John Ford Retrospective - The Shamrock Handicap (1926)

THE SHAMROCK HANDICAP (1926)

Starring:  Janet Gaynor, Leslie Fenton, Willard Louis, J Farrell MacDonald, Claire McDowell, Louis Payne, George Morris, Andy Clark, Ely Reynolds

Writer:  Peter B Kyne (story), John Stone (scenario)

Cinematography:  George Schneiderman

Music:  SILENT (piano solo score by Philip Carli)

B&W, 1h 06m.  1.33:1 presentation.

Released on:  May 2, 1926 by Fox Film Corporation.

My experience:  YouTube

The Shamrock Handicap is a smaller scale movie than John Ford's most recent work at the time, and while very simple in story (as many of his movies at the time were), it was far more entertaining than I had expected it to be.  It is, in fact, more of a comedy than anything Ford had done, at least since Bucking Broadway.  I believe this is the first story to indulge Ford's Hibernophilia.  Much like his previous surviving film, Kentucky Pride, it all comes down to a horse race.  The one here is easier to follow, thanks to insert shots that keep us in the race rather than watch at a distance.  More of which, later.

We begin our story in County Kildare in olde Eire (west of Dublin) where wealthy landowner Sir Miles O'Hara (Louis Payne) presides over his estate and employees, who include his handyman Con O'Shea (J Farrell MacDonald) and his wife Molly (Claire McDowell), and his horse trainer Neil Ross (Leslie Fenton), who has eyes for O'Hara's daughter, Lady Sheila O'Hara (Janet Gaynor).  Ross' feelings are reciprocated by the boss' daughter, but when wealthy American Orville Finch (Willard Louis) comes to town looking to buy some horses, Sir Miles (who is starting to owe money in estate taxes) has no choice but to sell some of them off, including his prize-winning favourite, Dark Roseleen.  He also offers Neil a job with him in America as a jockey.  While sorry to be parting, Neil promises Sheila he'll come back with money to help save the estate and win her hand in marriage, natch.  

Neil's time in America starts off with a bang, as he gets into a fight with a fellow jockey, Chesty Morgan (Andy Clark).  While that bout is successful, he subsequently breaks his leg in his very first race, and Sheila and her father come to America themselves (having sold their property in Ireland to afford the trip).  Con and Sir Miles get jobs digging ditches to earn money, while Neil mopes about feeling sorry for himself.  Finch comes back into the picture with Dark Roseleen, and everybody pools their resources to back the filly in the Shamrock Handicap, a $25,000 steeplechase race at 20 to 1 odds.  But when Dark Roseleen takes a fright and throws his jockey Ginsburg (George Morris) off, breaking the man's leg, it's left to Neil to man up and "win his feet," as the doctor said.

Reading the plot summary on IMDb and Wikipedia, I figured this would be a story about class, and that the title Shamrock Handicap would be about the struggles of the Irish.  While to an extent this is true, the title is effective on multiple levels.  Firstly, the main race is called the Shamrock Handicap.  As well, a handicap in horse racing is basically horses carrying different weights based on their rating.  But it also nods to Neil Ross' situation, in which he becomes not just physically but for a certain amount of time emotionally handicapped as well.  

Ford never needed any persuasion to indulge in his love of sentimentality.  We see this from the beginning, as all the scenes in Ireland are filled with pastoral simplicity and are shot suffused with hazy borders, as if in remembrance of a long-forgotten dream.  It's a nice set up into the world of the film, and a good contrast with the scenes in America, in which the full image becomes clearer and the scenery is much less romanticized.  The sentimentality remains fully present, however, and Ford mixes it very nicely with some fairly hilarious comedy.  Case in point:  a little girl who Sir Miles sponsored to come to America with her father when her mother passed away recognizes him as he's being insulted by a couple of goons at the worksite, and it's a truly heartbreaking moment -- leading to hilarity when her father (now a policeman) comes by and begins assisting Sir Miles and Con in putting those same goons in their place.  The stakes of comedy are then raised when the cop tells them there are a few family members who would love to say hi -- quick cut to Sir Miles, Con and the little girl surrounded by about twenty police officers, followed by a title card in which a half dozen names (O'Conor, O'Reilly, O'Flaherty, etc) come onto the screen in successive order.  It's a great way of incorporating title cards for comedic purposes.

Ford loved his secondary characters, and indeed throughout his filmography he sometimes seems more amused by what the sidekicks and supporting players are doing, rather than the leads.  In The Shamrock Handicap, while we get to see Leslie Fenton as Neil a lot (since he's at least in name the linchpin the story hangs on), he's pretty much a cypher, with only the most basic emotions; smile grandly, or look despondent.  The romantic lead, Janet Gaynor, is almost a nonentity in this one, which surprised me, as I am more familiar with her work in more meaty roles, such as The Wife in FW Murnau's Sunrise: A Tale of Two Humans and Esther Blodgett/Vicki Lester in William Wellmans' 1937 A Star is Born.  

While the leads in this one (and some of Ford's future endeavours) are somewhat nondescript, the supporting characters are given their moment in the spotlight.  Ford once again features one of his favourite (and mine) character actors, J Farrell MacDonald, who in this one keeps up a running gag with his pet gander Brian Boru (the name itself perhaps a reference to the famous Irish king, who saved the land from being invaded by the Vikings).  MacDonald is also given a little bit of room to stretch his dramatic muscles, and bounces back and forth between comedy and pathos with the greatest of ease.  

Another one of the supporting players is Ely Reynolds, who plays Virus Cakes (that name, though!), a member of Finch's entourage who becomes close with Ross.  While he is stuck in the type of stereotypical "darkie" role that was all too prevalent in classic Hollywood films, he is almost able to transcend that role with a performance that is both hilarious and somewhat eerie.  In fact, this is one of the earliest produced films I've seen that leaves the main story all together and follows the travails of a supporting black character.  We literally see things from his point of view for a portion of the film, and the scenes in the hospital and later in Roseleen's training montage (which culminates in Reynolds' character thinking up a brilliant way to train the horse in a true LOL fashion), while somewhat tangential to the plot, are literally about him and his experiences.  That is very rare for a film of this vintage, and while some of the mannerisms can be chalked down to a product of their time and age, and even though it's only for comedic effect and for a few minutes at a time, I still must commend Ford for attempting to put the audience in the shoes of a black man all the way back in 1926.  Historical note, however:  these scenes would have been drastically edited or entirely omitted in the Deep South.

The Shamrock Handicap is shot fairly straighforwardly, and while there are no grand, epic shots that knock you off your feet, each frame is painterly in the positioning of its characters within the scenery.  I have mentioned the hazy effect around the borders in the Ireland-set scenes of the film, but there is a beautiful shot when Ross and Sheila are saying their farewells shortly before he leaves for America that is glorious in its pastoral romanticism.  The two lovers are positioned against a waist-high brick wall, framed on either side by the low-lying limbs of an oak tree, while sheep roam a field in the background.  The aforementioned scene in the hospital with Virus Cakes features firstly some experimental darklight photography, leading into some blurred visuals, followed by an extended shot in slow motion, in which the camera would have been cranked at twice the speed as usual to achieve the effect.  There is another innovative use of title cards when the Jewish jockey Ginsburg falls off his horse and the title card appears in Hebrew.  A judicious use of swearing, perhaps?  I'm not familiar with the language so I can't say (please feel free to comment if you do know the language), but surely it would have gotten a laugh in 1926.

