God, Mammon and Imperial Entanglements… April 9, 2007
Posted by John Hodson in : Film & DVD Reviews, Historical Drama , 2 commentsHaving no faith whatsoever myself, it’s perhaps a little odd that I feel almost morally obliged to watch at least one Hollywood Biblical epic during the Easter holiday; it harks back to my youth when all television had to offer at this time of year was a good dose of God to go alongside the ‘Pace Egging’ and ‘Walking Day’ processions. God and Mammon in fact.
Now, it seems, there’s not much room for the Resurrection; we have to make do with Mammon alone…and the nearest that any of the Trinity gets to being broadcast into my living room is when a golfer in Augusta tells me how Jesus helped him with that particularly difficult chip at the 17th.
The Lord truly does move in mysterious ways.
With The Prophet reduced to the status of a bag-toting caddy, I slap Warners DVD of Ben-Hur into my player, and, as per usual, right up to and including the quite magnificent chariot race*, I’m royally entertained. Thereafter, William Wyler’s 1959 epic runs out of steam as the narrative slows to a crawl, and we have to rely on the rather dull ’fairy tale’ element of the saga to hold our interest. Part of the problem is that Judah’s mother and sister seem no more ravaged by the horrors of leprosy than your average acne scarred teenager (’Lepers! See - they have zits too!’), and over-exposure to The Life of Brian means that these days, with the Sermon on The Mount and the stoning of the prostitute, my brain screams ‘blessed are the cheesemakers?’ and ‘Who threw that!? I’m warning you…’
But until the moment the evil ‘Messala’ spits at ‘Judah’ that the ‘race goes on’, Ben-Hur remains a fascinating piece of film-making. Wyler famously asked Gore Vidal and Christopher Fry to doctor his script and despite the protestations of Charlton Heston, the conclusion that they inserted a not so subtle homosexual subtext into the material is inescapable.
It’s there when Juda and Messala first meet with a lovers embrace, tears of joy in their eyes, and the sharing of wine, their arms sensuously entwined. It’s there too as ’Quintus Arrius’ casts his eye lasciviously over the near naked Judah, the forlorn Prince chained to his oar, his hate-filled eyes setting the agitated, lip-smacking Consul’s juices flowing.
Quintus Arrius: Your eyes are full of hate, forty-one. That’s good. Hate keeps a man alive. It gives him strength.
Now, all that has been the subject of debate after debate and you could just as easily argue that Judah and Messala are simply, ah, very good friends and that Arrius is moved to help Judah by God’s will rather than a stirring ‘neath his tunica talaris (or both). You could, honest.
Oh, perhaps not…
But even more intriguing, given today’s Middle Eastern turmoil, is the script’s anti-imperialist sentiments which must surely also have sprung from the acid dipped nib of Vidal.
Ben-Hur hit the screens just three years after the Suez Crisis, and political intrigue in the Middle East was very much to the fore. Britain, France and America, aided by the embattled Israelis, were seen to be meddling in a part of the world that has long been been a quite volatile powder keg, indeed it was a decade in which liberal America was horrified by their country’s role as ‘world policeman’, and what was seen by some as the USA’s imperial ambitions. Plus ca change…
Of course, General Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ simply follows the scriptures when he has Imperial Rome as the hated conquerers of The Holy Lands. The masters contempt for non-Romans extends to casual beatings, the indigenous population subject to being routinely gaoled in lightless hell holes without just cause or trial (which ironically foreshadows modern events), the populace taxed into abject poverty.
However, the finished film script is peppered with lines which echo down the decades. As Messala takes up his new post he’s told: “…the people have an irrational resentment of Roman…then there’s religion, they smash the statues of our Gods…”, which mirrors a continuing western conceit that freedom and contentment can only be measured by our standards, our insistence on foisting our ideas of ‘democracy’ on people and considering it all they need to become ‘civilised’.
Moreover Messala is told that ‘there’s always some rabble rouser ready to stir up the people…You can break a man’s skull, you can arrest him, you can throw him into a dungeon. But how do you control what’s up here? How do you fight an idea?’ It’s a continuing conundrum.
Messala is the black-hearted cheerleader for the ‘Masters of the World’. He tells Judah: ‘There is rebellion in the wind; it will be crushed. It’s a Roman world if you want to live in it you have to become part of it...it was no accident that one small village on the Tiber was chosen to rule the world.’
Judah Ben-Hur: ‘Your legions..?’
