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#1
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by M.10rda - Today at 07:52:13 PMIN THE GRIP OF ALCOHOL aka VICTIMES D'ALCHOL aka VICTIMS OF ALCOHOL (1911):
This film is a great example of a little bit of a good thing being great and a lot of a good thing being not-so-great or even borderline ludicrous....... come to think of it, not unlike the film's subject: alchohol!
As Dr. Whom and I were discussing up the page, ITGOA is another early silent film that commits to tableau vivant or static wide shots as we call 'em today to tell nearly its entire story. (There is a pan near the end of the film.) An upstanding hardworking middle-class family man likes a nip now and then or even a bit of the old down-the-pub, which eventually turns into a nip every time no one is looking and a bit of the old down-the-pub pretty much all day and night when he oughtta' be working or family-manning. As is too often the case w/ alcoholics, he has to suffer (severe, Tragic) consequences before he acknowledges he's got A Problem, and by then it's too late. Pretty standard PSA/Afterschool Special circa 1911.
Here's the good thing about ITGOA: every scene is a one-to-two minute static shot of the Alcoholic at home, at work, at the pub etc, and almost all of these are beautifully staged and directed, w/ careful consideration given to foreground/background and w/ extremely clear, vivid performances from essentially all the major players. Although there's no dialogue titles, every intention and action of every key character is always entirely transparent. Basically this whole cast is doing the crystalline screen acting that the justly-legendary Conrad Veidt would be doing at the end of the same decade. I suspect that a lot of these actors are students of (or students of students of) Stanislavski, who was still alive and popular and working all over Europe in 1911. There are a ton of big Stanislavskian gestures and poses, but also a lot of perfectly realistic facial expressions that you still see in movies (and in life) today.
Here's the excessive and ultimately tiring thing about ITGOA: One gets the point after about 10-15 minutes and is ready for the (perfectly constructed) movie to end... but no, it keeps going for 35 whole minutes, and by the end, the melodrama and the operatic Stanislavskian acting goes on so long it threatens to become self-parody. The final scene is a couple of minutes of the lead literally beating his breast, bellowing to the Heavens, and throwing himself on the ground.
This movie, like its main character, needed to Know When to Say When!
3/5 The male and female lead are clearly strong professional actors. They appeared in other silents I've never heard of. The director (who also never made anything else I've heard of) was named "Gérard Bourgeois". No, really.
This film is a great example of a little bit of a good thing being great and a lot of a good thing being not-so-great or even borderline ludicrous....... come to think of it, not unlike the film's subject: alchohol!
As Dr. Whom and I were discussing up the page, ITGOA is another early silent film that commits to tableau vivant or static wide shots as we call 'em today to tell nearly its entire story. (There is a pan near the end of the film.) An upstanding hardworking middle-class family man likes a nip now and then or even a bit of the old down-the-pub, which eventually turns into a nip every time no one is looking and a bit of the old down-the-pub pretty much all day and night when he oughtta' be working or family-manning. As is too often the case w/ alcoholics, he has to suffer (severe, Tragic) consequences before he acknowledges he's got A Problem, and by then it's too late. Pretty standard PSA/Afterschool Special circa 1911.
Here's the good thing about ITGOA: every scene is a one-to-two minute static shot of the Alcoholic at home, at work, at the pub etc, and almost all of these are beautifully staged and directed, w/ careful consideration given to foreground/background and w/ extremely clear, vivid performances from essentially all the major players. Although there's no dialogue titles, every intention and action of every key character is always entirely transparent. Basically this whole cast is doing the crystalline screen acting that the justly-legendary Conrad Veidt would be doing at the end of the same decade. I suspect that a lot of these actors are students of (or students of students of) Stanislavski, who was still alive and popular and working all over Europe in 1911. There are a ton of big Stanislavskian gestures and poses, but also a lot of perfectly realistic facial expressions that you still see in movies (and in life) today.
Here's the excessive and ultimately tiring thing about ITGOA: One gets the point after about 10-15 minutes and is ready for the (perfectly constructed) movie to end... but no, it keeps going for 35 whole minutes, and by the end, the melodrama and the operatic Stanislavskian acting goes on so long it threatens to become self-parody. The final scene is a couple of minutes of the lead literally beating his breast, bellowing to the Heavens, and throwing himself on the ground.
This movie, like its main character, needed to Know When to Say When!3/5 The male and female lead are clearly strong professional actors. They appeared in other silents I've never heard of. The director (who also never made anything else I've heard of) was named "Gérard Bourgeois". No, really.
#3
Good Movies / Re: Citizen Vigilante (2026)
Last post by bob - Today at 04:41:03 PM....why is this in the good movies section 
#4
Games / Re: Answer the question with a...
Last post by bob - Today at 04:40:31 PM
How much toilet paper is too much?
#6
Off Topic Discussion / Re: World Cup?
Last post by Trevor - Today at 04:27:10 PMAnd now Japan and Germany are out too. 😳😳
#7
Good Movies / Eric Roberts: Lazy actor
Last post by Trevor - Today at 02:05:56 PMOnly 935 credits as an actor?
Very lazy, step up 😉😉🐢
Very lazy, step up 😉😉🐢
#8
Off Topic Discussion / Re: World Cup?
Last post by Trevor - Today at 12:42:38 PMPoliticians in South Korea are calling for the entire South Korean Football Association to resign after the coach resigned 😳😳 🇰🇷
#9
Games / Re: Answer the question with a...
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 12:09:45 PMThose pennies add up.
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop?
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop?
#10
Good Movies / Re: Recent Viewings, Part 2
Last post by Rev. Powell - Today at 10:49:29 AMBEBA (2021): In her mid-20s, struggling/aspiring artist Rebecca (Beba), daughter of a Dominican and a Venezuelan immigrant, creates a video portrait of herself and her family. It's hard to be too hard on this, because it's made with skill and admirable honesty, but it's egregiously self-indulgent and seems like the kind of thing Beba herself will be embarrassed by in about 10 years. 2.5/5.