The race itself was filmed with inserts of the riders, which allows us to become more personally involved in the race instead of standing back watching horses run around from afar.  Ford would take this lesson and in his future Westerns use it to great effect.  It's funny that Kentucky Pride and The Shamrock Handicap, released eight months apart, featured horse racing as their theme.  Perhaps Ford was going through a bit of an obsession with equestrian sport, or perhaps his intent was to tell a similar story from two sides of the same coin (the former from the horses' point of view, the latter from the humans').  Either way, I found The Shamrock Handicap quite a bit more entertaining than I had expected, and would recommend it heartily.

Seven frenetic fillies out of ten.

John Ford Retrospective - Kentucky Pride (1925)

KENTUCKY PRIDE (1925)

Starring:  "Us Horses" -- Virginia's Future, Negofol, Morvich, Confederacy, Man O'War, Fair Play, The Finn.  Also starring:  "Those Creatures Called Humans" -- Henry B Walthall, Gertrude Astor, Peaches Jackson, J Farrell MacDonald, Belle Stoddard, Winston Miller, Malcolm Waite, George Reed

Writer:  Dorothy Yost

Cinematography:  George Schneiderman, Edmund Reek

Music:  SILENT

B&W, 1h 10m.  1.33:1 presentation.

Released on:  September 6, 1925 by Fox Film Corporation

My experience:  YouTube

Following The Iron Horse, this is a decidedly minor entry into the John Ford oeuvre.  Still, I found it quite entertaining in its own way, and while perhaps not quite as artful as other films in the Ford constellation, it's not phoned in by any means, and indeed Ford's big idea was to tell this story from the point of view of a horse!  Sounds silly, I know ... but darned if the film didn't win me over by the end.

The story, such as it is, remains fairly simple -- but not as straightforward as you might expect.  We are introduced to Virginia's Future, a young foal born into the racing stable of Mr. Beaumont (Henry B Walthall), a raffish gambler whose second wife (Gertrude Astor) seems to have taken up with their neighbour Greve Carter (Malcolm Waite).  Beaumont's horse trainer, Mike Donovan (J Farrell MacDonald) develops a special connection with Virginia's Future, which comes in handy after she breaks her leg in a race.  Mrs. Beaumont, all but twirling a moustache, orders Donovan to kill the horse, and officially takes off with Carter.  Donovan of course doesn't have the heart to do this, and manages to keep her from the glue factory.  Virginia's Future gives birth to Confederacy, who has been gifted the speed of his mother.  By this time, however, Beaumont (thanks to his gambling problem) has lost his money, his wife, and his reputation.  Obliged to sell his property, including the horses, at auction, he disappears, leaving his daughter Virginia (Peaches Jackson) in the care of Donovan and his wife (Belle Stoddard).  

Cut to a few years later.  Virginia's Future has been mistreated by her new owner, a junk dealer, and becomes a pack horse.  Donovan, in the meantime, has moved to the city and become a police officer.  Beaumont is still down on his luck and making sad attempts to gamble his way back into fortune.  The former owner and trainer reconnect in a meet-cute that could have easily gone the other way, and find out that Confederacy will be racing in the Futurity, a stakes race for trotters, with Donovan's son Danny (Winston Miller) as jockey.  They pool their money and place it all on Confederacy.  At the same time, a chance encounter alerts them to the whereabouts of Virginia's Future.  Will things end happily ever after for all involved?  Have you ever seen a movie?

There aren't very many reviews of this film online, but those that exist make much of the fact that the film, supposedly told from the point of view of Virginia's Future, contains scenes that the horse couldn't possibly be privy to.  To which I say, so what?  One can't expect a children's film from the 1920s to live up to the realistic standards we seem to want to impose on all our movies nowadays.  And that's just what this is: a children's story.  The narration by the horse is a clever gimmick to a) make the film stand out a little bit more from the rest, and b) keep the children watching engaged during some of the more grown-up centred parts of the film.  To their arguments, I say this:  Balderdash!!!

That's not to say that Kentucky's Pride is perfect.  Far from it.  There is some cringeworthy stuff in here, not the least of which is a stereotypical black butler (George Reed) who shuffles and bows and smiles as big as he can, all whilst the title cards outline his dialogue in the most racist way possible.  I realize that this may sound a little hypocritical coming after the previous paragraph, but I've seen hundreds if not thousands of films from the classic Hollywood era, and this is right up there with the cringiest stuff.  This stuff would have been considered over the top even in 1925 -- at least in more, shall we say, cultured circles.

While Ford the artiste takes a back seat to Ford the hired hand in this one, there are still a few things that caught my eye.  There is an interesting effect used for the moment Virginia's Future is born and begins to see, as the image starts out blurry and then becomes less so as the seconds tick by.  It's also noteworthy for its POV shot, as the camera -- in a rarity for a John Ford film -- is not locked in place but is supposed to be representing the horse moving her head around trying to look at things.  There is also some great cutting during the Futurity race; and even though in the print I watched there was no sound, I found myself caught up in the action, and even mesmerized at times.  

J Farrell MacDonald once again steals the show here with some really great acting: less over the top as compared to The Iron Horse, but some really heartfelt scenes.  I'm recalling specifically the scene in which Mrs. Beaumont orders him to kill Virginia's Future.  The emotions that he displays on his face are truly heartbreaking.  

Kentucky Pride is definitely a lesser work by a renowned master of his art, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't go unseen.  While the complete absence of a soundtrack may put many people off, the print is very good, and the film moves quickly enough that if you've trained yourself to watch silent movies, it's less of a task than might first be thought.

Five galloping geldings out of ten.

John Ford Retrospective - The Iron Horse (1924)

THE IRON HORSE (1924)

Starring:  George O'Brien, Madge Bellamy, Charles Edward Bull, Cyril Chadwick, Will Walling, Francis Powers, J Farrell MacDonald, Jim Welch, George Waggner, Fred Kohler, James A Marcus, Gladys Hulette

Writers:  Charles Kenyon & John Russell

Cinematography:  George Schneiderman

Music:  SILENT (contemporary score by Christopher Caliendo)

B&W, 2h 30m (international cut); 2h 13m (US cut), 1.33:1 presentation.

Released on:  August 28, 1924 by Fox Film Corporation

My experience:  Ford at Fox DVD box set

"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

So goes one of the more famous quotes from classic cinema, uttered by Carleton Young in Ford's own elegiac 1962 film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.  And that is precisely what Ford does in 1924's The Iron Horse.  He takes a historical setting and brings it to life; and while he plays with facts (as did almost all movies of that age), it is done in service of a mythologizing of the then-recent past, the Old West that had just begun fading into history.  

The film is an attempt to portray the moment in time when America became united, both as a people and geographically.  The former by Abraham Lincoln, whose goal was to bring the North and South together, the latter by the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads, who created a cross-continental train system.  Nowadays, we are aware of how this displaced hundreds of thousands of Native Americans and in the process destroyed countless valuable cultures.  At the time, however, it was a great engineering feat, and was considered part of America's "Manifest Destiny."  I am going through these films chronologically and trying to view them through the lens of their era, but it's hard not to notice certain jarring idioms of the past that no longer play.

