Sha ji chong chong
Wang Tian-lin - 1960
Panorama Entertainment Region 3 DVD

Death Traps is the Hong Kong version of one of those dames in distress movies that came out of Hollywood that were produced in the early to mid-Fifties, and usually starred Joan Crawford. The film might be as good an introduction as any to Helen Li Mei, one of the top Hong Kong stars of the mid Fifties through early Sixties. Unlike fellow Cathay Studios star Grace Chang, Li was just a few years older, and by Hong Kong standards, more openly sexual. The film isn't quite Hong Kong noir, but has some stylish touches by veteran Wang Tian-lin, with a screenplay by future martial arts auteur Chang Cheh.

Li plays the part of Jieyun, a woman of apparently independent means, and an alcoholic. Her boyfriend, Shouli, played by the stalwart Roy Chiao reminds her that he plans to marry of woman with good habits, and certainly not one who gets drunk every night. A date at a nightclub turns out badly when Shouli is seen sitting with the ditsy Meigui. Drunk and jealous, Li steps out with the gangster, Fatso Cai. Knowing Cai's underworld connections, Jieyun requests that Cai set up a hit on the woman that Shouli will marry, going so far as to write a check for Cai's services. Waking up the next day, resolved to stay sober, Jieyun finds herself engaged to Shouli, and unable to contact Cai.

There are amusing scenes of accidents and encounters with strangers strike Jieyun as evidence that someone is after Meigui, and then herself, with a flower pot nearly falling on the chatty friend, and Jieyun panicked when fireworks explode while she exits the church following her wedding. There's a mysterious young punk, one of Cai's crew who is seen earlier, who coincidentally is on the same ferry when Jieyun and Shouli go on their honeymoon in Macau. Even stranger is that this man, with his ever present cocked hat and sunglasses, is also staying at the same hotel.

Among the echos of Hollywood films is the opening shot with Helen Li driving wildly drunk on a dark road, a nod to The Bad and the Beautiful. Wang's occasional use of overhead shots recalls a favored touch of Robert Aldrich. Within the context of a thriller, Li's (dubbed) singing to Chiao might recall Doris Day in The Man who Knew too Much. Wang makes nice use of dolly shots moving in on close ups of Li as well as utilizing framing devices within some of the shots. There is also one shot of Li's cheongsam dress rip on top that is relatively innocent by current standards, but no doubt inflamed many of Li's admirers fifty years ago. While one of the weaker aspects of the film was addressed by Chang Cheh in an interview, regarding the unrealistic treatment of alcoholism, it's the kind of flaw that doesn't get in the way of this very entertaining film.

Hilary Swank in Amelia (Mira Nair - 2009)

Lee Daniels - 2009
Lionsgate Region 1 DVD

I will say this for Lee Daniels - he has the courage of his convictions. Unfortunately his convictions are sometimes as outsized and as wrong headed as his title character. I shied away from seeing Precious due the arguments regarding the film's merits. Also, I had seen Daniels' debut film, Shadowboxer. That first film was about a hit man and hit woman doing one last job. Aside from the quasi-incestuous relationship between the older woman and the younger man, there was a mobster who seemed unable to collect too many large, ornate, crucifixes, and a shady doctor with a crack head nurse named Precious. Cuba Gooding, Jr. will appear in just about anything, but how Helen Mirren was convinced to star might better remain a mystery. By the end of Shadowboxer I was convinced that Lee Daniels had watched early Tarantino, and a Guy Ritchie film or two, and said to himself, "I can top that!". Unlike his proclaimed sources of inspiration, John Waters and Pedro Almodovar, Lee Daniels has trouble realizing when he needs to reign in the excess.

Part of my problem with Precious is that Daniels seems to love using technique for no apparent reason. Maybe using an overlapping dissolve shot of Gabourey Sidibe walking down a class room hallway looks arty, but it seemed like a very random choice. The characters have some intense conversations and the camera tentatively zooms in and out as if simply framing the characters and holding the camera still for a few seconds was not an option. There is a pretty shot of the city reflected in a puddle. The scene of Precious and her mother, Mary, watching Vittorio De Sica's Two Women, subtitled on television, was unbelievable, especially as Mary's television diet seemed to consist solely of game shows. The De Sica film Precious reminded me of was After the Fox which includes a film within the film, a parody of neo-realism. Precious frequently seemed like a parody of someone's idea of an art film.

