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Re: Pordenone’s 39 Limited Edition will flourish as an online event
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2020 8:53 pm
by startspreading
Mike Gebert wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2020 6:24 pm
Well, today's program was a dud in my book.
La Tempesta in Un Cranio (Storm in the Brain), from Italy, 1921, directed by Carlo Campogalliani, is a frenetic farce about the heir in a family known for hereditary insanity, who's convinced that he's going to lose his marbles too, but then goes through various adventures to show that he won't. The comedian—named Benfenati; this may be his only film, per the IMDB—is mildly amusing early on playing a neurasthenic lost cause, and he can certainly climb energetically like a Lloyd or Keaton, but in about an hour of frenzied action I just didn't see much that rose to the level of a gag, and the notes call it "surreal" when they may just mean "incoherent." Sorry.
It was preceded by a short of which something similar could be said, though I think it was more adroitly made: a 1916 short called
Bohemian Castles and Fortresses, which starts as if it were a travelogue—but in fact it was made for the beginning of a stage play, with the lead actor learning that he's due at the theater some miles away, and racing by train, boat and bicycle to get there in time. As the film ends, the play begins. Again, it suggests Lloyd and Keaton as he clambers over roofs and runs at top speed, isn't as good, but wasn't bad.
Finally, the scariest image of the festival was in the film about the Italian archive beforehand—footage of nitrate being boiled or whatever to recover the silver from it. AAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEE! Reallllly scary, as Count Floyd would say!
Mike, wasn’t the lead Carlo Campogalliani - the director - himself?
Re: Pordenone’s 39 Limited Edition will flourish as an online event
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2020 7:50 am
by Mike Gebert
Maybe. The IMDB doesn't list the character names with the actors, I just went by Benfenati being listed first.
Re: Pordenone’s 39 Limited Edition will flourish as an online event
Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 6:39 am
by Arndt
Professor Echo wrote: ↑Fri Oct 09, 2020 9:45 am
I also have to commend the score composer, Mauro Colombis, who made a solo piano sound like a symphony orchestra.
Sorry to come in this late with a comment, but I just read your post. I am afraid I do not agree here. I felt the musical accompaniment was not up to the film's subtleties. Instead it was poured over it like some thick stew. That was especially apparent in the nightclub sequence. A lot of things are happening here but as it is a nightclub scene the piano just tinkles happily away. To me the score sounded not so much composed but largely improvised.
I very rarely complain about music for silent films, especially when it is a traditional piano accompaniment, but I found this one annoying and even distracting.
Re: Pordenone’s 39 Limited Edition will flourish as an online event
Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 5:51 pm
by Frame Rate
Professor Echo wrote: ↑Mon Oct 12, 2020 8:21 am
And why were silent comedy shorts so fixated on always having characters being kicked in the ass?
Well, Uncle Walt sure laughed his head off (according to his animators) whenever they showed him pencil tests with "fanny pokes," and apparently audiences of the era shared his enthusiasm for "bottom humor" on screen -- judging by how frequent (and often quite violent) such "bits" were in both live-action comedy and cartoon shorts (made by almost
everybody) during cinema's "Innocent Years".
But Disney's pain-in-the-posterior proclivities do seem to constitute a higher level of commitment, don't they?
Re: Pordenone’s 39 Limited Edition will flourish as an online event
Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 4:00 am
by earlytalkiebuffRob
greta de groat wrote: ↑Mon Oct 05, 2020 10:10 am
Harlett O'Dowd wrote: ↑Mon Oct 05, 2020 8:14 am
Mike Gebert wrote: ↑Sat Oct 03, 2020 4:55 pm
In particular, given that the boys' world seems to be race-blind—there are two brothers, black, who are accepted by the white kids without a word, and with almost no race-based humor on the script's part—there's a commonality with the Hal Roach-Robert McGowan
Our Gang series that probably means you can't attribute influence from one to the other (both series started in 1922) but that they probably reinforced each other in naturalistic, democratic visions of childhood.
