Sunset Boulevard

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Sunset Boulevard is a magical yet tragic story highlighting the life of an unforgettable star, Norma Desmond. Set in 1950, this black and white film is one that will leave you speechless afterwards. This was one of the more developed movie of cinematography since silent films ended. However, it is funny that Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) was in fact, a famous silent film actress. Not only was she, but so were many other silent film actors and actresses in the movie, Buster Keaton, Anna Q Nilsson and H.B. Werner along with a real life director. This movie is still known as a story that is hard to forget, the tragic downfall of Norma Desmond and impact on pop culture.

The opening scene is unforgettable itself, seeing Sunset Boulevard plastered on a sewer on the way to a murder scene. The camera comes from underwater showing a man who has drowned with his eyes wide open and the narrator begins to tell the story. The movie begins as a flashback to six short months prior, finding out that the dead man is the narrator himself, Joe Gillis. Joe is a struggling film writer trying to escape the bank men from paying off his car. He seeks every outlet for a job, but is unsuccessful, until he stumbles into what he believes is an abandoned mansion. Little does he know, that he was about to meet a woman that would change his life forever. At first, Joe’s only purpose is to help her with her script.  Joe soon becomes Norma's bought companion that she showers with lavish gifts. But gifts only go so far, and Joe begins to realize how doomed he became the day he said he would help Norma out. A glimmer of hope is found in Betty Schaefer, who desperately needs Joe's help in finishing a script. While writing it, he soon falls in love with her wanting to escape the wrath of Norma, but we all know how that ends...death for Joe by Norma.

Norma Desmond was a woman who truly was stuck in her past. She literally lives for the fame, and looses herself to pure insanity. Throughout the movie, Norma is desperately seeking her way back in to acting. Norma knows no limits, and getting what she wants is standard. She cannot understand why she can’t get any more movies, and has no self worth. We see how sick she has become when after other suicidal attempts, she finally buys a gun to kill herself with…until she uses it to kill Joe, when he leaves her. She has no remorse and only wants her time on the big screen. It is heartbreaking to watch Norma find out she is not ageless and loose her mind to something as shallow as fame.

This movie is well known for all of its references in pop culture. One of the most quoted sentences, “I’m ready for my close up,” was spoken by the one and only Norma Desmond. Another famous one was also by her, “I am big, it’s the pictures that got small!” This movie had such an impact with its well known quotes, difficult cinematography for its time and compelling story that beckons the watchers to question the cost of fame.

Observations on the Maltese Falcon

Sometimes hard to follow, The Maltese Falcon is still able to engage the viewer with its wide variety of main characters.  The story is full of suspense and works as a mystery movie with its film noir style.  There is deceit, murder, love, and other aspects which go together to make this an interesting film.  Something revolutionary in this movie was the repeated use of long scenes throughout the film which was pretty well unheard for the time.  

The vast array of characters invoke the watcher to pay attention as their are a lot of names and faces to remember, as well as some names to forget and some faces to never know.  Sam Spade is the main character of this story and the camera follows him throughout.  After the initial establishing shots in the beginning of the film to let the watcher know the story takes place in San Francisco, Spade is introduced and after the shot of Archer, Spades partner, being killed, Sam is in every scene following that point.  Sams love interest, Ms. O'Shaughnessy, goes through two different names before Brigid O'Shaughnessy is used for the rest of the film.  When she first asks for help from Spade and Archer, Brigid uses the name Wunderly but later reveals to Sam her real name (which may not be for certain) in her room.  This shows the deciet already taking place and Sam's detective work and skill already lets him know he's being manipulated.  Thursby is character in the film which we never see his face, but he is mentioned enough and is an essential point to the story which allows the watcher to do their own bit of detective work while watching the film.

A part of the story which may confused watchers is the question of who has killed whom.  Out of the three murders in the film, two was killed by the same person while one was killed by another.  In watching the film, I believe that O'Shaughnessy is only responsible for the killing of Sam's partner Miles Archer.  The other two murders of Thursby and Captain Jacobi are due to Gutman's hired gun, Wilmer.  It's evident that Brigid is responsible for Miller's death but some believe she also killed Thursby.  This doesn't make since as why would she go to Spade and Archer for the help in tailing Thursby if she just planned on killing him.  The explanation for this is that Brigid went to Spade and Archer to get them to tail Thursby in order to scare him off.  Once this didn't work she decided to kill Miller which would make Thursby the prime suspect getting him out of the picture.  Though unexpected visitors to San Fran ruined her devious plan.  Wilmer ended up killing Thursby and after Brigid heard that Thursby had been killed she knew that Gutman was in town which is why she asked for Sam's help in shielding her.  Being in fear of Gutman is what lead to Brigid fearing for her life and giving Sam the real details of the Maltese Falcon. It is evident that Wilmer is the killer of Jacobi but some people are confused as to who killed Thursby.  It makes no since that it was Brigid as why would she ask for detectives of all people to get involved in her mess if she just planned on killing Thursby in the first place?  When Sam turns Brigid into the police he hands her over claiming here's another killer, responsible for Miller's death, but it is not said she is responsible for Thursby's death.

This being a film noir style, shadows were used throughout the film in intriguing ways which enhanced the mysterious feel of the movie.  The shadow of "Spade & Archer" is displayed in the beginning of the film which is done so in a unique way. Throughout the film, the characters shadows can be seen with the shadow of Sam in his fedora and long-coat being an iconic image consistent with many fim noir style films.