Just like a poet is hidden inside the inarticulate Precious Jones, there was a potentially better film that could have been made from Geoffrey Fletcher's screenplay. The best parts of the film seem like the least forced, especially in the alternative classroom, and the exchanges between the teacher with the unlikely name of Blu Rain, and the other students. Perhaps one reason why the scenes in the classroom work is because Paula Patton's performance as the teacher who coaxes Precious out of her shell is not the stunt casting as is the case for Mariah Carey, Lennie Kravitz or Mo'Nique. Of the young women in Patton's class, Xosha Roquemore as the overly self confident Joann and Amina Robinson as the sexually ambiguous Jermaine might be the ones to watch in the future.

There's a memorable smash cut in Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls where the shot of a screaming woman about to have an abortion is followed by the close up of an egg dropping into a frying pan. It's a simultaneously gross and funny moment. Lee Daniels, unlike Meyer, doesn't know when to let up, and is like a child furiously writing in big block letters with lots of underlining to make sure we don't miss his point. We get lots of big close ups of eyes, of pots of some awful stew on a stove, and assorted flotsam and jetsam and body parts that must have looked pleasing to Daniel's eye, but don't add up to anything meaningful either in the narrative or in anything resembling a coherent or cohesive visual style. It's not a good sign when I watch a movie about life in Harlem and start to wish it had been directed by white liberals Martin Ritt or Ralph Nelson. This was not the intention of anyone involved with the film, yet the ultimate effect is a work that can be interpreted as supporting the worst stereotypes of urban African-Americans. Especially after an Academy Award nomination, I doubt that Lee Daniels will restrict himself to the role of producer. But I also believe, Precious could have been a better film had the direction been handed over to someone like Julie Dash or even Angela Robinson. A good filmmaker knows that sometimes a stationary camera and confidence in your material and players is all you really need.

Japan's Longest Day/Nihon no ichiban nagai hi
Kihachi Okamoto - 1967

Battle of Okinawa/Gekido no showashi: Okinawa kessen
Kihachi Okamoto - 1971

Father of the Kamikaze/A kessen kokutai
Kosaku Yamashita - 1974

Black Rain/Kuroi Ame
Shohei Imamura - 1989
AnimEigo Region 1 DVD

AnimEigo has taken four older titles and repackaged them collectively. The idea is to give viewers more of an idea of World War II from a Japanese perspective. Two of the films though aren't war films in the traditional sense of being about men in battle, but about the events that took place at the close of the war, and the aftermath for one civilian family. While not an exact comparison, it would be as if a set Hollywood films about World War II included Mrs. Miniver and The Best Years of Our Lives.

Japan's Longest Day is comparable to The Longest Day only in the casting of what must have been every male star on the Toho Studios lot. The most famous name of course is Toshiro Mifune, but there's also Tadashi Shimura and Chishu Ryu, as well as Tatsuya Nakadai providing the narration. Although the history regarding the debates that proceeded the surrender is fascinating, as film it gets a bit talky for the the first hour.

Where things really kick in is when a group of young officers decide that they would not only not surrender, but they would persuade the military staff to back their plan to extend the war. Whether or not these rebellious officers were the wild eyed fanatics that are presented in the film, it is amazing to learn that their obsession with continuing the war included burning down the home of the Prime Minister for being a traitor, and ransacking the offices of the Emperor in order to keep the recording of his surrender speech from being broadcast.

Most of the people are introduced with their titles, and some notes that are part of the supplement give added context to some of the references to other historical events or persons. On a purely cinematic level, what I liked best about Kihachi Okamoto's film was his use of close ups, whether of a pragmatic Mifune, a tearful Shimura, or several of the lesser known actors. Some of the more earnest pronouncements, such as Ryu's declaration that younger people should replace the aging government cabinet, or Mifune's exhortation to his junior officers to live to rebuild Japan bear the hallmark of screenplay writer Shinobu Hashimoto.

