Mark Cousins' Scene by Scene & The Story of Film

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Felix
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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#26 Post by Felix » Sun Sep 11, 2011 11:22 am

Robin Davies wrote:
Felix wrote:The choice of Silent clips may be conservative for the readers of CF but let's remind ourselves, we are not the general viewing public and the beauty of this series is that it offers intelligent film making for the general viewing public.
I really wish it did, but More4 is a minority channel and Mark Cousins' voice and narrating style will alienate most of the "general viewing public" (and judging by what I've read on other forums it already has). Sadly, I think only us film buffs will stick with it.
Yes, it is a minority channel but at least it is Council TV and it has been getting write-ups in the Radio Times on the main page for the day, and next week's was in the Sunday Times Culture TV Section as a highlight so people need not be unaware of it. It's always going to be on a minority channel...

Were the people on the other forums film buffs or the general public? When Brownlow's Hollywood was on I was getting deeply into film and it was a godsend and I hope there may be someone else in that position to benefit like I did.

On the Silent front, last night was none too conservative, with five minutes of Evgenii Bauer, to my surprise and delight. And episode 1 had that delightful Alice Guy clip. Neither of these are household names, even to common-or-garden film buffs (I don't know how people here fit that description).

I too worry about the voice and presentation fifteen episodes down the line but there's always subtitles if it gets too bad...

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Re: The Strory of Film: An Odyssey (2011)

#27 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Sep 11, 2011 11:33 am

Evgeni Bauer being mentioned was nice, though that director has had exposure through the BFI DVD release, so it is not as if the particular films in question have been hard to find. I was much more excited to see Aelita, Queen of Mars mentioned, which seems to have fallen from view in the DVD era, at least in the UK (not much Soviet sci-fi around apart from Tarkovsky!)

However, and this may not bode well for any future discussion of I Am Cuba, was the lack of discussion of the wonky ideological perspective of the film which sort of overshadows the artistry (I presume similar to the way that zedz has issues with Metropolis!). It does make a great pair with the 1950s "Red Scare" US film Red Planet Mars though, although Aelita is better crafted!
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Re: Upcoming Movies on TV

#28 Post by adamhh » Tue Sep 13, 2011 2:44 pm

SonOfRambow wrote:There is a programme on more 4 tomorrow called: The Story Of Film: An Odyssey! - which looks very exciting! There is an awesome trailer of the programme on YouTube, which I think you should watch!
I missed the first one, but the second episode was very informative. Mark Cousins makes for a passionate guide and I really enjoyed the way he could cross-reference the material from the obvious Chaplin/Raj Kapoor/Tati/etc to various mis-en-scene and camera devices. It is rare also to see such detailed and close analysis in TV documentary - the moment he explores narration in Valentino's acting is lovely.

Well done More4!

I wonder if they plan to release this 900+ minutes in a box set?

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Re: Upcoming Movies on TV

#29 Post by colinr0380 » Tue Sep 13, 2011 5:41 pm

I may have heard (I think it is in the More4 interview clips with Cousins) that there are plans to release the series on DVD at least, and apparently there will be an associated website, though I have not found a url for it yet.

This thread at mubi is listing all the film excerpts shown in each episode. (It doesn't look like they have caught the 'La lune à un mètre' misattribution from the first episode yet though)
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Jonathan S
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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#30 Post by Jonathan S » Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:11 am

colinr0380 wrote:[I can confirm Jonathan's comments that it was the Photoplay version of the film, presumably a repeat from that early 90s Griffith season that Channel 4 did (Does Channel 4 still commission a silent film restoration each year? I have not noticed many being screened on either of their channels for quite a while now, but I may have missed something).
The Photoplay series was briefly revived on Film 4 in the 2000s - apart from the 2002 Orphans of the Storm, they televised The Cat and the Canary (now available from Kino - a different cut and score to earlier DVDs), also The Godless Girl (with an orchestral score not on the DVD) around the time of their DeMille documentary, but the funding must have dried up again after that.

Of course, there were earlier Photoplay restorations that Channel 4 didn't show for some reason, even though TV versions were prepared - It (Clara Bow) and La Terre, and the only C4 airing of Bernard's The Chess Player was an unscheduled middle-of-the-night broadcast. These were later issued on DVD by Milestone but I understand there were PAL-NTSC ghosting issues (which made the Milestone/Photoplay Phantom of the Opera unwatchable for me) so I never bought them, having previously obtained PAL copies.

