The Arrangement

078229 / 16 / US / 1969 / Kazan, Elia / / drama
Arrangement, The / Tilinteko. © Athena Enterprises; Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. P+D+SC: Elia Kazan - based on his novel (Sopimus elämän kanssa in Finnish translation). DP: Robert Surtees. PD: Gene Callahan. CAST: Kirk Douglas (Eddie Anderson), Faye Dunaway (Gwen), Deborah Kerr (Florence Anderson), Richard Boone (Sam Anderson), Hume Cronyn (the lawyer), Harold Gould (the analyst). 125’. Scope. MPAA 22184. SEA / Warner Bros. print with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Christina Kilpi / . Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Wednesday 8 January 1998. *** The film definitely gains being seen within a week from America, America. Its protagonist is on his deathbed now, and we follow the life of his son. It’s ”about a man whose entire life is a series of phoney arrangements: his marriage, his work, his sexual escapades and his friendships”, to quote the synopsis of the BFI CD-ROM. Kazan’s ultra sharp dialogue is delivered with gusto by top performers. The film is marred by clumsy and overdone satire, awkward hallucinations and flashbacks, and irritating experiments without style of any kind. In many ways it’s terribly dated, but still retaining a sense of epic vision, especially in the context of America, America. Together they are a great counterpart to the Godfather trilogy.

America America (1998 viewing of a vintage print)

Elia Kazan: America America (US 1963). Stathis Giallelis (Stavros Topouzoglou).

069715 / 16 / US / 1963 / Kazan, Elia / / drama

The Anatolian Smile / America, America! [Finnish title] / Amerika Amerika [Swedish title]. © Athena Enterprises Corporation. P+D+SC: Elia Kazan - based on his novel. DP: Haskell Wexler. PD: Gene Callahan. M: Manos Hadjidakis. CAST: Stathis Giallelis (Stavros Topouzoglou), Frank Wolff (Vartan Damadian), Paul Mann (Aleko Sinnikoglou), Linda Marsh (Thomna Sinnikoglou), Katherine Balfour (Sophia Kebabian). B&w Academy. 168’. MPAA Production Code Seal 20621. 35 mm SEA / Warner Bros. print with fine definition, Finnish / Swedish subtitles. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Thursday 1 January 1998. **** Close to perfection, this a great drama of the emigration to America. It is 1896 in Turkey, where the Christian Greeks are oppressed by the Turkish Moslems. Stathis has to endure trials of Biblical dimensions to get to Ellis Island. He is robbed, beaten, shot, embezzled by a whore, almost wed for money, taken to a rich lady passenger’s lover, and finally almost driven mad. He tries his hand at various professions, from a carpet merchant to a shoeshine boy. The deep focus cinematography and the production design are profoundly authentic. Manos Hadjidakis provides another stirring score. The film is let down by the flat English-language dubbing and the lack of authentic background sounds. Stathis Giallelis is fine but the role would have needed to be filled by someone with the charisma of Brando.

A Face In the Crowd

047628 / 08 / US / 1957 / Kazan, Elia / / drama

Face In the Crowd, A / Kasvot väkijoukossa. PC: Newtown Productions. A Warner Bros. release. P+D: Elia Kazan. SC: Budd Schulberg. DP: Harry Stradling, Gene Rescher. M: Tom Glazer. CAST: Andy Griffith (Larry ”Lonesome” Rhodes), Patricia Neal (Marcia Jeffries), Anthony Franciosa (Joey Kieley), Walter Matthau (Mel Miller). B&w Academy. 126’. MPAA Seal of Approval 16503. BBFC: Passed For Adult Audiences. A NFTVA print with fine definition. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Wednesday 26 November 1997. *** Great ideas in a pioneering satire on television and celebrity, visually fascinatingly detailed. But with the familiar Kazan cliches: histrionic performances and jarringly overstated naturalism with the trademark dirty, sweat-dripping undershirts. Kazan does not trust a minute in the viewer’s intelligence. Everything has to be overdone and exaggerated. Trouble is, he has no spirit of generosity to back the extravaganza. It gets terribly hollow and futile instead. Kazan is a man of drama, not spectacle. But he lacks the patience for pure drama. Someone shoulda put reins on him. He would have needed a good tough producer.

Baby Doll

Elia Kazan: Baby Doll (US 1956) with Carroll Baker (Baby Doll).

046089 / 16 / US / 1956 / Kazan, Elia / / drama

Nukkevaimo / Baby Doll [Swedish title]. PC: Newtown Productions. P+D: Elia Kazan. SC: Tennessee Williams - based on two one-act plays of his. DP: Boris Kaufman. M: Kenyon Hopkins. ”Shame Shame Shame”, ”Baby Please Don’t Go”. CAST: Karl Malden (Archie), Carroll Baker (Baby Doll), Eli Wallach, Mildred Dunnock. B&w Academy. 115’. MPAA Production Code Seal Of Approval 18129. BBFC: 16. NFTVA print with beautiful definition. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 25 November 1997. ** Badly written, badly directed, and badly acted. But with beautiful cinematography and fine music. The play is dated, and the acting is histrionic. It is amazing to see the Actors Studio hysteria resembling here the melodramatic acting style of the early years of the century. The stylization, the self-consciousness, and the nervous, mannered tics make it impossible to take these characters seriously. Then again, the composition and the definition of light are masterful. Someone should take out all the dialogue from Baby Doll and we would have a beautiful set of silent tableaux, with only music accompaniment.

A Streetcar Named Desire

Elia Kazan: A Streetcar Named Desire (US 1950).

035123 / 16 / US / 1950 / Kazan, Elia / / drama

Viettelysten vaunu / Linje Lusta. PC: Charles K. Feldman Group. A 20th Century Fox release. P: Charles Feldman. D: Elia Kazan. Based on the play by Tennessee Williams. M: Alex North. CAST: Vivien Leigh (Blanche Dubois), Marlon Brando (Stanley Kowalski), Kim Hunter (Stella), Karl Malden (Mitch). MPAA Production Code Seal 14871. B&w Academy. 122’. Swedish subtitles by Kerstin Landfeldt. A Cinemateket / Svenska Filminstitutet print. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Wednesday 12 November 1997. *** From Scarlett to Blanche: the track of the Southern Belle. Legendary performances realized through great photography and backed by a stirring New Orleans influenced score. But the play itself is dated.

Gentleman’s Agreement

Elia Kazan: Gentleman's Agreement (US 1947) with Dorothy McGuire, Gregory Peck and John Garfield.

028979 / G / US / 1947 / Kazan, Elia / / drama
Gentleman’s Agreement / Hiljainen sopimus.
PC: 20th Century-Fox. P: Darryl F. Zanuck.
D: Elia Kazan. SC: Moss Hart – based on the novel by Laura Z. Hobson (1946).
CAST: Gregory Peck, Dean Stockwell, Anne Revere, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield, Sam Jaffe, June Havoc.
118’.
B&w.
MPAA Production Code Seal of Approval 12488.
A worn 16 mm print from Rosebud (Spain).
Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 4 November 1997.

*** Intelligent, dialogue-based thesis film with a great cast of a dozen interesting characters. No visual flair and no cinematic dynamism (further injustice in this department due to the flat 16 mm print). Gregory Peck is the crusading, investigative reporter who takes a special project called ”I Was Jewish For Six Months”. The experience is surprising. He gets to experience discrimination immediately, his fiancée becomes estranged, and even his little son gets beaten as ”a dirty kike”. And this is New York.