The Price of Paranoia
THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE
The cinema of paranoia had its origins, not in the bleak political thrillers of the '70s, but all the way back in Weimar Germany as it made a transition to Hitler's rule. Social decadence plus governmental repression apparently leads to psychological states of fear, both rational and irrational. German cinema of the '20s and '30s, especially in the films of Fritz Lang, posited ruthless masterful figures bent on world domination for its own sake — yet these characters themselves were inspired by French silent serials and pulp fiction from all over.
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Dr. Mabuse, based on a character created by novelist Norbert Jacques, became Lang's Lector. He returned to him frequently in his career. Mabuse was a super criminal mastermind, launching big schemes whose goal was immediate chaos seemingly without any necessary profit. His nemesis in THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE is commissioner Lohmann, also a carry over from another Lang film, in this case from M, the immediate predecessor to this, Lang's last German film before fleeing the country to France, and then eventually to America. Dr. Mabuse first appeared in the two-part, silent DR. MABUSE THE GAMBLER, where he was played (as here) by Rudolph Klein-Rogge (later a Nazi sympathizer) in what was Lang's first real hit. By the time of TESTAMENT, Mabuse is in the insane asylum, where he has spoken for years, but scribbles diatribes on endless sheets of paper. Supervising him is Dr. Baum (Oskar Beregi), who falls under the sway of Mabuse's writings, and seems possessed by the spirit of the mastermind, who dies quietly off screen, a rather anticlimactic end for the world class criminal.
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But that's the way things work in Lang's world. As in contemporary tales of paranoia such as THE X-FILES, the official agents of order and control are helpless. A larger force rules everything, and the police are simply equally misguided players on a stage they don't understand, always arriving late, always putting things together well after the fact. Lohmann does very little in TESTAMENT, ending up a parody of the efficient detective.
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As David Kalat points out in his informative audio commentary to the film, and echoing what Tom Gunning asserts in his expansive and detail treatment of Lang in THE FILMS OF FRITZ LANG: ALLEGORIES OF VISION AND MODERNITY, TESTAMENT is really about communication. Or, rather, the failure of communication. TESTAMENT is a symphony of messages that are cut short, inexplicable, or learned too late to save anyone. The most famous example concerns the name Mabuse written on a windowpane by one of his victims. But because he was standing with his back to it, the victim wrote the word upside down and backwards, imposing translation impedimenta to the police. This is a theme common to many if not most Lang films; indeed, comically he even directed a minor western called WESTERN UNION.
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TESTAMENT begins in mid-scene, as if, according to Kalet, we were watching the latest episode of a Saturday matinee serial. It's a fascinating scene, more from the silent era than from sound — yet Lang uses noises (the sound of mysterious unseen lumbering machinery) as an oppressive and unnerving force. Throughout the film Lang uses sound and image in beautiful concert, experiments that were to reach fruition in the surprisingly similar M.
The Criterion Collection has issued a fantastic set of THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE, which hits the street on May 18 and retails for $39.95. The two-disc set not only includes a beautiful black and white transfer of the film ("pillar-boxed" at 1.19:1), and restored audio and visual, and re-translated subtitles.
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After kind of a downward turn in the wake of Patrick McGilligan's trashography of Lang, the director's reputation is taking something of an upswing again. He's no longer the Germanic inferior counterpart to Hitchcock and Renoir. To that end, Criterion's disc duly treats him as the fine, important artist he was. To that end, the second disc includes an except from a 1964 interview with the director, production sketches and memorabilia from the film and Lang's life, a video interview with Michael Farin, listed as a Mabuse expert, on the life of Mabuse-creator Jacques, and a short film called MABUSE IN MIND, about the Mabuse phenomenon. The most significant supplement is the whole French version of the film, shot simultaneously with its German edition, and as a separate feature a comparison between the German, French, and later English versions of the same film. An eight-page insert contains chapter titles, transfer info and credits, and an essay by Gunning on the film. It's a veritable Mabuse jubilee. The animated, musical menu offers 21 chapter scene selection.
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Home from the Hills
SALVATORE GIULIANO
Communication, or the lack of it, is also the theme of SALVATORE GIULIANO, Francesco Rosi's 1961 film about the Sicilian bandit who was assassinated, it appears, by a coalition of Mafia chiefs, cops, and politicians in 1950. The communication theme is pointed out on the disc by audio commentator Peter Cowie, and his chat turns out to be one of the best commentary tracks I've ever heard; and SALVATORE GIULIANO proves to be one of the most interesting films I've seen in a long time.
