum 2011)

...

Wolfgang Jacobsen & Hans Helmut Prinzler: Hal Roach : Hommage zum 100. Geburtstag. Berlin: Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek / Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin, 1992. - For his centenary, Roach traveled to the Berlin Film Festival to receive the honorary award of the Berlinale Kamera for Lifetime Achievement. Based on Leo Kirch's Hal Roach Library, a tribute to Roach was mounted, which, alas, I failed to see, as I focused on the giant Babelsberg 80th anniversary retrospective. - Leo Kirch had established the Hal Roach Library in 1985. To the 1200 films of the Hal Roach productions, he owned the international rights - all except the American rights. Heinz Caloué and Richard W. Bann represent the KirchMedia in the book. - Richard W. Bann contributes also to the Blackhawk Films project.

Dinty (2024 restoration Eye Filmmuseum)

Marshall Neilan: Dinty (US 1920). Anna May Wong (Half Moon). La Cinémathèque française.

Grain de son / Sanomalehtipoika Dinty / Dinty [Swedish title].

US © 1921 Marshall Neilan Productions.

Marshall Neilan / États-Unis / 1920 / 67 min / 35 mm / INT. FR. Dutch intertitles / Version restaurée

Avec Wesley Barry, Colleen Moore, Anna May Wong.

Helsinki premiere: 4 Dec 1922 Kino-Palatsi - Suomen Biografi Osakeyhtiö.

E-sous-titres français.

Grand piano: Demian Martin (classe d'improvisation de Jean-François Zygel)

Vu samedi 26 avril 2025, La Cinémathèque française, Rétrospective Anna May Wong, Salle Georges Franju, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes 14, 6

La Cinémathèque française: "À San Francisco, un jeune Irlandais survit en vendant des journaux. Gavroche débrouillard, il sauve la vie d'une femme condamnée par un trafiquant d'opium (dont l'épouse est interprétée par Anna May Wong). Conçue autour de l'enfant-star Wesley Barry, l'histoire oscille entre pathos et humour, mais n'échappe pas aux relents racistes, jusque dans la promotion du film qui évoque « une belle jeune fille chinoise de dix-huit étés dans une jolie tenue orientale »."

AA: Marshall Neilan was the director of several Mary Pickford masterpieces in the greatest years of her stardom. Wesley Barry the freckled boy star entered some of them uncredited. As a character called Dinty he was introduced in Go and Get It. Barry appeared in various boy roles, including as Penrod, also directed by Neilan. 

Wesley Barry's great success film as a child star was Dinty, a rousing coming of age story of an Irish-born boy in California. Dinty's newly immigrated father Danny O'Sullivan dies in a car accident, and his mother Doreen toils to make ends meet. She is always tired, and when she contracts tuberculosis and becomes bedridden, Dinty at age 12 becomes the sole family breadwinner as a newspaper seller. The sorrow is infinite when Doreen dies. The love bond between mother and son is the emotional core of the movie. Only Doreen could understand Dinty. "She was the only thing I had". 

Doreen is played by Colleen Moore before her flapper stardom. A great comedienne is great in everything, and she is deeply moving in a dramatic role. Dinty still belongs to the period of American cinema in which poverty could be shown honestly, and it is startling to see Colleen Moore playing an exhausted cleaning lady succumbing to TB. Her sense of humour adds dimensions to the character. Her talent of fun is the main force of survival, together with the love of Dinty.

Alone in the city, Dinty grows streetwise. Initially a victim of cruel bullying, he learns the tricks of the trade as a newspaper boy, forms bonds, organizes a network and cultivates relationships, making a good impression with honesty, returning a wallet lost by a policeman and refusing a reward. With signal systems the boys learn to defend themselves in a Darwinian urban jungle. But they prefer the teaching of "love thy neighbour".

A parallel story is a Chinese gangland thriller in plein Yellow Peril mode, complete with trapdoors, gunfights, hidden execution and torture chambers, opium dens, hideous threats, kidnappings of white girls and cryptic Chinese proverbs. In this world we encounter Anna May Wong (15 years old) as the wife of the opium king Wong Tai (Noah Beery). In a last minute rescue, Dinty helps save the judge's daughter from the gangsters' execution chamber which has apparently been inspired by The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe.

Although the black boy character is otherwise portrayed in the same refreshingly self-evident spirit of equality as in the Our Gang series, in the finale an embarrassing melon-eating gag spoils the fun.

An important reconstruction / restoration from Eye Filmmuseum. Still missing 2076 ft / 633 m /18 fps/ 31 min, the current presentation makes sense. I like the powerful landscapes photographed by Charles Rosher (Mary Pickford films, Lubitsch movies, Sunrise) together with David Kesson and Foster Leonard. Choppy and ravaged at times, we get the picture.

Howard Hawks was the assistant director. This is the earliest film I have seen in which Hawks is credited.

...

LE GIORNATE DEL CINEMA MUTO (PORDENONE 2024): ANNA MAY WONG (1905-1961)

DINTY (US 1920) dir: Marshall Neilan, John McDermott. story: Marshall Neilan. scen: Marion Fairfax. cont: Charles Smith. photog: Charles Rosher, David Kesson, Foster Leonard. ed: Daniel J. Gray. des: Ben Carré. asst. dir: Tom Held, George Dromgold. cast: Wesley Barry (“Dinty” O’Sullivan), Colleen Moore (Doreen Adair O’Sullivan), Tom Gallery (Danny O’Sullivan), J. Barney Sherry (Giudice/Judge Whitely), Marjorie Daw (Ruth Whitely), Pat O’Malley (Jack North), Noah Beery (“King” Dorkh), Walter Chung (Sui Lung [“Chinkie”]), Kate Price (Mrs. O’Toole), Tom Wilson (Barry Flynn), Aaron Mitchell (Alexander Horatius Jones [“Watermillions”]), Newton Hall (il Duro/The Tough One), Young Hipp (Ling Dorkh), [Anna May Wong (Half Moon), Jimmy Wong]. prod: Marshall Neilan, Marshall Neilan Productions. dist: Associated First National Pictures. rel: 29.11.1920. copy: incompl., 35 mm, 4474 ft / 1363 m (orig. l. 6550 ft), 66'36" (18 fps); titles: NLD. source: Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam.

Yiman Wang: "Dinty was a star-making vehicle for 13-year-old Wesley Barry (1907-1994), who won rave reviews for his “sun-kissed” freckled face and lively impersonation of the film’s Irish boy hero, who struggles to make a living as a newsboy and succeeds in rescuing Judge Whitely’s daughter Ruth from a Chinatown opium smuggling gang. Director Marshall Neilan, a stage actor turned film actor, producer, director, and writer, was credited with writing this story of pathos, humor, romance, and adventure, crafted to capitalize on Barry’s increasing popularity, built up through their previous collaborations Daddy-Long-Legs (1919) and Go and Get It (1920)."

