Preston Sturges Introduction

Known for his string of sassy, delightful and sharp-witted social satires in the early-to-mid 1940’s, Preston Sturges was not only a daring writer of zingy dialogue and rapid plot mechanics, but an undervalued director – a masterful composer of actors, actresses and the unabashed joy in making people laugh.

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In many ways, Sturges’ fundamental formula consisted of riotously breaking down the barriers of taboo middle-class values – pre-marital sex, infidelity, divorce – so much so that it’s still a wonder how films like “The Palm Beach Story” (1942) and “The Miracle at Morgan’s Creek” (1944) ever saw the light of the day.

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Clearly he was a man who understood the various hypocrisies of life – prodding and stabbing at everything from marriage to the movie industry. Yet this base understanding and recognition of the inanity of it all didn’t register cynically or apocalyptically in the eyes of Mr. Sturges – who optimistically punctuates all of his films with an ironic twist of fate – suggesting integrity and moral righteousness at the end of life’s absurd, illogical and yes, laughable dishonesty. 

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Over the course of the next week or so (hopefully just a week), I’ll be discussing at length the various films of Preston Sturges, from “The Great McGinty” (1940) to “Unfaithfully Yours” (1948) and damn-near everything in-between that I could get my hands on.

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Once again, as with all of these things, I’m not only looking at each film individually, but how it fits into Mr. Sturges filmography on the whole. So without further ado, the fun – as Sturges would have it – begins on Sunday.

Preston Sturges Retrospective Coming

I've been watching and re-watching a lot of Preston Sturges over the past few weeks and its time that I get another marathon going, so in the spirit of my WWII Marathon, Frank Capra and Tim Burton Retrospective, over the next week or so, I'm going to be rolling out the Preston Sturges Retrospective. I'm very excited to talk about these films, and I can assure you that there will be a surprise or two in the bunch.
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The highly tentative schedule:
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Special Introduction (Saturday, February 19th)
"The Great McGinty", 1940 (Sunday, February 20th)
"Christmas in July", 1940 (Monday, February 21st)
"The Lady Eve", 1941 (Tuesday, February 22nd)
"Sullivan's Travels", 1942 (Wednesday, February 23rd)
"The Palm Beach Story", 1942 (Thursday, February 24th)
"The Miracle of Morgan's Creek", 1944 (Friday, February 25th)
"Hail the Conquering Hero", 1944 (Saturday, February 26th)
"Unfaithfully Yours", 1948 (Sunday, February 27th)

Grading the Criterion Artwork - May, 2011

Criterion just keeps getting better, announcing seven new Blu-ray titles for the month of May, including Catherine Breillat's "Fat Girl", Jonathan Demme's "Something Wild",  Masahiro Shinoda's "Pale Flower", Ingmar Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night", Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator", Henri-Georges Cluzout's "Diabolique" and Andrei Tarkovsky's "Solaris". 
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Now besides killer transfers and scholarly commentary tracks, Criterion is known for their highly unique packaging and cover designs. As an aspiring artist myself, I'm always fascinated by the conceptualized artwork that the Criterion crew decides upon, so much so that I've decided to apply grades to all the new (and old) cover art that will likely adorn my shelves in the coming months. 

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Criterion simply recycled the artwork from the 2004 release, and rightly so. I love the combination of the fat, blocky type under the delicate cursive of the director title - it hits on the thematic elements, but not too heavily (no pun intended). And that timid pose, the dark teal background, the flesh tones, it's a really great design and I'm glad they decided to keep it. [B+]

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Another 2004 re-release recycled, only this one should have stayed in the past. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad or anything - it's very Bergmanesque with the straw and the monochrome landscape and the poses, I just get this feeling (contrary to "Fat Girl") that this is a dated design. It just looks old to me, like it's collecting dust at the Davis Public Library in Plano - and that gold! [C]

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I haven't seen "Pale Flower", so I'm at a bit of disadvantage here, but my gut reaction is somewhat indifferent to this symmetrical, colorless design. I'm pretty sure I despise that black border and the nondescript type at the bottom, although the suggestive, noirish photograph taking center stage is intriguing. [C+]

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Cover of the month? No doubt. I'm loving this Saul Bass-inspired design, which is very easy on the eyes with that swooping red hand leading you right into the good stuff. The type is divine and the texture of the whole piece is remarkable - seriously, look at this thing at the highest resolution possible, it's stunning. [A]