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It's hard to describe the effect of SALVATORE GIULIANO but it is almost magical. It's an oblique film, that tells the story of the bandit's last days from a distance. For example, we never really see Giuliano except as a man in a white coat leading a team of mountain men or as a corpse lying in various forums. The focus of the second half of the film becomes his top lieutenant, Gaspare Pisciotta, played by Frank Wolff, an actor very popular with Italian directors (he played the husband at the start of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST). If the first half of the film is about the hills, the second half is about the city, where Pisciotta and numerous other gangsters are on trial. Here the film discreetly tries to account for Giuliano's death. This, too, is typical of director Rosi, whose films take on political subjects, usually conspiracies of one sort or another, but without being dogmatic or even didactic.
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The film unfolds in a number of short sections that Cowie helpfully times for us. In one fantastic sequence, again as with TESTAMENT, virtually a silent film, Rosi shows Giuliano at work, fanning out on the streets, harassing inept carabinieri, and assassinating various figures. Later, there is a 17-minute sequence all in the chaotic courtroom, that reveals the not so subtle class system prevailing among the various integers involved in the case. The film demands repeat viewings. In this sequence you see finally speaking several of the characters who appear en masse in the film's first sequence. But because there is no identifiable "narrator" to the film, we don't then know who is important and who isn't. At around 1:10:10 of his yak track, Cowie notes this about the movie, in a most revealing portion of the commentary (and by the way, there are also several books that address the concept of the camera "I").
The only thing missing from Cowie's thorough chat is reference to one of the several films about Salvatore Giuliano (there was even another one the same year as Rosi's: MORTE DI UN BANDITO). That title is THE SCICILIAN, Michael Cimino's adaptation of the Mario Puzo novel, which chronicles Michael Corleone's encounter with the bandit. In that one, Christopher Lambert played Giuliano, with John Turturro playing the Judas Pisciotta to his Christ. Cimino's film is something of a guilty pleasure of mine, although I see nothing to feel guilty about; in fact the whole concept of "guilty pleasures" is a lot of hooey. I happen to like movies, all kinds of movies, and have no more qualms about broadcasting my pleasure over Lindsay Lohan movies than the newest Alain Resnais film — but that's another column. Anyway THE SICILIAN is an underrated movie that will make more sense to viewers who have seen Rosi's, and vice versa.
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Except that a lot of people, especially filmmakers, have already seen it. Cowie need hardly note the numerous influences of SALVATORE GIULIANI on contemporary cinema: THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, Coppola's THE GODFATHER PART II, Scorsese's RAGING BULL, and numerous others. I think I even detected a shout out from DR. STRANGELOVE in the film, in one of the scenes of Giuliani's raids on the police, shot solely from his viewpoint must like the Army's raid on Bat Guano's base.
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That being said, I wish that the extras, good as they are, were a little more abundant. The extras on disc two include "Witness to the Times" a new dual 19-minute video interview with the 81-year-old Rosi and the Italian critic Tullio Kezich, who wrote a book about the film and also worked on it. Also included is "Il cineaste e il labirinto," a 55-minute documentary looks at Rosi's whole career, and including comments from Martin Scorsese and Giuseppe Tornatore. Finally, there's an Italian newsreel from 1950, which offers footage shot the Giuliano crime scene.
However, Cowie makes reference to a 2002 Italian TV documentary about Giuliano and the conspiracy over his death, and baring some kind of rights issues it would have been nice to have that material, or anything more about the bandit himself, rather than just Rosi.
Other than that, Criterion offers SALVATORE GIULIANO in a sharp, restored widescreen transfer (1.85:1, enhanced for widescreen TVs) with good Dolby Digital 1.0. An eight-page includes transfer info, chapter titles, and an essay by Michel Ciment, along with tributes from Coppola, Scorsese, and Fellini. Finally, there is the theatrical trailer. The animated, musical menu offers 25-chapter scene selection. Still, though, that Cowie commentary really excels. If anyone ever asks me to do a commentary track, I'm going to take Cowie's as the model to follow. SALVATORE GIULIANI hit the street on February 24th, and retails for $39.95. Criterion usually markets director discs in pairs (though they seem, after 240 discs, to be breaking out of that habit), and I hope they have plans to do another Rosi film soon.
Shoot Like a Girl
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
One of the reasons I like movies is seeing some of the girls in the background of the frame who later go on to become famous. It can happen with boys, too. I remember watching BANANAS and being struck by this outlandishly good-looking hood terrorizing Woody Allen on a subway. The next thing I knew that guy was on the cover of NEW YORK magazine as the writer and star of ROCKY.
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Anyway, A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN, originally released in 1992, and one of Penny Marshall's bigger hits ($130 million on a $40 million dollar budget — back in the days when $40 million was a lot of money), is rife with future-star cameos. Take the woman who plays the pitcher who takes over after Lori Petty's character changes teams. When I first saw the film I thought, seeing that angular jawed blonde on the mound, with her pure motion (and cute dislodging of her cap), "Who the fuck is she!?" She turned out to be Freddie Simpson, and did only one other feature film, POPCORN. She did a short film a couple of years ago, but according to IMDBPro, that's it.