"Shot in Los Angeles with locations in San Francisco (exteriors in Chinatown and of the landmark Spreckels Mansion), as well as Catalina Island off southern California, Dinty’s narrative explores who gets to be assimilated into white America. Dinty the infant boy comes to the U.S. with his Irish mother Doreen O’Sullivan (Colleen Moore in an early starring role) to join her husband Danny (Tom Gallery), only to find out he has died in a car accident. Over a decade’s menial work leaves Doreen infected with tuberculosis and dependent on Dinty, now a teenage newsboy who has to fight the territorial older newspaper boys to make a living. Befriending Chinese boy Sui Lung, nicknamed “Chinkie,” and a black boy, Alexander Horatius Jones, nicknamed “Watermillions,” the trio provide comedy and drive to the tension-ridden plot of last-minute rescue and white romance, respectively set in San Francisco’s Chinatown (on the seedy side) and the Spreckels Mansion (on the white side). Moving Picture World (25.12.1920) stated that Marshall Neilan directed the Chinatown episodes (he did much more than that), while John McDermott directed the Irish sequences that open the film."

"Advertised as a “Freckle-faced funomenon,” Dinty captivated reviewers and fans with its story of an Irish boy rescuing a white woman from the Chinese guillotine engineered by “King” Dorkh, an opium smuggling, tech-savvy “half breed” Malay, played by Noah Beery in yellowface. Upon Ruth’s reunion with her father and her boyfriend Jack North, the three newspaper boys, together with Half Moon (Anna May Wong), “King” Dorkh’s abandoned Chinese wife, gather in Judge Whitely’s mansion for an ice cream celebration, though the treat holds no delight for Alexander Horatius Jones, who in classic racial stereotyping is appeased with a giant slice of watermelon."

 

"Racism inescapably saturates the film’s humor as well as its immigration/assimilation thrust, upholding black-white segregation and anti-miscegenation laws. The Chinese position, however, is less defined: “Chinkie” and Half Moon seem assimilated enough to enjoy the ice cream, but are denied the possibility of social mobility, unlike Irish-born Dinty. Paralleling the film’s message, 15-year-old Anna May Wong, uncredited as Half Moon, was to spend her entire career negotiating between exclusionary Orientalizing and assimilation friends took me to visit a studio where Marshall Neilan was shooting Dinty. Neilan blinked his eyes, stepped back, drew closer, and asked me to act for him. The next day I was hired.” 

(“Une Matinée au Louvre avec Anna May Wong,” Pour Vous, 18.7.1929) A year later, she shared with her German audience the pride of getting “a real role, the second female role” in Dinty after unspecified films in which she was an extra in crowd scenes. (“Von Anna May Wong: Bambus oder: Chinas Bekehrung zum Film,” Mein Film, Nr. 222, 1930) In truth, Wong was exaggerating, as Marjorie Daw’s was technically the second female role."

"As the only Chinese woman in the drama, Wong made the most of her limited screen time through  facial and bodily expressions in close-up. First National’s publicity for Dinty described her uncredited role as “a beautiful Chinese maiden of eighteen summers in pretty Oriental garb.” She soon gained a reputation as Hollywood’s sought-after “slender, almond-eyed daughter of the orient,” earning $150 a week (Chicago Daily Tribune, 2.10.1921), and was hailed as “a new color [yellow]” in the “screenland harmony of color” (“Yellow on Silver,” Pantomime, 10.12.1921)."

"While trivialized as an ornament on the screen, Wong was praised for her industriousness – a “Chinese Cinderella” who “loves her menial duties at [her laundry] home.” (Henry M. Neely, “The Little Chinese Cinderella of the Screen,” Evening Public Ledger [Philadelphia], 08.09.1921) Now, 104 years after this early career milestone, it behooves us to affirm Wong’s work on the screen, even when sidelined as an “Oriental” ornament." Yiman Wang

Ben Carré and the art direction of Dinty

"In 1919 Ben Carré left Maurice Tourneur’s well-organized company at the Goldwyn studios in Culver City. They had been close collaborators since 1914, making 34 films together. Ben was naturally anxious about the future when he reported to Marshall Neilan Productions, based at Lois Weber’s old studio in East Hollywood. It wasn’t a purpose-built studio; typical of early Hollywood adapted spaces, it consisted of a bungalow with a small garage, orchard garden, and a hastily assembled open air stage in the backyard. Ben’s office was the gardener’s tool shed, where he placed his drawing board on a potting shelf by a window."

"Fiercely independent, Neilan’s company was always strapped for financing; over the years staff came and went as it relocated from place to place. Ben saw something of himself in Neilan, and loyally remained with him for four years. Neilan’s crew mainly consisted of inexperienced hires recruited from other companies and off the street, who were given a chance. But there were also people like cameramen Charles Rosher, Karl Struss, and Dave Kesson, Neilan’s assistant Frank Urson (who worked with James Cruze and Cecil B. DeMille), and Howard Hawks. And characters like “One Punch Harry,” a receiving clerk who was also their propman, who had left boxing to pursue the glamour of show business. One true veteran Ben valued and befriended was his scenic artist, Cash Shockey, who had worked for D. W. Griffith’s company."

"For Dinty, Neilan rented production space at the Hollywood Studios, a good facility with stages that catered to independent film companies. Neilan selected one of the studio’s small dressing-room shacks as his office, and asked Ben to meet him there to discuss the film. “Neilan had put under contract a very young actor, Wesley Barry. He said, ‘I think I see a little of myself in this […] boy. I want to make a star out of him.’” 

"Dinty and his feisty group of newsboys can be seen as a 1920 forerunner of the future “Our Gang” comedy series that Hal Roach would start to make in 1922."

"There was no script yet, but Ben recalled, “Neilan was full of scenes with gags; many times I did not know what type of story I was working on, a drama or a comedy.” The film is full of specialty set pieces, props, stunts, and effects, which were all narrative challenges Ben had to solve. The story encompassed a number of varied locations, from Irish country cottages to mansions, slums, police stations, and shady Chinatown interiors, including a secret torture room with a swinging guillotine. Truly an action-adventure melodrama, it required ships, yachts, seaplanes, and a submarine. They shot on studio stages in Hollywood, and locations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Pedro, and Catalina Island."

