And The Loser Is... #7- New Frontiers

In ATLI... #6, I looked at Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, the great silent film by German director F.W Murnau. To follow up on that, I decided this time to look at a couple more films made in America by European directors.
There is a long history of Europeans coming to Hollywood to make films, and, in fact, many of the men we consider great American filmmakers were actually immigrants from Europe (for example, Michael Curtiz, who directed one of themost famous American films, Casablanca, was really Austro-Hungarian, Mano Kertesz Kaminer, while Billy Wilder is really Samuel Wilder from what is now Poland). But today I want to focus on the film's of men who made their reputation in Europe, before being courted by Hollywood.

I'll start with a film by the controversial Polish director, Roman Polanski- 1968's Rosemary's Baby. This was Polanski's first American film, after gaining attention with his Polish thriller, Knife In The Water, and then making a trio of British films. It is based on a novel by Ira Levin, and tells the story of a pregnant women who comes to believe that her baby was conceived by Satan.

Mia Farrow and John Cassevetes star as Rosemary and Guy, a young couple who move into a New York City apartment building. They are welcomed to the building by their elderly neighbours (played by Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon, who won the film's only Oscar- for Best Supporting Actress), but soon Rosemary begins to notice something strange about them. Her fears increase when she becomes mysteriously pregnant, and Guy begins to spend more and more time with the elderly couple.

Urban alienation in Rosemary's Baby.

A theme that runs constant throughout Polanski's work is that of the 'outsider', or someone who feels trapped or uncomfortable in new or strange surroundings. Polanski, himself, was an outsider, working in a foreign land, and he is able to translate those feelings and experiences to the screen. This is a horror film which is as much about Rosemary's experiences of being alienated within a strange place, as it is about devil worship. Mia Farrow was a great choice for the leading role, as she really conveys well Rosemary's increasing sense of hysteria, and Polanski's skill in finding horror and suspense in urban settings really comes to the fore. The film is able to walk the line between straight horror, and psychological thriller, suggesting that the things Rosemary feels and sees are just figments of her imagination, and it plays wonderfully with the idea of the enclosed living spaces of big city life. I give it 4 stars, and suggest as a companion piece, Polanski's '76 film, The Tenant, which deals with many of the same themes.

The trend of directors coming from overseas to try their hand at American cinema is still going strong today, of course. One of the more recent success stories is Michel Gondry, who actually came to prominence in Europe as a director of music videos (working with Bjork and Daft Punk amongst others). The transition from music videos to film is famously tricky to make work, but Gondry is a rare example of someone who was able to mix his keen visual style, with a strong understanding of what makes cinema work. It also helps to have one of modern American cinema's most inventive and acclaimed screenwriters working with you, as Gondry did when he collaborated with Charlie Kaufman on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).

Oh my darling, Clementine.

Kate Winslet was Oscar-nominated for what I still think is her best performance (there'll be plenty of opportunity to talk more about Winslet's career in later blogs), as Clementine Kruczynski, the as magnetic as she is hard to handle object of Joel Barish's (an also very good Jim Carrey) affections. Winslet created one of the most interesting characters of the decade in Clementine, and is tremendous at capturing the contradictory nature of Clementine.

The film's premise is as creative as one would expect from Kaufman; Joel and Clementine have reached the end of their relationship, so Joel, unable to face a life without her, elects to undergo a procedure which will remove all traces of her from his memory. The film uses a fractured narrative to tell its story, and the technique works well to convey the scattered nature of Joel’s memories. Each scene, each remembrance, paints a beautiful picture of the highs and lows of love, and Gondry's sharp visuals combine well with the script to make a film which comes closer than most to capturing the ecstasy and heartbreak of relationships. I voted this as the 51st best film of the decade just ended, and give it 4 stars.

Finally today, and changing tack slightly, I want to talk about the latest film I watched for the project.

49th Parallel (Dir: Michael Powell, 1941)
The title, for those unaware (as I was), refers to the border between Canada and America, which, as the film explains, is the last undefended frontier in the world. The film was nominated for the best picture award at the 1943 Academy Awards (it lost out to Mrs Miniver), and has a fascinating production history. It was, you see, commissioned as a propaganda film, with its screenwriter, Emeric Pressburger, being charged with writing a film that would persuade the Americans to join World War 2. Pressburger boasted that he would show Goebbels a thing or two about propaganda, and, to his credit, he makes a fine case with this emotional anti-fascism film. On top of that, the film's major stars, Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard and Raymond Massey all agreed to work for half their normal fees, such was their belief in the message of the film.