Battle of Okinawa is a more traditional type of war epic, alternating primarily between the officers' headquarters and fields of battle. The film is more interesting for its content than any cinematic concerns. What may be most alarming is learning about how the military forces and the civilian population were virtually placed in a position to be defeated by the numerically superior Allied forces, and the extent of suicide among both populations. Used as a symbol of innocence in time of war, there is small girl, perhaps no more than five years old, who is seen wandering from place to place, the lone survivor amidst the ruins, mud and corpses.

A streak of very dark humor also runs through the film, with such characters as a nurse's introduction to battle field surgery, which usually consists of sawing off injured legs, and the army barber, who provides comic relief. Tatsuya Nakadai and Tetsuro Tamba are the two officers who provide the main advice to Keiju Kobayashi. Nakadai portrays Hiromichi Yahara, who survived to write a book about the battle, and served as an advisor on the film.

There is a curious footnote to the film: Tamba and Nakadai nostalgically mention seeing a movie together, the American silent, The Blue Danube, by forgotten writer-director Paul Sloane. In doing some research, Sloane's last listed film, Feng ye qing was a Japanese production made in 1952, about an American soldier and a Japanese woman.

While it appears that Tora! Tora! Tora! has been used as a template, Father of the Kamekazi also seems to have been inspired by Patton. There are not one, but two scenes of soldiers being slapped. I had only scene one previous film by Kousaku Yamashita, the fast moving yakuza adventure, Red Peony Gambler starring the then very popular Junko Fuji. Clocking in at over three hours, Father of the Kamikaze is probably of greater interest for its presentation of historical events.

The idea of using suicide pilots apparently came from several sources, buy it was the naval officer, Onishi, who created the official group. Originally seen as a last ditch attempt to turn the tide of was back into Japan's favor, it became the chosen tactic, even after it became less effective. More so than Japan's Longest Night, the film helps explain the psychological trap that the military found itself in with the inability to accept surrender, as well as the general psychology of Japan of that time.

What worked best for me were some of the quieter moments, primarily Onishi with his wife examining a flower that only blossoms at night, and their reunion in bombed out Tokyo - the wife waiting at the ruins of their house with a pot of tea. There is also one remarkable scene with Onishi defiantly standing outside an air base while others hide from the strafing of U.S. planes.

I have written about Black Rain previously to coincide with that film's initial DVD release. Not only is Imamara's film the best in this set, Black Rain is still the best DVD release of a classic film in 2009, equal if not better than anything stamped with the label "Criterion Collection".

Catherine O'Hara and Harry Shearer in For Your Consideration (Christopher Guest - 2006)

2499 antapan krong muang
Nonzee Nimibutr - 1997
Audio Graphics Region 0 DVD

Often when discussing the "new wave" of narrative filmmaking in a certain country, there is discussion pointing to a handful of films that were released within a short time of each other. For the history of Thai film, there is the directorial debut of Nonzee Nimibutr, with a screenplay by Wisit Sasanatieng, that served as a catalyst for a decade of films that brought some serious attention to a country usually ignored in discussion of Asian cinema. While Nonzee's film was not the only "new wave" film of 1997, it set a new box office record for Thailand, having the kind of impact that Easy Rider created in Hollywood in 1969. Seen out of context, Dang Bireley might simply be dismissed as a derivative film that owes some of its verve to Martin Scorsese's Mean Street and John Woo's The Killers. It was this repackaging of Scorsese and Woo for a Thai audience that created such a commercial success that it paved the way for Nonzee to produce Wisit's debut feature, Tears of the Black Tiger as well as several other films by new Thai filmmakers.

Based on a true story, most of the film takes place in 1956, when the sixteen year old became a gang leader of considerable influence. The film is also about an identity shaped by outside sources. The son of a prostitute, Dang's last name is that of the orange soda that was popular at the time. Dang's home features photos of James Dean, and Dang wears a small photo of Dean around his neck. It is the mutual admiration for Dean that links Dang with his girlfriend, Paa. Elvis Presley also is present, in photographs as well as the soundtrack, with both original songs and a Thai cover band. There is one scene of Dang and his friends scuffling with each other and some girls, with Hound Dog on the soundtrack, that has as much energy and electricity as anything from Scorsese.

