THE CLASSICS for Today (part 2)

By: Dan Jones

We’ve discovered how to capture life, move the pieces around, and set it to music. The classics can remind us how primitive it was or how “corny” we’ve become; and movies will inevitably, overtime, become “dated.”

“Dated” can pertain to the composer being overly forceful, or in the late 60’s, hip. “Corny” moments arise when truth and honesty are completely left out of the picture (literally).

It takes practice, but it’s easy to learn the difference between “corny” and “dated.” Nowadays, if we make the mistake of laying a popular song over the establishing shot of a city, or cut from an intense scene to a preposterous moment to get a laugh, we know better, and we shouldn’t have.

Whichever the case, certain scenes of the many classics could have been cut. Music could have eased up. The blocking and action could have increased. Sometimes, however, the most intriguing ideas were not fully fathomable to the creative minds behind those ideas. Special effects were not risks but innovations. Tasks had to be tackled. The movie world evolves, and over time, improves the movie-going experience.

- THE FRAME RATE -

“Vertigo”

(1958)

Alfred Hitchcock’s art house film is an adventure in the world of obsession.

Admiring, fantasizing, and stalking in a San Francisco land of wonder is passionately expressed. “Vertigo” is one of the few films where frames can be stilled, printed, and hung in a home (or gallery). This is also the film responsible for Brian De Palma’s entire career (many of his corny movies derive from imitating the master Alfred Hitchcock).

An overly dizzy Jimmy Stewart (when high upon a stool) is “corny,” for he could have used a less theatrical take. Stewart’s head floating around for a dream sequence is “dated.” Now we know there were subtler ways to get Jimmy’s fears across, but those tactics were the first of their kind. There was only so much to study when it came to an obscure type of suffering like vertigo, and dream sequences at the time consisted of wavy dissolves and people looking into the camera.

Hitchcock is known for his more adventurous films, as well as one-location, play-like films. See if you can differentiate between the “corny” and “dated” moments of his collection. I’ll warn you, though. Hitchcock was often attempting dark humor and black comedy which were not yet being made and are even stranger today.

BEWARE, trailers may give some twists away!

“Cat People”

(1942)

“Cat People” does not fall under the B-movie creature feature. The characters drive this story, and the few suspenseful obstacles they encounter are dramatized through creative movie techniques. We may not care if the protagonists survive, exactly, because the infatuation and “dated” love affair which ensued was a bit rushed. The love triangle, however, brings an understanding and relevance to an ancient cat people legend. Just in time, we want everyone to be safe and muster sympathy for the cursed.

There are ways to scare without showing the monster. This is easy for us to say now, but at the time, was not what the audience expected.

The imagination of what lurks in the dark is always the haunting factor of any thriller. In this case, it’s a feline beast; but later, specifically 1975, it will inspire a movie to have a scarcely-seen shark remotely controlled by Steven Spielberg. By 2009, a frightened couple, and millions of audience members, will scream at a door closing in “Paranormal Activity.”

Director Jacques Tourneur and producer Val Lewton have teamed up for other interesting suspense films as well. “Cat People” is loosely documented as being the first film to startle the audience. Where would we be today without such a unique idea as this?

STAY TUNED right here for future classic articles.

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