Jerman Fest, Metropolis and all that jazz

Last saturday night, i went to the opening of German Cinema which was a part of Jerman Fest events (or German Season, as they called it for our foreigners friends, or Deutsche Saison in German) at Taman Ismail Marzuki. 

Which at Jerman Fest, there will be a lot of cultural programs and workshops like music, arts, cinemas, literature, sports and lots of it starts from September to December this year.

Jerman Fest begins with screening of the famous silents, Metropolis (1927) along with live film orchestra by Babelsberg from Germany. Featuring the 25 minutes missing footage which were discovered in Argentina. BOY. As in we're all in year 1927 of Metropolis movie premiere.

Or at least, it almost felt like. Because the orchestra was playing inside the theatre while the public screening was outdoor. They used speakers so the outdoor audience could hear the sound also.

I was totally bummed, i had no idea about this. People who watched it in the theatre probably VIP guests and media. or maybe blogger too. I don't know. maybe if i work hard enough writing on this blog maybe i could become one notable film blogger specialise in classic films. I mean, i can't even find any Indonesian ever write about classic film. A girl can dream but....

Damn it i just want a screening with live film score in front of me!

(yeah but at least i can scratch it off my bucket list, with compromise..)

there goes the spirit of Cher Horowitz

So, this was not my first Fritz Lang, but it was my first time watching Metropolis. And i too, love the open air cinema. And (still) lucky me, with live-on-speaker film score played by the marvellous Babelsberg film orchestra from Germany, the sensation was quite priceless. The Babelsberg film orchestra did a very good job on the score. I got chills down my spine the first time the movie began. Even though they broadcast the music through speaker for the public audience, in every echo of the timpani, in every stroke of the violin, the Filmorchester Babelsberg successfully bring the movie come to life.

The story 

Metropolis had wide views of the story. Metropolis was a town who run by the hands of working class, ten hours a day below the ground. The working class themselves was visualised with a stiff movement while working with the machine, as if they were part of it. One day, the city mastermind's son, Freder (Gustav Fröhlich), saw young woman named Maria (Brigitte Helm) at the children's club who brought along the worker's children to see the lives of the children of the privileged. Freder was stunned with her presence and rushes to the workers city in attempt to find her. instead he was lost to the machine room and saw the explosion. Freder runs to his father, Joh Frederson (Alfred Abel) and tell him about the news. His foreman, Grot hands a paper of a blueprint found from the dead worker's pocket. Frederson was raged, he sent away his assistant, Josaphat, because he had failed him to inform the accident instead heard it from his son. 

Joh Frederson, not knowing about this, He go to the mad scientist named rotwang's place and consult about the blue print. Rotwang tells about his new invention, the Maschinenmensch (Machine Man), to resurrects the woman he love, Hel, who left him for frederson and later died for giving birth to Freder. 

Rotwang took him underground, and eavesdropping the secret meeting held by Maria and the workers.

The flipped out Joh Frederson ask rotwang to make the Maschinenmensch look like Maria to break the worker's trust in Maria. But instead, Rotwang command the Maschinenmensch to destroy Joh Frederson, and his son. Which later turns to be a lusty robot woman who tear the town in two.      

It's amazing to think that this film was made in 1927, not just the visuals but the way the story was told and constructed into one solid film that rich with values and influences which were ahead than any other film at the time. Metropolis uses two biblical references as the spine of the story. One is the tower of babel refers to the city itself. The movie begins with the landscape of metropolis with particular music score that wanted to show the audience the great city of Metropolis. Just like a tower of babel who were built to show power. Second, is the whore of the babel, refers to the robot imposes as Maria.  

Filmmaking is never easy not then and not ever. Fritz Lang asked for a six thousand extras to shoot as workers, but in the end, there was only like 1000. They had to use a lot of creativity to achieve the special effects which were later produced so many iconic scenes of metropolis.

This film is the most expensive films ever made at the time. 

Fritz Lang didn't fancy the movie later on and wasn't appreciated that much because he wasn't think about the consequences (when he create Metropolis) to audience with the ongoing political situation.

Well, he's making a movie about the falls of a great city, a working class riot (minus the robot), a futuristic ideas in 1927. People can't deal just yet with his idea. With the raging war and everything of course leading countries of the world flipped out and says that this film's a wuss. The New York Times called it a "technical marvel with feet of clay". H. G. wells accussed it of foolishness, cliché, platitude, and muddlement about mechanical progress and progress in general."

