Post by rmichaelpyle on Nov 18, 2011 10:53:42 GMT -6
Well, chalk it up to the fact that I watch so many films made between 1928 and 1931 that I don't really notice a lot of squeaky problems with the technology as much as someone who doesn't watch these on a regular basis, someone who flinches at obvious microphone lurches by actors trying to get their sound placed properly, for example. Nevertheless, last night I watched a film that I think deserves a LOT more recognition than it gets, William Wellman's 1929 masterpiece, "Woman Trap" (1929), with Hal Skelly, Chester Morris, and Evelyn Brent. I also must admit that because it stars Hal Skelly, that usually would be enough to turn me away from watching it. I usually can't stand the bloke. He has a twenties stage way about his acting that just doesn't hack it in film for me - usually. NOT HERE! He's really great. Maybe not Academy Award material, but certainly directed perfectly by Wellman who sucked out the best of the best and got a performance of top notch character. This film also has almost none of the problems with early technology. Instead, it's as though Wellman understood from the beginning what he needed to do to make sound work. There are a couple of scenes in a store, for example where talking over the scene's main focus was used purposely and to good effect. Just the ambiance of sound alone was used a couple of times and it works to establish the exposition. Great direction, period.
The grit of this piece - and that's what it is - GRIT - is in every shot. We see the lower East Side of New York in those days - hot and grimy, dirty and warehouse districty, full to the brim with old things, falling apart things, full to brim with people living on top of each other, full to the brim with crime and criminals - and, in the case of this film, as with many others, the Irish. This film was released the month of the Crash in the Great Depression, too, but that part of the equation isn't seen here. It doesn't need to be. The grittiness of the place is enough to set any stage for a film of this type.
This one has brothers (afterall, it's based on a story entitled "Brothers") who are cop and criminal (a bootlegger's driver) and another family who blames the cop for its own problems with their son who's involved with the bootleggers, too. The other family also has a sister, Evelyn Brent, who has a thing for Hal Skelly, the cop, but neither has ever gone the distance for a marriage between them. Several bad things occur and the sister goes from tough but sweet to just plain tough and mean and vengeful. Hal Skelly goes from carefree and happy-go-lucky to tough and tougher and mean. Chester Morris becomes so involved in crime he ultimately commits the worst one, murder. All this leads to a very fascinatingly complex ending. The VERY ending may be, for modern audiences, just a tad soupy, but, overall, this is really great film-making - for its day.
At one point I thought that a nurse sent in to help Hal Skelly's mother looked an awful lot like Virginia Bruce. Turns out it WAS Virginia Bruce in one of her first films. Also in the program are William B. Davidson, Effie Ellsler, Leslie Fenton (really decent in this one!), Guy Oliver, Charles Giblyn, Clarence Wilson, and, yes, that's Joseph L. Mankiewicz as a reporter.
Wonderful evocation of late teens and 20's New York City in its roughest places! Very, very highly recommended. Thanks to my friend, Jim Ardito, for this. I enjoyed this as much as any film I've watched in a very long time.
The grit of this piece - and that's what it is - GRIT - is in every shot. We see the lower East Side of New York in those days - hot and grimy, dirty and warehouse districty, full to the brim with old things, falling apart things, full to brim with people living on top of each other, full to the brim with crime and criminals - and, in the case of this film, as with many others, the Irish. This film was released the month of the Crash in the Great Depression, too, but that part of the equation isn't seen here. It doesn't need to be. The grittiness of the place is enough to set any stage for a film of this type.
This one has brothers (afterall, it's based on a story entitled "Brothers") who are cop and criminal (a bootlegger's driver) and another family who blames the cop for its own problems with their son who's involved with the bootleggers, too. The other family also has a sister, Evelyn Brent, who has a thing for Hal Skelly, the cop, but neither has ever gone the distance for a marriage between them. Several bad things occur and the sister goes from tough but sweet to just plain tough and mean and vengeful. Hal Skelly goes from carefree and happy-go-lucky to tough and tougher and mean. Chester Morris becomes so involved in crime he ultimately commits the worst one, murder. All this leads to a very fascinatingly complex ending. The VERY ending may be, for modern audiences, just a tad soupy, but, overall, this is really great film-making - for its day.
At one point I thought that a nurse sent in to help Hal Skelly's mother looked an awful lot like Virginia Bruce. Turns out it WAS Virginia Bruce in one of her first films. Also in the program are William B. Davidson, Effie Ellsler, Leslie Fenton (really decent in this one!), Guy Oliver, Charles Giblyn, Clarence Wilson, and, yes, that's Joseph L. Mankiewicz as a reporter.
Wonderful evocation of late teens and 20's New York City in its roughest places! Very, very highly recommended. Thanks to my friend, Jim Ardito, for this. I enjoyed this as much as any film I've watched in a very long time.