I too preferred the second episode of The Story of Film. The art v commerce, realism v fantasy, etc. dichotomies are still a bit too simplistic for me, but Cousins did show enough exceptions to his rules to encourage any newcomers to explore the many other by-ways. In the silent comedy section, I'd hoped Cousins might be maverick enough to champion one or two lesser-known names (at least Harry Langdon), but instead we still got the usual focus on Chaplin, Lloyd and Keaton. Incidentally, there was an amusing (Freudian?) slip when Lloyd's early comedy Luke's Movie Muddle was retitled as Luke's Moody Muddle! Other errors this week included the statement that Queen Kelly "never saw the light of day" (an odd metaphor anyway, but Swanson released it with her own ending, outside the US) and, as someone pointed out on Nitrateville, Cousins referred to "American Artists" instead of United Artists.

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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#31 Post by MichaelB » Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:28 am

Jonathan S wrote:In the silent comedy section, I'd hoped Cousins might be maverick enough to champion one or two lesser-known names (at least Harry Langdon), but instead we still got the usual focus on Chaplin, Lloyd and Keaton.
Did he mention Max Linder? I'd be very suspicious of a global history of film that failed to acknowledge his colossal influence on silent comedy.

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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#32 Post by ellipsis7 » Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:47 am

Problem with any series on film is clip clearance, and then access to archive material... Don't know how Cousins is doing this, he may be doing it under the principle of reasonable critical quotation (which C4 previously used to justify Godard's ample use of material from multiple sources in HISTOIRE(S)) which may avoid costly payments, but by its nature a television series cannot be as broad ranging in its audiovisual references as say a book, which can flit from idea to idea, film to film, probably more easily...

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Re: Upcoming Movies on TV

#33 Post by Jonathan S » Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:50 am

adamhh wrote: the moment he explores narration in Valentino's acting is lovely.
I think you mean Fairbanks - in The Thief of Bagdad?

Maybe a new thread could be created for The Story of Film (still 13 episodes to go!), merging these posts with the many others in the "Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins)" thread?

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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#34 Post by Jonathan S » Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:58 am

MichaelB wrote:
Jonathan S wrote:In the silent comedy section, I'd hoped Cousins might be maverick enough to champion one or two lesser-known names (at least Harry Langdon), but instead we still got the usual focus on Chaplin, Lloyd and Keaton.
Did he mention Max Linder? I'd be very suspicious of a global history of film that failed to acknowledge his colossal influence on silent comedy.
I don't recall any Linder reference in this particular episode, though to be fair he was discussing American silent comedy and Linder made only a few films (though among his best) in Hollywood.

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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#35 Post by colinr0380 » Wed Sep 14, 2011 5:54 am

Thanks for explaining the Photoplay silents Jonathan! I did get that late 90s Channel 4 airing of The Chess Players - I remember that in the Radio Times at least it was advertised as the Satyajit Ray film The Chess Players, which would also have thrown many viewers off. The last few I remember being screened on Channel 4 were The Wedding March in 1999 (with a lovely five minute interview with Fay Wray at the premiere of the restored version shown beforehand) and the Fairbanks version of The Iron Mask in 2000, but then they must have migrated over to the Film4 channel for Orphans of the Storm, Cat and the Canary and Godless Girl.

On the second Story of Film episode, I liked the way that Cousins would make some annoying statement about the Hollywood system or something in a similar vein but then Stanley Donen would immediately provide the 'voice of sanity' and put Cousins' comments in context! If the series does that with its contributors throughout then I will not have as much of a problem.

I did think it was strange that during the section interviewing Lars von Trier about Dreyer near the end no mention was made of von Trier using Dreyer's cinematographer of Ordet and Gertrud, Henning Bendtsen (who actually died in February of this year), for the beautiful cinematography of Europa and the film scenes in Epidemic. Though perhaps that is better placed in the Lars von Trier, rather than Dreyer, section.

Jonathan S wrote:
MichaelB wrote:
Jonathan S wrote:In the silent comedy section, I'd hoped Cousins might be maverick enough to champion one or two lesser-known names (at least Harry Langdon), but instead we still got the usual focus on Chaplin, Lloyd and Keaton.
Did he mention Max Linder? I'd be very suspicious of a global history of film that failed to acknowledge his colossal influence on silent comedy.
I don't recall any Linder reference in this particular episode, though to be fair he was discussing American silent comedy and Linder made only a few films (though among his best) in Hollywood.
But at the same time with Chaplin he traced the comedian's influence across the world with clips of Tati, Toto and Raj Kapoor. It may be just rights to clips as ellipsis7 says (though I'm sure most viewers would have forgiven stills to get across some important information), but it could just as much be another one of those knowledge gaps, or even worse, Hollywood-centric thinking!

