BEST FILMS OF 1931
by Mike Lorefice

City Lights
Charlie Chaplin

***

Frankenstein
James Whale

***

Kameradschaft
G.W. Pabst

Pabst takes one of the most devastating industrial accidents, the 1906 Courrieres mining disaster, but transposes the event to the present day (i.e. post WWI) Lorraine to create an inspirational humanitarian story that reminds both sides that they can get along. The film is about breaking down the boundaries between the two countries, about solidarity over blind nationalism, but it has none of the usual speeching and preaching. It is almost completely visual and hardly ever stops moving, which considering it's one of the early sound films is quite an accomplishment. In fact, Pabst compromises none of his visual flair from the silent era. Along with M, the greatest sound film of the 30's which was also from Germany in 1931, Kameradschaft is one of the primary examples of just how far the Germans were ahead of the English speaking world when it came to making legitimate sound films. I mean, even Alfred Hitchcock, after making the visually inspired silents The Lodger and Blackmail, spent the first half of the 30's making what he described as "photographs of people talking." Pabst used a "blimp" (soundproof case over the camera) rather than the far more movement restrictive soundproof booths of Hollywood. All his exquisite tracks and pans are used to full effect, his camera seeming to fly across the screen with the grace of a bird. There are scenes that seem unimaginable for the time when you watch the filmed theatre Hollywood was producing, for instance men running from fire through a dark mine screaming to warn others. The reconstruction of the mine and the special effects used to recreate the disaster are extremely credible. The visuals are far more impressive than the story, which documents a collective adapting to their situation, the constructs (or what's left of them) controlling human life. Thus, the sets, a combination of real mines and exceptionally detailed sets, stand out rather than the individuals who are doing their best to adapt to rather than be swallowed up by them. Where the film comes across as a cheat is in predictably dodging issues of class. In this case it's even worse because it's purportedly about the solidarity of a certain class, the workers, yet it will go no further than showing the power to be indifferent to saving them, and even that is a minor aspect. [11/21/05] ***1/2

M
Fritz Lang

****

The Maltese Falcon (Dangerous Female)
Roy Del Ruth

***

Marius
Alexander Korda

The artists whose work stands the test of time tend to either be the ones who are ever changing or, like Marcel Pagnol, the ones who stick to what they know really well and do best. Pagnol grew up in Marseilles, and made a living on excellently scripted tales of ordinary provincial life. His early works were destined for the stage, so he focused on bringing all the strengths of his plays to the big screen. No one will confuse Alexander Korda's directing with the visual masters of the time like Fritz Lang and Aleksandr Dovzhenko, but as an early sound work it's at least far less pathetically staged than say the lame gangster film of the same year Little Caesar, which in typical Hollywood fashion was phony then and only grows more laughable over time due to insisting on including scenes that couldn't be credibly rendered. Pagnol instead focuses on things that lend authenticity to his work such as voice, knowing diversity is far more interesting than the everyman from nowhere stuff of soporific newscasts. The first entry in the Marseilles trilogy focuses on the restless young eponymous character (Pierre Fresnay) who would like to escape the small port town for the ocean's exotic adventures. His overbearing father Cesar (Raimu) plans to hand the bar down to him when he retires, and also needs Marius because he's all he's got now that his wife is dead. Fanny (Pagnol's wife Orane Demariz) has loved Marius since they were knee high and would like to marry him, but his yearning for the sea had resulted in him insisting they only be friends even though he has similar emotions toward her. Pagnol derives humor from things such as younger men's trouble communicating and comprehending the woman they're attracted to, prompting the older man to help as in Manon des Sources. His merriment also comes from people overrating themselves, the pompous sail-maker Panisse (Fernand Charpin) who aims to leverage his money to get Fanny to marry her even though he's 30 years older seems a classic example. However, Pagnol sees the folly and depicts the foibles of everyone; they do ordinary things like cheat to win the game then brag and boast they are the greatest player. They all mean well so to speak, but are annoying and overbearing because human beings act in their own interest. There are no bad guys; conflicts arise from yearnings. Different personalities and ideas send people down different roads that often intersect since it's an actual community, and a small one at that. Marius grows to resent Fanny to some extent, but it has little to do with her. She can't sail with him, so he has to go against his nature to want both and actually choose between the two. Pagnol kept most of the cast from the stage production, and everyone is at least a bit too animated for my taste even if in some cases the acting with their hands may arguably add to the regional credibility of their character as well as their foolishness. You'd never believe Fresnay was the same man who was so good in later classics like Le Corbeau and Grand Illusion. [5/2/07] ***

The Miracle Woman
Frank Capra

***1/2

Street Scene
King Vidor

***1/2

Threepenny Opera
G.W. Pabst

***