Flickers in Time

Gloria
Directed by John Cassavetes
Written by John Cassavetes
1980/US
Columbia Pictures
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Phil Dawn: I am the man. I am the man. I am the man, do you hear me? I am the man! I am the man! Not you, you’re not the man! Do you hear me? I’ll do anything I can. I am the man!

Instead of watching the next DW Griffith on the List, I picked a movie I knew I would like.  And I liked it even better than I remembered!

The setting is New York City.  Gloria (Gina Rowlands) is a friend and neighbor to the Dawn family.  She happens to come over to borrow some coffee while the family is waiting in terror for mob hitmen. Accountant Jack Dawn (Buck Henry) has been skimming from the top of the organization’s earnings and, worse, has kept a record of its finances in a secret book.  Gloria very reluctantly agrees to take the family’s six-year-old son Phil (John Adames).  Dad gives Phil the book, believing it will provide for the boy’s future.  This could not be further from the truth.  Gloria and Phil, the only surviving Dawn, are on the run from hitmen for the remainder of the story.

Gloria doesn’t like kids and Phil is quite a handful.  They spar throughout.  It turns that she was formerly the mob boss’s moll and knows just exactly how ruthless it is.  The same history has left her mighty handy with a gun and she is not hesitant to use it.

The incredible Oscar-nominated performance of Gena Rowlands as the pistol-packing heroine is an excellent reason to watch. She manages to be tough and tender, sometimes at the same time.  I had forgotten most of the details and enjoyed this all over again. It is violent but oh so amusing. It’s not the usual Cassavetes fare but you can still detect the hand of a master filmmaker.

Within Our Gates
Directed by Oscar Micheaux
Written by Oscar Micheaux
1920/US
Micheaux Book and Film Company
IMDb page
First viewing?/YouTube

Jasper’s Wife: Justice! Where are you? Answer me! How long? Great God almighty, How Long?

The earliest known surviving film directed by an African-American is kind of a mixed bag.

School teacher Sylvia Landry is a proper, educated lady who is visiting the North to unite with the soldier she is engaged to.  She is duped by her trashy friend who wants Sylvia’s man for herself and coveted by the hussy’s criminal brother.  Her engagement is destroyed by these two and she returns to the South.

Sylvia gets more bad news when she returns.  The school she teaches in is running out of money due to the many children seeking an education and the Government’s failure to provide funding for them.  So Sylvia heads back North again to raise money.  In the process she is robbed by a Black scoundrel and rescued by a kindly Black idealist.  Later, she is hit by a car bearing a wealthy White philanthropist, who decides after much dilly dallying to save the school.  But nothing but sorrow awaits Sylvia when she returns home due to the perfidy of ignorant Blacks and racist Whites.

This is an interesting film that gives us a peek at what people of color were suffering 100 years ago.  It’s not particularly great however.  In fact, it features many stereotypical characters played by people who seem to have attended the Stepin Fetchit School of Acting.  Of course, most of the Whites are just as bad,  The story also suffers from a slow pace and melodramatic tone.  But I’m very glad to have caught up with it.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
Directed by Robert Wiene
Written by Carl Meyer and Hans Janowitz
1920/Germany
Decla-Bioscop AG
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube

Francis: You fools, this man is plotting our doom! We die at dawn! He is Caligari!

I had forgotten how groundbreaking this film is.

Two young friends are in love with the same woman.  A carnival comes to town.  One of the main attractions is Dr. Caligari and his somnambulant slave Cesare (Conrad Viedt), who can predict the future when wakened by the good doctor. Cesare tells one of the friends he will not live to see the next dawn.

Cesare’s prediction comes true.  The surviving friend spends the rest of the story trying to get the goods on Caligari.  But things are not as they seem …

This has the distinct expressionist style of the German Weimar films and was one of the first horror films.  I really like the theatrical sets and the stylized acting.

Broken Blossoms (or the Yellow Man and the Girl)
Directed by D.W. Griffith
Written by D.W. Griffith from a story by Thomas Burke
1919/US
D.W. Griffith Productions
Repeat viewing/YouTube

Lucy Burrows: What makes you so good to me, Chinky?

This film is lifted above the usual drek by Lillian Gish’s exquisite performance.

The story takes place in the Lime House district of London.  Lucy Burrows (Gish) is a poor teenage waif who is constantly terrorized by her abusive drunkard boxer father Battling Burrows (Donald Crisp).  Cheng Huan (Richard Barthelmess) is a sensitive Chinese immigrant who came to America to spread the Buddha’s teachings.  He is now disillusioned.

Both the Girl and the Yellow Man experience chaste happiness after Fate brings them together.  But Fate had more than happiness in mind.

This is miles ahead of Griffith’s previous efforts.  It is Lillian Gish’s exquisite performance that lifts the film to the next level. That closet scene is unforgettable!

The film was made as part of the director’s continuing attempt to make up for the racism in The Birth of a Nation (1915).  He did not quite succeed in my opinion.  The Chinese are portrayed sympathetically but it’s all stereotypical and somewhat ham-handed.  Richard Barthelmess’s portrayal does not help.  Donald Crisp is quite convincing in this.