The Artist (2011)

It was a surprise to know a b/w silent movie could win the Best Picture award at the Academy Awards. I myself often think how they don't make good pictures as before, so it is a good thing that this tribute to silent movies era has collected so many awards. Not many dialogues in The Artist, and I feel pity to the writers who always in want of inspirations to write flowered dialogues. Not that I care much about good dialogues because 1) my English is not that good. I only pick up the essential meaning. 2) I prefer good plots over good dialogues.

I find it hard to take Jean Dujardin seriously after watching Lucky Luke, OSS 117 and Brice de Nice. I was amazed to know that he won the Academy Awards for Best Actor. I know he is a wonderful actor, but everytime I see him on screen, he is always funny; that it sounds like a joke that he won the Best Actor award :-) since usually the awards go to serious drama actors.

Fantômas?

Jean Dujardin plays George Valentin (a tribute to Rudy Valentino?). The movie begins in 1927 in Hollywoodland, when silent movies era ends. The stubborn Valentin insists to stay in the silent movie business, and as a result, his fans and his wife leave him. When the stock market crash in 1929, he lost his fortune. Meanwhile, Peppy, a young actress who once an extra in his movies, begins to step a ladder of success in talking movies. Peppy tries to help Valentin, who is too proud to receive any help. Another character worth to be mentioned is the dog, which is almost as smart as Luke the dog in Buster Keaton's films.

I think it's rather unbelievable that George Valentin's fans desert him that soon. I get an impression that he is a warranty for box office in the beginning of the movie. People come to the theatre to see him. When talking movies era begins, his movie producer replaces him with new faces; and since then only a few people come to the theatre to watch a movie he stars, produced and directed. Charlie Chaplin still made a silent movie in 1931 (City Lights) and it was a success.

Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler - Ein Bild der Zeit (1922)

This is a 4-hour silence movie directed by Fritz Lang, divided into 2 parts: Der grosse spieler and Inferno. Dr Mabuse is a master criminal and very dangerous because he is also a telepathic hypnosis. In the beginning of the movie, he makes so much money by manipulating the stock market. He is also a money counterfeiter. Therefore, he is a scary character because he doesn't do crimes for money, but to make harm. In the first part, he destroys the life of a young man named Edgar Hull. In the second part, he destroys Russian Count Told's life because he wants Countess Told. Dr Mabuse also has his nemesis: state prosecutor Wenk. Wenk encounters Dr Mabuse several times, but as Dr Mabuse is a master of disguise, it's difficult to recognize him.

The movie is called Dr Mabuse The Gambler. Beside gambling with the stock market, that is how he destroys the life of Edgar Hull and Count Told. He hypnotized them so they gamble a whole night long. He also hypnotizes his opponents, so they think they lost the game - when actually they are holding the winning cards. In the 2 pictures below, he hypnotizes Inspector Wenk, who in his investigation disguised as a gambler, so that Wenk only see the words Tsi Nan Fu - and not what's on his cards.

In my opinion, compared to Louis Feuillade's Fantômas, Dr Mabuse is better structured; perhaps because Dr Mabuse was made in later date. At least the DVD of Dr Mabuse is much better, because Fantômas has more missing and destroyed frames. Fantômas has more followers in the criminal world, yet I think Dr Mabuse is more dangerous. Fantômas is actually caught by his nemesis, Inspector Juve, at least once; while it's so hard for Wenk to catch Dr Mabuse. Wenk doesn't even know whom he is looking until the end and when he finally jails Dr Mabuse's accomplice, they are too afraid to or won't speak. Near the end, Wenk is hypnotized again by Dr Mabuse who tells him to commit suicide!

The ending is very good: Dr Mabuse lost his mind. I think if Wenk sends him to jail, he can easily hypnotize the guards to let him go.

Fantômas (1913-1914)

The DVD set contains 5 episodes about Fantômas by director Louis Feuillade. Based on popular novels at that time by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, Fantômas is a mysterious criminal who terrorize Paris. He leads Parisian street thugs and wears various disguise. Among a few people who can recognize him are: his arch enemy Inspector Juve, a young journalist named Jerôme Fandor who works for newspaper La Capitale, and his accomplish Lady Beltham.

(L-R) Juve, Fantômas, and Fandor

This series, although they are silent, I found them captivating. I guess crime stories are always cruel and merciless, it's not important when they are done. If you think criminals in 1913-1914 were not as mean and as clever as they are now, you are wrong. The plots are very good. In every episode, Fantômas does a series of nasty crimes (and he doesn't hesitate to murder), then the police try to catch him, but he always be able to escape.