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Another dish in the background was Tea Leoni. She'd already been in one TV series (SANTA BARBARA), and then went on to star in an early Fox sit-com (FLYING BLIND, a series I had a love-hate relationship with … you can guess the love part). Here she is simply "Racine 1B." But again she has those startling, evenly planed features. Apparently every fox in Hollywood showed up for the LEAGUE auditions.
Another one was Anne Ramsay. She went on to play the annoying sister in law in MAD ABOUT YOU. Here she looks like a Laura Dern clone. That's not an insult.
So much for the movie. I kinda like it, against my better judgment. I always cry at the end when the Madonna song, which I think is great, comes up over the credits. Tom Hanks is actually very, very good in the film (the "no crying in baseball" speech, and the "baseball is hard, or else everyone would be doing it" speech), and I always like seeing Geena Davis (except in sit-coms).
But there is something … wrong with the film, and I'm not sure what it is. I guess its flaw resides in its lack of ambition, that it doesn't really aspire to be anything more than a sit-com-level entertainment. What else it could be, I have no idea. So maybe it is perfect for what it is.
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN has been out on DVD, twice before. This is a "special edition," however, with a commentary track, 15 deleted scenes, and a lengthy "making of" that is virtually worthless. The deleted scenes are fun, and as usual the film would have been a lot clearer if they had left them in. One of my problems with the film is Davis's strange coldness toward baseball in general (she says she can take it or leave it). It always seemed a flaw of characterization in the past. Now, with the deleted scenes available, the character is fleshed out and you see more hesitancy, more self-denial, as if Davis's character won't let herself embrace baseball as a way of life.
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Also in the deleted scenes you see a more rounded "romance" between Davis and Hanks, and more of Freddie Simpson, who had a whole scene cut out. But you also get, on the disc, a self-celebratory making of, which is only interesting when people mimic Marshall's grouchy sounding voice. There is also a commentary track, which says some interesting things (see below), such as that Lindsay Frost (another fox) was originally supposed to have Madonna's role, but dropped out to do a series. What the track doesn't say is that when Madonna came on board, Debra Winger dropped out. Moira Kelly was supposed to have Petty's role, too, by the way. Ellie Cornell (HALLOWEEN 4 and 5) and K. D. Lang were also supposed to be in the film. Another thing that none of the extras mention is that Hanks's character is based on Jimmie Foxx.
The film comes in both a good widescreen (2.35:1, enhanced) transfer and a pan-and-scan on the B side. Audio options are Dolby 4.0 Surround and French 2.0 Surround, plus English subtitles. The commentary track stars Marshall, Petty, Megan Cavanagh, and Tracy Reiner (Marshall's daughter). Disc two also features trailers, the music video for Madonna's "This Used to Be My Playground," cast and crew filmographies. A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN hit the street April 20th, and retails for $24.96.
Burned Again
REEFER MADNESS: SPECIAL ADDICTION
REEFER MADNESS is a nothing "bad movie" that wears out its welcome pretty damn fast. New Line founder Bob Shaye has a special fondness for it, however, because it's how he cracked the movie biz lo those many years ago. Unfortunately, his company did not release it on DVD — Fox did. Originally called TELL YOUR CHILDREN and released in 1938, it is directed by Louis J. Gasnier, whose career went back to the silent era, and his film is overdone and inept, and not really worth watching.
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However, consumers might be tempted to buy or rent the disc because it has an audio commentary track by Mike Nelson, of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER. But if you are expecting MST3K level jokes from Nelson — who at least showed evidence of watching the film before talking about it — you will be sadly disappointed. Bear in mind that Nelson is just one man. When he worked on the show, however, he had a team of jokesters churning out material for his the 'bots ribbing. This isn't to say that he doesn't pull off a good one now and again.
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REEFER MADNESS comes in a colorized version with both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS audio, with the original black-and-white version also on hand in its original mono track. In addition to Nelson's track, here's also a commentary by the Jared T. Sandrew and creative director Rosemary Horvath, who supervised the colorization. There's also "Grandpa's Marijuana Handbook," and a new theatrical trailer I have two different street dates for this disc, April 20 (apparently "4-20" being pot lingo for "time to light up"), and April 27, but in any case it is on the street by now, for a mere $14.98.
Abundant Talents
THE DOUBLE D AVENGER
Regular readers of MoviePoopShoot will be aware that I love Joe Bob Briggs. There are times when I think that he is the best movie reviewer in the country. I guess the only thing "holding him back" is his specialization in drive in trash. If he turned his attention as amusingly to the latest Kiarostami film as he does to the latest iteration of the Chainsaw Massacre clan, he'd even kick Anthony Lane's ass.