Messala: ‘No, it wasn’t just our legions. Other countries have armies, fine armies, I know I’ve fought them. It was fate that chose us to civilise the world and we have. Our ships connect every corner of the earth, Roman law, Roman literature are the glory of the human race.
‘…Resistance to Rome is futile it can only end one way. Extinction for your people.’
Later comes the pivotal exchange. Messala is begging his childhood friend, The Prince of Hur, to act as his informer. ‘The Emperor is watching us, at this moment he is watching the east. The Emperor is watching us - all we need to do is serve him.’
Judah: ‘You talk of him as if he were a God…’
Messala: ‘He is a God! Real power on earth! …There is only one reality in the world today…Look to the West, Judah! Don’t be a fool, look to Rome!
Judah: I would rather be a fool than a traitor… or a killer!
Messala: I am a soldier!
Judah: Yes! Who kills! For Rome! Rome is evil!
Messala: I warn you…
Judah: No! I warn YOU! Rome is an affront to God! Rome is strangling my people and my country, the whole Earth! But not forever. I tell you the day Rome falls there will be a shout of freedom such as the world has never heard before!
That last exchange of dialogue in particular is breath-taking. It’s a climactic moment in the film, it seals the fate of Judah Ben-Hur, but, speculatively perhaps, it’s also further evidence, nearly half a century ago, of the frustration of the anti-imperialist scourge that is Gore Vidal, a man that only recently wrote that Americans were ‘now governed by a junta of Oil–Pentagon men… both Bushes, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and so on.’
At the end of course, Judah embraces the teachings of the Nazarian and eschews violence as a means of ridding his people of their hated conquerors. A happy conclusion then, and proof positive, surely, of the good that lies within all people; it’s a fair bet the perceptive Vidal didn’t write that…
*George Lucas paid another of his filmic ’homages’ (aka ’see a good idea, steal it’) in The Phantom Menace with his ‘pod race’ sequence, John Williams doing his professional damnedest to imitate Miklós Rózsa’s magnificent score for that scene. If anyone had any doubt that pixels could replace the adrenalin rush provided by real action performed by real daredevil flesh and blood stuntmen, look no further.
Pleasing Some Of The People, Some Of The Time… March 1, 2007
Posted by John Hodson in : DVD News & Info, Film & DVD Reviews, Historical Drama , add a commentThere’s a story from the mid-’60s, possibly apocryphal, about the legendary Lotus cars boss Colin Chapman, whose new sleek and sexy Elan - sales figures soaring courtesy of Emma Peel’s shapely rear - was taking the motoring world by storm.
Chapman was emerging from a meeting with his new head of PR and as they hit the pavement, he was instantly recognised by one of his many legions of fans. Chapman smiled as he was glad-handed by the happy Lotus owner, nodded gravely as the fan made a couple of suggestions that would improve dashboard ergonomics, and finally - finally - wrenched himself loose with a cheery wave goodbye, and into the rear of a waiting Jaguar.
The PR man was bubbling. Told Chapman that it was an indication of just how the Elan was grabbing the public consciousness, and wasn’t it just fab that their customers were so happy? But his contentment was short lived - he looked into his boss’s eyes and saw a mask of rage. ‘It’s your job’ said a puce faced Chapman ‘to keep those bastards away from me…’
Giving the public what they want, or what they think they want, or worse, what you think they want, has been the dance of commerce since the first beads were exchanged for a handful of grain. The movie industry as a whole has long relied on the dreaded focus groups, perhaps as close to the great unwashed as Hollywood has wished to get, other than to get into their wallets
But, while others maintain a mostly stony silence in the Home Entertainment sector, Warners (I’m referring to the U.S., arm, not their seemingly inept U.K. equivalent) has been playing that particular market like a Stradivarias for some time now. They appear happy to emerge from their Burbank headquarters to engage the enemy (aka you and I, gentle reader) in a number of battlefield theatres, albeit strictly on their terms. And for their back catalogue of classic titles in particular, the strategy seems to be paying off.
While other studios seem content to play guessing games with the public based on sales alone (Fox and Universal), haven’t got a clue what to do (Sony), or couldn’t give a toss (Paramount), Warners is so far ahead in the game of public relations that they might as well be on a different planet, possibly one that is a member of the Ferengi Alliance.
The brothers Warner realised some time ago that there is ‘gold in them thar vaults’, vaults containing some of the finest films Hollywood ever produced - all they had to do was get in there and mine it. That meant, in the first instance, coming up with the goods in terms of film restorations, transfers to a digital medium and releases chock full of interesting, but commercial extras. Job done, as their blitzkrieg tactics, generaled by chaps that actually knew their classic films, were spearheaded by super weapons other studios just didn’t possess - Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Gone With The Wind et al.