"Ben fondly remembered going with his propman to the old Chinatown district of Los Angeles to find set dressing and props, after which he experienced his first real Chinese meal: “We found beautiful ceramics and furniture, and oh the restaurant, no chop suey or goulash, but a dozen plates delivered all at once by the clap of the waiter’s hands. … What a dinner!”"

"Although self-destructive (he fought against the producer system, alienated people like Louis B. Mayer, and developed a reputation as unreliable, being a heavy drinker), as well as chronically underfunded, Neilan was one of those early creative independents, a maverick who was willing to take risks in the pursuit of his passion for making pictures. (Mary Pickford remained a stalwart friend for decades.) Dinty is an excellent example of Neilan’s improvisational spirit. And testimony of Ben Carré’s ingenuity, invention, and love of challenges." Thomas A. Walsh, Catherine A. Surowiec / Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (Pordenone), 2024: Anna May Wong (1905-1961)

Drifting (2015 restoration George Eastman Museum)

Tod Browning: Drifting (US 1923). Priscilla Dean (Cassie Cook).

Tod Browning: Drifting (US 1923). Anna May Wong (Rose Li). Photo: La Cinémathèque française.

La Marchande de rêves.

US © 1923 Universal Pictures.

Tod Browning / États-Unis / 1923 / 70 min / DCP / VOSTF

D'après la pièce La Marchande de rêves de Daisy H. Andrews et John Colton.

Avec Wallace Beery, Priscilla Dean, Matt Moore, Anna May Wong.

Not released in Finland or Sweden.

Grand piano: Adrien Avezard (classe d'improvisation de Jean-François Zygel)

Vu samedi 26 avril 2025, La Cinémathèque française, Rétrospective Anna May Wong, Salle Georges Franju, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes 14, 6

La Cinémathèque française: "Shanghai. Une Américaine, complice d'un trafic d'opium, tombe amoureuse du policier infiltré chargé de la surveiller. L'avant-dernière collaboration entre Tod Browning et son actrice fétiche, Priscilla Dean, vaut pour son montage alterné, son final haletant, et surtout Anna May Wong, qui, malgré un rôle toujours proche du cliché, crève l'écran. Tandis que la liaison entre l'actrice et le cinéaste fait scandale : Browning est renvoyé de chez Universal."

AA: Priscilla Dean was a big star of the silent cinema. Her breakthrough took place in the 1910s when women were driving forces in big action adventure movies. Tod Browning had already favoured women protagonists in films starring Mabel Taliaferro and Edith Storey before he collaborated for the first time with Priscilla Dean in Which Woman? (1918). Both Dean and Browning had started their film careers with D. W. Griffith. Drifting was their eighth and penultimate collaboration. Priscilla Dean's appearance differs from movie star looks of later times. Without being conventionally beautiful she is a magnetic presence. 

Anna May Wong, at 18, appears in her second collaboration with Tod Browning. Hers is the second female lead, Rose Li, infatuated with Captain Arthur Jarvis (Matt Moore). The role has been compared with Madame Butterfly, but I think it is something different, closer to Violine Fleuri (Annabella) in Napoléon vu par Abel Gance. An unrequited love of a pure soul, as different from the compromised ones, Cassie Cook (Priscilla Dean) and Joséphine de Beauharnais (Gina Manès) respectively. This part Anna May Wong conveys beautifully. I am also reminded of Letter from an Unknown Woman. Tod Browning reportedly had to quit Universal because of his extramarital affair with Anna May Wong.

Drifting is Orientalism rampant, a potboiler with Yellow Peril cliches and zero patience for cultural sensitivity. As a piece of sensationalist action it is grandiose, well staged and exciting. The mise-en-scène is striking, the turning points and revelations are effective, the village atmosphere is vivid, the children are appealing, and the villain flavours his comments with Chinese proverbs. The crescendo towards the final conflagration is terrific.

A well made restoration from challenging materials by George Eastman Museum. I enjoyed the passages with subtle sepia toning.

...

LE GIORNATE DEL CINEMA MUTO 2015: REDISCOVERIES AND RESTORATIONS

DRIFTING

(La perduta di Shanghai)

Country USA

Release Date  26 August

Production Co.  Universal Pictures

Director Tod Browning

DCP

82'

Archive Source  George Eastman House, Rochester, NY

   

Print Notes  orig. l: 7,394 ft (7 rl.) (from 35 mm), (transferred at 20 fps) col. (tinted); titles: ENG

Cast: Priscilla Dean (Cassie Cook; Lucille Preston), Matt Moore (Capt. Arthur Jarvis), Wallace Beery (Jules Repin), J. Farrell MacDonald (Murphy), Rose Dione (Madame Polly Voo), William V. Mong (Dr. Li), Anna May Wong (Rose Li), Bruce Guerin (Billy Hepburn), Marie De Albert (Mrs. Hepburn), William Moran (Mr. Hepburn), Frank Lanning (Chang Wang).

Other credits: scen: Tod Browning, A. P. Younger, from the play by John Colton & Daisy H. Andrews (1910); titles: Gardner Bradford; ph: William Fildew; ed: Errol Taggart

première: 19.8.1923, New York

Restored 2015.

 

Jared Case (GCM 2015 Program Notes): "Drifting was Tod Browning’s last silent film at Universal. The scenario was based on a stage play written in 1910 by Daisy Andrews and John Colton, which enjoyed a revival in a 1922 New York production starring Alice Brady. Universal bought the rights later that year and assigned the film to Browning, as another pairing with his frequent star Priscilla Dean (Under Two Flags, White Tiger). The narrative follows Cassie Cook, an American heavily involved in the Chinese opium trade, who is engaged in an uneasy alliance with her rival, Jules Repin. When she receives an erroneous tip on a horse race that she passes on to Repin, both find themselves destitute, and Cassie has her stolen clothes ripped off her. Repin trafficks the drug from the town of Hang Chow, and the desperate duo travel there to investigate the problems at the source of their supply. Arthur Jarvis, a government agent undercover as a mining engineer in Hang Chow, intends to break the opium ring, and seizes much of the drug, causing a bottleneck in the supply. Cassie, posing as a novelist, ingratiates herself with Jarvis and manages to steal a government file from his office. Meanwhile, Repin works with his source, Dr. Li (whose daughter Rose is in love with Jarvis), to recruit the hill dwellers of the surrounding area to invade the town and capture the supply for themselves."

