maksquibs

This barely released piece of Left-Wing cinematic Op-Ed journalism fully lives up to its storied rep. Half documentary/half vignette-sized realizations on Capitalist & vigilante abuse against the Bill of Rights (with an emphasis on Union busting), it's remarkably effective as agitprop and remarkably advanced as sheer film-making. After co-lensing THE PLOW THAT BROKE THE PLAINS/'36, Leo Hurwutz & Paul Strand spent five years putting this together which would have robbed the stories of their immediacy if Pearl Harbor & WWII hadn't already muted so many political controversies 'for the duration.' But modern viewers will appreciate the remarkably up-to-date documentary techniques and the recreations which anticipate movie styles later developed by Elia Kazan & Boris Kaufman in films like ON THE WATERFRONT/'54. Paul Robeson beautifully handles the exceptional narration, and watch for noted NYC blacklisted actors like Howard de Silva & Art Smith. But the real champ here is undoubtedly Paul Strand, a great photographer whose eye is unmistakable in three museum-worthy montage sequences showing Americans going about their daily lives and celebrating holidays on the street.

Anthony Asquith is best known for straightforward film-making in the so-called British literary tradition which served him particularly well in stage-to-screen adaptations of G. B. Shaw & Terrence Rattigan. Letting the writer function as auteur doesn't win you critical kudos, but films as fine as PYGMALION/'38 and THE BROWNING VERSION/'51 don't just 'happen.' Even so, it's fun to watch the young Asquith show off, even needlessly, on late silents like this & UNDERGROUND/'28, also out on DVD. You can all but hear him parsing the latest Russian or German import just screened at his CineClub. There's some strikingly fast montage work and psychological P.O.V. stuff (even a shock-flash of red tinting as in the original prints of Hitchcock's SPELLBOUND/'45), but the main influence is UFA studios with their posh camera moves, rich visual texture, expressionist acting, shadowy lighting & diagonal slashes The opening works best as Swedish actor Uno Henning (in his only British role, he's an intriguing mix of Buster Keaton & Conrad Veidt) breaks out of prison in search of revenge. The story flashes back to detail a rather commonplace love triangle that gives Asquith plenty of space for his set pieces (a visit to the cinema, a very close shave, et al.) which tend to run on a bit too long. But no matter, it's all ravishing to watch and if the characterizations never quite add up, the visual touches are worth the stretch.

Pinch-penny version of the oft-filmed fictionalized memoir (rushed out by RKO to pick up any GOODBYE, MR CHIPS backsplash) is remarkably clear-eyed in detailing the petty (and not so petty) sadism of British "public" schools, as well as its harrowing ostracism, despair & loneliness. Thomas Arnold's 19th century school reforms are alluded to, but neither dramatized nor properly integrated into the dorm dungeon life which the reliable director Robert Stevenson unintentionally(?) exposes. A good cast mixes real Brits like Cedric Hardwicke & Freddie Bartholomew with Yankee ringers who come off better than you might expect. Especially the Flashman, played by DEAD END kid Billy Halop, who makes a convincingly threatening top boy. Added bonus value: dig those musical lifts from Verdi's FALSTAFF in Anthony Collins' score. And you might want to try this out on a HARRY POTTER fan who wants to know where schools like Hogwarts come from. No quidditch field, but the school is called Rugby.