Dang's mother keeps hoping that her son will be ordained as a monk, and at least temporarily forgo his life of crime. Dang gets in deeper, first with a major street rumble that originated from a barely remembered high school rivalry, and then joining up with a former cop turned gangster who sets up a bar and casino near an air base used by U.S. military personnel. Adding to the trouble is the turf rivalry between the ex-cop, Chien, and another gangster, Tek. Chien points out that his casino is open to take both Thai and U.S currency, unlike Tek's joint, making his small operation part of Thailand's increasing attempts at accommodating globalization.

One the surface, Dang Bireley is a story of gangsters in Thailand in 1956. There is certainly some nostalgia in hearing the old Elvis songs, as well as getting a glimpse of the nightlife in what was then known as Phra Nakhon, with Paa act as a lounge singer. The film can also be read as discussion on modern Thai identity, and as as such is a self critical work. Just as Dang and his friends take on some of the style and attitude of Elvis Presley and James Dean in their mass media versions, Nonzee and Wisit have made use of elements from admired filmmakers from outside of Thailand, albeit more consciously then their characters. When Dang shoots a rival, the incident takes place in an outdoor movie theater while the film Nueng Tor Jed, a Thai gangster movie, is running on the screen. In this sense, the film can be understood as commenting on the Westernization of Thai identity concurrently in life and in popular culture. That Dang's ordination as a priest is constantly postpones, and would be done only to please Dang's mother, might be interpreted from a Buddhist standpoint of immutable karma and/or what Buddhist text describe as Dang being a person of incorrigible disbelief.

It is disappointing that this film is currently available on a somewhat sloppily produced DVD. The framing is not always consistent and may not be quite in proportion to the original aspect ratio. The English subtitles are embedded and occasionally not well translated. It's a disappointment that given the historical importance of Dang Bireley, that this virtually out of print DVD has only been made available in Thailand. Unfortunately, with the marketplace being the prime source for determining what films are available on DVD, Dang Bireley may be one of those films known better by reputation, while being unseen by those who might appreciate it the most.

Jue lai yip yue leung saan ang
Wilson Yip - 2000
Mei Ah Entertainment Region 0 DVD

I didn't know much about Juliet in Love before seeing the DVD other than that a couple people I occasionally exchange notes with regarding Asian films thought it notable that it was listed among the top Hong Kong films of the past decade. This is the kind of film that defies any easy description. The story, as such, is centered around the type of characters who would be peripheral to many Hong Kong films, taking a roundabout route from loosely threaded beginning to heartbreaking end.

This Juliet is actually Judy, a restaurant hostess, who meets luckless gambler Jordan, who attempts to scam a reservation by posing as On Cheng, a local gangster. The real Cheng shows up, with the two men ready for what appears to be a showdown. Jordan later learns that it is Cheng who is owed a significant gambling debt. The three meet again at a hospital where Jordan and Judy end up babysitting the baby of Cheng's mistress. What Wilson Yip's film is really about is people brought together by food, money, bottled Coke, and sense of family.

As if to underline Judy's status as an outsider, she lives in a dilapidated old house a good distance from the high rises of Hong Kong, with her grandfather who seems to live for his Coca Cola. As the grandfather says, "No Coke, no hope". And on the surface it seems like one of those devices that filmmakers use to made a character adorably quirky, yet is arguably truthful to the little or big attachments or addictions that are embedded in daily existence. For Judy, a divorcee and breast cancer survivor, her job allows her to dress up, and be in a situation where she is control of others within her limited sphere. Jordan is content to drift along in life, letting events dictate his actions.

The act of sharing meals ties the characters together. The three main characters encounter each other at the formal, brightly lit restaurant where Judy serves as hostess. Jordan and Cheng meet again at a more informal neighborhood dive tucked away from a main thoroughfare. Jordan and Judy first share a meal at a street restaurant. Judy also feeds Jordan food from the restaurant where she works, food supposedly intended for her cola addicted grandfather who has the bed next to Jordan where both are hospitalized. Jordan and Judy also spend time simply trying to figure out how to mix the formula for Cheng's baby. Key is a scene of Jordan and Judy sharing a simply noodle meal at Judy's home, eyes gazing at each other, establishing an unstated mutual attraction.

