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Reviews
Suspense (1930)
A great, forgotten film
Most obviously comparable with Journey's End, this film, largely set in a front-line dug-out in the British trenches of WW1, is actually quite different; this platoon is a real mixed bunch, from the tyro new, young, raw recruit to the old BEF veteran, played magnificently by the perennially underrated Hay Petrie as somewhere between the Old Bill of the Bairnsfather cartoons, and the Private Baldrick of Blackadder Goes Forth...and he steals the film completely. But this is a psychological thriller...the tension inexorably rises as the frayed nerves of the platoon (at night they are haunted by the sounds of German miners, working below to undermine the trench system)leads to squabbles, then fighting, and real terror...
This is a very early sound film, so, as was typical, some of the acting tends towards the theatrical...but you do get swept up into the film, and the creation of, well, 'Suspense' is still highly effective. Highly recommended, if you ever get the chance...
English Harvest (1938)
A beautiful short film, made by a genius
English Harvest is a documentary short, made by the legendary Humphrey Jennings, to show off the then-new Dufaycolour process. Little known, and seldom seen, It's a lyrical evocation of traditional agriculture in England before the war, and before the mechanisation and efficiencies that wartime production hastened; the opening sequence is of the ageing harvester, scything the wheat at the gateway, to allow the horse-drawn harvester into the field. A boy brings an enamel jug of beer for the lunching workers; a wife and daughters bring tea to the father, and picnic in the stubble. A sure-fire subject, beautifully handled by the artist Jennings...I defy anyone not to think of paintings when watching this film - a Constable, or a pre-Rapaelite perhaps. The colour process, which didn't catch on, renders a slightly faded colour (well,after nearly 70 years, not surprising) and is slightly grainy in the way of old-fashioned colour printing, but somehow that just adds to the effect of a view into a lost past. Massively recommended, if you are lucky enough to get the chance to see it.
EDIT; as of April 2009, this mini-masterpiece has been added, by the BFI, to their Youtube channel; watch it there !! Search for English Harvest on Youtube....IMDb won't let me post the link.
Tubby's Rest Cure (1916)
Period comedy - with a sting
Tubby's Rest Cure is,on the face of it, a short, not-exceptional, marital comedy. Tubby is youngish middle-aged, contentedly married, but fatigued with his existence; he decides on a weekend break - alone. He takes a train out to the countryside, he is viewed with suspicion by the rural railway staff, and with unlikely-seeming attention from some girls.
Meanwhile his wife, concerned that Tubby will be lonely, follows a few trains later; finds Tubby with the girls, and is understandably put out; she returns to the station, whereupon three dashing officers start some mild flirting, which makes her feel somewhat better; in comes Tubby, he is put out in return, they quickly make up, embrace, the end. As I said , on the face of it, not exceptional, until you think about the premise on which the comedy is based.
The rural station-men who view him with such suspicion are ancient, stooped, heavily bearded men. The girls - all in the same frilly white dresses - WW1 Land Girls - react as they do only because he is under 40. The only men of his age or younger we see in the film are the three officers at the station. IT IS 1916 AND THERE ARE NO YOUNG MEN LEFT IN THE COUNTRYSIDE. This comedy - with its very subtle, unmentioned message - there is no call to arms, no weeping at the loss - was made as the slaughter in the trenches was at its peak, the year of The Somme. As in WW2, city girls were encouraged to leave and work as farm labourers to replace the farmworkers fighting or already dead. This was the situation, an empty-of-males English countryside, in 1916, with two years of slaughter to come. So when you read that a generation was lost in France, it doesn't quite register, it sounds like an exaggeration; somehow a 1916 light comedy with that as its premise brings it home.
Hamlet (1921)
An extraordinary film....
As always, you should try and see this film for yourself; it's very well shot, very cinematic as opposed to stagey; with a large set, and many extras. The style is, well, Gothic...not quite expressionist, which is the word associated with silent film made in Germany, but heading that way..The focus, is of course Hamlet. Asta Nielsen, also a great comedienne, was in a phase of her career where serious roles appealed to her; this is her production company, the resources she can muster an indication of the power and influence she had at the time.
And then there's the plot...freely adapted from the familiar play; Hamlet is a princess, but circumstances at her birth mean that only a prince will do, so for her entire life, she has living as a male, only a nurse and her parents know the truth...while Hamlet is away at University, her mother plots with Claudius, her brother-in-law and lover, and the King is assassinated by snakebite..Hamlet returns to the palace, accompanied by Horatio, the man she loves; to find her Uncle is now both King and stepfather, having already married the widowed queen...Hamlet is suspicious, and investigates...she is making a nuisance of herself, so her unaware stepfather, and the chamberlain Polonius, try to set her up with Polonius' daughter Ophelia...Hamlet plays along to maintain the pretence - for a while - and also starts faking madness..only Horatio is aware of this pretence, only her mother is aware of her true identity...Hamlet gets Claudius to betray his guilt by engaging strolling players to re-enact the murder in the guise of a drama, rejects Ophelia who drowns herself, dodges Claudius' attempt to have Fortinbras kill her; she burns Claudius to death during an orgy, kills Ophelia's brother Laertes in a duel engineered by her own mother, who, while watching, accidentally drinks poison intended for Hamlet; but Laertes' poisoned sword had struck - just a scratch, but enough; and Hamlet collapses and dies beneath the throne. Her beloved Horatio cradles the lifeless body..and discovers the truth...and realises...why he was so attracted...
Action packed then, a gift to a gifted and versatile actress like Neilsen, at the peak of her powers here; obviously chock-full of ideas and issues to do with gender and sexual identity...but most of all, great to watch...try and see it, and if you are a lecturer in film, drama, or gender politics, arrange a screening. An amazing film for 1920.