Further to that, they then came with with a policy of attrition. Drip feeding their favoured press - printed and electronic media - snippets of mouth-watering detail, sometimes long before the first bytes are committed to the little shiny discs, playing up just how good this or that release is going to look, how they have ’scoured the world for the finest source materials’, how such and such will be this year’s ‘must have’ release. King Kong was the prime example. By the time it hit the streets, the perception was that it was going to be a super-clean restoration of Casablanca proportions. The fact that it wasn’t, and that they had actually stated so in the immediate run-up to release, hardly seemed to matter.
Come the time of the official announcement, most fans are sold anyway, not even waiting for reviews. Warners has played the game of asking the public what they want directly, urging them to vote for titles in association with TCM or Amazon. Am I being a tad cynical in believing that these ‘elections’ are rigged before they start? Should anyone be surprised by that? Should anyone be concerned? Well, frankly no. It’s simply more (clever) marketing.
They even, bless ‘em, are prepared to come out, blinking into the sunlight, to explain the sometimes controversial releases, such as last year’s The Searchers, which surprised many by not boasting the trademark Technicolor hues that were unique to the VistaVision process.
And then there are the live on-line ‘chats’ that Warners holds with members of the Home Theater Forum with whom they have long had a ’special relationship’. There was a time when the HTF held ‘chats’ with representatives of other DVD distributors, and their forums were visited regularly by officials of other studios who seemed quite willing to join in discussion with those that bought their product.
Now, it seems, the field is clear for Warners; we are told that the studio’s representatives are regular visitors to the HTF (another piece of information that shows them in a positive light; even if other studio folk visit, they don’t make it known), though they don’t join in everyday discussions, and that they take note of what is said. Like Colin Chapman, they are possibly terrified, on occasion, by the sheer intensity of fandom, the howls of anguish that emit when a film is released and somebody, somewhere sees something not to their liking.
Oft times, the breast beating can be justified, other times it comes on as clearly demonstrative of a small, but burgeoning, psychosis. Too much ‘red’, not enough ‘red’ (or blue, or yellow, or, well, you get the drift) in a transfer can produce a veritable thesis of invective, and woe betide any film that has even so much as millimetre shaved from the frame. Some of it beggars this reader’s belief. And this reader has seen movies projected on stained screens, with curtains draping into the projection area, and sound that might have been bettered had it been transmitted between two cans attached by a piece of knicker elastic.
Though the ‘chats’ are strictly moderated (the HTF is quite rightly jealous of the blessing that Warners has pressed to its forehead), it is to their merit that Warners is willing to do them in the first place. Yes, it is yet another example of a marketing machine that knows its public, and first and foremost it is there to push product.
But it does give those whose shelves are not quite yet groaning in agony an idea of the deluge of releases coming their way over the next couple of years. And this year’s ‘chat’ did tell us as much about 2008 as it did about the coming months.
You can access the full ‘chat’ transcript here, and it demonstrates that Warners does indeed have much more gold to mine; box sets for John Garfield, Eleanor Powell and the John Wayne centenary, special releases for Greed, The Jazz Singer, How The West Was Won and more pre-code Forbidden Hollywood. The list goes on.
Some of the post ‘chat’ comments, on various fora, are interesting too. Warners should have done this or that, ‘oh why couldn’t they…’, ‘whatever happened to…’, ‘I’m not buying unless…’ No, indeed. You cannot please all the people all the time.
The difference is, that unlike the other studios, Warners are a constant source of comment by the internet’s chattering classes. Which must keep their accountants warm at night…
That Thing They Did
I wrote, a few posts ago, that Universal U.K. (they hold the rights to RKO releases this side of The Pond), was set to release Nyby/Hawks’ The Thing From Another World complete with a John Carpenter commentary and I stated then I’d let you know what I thought when I’d purchased it. Well, no sale.
No, it wasn’t the fact that a few pre-release screen grabs showed it to be, if anything, a poorer transfer than Warners extant R1. It was the horrifying prospect that the two-disc set also contained a ‘colorized’ version, in much the same manner than Universal released their piss-poor King Kong set last year. Now, I know I’m not obliged to watch the bloody thing, but just buying it means that I’m giving my tacit approval to such a practice and, no, dammit, I will not. I’m blazing that Universal has released a number of distinctly sub-par transfers of film noir titles in the UK, including a ‘colorized’ (no black and white alternative here) version of The Big Steal, and I’ll be hanged before my purchase gives them the okay to carry on regardless.
