shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Sept 11, 2014 4:56:25 GMT -5
Some of you have been asking for the return of this thread. Unfortunately, I do not have the actual thread saved with all those amazing replies where Dan B. and I basically insulted each other back and forth while beating dead horses, but I do have the list itself, so I'll be counting down with one a day until the night before Halloween, and hopefully Dan and I will be able to insult each other all over again  #50: Häxan: Witchcraft through the Ages (1922/Denmark) One of the more original entries in the horror film genre, Häxan is actually a meticulously researched documentary on the origins of superstitions surrounding witchcraft, only illustrating it's points with high production value horror scenes depicting the kind of witchcraft that these superstitions entailed. Production values were incredibly high, and the special effects are likely to surprise even modern viewers at times. It's not a perfect film by any stretch. Some of the sequences depicted begin to feel downright tedious at times, but it's a fresh and original approach to cinematic storytelling, and the special effects are not to be missed. Watch it tonight on Youtube: |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2014 8:29:37 GMT -5
Some of you have been asking for the return of this thread. Unfortunately, I do not have the actual thread saved with all those amazing replies where Dan B. and I basically insulted each other back and forth while beating dead horses, but I do have the list itself, so I'll be counting down with one a day until the night before Halloween, and hopefully Dan and I will be able to insult each other all over again Man, that's a lot of pressure. If you could post a few photos of yourself wearing stupid hats & such (a redundancy, of course), that's help immensely. Thanks! |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Sept 11, 2014 11:52:13 GMT -5
I got around to watching this via a Criterion DVD. Tedious at times but there are plenty of scenes that are eerie and creepy. Do not watch if you scare easy. I warrened you.
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Post by Jesse on Sept 11, 2014 12:06:50 GMT -5
Yes! Love this thread! I'm looking forward to adding the films I haven't watched to my Watchlist on Letterboxd. #50: Häxan: Witchcraft through the Ages (1922/Denmark) Definitely a silent era masterpiece. It's amazing what they were able to accomplish with very simple special effects. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 11, 2014 12:40:07 GMT -5
The first time I saw Haxan, it had narration by William S. Burroughs. I've seen it both with and without the Burroughs narration and I can't decide which one I like best. They are two very different experiences.
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,867
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Post by shaxper on Sept 11, 2014 19:05:40 GMT -5
The first time I saw Haxan, it had narration by William S. Burroughs. I've seen it both with and without the Burroughs narration and I can't decide which one I like best. They are two very different experiences. I first heard the Burroughs version this morning when I mistakenly linked to a version containing his voice-over. I liked his narration, but it really doesn't fit the expressionist tone of the documentary. I needed something a bit more ethereal and foreboding. |
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Post by the4thpip on Sept 12, 2014 1:51:16 GMT -5
Oh yay, I had not gotten around to watching all of those.
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,867
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Post by shaxper on Sept 12, 2014 4:59:00 GMT -5
#49: Mad Love (1935/USA) Karl Freund may well have been the greatest cinematographer who ever lived. He invented and forgot about more camera techniques than the average Academy Award winner will ever learn. While his directing capabilities were less exceptional, he brought an unforgettable trademark look and feel to each film he directed, Mad Love being his final one. It's a remake of a book turned film about a famous concert pianist who survives an accident only to slowly discover he's been given the hands of an executed murderer, and the hands are possessed. Sure, it's an absurd concept, but Freund takes the unconventional approach of turning the attention away from the ridiculous haunted hands and, instead, on to the surgeon who was sick enough in the head to try such a thing in the first place. Dr. Gogol is played by Peter Lorre, and this might be Lorre at his absolute most creepy. As with any film towards the bottom of this countdown list, it's far from perfect, but the tone is unmistakably disturbing, and Lorre's acting will have you writhing in your seat by the close. Unfortunately, no site is streaming Mad Love online at the moment, but you can purchase the DVD on amazon: www.amazon.com/Mad-Love-Devil...words=mad+love or you can pick it up in this affordable little boxed set also containing two other films that will be appearing on this list (one in the Top 10): www.amazon.com/Hollywoods-Leg...words=doctor+x
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Post by MDG on Sept 12, 2014 11:58:04 GMT -5
Mad Love might be my favorite 30s horror film--I would've ranked it a lot higher. And it's got one of may favorite bits of dialogue from any movie:
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Post by Jesse on Sept 12, 2014 13:00:27 GMT -5
Mad Love is the better version of The Hands of Orlac right? I keep hearing about it but haven't watched it yet.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 12, 2014 13:13:36 GMT -5
I prefer "Mad Love" to "Hands of Orlac," but that doesn't mean "Hands of Orlac" isn't a pretty good movie as well. And Orlac is played by Conrad Veidt, better known for Major Strasser in "Casablanca," for Cesare in "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," for the bad guy in "Thief of Baghdad," and for the hero of "The Man Who Laughs," a silent film that may well have inspired the visual look of The Joker.
"Mad Love" is highly recommended. Peter Lorre is great, as always, but the heroine, Frances Drake, is one of the most beautiful actresses of the period. (She's also in "The Invisible Ray," sharing the screen with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.)
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 12, 2014 13:23:01 GMT -5
I forgot to mention Ted Healy in "Mad Love." He was partnered with the Three Stooges for a while. The act was known as Ted Healy and his Stooges, or something like that. But he was so awful to them that the Stooges left for a very successful film career on their own.
In "Mad Love," he's a very obnoxious reporter during the period when the obnoxious reporter portrayal was a staple of Hollywood. It's probably the most high-profile movie that Healy was in. (He died only two years after "Mad Love" was made. One version of his death says that Wallace Beery and Albert Broccoli (of James Bond fame) beat him very badly and he later died from the injuries.) So "Mad Love," on top of the many other reasons to see it, is also a rare opportunity to see the man who helped make the Three Stooges famous.
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,867
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Post by shaxper on Sept 12, 2014 18:40:53 GMT -5
Mad Love is the better version of The Hands of Orlac right? I keep hearing about it but haven't watched it yet. I've only watched Hands of Orlac once, but I found it almost unwatchable, and that's as a huge fan of both silent German expressionism and of Conrad Veidt. I probably need to give it another try, but I found neither of the central characters at all likable, and that's a major turn off for me with a story in any medium. |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Sept 12, 2014 19:24:55 GMT -5
I've watch two silent films and struggled through both despite interest in the story. Though I think the length of Metropolis is why it wasn't watched in one sitting as oppose to Nosferatu, which I watched long ago but don't remember being 3+ hours like Metropolis which I watched a few years back on Netflix.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2014 19:35:55 GMT -5
I've watched a handful, a few in a history of film class I took as a college sophomore -- Nosferatu, Blind Husbands, Battleship Potempkin, maybe a couple of others -- & at least one later on, October: Ten Days That Shook the World. No doubt I'm forgetting a handful.
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