At the beginning of the film we are plunked down in Springfield, Illinois, where surveyor David Brandon (James Gordon) dreams of forging a path through to the Pacific Ocean, scoffed at by his friend the businessman Thomas Marsh (Will Walling).  Brandon's son Davy (Winston Miller) and Marsh's daughter Miriam (Peggy Cartwright) are going through a little bit of puppy love, aided by local shopkeeper/future president Abraham Lincoln (Charles Edward Bull).  The two Brandons head west, but the elder Davy perishes at the hand of an Indian ambush led by two-fingered white man Deroux (or Bauman, depending on the print), played by Fred Kohler.  

Skipping a decade and a half or so, we find Lincoln in office as president, and Thomas Marsh now a fervent believer in uniting the country by rail (or at the very least, a fervent believer in profiting from it).  Miriam (now played by Madge Bellamy) is now engaged to one of Marsh's engineers, Jesson (Cyril Chadwick).  Out west, the railroad is being built by numerous Chinese workers and three Oirish Americans, who are what the film decides to focus on.  These men are formerly of the United States Army:  Sgt. Slattery (Francis Powers), Cpl. Casey (J Farrell MacDonald), and Pvt. Schultz (MacKay in the international version), played by Jim Welch.  There is also a traveling saloon keeper/judge named Haller (James A Marcus), a barmaid named Ruby (Gladys Hulette), who may or may not be a member of the world's oldest profession, and historical personalities such as Buffalo Bill Cody (George Waggner) and Wild Bill Hickok (Jack Padjan).  Chief John Big Tree, whose profile was used for the American Indian Head nickel, also appears uncredited as a Cheyenne chief (even though he was really Seneca ... but we'll get into Hollywood and racial casting at a later date).  He would later appear in Stagecoach, Drums Along the Mohawk and She Wore A Yellow Ribbon for Ford.

And then Davy, now grown (and played by George O'Brien) comes into the picture.  Deroux/Bauman is a land speculator who wants the railway to go through his property, and Davy knows of a pass through the mountains which can shave 200 miles off, which his father told him about shortly before his untimely demise.  Deroux/Bauman asks Jesson to make Davy disappear, but Davy survives the attempt.  What will happen next?  Will America be united?  Will Davy and Miriam be united?  Find out in ... The Iron Horse!!!

John Ford was now 30 years old and had dozens of short films and features under his belt by this time, but this was truly a step up for him.  He had done Westerns in the great outdoors, but this film is truly where his career really took off.  It is the type of film that you think of when you think of epic:  historical, fantastic landscapes, but keeps you engaged with the personal stories going on. 

There are two different versions of the film, the US theatrical cut, and the International version, which went out to Britain and the rest of the world.  The American cut is a quarter of an hour longer, although I couldn't think of any scenes that were out and out deleted.  Rather, Ford was emphatic about editing his films in camera, meaning he wouldn't let the studios fudge up his vision.  Therefore much of the international cut is made out of alternate takes and lesser footage.  So we have fewer of the insert shots that makes Ford films truly Fordian, and the establishing and linking shots are a lot shorter as well.  

Another thing I noticed is the naming of some characters, and what they signify.  The villain, played by Fred Kohler, is named Deroux in the US cut, and in the international cut he's called Bauman.  This plays in to the inherent racism (and their subtle differences) in the United States and elsewhere.  The American cut names its villain Deroux in the time-honoured tradition of derogating what was then called the half-breed.  A major stereotype of that time was the half-indigenous, half-caucasian, who often had a French last name, because of course he did (actually, it was probably because the French had done much of the discovery of the interior of the continent).  The international cut, however, gives the semitic name Bauman to its villain, perhaps in an attempt to tap into the subconscious (or in many cases at that time, the quite conscious) prejudices towards Jewish people.

The most noticeable change is that the American version worships at the altar of Abraham Lincoln.  The film is dedicated to him (in the international version it's dedicated to George Stephenson, known as the "father of the railways" in Britain), and there are numerous intertitles espousing his genius and brilliance.  

The story as a whole, however, remains unchanged.  After prostrating itself in the opening titles before the American God that was Abraham Lincoln, we are introduced to him somewhat innocuously, as an average man in Springfield, enjoying the interplay between two young people.  No mention, aside from his name, is made of what he would be in the future, and indeed even when we meet him later, we see less of him as a majestic presidential personality but rather as a normal man.  In fact, the international version has Lincoln walking through the White House in a ramrod straight manner, with people standing by respectfully as if he were a monarch; the American version has him shuffling, wiping his forehead, and people talking to him as he goes by, much in keeping with him as a man of the people.  In fact, when Miriam introduces him to her fiance Jesson, the side-eye and shade Lincoln throws him is epic.  It's like we just walked into an episode of Abraham Lincoln's Train Race!

The Iron Horse is chock full of John Ford's signature visual flourishes.  There is a beautiful use of closeups when Davy and Miriam part as children.  When the railroad builders are ambushed by the natives, the carnage is silhouetted on the side of a railcar.  And this is the film in which Ford perfected his storytelling.  We see a funeral by the side of the tracks, with a widow crying, but the camera is a fair distance away, and shows behind the woman the people of the temporary town picking up and moving on.  Life goes on, he seems to say, even while he indulges in sentimentality.  Again, Ford's duality is at play here.

The contemporary score on the Fox DVD is by Christopher Caliendo, who takes a page out of the master's books and peppers his score liberally with folk tunes of the ilk Ford would use in his later sound films, such as "Oh Susannah" and "Blow The Man Down."  The orchestrations are subtle in intimate scenes and rousing in the epic battle scenes.  It's a great modern-day score of a classic silent film.

As for the performances, two of them stood out for me.  This was a star-making turn for George O'Brien, and while he would continue to develop as an actor, both as a lead (FW Murnau's brilliant Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans) and a character actor (including many of Ford's later films), the energy he brings to this role is infectious.  And I cannot conclude this review without mentioning J Farrell MacDonald, who plays Corporal Casey.  It's a wonderful performance, ranging the gamut from rubber-faced comedy to tearful sentimentality.  Every time he was on screen I couldn't take my eyes off him.  The scene in the barbershop -- which could easily have been cut out of the film without changing anything -- is right up there with Chaplin and Keaton.  Apparently he did 25 films with John Ford, so I'm looking forward to seeing him in future Ford endeavours.  

There are so many wonderful moments in this movie that I'd still be writing tomorrow if I discussed them all.  Suffice it to say, this is the film that made John Ford a household name, and for good reason.  While parts of it have definitely dated over the past 98 years, it is as gripping and entertaining as it must have been a whole century ago.  For any film lover worth their salt, this is a must-see, not just for entertainment's value but to see a true master hit his stride.

Nine and a half exhilarating engines out of ten.

John Ford Retrospective - Cameo Kirby (1923)

CAMEO KIRBY (1923)

Starring:  John Gilbert, Gertrude Olmstead, Jean Arthur, Alan Hale, Peter Burke, Phillips Smalley, Eugenie Forde, Eric Mayne, Richard Tucker, W.E. Lawrence, Jack McDonald

Writer:  Robert N. Lee (based on the play by Booth Tarkington & Harry Leon Wilson)

Cinematography:  George Schneiderman

B&W, 1h 10m.  1.33:1 presentation.

Released on:  October 21, 1923 by Fox Film Corporation.

