Reviews

i saw this movie at detroit's redford theatre - a historic cinema that was founded in 1928 - and is now after the ups and downs through the years in the skilled hands of the 'motor city theatre organ society'. the building is voluntarily restored and in mint condition, except a small part of the lobby that is currently being finished. as inconspicuous as the building looks from the outside - once you entered the grand foyer you're in for quite a treat. there are still lounges instead of restrooms and beautiful art deco exit signs on stencilled dark wood paneling, lots of shiny brass hardware - and two chandeliers gracing the ceiling ... the viewing area is restored back to it's original Japanese motif, the seating pristine and facing the red curtain the 3 manual/10 rank Golden Voiced Barton Theatre Pipe Organ - in place since 1928 of course. attendance for the Saturday night show of 'beyond the rocks' was quite remarkable. the theatre seats about 1400 and the ground floor was at least 3/4 filled with a disciplined crowd of all ages. preceding the film was half an hour live entertainment on the barton by John Lauter - performing a set of period pieces and remarkably enough 'happy together' (the 60s turtles number) all connected with amusing quips about the period, himself and state of the world in general. then a brief intermission and finally the lights went out and the curtain opened ... other reviewers have already detailed the restoration and the story line, so there's no need to go into details here. to me the film is mediocre at best (measured to the Murnau's, Lang's, Pabst's and Stroheim's) but that's only half of the story. sitting in a beautiful place with hundreds of people reacting to the flicker on the screen and having John Lauter pumping away on the barton was an unforgettable experience. the show ended with a long and sincere applause from everybody in the audience - an appropriate way to say 'thank you' to the people of the motor city theatre organ society who made this great evening possible.

the first thing i have to mention is the transfer of the film. usually physical film quality is not of primary importance to me - but if (as in this case) there are a disturbing number of frames missing, your viewing pleasure is seriously impaired. here barely one minute goes by that the continuity within the same shot doesn't jump. having said that - the transfer is somewhat recent, restored and licensed from the murnau-stiftung, so i guess it has to be the best version available (i own the eureka edition). now ... the film is certainly not a masterpiece, but the sports scenes still can excite. so can the mountain and nature photography, which is rather splendidly done (they didn't even shy away from pointing the camera straight into the sun - something one doesn't see too often in movies). and this was about all the good there is for me. starting with the awful German text plates - in which even the basics of human behavior (of the characters) are displayed as requiring superhuman efforts/emotions ... the subconscious prelude to war i guess. the English subtitles thankfully use much better language - quite elegant in that too. also there is no humor in the film. one might smile about the idiotic script every now and then (nowadays), but this was certainly no intention back when it was filmed. conclusion: if you like silent movies, winter sports and history it might be worth a look, but not much else is there to be found.

as mr preminger lumbers by and drags what mr hecht calls script by the scalp 93 long minutes back and forth one wonders that he found time to extract some extraordinary quests of his actors. first there's young barzini who is required to enjoy freudian self employment. as if this wasn't enough he is also a knowledgeable surgeon, author, recording artist, amateur sleuth and in the due course father converted husband. this maybe already quite impressive but look at mr ferrer! not only has he have to be insinuating himself through those arduous 93 minutes - he is also required to suffer from gall bladder removal, be fluent in hypnosis and in the art of being invisible to others in those daring final minutes when all is revealed. this leaves little room for anything more (cgi wasn't invented then) and so healthy toothed mrs tierney mainly looks plainly distressed. not all is wasted though because if nothing more we learn from mr preminger that women wore hats back then to disguise the fact that they were beaten up pretty often. why men wore hats was probably planned for revelation in 'son of whirlpool' but unfortunately this never materialized. one only wishes that mr ferrer could use his handicraft via the screen and put oneself to sleep after the opening credits keep rolling by ...