There is one moment when Sandra Ng, with back to the camera, exposes her chest with the one missing breast, and asks Francis Ng if he still finds her attractive. Otherwise, Wilson Yip reveals Juliet's character and sense of self through visual clues - the dowdy clothes when she is not working, the open drawer with the mastectomy bra on top, as well as her general self effacing manner, whether with Jordan or the driving instructor who shyly pines for her.

Juliet in Love doesn't hide its low budget. There is a casualness to the flow of the story as well as the way many of the shots were composed. For several reasons, Juliet in Love has been an anomaly in Wilson Yip's filmography, mostly known for male centered action films.

In an interview that in part discusses Juliet in Love, Yip explains his reasons for making the film ambiguous at the end: "I think I share my feelings with the audience and after I lead the audience into the story, I don’t want the audience to think and feel exactly like I do. I was sharing a love feeling with the audience, I tried not to explain everything because I believe one has his own interpretation on different things." As to the more central theme of family: "Maybe because my dad passed away when I was 16. I love family, I like the feeling of having a close family. I also treasure friendship. Family can be gone all of a sudden, when you don't expect it. I didn’t realize this had an impact on me and on my movies and now I'm more aware of it."

Norma Shearer and Chester Morris in The Divorcee (Robert Z. Leonard - 1930)

Frank Launder - 1955
Wham! USA Region 1 DVD

It might be considered more appropriate to watch a film related to the Winter Olympics at this time. But thinking about films that had the Olympic games as the subject made me recall the first such film I had seen. What is personally significant for me about Geordie is also that it was one of the few times I had seen a movie on television that my father had selected. Geordie is also the first British film I had probably seen as well. Roughly fifty years, and broadcast in black and white, I vaguely recall that a small Scottish boy responded to a newspaper advertisement, and grew to be a very big man. Parts of the film involved discussion of the wearing of kilts.

The most interesting part of Geordie is the first half of the film, primarily the relationship between Geordie and Jean. The small boy takes the girl, slightly bigger than he is, to glance at an eagle's nest. The boy is too weak to pull himself up on the ledge, while the girl is able to observe the two baby eagles. Looking to challenge his perceived physical limitations, Geordie writes to Henry Samson, following a course of exercise through correspondence. Growing to the tallest and strongest man in his little village, Geordie is encouraged to take up the sport of hammer throwing, with abilities that catch the eye of the British Olympic committee. In the meantime, Geordie has an emotional tug of war with Jean who is skeptical of Geordie's athletic pursuits. Jean eventually becomes Geordie's most ardent supporter.

Raymond Durgnat cited Launder and Gilliat for "their consistent freshness and mischief, their cheerful lightly-and-slightly anarchism, their relaxed romping in and out of the system's little loopholes and bye-ways." The characters could be called quirky, although at the time the film was made, the favored word was eccentric. Chief among the villagers is Launder and Gilliat favorite Alastair Sims, known only as "The Laird", the wealthy, often distracted landowner whom Geordie and his father work for as gamekeepers. There is an affection for the characters as well, which is why the relationship between Geordie and Jean, both as children and as adults feels more palpable than many couplings of screen actors. The more interesting aspect of Geordie is the story about a group of people who are emotionally and physically tied to their little corner of Scotland.

Geordie is less interesting once the title character goes out into the bigger world. Released prior to the Olympic games held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, Geordie goes to the games on behalf of Great Britain. On the way, he meets his body building mentor, Henry Samson, amusingly played by the bushy eyebrowed Francis De Wolfe. There is also a female Olympian from Denmark who tries to make her own moves on the pure hearted young man from Scotland who pines for the girl back home. Some drama is attempted in Geordie's decision to wear his father's kilt over the objections of the Olympic committee.

