ILX Film Club, The (1924-2019)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c3/La_regle_du_jeu.jpg

The Rules of the Game, Jean Renoir, 1939
Morbsies #7
Sight & Sound Critics #13
Sight & Sound Directors #38

oh I've heard of this one

It's on youtube but without subtitles.

Of all the movies that regularly get called, more or less, the best of all time, Rules is the one where you just have to go "Yeah, of course it is."

I've had mediocre experiences teaching this one to college students the last five years.

I've seen it one (1) time, in my first month at film school, my script-writing tutor (this guy) showed it to us on a little TV before he let us write anything.

That was a quarter of a century ago and I remember very little

^Studied under Thorold Dickinson = UK film studies royalty (only a degree of separation from Raymond Durgnat would score you higher!)

Rules definitely one of those films that genuinely gets better every time you see it (wld say the same about Vertigo, and perhaps explains why they're often in GOAT competition).

Yeah he was easily one of the best tutors on the course (and I only had him the once) - he also showed us his debut feature, a relentlessly grim film about prostitutes in the old west called Painted Angels, I appreciated it but don't think many of my classmates agreed.

Loved this of course, how could I not? Nothing stood out as being spectacular in terms of script, acting or cinematography, it was all just perfectly pitched, not a moment wasted, every character seemed alive and full of contradictions. It was heavily stylised without ever seeming artificial or mannered. Feel like I want to go back and watch the whole thing again, but should probably move on as it's Monday.

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His Girl Friday, Howard Hawks, 1940
Morbsies #115
Sight & Sound Critics #129

This one is on youtube, but looks like a crappy rip. ANy other links would be welcome.

Every public library in the country carries a DVD if you can't find it online.

which country?

In Soviet Russia His Girl Friday rents you!

Not a fan of this film but I've discussed that on here semi recently.

God I run hot and cold on Hawks, even still ...

Cary Grant is so sexy as an unrepentant asshole, especially in that hat.

Thought I had seen this before but seemed entirely unfamiliar. Enjoyed parts of it a great deal and a lot to admire, but something about it just didn't sit right with me - the middle third (restaurant scene to criminal climbing in window) just didn't seem to work in terms of plot or characters. The scene where she's typing up the story and not listening to her fiancée was the highlight for me, something very relatable and not often seen on screen.

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The Maltese Falcon, John Huston, 1941
Morbsies #62

By gad, sir, you are a character, if you don't my saying so!

Bogart looks a bit weird in that poster?

I suspect it's a promo shot for High Sierra, for which I think he sported a crew cut.

Too formative for me to evaluate disinterestedly. I guess Peter Lorre's performance is problematic on at least two levels but it also just rules, love Joel Cairo.

I know Lorre and Greenstreet got paired on a couple of films but they really should have gotten a Thin Man-like franchise.

This one is also available on archive.org here in decent enough quality though not sure if it is available everywhere.

"Make Way for Tomorrow, Leo McCarey, 1937"

Screening of this at the BFI on the 24th, as part of the Ozu season.

When Astor, Greenstreet, Lorre, and Bogart are together, it's glorious.

Good thread: Best Villain in "The Maltese Falcon"

i recently saw elisha cook in corman's haunted palace, and i was reminded of what a limited character actor he was. same character in almost everything he was in, and when he did television he'd usually mug for the camera the same way in everything. His filmography still has some amazing highs: Maltese Falcon, Hellzapoppin, The Big Sleep, The Killing, Rosemary's Baby.

Don't forget his crazed drumming in Phantom Lady!

So this was excellent, of course, though very confusing for the first half hour - but I enjoy being confused so that's no bad thing. Enjoyed the ambiguity about truth/lies and moral/immoral, even if it did come out on the side of good, not even Bogie made it through with his soul unblemished. And yes, "'You... you imbecile. You bloated idiot. You stupid fat-head you!"