My experience:  YouTube

I don't think I can honestly give a proper review for this film, as the only transfer I could find of this film was of horrendous quality.  It looks like a VHS rip of a copy of the film that would have been shown on Portuguese (Brazilian?) television in the 1980s or 1990s.  On top of that, there is no soundtrack to be heard, so believe me when I say it was a chore to sit through.  

The story as far as I could tell has John Gilbert as the title character, who is unfairly accused of killing Colonel Randall (Eric Mayne), and with the help of his assistant/friend Moreau (Alan Hale), must convince the family of the deceased of his innocence before wooing his love (and the victim's daughter), Adele Randall (Gertrude Olmstead).  Jean Arthur, who would become a star in the 1930s, plays a judge's daughter in a small (perhaps overbilled) role.

Like I said, the film was really hard to watch.  I caught moments that would have been quite impressive to see on the big screen in 1923 (namely a race between four steamships, which looks like it was shot for real, and not using miniatures, and some nice camera trickery involving a wishing well).  But I can't honestly say that this was worth the 70 minutes it took to watch.  I won't give it a review, as I think the degraded elements of the print and lack of any kind of soundtrack affected my concentration and hence judgment of the film.  For completists only.  

John Ford Retrospective - Just Pals (1920)

JUST PALS (1920)

Starring:  Buck Jones, Helen Ferguson, Georgie Stone, Duke R Lee, William Buckley, Edwin B Tilton, Eunice Murdock Moore, John B Cooke

Writers:  John McDermott (story), Paul Schofield (scenario)

Cinematography:  George Schneiderman

Music:  SILENT (contemporary score by Jonathan & Alexander Kaplan)

B&W, 50m.  1.33:1 presentation.

Released on:  November 18, 1920 by Fox Film Corporation

My experience:  Ford at Fox DVD box set

Aside from being the first extant non-Universal film directed by Jack Ford, this is also the earliest surviving record of Ford moving into the contemporary world, cinematically (true, Bucking Broadway was technically set in contemporary times, but it was an odd mash-up of classic western and modern melodrama, in which cowboys literally rode into a New York City hotel ballroom to help their friend get his girl).  In Just Pals, Ford indulges in his taste for sentimentality, but also takes aim at the hypocrisy of humanity.  

It is a truism for Hollywood films that there are often multiple films about the same topic coming through the pipelines and sometimes being filmed at the same time.  In my own lifetime I can remember the volcano movies of 1997, Volcano and Dante's Peak; the asteroid hitting Earth movies of 1998, Deep Impact and Armageddon; and two biographies of Steve Prefontaine within a year and a half of each other, 1997's Prefontaine with Jared Leto and 1998's Without Limits with Billy Crudup.  All this encompassing two years in the late 1990s.  This has been going on forever, apparently, as 1920-21 had no less than three films detailing the friendship of a ne'er do well older man and a younger boy who he takes under his wing:  The Kid, with Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan; My Boy, with Coogan again, this time with Claude Gillingwater as his caretaker; and this little nugget right here, Just Pals.

In this one, Buck Jones is Bim, the town bum of Norwalk, a fictional town on the Wyoming-Nebraska border, who takes odd jobs but is content to while away his time in the loft of a barn, dreaming of the local schoolteacher Mary (Helen Ferguson) but not really doing anything with his life.  While idling near the railway tracks one day, he witnesses a young boy get violently thrown off a train, and comes to his rescue.  After a hilariously futile attempt at giving him a bath, he approaches Mary, who agrees on the condition that the boy, whose name is Bill (Georgie Stone), goes to school.  Mary, in an act of kindness (or wilful stupidity), has given the money for the school's memorial fund to her boyfriend, Harvey Cahill (William Buckley), who owes money to an outlaw gang.  Meanwhile, Bill tries to steal some clothes to help Bim get a job, but badly injures himself in the process.  He is taken to the house of a new doctor in town, Dr. Stone (Edwin B. Tilton).  The new doc is not as above board as he seems, however, as he and his wife (Eunice Murdock Moore) scheme to make some money off the kid and sell him to someone who posted an advertisement in the paper.  Things come to a head when the school board asks for the money for the memorial fund, Mary doesn't have it, sends Bim to town to find Harvey, who runs away, Mary attempts suicide while Bim claims to the sheriff (Duke R. Lee) that he stole the money.  Add into that a car crash, two new strangers in town, and an all's well that ends well ending, and in less time than it takes to watch an episode of The Crown you've got your average seriocomic 1920s melodrama!

There isn't anything here that knocks the viewer over the head screaming "Directed by John Ford" - but there are little touches here and there, including the ending in which man and child literally walk off into the sunset together, which is beautifully shot in sihouette.  Rather, Ford enlivens this relatively harmless programmer by taking potshots at the local hotshots.  You know the kind, who run the town and moralise constantly, but rarely practice what they preach.  The stereotypical small town mentality, of people sticking their noses where they don't belong, is put in the spotlight.  The good people of the town fervently go to church, but at the end of the sermon after the offering plate has been passed, the head usher finds that once again, there's hardly any money in the plate.  Bim is looked down upon by people who are far richer, and far worse, people than him.  There is also a running gag with an ineffectual town constable, played by John B. Cooke, who is always saying "the law will take care of this" but never actually does anything.  This pays itself off hilariously at the very end of the movie.

There are some things that triggered me, such as the selfish doctor and his wife (so much for the Hippocratic Oath) and a scene where a little boy is about to drown a bunch of kittens in a burlap sack, but other than that there's nothing really wrong with this movie.  It's a relic from a bygone time, with a slower pace.  I love these old movies, so it was worth the watch for me.  If you're into silent movies, or would like to see a different early Ford film than was typical of that era, or have an hour to kill, I recommend.  Otherwise, your mileage may vary. 

Five beneficent bums out of ten.

John Ford Retrospective - Hell Bent (1918)

HELL BENT (1918)

Starring:  Harry Carey, Duke R Lee, Neva Gerber, Vester Pegg, Joe Harris

Writers:  Jack Ford & Harry Carey (based on a story by Harry Carey & Eugene B Lewis)

Cinematography:  Ben F Reynolds

Music:  SILENT (Blu-Ray score by Zachary Marsh)

B&W, 53m.  1.33:1 presentation.

Released on July 6, 1918 by Universal Film Manufacturing Company

My experience:  Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-Ray

I suppose I'm in the minority when it comes to this one.  Many of the reviews I've read online discuss how Hell Bent is a giant leap forward for Jack Ford, and while I don't deny that it has its moments, it seems to me that at times Ford is playing in a toy box.  Having discovered different ways of filming and telling his story, I feel that Ford is throwing everything he's learned up to that point into a blender and seeing what sticks.  

The story, as with many of that day and age, is simply told.  We are introduced once again to Harry Carey as Cheyenne Harry, a card sharp who arrives in the town of Rawhide after running from the law after a poker game shootout.  He falls in love with Mary (Neva Gerber) -- for some reason called Bess on the Blu-Ray cover and on IMDB -- whose brother Jack (Vester Pegg) has been fired from his job at Western Union.  Jack, unfortunately, is a lazy ne'er do well, and Mary must take a job as a dance hall girl at a saloon in order not only to make ends meet, but to send money to their mother, who needs money for an operation.  Through the course of the film, Harry and Mary fall in love, Harry becomes best friends with fellow good-bad guy and kindred spirit Cimarron Bill (Duke R Lee), and runs afoul of stagecoach robber Beau Ross (Joe Harris) and his gang, which now includes Mary's brother Jack.  All's well that ends well of course, as they usually do in these silent westerns, but perhaps not for everyone?