One moment of filmmaking inventiveness is noteworthy. After retrieving his father's gun, left behind in a field after Geordie carries the ill man back home in the rain, Geordie stands over a hill overlooking his home, and hears the howl of a dog. While we hear the eulogy given inside the church during the funeral, what is shown is a panning shot of several dogs lounging outside of the church. The combination of the two shots is sweet, sad and gently satirical. There are some nicely composed individual shots by cinematographer Wilkie Cooper, but as several critics examining the films of Launder and Gilliat have concluded, the pair were craftsmen, not visual stylists. It could well be that it is because a film like Geordie has nothing more than the modest ambition to be entertaining that it also succeeds in being enduringly charming as well.

Batoru garu: Tokyo crisis wars
Kazuo Komizu - 1991
Synapse Films Region 1 DVD

I don't have it in me to hate a movie that stars someone named Cutie Suzuki. And Battle Girl is a mildly enjoyable entry that doesn't take itself seriously but doesn't pointedly aim for laughs either. The best line comes from one of the zombie hunters, when he yells at the zombies who are getting ready to feast on his buddy, that they already eaten too much.

A meteorite has splashed down in Tokyo Bay, enshrouding the city in some kind of fog. The greater part of Tokyo has been cordoned off from the rest of Japan as well as the world to isolate the effects of the meteorite. The dead have turned into flesh eating zombies due to something called cosmo-amphetamine. A army officer in charge of the operations, Fujioka, has found a way to turn people into indestructible killers with the cosmo-amphetamine, and has a small army killing human survivors and zombies alike. It is up to K-Ko, the daughter of an army colonel, to foil Fujioka.

The most interesting aspect of Battle Girl was something Komizu brought to the script, in making Fujioka's actions motivated by a perverse sense of nationalism. To paraphrase a line from U.S. involvement in Viet-Nam, Fujioka's plan is to destroy Tokyo in order to save it. There's also a plan to take over the world. On the down side, the closer one examines Battle Girl, the less sense it makes on all but the most visceral level.

This is the first film I've seen by Kazuo Komizu. The interview that comes with the DVD is somewhat informative, but I feel like most of it was a squandered opportunity by the unidentified interviewer. The most interesting part was Komizu discussing his changes to the screenplay, and the physical limitations presented by the costumes worn by Suzuki and some of the other actors. Komizu identifies The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as a horror film that made a big impression on him, something that should have been examined more deeply by a more perceptive interviewer, considering that Komizu is famous, or infamous, for his own series of films that pushed boundaries regarding sex, violence and horror. Given the little bit of political weight Komizu provided to Battle Girl, I would have also wanted to know more about his early collaborations with Koji Wakamatsu, and in what ways that may have influenced Kozimu's work as a director.

Celia Catalifo in Tiresia (Bertrand Bonello -2003)

Shen nu
Wu Yonggang - 1934
Hong Kong University Press

The following is the second of two entries for "For the Love of Film: The Film Preservation Blogathon" hosted by Marilyn Ferdinand of Ferdy on Film and Farran Smith Nehme of Self Styled Siren.

Sometimes film preservation is decided by one person. In the case of The Goddess, we have the sole remaining print made available on DVD due to the efforts of Rlchard J. Meyer. Professor Meyer secured the 35mm print from the China Film Archive, take it Haghefilm in Amsterdam, where the print was restored as much as possible, and a digital conversion created. The Goddess is one of only two films starring Ruan Ling-Yu that is available on DVD. I had written about the other film, The Peach Girl about a year ago. The DVD comes with a short piece with Professor Meyer discussing the restoration of the film and the life of Ruan Ling-Yu, and composer Kevin Purrone on his musical choices for the piano score composed for the DVD.

The title is the slang term of the time given to Shanghai prostitutes. Ruan plays a streetwalker who is working to support herself and her baby son. Almost caught in a police raid on the streets, the woman who is never named, temporarily ducks into the closest open door. She finds herself in the small room of a very large man, though also a very small time gangster, known as "The Boss". First demanding sexual favor in exchange for hiding "The Goddess" from the police, "The Boss" blackmails "The Goddess" into surrendering her earnings to him to keep him from selling her son. "The Goddess" finds away to hide her money long enough to afford to send her growing son to school, with the hopes that he has greater opportunities in life.