He found the message is too cliche, the mediator of the head and the hand must be the heart. And he's not sure that Thea von Harbou's is still in it anymore.  

"The main thesis was Mrs. Von Harbou's, but I am at least 50 percent responsible because I did it. I was not so politically minded in those days as I am now. You cannot make a social-conscious picture in which you say that the intermediary between the hand and the brain is the heart. I mean, that's a fairy tale – definitely. But I was very interested in machines. Anyway, I didn't like the picture – thought it was silly and stupid – then, when I saw the astronauts: what else are they but part of a machine? It's very hard to talk about pictures—should I say now that I like Metropolis because something I have seen in my imagination comes true, when I detested it after it was finished?

taken from wiki

conclusion 

My professor in University once said, it takes time for an art to be understood by the people, a film could made at a time and not succeed at all. Some take 10, 20 or 30 years for audience to actually realised the beauty of it and appreciate the arts. Which was true, sometimes society couldn't accept the idea just yet.

But many years later, etropolis was praised as a genius work of art, a breakthrough in filmmaking. And it has inspired a lot of filmmakers nowadays in their work. The mediator of the head and the hand must be the heart, of course it's fairytale. But if Fritz Lang made the film without von Harbou's thesis, maybe metropolis will sink to the ground, or maybe there will be revolutions for the working class, anything will make a whole different movie than what it is now, or maybe this great film noir will never exists. 

and everytime i type Maria, my head playing Maria by Blondie 

(photos taken from : http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/behind-the-scenes-photos-of-metropolis-with-robots-and-1593769945)

Singin' In The Rain (1952)

It has been raining cats and dogs here,  in Jakarta. well, i guess i've found my mood to do another writing about my top ranked favorite musical films : Singin' In The Rain, yay!

The Movie was voted as the highest ranked musical in 10th Greatest Film of all time by Entertaintment Weekly. and yes, i've got to agree with this one. Anyhow, the song "Singin' in The Rain" the one who sung by Gene Kelly, was recorded at the same date on my birthday, June 5th! Hooray!

Singin' In The Rain has a nice story with terrific scores and remarkable dance sequence, wrapped with an epic punchline and strongly played character. 

I might say that besides gene kelly's superb choreography (well, of course, he's amazing) Singin' In The Rain wouldn't be complete without Jean Hagen who played Lina Lamont! 

She had this shrill, annoying screeched voice. And also very, very dumb. My favorite villain.

Gene Kelly was co star with Donald O' Connor, played Cosmo, and Debbie Reynolds who played as Kathy Selden.  I read some of the facts about Singin' In The Rain, and it said that Debbie Reynolds have had a hard time to learned the choreography, Fred Astaire who's on the same set is the one who help her with the dance.

Some also said that she can't sing, that her voice was dubbed by Jean Hagen who played Lina Lamont, and correct me if i'm wrong, they both were dubbed over their role's voice!

So, Debbie was dubbed the screeches voice of Lina Lamont's singing in Would You, while Kathy Selden's part in "Would You" supposedly Debbie singing, was dubbed by Betty Noyes who has far greater voices than she did. And the idea of the movie was that Kathy dubbed all of Lina Lamont's voices in the film of the film while Lina is actually dubbed Kathy's part in this actual film. huh 

Later Debbie Reynold said that Singin' In the Rain and childbirth are the two hardest things in her life. And the child she gave birth to was Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia Organa. Whoa! 

Another amazing things about this film was the high difficulty of the choreography combined with only one take, continuous shot of the actors dancing through the numbers like in "Make Em Laugh" and "Singin' In The Rain". I noticed that "Make Em Laugh" was a crazy full of energy and cosmo's eyes is soooo blue. while "Singin' In The Rain" was giving me a very happy feeling from the first time i watched it. 

Singin' In The Rain story line was based on the music scores and numbers,so they add the plot later. But, they actually did a great job in script writing. Singin' In The Rain got a plenty of epic line : 

But the best thing about this film was the finale. I almost cry when Kathy turned away after Don (Gene Kelly) shouted from the stage 

"Ladies and Gentlemen stop that girl, that girl running on the aisle! stop her! That's the girl whose voiced you heard and loved tonight, she's the real star of the picture! Kathy Selden!" 

and then they sing "You Are My Lucky Star" in the finale. Even though, her voice were dubbed, but the ending sure is the best of Debbie Reynolds. Ah.

sorry!