Propaganda done right.

Director, Powell, and screenwriter, Pressburger had worked together before, and would go on to form one fo Britain's most successful writer-director duos. Their films, such as The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus were known for their lush visuals and themes of restrained sexuality, but seem a world away from the Canadian setting of this film.

Beginning with a Nazi U-boat surfacing off the coast of Canada, the film tells the story of the 6 Nazi soldiers who make it to the shore, and must attempt to navigate their way to American soil, where by law they must be turned over to the German consulate. What stands out immiediately about the film, is that the 'heroes' of the film are these German soldiers; heroes in the sense that it is their journey we follow and their fates the film is interested in. There was criticism from the British press that the film was too sympathetic to the Germans, but Powell and Pressburger were unwilling to change things, stating that there must be reasonable Germans, as well as bad ones. In fact, the Nazis, for the most part, are portrayed as despicable people, killing without a second thought, and espousing the doctrines of the Third Reich.

They make their way across Canada, with their number gradually depleting, for various reasons, encountering along the way a series of different personalities and problems. The performances of the actors playing the soldiers are solid (with Eric Portman and Niall MacGinnis standing out), but the film really springs to life with the introductions of the various stars, all featuring for just a short time, but making a big impression. First up in Olivier, here playing French-Candian trapper, Johnny. While the French accent is a bit on the dodgy side, Olivier gives great presence and charisma to his scenes, and uses body language to captivating effect (as a side-note, in more controversy, Johnny's pro-Canada stance angered the Quebec authorities, who saw it as an attack on French-Canada).

Making the case for democracy: Anton Walbrook.

Next up is Anton Walbrook, who appears in the film's most emotional sequence. The remaining Nazis find themselves at a Christian commune, made up mostly of immigrant Germans, of which Walbrook's character, Peter, is the leader. They are taken in by the community (who are unaware that the men are Nazis), and it is there that one of the soldiers begins to reveal a different side to himself. He talks about his time back home before the war, and how he was happy living his simple life as a baker. This is certainly the character that the British press were speaking of when they talked about the Nazis appearing too sympathetic, and it is a character that offers the film a slightly different perspective. Eventually, he decides to stay at the commune, which leads to him being executed for desertion.

My favourite star 'cameo' is that of Leslie Howard, the plummy British actor known for playing the Scarlet Pimpernel in the film of the same name. Here he appears as Philip Armstrong Scott, a novelist who is living amongst an Indian tribe to research a book. He takes in the soldiers (again, unaware they are Nazis), and talks to them of his apathy about the war. To him, the war is something that is going on in remote lands, and is not something that affects him up in the Canadian wilderness. This attitude draws the disdain of the Nazis, who accuse him of being a coward, and hold him up as an example of why democracy will be destroyed. However, when faced with danger, Scott proves himself to be anything but a coward. It is perhaps ironic that, given Powell's reputation as an intellectual and artistic filmmaker, this character would defy the stereotype, and prove to be as brave and loyal to the Allied cause as anyone in the film (although, humourously, it takes the Nazis burning his Matisse and Picasso paintings to really push him over the edge). Howard is great value, as is Massey in the film's final sequence, as a Canadian soldier who has a final showdown with the Nazi commander.

This really is a film that itself defies stereotype, and in the hands of less talented men, you might get a more straight-forward propaganda film. Under Powell's direction, though, this is part exciting war yarn, part celebration of democracy, elevated even further by some well-placed scenes of emotional weight. Pressburger's script is strong, featuring some great speeches (Walbrook, for example, gets to deliver a great reposte to a Nazi rallying-cry at the German commune), and Powell manages to fit in some really nice visuals. It's not without its faults; how, for example, are these Germans able to roam so freely amongst Canadians without their accents being detected? I'm more inclined to dismiss things like that though, when the material is otherwise so strong. 5 stars.

In ATLI... #8, I should have another new review. Until then, here's looking at you.