FAVORITE BOOKS ADDENDUM

Rick’s Journal    —    MY FILM CAREER

I earlier noted for my readers that my lists of best books  —  rather, favorite books  —  about film lacked a good title on animation and needed a history of the western.  Some of you may have noticed a further glaring gap.

What about documentary film?

John Grierson

I have in my own library on film a book from 1946 called Grierson on Documentary, edited by Forsyth Hardy.  From the publisher’s  jacket flap:  “In the early thirties a new word and a new name began to appear with some regularity in the comparatively new sphere of film criticism.  The new word was ‘documentary’ and the new name John Grierson.  Documentary had indeed made its first appearance some years earlier in a review written by Grierson for the New York Sun.  It was derived from documentaire a word applied by the French to their travel films.  Grierson used it to describe Flaherty’s ‘Moana,’ an account of the South Sea islanders.  In some fifteen or twenty years it has come to represent a vast, far-reaching use of the film for social analysis.”

Critic Forsyth Hardy has gathered here Grierson’s most important writings to that time in a readable collection with 92 illustrations.

This is as solid an introduction to documentary and its history, and significance, as one could wish for.  But think of how much has transpired in film and documentary film especially since 1946.

Can anyone suggest a good book for us?

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STANDOUT?

The heading in the New York Times reads “National Film Registry Adds Three Standouts.”  The short article on the Arts, Briefly page reports the year’s inductions into the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.  The three outstanding films, according to the Times, are the original Walt Disney Cinderella, Jurassic Park and My Fair Lady.  It gives one pause that the Times chooses My Fair Lady from a list that includes Hud, The Shining, Brokeback Mountain, and The Lady From Shanghai.  (New York Times, 12/12/18.)

NEXT FRIDAY POST April 12:  “The Best Cowboys Are From Ohio”

Until then,
See you at the movies,
Rick

THE WONDER OF JUDE LAW

BEYOND SUBTLETY (AS IN SUBTLETY MULTIPLIED)

There is nothing new or original under the sun of Dom Hemingway, a screenplay about a bitter man who serves someone else’s term and leaves prison hell-bent on revenge  —  revenge on his personal enemies and on the world.  What IS new is further excellence from Jude Law in the title role.  The bawdy soliloquies and dialogue give him film-long loose reign.  But there are three instances of nuance beyond subtlety in the mobile face and talking eyes of one of our most remarkable actors.

Hey Jude!

SPOILER ALERTS:  There is the scene outside the club where his daughter sings.  This is the scene in which she refuses to call him Dad, the moment when he grasps the depth of her rejection of him.  The expression of Law’s eyes is desperately human beyond description.

Then there is the farewell scene between him and this now slightly softening daughter Evie and his grandson, after their meeting at the cemetery where Evie’s mother lies buried.  Again the eyes:  hurt and hope.

But especially there is the earlier scene on the train as Dom and his friend Dickie    travel through the French countryside to visit Mr. Fontaine (Demián Bichir) for whom Dom went to prison and spent twelve years behind the bars.  Dickie (Richard E. Grant) tells a hungover and sexually exhausted Dom that he cannot make up for twelve years in three days.  Law’s miraculously expressive face as he replies:  “But I tried,”  registers bluster, pride, then self-amusement.

This is one of the best actors in movies.

Bear the barrage of obscenities and don’t miss Dom Hemingway.

DOM HEMINGWAY

written and directed by Richard Shepard

2013

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Readers will be interested in an interview with Jude Law by Kathryn Shattuck in The NEW YORK TIMES.  Shattuck begins rather strangely by appearing to wonder if, in playing Dumbledore in Fantastic Beasts, Law should be worried about taking on a part played by Richard Harris and Michael Gambon   These are both fine actors, but  —  I mean  —  Really?  Is she not familiar with the 25 years of remarkable performances by Jude Law?

But her questions to him are useful, especially one about his appearance.  Responding about what he himself calls the problem of being “the beautiful young thing,” he is interesting, amusing and profound.

(“Jude Law, on Dumbledore and Himself” by Kathryn Shattuck, New York Times, 11/18/18.)

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George M. Thomas writes:  “Law is perfectly cast as the playfully charming Dumbledore.  It’s difficult to recall when any actor has dropped himself into a role played previously by someone else with such ease and made it his own.”  (“Fantastic Beasts Losing Charm” by George M. Thomas, Akron Beacon Journal, 11/17/18.)

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Jude Law is currently on theater screens in Captain Marvel.

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Jude Law on RICK’S FLICKS

11/9/18
2/19/16
2/12/16
1/22/16
1/15/16
8/28/15
11/15/13
1/20/12
12/21/11

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NEXT FRIDAY POST March 29

Until then,
See you at the movies.
Rick

 

 

 

MORE FAVORITE BOOKS

10 MORE RICK’S FLICKS’ FAVORITES

Gary Cooper in HIGH NOON

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the Rainbow

HIGH NOON by Glenn Frankel.  Riveting tale of the creation of a Hollywood masterpiece, the story of which includes the investigation of the film industry  by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee.  With a piquant glance at the career of Gary Cooper.  (See Rick’s Flicks 4/28/18.)

THE NAME ABOVE THE TITLE by Frank Capra.  As good a book as exists of a creator’s analysis of his own work  —  and an insider’s look at the Hollywood of the 30s.  But in a sad conclusion Capra unaccountably savages himself.   Copious stills and other photographs.

THE MAKING OF THE WIZARD OF OZ by Aljean Harmetz.  Thoroughly researched, this still reads like a novel.  It is especially good at revealing who was responsible for what on the committee that achieved this Hollywood masterpiece.

RAINBOW by Christopher Finch.  THE best of the more than forty books about Judy Garland.  Finch understands what was done to her and what she did to herself.  But he also understands and appreciates her work.

GODARD, A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AT SEVENTY by Colin McCabe.  An outstanding study of the works of the man considered by most to be the greatest  —  certainly the most influential  — filmmaker living.  Filmography and “Select Bibliography” which actually is quite exhaustive.

THE MAKING OF GWTW by Gavin Lambert.  By the novelist, essayist and film critic.  An analytical look at Gone with the Wind especially useful in its attempt to assign certain scenes to certain of the film’s several directors.  Lambert makes a case that through her struggles with director Victor Fleming and her creation of her own Scarlett  —  subtly different from Fleming’s and even author Margaret Mitchell’s  —  Vivien Leigh became a creative force in the making of the film.

HITCHCOCK’S MUSIC by Jack Sullivan.  An intriguing, thorough study of the master’s use of music in all his films, from the beginning through FAMILY PLOT.  The book is at times detailed to the point that with it in hand, you can follow the music scene by scene in a given film.

THE GREAT MOVIES by William Bayer.  A personal but responsible selection by a perceptive critic.  Again, a coffee table format with outstanding illustrations but containing sophisticated analyses of films through Cabaret in 1972.

FIVE CAME BACK by Mark Harris.  An account of five Hollywood directors and the propaganda films they made during World War ll (Wyler, Ford, Capra, Huston, Stevens).  Thoroughly researched, it too reads like a novel.  (See Rick’s Flicks 9/29/17).

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My readers will recognize that my second ten favorites list includes but nine entries.  I still need a good title in the field of animation and still welcome any followers’ recommendations.

In addition, the two titles I was considering as histories of the WESTERN turned out disappointing as I studied them again in preparation for my list.  So, I need suggestions in that rich category as well.

Let me hear from you.

Frank Capra

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jean-Luc Godard

NEXT FRIDAY POST March 15

Until then,
See you at the movies.
Rick