so sorry for been gone to long and right now, i'm working on a new post(s) and a new look for the blog. i have my movie stock, my laptop and my love of black and white films to keep this blog alive. technicolor-escapade might not much a keeper for those hungry readers and/or other films reviewer. 

maybe i'm just another diletantte of writing, but i'll try my best to write good.

love, 

R

An American In Paris (1951)

Another good musical from the 50’s i enjoy is An American in Paris. Well, what can i say? The song was written by Gershwin brothers and the dancing part was coreograph by Gene Kelly himself. Directed by Vincente Minelli. Well, compared to another Kelly’s movie like Singing in The Rain (well, i love that one too) there are some parts from An American in Paris is better than Singing in the Rain. Well i actually confused which one is better because both were toooo good! 

Henri, Jerry and Adam do a number By Strauss

The movie opens with a lines from each of the male character perspective, telling about themselves. Jerry Mulligan the painter, Adam Cook the pianist and then Henri Baurel the gentlemen.  The director had a persistence way in telling each of the changes of perspective yet,  it all come back to 3rd person’s view.  Gene Kelly played as  Jerry Mulligan, the leading character. I always remember his first line : “This is Paris. And i’m an american who lives here”.  Jerry was an ex G.I. When the war is over he decided to stay in Paris to become a painter.  An American In Paris had few good lines like : “Brother if you can’t paint in Paris, you better give up and marry the boss’ daughter”  or “Let’s just say I’m old enough to know what to do with my young feelings”.  

But this one’s probably the best :

“I don’t want you to discuss my work, i’m not interested in your opinion of my work. If you say something nice it won’t make me feel any better, if you don’t it’ll bother me. Thank you. Good day.”

- Jerry Mulligan

Alright so, back to the plot. For short, the three man met at the cafe below Jerry’s apartment. Jerry was introduced to Henri by Adam. Jerry was on his way to sell his painting, later he met a gal and managed to get to know her. Her name is Lise,  she was 19 year old in the movie. Boy i’m 19 ._.  Lise was played by Leslie Caron. I really like her face and her dancing. Jerry didn’t know at the time that Lise was actually Henri’s fiancee. He was devastated when he knew Lise was going to leave him.  

ever meet a folks trying get to know you this hard? nah, don't think so

The Musical Number

Compared to Singin’ In The Rain, An American in Paris might have a too much portion of musical number in the movie (except for the An American in Paris ballet in the finale) that could make you boring.  But it all pay off with songs from Gershwin brothers plus Kelly’s Coreograph in “By Strauss”, “Our Love is Here to Stay”,  “I Got My Gal (who can ask for anything more)”, “S’ Wonderful” etc. The best number i think was the duet ballet in "Our Love is Here to Stay". Leslie Caron was just perfect in playing her character. 

and then sealed it..... with a kiss 

An American In Paris Ballet

This one’s is probably the best feature to put in the finale. I love the fact that it was captured beautifully so the audience can enjoy the show like we’re watching a ballet show live not through a motion picture.  The plot for the ballet itself was actually quite random because it didn’t have an actual story behind it. It was just Jerry’s fantasy when Lise leave him for Henri. So yes, it was random. But beautifully random. 

Jerry and Lise in silhoutte

here's a link to see An American In Paris Ballet 

La Strada (1954)

i suddenly wanna write about 1954 La Strada, an italian classic when one of my friend ask me whether i knew any european films with a patriachy in its story. well, little did i know patriarchy is about male dominations over women which been rooted in a society throughout time all over the world. Directed by Frederico Fellini, La Strada tells the story about a heartbreaking girl named Gelsomina (Giulletta Massina) whose been forced to come with her sister's husband, Zampano to help with his work. While he give 10.000 lire to Gelsomina's mother in exchange. Zampano's is a solo street performer, later he join with the circus. In other words, Gelsomina's mother had sold her daughter to a circus man. 

poor Gelsomina

Nah, i'm not gonna rip the whole story here. But i think, La Strada is the best examples of european films. Being black and white is just a bonus. La Strada means The Road, in English. The theme song was beautiful too, especially the Trumpet solo part. Of course, Nino Rota wrote that symphony. Every single things were in the right composition to present a one melancholy motion picture at a time.

 Gelsomina's playing the La Strada theme song

So, where's the patriarchy?