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Felix
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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#36 Post by Felix » Thu Sep 15, 2011 2:26 pm

colinr0380 wrote:Thanks for explaining the Photoplay silents Jonathan! I did get that late 90s Channel 4 airing of The Chess Players - I remember that in the Radio Times at least it was advertised as the Satyajit Ray film The Chess Players, which would also have thrown many viewers off. The last few I remember being screened on Channel 4 were The Wedding March in 1999 (with a lovely five minute interview with Fay Wray at the premiere of the restored version shown beforehand) and the Fairbanks version of The Iron Mask in 2000, but then they must have migrated over to the Film4 channel for Orphans of the Storm, Cat and the Canary and Godless Girl.
Colin and Jonathan, thanks for the clarification. I had forgotten about the Iron Mask which I did not record and The Wedding March which I did and put in a lovely package with that intro and the Von Stroheim section from Brownlow's Hollywood. I would have missed the later ones as I did not get Film Four until a lot later in life and I would probably have missed The Chess Players because of the Ray mix up. (There was also Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse at some point, one of the later ones, and Ford's The Iron Horse, later issued on BFI, and I am surprised at the reissue on MoC, in view of that).

Jonathan, I have the Milestone Phantom and am aware of all the comments about ghosting but although I have not watched it all the way through, when i read about it here I had a good look at the DVD and could not see it. Vintage Films (?) do an interesting looking restoration (2/3 discs) of it and there is a new one coming from Milestone fairly soon.

I got a couple of other Silents which showed up in the middle of nowhere in the schedules back in the old days, Dupont's Moulin Rouge, late one night on 2 with a Mike Westbrook score, Volkoff's Casanova, I think from C4, in a lovely restoration, and the weirdest one of all, Wiene's Der Rosenkavalier, broadcast one Sunday afternoon on Grampian TV, completely unheralded. I suspect there was a gap in the schedules and somehow they latched onto this one.

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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#37 Post by MichaelB » Thu Sep 15, 2011 2:56 pm

Felix wrote:and Ford's The Iron Horse, later issued on BFI, and I am surprised at the reissue on MoC, in view of that).
You should be delighted rather than surprised, as the MoC is superior to the BFI on every count - transfer, quality of source materials (the BFI version was derived from a different negative comprised of what John Ford's biographer Tag Gallagher said were inferior takes), extras, booklet, you name it. DVD Beaver covers the extensive differences here.

So it's not a reissue so much as a top-to-bottom revamp - and one that takes advantage of the 2007 restoration, which the nearly ten-year-old (and long OOP) BFI edition obviously couldn't have done.

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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#38 Post by ellipsis7 » Fri Sep 16, 2011 4:37 am

The BFI was from the international neg, and tinted, which was composed of 2nd best takes, and cut to that cloth, as opposed to the US version neg, which is made up of the best takes, and is the director's ideal intention... The Fox/MoC releases include both versions...

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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#39 Post by colinr0380 » Sat Sep 17, 2011 5:45 pm

Felix, I definitely remember Casanova - screened on BBC2 on a Saturday evening in 1997, not even that late at night! I remember it being quite an event, at least to me!

There still feel to be some slightly annoying problems with the narration in the third episode - mostly Cousins describing movements in cinema around the world in the 20s and early 30s from Germany to Japan, Russia to China, France to...France in terms of being 'rebellions' against Hollywood, which feels like it betrays too much of a nervousness that these films have to be seen in the context of how they differed from Hollywood, rather than as beautiful, powerful pieces of art or movements in themselves that do not need to be defended, or have an oppositional case made for them in such a way. Plus wasn't Ozu at least enthralled by Hollywood films, rather than consciously trying to 'rebel' against them? (Cousins even talks about the mother with the baby carriage in the Odessa Steps sequence of Battleship Potemkin being "in the mould of a Griffith heroine", which would also seem to run counter to the rather simplistic overarching narrative he is creating). Maybe it is just the choice of words that I'm having trouble with - that they feel too 'ideological' - rather than any particular problems I have with the content?

I did get reminded during the ants in the hand sequence of the Bunuel film that Saul Bass took a surrealist image and gave it a narrative context in Phase IV. I also wonder whether, since the final scene of attempted suicide at the end of Osaka Elegy is discussed as having a kind of thematic connection to the later Mildred Pierce, whether later in the series Cousins is going to go back and see the way that Hollywood imagery has reflected back onto world cinema, particularly since this kind of image could be seen to resonate into the 90s with Julio Medem's Red Squirrel.

However he certainly has to be applauded for the wonderful interviews and for some of the rare clip choices - the opening of A Page of Madness, and an all too brief section from one of Dziga Vertov's Kino-pravda newsreels stand out here (though that's it for Vertov so far, which seems rather unrepresentative if that is all it is left as), both of which I would love to get to see in full one day. Especially nice was the final section on China which focuses on Ruan Lingyu. I do not think that many of these films have ever been released, at least in the UK (outside of some film festival screenings, perhaps) so it was extremely exciting to see many clips used in this section. This is particularly damning on Western film distributors more than anything, especially since Stanley Kwan's biographical drama of the actresses life made in the early 1990s, Centre Stage (aka Actress), with Maggie Cheung, a clip of which was also shown, itself does not appear to ever have had a release in this country either.

