KUROSAWA'S COWBOYS

The strong individual characters
we come to know in
Akira Kurosawa's
SEVEN SAMURAI (1954).

The simple story presented in
minute and multifaceted detail
with bold visual appeal
and unforgettable music has
resonated with audiences worldwide
since its release and was remade in Hollywood as . . .

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960)

Two great movies, each a classic.
We know to expect from cowboys and gunfighters in Westerns the vital relationship between man and weapon in terms of artistry and honor.
Yet the more we look into the source material, the more we see the cinematic samurai roots in classic Westerns
For example . . .

In
YOJIMBO (1961)
a masterless samurai, or ronin,
plays two rival gangs against each other to free the town.

Audiences familiar with the
iconic and laconic
Western hero played by
Clint Eastwood may be surprised to
find how much of the character starts with Toshiro Mifune.


The Man with No Name (Eastwood) hides his arms in
his sarape and frequently works a cigarillo with a stubbly face because
Sanjuro (Mifune) hides his arms in the folds of his gi
and frequently works a toothpick with a stubbly face.

A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964)

Director Sergio Leone knew a great movie when he saw one. He made some of the best movies in cinema because he learned from the best himself.

The language of film speaks across culture and time.

This samurai movie was made by a Japanese filmmaker familiar with the Hollywood Western gunfight . . .

...and this Western shot in Italy was made by an Italian filmmaker remaking the samurai movie.













Before Scorsese and DeNiro,
Kurosawa and Mifune.
The director and the actor
collaborated on 16 films.
Check out
RASHOMON (1950)
famous, like CITIZEN KANE (1941) for showing the multiple perspectives of a story, and
THRONE OF BLOOD (1957)
Kurosawa's adaptation of
Shakespeare's Macbeth, which was itself based on ancient tales he reworked . . .

NOTE: I own none of the pictures in this post, and share it
purely in the interest of film appreciation.


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SILENT BUT DEADLY 2: LON CHANEY

This still from the lost film
LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT (1927) gives a sense of twisted potential. In recent years, a partial restoration has allowed us to see that the mystery surrounding the  
LON CHANEY vampire role may well be one best left in the dark. Not a remarkable story or overall presentation, but an evocative characterization nonetheless from the silent film legend.

On a personal note, I once rendered a powerful dream (which became the cover of this e-book) a couple of years before discovering the image of Chaney as the vampire above. Interestingly, an alternate title of LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT was THE HYPNOTIST. Because I also wrote a book called
THE MESMERIZER, I find myself drawn to the similarities.

Long before Anthony Hopkins held Corky in his lap in MAGIC...

The creepy doll story starts with ETA Hoffmann, with ancient roots in the mannikin, or mini-self seat of the soul which
Fraser discusses in The Golden Bough.

The forced mask of glee...


Chaney was born to deaf-mute parents, and therefore had a
leg up
as an actor in regard to conveying information silently.

Tod Browning directed Chaney in several films and would have cast Chaney as Dracula for the 1931 classic if he could. Browning himself grew up in a circus.






Much of the focus in film on deformity, perversity, and Gothic thought during the 1920s
resulted as a cinematic comment on the horrors of World War I.

That's a constant.

With Joan Crawford in THE UNKNOWN (1927)


This is one of my favorite movies. I love the soundtrack with the version I have. I believe the composer won a contest hosted by Turner Classic Movies.

Chaney hides from the law posing as an armless wonder in the circus. He's in love with cute Joan Crawford, and she likes him just fine since he has no arms. But oh boy, watch what happens when he decides to go all the way with her...

As Erik in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925)

His most famous role.
The book by Gaston Leroux is nothing compared to the Lon Chaney movie.

Erik got his leprosy, and apparently his meth addiction, from Devil's Island, aka French Guiana. Harsh.

His son, Lon Chaney, Jr.,
starred in THE WOLFMAN (1941).

Born April 1, 1883 in Colorado Springs,
the Man of a Thousand Faces died on
August 26, 1930 in Hollywood.








NOTE: I own two of the images here in this blog post, the VISIONS FROM THE GUTTER cover, and the one of The Phantom below, but I do not own any of the others. I present this post purely to share and further interest in movies.

SILENT BUT DEADLY 1: CONRAD VEIDT

In THE MAN WHO LAUGHS (1928)
the silent film adaptation
of the Victor Hugo novel
directed by Paul Leni,
CONRAD VEIDT 
inspired Bob Kane to create
The Joker as Batman's arch nemesis.

Years earlier Veidt played the somnambulist in Robert Heine's
THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920)

Tim Burton seems a great fan of Veidt, and of this film in particular.

Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands
has a very Veidt-as-somnambulist look...

...but then, so do lots of things.
In this art by Ashley Grover
which I designed for
THE MESMERIZER, I had no
conscious plan at all of referring to the
silent film.

Note: I do own this one picture of The Mesmerizer to the left, but I do NOT own any of the other four photos above or below, and receive no payment for this post which I present to promote film awareness.


Born in 1893 in Potsdam,
Veidt fled Germany in 1933
when Hitler came to power.

Conrad Veidt followed up his career as a deadly character in silent film
by becoming deadly characters in the talkies.
In THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940) he plays the evil sorcerer Jafar. This was his only color movie.

By sheer coincidence, of course, in the Disney cartoon ALADDIN (1992) there is also an evil sorcerer named...Jafar.



Stay tuned for
SILENT BUT DEADLY 2:
LON CHANEY...






Dig my film erudition?
Check out my literary action: http://www.amazon.com/Stewart-Kirby/e/B00572M8JC/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1