The Big Sleep

I've come to the realization that Humphrey Bogart is my favorite actor. I know that sounds like an incredible blanket statement. I've often professed my deepest admiration for Laurence Olivier as the supreme artist of screen acting, but Bogart has the "movie star" quality that puts him over into the supreme position in my book.

With this in mind, I finally got to re-watch THE BIG SLEEP (1946) for the first time in probably close to ten years. I recently purchased the Warners DVD of the film, which includes the 1945 pre-release version, with a more solid plotline and less of Bogart and Bacall. I have watched a short documentary on the comparisons between the two versions, but have not yet watched the 1945 version, probably because the mythology of the "1946 version" (the theatrical version that has been in circulation for over 60 years) has created such an impression on me that I'm still not ready to look at the alternate cut.

THE BIG SLEEP is not a great film. Bogart had the good fortune of being cast in three truly great American films made in the 1940s-THE MALTESE FALCON, CASABLANCA, and THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE. These profound films make up the iconic image we have of Bogart today. THE BIG SLEEP, however, is a very good film. It was based on the novel (one of my favorite detective books) written by Raymond Chandler, who concocted a story so dense, impenetrable, and downright complicated that even the author himself professed not to know what was going on in it. Indeed (and I don't think this is a plot spoiler) the mystery itself is never solved in the film, very unusual for a detective story. It moves with none of the slickness of "The Kennel Murder Case" (possibly the best 'whodunnit' film made in Hollywood), but still manages to keep suspense throughout the proceedings, because Marlowe (Bogart) seems to exist in a world in which no one can be trusted, and everyone has the potential to turn on him at the drop of a hat.

The plot is fairly straightforward-Private eye Philip Marlowe is brought in by elderly millionaire Sternwood to find his chauffeur's killer. After that point, things get pretty disjointed, and trying to follow the development of the plot after that point is simply pointless, except to say that Marlowe soon finds himself involved with Sternwood's daughter (Bacall), and things get heated up from there.

The film is so much fun, there's really no need to dwell on its plot. It's all about style and performance here, and that's where the film scores a knockout. Bogart looks great in every shot-his suits and fedora are particularly nice (I would love to get that suit for myself).

THE BIG SLEEP delivers a fun mystery and great performances done in brilliant Hollywood style, directed by Howard Hawks.

The Princesses (1997)

You know that feeling when you misplace something-a book, a video, your car keys...and you never find them again? That experience becomes twice as frustrating and upsetting when you misplace something you've devoted a good amount of time, energy, and effort in creating.

I've misplaced a few of my early films, for instance. Only a handful are missing, mostly very early stuff that wasn't properly archived on VHS from the 8mm master tapes (although there are a few I wouldn't mind seeing again, such as THE CARNIVAL from 1994, which opens with a vet pulling giant, fist-sized blood-filled ticks off a dog with a pair of pliars).

There was one film I'd lost, one of my more recent works, that I was especially upset to lose for a number of reasons. For one, it was one of the first long-format films I made (about 45 minutes). Second, it represented some new techniques that I hadn't used before (or since, for that matter). But most importantly, I was very proud of the writing and considered it one of my funniest films. It's basically a psychotic version of "Spice World" meets "Pink Flamingos". An all-girl pop/punk rock group (called "The Princesses"), consisting of three members-Bloodsucker, Bloodluster, and Bloodlaser, hide out in a trailer in the woods to escape the paparazzi. But they don't count on their most personal and obsessive fan (played by myself) showing up with a shotgun and holding them hostage in their trailer and forcing them to perform their music in a series of private concerts and make him into a celebrity of equal stature. As the stalker fan falls more and more in love with the lead singer, Bloodsucker, he comes to feel so overwhelmed with guilt that he leaves to take his own life with his shotgun. A tear-stained Bloodsucker reads the news of his suicide in a sleazy tabloid.

Sound intriguing? Well, you can see why I was so disheartened to lose this film. Anyone familiar with my work knows what an unusual subject matter and approach this is for me. It was heavily inspired by the media-celebrity cult of the late 1990s, which really came to a head in 1997 with the Spice Girls, who were obviously the inspiration for the characters in the film. This was the time of the second British invasion. I last saw the film shortly after supervising the VHS transfer at the end of the summer of 1997.

That is, until I made an exciting discovery earlier today. Going through my shoeboxes of VHS tapes of my old films, I popped one cassette into the VCR and to my surprise, I saw "The Princesses" start rolling on the screen. I could hardly believe that this tape, which I have been aware of in my collection all this time, contained this film on it! I quickly dubbed it to DVD-R for preservation. It's held up quite well over the last ten years.

