David Vining's Blog, page 86

Dead End

Another well-regarded play, another adaptation by Lillian Hellmann, and the best showcase for William Wyler’s visual sense as heightened by the great cinematographer Gregg Toland. It’s a handsome, well-acted showcase for its actors, director, and cinematographer, but I get the sense that the play Dead End by Sidney Kingsley was more of a timely cultural touchstone than a really compelling piece of drama on the stage. It ran for dozens of weeks on Broadway, igniting interest all around, espec...

Come and Get It: A Second Look

#14 in my ranking of Howard Hawks’ filmography.

I had actually completely forgotten that Samuel Goldwyn had hired William Wyler to finish Come and Get It after Howard Hawks proved too independent-minded for Goldwyn’s tastes when it came to the cinematic adaptation of Edna Ferber’s 1935 novel, but here we are. Much more aware of the visual differences between the two extremely talented directors, I still feel like I know the exact moment in the film where Wyler’s contributions essentially ...

Dodsworth

Continuing his move to make films based on respected plays with strong dramatic cores centered on well-written characters, William Wyler brings the stage play by Sidney Howard (which itself was based on a novel by Sinclair Lewis) with his customary visual acumen while managing performances expertly and expertly weaving together the different narrative elements into a satisfying conclusion. Wyler had really found his comfortable space making challenging, intelligent dramas about characters th...

These Three

Based on screenwriter Lillian Hellman’s play The Children’s Hour, These Three is the first film in Wyler’s body of work that feels like what I came into this survey of his filmography expecting: immaculately composed visually, light comic elements, an ending with serious dramatic weight, all perfectly acted, and incredibly well written and structured. Up to this point, Wyler’s work had been lighter in nature, the only real exception being Counsellor-at-Law while most of the rest were actiony...

Yeah,…

Dude Perfect called, and we answered for our two boys.

Managed to keep it a secret for about two months. The elder one figured it out when we turned a corner after asking where we were going for 15 minutes to see the tour sign.

The Gay Deception

Try to tell me Wyler wasn’t inspired by Ernst Lubitsch. Go on, say it. If this had starred Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald instead of Francis Lederer and Frances Dee, it’d easily pass for one of Lubitsch’s films of the Pre-Code era. It’s the story of a suave, European womanizer who falls in love with a largely unassuming American woman with touches of farcical mistaken identity on top. That it doesn’t entertain quite as much as The Good Fairy is unfortunate, but The Good Fairy was j...

Some random thoughts about Avatar 2: The Way of Water

I don’t want to do a full review. I just want jot down some thoughts.

Mostly that this might be the dumbest, most inconsistent, most hilariously bad script of a major motion picture in about twenty years. I mean, this is Crimes of Gridenwald bad.

I don’t hate the first Avatar. I think it’s okay in some largely unremarkable ways but perfectly decent, kind of stupid entertainment that cribs heavily and blatantly from Fergully: The Last Rainforest, but with Aliens marines shooting stuff ...

The Good Fairy

I still feel like I’m seeing Lubitsch everywhere. Adapted from a stage play by Ferenc Molnar, The Good Fairy by writer Preston Sturges and director William Wyler has that same sort of pre-Code rambunctiousness that Lubitsch wallowed in so elegantly while also combined with his more mature and emotional works. Throw in the casting of Margaret Sullavan and Frank Morgan (both of whom starred in The Shop Around the Corner several years later) and Herbert Marshall (who starred in Trouble in Parad...

Counsellor-at-Law

Operating on, essentially, a single set which gave William Wyler the kind of freedom he had been accustomed to in the silent era, Counsellor-at-Law is an adapted play originally written by Elmer Rice (who also wrote the adaptation), but Wyler brings his full force of command to the production, elevating what could have felt merely claustrophobic and placid while making it come alive with visuals that never get boring and performances that always engage.

George Simon (John Barrymore) is a ...

Tom Brown of Culver

I have no idea why the main character and actor who plays him share the same name. As far as I can tell, there’s no reason at all, which seems to make even less sense when one of the more prominent secondary characters also shares a name with his actor. Beyond that weird quirk, Tom Brown of Culver is a meaty drama about the younger generation learning the faults of the older generation, set on the grounds of a military academy in Indiana. I find it interesting that both Wyler and John Ford m...