The film starts off in a pretty self-reflective way for its time, as it begins with a letter stating that the public is tired of a perfect man, and wants ordinary protagonists who have both bad and good in them.  It then cuts to a really cool shot in which the camera zooms in on the painting "A Misdeal" by Frederic Remington, and with some exquisite posing and matchwork, becomes a live action representation of said painting, from which the action proceeds forthwith.  Good start so far, but Ford doesn't seem to know when to quit, as he uses a massive amount of irises and screen matting, which while I understand to a certain extent why he does it, is almost too much of a good thing, and draws too much attention to its usage. 

There is a wonderful meet-cute between Harry and Cimarron Bill, as they take turns kicking each other out of a hotel room before becoming fast friends.  Their relationship contains a much-needed sense of humour to the film, as well as some bittersweet moments.  I don't know if audiences of the time were aware, or if it was even intended by Ford, but there seems to be a slight tinge of homoerotic longing on the part of Cimarron Bill for Cheyenne Harry.  Early in the film, the two drunkenly sing a duet of the classic song "Sweet Genevieve", which seems like a one-off attempt at humor but pays itself off in heartbreaking style at the end of the film.  Many of Ford's film are notable for being classic examples of male bonding, and focuses on the closeness of the male characters, often to the exclusion of the women in the film, but this is the strongest case I've found yet for potential romantic longing in such a case (that's portrayed in a serious, honest way and not the usual overly effeminate depiction of homosexuality in classic Hollywood films).

There are some cool shots in the film.  The wagon chase down a hill is particularly effective and excitement-inducing, and there is also a really cool shot of the shadow of horses on a hill.  The camera is pointed at the ground, and at first the audience is not quite sure what they're looking at, and then the shadows creep across the screen, and it's a glorious moment.  

I also need to point out the rousing, rollicking and yes, sentimental score by Zachary Marsh on the Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-Ray.  There are a few themes and through lines he uses throughout the film, that call earlier scenes back to mind, and I definitely appreciated it.  Many contemporary silent film scores, while very good in their own right, focus on the action itself, almost as if someone is playing at a piano or conducting a band while watching the movie live (which makes sense, as this is often the way they did things back in the silent era).  Marsh makes this movie feel *scored*, and it really adds a lot to the film.

Parts of the film are hard to follow, especially during Harry and Beau's trek through the sand dunes, and I never really got the attraction between Harry and Mary.  So while I don't think I enjoyed this film as much as others, it still has something to offer, and at less than an hour long, is short enough that if it's not for you, it's not a complete waste of your time.

Five and a half connubial cowboys out of ten.

John Ford Retrospective - Bucking Broadway (1917)

BUCKING BROADWAY (1917)

Starring:  Harry Carey, Molly Malone, LM Wells, Vester Pegg, William Steele, Gertrude Astor

Writer:  George Hively

Cinematography:  John W Brown, George F Reynolds

Music:  SILENT (contemporary score by Donald Sosin)

B&W, 53m.  1.33:1 presentation.

Released on December 24, 1917 by Universal Film Manufacturing Company.

My experience:  YouTube

For his fourth feature film (and second in this series, the other two -- The Secret Man and A Marked Man being lost), John Ford stretched his wings a little bit.  Still safely ensconced in the western genre in which he cut his teeth, he added a little bit of comedy to the mix in Bucking Broadway, which is an odd mix of classic western and Keystone cop-style comedy.  Does it work?  To a certain extent, it does ... but the switch from one to the other halfway through comes across as a bit abrupt.

Harry Carey returns as Cheyenne Harry, although it's doubtful that this iteration of Cheyenne Harry is the same as the one we saw in Straight Shooting.  Perhaps Ford and Carey created the Cheyenne Harry multiverse almost a century before the word was even invented?  At any rate, Carey's character this time is again in love with Molly Malone's character, this time called Helen.  He has gotten her father Ben's (LM Wells) blessing for her hand in marriage, and things seem to be going smoothly ... up until an oily big city player named Eugene Thornton (Vester Pegg) shows up and woos the fair Helen, absconding with her to New York, not unwillingly it must be said.  Cheyenne Harry follows, and with the help of kindly pickpocket Gladys (Gertrude Astor) attempts to win back his love.  Add a bunch of marauding cowboys to the mix and then things really go off the rails ...

I need to state firstly that I actually quite liked this movie.  I wouldn't call it any great shakes in the masterpiece department, but there are a few nice cinematic touches courtesy of the master, and it kept me entertained.  There is one shot about seven minutes in that quite impressed me for its depth of field, especially considering this was 1917 and Ford wasn't to work with Gregg Toland for another 23 years.  In it, there are two characters on horses in the foreground on top of a high hill.  Behind them down in the valley you can see a herd of cows being herded, and off in the distance on top of a mountain there are a two other horses meandering atop another hilly plateau.  It's a wonderful use of what came to be known as the 1.33:1 Academy ratio, making exquisite use of the full frame.

Even in these early films, Ford uses inserts wonderfully to help develop character.  There are multiple closeups of Harry's hands fidgeting as he asks Ben for his daughter's hand in marriage, and later there's a beautiful shot of Ben's hand on top of the two lovers', effectively giving his consent without saying a word.  Well, of course he didn't say a word; this is a silent film.  But I digress!

I must draw attention to some nice juxtaposition as well, where Ford balances comedy and drama to near perfection, keeping the audience on edge and in suspense the whole time.  Harry is trying on a wedding suit at the tailor's, being interrupted in the altogether by a local spinster.  These scenes are interspersed with scenes of the slick city dude gradually winning Helen over with his overbearing propositions.  The audience is in the position of laughing at the outrageous antics at the clothing store, while simultaneously being made aware that plots are being put in place to undermine the raison d'etre for the hilarity.  I don't know the last time I've been so uncomfortable laughing.

Another thing I noticed is that all the scenes in the first half of the film, out west in Wyoming, look very authentic, even the interiors.  When Harry gets to New York to try to win back the woman he loves, I noticed that the set looks just like what it is:  a set.  It's almost as if Ford intentionally made his NYC hotel room look like a two-dimensional stage set; is he making a comment on the inauthenticity of big city life?  The final scene, when Harry's cowboy friends run roughshod over Eugene Thornton and his city slickin' friends in the hotel ballroom is a tad absurd and over the top, to be honest, but funny nonetheless.

One of the things that grated on me was the fact that Helen seemed to have no autonomy whatever.  She seemed to exist solely to do what others -- specifically the men in her life -- told her to do.  Granted, this is a silent film from before women were even able to vote in the United States, but I found it frustrating nonetheless.  I actually much preferred the character of Gladys, portrayed by Gertrude Astor.  She is her own person and actually has her own agenda rather than mindlessly following others.  Perhaps Harry should have taken a chance on her ... but that would probably not have pleased the censors at that time.

Bucking Broadway has its moments for sure.  Is it a perfect film?  Not on your life.  That's not to say it doesn't have its charms.  It can be over the top in its comedy and quaint and old fashioned in its values, but the same can be said for much of Ford's work.  It's an interesting development in the career of Ford, who would always have a knack for over the top comedy.  In future films, he would be able to integrate it into his films a bit more fluidly.