"It was well-publicized in early 1923 that Dean was unhappy with the immorality of the character she would portray, though Universal downplayed the situation and it seemed to be quickly resolved. This may have something to do with the relative sanitization of the character in comparison to the stage play. Originally, Cassie was a “lady of easy virtue” with opportunistic instincts, which made her reformation through love all the more striking and dramatic. After nine films with Dean at Universal, Browning moved on to M-G-M for most of the remainder of his silent films, including his productive period with Lon Chaney. Dean also soon left Universal, and continued to work for Hunt Stromberg and Metropolitan in silent films, but struggled to find work in the sound era, and ended her career in 1932."

"Never a lost film, but long unavailable, Drifting has been reconstructed by the Moving Image Department of George Eastman House thanks to the co-operation of MaNDA (Magyar Nemzeti Digitális Archívum és Filmintézet) – Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute, Gosfilmofond of Russia, and the National Film Preservation Foundation. A tinted nitrate print donated to George Eastman House in 1991 by the Czech National Film Archive was the starting point for this reconstruction. In the release print from Prague, all the original English titles had been replaced by Czech titles. The search for a script or continuity proved fruitless, and 2011 Selznick School student Zuzana Zabkova translated the Czech text in order to construct new English titles. These were edited into the body of the film. This version was still a reel short of the original 1923 release, and the end of the film was so fragmented that it was nearly impossible to follow its action. In 2012, George Eastman House was able to obtain elements of the film held by Gosfilmofond and MaNDA. All the elements were digitally scanned and compared with the Czech nitrate. The analysis revealed that all three prints were incomplete, but when combined produced the most complete version of Drifting that could be achieved from the extant material. The tinting of this version replicates the colors found in the Czech nitrate print." – Jared Case

Yellow Sky (1948)

William A. Wellman: Yellow Sky (US 1948). Harry Morgan (Half Pint) and Richard Widmark (Dude). Photo: La Cinémathèque française.

La Ville abandonée / Polttava aurinko / Desperados (Swedish title) / Cielo amarillo (US Spanish).

US © 1948 Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.

William A. Wellman / États-Unis / 1948 / 98 min / DCP / VOSTF

D'après le roman Yellow Sky de W. R. Burnett.

Avec Gregory Peck, Richard Widmark, Anne Baxter.

Almost no music on the soundtrack, natural sound effects instead.

Loc: Death Valley National Monument, CA/NV; near Lone Pine, CA (ghost town).

E-sous-titres français: Scena Media.

Vu samedi 26 avril 2025, La Cinémathèque française, Rétrospective Le Western, en 25 films indispensables, Salle Henri Langlois, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes 14, 6

La Cinémathèque française: "Poursuivis par des soldats, des hors-la-loi se réfugient dans une ville fantôme perdue au milieu du désert. Rongés par l'appât du gain, Richard Widmark et Gregory Peck s'affrontent dans un huis clos tendu, qui questionne la loyauté envers les siens et le désir de rédemption. Un western atypique, perpétuellement surprenant par sa violence contenue."

AA: A vigorous, ascetic Western about the desperate escape of brutal bank robbers into Death Valley. Nomen ist omen, but the robbers avoid what looks like certain death thanks to a prospector and his granddaughter (Anne Baxter) who against their better judgement decide to help them, which they will soon enough regret. A band of Apaches appears in an unconventional function. They pursue peaceful coexistence with the prospector team in the ghost town called Yellow Sky. 

 

Also the female protagonist interpreted by Baxter is unusual. She is a true Wild West woman, raised by the Apache, able to defend herself in gunplay and fistfight. A real danger of sexual violence is omnipresent from the side of the bandits, even from "the good bandit" Stretch (Gregory Peck). Richard Widmark is a reliably menacing figure, driven by hate and revenge. Gregory Peck is the weakest link in the cast, phony as the bandit leader.

William Wellman was a fine director through all decades, and Yellow Sky belongs to his best achievements, also thanks to the powerful cinematography of Joseph MacDonald. The action choreography is effective, and there are memorable visual effects such as an extreme close-up through the helical grooves of a rifle barrel. Samuel Fuller reused the effect in Forty Guns. And it became a permanent element in James Bond opening credits.

Wings, Beggars of Life, The Public Enemy, Wild Boys of the Road, A Star is Born (1937), Nothing Sacred, Story of G.I. Joe, Westward the Women, Island in the Sky, Track of the Cat and Good-bye, My Lady are among my favourites.

The theme of sexual violence appears also in Beggars of Life, Wild Boys of the Road and Westward the Women. In all three the rapist is killed.

The year is 1867. The banditry belongs to the aftermath of the Civil War. Stretch's home has been destroyed by Quantrill's Raiders.

...

I had seen Yellow Sky on Finnish tv in 1975 and on German tv in 1982 (Deutsche Fassung). Now I saw it for the first time on a cinema screen, and it made a big difference. Joseph MacDonald was at his finest in this period (My Darling Clementine, Call Northside 777, Panic in the Streets, Viva Zapata!). Because the show started over 20 minutes late, I missed the ending in order to catch rare Anna May Wong screenings.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson: The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) with Tony Revolori and Ralph Fiennes. La Cinémathèque française.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson / États-Unis / 2014 / 99 min / DCP / VOSTF

D'après Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness.

Avec Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric.

Vu samedi 26 avril 2025, La Cinémathèque française, Rétrospective Wes Anderson, Salle Henri Langlois, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes 14, 6

La Cinémathèque française: "Derrière les murs de l'opulent hôtel, le plus beau de la Mitteleuropa, se trouve un concentré du cinéma de Wes Anderson. Cadres ciselés et ornements symétriques. Splendeur surannée et humour pince-sans-rire. Une histoire de famille éclatée et des liens indéfectibles entre le concierge du palace et son jeune groom. Entraînés dans une affaire d'héritage, ils se retrouvent mêlés à un vol de tableau, tandis qu'autour d'eux, les bouleversements politiques de l'entre-deux-guerres dévastent le continent. Fresque haletante en rose et noir, The Grand Budapest Hotel est un hymne à l'amitié et à la beauté d'une époque révolue, au casting étourdissant."