I also wondered if Penrod influenced Roach's Gang in terms of racial inclusiveness. Perhaps anyone who knows the original novels, or the first Penrod film, can chime in.
What made the racial blindness so remarkable is how dismissive the gang is to the sissy character. Even Penrod's father is uncomfortable witnessing the sissy boy being affectionate with his father … and half an hour later, unironically, he is just as physically affectionate towards his own son.
I'm not sure what all that means.
I was really disturbed by this as well. I was surprised and pleased by the racial inclusiveness (plus Eugene Jackson stole the picture as far as i was concerned), but the other "boys club" stuff, especially the hazing, just had me thinking that even though they were little kids they were already being socialized to be dicks. I just ended up not being able to enjoy this.
greta
Watched PENROD AND SAM last night, and found some of that stuff not only not funny, but cruel and unpleasant as well. Wondered if it was just me, and found someone on IMDb who came down heavily on the film because of this. American viewers may be interested to compare this film with Richmal Crompton's 'William' stories, which came out in book form from 1922 (again!) onwards. Crompton used social satire to good effect (which helped their durability) and three films were made as well as several attempts on TV.
I did try to read one of the 'Penrod' books a few years back, but found it pretty heavy-going...
Re: Pordenone’s 39 Limited Edition will flourish as an online event
Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 10:17 am
by bobfells
I've read a few Booth Tarkington stories and books but not any of the Penrod series. That said, I was hoping to "re-discover" Tarkington but instead I sadly wondered what all the excitement was about. He was a competent writer who had a gift for turning a phrase now and then, but not much more. Two of his novels won the Pulitzer Prize, ALICE ADAMS and THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, but thereafter he seemed to have peaked and other authors arriving on the scene stole his thunder such as F. Scott Fitzgerald. Frankly, I can recommend only his short story, "Monsieur Beaucaire," to 21st century readers but then I have hardly read all of his large output. I'd welcome recommendations.
Tarkington was good friends with George Arliss and wrote a "Bolshevik" comedy for him in 1920 called POLDEKIN. It flopped. But in 1930 Tarkington wrote the dialogue for the Arliss talkie, THE MILLIONAIRE (1931), and provided some very naturalistic dialogue for that time. When I first saw the film I didn't know who wrote it but was impressed by the quality of the dialogue - the story was by Earl Derr Biggers of "Charlie Chan" fame - so it came as a surprise when I discovered the author. Later Tarkington wrote a play called AARON BURR for Arliss but it was never produced. It seems to be among the Tarkington Papers at the University of Indiana. I'd love to read it because I can't see Mr. A as Burr.
Bob
Re: Pordenone’s 39 Limited Edition will flourish as an online event
Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:48 am
by Daniel Eagan
I like to think of myself as tolerant but books like Tarkington's Seventeen are excruciatingly racist.
Re: Pordenone’s 39 Limited Edition will flourish as an online event
Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2021 10:21 am
by bobfells
Daniel Eagan wrote: ↑Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:48 am
I like to think of myself as tolerant but books like Tarkington's
Seventeen are excruciatingly racist.
Even as a kid I could never understand why one group of people made fun of other groups. Jack Benny was one of the few in the entertainment industry in the early and mid 20th century who bucked the trend and insisted that Rochester's character be written as non-racial role. Eddie Anderson was all the more effective as a comedian and should have set an example of how people of color should have been portrayed. Rochester was the most consistently funny character on the Benny show.
While "Amos 'n' Andy" is considered the nadir of racist humor, the show evolved from a basically serious concept using comedy more as an undertone. Beginning in radio around 1928 or so, the program was 15 minutes long and heard three times a week. A number of recordings from that time exist and they are not very funny nor were they meant to be. It was only when the network "suits" got involved that the show morphed into a half-hour situation comedy with "dumb" jokes and mispronouncing words as the principal sources of humor. I can't stand the half-hour network shows but those early 15-minute broadcasts are a revelation.
Bob