Oh I really should have seen this when I was like 10 years old. Fun enough, I suppose, as a hyper-caffeinated example of yesteryear's slop, but, uh, definitely room for improvement (although swapping in Jared Leto for Frank Langella doesn't seem like a good starting point).
1928
And here we have a late-era silent film - literally from the director of The Jazz Singer - that feels like a genuinely worthy discovery (although, granted, the two previous entries on this disc may have lowered the bar for me a bit). Significant for its stature as the first film from Columbia to be released with synchronized sound - musical score only, but still.
This boasts big sets, a grand scale, a more mobile camera, and plentiful inter-titles…
This fucking rules?
Most making-of docs for new releases are glorified puff pieces, but this is an incredibly engaging look at the entirety of the production that takes pains to interview crew members (camera operators, special effects coordinators, production designers) that are too often overlooked.
Perhaps the most heartening thing about this - and I don't want to overstate it, but it really struck me - is how engaged everyone is with the whole of the production. The physical nuts…
Before it takes a turn into its severely grim final act, this is a surprisingly nimble, endearingly well-cast riff on The Searchers. Of course, that turn is so sharp and so complete that it leads to my one quibble with the film - that it doesn't quite prepare the audience for where it's going to go. Granted, a lot of people are coming into this thinking "cannibal western, all right" but I'm willing to bet most won't have that knowledge,…