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The Lady Eve, Preston Sturges, 1941
Morbsies #85

The greatest movie of all time.

finished one above this

the horse scene

I saw this at a local revival on July 4 weekend...it'd been years since I'd seen an audience have such a good time. Stanwyck and Fonda are infallible; Fonda plays convincingly dense. And with Charles Coburn, William Demarest, Melville Cooper offer impeccable support.

Just finished this, finally. What an absolute joy! Can't think of when I last loved a film so much first viewing. Feel like I'm going to be coming back to this again and again.

hugs

Anyway, bit late but probably less to say about this one.

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Citizen Kane, Orson Welles, 1941

Morbsies #19
Sight & Sound Critics #3
Sight & Sound Directors #2

pretty good iirc

Never heard of it

Obligatory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PyAO91qArI

Never heard of it

Also obligatory

https://tedhicksfilmetc.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/rosebud-was-his-sled2-peanuts.jpg

I think with Citizen Kane it does help to watch a ton of Hollywood movies from the years preceding it - and not just the acclaimed masterpieces - to see how wild what he was doing on a formal level was.

"Make Way for Tomorrow, Leo McCarey, 1937"

Screening of this at the BFI on the 24th, as part of the Ozu season.

― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 5 September 2023 bookmarkflaglink

Good to see older people being front and centre of a film.

I found this script with edits fascinating. Welles removed Kane's lines that tried to justify his behavior. Reminds me of Joyce cutting the narrative voice out of the Dubliners stories.
https://www.wellesnet.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Citizen-Kane-3rd-Revised-Final-Script-With-Overlay.pdf

!!

Smoother and more natural: Welles added hundreds of small edits and additions that created more natural speaking and focused communication between characters. These changes also often resulted in opportunities for overlapping dialogue, a device that increases the realism of conversations; overlapping dialogue would become a trademark of Welles’ direction.

Some additions are more realistic as the result of Welles making them longer and more detailed. For example, in the scene of Susan Alexander rehearsing in a pathetic singing lesson with Signore Matiste – a scene in which it becomes painfully obvious that she cannot sing – every version of the draft scripts showed the scene begin with Susan singing for a few seconds, Matiste stopping her, and Kane then interrupting.

During production, Welles made this scene much more realistic – and emotionally draining for Susan – by writing expanded instructions for Matiste to Susan, showing him desperately and unsuccessfully trying to coax a decent performance from her while Kane watches at the back of the room; only then does Kane intrude.
watches at the back of the room; only then does Kane intrude

Finished watching this again last night, think around the 10th time I've seen it and was expecting to have nothing new to say about it (as was the case in the 9th viewing) but actually there was loads I picked up on this time and it made me wonder how much I'd really seen before. So much in the way of little details which you'll miss if you look away for a moment - like when Susan says "you know what mothers are" and he nods and you know he's thinking about how he never really knew his mother.

I was impressed by how much of the cinematography was straight out of German expressionism - deep focus with close-ups and action in the background, the way the camera is always positioned so low, the stark lighting - that shot with the bird and the scream is straight from a surrealist film. The first section (the newsreel about his life) in particular is so packed with detail, especially if you've seen the film before. Never really paid attention to the shot of him on the balcony with Hitler before.

In terms of general themes, think I've always taken Citizen Kane to be about the corrupting influence of power and money (so is Citizen Kane ultimately an anti-capitalist film? etc.) but increasingly thinking this is just a convenient lie Kane falls back on towards his death, in fact Kane never has any principles to corrupt, even from the start of his time at the newspaper he is completely full of shit, lying and setting himself up as man of the people while he obviously doesn't care about anyone but himself. The statement of principles clearly never means anything at all, it's just an advertising gimmick. It's not that he gets more corrupt, he just slowly realises he can't use his money and charm to get everything he wants. The film is also a portrait of an abusive relationship, his emotional manipulation and barely supressed violence towards Susan are genuinely disturbing.

So yeah, glad I watched this again. And on to the one I should be watching this week.

Such a fun movie.

Kane is Gatsby, Reagan -- the archetypal Man from Nowhere who recreates himself into a brilliant charismatic nullity.