If you are new to Joe Bob, the best introduction might be his audio commentary track to THE DOUBLE-D AVENGER. The only problem is that you have to actually watch the film while he is talking about it.
I couldn't. I got physically ill while watching this garbage. Really, physically ill, with this creeping sensation of networking spider web nausea spreading throughout my torso. Finally, I turned away. I listened to Joe Bob and only popped my head around to look at the screen when he said something that required visual verification (like his hilarious remarks about the cameo by Forrest J. Ackerman — Ackerman has been in scores of movies, but his appearance in AVENGER is equal in length to all the others put together). I think that even if you like big tits this movie would be hard to take, unless you subscribe wholly to the HUSTLER ethos.
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Joe Bob's review is so funny, both in his commentary and in the text printed on the back of the box, that there is no need for me to compete with it here. Suffice it to say that it stars Kitten Natividad (remind me to tell you about the time I once met Kitten) as a bar owner who gets breast cancer, only to beat it by taking a rare substance from the jungle, which also gives her superhuman powers, just in time to fight off a threat to her business from the strip club across the street (USED CARS, this ain't). The director, whose career Joe Bob summarizes, even casts himself in an unnecessary walk on (sit on would be more accurate).
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What characterizes Job Bob's reviews and his commentaries is his endless verbal invention, his preparation, his relaxation, and his attitude of amused engagement with the film on its own level. If I were a filmmaker, I would welcome his commentary and suffer its slings and arrows, because here was one guy at least who actually watched the fucking thing. He is the mirror image of Peter Cowie's GIULIANI track, only from the gutter rather than the heights. THE DOUBLE-D AVENGER hit the street April 27th, and retails for $19.99.
Office Sexual Politics
DESK SET
Call me a cold-hearted bastard but I've never been enamored of the Tracy-Hepburn mythology. Though everyone else seems to see her as a loyal old patrician looking after her salt of the earth lover with his drinking problem, to me it's always been a mean spirited "good woman" scold involved with a close-minded self-loathing actor in a mutually beneficial arrangement of career advancement.
Be that as it may, there is one Tracy-Hepburn movie I like, and it's DESK SET, their eighth of nine films together, adapted by Phoebe and Henry Ephron from a play by William Marchant and released in 1957. It's probably the most "minor" of all the duo's films, but I like it because in the film Hepburn has my dream job — researcher.
Robert Redford has the only other dream job in cinema (he reads books for the CIA in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR). All I want to do is sit around and read or watch tings anyway, so why not get paid for it? Hepburn and Redford do in these two films. Hepburn's Bunny Watson works for the Federal Broadcasting Company, and she and her staff of three (Joan Blondell, Dina Merrill, and Neva Patterson) spend all their time answering trivia questions from the FBC staff (naming the seven dwarfs is a popular one here, as in real life). Their idyllic arrangement is threatened by efficiency expert Richard Sumner (Tracy), who intends to install a convenience store sized computer called computer called E.M.I.R.A.C., in their digs. Bunny is nearly engaged to the youthful (too youthful for her) Mike Cutler (Gig Young), but that doesn't prevent her from falling in love with her nemesis.
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DESK SET is No. 18 in the Fox Studio Classics series. The CinemaScope film comes in a spectacular widescreen transfer (2.35:1, enhanced) in a Dolby Digital 2.0 audio (also in mono and stereo). The extras are something of a disappointment, however. The commentary track features Dina Merrill alternating with one John Lee, who has a beautiful voice and gives a great deal of info about the film. Merrill, however, talks about such things as how mean John Frankenheimer was on the set of a show she did with him, and about the RKO movies her husband runs, and so on. Everything, in short, except the movie at hand, in which she only appears for about three short scenes. The box announces that she chats with co-star Neva Patterson, but that's wrong, more's the pity. The disc also includes a Movietone newsreel about fashions inspired by the film, the theatrical trailer, a stills gallery, and trailers for other Fox classics. DESK SET hit the street May 4th, for $14.98.
DVD QUOTE OF THE WEEK: From A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN : "We were painting leaves and grass. I mean I called every guy who did a baseball movie, from Barry Levinson, to Phil Robinson, to John Sayles. And John Sayles gave me the best information, which is — there's no 180. Meaning that you don't have to throw right to left to catch, or left to right, or whatever. 180. It's geography. And that, um, he planned every shot, just let 'em keep hitting when they're batting, or throwing, don't cut. And someone else said, 'Bring green paint, 'cause the grass gets brown.'"— Penny Marshall on the realities of making baseball movies, audio commentary track 00:054:00.
NEXT TIME: THE FOG OF WAR, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, X-FILES SEASON NINE, THE TIN STAR, and more!
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