Anyway if anyone cannot wait until Monday night for Film4's screening of Battleship Potemkin, it is available on Mosfilm's YouTube site along with Eisenstein's first film The Strike, both with subtitles. Dovzhenko's Arsenal is also up, but sadly without subtitles.

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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#40 Post by Felix » Wed Sep 21, 2011 1:47 pm

colinr0380 wrote:Felix, I definitely remember Casanova - screened on BBC2 on a Saturday evening in 1997, not even that late at night! I remember it being quite an event, at least to me!
I must be wrong about Casanova then, it was a long time ago and I knew nothing about the film at the time.

I was less impressed in general terms with part 3 though as you note there was still some very good stuff there. (I really did not get the point about Dovzhenko and the guy walking down the road who suddenly falls over, so what? I thought, but never mind.) We know all about A Page Of Madness but it is not that well known in general. I did see mention of a restoration on some obscure site when I was Googling for it a year or two back and I hope it was right as it is such a wonderful film. Not much on Vertov but we are covering the whole of Silent Cinema in 3 hours so something has to give. I’d have loved more Dovzhenko myself, ideologically reprehensible he may be, but a master none the less.

Wonderful to see Ruan Lingyu covered and with the clips from Bauer makes it all worth it to my mind. Also covered on the MoC wishlist thread, but for the lazy ones, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival release of Goddess with accompanying book is the place to start (and can be ordered using Paypal). The Chinese Classic Cinema series which release the other available films of hers are execrable quality but cheap and so still worth it. I agree about Centre Stage (Actress) which is wonderful, and features Maggie Chueng in the sexiest dance this side of The Conformist... (drool...) I see it very much as a companion piece to Rouge which could almost be about Ruan Lingyu coming back to haunt her lover. Both films are utterly sublime. I got copies of both from Amazon Marketplace, maybe on Amazon com, in the last 2-3 years so they can still be had. I would love to get hold of his Red Rose White Rose which is set in the same time period, 20’s Shanghai, but have failed utterly to find a subbed copy. (I think Chen Kaige’s Temptress Moon is also from the same time/place but it is in my Kevyip which stretches higher than the Tower Of Babel.)

A wee footnote on Bauer from your earlier post, passed over because I didn’t want to be seen to be nitpicking. You are correct to say Bauer had some exposure from the BFI disc, (and my cinephile work colleague who is not greatly interested in Silent films was at least aware of it), but I don’t think the exposure was that great. The cover of Mad Love left a lot to be desired and would not attract many people, I don’t think, and I doubt sales were significant. They have certainly not encouraged BFI, in the middle of a big schedule of releases, to convert their other Bauer titles from the Early Russian Cinema VHS releases to DVD . A crying shame as there are some absolute masterpieces in there.

Still getting headline reviews in Radio Times, fourth week in a row and I am still very pleased to have it, though have fears when I see My Beautiful Launderette on the associated films schedule.

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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#41 Post by colinr0380 » Wed Sep 21, 2011 2:33 pm

I think Rouge is one of the best 'supernatural love' films overall. Certainly it deserves a mainline Criterion or MoC release and then I'm certain other films by Stanley Kwan (like Centre Stage/Actress) would surely follow. I remember that Channel 4 did a triple bill of ghost films on Christmas Eve 1996 of The Lady In White, The Innocents and Rouge, and Rouge fit perfectly into that illustrious company (I missed the BBC's simultaneous screening of Carnival of Souls because of that, having to wait a few years until picking up the Criterion release - there must have been something in the air that Christmas Eve to inspire all those spooky films!)

I've not yet seen Temptress Moon (I always stupidly keep getting it confused with the other Gong Li film from around that time, Shanghai Triad!), but it sounds excellent!

You are right about Bauer, Felix. It did not seem to lead to anything further, but at least there was the opportunity to see those films on DVD for a while. It is just a shame that the disc is not still available to capitalise on any renewed interest that might come from the series.

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Re: The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)

#42 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Sep 25, 2011 8:55 am

Episode 4 on the 1930s is getting there slowly - much more time is spent with Cousins discussing the films than the philosophy and wider context of cinema, which is somewhat more preferable, although for all the protesting that took place in previous episodes this is probably the most Hollywood-centric in the first half (enumerating the six 'sound genres' of Hollywood) and focused, not on British film, but rather Hitchcock-centric in the latter stages (the seventeen things that make Hitchcock great, or some such. I tuned out a little after the fifth thing was listed!)

Cousins does get to do his "the world is yours" comparison between the two versions of Scarface again, which is a great little piece of film criticism, and one I remember him doing when introducing the premiere of the De Palma Scarface on Moviedrome back in 1997. Although Cousins doesn't do what he did when introducing the premiere of La Haine in the same season, and point out the use of the same ironic phrase in Kassovitz's film (which gets defaced by graffiti near the end from 'le monde est vous' to 'nous'!) - this would have been the perfect opportunity to do so, as it also shows the way that world cinema is picking up on Hollywood motifs (and it also would provide a basis for a discussion about the way that the Scarface working class immigrant myth still has power today, especially now that it has merged somewhat with rap).