5 equus ex machina out of 10.

John Ford Retrospective - Straight Shooting (1917)

STRAIGHT SHOOTING (1917)

Starring: Harry Carey, Duke Lee, George Berrell, Molly Malone, Ted Brooks, Hoot Gibson, Milt Brown, Vester Pegg, William Steele

Writer: George Hively

Cinematography: George Scott

Music: SILENT (Blu-Ray score by Michael Gatt)

B&W, 1h 02m.  1.33:1 presentation.

Released on August 27, 1917 by Universal Film Manufacturing Company.

My experience:  Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-Ray


It's hard to believe that John Ford's first film as director was released all the way back in 1917 -- 105 years ago!  To put that in perspective, if you go back another 105 years from that, you're looking at the War of 1812, when Canada wasn't its own country yet and the United States wasn't even 40 years old.  All this is to say that we often remember John Ford as a director of westerns in its heyday (the 1950s), but he got his start decades earlier.  And after watching his feature length debut, Straight Shooting, the thing that impressed me most was that at the age of 23, his eye for framing and composition was already stunning.

The movie itself, compared to today's oftentimes needlessly convoluted stories, is quite simple.  The protagonist, Cheyenne Harry (Harry Carey), a mercenary gunslinger, is hired by evil rancher Thunder Flint (Duke Lee) to dispose of a homesteading family -- father Sweetwater Sims (George Berrell), daughter Joan (Molly Malone) and son Tom (Ted Brooks) -- whose land he wants for his cattle.  Cheyenne Harry finds himself torn between the two factions soon enough, at which point Flint also hires assassin Placer Fremont (Vester Pegg) as insurance.

Sounds a little bit cliche, doesn't it?  Well, cliches have to start from somewhere, and this type of storytelling was all the rage back in silent cinema.  In fact, the character of Cheyenne Harry is probably a bit less of a stereotype than many other "white hat" cowboys of the day.  There's a sense of humor about him, and he's a little bit uncouth; in truth, he's a bad man who finds himself torn between two worlds and in the end redeems himself, itself a situation Ford would portray on screen many times in the future. 

I've mentioned in previous posts that duality is a key facet of Ford's personality and filmmaking style, and this is evident even at this early junction.  Time and again, in this film and the future, Ford lionizes the good old days and yearns for simpler times, while at the same time being well aware of all the good things progress and the onward march of time has led to.  His main character here, Cheyenne Harry, is likewise caught between his unsavory past and the potential to right himself.

There are some shots in this film -- released over a year before the first World War came to an end -- that are breathtaking.  A posse of horsemen riding down a steep hill; the co-ordination of action on different planes; even the simple use of irises and dissolves are proof of the fact that "Jack" Ford (as he was billed up until 1923) had a preternaturally sublime gift.  While I can't honestly say that this is close to the top of my favourite John Ford films, it is a wonderfully assured debut from a filmmaker who was probably not much more than five years out of high school at that point.  

6.5 dastardly drovers out of 10.

John Ford: An Introduction

John Ford is a name many many people, especially cinephiles, are very familiar with, but to the general public, knowledge of him and his works are increasingly being relegated to the dustbin of history.  While part of this is due to the natural progression of time, some of it is also due to the prevailing attitudes of the era in which he lived, specifically in how race and gender were portrayed in early Hollywood films.  Ford himself was a bundle of contradictions, however, and while some of his films have aged poorly, he was in many ways more progressive and searching than many of his contemporaries.

John Martin Feeney was born on February 1, 1894, in Cape Elizabeth, a suburb of Portland, Maine.  The son of Irish immigrants, he was a first generation American, and throughout his career he displayed immense pride in his native United States and was likewise drawn to stories set in or concerning the land of his ancestors.  In fact, I believe this dualism is key to understanding many of Ford's cinematic tendencies, and indeed his life as a whole.  

As a person, John Ford could be curt and abrasive, yet incredibly caring.  There is a story I've heard in which someone who had previously worked for him was hard up for money.  Ford accosted him and mocked him publicly, then secretly made sure the person had a job with him for life and set him up with a weekly stipend.  His film sets always had the same people working on them, and they all shared close quarters -- the John Ford Stock Company.  He fostered a feeling of camaraderie and goodwill, yet he could be very abusive and dictatorial.  He could be both reactionary and, as previously mentioned, progressive for the times in his beliefs.  

Ford followed his brother Francis (who had taken the last name "Ford" in the interim) to Hollywood after graduating high school.  Francis was thirteen years older than John, and was at that point a big time film director.  Ford got jobs on Francis' sets as carpenter, stuntman, actor: any experience he could get.  By the end of the 1910s, however, Francis' successes had started to dry up, and John decided to try his hand at directing.

A quick note before we get into analyzing some of these movies.  John Ford directed about 60 silent films, of which all but maybe 10 or so are lost.  Therefore I will only be focusing on the ones I am able to have access to.  I don't feel it's right, nor even relevant, to comment on a piece of art that doesn't physically exist and that I can't experience.  So while it may seem that I may be giving Ford's formative years as a director short shrift, rest assured that this is not the case, and the the vagaries of time are ultimately victorious over even the greatest artistic masters.  And with that, let's begin!

John Ford in 1915.

It's been awhile!

Has it really been four and a half months since my last post?  I know it had been a hot minute since I last wrote something on this blog, but four and a half months surprised me!  I guess life sometimes gets in the way and you just have to roll with it!

It's funny, I got back into writing this blog (after a hiatus of about six years, so four and a half months doesn't seem quite as long) with the intention of writing, if not every day, then at least multiple times a week.  That lasted about a month, then I fell into a routine of reviewing ARCs, of which I posted two or three reviews a month.  

Since I was last active on this blog, I have gone through a move, downsizing from a four-bedroom house to a two-bedroom apartment.  As a result, a lot of my focus was spent on getting rid of a whole bunch of stuff (it's incredible how much stuff you collect over the years that are completely unnecessary) and generally keeping myself and my family sane throughout the chaos.  We've been in the new place for about two weeks now, and are still unboxing things and finding room for them.

I haven't stopped reading those ARCs; in fact there are five that I read in the interim.  Unfortunately, many of them are months in the past and are not as solid in my mind as I feel comfortable writing a whole review for.  They consist of the following:

"Unaccustomed To Grace" by Lesley Pratt Ballantyne:  This was a collection of short stories, many of which led in completely different directions than I was expecting.  There is humor, horror, and sadness in many of them.  Some really great title names, too.  Definitely worth a read.  8/10.

"Bedtime Stories For The Living: A Memoir" by Jay Armstrong:  The author is a former teacher who was diagnosed ten years ago with ataxia, a rare progressive brain disease that affects his balance, sight and speech.  He has written this book almost as bedtime stories for his children, outlining his views on life and subtly guiding and preparing their future selves for life in the future.  It's a heartfelt, wonderful book with a sense of humor about life.  A must-read.  10/10.

"Three Coins" by Kimberly Sullivan:  I did not expect much from this one, but it caught me in its charms and I was HOOKED!  Basically a retelling of sorts of the 1954 film "Three Coins in the Fountain" - which plays a big role in the plot of the book, natch - it grabbed me and never let go.  The interpersonal relationships and the way the three main characters interact and relate to each other are well sketched out, and I had a blast following them through Rome and figuring out which areas I'd been to.  If you've ever spent any amount of time in Italy, I think you'll enjoy the heck out of this one.  9/10.

