SCFZ

This Epstein cat sure is strong on the visuals and there are some marvelous sequences here, but I always have the same thought while watching his films: wish the story wasn't so trite.

Hard to explain what it is about Epstein that rubs me the wrong way - too much too obvious striving after "poetry" perhaps? It couldn't just have been the banality of the photoplay though, cos a lot of films of equivalent depth I enjoy very much, some are even favorites...

Saw a silent with similar thin & cliched story only a few days before this, Borzage's Lucky Star, also about a naive poor girl who loves the good feller but is foiled by parents and the bad feller who tries to snatch her away - it even has a frantic cripple racing against the clock at the end too! - but I thought Borzage's film terrific and Epstein's film far less successful. Might have to do with the casting as well: Epstein casts a rather sinisterlooking woman and a man who looks a bit like Jean Gabin sans the intelligence, where Borzage has Gaynor and Farrell...

It'll still make the final list cos I've still got less than 20 seen for 1923, but like Finis Terrae I expected to like it more than I did.

Lubitsch influenced or not? by A Woman of Paris heated exchange here:

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1981/0 ... -lubitsch/

I just finished Joseph McBride's book, How Did Lubitsch Do It? and it followed MacDonald in using those same quotes to claim influence, while also downplaying something of the extent of it. So, not unexpectedly it seems that Lubitsch writers/fans are going to try and steer a middle course, acknowledging while minimizing.

It seems like the real throw down debates Lubitsch fans get into happen with Cukor fans, each claiming their guy is the one more responsible for One Hour With You.

Starting in on my 1923 viewing. Best of luck to my fellow champs trying to scale ever-ballooning watchlists

i haven't been able to watch a film in over a week. i may have hysterics at someone. and i still have films from 1951 to catch up on (some polls back), or to be honest, still catching up from 1929, and did we do that in 2016? going to sit the next few year polls out (ie not watch new stuff) otherwise i'll go mad.

Very understandable — I am loving the communal/structured-viewing benefits of these polls, but it's a mixed blessing in that it can add a layer of stress to one's leisure time or risk turning all-consuming... À propos de The Big Swallow.

i got a little burnt on silent films but i'll watch a few more before this is over probably

Eld ombord (The Hell Ship)
+
La maison du mystère (The House of Mystery)
La roue (The Wheel)
Safety Last!
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
+
Adam's Rib
Alma de Dios (Soul of God)
Coeur fidèle (The Faithful Heart)
Gunnar Hedes saga (The Blizzard)
Krasnye dyavolyata (Little Red Devils)
Merry-Go-Round
Rosita
Scaramouche
Souls for Sale
The Chechahcos
The Covered Wagon
The Ten Commandments
The White Rose
The White Sister
Within the Law

To see before the deadline
Erdgeist
Zaza

Wanted
Mälarpirater

Just finished La légende de soeur Béatrix. No masterpiece, and I must confess I lost the thread of the plot a couple times even though it's fairly straightforward, it feels as though it's in a fragmentary form? — but still something about it feels very nifty, even haunting, between the nunsploitation (well, convent-themed) images and the tinting and the rain. As Lencho put it "individual shots just sing." Thanks, too, to Lencho for making the excellent subs, which allowed me to see a film I'd never have discovered otherwise!

A Woman of Paris

Hell Ship aka Fire Onboard
Our Hospitality
Scaramouche
Gunnar Hedes Saga
Safety Last
The Covered Wagon
The Street (Grune)
A Couple of Down and Outs
Geneviève (Léon Poirier)
The Faithful Heart
Three Ages
Iron Wills (Brunius)
The Legend of Sister Beatrix
The Balloonatic


If I see any more before deadline will add above.

A couple of '23 snow movies, if Bure is still in the market:
North Of Hudson Bay - John Ford (40 minutes/incomplete, but good print. Starring Tom Mix)
Where The North Begins - Chester Franklin (print quality's dodgy, starring Rin Tin Tin.)
The Grub Stake - Nell Shipman, Canada

Didn't get to see as much I wanted to, still missing some of the major hits of the year, but with schoolwork ahead I should probably call it done for now on '23 viewing. Seen 24, but only two jump out as ones I'd consider true favourites.