France (Renoir, Carné and Vigo each get two of their most famous films discussed, as well as one for Cocteau, but no career overview) and Poland (with by far the best part of the episode being a clip from The Adventures of a Good Citizen which Cousins suggests inspired Polanski's Two Men and a Wardrobe short decades later) both get mentions but really only in the context of the way that both countries were soon to be invaded by Germany (which gets represented in the 30s here only through Leni Reifenstahl, who I guess perfectly fits into the unofficial 'two film to a director' rule of this episode with Triumph of the Will and Olympia). There is also a bone thrown to the audience wondering if there is cinema outside the established cannon with Limite.

Then comes the discussion of Hitchcock with an illustration of the difference between fear and terror (the bomb in Sabotage); an interview with Norman Lloyd about the ending of Saboteur; a discussion of the way Hitchcock starts with establishing close ups and pulls out rather than the other way round 'norm' using the opening of The 39 Steps (though despite discussing screwball comedy conventions with Hawks earlier in the episode during the Hollywood genre section, Cousins never really talks about the way this film, and many of the other Hitchcock couple partnerships, also utilise these conventions and play a part in developing them); and the use of an overhead 'scream' shot, illustrated by Marnie.

This is all fine (though bitty), though I would have preferred to have seen more discussion of other films such as Blackmail (The Lodger was briefly mentioned in the 20s episode), and the "third thing that makes Hitchcock great" narration threatens to turn Cousin's arguments into staid bullet point lists, and also becomes unintentionally amusing once you get past the fifth or sixth reason - there must have been a less dry way to have put across the same information.

I do find it ironic though that, for all the complaints about Hollywood's 'magical bauble' being too insular, Cousins ends this episode with three films about women that he feels defines the 30s: Ninotchka, The Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind. Cousins does suggest that these are subverting the insularity of their leads but to me all feel as if they are reaffirming the status quo (The Wizard of Oz most literally with "there's no place like home"!) - and I find it especially ironic that Cousins lauds the pricking of Scarlett O'Hara's bubble in GWTW, illustrated by showing the famous long pull back losing Scarlett among the bodies in the train yard, yet never seems to place that moment in context - that all of this is like water off a duck's back to Scarlett, who is single-mindedly searching for her man - she won't "step from a fantasy world into reality", she'll continue on in a fresh fantasy bubble forever, striding through the bodies of the fallen and believing that she can construct her own destiny and manipulate others as long as she wills it to happen hard enough.

For all the issues I have with this series though, I'm loving the way that it is getting me to think more about my attitudes to the various views expressed - I don't want this just to come across as whining, more that this is the animated discussion I would having with Mr Cousins following a screening! I certainly keep being left with a lot of "did you really mean that?!?" questions after every episode so far!

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Re: The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)

#43 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Oct 02, 2011 6:56 am

Episode 5 can easily be split into Italian neorealism, Citizen Kane and film noir in the US (i.e. the 'darkening' of post-war American cinema) and Powell and Pressburger (plus The Third Man) in the UK. Not a bad episode and I particularly liked the extensive interviews with Stanley Donen and Judy Balaban (whose father was the head of Paramount during that period) taking in the selling off of the Hollywood studios theatre chains and HUAC in the 1950s, even if Cousins kept doing this annoying thing of talking over people in voiceover who were still talking themselves at the end of the interview. Though he does this with many of the film clips too (such as Double Indemnity), which sort of prevents the viewer from being able to assess the scene being discussed with its full impact. Perhaps this is a hangover from Cousins being used to be able to talk with impunity over the silents?

This does seem to be an episode where Cousins is trying to set the record straight on a couple of issues - not only does Kazan gets dealt with at this point of the series (Cousins provides a rather redundant commentary about who in the audience is clapping and not clapping during his Lifetime Achievement Academy Award), with an interview with a person who voted for his Award, but Norman Lloyd also gets to claim that he would never have argued with Orson Welles in the manner the character in the Linklater film Me & Orson Welles does.

There's a lovely sequence during the noir section talking about Gun Crazy and comparing its influence on Bonnie and Clyde, as well as tracing noir style as coming from Europe with the romantic fatalism of Carné and the example of Renoir's La Chienne being remade as Scarlet Street (Edward G. Robinson gets his due here after not being mentioned in the previous episode's 'Gangster' section, showing the development of his roles from Little Caesar on) and tracing noir style through to the obvious candidates of Blade Runner and L.A. Confidential (I wonder if Cousins knows about 80s and 90s neo-noir?) I'm also certainly far more interested than I previously had been in seeing Donen's Two For The Road now (though it does look very 60s and I'm still uncertain of exactly what accent Albert Finney was doing!)