"Living Rent Free In My Head: Essays On Pop Culture" by Dominique Davis:  This one for me was a bit hit and miss.  I agree with many of the things Davis touches upon, but some of her essays deal with subjects I'm not overly familiar with.  Perhaps it's a generational thing; when she focuses on BookTok and Twitter (which occupy absolutely zero space in my life), the essays don't resonate with me.  But when she talks about the cult of celebrity, reality TV, the lost art of "filler" episodes, and various more generalized essays on music, film and television, it's a delight to read.  Your mileage may vary.  6/10.

"Slanted And Disenchanted: A Novel" by Lisa Czarina Michaud:  The detail in this book is off the hook.  It's a will-they-won't-they quasi-romance between two bandmates, Carla and Pete, in the aftermath of 9/11.  Both characters are well written and have hidden depths of layer that they rarely reveal to anyone, even themselves.  The two seem perfect for each other, but like all people, traumas and past histories can get in the way.  Many musical references of the time abound, and this is another book that I could not put down.  The book ends somewhat abruptly, so I can only hope that Michaud has in mind a sequel.  Time will tell.  8/10.

So that's that taken care of.  But what's next for this blog?  Where do I go from here?  I doubt I'll be posting anything else for at least another two weeks or so, but after that I'm going to switch things up a bit.  I still have a whole bunch of ARCs to read, so I will be posting reviews from time to time on Goodreads.  I may link them here, or I may not, it depends.  But I've decided to review movies again!  Not just any movies, but ouvres. 

What, you say?  What do French eggs have to do with anything?  Ah, my friend ... the word oeuvre is indeed descended from an old French word, "ovre" ... which has nothing to do with chickens or yolks and everything to do with the word "work," which is what "ovre" meant.

You see, friends, I am a completionist.  If I like an artist, be they musician, writer, or filmmaker, I need to experience their entire portfolios.  Call it the OCD in me, but I feel incomplete if I don't experience it all - chronologically, of course!  I have all Charles Dickens' books, all of Edward Rutherfurd, all of Ruta Sepetys.  I own all the Beatles, all of Oasis, all of Led Zeppelin.  The same goes for filmmakers.  I own the complete filmographies of many of my favourite filmmakers (Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Quentin Tarantino, David Fincher, Danny Boyle).  Trouble is, those directors are still active, so it would just feel weird to me to do a retrospective for these artists at the current time.

This is why I have decided to review the films of directors of yore.  There are so many to choose from, really.  I have most of Stanley Kubrick's films, but there are only about a dozen of them.  Ingmar Bergman, and Akira Kurosawa likewise, and they have a much greater number of films, but I'm not currently in the mood to rewatch any of them.  I have all of Elia Kazan's films but while his films are wonderful, he doesn't really have a definitive stamp per se.  I'd like to get to their filmographies in due course, just not at the moment.  Same goes with the filmmakers from the preceding paragraph who are still currently working.

That leaves two giants standing above the rest:  Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford.  They both started in silent films, and while many of those are lost to time (especially those of Ford), there are still plenty to go around.  And even though I own about 50 of each of them, there are still almost two dozen Fords and about 5 or 6 Hitchcock that I still need.  So it's a way to add to/complete my collection at the same time.

That being said, I have decided to start with John Ford because while most people know him as a director of Westerns, there is so much more to his films than that.  He did social dramas, historical films, travelogue-type adventures, and even a Shirley Temple musical.  I think it will be fun both to revisit classic films like "Stagecoach" or "The Searchers" and underrated gems like "The Prisoner of Shark Island," but also to discover new ones I haven't yet experienced.  

Assuming I watch (and review) one or two films a week, this should be a yearlong process.  And while I won't begin for another couple of weeks, I hope you'll join me on this journey through the films of John Ford. 

Book Review - Dingo & Sister by Nikky Lee

Dingo & Sister by Nikky Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this novella from Voracious Readers Only in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really quick read, clocking in at about 76 pages. I don't know whether it's post-apocalyptic, or just seems so as it's set in the Australian outback, but it packs a lot of character and mystery into its relatively few pages.

We follow Anika, a teenaged Aussie who seems to have a very strong, almost sisterly connection to a dingo who has become her travelling companion. Unfortunately, Anika is taken hostage by a trio led by a harsh woman named Rosa, and she must figure out a way to stay alive in the middle of the outback with little food or water, and bound up with rope to boot.

This is a horrible description of what in actuality is a gripping character study. The story is told as an internal monologue from Anika, so her point of view is necessarily the one we're privy to. Her past history and traumas, her thinking a few steps ahead and willingness to put herself in danger if need be ... all are accounted for and it's a great little psychological study.

Eight wicked wanderers out of ten.

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Book Review - The Devil's Trident by George P. Norris

The Devil's Trident by George P. Norris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book from Voracious Readers Only in exchange for an honest review.

This book really surprised me, because it went off in a completely different direction than I think I expected. Based upon the cover, and upon reading the prologue, I had thought it would be a war novel. Based on the biography of the author, I thought maybe it could be a police procedural. As it turns out, it's a little bit of both, but more to the point, it's a really great character study from multiple points of view, and one in which I wasn't quite sure which way the story was going to go next.

Our protagonist, recently retired NYPD detective and former Navy SEAL Michael Keough, is a well written, fully fleshed out character with relatable issues; he represents the common man well although his work background is anything but. After a former co-worker is killed outside his door, Keough digs deeper with the help of the wonderfully named (and also brilliantly fleshed out) detective Rocco Locatelli and finds out that he was the target, and his friend was collateral damage. From there, the two race to find out who perpetrated the attack, and how it all ties in with the fact that many of his former comrades in the SEALs have been dying off at an alarming rate ...

George Norris knows how to write a propulsive story, and speeds you along through different times and time zones without ever losing you. The flow of the story is fantastic, and although it's a mid-sized book, I found myself speeding through it. The revelation midway through the story of a certain plot point / character was a wonderful stroke of genius that only enhanced my enjoyment of the novel.
My only qualm has to be with grammatical and spelling issues that abounded, especially towards the end of the book, but I'm OCD when it comes to things like that (I have been called a Grammar Nazi before); YMMV. However, if Mr. Norris is able to get a book deal with this -- HINT: HE REALLY SHOULD!!! -- it's nothing a good copy editor can't fix.

I thought this was a wonderful piece of entertainment. I don't know if Mr. Norris has any more stories up his sleeve involving Michael Keough, or even Rocco Locatelli, but even if he doesn't, he has a solid grip on storytelling, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this piece of fiction.

Nine mysterious murders out of ten.

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Book Review - Clarity Castle by Marie-Hélène Lebeault

Clarity Castle by Marie-Hélène Lebeault
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book from Voracious Readers Only in exchange for an honest review.

What a fantastic book this was ... or, is?

"Clarity Castle," by fellow Canadian Marie-Hélène Lebeault, is a journey into the metaphysical realm, as stressed-out sixteen-year-old high school student Clare Knox, an English-speaking Quebecois, comes across a castle in the gravel pit where none had previously existed. There, she is introduced to many different versions of herself - a multiverse of Clare, as it were - and learns that each Clare has different realities that have made them the way they are, and has formed different interests and personality traits in turn. In some realities she has a sister. In some her father is around, in some he isn't. Her mother's personality differs slightly in each. In Clarity Castle, Clare learns not only how to get in touch with herself, but realizes that everybody has many layers to them.

