Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Movie Monday - early murder mysteries, etc.

Looking back on my Friday knitting posting I discovered the misuse of a comma (I seem to strew commas with abandonment) and a list numbering which goes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6.

At one time this might have brought me angst and I'd attempt to correct this in spite of the fact that editing after publishing at this site is like giving a mouse a cookie. However, such angst has long departed from my psyche and I, and Alfred E. Neuman of Mad, just smile and think: What, me worry?

And then I hear things like the interview below: 

http://billmoyers.com/segment/anthony-leiserowitz-on-making-people-care-about-climate-change/  

Moyers is interviewing a scientist who specializes in science communications and the interview deals with global warming. After listening I'm beginning to doubt that my desire to be remembered in time as a good ancestor really matters. Leiserowitz points out that we need only a 2 degree rise in temperature to set us on the "no turning back" path to be remembered as (if in the future another species on another planet can or cares to remember us) the species called human on the planet called Earth.

So what does a misplaced comma or mislabeled numerical list matter?

On that cheery note, take a look at:

http://www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-films/screening-room/snow-white-1916

and watch Snow White from 1916. After watching some ancient forms of our present CGI shown in the first few minutes of this hour long film, I guess I should lighten up on my criticism of CGI today. It seems like from the get-go in movies film makers wanted to dazzle their audiences with the spectular. (Santa has a Christmas tree magically appear and dolls he leaves as presents turn into miniature people.) Do watch it for these early achievements.

I was heading for a thematic Movie Monday: evaluation of the who-dun-it? murder mystery with which Hollywood was so fond of in the 1930s and early 1940s (the mysteries before noir.) However, then I had to sit through The Case of the Lucky Legs (1935) on Sunday. This turkey is part of the Perry Mason movie series. 

Ellery Queen, Sherlock Holmes (that series started much earlier), Philo Vance, Bulldog Drummond and Charlie Chan are some of the most popular detectives who solved crimes on film during that decade. Most of these were just laughable turkeys with the mystery taking a back seat to horrible comic routines or boring nightclub singing. But some were quite entertaining. Philo Vance's The Kennel Club Murder Case, 1933 and some Charlie Chan entries (if you overlook the stereotypical portrayal of black characters) contain solid mysteries. (Charlie Chan in London, 1934)

Take a look at this site for a full list:

http://www.filmsandtv.com/genre.php?gs=1930Mystery

I guess heaven for me would be popcorn and watching these old gems and turkeys through eternity. I know why I like them: I don't like to watch my mysteries with hands in from my eyes. You know, the type with gore which moved from the slasher genre to the marketplace mystery genre after Psycho (1960). I guess the Victorian edict of "Don't scare the horses." applied to these earlier mysteries. They were so ladylike in their violence.

Which brings me to Hitchcock whom I consider a genius in the murder/mystery/suspense genres. And, I would say an unsung genius in the eyes of  Hollywood as it never awarded him a "real" Oscar. After sitting through the torture of The Case of the Lucky Legs this weekend (Truth Note: The 13 reviewers on IMDb loved this movie.) I sort of developed a theory as to the why of this slight. Mysteries were profitable for Hollywood since their studios, back then, ran 24/7. They were very easy to turn out movies since most had a pre-written story, many were vehicles for nascent stars and directors or former stars and directors on the wane, and, if they weren't top rung productions, they could always fill the marquee as the needed second feature. So I think Hollywood was very happy for the 1930s murder mysteries but unfortunately, like the popular town prostitute, they got no respect.

So when a rare film visionary such as Hitchcock chose to hone his skills in this genre (Hitch didn't start in this genre; Juno and the Paycock (1929) was one of his very early directorships), he was welcomed for his profitability but not his extraordinary talent in such a hackneyed genre. Even his Shadow of a Doubt (1943) which is still the quintessential "horror" story about Amierican evil and hypocrisy in a small town didn't get a nomination but The More the Merrier (1943) did.

Wow, it's late. Gotta go. See you next week.