I also loved the moment in the interview with Donen where he talks about not liking any of the Busby Berkeley musicals for years (which Cousins nicely illustrates through a clip of the frantic parody Berkeley numbers from Singin' In The Rain) but that he appreciates them much more now, and then goes on to talk of the beauty of film being a set of unchanging images that we the audience members respond to differently over time, and that this is where the magic of film really lies.
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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#44 Post by John Hodson » Sun Oct 02, 2011 2:01 pm

I was more than a little uncomfortable with the lingering shots of Gary Cooper while Cousins was discussing those who gave evidence and named names; uninformed viewers could easily have jumped to conclusions, while nothing could have been further from the truth.

In 1947, Cooper had testified on the first day of hearings - named no names, no scripts, nothing - he was there, as he put it, to inform the committee that Hollywood was not a nest of communists. That this was a mistake, simply appearing, Cooper later acknowledged. But I'm afraid the implication of episode 5 was clear.

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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#45 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Oct 02, 2011 7:39 pm

That's true, I totally missed that. I must admit that I was also kind of uncomfortable with the 'putting the record straight' sequences that I mentioned above re: Kazan and the Norman Lloyd/Orson Welles spat (this episode was perhaps the most interview heavy yet, though I did not mind that aspect so much since it at least gave other people than Cousins the chance to talk). Isn't Cousins supposed to be talking about cinema rather than adding some more gossip to the behind the scenes stuff anyway, given that the early episodes were supposed to be about the art of a film in isolation from all the traumas and tantrums of film production?

Perhaps though it is an unavoidable problem in having to skim across the surface of so many different subjects, all of which could merit an in depth documentary in themselves.

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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#46 Post by John Hodson » Mon Oct 03, 2011 11:03 am

Indeed; it's becoming apparent, if it wasn't obvious from the get go, that we are on a surface scratching exercise here. But I'm generally pleased with what I've seen thus far.

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colinr0380
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Re: The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011) Episode 6

#47 Post by colinr0380 » Sat Oct 08, 2011 7:08 pm

Now that was a really good episode tackling the late 40s and 1950s which according to Cousins in his wrap up to the programme are when "developing countries found their voice and the West became fascinated by sex and power" (and I'd add class to that, judging by the clips chosen to represent 'the West' in the episode!). Particularly good because it is almost purely focused on extensive clips and commentary on films.

To give a brief run through, this episode tackles Youssef Chahine focused on Cairo Station (there's also some really nice footage of, and a brief interview with, Chahine himself, who died in 2008) which neatly highlights the use of commerce and advertising material contrasted against more intimate, grounded dramatics, which is a motif that runs through many of Chahine's films, even his September 11 anthology short.

Then the programme moves to India, tackling Satyajit Ray mostly by analysing Pather Panchali (though Sharmila Tagore, star of Devi, is interviewed as well). Then talking about Mother India, which Cousins describes as "the Indian Gone With The Wind" (it's actually far better than that!)

Then to China to interview Xie Jin, with a clip from his Two Stage Sisters shown (Xie Jin also died in 2008, so this is another valuable interview. I have not had the chance to see any of the director's films myself yet, but Two Stage Sisters looks amazing. Plus I'd also like to see the film he directed about The Opium Wars, the release fortuitously timed to coincide with the return of the territory of Hong Kong back to China in 1997!)

Next is Japan and Kurosawa illustrated through clips from Ikiru, Seven Samurai and Throne of Blood (which reminds me that this film has by far the best representation of 'Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane' that I've seen - all rolling fog with the trees processing through them), with the nice juxtaposition of Mifune's arrow-laden death in Throne of Blood against James Caan's machine gunning in The Godfather.

Brazil is illustrated by a clip from Rio 40 Degrees by Nelson Pereira dos Santos

Mexico: A segment from the 40s Doña Bárbara. The Wild Bunch turns up but only to point out that Emilio Fernández is playing the general in Peckinpah's film, which then segues into a fascinating clip from Fernández's 1940s film La Perla (which Cousins does not mention is based on a John Steinbeck story!). This section is capped by discussing Buñuel's Mexican period, although only Los Olvidados is specifically discussed.

The episode then moves to the US - Douglas Sirk (All That Heaven Allows) and Nicolas Ray (Johnny Guitar, along with the famous Truffaut quote about it) get their dues, but also Kenneth Anger with clips of Fireworks and Scorpio Rising and the way that shows a through line from Cocteau to Scorsese and Lynch. (Thinking about the way Anger uses images of handsome young men playing dress up in front of mirrors, using dangerous weapons and fetishised uniforms to enhance a kind of attempt at a hyper-masculine self image makes the possible influence on Taxi Driver seem much more obvious now!)

