SCFZ poll: King Vidor

[flip]

Polling the films of director King Vidor

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the K Vidor films you've seen, up to a maximum of 5. So if you've seen seven of his films, for example, you can list only a top 3. It's only if you've seen ten or more of his films than you can list the maximum of five.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Tuesday, in seven days, whatever day that is

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline three days, if someone requests an extension

- next poll: whoever posts the first ballot in this thread is free to nominate the director we poll next, unless you've nominated in this round already (everyone should get a chance). Already nominated this round: brian d, greennui, ofrene, kanafani, bure, greg x, oscarwerner, silga, dt, umbugbene, roscoe, rischka, wba, thoxans, mesnalty, caracortada, joks, zulawski, nrh, evelyn, st gloede, mauries

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

one rule for nominees: at least 3 scfzers need to have seen 10+ of a nominee's films, or at least 4 scfzers need to have seen at least 8 of the nom's films, so if it isn't clear if that will be the case, we'll confirm that's true before moving forward

if 24 hours pass after a poll opens, and no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, then i'll nominate someone, and then we'll start over, and everyone will be able to nominate again

[flip]

Comrade X
Man Without a Star

seen five

[greennui]

The Patsy
Metaphor: King Vidor Meets with Andrew Wyeth
La Bohème
Duel in the Sun

Seen 8.

[mesnalty]

Seen 5:

1. The Big Parade
2. Stella Dallas

[kanafani]

The Crowd
The Big Parade
Hallelujah
Our Daily Bread
the Champ

[...]

Wedding Night
Bardelys the Magnificent
Beyond the Forest
Ruby Gentry
Stella Dallas

21 Vidors viewed

[brian d]

i’ve only seen 2

duel in the sun

[wba]

01. The Crowd

Vidor seen: 3

[rischka]

LOL@wba's new avatar!

17 vidors

the crowd
the big parade
hallelujah
show people
the patsy

sticking with mostly silents. i love duel in the sun but it's hard to assign credit there i think

[Lencho of the Apes]

The Crowd
The Big Parade
Our Daily Bread
Street Scene

[flip]

lencho - i'll just assume that you're not interested in nominating directors for now, but if you ever change your mind, feel free to suggest a director any time you post a ballot.

[Roscoe]

THE CROWD
BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT
THE PATSY
THE BIG PARADE

Can we include his uncredited sepia-tinted Kansas scenes work on THE WIZARD OF OZ (especially "Over The Rainbow" one of the glories of American art)?

[Curtis, baby]

Seen 4, kbaiiiii

[pabs]

I've only seen Duel in the Sun, so I can't vote, but here's a little info I enjoyed reading by David Thomson from his book Have You Seen...?

[rischka]

scorsese famously talks about duel as his first hollywood memory. it made a lasting impression

agree peck is much better than i expected and easily the most beautiful person in the film jj's brownface is problematic ofc

[Lencho of the Apes]

feel free

Will do. Maybe one of these days I''ll think of somebody.

[...]

The "everything overdone" idea, a common enough argument made against Vidor, is interesting because it feels to me like Vidor is one of the few directors that really didn't bother to adapt to sound exactly, at least in the sense of paring down his visual language, as just keep with the same sort of elaborate visuals of the late silent era and add sound to it. The idea that sound should serve somehow as a substitute or ameliorate the imagery by being able to say what had to be shown in silents didn't seen to really take with Vidor like it did many other directors. He kept the elaborate visuals and shaped the sound to match, excess for excess. But many who liked that kind of fullness of effort in silents don't take to it in sound films nearly as much. I guess hearing renders too concrete the ideas and feelings that image only can suggest or something, but that isn't how I tend to think of it myself, so it's hard to say what bothers people exactly other than there being "too much".

[eleanor]

Absolutely gonna play catch up for this. I've seen 3 so far but I'm abstaining from voting for the time being

[St. Gloede]

Seen 23:

The Crowd
Street Scene
The Fountainhead
The Champ
Show People

[St. Gloede]

I am surprised no one else nominated The Fountainhead ... It is such a delicously ludicrous film, brilliantly directed, forceful and sexy performance and just all-around an experience to be remembered.

[Caracortada]

Seen 6. He directed some big historical dramas with great acting performances.

1. Duel in the Sun
2. Solomon and Sheba
3. War and Peace

[oscarwerner]

Seen 9. Not my favorite director, but very solid.
1-The Fountainhead (1949)
2- Beyond the Forest (1949)
3-Man Without a Star (1955)
4- Duel in the Sun (1946)-i know it`s a very funny bad movie, but i still remember it from my childhood. I liked G.Peck and western genre. Seems my love is similar to what Martin Scorsese said about this picture in documentary film about American cinema.

[Umbugbene]

Seen 14, including The Wizard of Oz

1. The Wizard of Oz [conditional vote... reject it if you think it's inappropriate]
2. Wild Oranges
3. Bardelys the Magnificent

[flip]

Can we include his uncredited sepia-tinted Kansas scenes work on THE WIZARD OF OZ (especially "Over The Rainbow" one of the glories of American art)?

my general rule has always been (and probably always will be, unless people start voting for robocop in a tarkovsky poll) - voters can decide what they think counts and what they think doesn't. i haven't seen the wizard of oz since i was a kid, and don't know what vidor did for it, but if it people think it belongs in this poll, i'll count their votes.

at the same time, it would be a bit weird if the top-ranked film in our poll was something vidor wasn't even credited on. maybe vidor did a lot on the wizard, i don't know anything about it, but hopefully people will take into account the size of his contribution to the film.

[Umbugbene]

According to the IMDb he only contributed to the Kansas scenes. Of course they're an essential part of the movie, but I don't know whether I think my vote for Oz is fair. I'm not super-enthusiastic about any other films he made.

[Mysterious Dude]

I've seen 14.

1. Hallelujah
2. The Big Parade
3. Street Scene
4. The Crowd
5. Bardelys the Magnificent

[Roscoe]

my general rule has always been (and probably always will be, unless people start voting for robocop in a tarkovsky poll) - voters can decide what they think counts and what they think doesn't. i haven't seen the wizard of oz since i was a kid, and don't know what vidor did for it, but if it people think it belongs in this poll, i'll count their votes.

at the same time, it would be a bit weird if the top-ranked film in our poll was something vidor wasn't even credited on. maybe vidor did a lot on the wizard, i don't know anything about it, but hopefully people will take into account the size of his contribution to the film.

Fair enough. Not sure what I'll do.

[flip]

I've seen 14.

mysterious dude - you can pick the director we poll next if you want!

[Mysterious Dude]

mysterious dude - you can pick the director we poll next if you want!

How about F.W. Murnau? Might be a long shot -- I've only seen ten myself.

[Umbugbene]

I have 12 Murnaus. Good choice... hard to believe that wouldn't work.