« En réalité, le gourmet, comme l'artiste, est l'une des créatures les plus malheureuses sur terre. Son mal vient de ce qu'il recherche constamment et trouve si peu : la perfection. » (Ludwig Bemelmans)

Émilie Cauquy: "On nomme manie, en psychiatrie, un état d'excitation intellectuelle et physique avec exaltation de l'humeur et euphorie anormale. Ainsi, The Grand Budapest Hotel est une comédie maniaque à saturation ébouriffante : casting en avalanche de stars funambules hollywoodiennes et européennes, récit à tiroirs façon matriochka (télescopage de trois époques différentes avec son jeu de trois formats d'image distincts), dialogues mitraillettes et mille idées formelles à la minute récompensées ici et là (décors, costumes et accessoires, séquences en stop motion et en silhouette), photographie tout en symétrie signée par le désormais attitré Robert D. Yeoman, sans oublier l'orchestre Ossipov et ses trente-cinq joueurs de balalaïkas, cors des alpes, orgue, cloches ou autre cymbalum (Oscar de la meilleure musique pour Randall Poster et Alexandre Desplat, déjà présent sur Fantastic Mr. Fox et Moonrise Kingdom). Le film a été tourné principalement à Görlitz (zone interrogeant la frontière, entre Allemagne, Pologne et République tchèque), mais pour les nombreux plans larges du palace (inspiration mélangée du Palais Bristol, Grandhotel Pupp et du Gellért à Budapest), une maquette de trois mètres de haut a été réalisée, maison de poupée monumentale entièrement décorée à la main, objet de musée immédiat. Pour raconter les tribulations d'une Mitteleuropa qui court à sa perte, Wes Anderson s'est clairement inspiré des écrits de Stefan Zweig, de l'imaginaire de Ludwig Bemelmans et du cinéma d'Ernst Lubitsch. Un bel ensemble obsessionnel et joyeux, tiré à quatre épingles et parfaitement remonté comme un coucou sophistiqué de la Forêt-Noire perfectionné au Japon, qui donne vie à un drôle de mélange entre fougue (travelling en longue prise et effet domino, signatures du cinéaste) et mélancolie, à ce tropisme délicat pour le monde perdu en photochrome et résistance pudique à la nuit de l'humanité des années 1940." Émilie Cauquy

AA: The Grand Budapest Hotel is a grandiose banquet of Wes Anderson's image-driven cinema. It is a multiple mystery story: a story of the famous author of the novel The Grand Budapest Hotel, which tells the story of the hotel's elusive propietor, which leads us to the fabula about a wealthy dowager and her fortune, her murder, a frameup and an innocent sentenced to prison. There are mountain rides, death-defying chases, downhill racing, bridges, gondolas and elevators. There is also sex and gore. All told with childish, impish glee and performed by a glorious cast. It could lead to excess and confusion, but the thousands of marvels blend into a consistent whole in Wes Anderson's hands.

Comedy? Yes. Thriller? Yes. A period film? In a way (as in parody). A historical play? Not really. A Stefan Zweig adaptation? Read Die Welt von Gestern / The World of Yesterday instead.

Wes Anderson is a grand artisan and chef de partie, specialized in the art of the cinematic pâtisserie.

I have never seen a more superb DCP. I was stunned from the beginning to the end.

David Hockney & Martin Gayford: A History of Pictures (a book)

David Hockney & Martin Gayford: A History of Pictures : from the Cave to the Computer Screen. New Edition. With 315 illustrations. © 2016 and 2020 Thames & Hudson Ltd, London / David Hockney / Martin Gayford. - New York: Abrams, 2020. ISBN: 9781419750281. 368 pp.

Thames & Hudson: A History of Pictures.

Abrams Store: A History of Pictures.

Abrams: "A compact edition of David Hockney and Martin Gayford’s brilliant book, A History of Pictures: From the Cave to the Computer Screen features updated material and pieces of art original to this volume."

 

"Informed and energized by a lifetime of painting, drawing, and making images with cameras, David Hockney, in collaboration with art critic Martin Gayford, explores how and why pictures have been made across the millennia. Juxtaposing a rich variety of images—a still from a Disney cartoon with a Japanese woodblock print by Hiroshige, a scene from an Eisenstein film with a Velázquez paint­ing—the authors cross the normal boundaries between high culture and popular entertainment, and argue that film, photography, paint­ing, and drawing are deeply interconnected."

"Featuring a revised final chapter with additional works by Hockney, this compact edition of A History of Pictures remains a significant contribution to the discussion of how artists represent reality."

AA: I have just finished reading the dialogue book A History of Pictures by David Hockney and Martin Gayford. I bought it at the Fondation Louis Vuitton bookstore at the David Hockney 25 exhibition and have been savouring it slowly. It is well written but so dense with ideas that it cannot be read more than a few pages at a time. It is also a worthy entry to the Platon / Socrates tradition of dialogue literature.

It is a unique art history. The authors state that there are many books on the history of paintings, drawings, sculptures, tapestries, photographs, films, television, videos and CGI but as far as they know this is the first history of pictures in general. It is an audacious enterprise, and the result is a joyous adventure through the history of human culture from the chosen perspective.

The generalist, encyclopaedist and universalist approach yields new and surprising insights on every page. The authors have devoted their lives to art, and their knowledge is formidable, but they are never snobbish, nor snobbishly anti-snobbish.

It is one of the great works on the philosophy of art history. And a work of art history as philosophy. And of the art of seeing, in all senses of that word, including understanding profoundly. It is also a contribution to the critique of judgement.

Among other things, A History of Pictures is an essential study on the camera, the history of which is at least hundreds of years longer than that of photography. I was not aware that artists had used the camera (camera obscura, camera lucida) since the days of Galileo, Caravaggio and Vermeer. New optical instruments then changed the way we see the world, also in art.

Hockney had already discussed that in his television programme and book, Secret Knowledge : rediscovering the lost techniques of the old Masters (2001, 2006, Thames & Hudson). I am looking forward to getting my copy and reading it as soon as possible

Wild Rovers (1986 MGM restoration in 133 min)

Blake Edwards: Wild Rovers (US 1971) with Karl Malden (Walter Buckman), William Holden (Ross Bodine) and Ryan O'Neal (Frank Post). La Cinémathèque française.

Deux hommes dans l'Ouest / Lännen miehet – Ross ja Frank / Ross och Frank – västerns män (Swedish title in Finland) / Två red ut (Swedish title in Sweden).

US © 1971 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.

Blake Edwards / États-Unis / 1971 / 133 min / 35 mm / VOSTF / Metrocolor / Panavision

Avec William Holden, Ryan O'Neal, Karl Malden.

Générique

Réalisateur : Blake Edwards

Réalisateur seconde équipe : Dick Crockett

Assistants réalisateurs : Alan Callow, Lorin B. Salob

Scénariste : Blake Edwards

Sociétés de production : Geoffrey Productions, MGM - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Producteurs : Blake Edwards, Ken Wales

Directeur de production : Ridgeway Callow

Distributeur d'origine : MGM - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer France

Directeur de la photographie : Philip H. Lathrop

Cadreur : Duke Callaghan

Ingénieurs du son : Bruce Wright, Harry W. Tetrick

Compositeur de la musique originale : Jerry Goldsmith

Auteur des chansons originales : Ernie Sheldon "Wild Rover"

Compositeur des chansons originales : Jerry Goldsmith "Wild Rover"

Interprète des chansons originales : Sheb Wooley "Wild Rover"

Soundtrack: "Goodbye Old Paint" (Charley Willis, late 1800s).