Universal; just put the crayons away will you?
Sir Thomas More: God made the angels to show Him splendour, as He made animals for innocence and plants for their simplicity.
But Man He made to serve Him wittily, in the tangle of his mind. If He suffers us to come to such a case that there is no escaping, then we may stand to our tackle as best we can, and, yes, Meg, then we can clamour like champions, if we have the spittle for it.
But it’s God’s part, not our own, to bring ourselves to such a pass. Our natural business lies in escaping…
Oscar season, and a quick peek at a film that picked up eight nominations and six golden statuettes at the 1966 Academy Awards.
Robert Bolt’s Thomas More is too good to be true. A man of strict unbendable principle, and high in the court of the most powerful man on earth (the French may argue; let them), he is incorruptible, straight and honest as the day is long. A believer in justice and God, he will not sway from all that he trusts, though to deny those core principles might save his head.
He will not lie even to please his King, a playground bully writ large, an intemperate, spoilt brat that would crush him as easily as wipe his hands, and with just as little thought. No, Bolt’s More of A Man For All Seasons will not speak to save himself, will not speak at all…and in doing so proves to be the loudest voice of condemnation of all in Henry VIII’s kingdom.
And he literally is too good to be true; the real More was most vociferous on the subject of the King’s divorce, a divorce not only from his current barren wife, but eventually from the Catholic Church as a whole. More put quill to parchment as often as he could, decrying his King to anyone that would dare listen. But as said previously, if you want history, then don’t go to the movies. On the other hand if you want a beautifully staged production, stripped of the usual po-faced period nonsense, with a witty and intelligent screenplay, deftly directed by Fred Zinnemann (who picked up two Oscars for the film; Best Picture, Best Director), and featuring some of the finest contemporary acting talent, look no further than A Man For All Seasons.
Orson Welles is imperious as the, pallid, dying ‘Cardinal Wolsey’, Leo McKern steely eyed as the jackal ‘Thomas Cromwell’, John Hurt excellent as the increasingly well attired ‘Richard Rich’, the ever admirable and Oscar nominated Robert Shaw as ‘Henry’. Equally good are Nigel Davenport as the no-nonsense ‘Duke of Norfolk’, Wendy Hiller (also nominated) as ‘Alice More’, Colin Blakely as ‘Matthew’ and Susannah York as as the pert ‘Margaret More’.
But it is Paul Scofield who bestrides the film with a quiet, towering dignity as ‘Sir Thomas More’, fending off the wily old fox Wolsey (their opening scene is delivered with a lip-smacking relish, Welles jousting with Scofield), inadvertently making an enemy of a boy who will be his undoing, delivering the final speech before the Commons, his words ringing loud and clear with anger, defiance and moral outrage. That such men existed in public office today…
Much of what made the piece a hit stage play remains in Bolt’s Oscar winning screenplay, a balance of the serious core narrative and humour; Matthew’s blazing anger that his master lets him go. It’s what he wants, but he’s disoriented that he feels a loyalty to a class not his own. Bolt’s marriage, of what we can perceive to have been an approximation of contemporary language - though it obviously was not - without becoming the least bit pompous (’betoken’ - beautiful word), and modern idiom sounds perfect, with not a false note to jolt us out of the story. And writing of notes, Georges Delerue’s sparely used score is simply magnficent. It is quite a treat to hear such thrilling music, yet it is never allowed, for a moment, to dominate or manipulate the on-screen action.
The Thames locations are used to beautiful effect, the size of the barges denoting the status of those that glide along its surface. Henry has two very large, gilded vessels, packed to the gunwhales with fawning courtiers; 16th century ‘yes men’. Despite the Oscar haul, Hollywood must have been preening itself at the film’s success, salaries aside, it probably cost peanuts to film, a large slice of the budget otherwise going on those award winning costume designs.
Sony’s latest iteration of the film on DVD is given ‘Special Edition’ status, but there little difference from the previous release. The 15 minute featurette gives us the historians’ view of the events in the film, it’s short but nonetheless interesting. The transfer is pretty good, the veteran Ted Moore’s Oscar winning cinematography lush and true. It’s slightly different to the old transfer, which on occasion had a slightly pinkish hue, and this also seems to cope better with the scenes in darkness or shadow.
Paul Scofield made few films, he felt he wasn’t truly successful before the camera and was more comfortable on stage. It is really our loss, for in A Man For All All Seasons Scofield gives a performance that received - and richly deserved - a Best Actor Academy Award.