Wu Yonggang's debut film, that he both wrote and directed, was socially conscious, dealing with class prejudices and people at the margins of Shanghai. There are several shots of the neon lights of Shanghai at night, promising a glamourous life that is beyond the reach of any of the characters. The overlapping traveling shots of the neon lights remind me of some of the later German silent films. It should be noted that Asian cinema was several years behind in converting from silent to sound filmmaking. Several times in The Goddess, Wu uses framing devices in his composition of several shots, often using windows, and later, the prison bars in the film's final scenes.

The DVD comes with a 94 page book by Professor Meyer that provides a biography of Ruan, a full list of her films, and a good sized biblography that covers writings on Ruan, Chinese cinema, and Shanghai in the 1930s. There are also a number of film stills and photographs of Ruan. All of this is especially recommended to those who only know of Ruan through her portrayal by Maggie Cheung and the few film excerpts that were in Stanley Kwan's Center Stage. There is much more to Wu Yonggang than what is listed at IMDb, as this more complete filmography will verify.

The two Ruan Ling-Yu DVDs are available through The San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

Click here to contribute to the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Wallace Worsley - 1920
Kino International Region 1 DVD

The following is the first of two entries for "For the Love of Film: The Film Preservation Blogathon" hosted by Marilyn Ferdinand of Ferdy on Film and Farran Smith Nehme of Self Styled Siren.

Most people know Lon Chaney, if they know him at all, primarily from The Phantom of the Opera and possibly Hunchback of Notre Dame. In both films, Chaney is heavily disguised in make-up, in roles that helped secure his legend as "The Man of a Thousand Faces". Thanks to the National Film Preservation Foundation and the George Eastman House, one can also see The Penalty, significant primarily as Chaney's first starring feature. But even beyond that historical marker, The Penalty is a pretty good film.

Chaney plays the role of a man who had both of his legs amputated as a boy, due to the misjudgment of young Doctor Ferris. The man, Blizzard, has become a crime lord based in the Barbary Coast section of San Francisco. In addition to keeping a pulse on the city, and keeping control of criminal activity, Blizzard has employed a group of young women to make straw hats of a specific design. A secret government agency employs their female agent, Rose, to seek employment with Blizzard's hat factory in order to get the goods on this as yet untouchable felon. The incompetent Ferris has become a respected surgeon, with a daughter, Barbara, who is an aspiring artist. Spotting an ad in a newspaper, Blizzard becomes the model for Satan, the proposed sculpture that Barbara is planning to create to make her professional reputation. Blizzard is hoping to extract revenge on Barbara and her father. Rose gets close to Blizzard, being the one to operate the piano pedals while Blizzard tickles the ivories. Even though she finds out more about Blizzard and his operation, she starts having feelings for the sometimes cruel man. Blizzard, though, is having feelings for Barbara.

The Penalty does get a bit complicated in an hour and a half. There's more cross cutting than one might normally see with several simultaneous developments. Even when the film gets topical with mention of "Reds" and foreign workers, it's only the clothes that date the film, not the concerns of the characters. Without being lofty about it, there is the idea that artistic expression is the best means of expressing a person's humanity. The film also can be viewed as a companion piece to The Unknown, Tod Browning's film with Chaney as a circus performer who pretends to be armless. Made seven years later, there are similarities. In both films, the main character's relationship with women can be said to be peculiar, and the sexual component regarding missing arms or legs is hard to miss. Both The Penalty and The Unknown also have plots that hinge upon particularly horrific surgery.

Chaney made a name for himself here by strapping his legs together and walking on his knees. The procedure was so difficult that Chaney could only do his scenes in short takes. Even watching Chaney, perhaps more so with the knowledge of what he went through, is painful, though nothing short of amazing to witness his physical dexterity in handling stairs and even a chain ladder. What makes Lon Chaney great in this film is watching his creased faced, his curled lips, the way he arches his eye, his expressiveness. Even if Lon Chaney had tossed aside the make-up kit, he would still have been one of the great screen actors.