1. The Pilgrim (Chaplin)
-- Safety Last (Lloyd)

final list:

1. la roue (gance)

safety last! (newmeyer, taylor)
our hospitality (blystone, keaton)
a woman of paris (chaplin)
why worry? (newmeyer, taylor)
the love nest (cline, keaton)
the smiling madame beudet (dulac)
coeur fidele (epstein)
the pilgrim (chaplin)
the covered wagon (cruze)
crime and punishment (weine)
rhythm 21 (richter)
rhythm 23 (richter)
glumov's diary (eisenstein)

coeur fidele
os lobos
our hospitality
the hellship
la roue
the smiling madame beudet
the hunchback of notre dame
scaramouche
safety last!
souls for sale
l'auberge rouge
frozen hearts
the love nest
erdgeist
die strabe
warning shadows

(just in case) final list:

our hospitality (keaton)
coeur fidèle (epstein)
the wolves [os lobos] (lupo)
the smiling madame beudet (dulac)
merry go round (stroheim)
women of the beira (lupo)
three ages (keaton)
le brasier ardent (mosjoukine)
the ancient law (dupont)
la roue (gance)
return to reason (ray)
a woman of paris (chaplin)*
warning shadows (robison)*

still to see:
eld ombord (sjöström)

Final list:

1. Coeur Fidele (Epstein)

A Woman of Paris (Chaplin)
The Smiling Madame Beudet (Dulac)
Our Hospitality (Keaton and Blystone)
Three Ages (Keaton and Cline)
Safety Last! (Newmeyer and Taylor)

Final:


A Woman Of Paris - Chaplin

Anna Christie
L'Auberge Rouge
Coeur Fidele - Epstein
The Covered Wagon - Cruze
Defying Destiny
East Side West Side
The Hell Ship -
Hunchback Of Notre Dame
INRI -
La Legende De Soeur Beatriz - de baroncelli
Os Lobos - Lupo
Our Hospitality
Raskolnikow/Crime And Punishment - Wiene
Retour A La Raison - Man Ray
La Roue - Gance
Scaramouche - Ingram
La Souriante madame Beudet -
Die Strasse - Grune
White Tiger - Browning

Evelyn wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2019 8:26 pm only two jump out

Looks as though you take that 'true favorites' thing much more literally than anyone else does. Maybe I should rewrite that text I inherited.

Phew, only seen a meagre 14 films from this year, according to imdb...

Anyways, here are the masterpieces:

Final list

01. Schatten "Warning Shadows" (Arthur Robison, Germany)
02. Our Hospitality (John G. Blystone/Buster Keaton, USA)
03. The Shock (Lambert Hillyer, USA)
04. It's a Gift (Hugh Fay, USA)

Cœur fidèle (Jean Epstein, 1923)

Our Hospitality (John G. Blystone, Buster Keaton, 1923)
The Smiling Madame Beudet (Germaine Dulac, 1923)
A Woman of Paris (Charlie Chaplin, 1923)
Three Ages (Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton, 1923)
Return to Reason (Man Ray, 1923)
Safety Last! (Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor, 1923)
The Pilgrim (Charlie Chaplin, 1923)

Poll closes in about five hours.

Lencho_of_the_Apes wrote: ↑Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:55 am

Evelyn wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2019 8:26 pm only two jump out

Looks as though you take that 'true favorites' thing much more literally than anyone else does. Maybe I should rewrite that text I inherited.

Lol true, I should probably be setting myself a minimum number of slots (<20 but >2) I have to fill, so I don't wind up with such sparse years henceforth.

My votes.

Cœur fidèle (Jean Epstein, 1923)

Our Hospitality (John G. Blystone, Buster Keaton, 1923)
The Smiling Madame Beudet (Germaine Dulac, 1923)
A Woman of Paris (Charlie Chaplin, 1923)
News item (Claude Autant-Lara, 1923)
Merry-Go-Round (Von Stroheim, 1923)

cuando cuando cuando

Caray, I thought I posted it. THREE HOURS AGO. Just a second...

1
Our Hospitality

2
Coeur Fidele - Epstein

3
La Souriante madame Beudet -

4
La Roue - Gance

5
A Woman Of Paris - Chaplin

6
Warning Shadows

7
The Hell Ship -
Retour A La Raison - Man Ray

9
The Covered Wagon - Cruze
The Three Ages -

11
Le Brasiere Ardent
Os Lobos - Lupo
Merry-Go-Round
The Pilgrim
Scaramouche - Ingram

16
Fait-Divers - Claude Autant-Lara
Hunchback Of Notre Dame
Souls For Sale
gunnar hede's saga
Rhythmus 21 (Hans Richter)
Die Strasse - Grune

22
The Extra Girl
House of Mystery (Volkoff)
Raskolnikow/Crime And Punishment - Wiene

25 - 34
the ancient law (dupont)
L'Auberge Rouge
frozen hearts
It's A Gift
La Legende De Soeur Beatriz - de baroncelli
The Love Nest
Rhythmus 23 (Hans Richter)
The Shock -
Ten Commandments - de Mille
Why Worry

Solid results, especially given that it is the year I'm honestly least happy with (considering all years from 1920 to present). Thanks for hosting.

Not seen Fait-Divers, Frozen Hearts, La Legende De Soeur Beatriz or It's A Gift.