The whole films were about Zampano's domination over Gelsomina. Whether its about his job which he could loose a hooked chain with his only chest, which, caused him a big ego of a strong man. The leading lady character too was weak and had a lost, confused look on her face all the time. She runaway once, but when Zampano found her, he beat her. Gelsomina's twice had a clean opportunity to runaway from Zampano, but she decided to stay. Not because she's afraid, but she's remembered what her dear friend Il "Matto" from circus said Zampano wants to keep her, because she must be good at something. 

The loveliest scene

Gelsomina eventually stays with Zampano, hoping for a romance along the way. She never realize that the only one she got was Il "Matto" until he died when he's got in a fight with Zampano. In the end, Zampano left her in a side of the road in a cold winter because she's feeling too depressed after Il Matto's dead. She didn't want to eat again, she's just keep saying "Il Matto, he's dead" over and over again when Zampano tries to talk to her. 

The Ending

The ending scene was powerful. The movie ends with sad and drunk older Zampano, walk from the restaurant all the way to the beach in the night. He already knew that Gelsomina was dead five years ago. He walks toward the sea, wash his face and then drop himself in the sand. His look was kinda precious, the moment before he cries. It makes you wondering what's in his mind. I'd love to think that he hear the sound Gelsomina's playing the theme song with her trumpet. Even though its actually the waves.

older, regretful Zampano

Five Came Back

finally i have time to write again! yeay!

alright, so recently, i just watched 1939 Five Came Back, directed by John Farrow starring Lucille Ball, Chester Morris and Wendy Barrie 

five came back

Twelve passenger that were heading to panama city by plane, got crashed somewhere in south america. The story began with telling a short background of each and every passenger a moment before they get on the plane. The twelve passenger are a runaway couple (Alice and Judson), an elderly couple professor (Henry) and his wife (Martha), a gangster's son (Tommy) and his escort (Pete), a woman with bad reputation (Peggy), a man (Crimp) bringing a criminal (Vasquez) for extradited. and the pilot (Bill) the co-pilot (Joe) and the steward (Larry)

The story began with telling a short background of each and every passenger a moment before they get on the plane. Bill tell the passengers that a murderer, Vasquez, were joining in the flight for extradition under Crimp's supervision. And then the storm is coming and the plane crashed in a middle of a jungle in Amazon. The plane were damaged real bad. for 23 days, the 12 passenger learned how to survive, until.. the plane are finished in repairing and  it is time for them to leave. But only 5 can.

During their stay in Amazon, the twelve passenger were live together and the experience has changed each of them for better, but Judson. Meanwhile, they hear a sound of a drum for days from the local tribe. The professor said that it's still okay if the drum stops, that means they ready to attack. if they found the target alive, they will torture them. Pete and Crimp were killed by the local tribe.

at the end of the story, when the drum stops, Vasquez snatch Bill's gun and said that he had to decide who's going into the plane and who doesn't because he himself are no good for returning since he's a dead man. as soon as the engine starts, he choose Bill, Joe, Peggy, Tommy and Alice to get on a plane. Henry and  Martha were staying because they said that they have lived their life. Judson is angry because Vasquez didn't pick him and he ended up shot by Vasquez's gun. Vasquez told professor that the gun still got three bullets left, but he's lying. He shot professor and his wife and wait for his life to be taken by the tribe.

When you watch this movie, you'll think that Vasquez is a con man, because 1) he's a criminal. 2) because he snatch a gun to threat people so many times. Well, he is not.

This 75 minutes of a tense drama can bring the (now) audience (like me) to feel the horror, the situations. But unfortunately the part before the story enters the conflict is too long. But, Joseph Calleia's acting could be consider as an  apology for it ;) He's a one good actor by playing Vasquez the criminal.

here's one of my favorite :

"Hanging is such an unpleasant death. Besides a hanged man always dies alone. I much prefer dying in the company in a decent citizens like you. Always provided i'm the last to die. So don't try to stop me"

Joseph Calleia

Lucille Ball, of course

for the record, i only write for my own sake. so i'm not gonna write about the whole cast, the award they receiving, or the rating i give. because you can find that on websites like imdb, rotten tomatoes, and et cetera. meh, it's just a view from a classics freak like me =)  so, ciao!

the opening

hi!

salute to all of the classics lover from all over the world!

yep, for the love of the vintage (and despite of having a 2 days off from college and stuffs)  i finally made this blog come true ;)

here i'll write about almost anything and everything i know, about the good ol' movies, stars, and maybe musics too from the era below the 1980's. 

it might take a little while till i write my first-non introductory-post, cause the 3rd term is so dang busy at the time. 

ps : i don't even feel sorry for my french. 

ciao!