I really like the stories and hoped that they were made in later date so that they had sound and more dialogues. The other versions I have seen are the ones with Jean Marais and Louis de Funès, but they are more like comedy than thriller and has been influence by James Bond movies.

Last episode in the silent series, Le Faux Magistrat, tells how Fantômas is jailed in Belgium for a murder. Inspector Juve goes there and replaces his place in jail so that Fantômas returns to France and Juve will be able to catch him in the end. I know Inspector Juve has an obsession to catch Fantômas, but I think he goes to far and that he better lets Fantômas rot in Belgium's jail. As always, Fantômas can escape from the police who tails him and he returns to France safely and commits another big crimes.

Buster Keaton The Complete Short Films

Having watched works of Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, and read documentaries about them, I knew that I had to watch works of Buster Keaton. I then saw one of his work, Seven Chances. Seven Chances was not as funny as I had expected, the first part of the movie was slow; but I enjoyed the wonderful stunts. I was not very eager to get this complete short films box-set, as I was not that crazy about Seven Chances; but I bought it anyway. I knew I would enjoy the box-set more than today's comedies.

What I didn't know, is that Buster Keaton worked with Roscoe Arbuckle in his early career. The first movies in the box-set (total 32 movies) are his collaboration with Roscoe Arbuckle and Al St John. These movies are funny and enjoyable, although they often lose focus of the plot. I love how Arbuckle threw his knife up to the air and it landed smoothly on the table. My 8 year-old niece, who loves to cook and helps her mother in our warong, enjoyed watching The Cook very much; how Arbuckle threw what he was cooking in the air and caught it again with the saucepan, and how he threw what the guests ordered and how Keaton caught it smoothly. However I told her not to practice what she had seen there. Luke the dog, who could climb ladder, amazed us.

Apart from The Cook, my personal favourite is One Week; which shows 7 first days in Buster Keaton's character's marriage. The new couple built a portable house, which didn't work well due to a sabotage by the bride's rejected lover. I like the idea of portraying a failure in building a portable house.

Compared to Charlie Chaplin & Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton's stunts are as dangerous and wonderful as Harold Lloyd, if not better. Now I know what people mean by precision when they talk about Buster Keaton. The stunts did need precision indeed. About Charlie Chaplin, although stunts in his movies were not as brave as Keaton & Lloyd, but characterization is stronger.

The box-set from Masters of Cinema contains a nice book of 184 pages with many photographs, full of discussion on Buster Keaton. I am a bit disappointed with the quality of the movies, though. I have bought DVDs from Masters of Cinema before and they are of excellent quality. And if it's a case of old movies, my Chaplin DVDs from BFI and Harold Lloyd from Studio Canal are in much better quality. It's a pity that Keaton's works have not been preserved very well. Was it because he didn't produce his own movies?

Harold Lloyd - The Definitive Collection

I only heard the name of Harold Lloyd a couple of months ago. By now I have learned that in his time he was a great name in cinema, along with Charlie Chaplin. I watched Safety Last! then and liked it very much, so I bought this box-set.

When it arrived, I surprisingly found that inside there were 4 postcard-size pictures of Marylin Monroe (taken by Harold Lloyd). One of my uncles is a big fan of her, but as I showed him the pictures, my boss saw them, too; and she wanted them for her own. So I scanned them. So I have to be satisfied with the digital version in my computer, my uncle gets the copies and my boss gets the original.

I prefer Harold Lloyd silent pictures than the talking ones. I find the dialogues are not so funny, or perhaps it's because I cannot understand what they meant. Without subtitles, it's hard to listen to word per word. On the other hand, I think that we here have different taste of humour from Americans. Silent comedy is easier to accept and that is why Mr Bean and Shaun The Sheep are very successful.

Harold Lloyd was a wonderful film-maker. I enjoy how he did dangerous stunts, and admire him more after I learned that he had lost 3 fingers on his right hand and had to wear a prosthetic glove. It is difficult to hang on balustrade of tall building, or hang from a hand of a clock; and he did it all with imperfect hand. I love to see how he hid under a hanging raincoat. He played with camera angle and timed the scene well, and if it's done well, it's great, no matter if the film was made 90 years ago. My 7 year-old niece love watching Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin. [I'm planning to get the Buster Keaton box-set.]

Screencap from The Kid Brother

Apart from Safety Last! - first impression is never forgotten - my most favourite in this box-set is The Kid Brother. When the film starts, there is this wonderful song by Carl Davis, which reminds me a lot to Loch Lomond song. The film is hilarious and I am amazed by those old version of washing machine and dishwasher. We all laughed throughout the movie and screamed when the hero was in peril. Who would have thought that a movie made in 1927 could be so exciting.