Directeurs artistiques : George W. Davis, Addison Hehr

Décorateurs : Robert R. Benton, Reg Allen

Costumier : Jack Bear

Maquilleurs : Tom Tuttle, Bill Turner

Coiffeur : Cherie

Monteur : John F. Burnett

Script : Marie Kenney

Directeur de casting : Joe D'Agosta

Coordinateurs des effets spéciaux : Earl McCoy, Charles Schulthies

Photographe de plateau : Eric Carpenter

Interprètes : William Holden (Ross Bodine), Ryan O'Neal (Frank Post), Karl Malden (Walter Buckman), Lynn Carlin (Sada Billings), Tom Skerritt (John Buckman), Joe Don Baker (Paul Buckman), James Olson (Joe Billings), Leora Dana (Neil Buckman), Moses Gunn (Ben), Victor French (le shérif Bill Jackson), Rachel Roberts (Maybell Tucker), Sam Gilman (Hansen), Charles H. Gray (Savage), William Bryant (Hereford), Jack Garner (Cap Swilling), Caitlin Wyles (la petite amie de Bodine), Mary Jackson (la mère de Sada), William Lucking (Ruff), Ed Bakey (le joueur), Ted Gehring (le shérif de Tucson), Alan Carney (le barman du palace), Ed Long (Cassidy), Patrick Sullivan Burke (le ténor du palace), Hal Lynch (Mack), Bennie E. Dobbins (l'éleveur de moutons), Bob Beck (l'employé des bains-douches), Geoffrey Edwards (le fils de l'employé des bains-douches), Studs Tanney (le pianiste), Bruno VeSota (le barman de la cantina), Dick Crockett (le shérif adjoint)

Loc: 

    Arizona: – Red Rock Crossing, Sedona – Nogales – Patagonia (San Rafael Ranch State Park) – Flagstaff – Old Tucson – Empire Ranch, Sonoita – Arches National Park.

    Utah: – Moab – Monument Valley.

US premiere: 19 June 1971

Finnish premiere: 19 Nov 1971 Boston – released by Filmipaja Oy – 138 min

French premiere: 29 Dec 1971

    E-sous-titres français: Scéna-Media.

    Séance présentée par Jean-François Rauger

Vu jeudi 24 avril 2025 2025, La Cinémathèque française, Rétrospective Le Western, en 25 films indispensables, Salle Henri Langlois, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes 14, 6

La Cinémathèque française: "En quête d'une autre vie, deux cowboys se lancent dans le braquage de banques. Pour son unique incursion dans le genre, Blake Edwards signe un western à la beauté crépusculaire, coupé et remonté par la MGM avant d'être restauré, des années plus tard. Un récit d'amitié filiale, poignant, formidablement interprété par William Holden et Ryan O'Neal."

AA: "My best film" said Blake Edwards about his only Western* Wild Rovers - in its original cut before James T. Aubrey, President of MGM, butchered it, an experience so traumatic that Edwards needed to make another movie, S.O.B., to heal.

In the context of La Cinémathèque française's "Rétrospective Le Western, en 25 films indispensables", Wild Rovers represents the Revisionist Western that became dominant in the late 1960s. 

It was nothing less than eine Umwertung aller Werte - a revaluation of all values.

Wild Rovers is anti-heroic, anti-glamorous and anti-bravado. Its way with classic landscapes is anti-sublime.

Wild Rovers is prosaic, elegiac and humoristic, but as distinct from other revisionist Westerns, it is not cynical or nihilistic. There is a lot of realistic violence, but it is not gratuitous, sadistic or prolonged for sensation.

Wild Rovers is a tragicomedy with affinities with the picaresque. It is a humanistic Western. 

The protagonists are not mean or evil. They are idiots. There is no tragic grandeur when they perish, but a lingering ache about their unfulfilled potential, a sense of loss.

Vitality and mortality are inseparable. Animals matter, from dog puppies to wild broncos. A cougar attacks the banker's home, complicating the amateur robbers' plan.

THE BUDDY MOVIE

Wild Rovers is a buddy movie. Easy Rider and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had launched the popular new trend.

Wild Rovers was also inspired by The Wild Bunch and on the other hand Love Story which had made a film star of Ryan O'Neal (previously popular on tv as Rodney Harrington in Peyton Place).

The original cut of Wild Rovers was chided at MGM as a homosexual Western. Those were the days. After Brokeback Mountain, should it not be celebrated for the same reason?

But although there is the original poster of Ryan O'Neal on horseback behind William Holden, and a double bath scene in which O'Neal is stark naked, et cetera, and although Wild Rovers can be called a love story among men, that is only in the same sense as Howard Hawks said about his films. There is no sexual love affair between men.

But in Delphine Seyrig's Sois belle et tais-toi! / Be Pretty and Shut Up (FR 1976/1981), actresses lament the buddy movie as a new step in patriarchal cinema. Previously, leading roles were shared by men and women. Now, only by men. The actresses sensed in the cinema of that period something close to homosexuality (gay only). There are always two men.

Among the films I have seen at the Cinémathèque's Western retrospective, in only one (Colorado Territory) the main relationship has been between a man and a woman, in all others, between two men. Like in Ulzana's Raid, there is a veteran mentoring a newcomer in Wild Rovers. It is a love story between men - like father and son.

...

William Holden gives one of his greatest performances in Wild Rovers. There are those who find it the greatest. He got better with age.

...

The cinematographer is Philip H. Lathrop in his eighth and last movie with Edwards. Lathrop was adventurous and experimental, willing to try something new, here conveying the power of natural light from sunrise to nighttime on the ranch, in the town and on the desert trek, in sunshine and in snowy winter landscapes. Familiar landscapes and situations look different in the curious eyes of Blake Edwards and Philip Lathrop.

The immaculate 35 mm print of the 1986 MGM restoration looked grandiose on the Salle Henri Langlois screen in Panavision. Metrocolor seems to have the look of an oil painting. The print is integral, clean and complete. But a lingering question remains: was the film meant to look quite this soft and blurry?

* Blake Edwards started as a screenwriter for Lesley Selander in Panhandle (US 1948) and Stampede (US 1949), both starring Rod Cameron.