Then Cousins moves on to live TV dramas (i.e. those contained in Criterion's Golden Age of Television set) such as Rod Steiger in Marty, before moving on to On The Waterfront, the Actor's Studio and "The Method" ("actors no longer displayed their characters, instead tried to hide them"). The big fight climax to Red River is re-read as a conflict between Montgomery Clift's method actor and John Wayne's old school actor. James Dean strangles his on screen father in Rebel Without A Cause.

I was actually reminded through this sequence of Peter Biskind's book Seeing Is Believing, talking about the way many of these 1950s films, especially Rebel and Waterfront, are about 'building a consensus' and dragging an outcast figure (almost duping them!), who barely know why they are feeling angry and what exactly they are angry about, into becoming a productive member of society again. This is usually carried out through the sacrifice of a more minor character who has transgressed the boundaries of the society further than our heroes, and who therefore cannot return and must die for their sins, but who can also act to push our lead characters towards redemptive vengeance or introspective soul searching that will eventually save them from a similar fate.

Then the episode talks about the old guard's response to all this method acting, teenage angst and female liberation: Welles (with Touch of Evil), Ford (The Searchers), Hitchcock (Vertigo) and Hawks (Rio Bravo).

Next to the UK and David Lean with a clip from Great Expectations and Cousins putting forward the idea that "like Kurosawa his films became about landscape and the way that eventually it grows to dwarf people" during a discussion about Lawrence of Arabia (which I guess if we follow the logic makes Dersu Uzala Kurosawa's Lawrence of Arabia!). Then to Lindsay Anderson and O Dreamland, contrasting the "pity, disappointment and contempt" that the documentary views its subjects with against the more idealised working class (albeit idealised so as to all the better inspire shock when they are massacred!) in Battleship Potemkin.

Then finally to France - or more specifically to Bardot with And God Created Woman, showing sex almost bursting off of the screen, and that such pent up tension couldn't last, which I assume is going to lead to the explosion of cinema in the 60s and Godard in particular in the next episode! (Though I do wonder whether Cousins may go back and tackle Clouzot at some future point, who at the moment seems to be the big omission from this episode)

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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#48 Post by Jarpie » Sun Oct 09, 2011 11:58 am

I was very disappointed that Cousins didn't even mention Samuel Fuller and his films from the 50s. I would've expected at least showing the clip "Are you waving that flag at me?" from "Pickup from South Street", and mention of how (emotionally) powerful are his films.

Like colinr0380 mentioned, Clouzot was omissioned as well, which I find very surprising, given how praised three of his best films are (Le Corbeau, Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques).

Although, there are several other directors who he haven't mentioned, who would've probably deserved to.

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Re: Scene by Scene (Mark Cousins, 1996-1999)

#49 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Oct 09, 2011 2:08 pm

There is always the possibility that whilst talking about the French New Wave Cousins may go back and talk about Clouzot and perhaps even Fuller as well in the context of his critical rehabillitation in France.

I remember being rather upset that Edward G. Robinson was not mentioned at all in the 'gangster' episode but then he belatedly turned up in the next episode in the Scarlet Street/Double Indemnity section, which allowed Cousins to show a clip of Little Caesar. It was not much but I suppose it fits in with the stream of consciousness jumping about that is happening throughout the series, and at least he was covered somewhere.

We'll have to wait with fingers crossed for the next episode to see if they turn up! (No Tati as yet either, though they might be waiting for Playtime)

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The Story Of Film: An Oddity (2011)

#50 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Oct 16, 2011 8:01 am

No Clouzot or Fuller in episode 7, though Tati does get addressed. I'm getting a little frustrated by this unofficial 'two films to a director' rule that this episode reverts back to (though Bergman is the exception - he gets four!) It is very difficult to get the impression of the development of the French New Wave directors through just a couple of their films...and I'd argue that Cousins picks many of the wrong ones anyway! (Paul Schrader takes over from Stanley Donen as the 'voice of sanity and Hollywood muse figure/safety blanket for Cousins' in this section)

Anyway, I thought I would do something different from just recounting the episode and post my notes taken during my viewing. As well as showing my laziness it also perhaps better captures the bittiness on display here:
Context: The Berlin Wall and nuclear fears

Four directors: Bergman, Bresson, Tati, Fellini

Visit to Swedish Film Archive looking at Bergman sketches

Cousins: “Touch and death – the touchstones of Bergman”

Bergman – Life As Theatre

Summer With Monika – the direct gaze of Harriet Anderson, the background darkening
The Seventh Seal – the senses are used to question God
Winter Light – the amazing scene in the classroom where the preacher rejects the teacher
Persona – a self aware medium – Cousins: “film didn’t only tell the story, it was the story”

Bresson – Life As Prison

Stripping out the gloss. Blank expressions in Pickpocket and Au hazard Balthazar. Individuals imprisonsed both physically and inside their own bodies. All the better to show eventual grace and transcendence. Schrader about the influence of Bresson on Taxi Driver: "If you can hold the audience long enough (about 45 minutes) you can get them to empathise with someone they shouldn’t". Tracing the influence of Bresson to Mani Kaul, Kieslowski and Lynne Ramsey(!?!?!?)

