Thunderbolt

[The film was banned in 1930 in Finland by the title Pimeimmässä New Yorkissa.]US © 1929 Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. P: B.P. Fineman. D: Josef von Sternberg. SC: Jules Furthman - dialogue: Herman J. Mankiewicz – from a story by Charles and Jules Furthman. DP: Henry Gerrard. AD: Hans Dreier. ED: Helen Lewis. CAST: George Bancroft ("Thunderbolt" Jim Lang), Fay Wray (Mary, "Ritzy"), Richard Arlen (Bob Morgan). 91 min. Print: UCLA (sound version). Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 23 Sep 2009. - Revisited a fascinating gangster film by Sternberg, the first 20 minutes. - The UCLA print looks great. - The story of Ritzy (Fay Wray) who wants to get rid of the possessive gangster boss Thunderbolt (George Bancroft). - Visually powerful, and with already an assured soundtrack. However, the sound makes it all seems slightly more everyday and commonplace: the sound is professional, but the image is masterful.

The Last Command

Viimeinen määräys / Sista kommandot. US (c) 1928 Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. Pres: Adolph Zukor, Jesse L. Lasky. Supervisor: J.G. Bachmann. Associate P: B.P. Schulberg. D: Josef von Sternberg. SC and Adaptation: John F. Goodrich - from a story by Lajos Biró - intertitles: Herman J. Mankiewicz. DP: Bert Glennon. AD: Hans Dreier. CAST: Emil Jannings (Grand Duke Sergius Alexander), Evelyn Brent (Natacha Dabrova), William Powell (Leo Andreyev). 2410 m /22 fps/ 96 min. A DFI print viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 17 Sep 2009. - A soft print with low contrast. - A favourite Sternberg masterpiece of mine revisited (30 minutes from the beginning). Sternberg is in brilliant command of the means of expression in late silent cinema. The breadlines of Hollywood. The circumstances of the extras. The eve of revolution in Russia. - The moving camera, the montage, the expressive close-up. - Emil Jannings had had great directors before, notably Ernst Lubitsch and F.W. Murnau, but his greatest director was Sternberg in The Last Command and Der Blaue Engel. Sternberg dared to expose his extremes as the mighty man at the height of his prestige, and the crushed man who descends into madness, degradation and the gutter. - There is a connection between this concept and Orson Welles (his favourite theme of the mighty man who is bound to perish), and a direct link is Herman J. Mankiewicz.

Laughter

[The film was never released in Finland]. US 1930. D: Harry d’Abbadie d’Arrast. Story: Harry d’Abbadie d’Arrast, Douglas Z. Doty; SC: Harry d’Abbadie d’Arrast, Douglas Z. Doty, Herman J. Mankiewicz, Donald Ogden Stewart; DP: George J. Folsey; ED: Helene Turner; M: Vernon Duke, Frank Tours; S: Ernest Zatorsky; CAST: Nancy Carroll (Peggy Gibson), Fredric March (Paul Lockridge), Frank Morgan (C. Morton Gibson), Glenn Anders (Ralph Le Sainte), Diane Ellis (Marjorie Gibson), Leonard Carey (Benham, il maggiordomo), Ollie Burgoyne (Pearl), Eric Blore, Charles Halton; P: Monta Bell per Paramount Pictures; 35mm. [announced duration 85’]. Actual duration 77 min. From: BFINA per concessione di Paramount. - Earphone commentary in Italian, Viewed at Cinema Lumière 2, Bologna, 4 July 2009. - A good print. - A strong and fascinating film. An important transitional film from the 1920s sophisticated comedy of manners to the 1930s screwball. This black comedy of manners starts with a suicide plan, examines the empty life of the idle rich, features charming girls who marry for money and find fulfillment in relationships with poor artists. It starts darkly, turns comical, and towards the end develops as a grim drama. - Fine dialogue, fine performances.

Christmas Holiday

025933 / 16 / US / 1944 / Siodmak, Robert / thriller
Christmas Holiday / Tuli ja tuhka / Att älska så... © Universal. D: Robert Siodmak. SC: Herman J. Mankiewicz - based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham (1939). DP: Elwood Bredell. M: Hans J. Salter. Theme song: ”Always” by Irving Berlin. CAST: Deanna Durbin (Jackie Lamont / Abigail Manette), Gene Kelly (Robert Manette), Dean Harens (Charles Mason), Gale Sondergaard (äiti Manette). 93’. B&w Academy. MPAA Seal of Approval 10010. BBFC: Passed for Adult Audiences. An NFTVA print. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Saturday 21 February 1998. **** A soft, melancholy thriller, a woman’s noir spiked with sharp dialogue courtesy of W. Somerset Maugham and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It’s full of strong musical selections including ”Kyrie eleison” at the midnight mass, ”Der Liebestod”, and ”Always”. There is an unerring moody flow in the images. ”You can let go now Abigail”. The clouds part on the night sky revealing the stars in the distance as Robert dies.