The film itself hasn't disappointed me. In many ways, I think it's even funnier now, because it features my usual comic bi-polarity (one moment, the stalker is holding the girl at gunpoint with a shotgun, and less than 30 seconds later is proposing marriage). My favorite line occurs when the gun-crazy stalker and outlandish pop princess are discussing their wedding plans ("I think we should be married in a church...") Another great moment occurs when Bloodluster's ex-boyfriend Fat Billy shows up to break up the wedding. It's also hilariously dated. Can you imagine one of my films that includes a musical performance of "Get Up Offa That Thing"?

I don't plan to put the film online for a number of reasons, but I am happy to have it back in my collection where it belongs. It's also a good reminder of the importance of preserving the VHS tapes in a digital format. "The Princesses" remains one of my favorite of my own films.

NOSFERATU with the Alloy Orchestra

I was fortunate enough to catch the screening of NOSFERATU at the Maryland Film Festival today with a great score by the Alloy Orchestra. I hadn't realized that the Alloy had done a score for this film, so it was a treat to find out this would be shown, since it's one of my favorite silents. It captured the eerie mood of the film perfectly, including some new (and creative) instruments I hadn't seen in previous Alloy performances. The whole performance was very well-received.I didn't catch the source of the print that was used, although it looked quite good (including tints) and carried a list of restoration credits at the beginning. The titles were different from the David Shepard version. Evidently, this particular print is supposed to be shown at 18 fps, but this presentation was at 24 fps, necessitating some changes to accomodate the score into the timeframe.If you get a chance to see this presentation, it's definitely worth checking out. The score brought out the full impact of the film perfectly and worked much better than other scores I've heard for the film.

NOSFERATU (Germany, 1922, 81 minutes)
Maryland Film Festival-Charles Theatre
Reviewed Sunday May 6, 2007
Director: F.W. Murnau
Based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula", Freely Adapted by Henrik Galeen
Photographed by F.A. Wagner, Costumes and Sets by Albin Grau
Featuring Max Schreck, Gustav van Wagenheim, Alexander Granach

The Place of the Feature Film?

I have recently been considering the changes that have taken place in independent film distribution over the last year or so. The rise of YouTube and other online video services have made the short film format pretty much ubiquitous. New opportunities to get short films seen by a worldwide audience are becoming available every day.

But what about the feature film?

By it's very nature, the two-hour narrative feature film (the type which Hollywood specializes in producing) have become somewhat outdated, as evidenced by the tremendous downturn at the American box office since the summer of 2005. As the short film (and its distant cousin, the TV show) has become more and more prominent, it's getting harder than ever for independent/low-to-no budget filmmakers to get feature films seen by audiences.

I bring the whole issue up because I have been writing another feature length comedy, my first since "The Professional" in 2003. I began writing "The Professional" in the summer of 1999, and wrapped production in the fall of 2003. At that time, features did not carry the same taboo among the indie film scene. If anything, a tightly made, entertaining feature was easier to market because it could stand as a night's entertainment on its own, as opposed to shorts, which usually have to be packaged together in an hour and a half block.

But all that changed in 2005, concurrent with the collapsing box office (and, despite their best efforts, it is beyond the studios' control to make this stuff marketable to the point of turning a profit-trust me, I worked doing some marketing research at the time of the big collapse), with the launching of YouTube. Now, we see the upturn in interest in the indie short as the preferred format of choice.

The timing of the emergence of YouTube is significant for that very reason. Prior to YouTube, streaming video was relatively rare on the Internet except for news sources. There were sites such as iFilm and Brownfish that offered streaming video. But let's examine the crucial differences with those types of sites and what sets YouTube apart. I'll look at Brownfish as the example.

Brownfish.com first came to my attention about six years ago, when someone pointed me to one of their videos that had been posted on the site. Interested, I checked into it, only to find out that in order to get your video on the site, you had to fill out a hard copy entry form, including entry fee, as well mailing in a copy of your film on DV. Even with all this completed, there was still no guarantee that they'd decide to post your video. On top of all this, I also noticed that the videos seemed to be from mostly the same contributors.

Everyone is familiar enough with YouTube that I don't need to go in to the differences that set it apart. But by comparing it to sites like Brownfish, you can see how quickly things have changed.

So what of the feature film? I predict that within the near future, it will be feasible to upload features to services like YouTube, although I don't think YouTube will be leading the way. YouTube is too mired in its own past in order to be anything new or exciting anymore. I foresee a new site that will essentially pick up where YouTube left off, but will offer unlimited video space, improved image quality, and stereophonic sound.

Until then, we may see the indie feature put "on hiatus" while the short film scene grows richer.