Tati – Life As a Series of Moments

“Making cinema laugh at modernity”
Incidents over ‘strong’ storytelling. Bill Forsyth interview “We spend our lives inventing stories, but stories don’t exist – we exist and invent stories to explain our lives”
Mon Oncle – revisiting the locations. The cinema Tati ran in Paris.
No Playtime!!!!

Fellini - Life As A Circus

Cinecitta
Fellini’s Casanova
Nights of Cabiria – Guilietta Masina – Cousins: "In Bergman God is missing, in Fellini God is long gone and Kitsch remains"
Claudia Cardinale interview on 8 ½
The influence of Fellini: opening of Stardust Memories

Cousins: “These filmmakers opened up the form but then it was carpet bombed by French filmmakers”

Schrader on “The Film School generation” in the US feeling inspired by the French New Wave

Cleo From 5 to 7 and Last Year In Marienbad: The portrayal of thought on film and the questioning of thought processes

Truffaut – a celebration of the medium: The 400 Blows

Godard: Close ups isolating people from the world compared to wide shots allowing the audience’s eyes to roam
Breathless – jump cuts
Cuts to show different action had always been used but what was new was that the cuts seen as beautiful in themselves
A shot wasn’t entirely part of a story, but a ‘true’ moment
Baz Luhrmann on the way Breathless is not reality but another cinematic device. Film language is a living thing, that continually evolves
A Married Woman’s influence on American Gigolo - isolated body parts.

Italy

Pasolini – Accatone. Classical music over earthy images. Interview with Bertolucci
The Gospel According to St Matthew: the down to earth portrayal of a saint. Suggested influence from Dreyer's Joan of Arc.

Leone – the influence of Kurosawa but the visual style the innovation (More from Bertolucci)
Once Upon A Time In The West - the sweeping shot over the train station roof. (Cardinale's back!)

Visconti – Senso and Rocco and His Brothers

Antonioni - L'Eclisse (the ending, ruined by edits and cutting away from the final shot. No talk of the nuclear fears when this would have been the perfect film with which to do so) and The Passenger (ditto with the edits to the final shot, maybe Cousins needs more time!!!!). Antonioni's widespread influence - Angelopoulous

Spain, for some reason

Marco Ferreri (The Wheelchair)
Almodovar (What Have I Done To Deserve This)
Viridiana (Bunuel)


I am curious (Yellow) – Politics as fantasy

The Mother and the Whore (Leaud reappearing from The 400 Blows – a discussion of his 'new' direct gaze).

New Wave is dead! Cousins seems relieved that it is in his final summing up of the period.
There were a couple of nice ideas to be found in the episode but I'm not sure the programme really captured what was special about the French New Wave and strangely did not stray much beyond a few canonical titles for most of the programme.

Lots of missed opportunities:

How you can talk about Tati, including a long sequence about the modern house from Mon Oncle, and then not push things through to his masterpiece, Playtime, is beyond me (maybe there will be something in a future episode about the 'downfall of the masters' taking in Playtime, Trafic and Parade, perhaps).

There was a perfect opportunity to bookend Bergman with Vilgot Sjöman's I Am Curious (Yellow) by showing a clip from Sjöman's Making of Winter Light documentary, yet that does not appear in the opening Bergman section.

How can someone talk about Leone's Kurosawa influence without noting that A Fistful of Dollars is literally a remake of Yojimbo!

How can someone discuss Godard without mention of Contempt at all? Especially after the Bardot tease at the end of the previous episode! Or the end of the French New Wave without mention of the apocalyptic Weekend? Or contrast the way that Jean-Pierre Leaud is used in The 400 Blows and The Mother and the Whore without talking of Leaud's important through-line performance in Godard's Masculin Feminin, a film which comes almost exactly between those films.

Can Antonioni's long, fluid shots or intricately built sequences be truly understood when cut up?

Where were Chabrol and Rohmer?!?! (Not to mention Rivette)

Couldn't the section on Visconti have included a small bit about The Leopard (the filmmakers had Claudia Cardinale right there for commentary! That could only have strengthened an argument that she was an Italian art cinema muse figure during that period)

Fellini - no La Dolce Vita? Really?!?

Bresson - no A Man Escaped? (his best film!)

Resnais - no Night and Fog (which could beautifully illustrate the way that the French New Wave directors were all approaching cinema from different angles) or Hiroshima Mon, Amour?

No Spirit of the Beehive in the otherwise strangely placed Spanish film section? Perhaps Erice is being saved for later?
Last edited by colinr0380 on Mon Oct 17, 2011 12:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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