The Law and Jake Wade

John Sturges: The Law and Jake Wade (US 1958) with Patricia Owens (Peggy) and Robert Taylor (Jake Wade). Photo: La Cinémathèque française.

Le Trésor du pendu / Saaliinjako / De tysta husens dal.

    John Sturges / États-Unis / 1958 / 86 min / 35 mm Copie unique / Metrocolor / CinemaScope 2.35:1

US © 1958 Loew's Inc.

D'après le roman The Law and Jake Wade de Marvin H. Albert.

Avec Robert Taylor, Richard Widmark, Patricia Owens.

Loc: California: High Sierra: Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, Death Valley.

Finnish premiere: 5 Dec 1958.

    Copie avec sous-titres français: M. Seawl

    Vu dimanche 20 avril 2025, La Cinémathèque française, Rétrospective Le Western, en 25 films indispensables, Salle Henri Langlois, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes 14, 6

La Cinémathèque française: "Un ancien gangster, devenu shérif, voit son passé resurgir quand un ancien complice se manifeste pour remettre la main sur un vieux magot. Sans éluder les passages obligés du genre – l'attaque nocturne des Comanches, le duel final au pistolet –, Sturges se recentre autour d'un scénario qui mêle sens du suspense et relation équivoque, et où brille le magnétique Richard Widmark."

"En pleine gloire après le succès de Fort Bravo (1953) et Règlement de comptes à O.K. Corral (1957), John Sturges transpose sur grand écran le roman de Marvin H. Albert, The Law and Jake Wade – renommé Le Trésor du pendu – en 1958. Quelques mois avant son ambitieuse adaptation du Vieil Homme et la mer d'Ernest Hemingway, il filme un combat psychologique au sommet entre Robert Taylor et Richard Widmark, souligné par la superbe photographie de Robert Surtees. En abordant le western par une veine plus intime, plus proche de ses personnages, le cinéaste rend compte de la complexité des sentiments et de l'inévitable confrontation à son passé. Sans éluder plusieurs passages obligés du genre – l'attaque nocturne des Comanches, le duel final au pistolet –, il se recentre autour d'un scénario qui mêle sens du suspense et relation équivoque, où brille le magnétique Richard Widmark. Dans les paysages somptueux de la Sierra Nevada, Le Trésor du pendu s'éloigne peu à peu des sentiers balisés pour incarner le poids de la fatalité et du destin, de l'amitié fraternelle devenue haine viscérale."

AA: John Sturges's The Law and Jake Wade is a Western in the classic tradition, perfectly enjoyable in the same way as Viennese classicism in music. The sound and the elements are familiar, but infinite variations are possible.

The conflict between two men, Jake Wade (Robert Taylor) and Clint Hollister (Richard Widmark), former gang partners, now on opposite sides of the law, is the driving force.

Maestro Robert Surtees is the cinematographer, and the mise-en-scène is stunning on authentic High Sierra locations (in daytime), alternating with MGM studio setups (in nighttime). It would presumably have been unbearably cold on location at night. I'm happy to suspend disbelief.

I see Jake Wade for the first time and begin to think about affinities among the six movies that I have seen so far in the Cinémathèque's "Le Western, en 25 films indispensables" series,

The Civil War connection intrigues me. In three (The Naked Spur, Vera Cruz, Jake Wade), the protagonists are Civil War veterans. Two (Ulzana's Raid, Colorado Territory) take place 15-20 years after the war. One (3:10 to Yuma) is outside history.

In most, the relationship between two men is central. Only in Colorado Territory the main relationship is between a man and a woman (Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo). In Ulzana's Raid we have a veteran (Burt Lancaster) mentoring a newcomer (Bruce Davison). In Vera Cruz, two mercenaries  (Burt Lancaster, Gary Cooper) meddle in the Mexican Civil War as frenemies, finally settling their accounts in a showdown. 

In The Naked Spur (James Stewart, Robert Ryan), 3:10 to Yuma (Van Heflin, Glenn Ford) and The Law and Jake Wade, the relationship between the two men is more complex than simple antagonism. In all, the outlaw is the most intelligent and articulate one, able to dominate the airspace with psychological intrigue and undermine the adversary's assurance, mission and conviction. There is a Dostoevskyan sense that the outlaw can channel to the dark side and turn into an evil double. He can instinctively find the weak spot and the weak link and exploit them ingeniously.

In The Law and Jake Wade, Richard Widmark has the juiciest part as the voice of the Devil tempting Jesus in the Desert. He is excellent as Clint Hollister, but his cynical monologues tend sometimes to be on the long side. He might be capable of boring fellow passengers to death without having to touch guns. The granite-faced Robert Taylor carries his role with silent dignity. Perhaps he is happy to be on the right side of the law and be spared of tedious tirades in the future.

The Law and Jake Wade does not belong to the cynical Westerns like Vera Cruz. It is still the age of chivalry and codes of honour prevail even among killers. A classic showdown is unavoidable.

I enjoy the big screen presentation of a beautiful 35 mm print in what seems authentic Metrocolor and CinemaScope. The autumn colours are engaging. At times the look resembles a watercolour, at other times an oil painting with soft outlines, not sharp but appealingly vibrant. This soft touch is not that of a blurry, duped print but of an exceptionally fine one, perhaps close to the camera negative.

3:10 to Yuma (1957) (2013 Sony 4K restoration)

Delmer Daves: 3:10 to Yuma (US 1957) with Glenn Ford (Ben Wade) and Van Heflin (Dan Evans). La Cinémathèque française.

Delmer Daves: 3:10 to Yuma (US 1957) with Felicia Farr (Emmy) and Glenn Ford (Ben Wade). Il Cinema Ritrovato 2005. 

3h10 pour Yuma / Armoton ase / 3.10 till Yuma.

    US © 1957 Columbia Pictures Corporation.

Delmer Daves / États-Unis / 1957 / 92 min / DCP / VOSTF – n&b – 1.85:1

D'après la nouvelle 3h10 pour Yuma (1953) d'Elmore Leonard.

Avec Glenn Ford, Van Heflin, Felicia Farr, Leora Dana.

Theme song: "3:10 to Yuma" words and music by Ned Washington and George Duning, sung by Columbia recording artist Frankie Laine. Backing: Norma Zimmer.

Loc: Arizona:

– Old Tucson – 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, (Contention City backdrop) – Sedona (Bisbee exterior set, about Mogollon Dr) – Contention City – Texas Canyon (stagecoach ambush and Evans' ranch).

    Digital restoration: Sony Pictures / Grover Crisp / 4K / 2013 [estimate, no date was given]

    E-sous-titres français Scéna International.

