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If you’re in the mood for an old movie, I recommend History is Made at Night, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Jean Arthur and the deep-voiced French heartthrob Charles Boyer. Sexy, funny, gorgeous. The plot is bonkers; don’t read about it first. Currently on @criterionchannl.
Watched History is Made at Night ( @criterionchannl) again and this time the last 15 minutes wrecked me emotionally. I can’t remember the last time A movie held me in the palm of its hand like that. Romance, melodrama, comedy, intrigue. Terrific bad guy. Great best friend. 1/2
It switches on a dime between different modes so gracefully (old movies were more daring about this). The climactic action scene is brilliant. The central love story is unaffected and beautiful. They only have a short time together, but they make every moment count. 2/2
I’m digging the economy of well-made older movies – they distribute attention according to what they are interested in, not what they think is required to make the plot “believable.” The result is often unified by dream logic & hits subconscious/emotional buttons hard.
If moviegoing makes a comeback after the plague ends and I get to reactivate my monthly film series, this is a film I’d like to show, provided a 35mm print or DCP exists that’s better than the quality of what I just watched. (A bit grey/washed out in spots.)
The Last of the Mohicans (1992, but based mainly on a movie from the 1930s) has a very similar feeling to the climax of History is Made at Night. It’s a movie where people fall in love and commit to each other immediately and would die for the other person without hesitation.
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Straight onto another Frank Borzage film, SECRETS. Just as good, though very different. Basically an anthology of self contained movies about a marriage & the sacrifices & tragedies it entails. This couple sacrifices for each other and it’s heroic & moving. @criterionchannl.
There’s a scene in Secrets that is one of the most powerful things I’ve seen. I couldn’t believe they took it as far as they did. Mary Pickford draws on her mastery of silent film acting. Leslie Howard is utterly charming throughout but also noble and melancholy.
“In every marriage there are secrets that only one man and one woman know,“ Pickford’s wife says to her children with Howard at the end. “And your father and I want to be alone with them.”
My only complaint about this movie is that it’s too short. I think I would’ve been happy with at least another hour of it. But the brevity of old movies is part of the appeal. It’s like a small but very rich meal.
Haven’t seen the original 1922 film version of Secrets but curious to hear from those who have. I love Borzage but his filmography isn’t as familiar to me as some. And there is a lot to watch. Only 2 on Criterion, but a bunch more on Amazon. Incl The Sun Also Rises, a great one.
Melodrama is really speaking to me at the moment.
One of the things I love about Borzage’s films is that, when he presents the heroes with a difficult choice, and making the right choice requires them to give something up or suffer, they actually pay a price. So many Hollywood movies wimp out.
Watched the Frank Borzage version of Farewell to Arms (1932). Unsurprisingly excellent, tho some aspects of the sexual relationships will chafe at modern sensibilities. Lots of characteristically magical moments (including a nighttime tryst in a garden) and gorgeous miniatures.
Not that he needs cheerleading at this point, but Gary Cooper really had something. Ridiculously conventionally handsome (and tall!) but with a reticent, almost fumbling quality that humanized him & made him seem potentially get-able to fantasizing viewers.
Helen Hayes -- very underrated now, in that few outside of cinephile circles have even heard of her -- feels shockingly modern in this performance, as does Cooper. This is often the case with Borzage& #39;s actors, particularly women. He draws out a lived-in romanticism.
I don& #39;t know much about Frank Borzage in terms of biography -- gotta remedy that! -- but I get the impression from his movies that he genuinely appreciated people, was great at wedding toasts and eulogies, and threw great parties.
All three of the Frank Borzage films described in this thread have lovely miniature work characteristic of movies from that era. In FTA the camera start on real woodland animals and flowers & then moves to reveal a forced perspective backdrop with a line of miniature trucks. 1/2
There is also an air raid sequence in Farewell to Arms, set at night, that is still terrifying, and relies on rear projection. People run through streets while buildings completely explode in the background. Foreground debris & soot completes the illusion.
