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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