The Maltese Falcon does justice to film noir and goes further in including the watcher.  The watcher has to follow the many characters and listen to each conversation carefully.  In remembering names, faces, and information derived from the many conversations in the film, watchers of the movie are required to be a detective themselves in order to put all the plot twists together and follow the story.  That's an aspect to this film which is hard to come by.  The ability to make the watcher feel somewhat like a detective and even cooler, a film noiresque style detective can be said to the most rewarding pleasure from watching this film.

 

Views on Citizen Kane

There are many things that make Citizen Kane a great movie, but one of the most talked about things is the cinematography. The use of deep focus was something that was truly innovative for that time period. This could be seen in almost every scene, where there was a foreground, a background, and everything in between is in sharp focus. There was also a great use of low-angle shots, this was something that had not been done before because of the sound stages that Hollywood had used in movies. You can see a main example of low-angle shooting in the scene where Kane is talking to a drunk Leland after the lost election.  The use of sound stages in Hollywood up to this point, made it simpler to deal with several people being picked up by the microphones on camera. But for Citizen Kane, they basically did away with sound stages. They had more of studio editing at that point in time. But they also set it up to where they didn’t have to do that as much for certain scene. Take the low angle scenes, the directors draped the ceilings with muslin fabric, and hung the boom mics on the ceiling. They also dug trenches in the floors for the cameras to fit in for the low angles. Also anytime there was no possibility of being able to use deep focus, they would use a telephoto lens or they would use a in-camera matte shooting technique. Welles was interviewed and asked where he got the confidence to take such risks he responded “[From] ignorance...sheer ignorance. There is no confidence to equal it. It's only when you know something about a profession that you are timid or careful."

   Another aspect of the Citizen Kane was the storytelling techniques that were used throughout the movie. Kane’s life was showed in chronological order from different points of view. Showing him and other characters aged. Some call this the cinematic approach to the unreliable narrator. There was also the technique of montage to reduce time and space. Using the episodic sequence technique on the same set while the characters changed costume and make-up between cuts so that the scene following each cut would look as if it took place in the same location, but at a time long after the previous cut.  You can see a prime example of this in the breakfast montage; Welles chronicles the breakdown of Kane's first marriage in five vignettes that condense 16 years of story time into two minutes. The last aspect is the plot itself, when we as the viewers finally find out who/what rosebud are. If one were to truly think about that, it’s more than just the sleigh that was from Kane’s childhood, it would be a time when he felt he was most innocent and happy. Before money came into his life, which Kane even states in the movie by saying he would be different if he weren’t a rich man. Citizen Kane gives the viewer a lot to think about not just within the plot itself, but technologically as well. 

-Brittany

Thoughts on Chaplin's The Gold Rush

For those not exposed to Charlie Chaplin's work, or, silent film as a whole, an initial viewing of The Gold Rush (and, well, any silent movie) can be arresting, if not outright off-putting. However, if you're willing to suspend preconceived notions concerning current movie-watching habits and allow yourself to experience Chaplin's brilliance, The Gold Rush can be as moving as any "talkie." In fact, despite having zero dialogue, the comedic movie successfully conveys sweetness, excitement, and danger, while offering a much-more coherent love story than many modern movies.

While silent films are normally accompanied with a musical soundtrack, the lack of the spoken voice to convey information, the actors were required to emote via facial expressions. In the case of Chaplin, his incredible displays of physical abilities were just as important. Take, for instance, the scene where Chaplin's Lone Prospector arrives at Black Larsen's cabin. Chaplin's unmistakable physical gifts are on display a number of times, as is his ability to communicate solely with facial expressions:



Unfortunately, the scenes are from the narrated version, but the point remains...

While the accolades for The Gold Rush are numerous and well-deserved, an area of surprise was the amount of violence in the opening act of the movie. In the first 20-plus minutes, the audience sees Larsen murder two lawmen, followed closely by Larsen knocking Chaplin's film companion, Big Jim, in the head with a shovel. This is quickly followed by Larsen's own death, via an avalanche collapse. Furthermore, each of these acts are not implied. They are explicitly shown to the audience.

Of course, such acts are commonplace in today's entertainment industry and in the case of The Gold Rush's acts of violence, they would be considered downright tame, but it was still surprising to see that kind of "mature" content in movie made in 1925. Unexpected gun-play aside, the movie is celebrated for many reasons, chief among them, the dinner roll dance scene:


Such a scene only confirms Chaplin's unique brilliance.

Another aspect that stood out was the use of special effects in the cabin scene, just before Jim finds his gold. Clearly, miniatures and models were used, but it was done so with such precision, it's easy to imagine that kind of work inspiring the special effects artists who created the tornado scene in the Wizard of Oz, as well as the model makers who created George Lucas' space battles in Star Wars. It should also be noted that when these effects were first shown, there's little doubt the were considered state-of-the-art.

The use of the puppet to represent Chaplin during the penultimate scene is also a masterstroke. Again, there are examples of this kind of effects work being emulated throughout Hollywood, especially before the days of computer-generated special effects.

When you combine the technical aspects with the movie's inherent sweetness--captured wonderfully during the movie's end when Chaplin's Prospector is reunited with Georgia, who doesn't know about his newfound wealth--The Gold Rush becomes a perhaps surprisingly absorbing movie. It also represents a good start to the class movie list.

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