I found this to be an absolutely delightful read. It was quite interesting learning about the different versions of Clare's life; I found myself becoming quite engrossed at times. I enjoyed the fact that the book doesn't turn out to be an "it was all a dream" type story, but rather a type of learning curve and growing experience for Clare. Unlike some books of this ilk, the ending didn't feel hollow; it felt earned.

I also appreciated the fact that Lebeault didn't try to overwhelm us with quantum psychology, and kept things approachable for the average reader. While at first the reader might find themselves a little overwhelmed, like Clare, it quickly becomes fascinating and I for one couldn't wait to see what happened next.

Eight and a half mind trips out of ten.

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Book Review - Primed For Vengeance by Gill D. Anderson

Primed For Vengeance by Gill D. Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book from Voracious Readers Only in exchange for an honest review.

"Primed For Vengeance" by Gill D. Anderson is a solid crime thriller set in Australia that was a fantastic, almost too short, read.

It delves into issues of what makes a person the way they are, whether it's inherent or shaped by circumstances, and gives equal weight to the story and perspective of Butch, a maladjusted, perhaps psychotic young man, as it does to Sarah, a former worker at the group home in which he lived.

The book is well written and flows quite well, despite bouncing between multiple perspectives (aside from the two protagonists, we are also witness to the inner thoughts of a couple of the police officers involved, a former neighbour of Butch, and a former co-worker of Sarah.

My one gripe is that it seemed to end abruptly, but as I've never been involved in anything like the climactic situation, it could be entirely realistic for all I know. Still, it left me wanting more ... which I guess for an author is a good thing!

Eight orange cardigans out of ten.

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Book Review - I, Tarzan by Jean-Phillippe Soulé

I, Tarzan: Against All Odds by Jean-Philippe Soulé
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I got a copy of this book from Voracious Readers Only in exchange for an honest review.

Everybody has a story.

We all know this is true, but as readers we tend to stick to the tried and true biographies and autobiographies of famous people, those whose lives we already know at least a little something about.

When I picked up this book, I had no idea who Jean-Phillippe Soulé was. To be perfectly honest I was just looking to read something a little different, and the title and book description struck me as interesting. I had no idea how true that first inclination was until I started reading.

This is a man who has gone through a whole lot in his life. While he does tell the chronology of his life, it does not read as a verbiose list of "I did this, then I did this" talking points that so many autobiographies descend into. Rather, it is quite obvious that Soulé has done plenty of soul searching and analysis of his own life and experience, which of course makes the book a deep, fulfilling read.

I won't go into too much detail because Soulé's story is one best told in his own words. Suffice it to say, he has led an incredibly interesting life, from a troubled childhood in France, to becoming an elite member of the French mountain commando unit, to working for Microsoft in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Along the way he details his relationships with friends, family, and nature, and fills the pages with the restless energy and boundless spirit that drives him through his life.

Soulé ends the book in the early-mid 1990s, with a short epilogue describing what he has done since them ... which seems like more than enough material for two more books, and in fact in doing a little bit more research on the man I found out he has already written a book about a three year kayaking trip he undertook from Baja California to Panama, called "Dancing With Death". Can't wait to read that one.

In short, I can't recommend this book highly enough. Soulé describes his experiences with all the panache of a true storyteller. Not only is it an engaging read, it is truly a story about survival -- against nature, against humanity, and against the struggles the world and your ingrained mindset can put on you, and how to overcome them.

This is a beautiful read.

Ten existential explorers out of ten.

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Book review - The Unflinching Ash by Angela Armstrong

The Unflinching Ash by Angela Armstrong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book from Voracious Readers Only in exchange for an honest review.

I really quite enjoyed "The Unflinching Ash" by Angela Armstrong. The titular Ash is a Mystic whose parents, a famous magical act, were murdered crowds who deemed their trade witchcraft. Ash carries on the family tradition, in the hopes of attaining the prestigious Queen's Seal. Striking up a friendship with the mysterious fellow magician Besuto Ren, she must deal with prejudice, torture and attempted murder from the fanatically devout Mistress Odell Gregory and Archbishop Fulton, trying to stay two steps ahead of them in her attempts to meet Queen Valencia and not only win the Seal, but change the moral dynamic of the land.

This is one of those books that grabs you and doesn't let go. I've read a few fantasy type novels recently, and oftentimes I find them a little confusing because the world they create is just so vast and massive. The world Armstrong creates here, Morlough, seems real, lived in, and very much alive. I think it's because the majority (if not all) of the novel is set in Morlough, in and around the town of Seeburgh, that I really got a feel for the place.

A great setting is nothing without characters to care about, and Ash is so well defined she jumps off the page. We are privy to her many thoughts and feelings, though outwardly she expresses very little. It could be argued that some of the characters (the Archbishop and a character who earns the nickname Arsebeard) are one-dimensional, but I appreciated it in this context. Subtlety and moral reasoning are left to the characters of Odell and Queen Valencia and, of course, Ash herself. In fact, one of the wonderful things about this novel is that the women in it are so realistically portrayed, with all their complex thoughts and emotions. The men, on the other hand, are for the most part ciphers, with the exception of Besuto Ren. It's about time the roles were reversed!

Armstrong really gets you involved in the details of many of the magical acts. You can tell she is a fan of the art, if not a performer herself. Her descriptions - not just of "the mystical arts" but of everything in general really make this book stand out from the rest. It's incredibly cinematic.

If there is one negative I would point out, it's that perhaps the story takes a while to get going ... but then, there is so much character development and world-building that it's really not a big issue. My least favourite part of the book, to be honest, is when it ended!

Nine magical mystics out of ten.

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Book Review - A Leaf And Pebble by Andrew Monroe

A Leaf and Pebble by Andrew Monroe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book from Voracious Readers Only in exchange for an honest review.

"A Leaf and Pebble" is a for the most part engaging fantasy novel that follows the adventures of Nil and his friend Volant as they try to stay two steps ahead of the authorities who believe they have stolen a Toron stone which wields immense power.

The good: Nil and Volant are wonderfully drawn characters, and by the time I was finished reading, I felt like I was rejoining old friends every time I cracked open the book. The world of Balteris is huge and they seem to travel everywhere; for the most part each section of the world is clearly defined, although I did get a bit confused in some instances. Monroe has done a really good job creating this world out of his imagination, from the topography and geography to the different "tribes" as it were, to the monsters inhabiting it and the magical powers some yield. Great detail is given and all of it is appreciated.

The not so good: It doesn't work as a stand-alone book. I realise that it is the first part in what is probably a trilogy or multi-book series, but for me it ended very abruptly, and one of the main characters seems to fall off the face of the earth over the last couple of chapters. There were quite a few spelling and punctuation errors, but those are easily rectified.

Bottom line: "A Leaf and Pebble" is a long-ish book, at about 450 pages. Ignore the fact that it took me two months to read, as I've not been in the mood for reading much lately; something like this could easily be read in a week or two. Fantasy has always been difficult for me to get into, but when I did open this book I immediately was brought back into the new yet familiar world Monroe has created.

Seven Skills out of ten.

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