Also worth seeing is a character actor named James Mason as the drug addled thug, Frisco Pete. Along with Chaney, Mason feral, leering, criminal, has the kind of face that doesn't need dialogue to let us know what's on his mind. The film is notable for being transgressive for its time, with a drug addicted character, women who are clearly prostitutes, an on-screen murder, and nudity in the form of Barbara's female model. Part of the film was shot on location in San Francisco. The Penalty was one of four films Chaney made with director Worsley, The Hunchback of Notre Dame being the most famous. Ace of Hearts is available on DVD. One other collaboration of Worsley and Chaney, A Blind Bargain is considered permanently lost.

There are unimaginable penalties for losing more films. Click here to contribute to the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Lisa Ray and Sheetal Sheth in I Can't Think Straight (Shamim Sarif - 2008)

George Melford - 1931
Alpha Video Region 1 DVD

For a couple of years, since I was aware that this film was available on DVD, I've decided that it was time to think outside the box, or at least outside of one of Joseph Cornell's boxes. Like a lot of people, what I knew of East of Borneo was Joseph Cornell's short film, Rose Hobart, where footage of the original film was reedited to eliminate virtually all but shots of the star, with a musical soundtrack added by Cornell. While Cornell's film was part of the required viewing at NYU, the source film was unknown, essentially dismissed as some inconsequential work that needn't be seen by serious film scholars.

East of Borneo definitely is in the category of "old movie" rather than "classic", but it has some points of interest. While Joseph Cornell has kept the name of Rose Hobart alive, the first thing a viewer will notice is that the actress was the top billed star of East of Borneo. The somewhat stern looking Hobart has her name above that of Charles Bickford, a better remembered actor who would usually be cast as the strict patriarch or father figure. Director George Melford is more rightly famed for his Spanish language version of Dracula, shot on Tod Browning's sets. A bit of aside here - both Melford's Dracula and East of Borneo feature Lupita Tovar.

I don't know if anyone on the production crew of East of Borneo could have found the actual country on a map. Certainly the film exploits the ignorance of the audience by cutting in nature footage of all sorts of animals that probably would not be found in the real Borneo. For all intents and purposes, Borneo is some kind of exotic jungle that's beyond the familiar confines of the United States or western Europe. In addition to the imaginative animal life, the Universal Pictures backlot version of Borneo is ethnically and culturally diverse as befitting a Hollywood production.

Rose Hobart plays Linda Randolph, a woman who shows up in Borneo in search of her husband, a doctor, played by Charles Bickford. The doctor is the permanent house guest of Hashim, Prince of Marudu. The doctor, taking the name of Allan Clark, is also perpetually sloshed, whiling away his time playing chess with his host. Hashim dresses like a maharaja in something like Wee Willie Winkie. Three hundred miles inland from the coast, Murudu is a remote paradise guarded by crocodiles, too close to an active volcano for Linda's comfort. When the jungle drums beat the news that a white woman is coming up the river, Allan gets nervous, while Hashim gets his hopes up for what is certain to be a beauty. The scene is basically just a couple of guys sitting at the chess board, drinking tea, but the dialogue has some wonderful howlers. First up is Clark's declaration. "White women are bad enough in their own environment, but when you get them into the jungle..." :Later, the Sorbonne (!) educated Hashim, ready to remind one and all of his superiority, mentions, "I am descended from the Aryan race, the oldest white race known to man." How civilized is Hashim? In this jungle paradise, formal evening wear is required for dinner.

There is one scene that may not have been intended as a visual joke, but given the context could be read as a sly commentary on the film's premise of white women in the jungle. While Linda is asleep, we see the shadow of a very large snake over her. Linda's good intentions come to nothing when she makes friends with a pet monkey, and sets it free, only to see it become a tiger's afternoon snack. Melford's film is a little slow at times, even with a running time of less than seventy-five minutes. The effect is almost as if the film crew was still trying to get the hang of making a talking picture. The obvious rear screen projection and the preposterous story give East of Borneo some antique charm. Whatever one thinks of East of Borneo, it should be studied along with Rose Hobart to compare not only what Joseph Cornell left in, and rearranged, but also what was left out.