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134 Shorter Reviews
equivalent of a low budget C. B. DeMille Crusades or of one of the bigger "Pro-Pro-Pro-American" films of the early forties made in Hollywood. It seems that there was a dearth of over-simplified scripts during the late thirties {Peter the Great, Shors, Nevsky, etc.). Only Nevsky, with its brilliant decor and restraining style, retains its appeal. Except for the first ten minutes of Shors, Dovzhenko lacks it entirely. It is too bad the Russians did not allow Dovzhenko to pursue what must have been his native bent, his entrancement with the land (as in Earth). Instead, he wastes his talent and our time on this embarrassing, offensive, and childish film whose sound track consists of canned yelling and cheering as meaningless crowds of fighters run back and forth across the fields.
(Brandon Films)
VAMPYR
(France, 1931)
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer
Although this film is not up to the quality of Joan of Arc, Day of Wrath, or Ordet, it is one of the more tasteful films of the macabre. Foregoing cheap suspense or melodramatic action, Dreyer underplays most of the scenes in order to create an atmosphere in which the supernatural is not shown as much as it is evoked.
Unfortunately the prints that are available in the United States are not made from the master negatives and so their photographic quality is rather poor. Besides this problem, there is yet another difficulty. Vampyr is available in two versions. One contains most of the footage behind which one of the characters, contrary to the intent of the original, narrates the whole story and seriously changes the overall effect. The "more" original print, fifteen minutes longer than this dubbed one, contains the actual German dialogue with Danish subtitles. This means of course that audiences which only know English will not be able to understand the dialogue. There are some English insert titles but not enough to make all the action clear. Unfortunately the print which was screened of the original version was entirely inaudible on the first 16mm reel because the sound track was not sufficiently developed in processing. Although the choice is not a pleasant one, the original version, in spite of its drawbacks is not only the more accurate version, but the better of the two.
(Audio Film Classics) VITELLONI
(Italy, 1954)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Vitelloni is the story of a group of modern youths who do not work but live off their families, wives, and friends. Too weak to break out of their empty lives, they spend their time in pursuit of momentary pleasures.