    Vu samedi 19 avril 2025, La Cinémathèque française, Le Western, en 25 films indispensables, Salle Henri Langlois, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes 14, 6

Joël Daire (La Cinémathèque française) : "Souvent comparé à Le Train sifflera trois fois (High Noon, Fred Zinnemann, 1951), 3h10 pour Yuma repose sur des ressorts dramatiques et psychologiques bien différents. Là où Zinnemann exposait un drame de la solitude, Daves édifie une violente confrontation psychologique, et parfois physique, entre deux tempéraments que tout oppose : Ben Wade (Glenn Ford), hors-la-loi pilleur de trains, séducteur pervers et corrupteur machiavélique, et Dan Evans (Van Heflin), fermier ruiné, au caractère buté et mutique, méprisé par sa famille, chargé, par nécessité économique, de convoyer Wade jusqu'au train qui le conduira en prison. Sur ce canevas, Daves élabore une magnifique progression dramatique, des plaines arides de l'Arizona au huis clos d'une chambre d'hôtel où se concentre leur affrontement. La force de la mise en scène est de conduire le spectateur à éprouver une égale sympathie pour les deux hommes, et par de subtiles variations, de les amener l'un et l'autre sur une voie où ils ne peuvent plus que s'entre-détruire ou pactiser. Mais leurs enjeux personnels ne sont pas égaux : pour Wade le prisonnier, il s'agit de reconquérir sa liberté, alors qu'Evans le loser doit racheter sa dignité bafouée. Entretenant le suspense au prix d'un long plan-séquence qui conduit les deux hommes jusqu'au train, Daves, deus ex machina humaniste et bienveillant, fait pleuvoir sur ses héros une eau quasi baptismale qui laisse espérer, pour l'un et l'autre, un heureux dénouement."

AA: Delmer Daves's 3:10 to Yuma I see for the first time on a cinema screen – in a brilliant digital restoration, presumably from Sony Pictures / Grover Crisp / 4K / 2013 (no restoration credit is given).

Glenn Ford (1916–2006) appears for the only time as a villain on his career of 110 movies. His presence is different from the usual – unique, in fact. He is usually genial, focused and persistent but holding back, protecting the sociopsychological balance, refusing to dominate. As Ben Wade he is extroverted, assertive, alert, calculating and controlling. Under his smooth, smiling, sympathetic appearance he is a brutal killer.

Elmore Leonard (the author of the original story), Halsted Welles (the screenwriter) and Daves were obviously inspired by High Noon. The titles of both movies declare that they are about time – a deadline. In both, a man must face alone the threat of a band of outlaws. There are two women, a wife and a barmaid. The railway station setting in the middle of the desert and the long shadows on the streets of a small sunlit town are further similarities.

The man of law and order is not a sheriff but the farmer Dan Evans, played by Van Heflin in an interpretation that evokes Shane. In contrast to the outlaw Ben, Dan is a family man. Ben is glamorous and charismatic; Dan, unglamorous and ordinary. Ben is intelligent and articulate; Dan, simple, taciturn, salt of the earth. On his barren land, suffering from drought, he has fallen on hard times, and therefore accepts the assignment to escort the outlaw to the train station. "Some have greatness thrust upon them" (Shakespeare). In the finale, Dan sticks to the assignment alone, defying the risk of an almost certain death.

In the lineage of William S. Hart's soul fights, the battle of good and evil is a complex chain of events that takes place in a moral twilight. Like in The Naked Spur, a transference arises between the outlaw and his guardian. Ben smooth-talks Dan into doubting his mission and offers to double the pay.

Female characters are important. Dan's wife Alice (Leora Dana) suffers together with her husband. She hopes for better times, also because "then maybe we won't be so tired all the time", referring to deprivations of her female needs. The barmaid Emmy (Felicia Farr) appears in a scene necessary for the plot (explaining why Ben Wade needs quality time apart from his gang) which grows into independent value – turning into the anthology piece of the movie. It is a masterstroke of storytelling intelligence under the Code. Felicia Farr conveys subtly a woman who is fulfilled and broken-hearted at once. And we understand why Ben later says he envies Dan.

Dan's ego hurts from a lingering feeling of Alice's contempt. Dan's younger son loses his respect for his father who does not stand up to villains during the hold-up. His older son understands that it would be a needless sacrifice. All this contributes to Dan's decision to risk everything in the finale.

Charlie Prince, Ben's second-in-charge, is played with impressive cold focus by Richard Jaeckel. There is a sense of solidarity and loyalty among the robber band, and Charlie is a capable leader when Ben is under arrest. 

The ending of the movie has been widely criticized, and I agree that it is the weakest part. 3:10 to Yuma proceeds like a tragedy – until there is a happy ending.

That Ben finally follows Dan to the 3:10 train to Yuma although his band could save him, is, however, psychologically believable. Three turning-points make it so. 

The first is the dinner at the Evans farm. Ben is invited and treated with respect. For him, this ordinary event is extraordinary (as are the dinners with the desert nomads Shane and Ethan Edwards). 

The second, quoted by Ben himself, is Dan saving Ben's life in the hotel room from the murder attempt of the drunken Bob, brother of Bill Moons, the stagecoach driver killed by Ben in the beginning.

The third is the hanging of the town drunk Alex Potter (Henry Jones) from the hotel chandelier. Next to Dan, Alex was the last man to remain with the posse fighting the outlaws. The hanging is meant to demoralize Dan, but it has the opposite effect. A fleeting impression reveals that it disgusts even Ben and distances him from his gang. It may be a factor in his decision to kill Charlie when he is about to shoot Dan at the station. The vast implication is that there will be no gang anymore. Not for him anyhow.

As the train leaves the station, rain starts to fall – and the movie turns into a fairytale. Still, the symmetry is impressive: the stagecoach in the dusty desert in the beginning, the train rolling through the rainswept desert in the end. The theme song is haunting. It has deservedly become an evergreen, but it is played one time too many.

The black and white cinematography in 1,85:1 by Charles Lawton is magnificent with deep focus, majestic crane shots, expressive close-ups and low angles, and dynamic forward tracking shots or zooms. The minimalism of the subject is conveyed by a grandeur of the imagery.

The excellent restoration does justice to the fine definition and the art of light and shadow.

...

The remake 3:10 to Yuma (2007) by James Mangold with Russell Crowe (Ben Wade) and Christian Bale (Dan Evans) is also worth seeing. All performances are great. The story has been prolonged by a half an hour with confrontations with Indians and at a railway construction site and unnecessary scenes of violence. I prefer the more compact energy of the original. Even from it I would have pruned slow passages and Ben's monologues.