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Okay, so this is stirring up quite the controversy on the message boards. The design is essentially the Olly Moss poster from 2008 with a more Germanic typeface substituted in. The bigger problem is that this comes just a month after the design for Mike Leigh's "Topsy Turvy", which, if you remember, is the exact some concept. Is that pink I see? [C]

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Criterion regular (at least of late) Sam Smith designed this one, and as someone who has never seen "Something Wild", I guess it's okay. The heart in the handcuff design is cute, to-the-point, but I'm not feeling the teal-and-pink on black simplicity. On the other hand (once again, no pun intended) the type is really strong. Otherwise, a little uninspired - adequate but a little empty. [C+]

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 As a massive Tarkovsky fan, I'm more than a little disappointed in this Sam Smith designed cover. I love the classic type (borrowed from the Russian poster) and the cool blue blending into the yellow-orange sky, but what's with what is now being referred to as "Floating Hari"? I've got to say it dominates the design so much so that it's hard to look past it and ultimately drags down an otherwise picturesque scene. 

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Between this and the old DVD cover, It's pretty much a toss-up if you ask me. Coulda been a contender. [B-]

Love Anne Baxter

TCM Underground: "Bloody Birthday" (1981)

A particularly sinister addition to the early 80's slasher canon ("Halloween", "My Bloody Valentine", "Prom Night"), "Bloody Birthday" is certainly bloody, albeit the importance of a certain calendar date is widely misrepresented. 
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I say that because this devilish pre-teen suburban horror thriller, which vilifies three ten year-old children born during a total solar eclipse, has little to do with their actual birthday. These deadly pranksters seem perfectly happy to kill - stab, shoot, strangle - no matter the date. 
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Logic aside, the effectiveness of "Bloody Birthday" has a great deal to do with the unflinching manner in which its three brutal brats perform their deeds, the relative ease in which they do so and just how much fun they seem to be having in the process. (One particular scene has the ringleader of the group, no more taller than a kitchen counter, suppressing the gunfire through his coat as he smirks and shoots down his gradeschool teacher.)
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The targets at the mercy of their meteorological insanity seem mostly at random, (two teenagers smooching in a cemetery get offed in the first few scenes with those annoying parents and siblings coming later) yet the unmeasured, unmotivated attacks (delivered without much room for tongue-in-cheek trappings) is what lends the film its teeth. 
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Directed by Ed Hunt, a B-movie genre filmmaker if there ever was one, "Bloody Birthday" doesn't exhibit any worthwhile or memorable moments of genuine filmmaking artistry (most of the killings take place in broad daylight in drab, staid settings, the bold red blood applied only once the camera can assess the damage) but what we have here is quantity over quality. Where else can you see a ten year-old girl kill her dad with a baseball bat one minute and then take a bow-and-arrow to her sister's skull the next? [B-]

Best Super Bowl Spot: "Super 8" Trailer

J.J. Abrams' "Super 8" (Paramount, 6.10.11) looks like the real deal of the summer. The spot that played last night was expertly put together, evoking a strong, obvious 70's Spielberg vibe, not giving away anything, but letting us know what the film's going to look and feel like. I personally can't wait. 
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Black Prom

The more I think about it, Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" is starting to settle in my mind as the equivalent of Brian De Palma's "Carrie", both low-budget films that skirt the line between heightened melodrama and physical horror, schlocky camp and high art. 
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But the comparison really lies in the way that both films are the prototypical example of their respective director's style and a confluence of their previous work into a highly-skilled, no-holds-barred showpiece - highly successful ones at that. ("Carrie" grossed $33.8 million domestically on a budget of just $1.8, while "Black Swan" is poised to pass $100 million before the end of the month on a shoestring budget of just $13 million.)
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Aronofsky's neck-gazing tracking shots, tight-spaced virtuosity and thematic commitment to the destruction of the human body is what drives "Black Swan", easily the most authorial film to be nominated this year. De Palma, meanwhile, stages some of the most spectacular suspense sequences ever filmed, employing his trademark split-screen framing and 360-degree whirling dervishes. 
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Even more evident yet is just how both films and filmmakers are the result of an unabashed, unavoidable love of cinema. De Palma is notorious for his "pastiche" filmmaking, endlessly referential set-pieces and Alfred Hitchcock thematics. With "Black Swan", a film more likely to have been made in the 1970's European horror landscape, Aronofsky is doing the same and doing it well.