Filed under: Movie Reviews
How do films vary so much through the ages of Hollywood? Or through the genres they are set in? Classic films, such as the ones I have reviewed below, will live on in movie buffs hearts for their cinematic brilliance. Here, I will indulge you in a snippet of some of Hollywood’s masterpieces. So when you are standing at the video store on the next rainy night, you will now know what may tickle your movie fancy.
Mildred Pierce – Film Noir (1945):
Mildred Pierce is a poignant film in cinematic history; a dedicated piece to the film noir genre. A soap opera feel is given to this melodramatic picture that says more through black and white lighting, sensual fur coats and booming sound than through dialogue.
- Joan Crawford as Mildred Pierce
Joan Crawford plays the perfect femme fatale, Mildred Pierce, a naïve woman who trapped by her loved ones greed. Her immaturity is eclipsed in the flashback that opens the film, when Mildred shoots her former business partner, the oily Monte Beragon (Zachary Scott). This scene needs little dialogue, with harsh lighting shot across Monte’s face telling the woeful tale.
The black and white film uses dramatic lighting to eclipse a poignant scene where Mildred traps Wally (played by Jack Carson) with Monte’s body and escapes from the home.
Dark harsh shadow cast across Wally’s body gives the audience a sense of his wayward ways. By contrast, Mildred is innocently placed under soft, supple light that bounces in a close up shot of her concerned face. The focus on Wally’s silhouette as he stomps up the stairs allows audiences to feel his alienation as Mildred dashes away.
Mildred Pierce is essential viewing for a novice trying to understand the film noir genre.
Chicago – Musical/Crime/Drama (2002):
The film adaptation of the Kander and Ebb Broadway musical, Chicago is a feverish look into the celebrities, scandal and sinister world that was Chicago’s jazz scene in the 1920’s. This wonderfully adapted musical and Academy Award winner is full of unique insight into greed, class and the complex human strive for fame.
Chicago’s opens with the energetic, dramatic and face paced number, All That Jazz. This powerful song and dance, belted out by the curvaceous Catherine Zeta Jones shines in unquestionable brilliance.
- Catherine Zeta Jones as Velma Kelly in Chicago
The audience is immediately thrust into the world of glitz, glamour and seedy crime with an intentional close up of Roxie Hart’s (played by Renee Zellweger) eye. The following frenetic shots focus from the gravely ground up, watching a women dash from a crime scene. We watch her black stilettos stop through her reflection in a puddle; singer Velma Kelly’s posters are torn down from the ally way wall and the faceless women quickly conceals her pistol in her lingerie draw.
Clever use of props, camera angles and lighting keeps this criminal anonymous until she rises up onto the stage amongst a myriad of dancers as the famed, Velma Kelly.
Soon (and look away if you hate spoilerism) we discover the complex world of our two protagonists, Velma and Roxie. As the camera cuts to a level shot of her face, Roxie is pining for the spotlight. She dreams of taking Velma’s place on the stage – a hint into what is to come in the film. Back in the thrust of reality, Roxie embarks on a lewd affair with a man with promises to “Make her a star.” They passionately kiss as she slams down the photograph of her husband Amos on her bed head and we notice this tiny ditzy blonde isn’t as innocent as she seems.
The Godfather – Crime/Drama/Thriller (1972):
“I believe in America” – the intrepid statement that opens this crime filled mob film.
The opening of The Godfather film is a powerful and compelling insight into what is to come for not only the films protagonists, the Corleone family, but for the audience.
We are thrust into the underbelly of Mafiosi as we are introduced to a looming, pensive figure that initially appears only in shadow. As a man pleads his case, for justice for his abused daughter, we discover the siluette to be Don Vito Corleone or Godfather, played by the amazing Marlon Brando.
Marlon Brando plays Don Vito Corleone
Brando sets the scene with his critical portrayal as the patriarchal head of an Italian American family that has becoming controlling through crime. Godfather is respectful and quiet but sits in his leather bound chair stroking a playful kitten – throwing his character even more dynamics.
Dark shadows contrasted with the bright lights of the outside wedding are a far cry from Godfather’s gloomy office. The happiness that appears outside is continually cut off with harsh scenes of photographers being attacked and Michael Corleone introducing his girlfriend into the underworld that is his family.
This introduction builds a sense of tension and respect in the darkened room, with surrogate son Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) always standing with Godfather and watching over his business.
Our soon to be Godfather, Michael (Al Pacino), is introduced to the film as a decorated soldier unimpressed by the workings of his family. We immediately sense Michael’s distaste for the family business, when arrives late at to the wedding with Godfather questioning his whereabouts.
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