In my frequent moments of idleness, I devoted myself to a bizarre document � a synoptic table of the American cinema. There were several movable colum
In my frequent moments of idleness, I devoted myself to a bizarre document � a synoptic table of the American cinema. There were several movable columns set up on a large piece of pasteboard; the first for “ambience� (Parisian, western, gangster, war tropical, comic, medieval, etc.). the second for “epochs,� the third for “main characters,� and so on. Altogether, there were four or five categories, each with a tab for easy maneuverability. What I wanted to do was show that the American cinemas composed along such precise and standardized lines that, thanks to my system, anyone ould predict the basic plot of a film simply by lining up a given setting with a particular era, ambience, and character. It also gave particularly exact information about the fates of heroines. In fact, it became such an obsession that Ugarte, who lived upstairs, knew every combination by heart.
One evening, Sternberg’s producer invited me to a sneak preview of Dishonored, with Marlene Dietrich, a spy story which had been rather freely adapted from the life of Mata Hari. After we’d dropped Sternberg off at his house, the producer said to me: “A terrific film, don’t you think?â€� “Terrific,â€� I replied, with a significant lack of gusto. “What a director! What a terrific director!â€� â€Ô¨±ð²õ.â€� “And what an original subject!â€�
Exasperated, I ventured to suggest that Sternberg’s choice of subject matter was not exactly distinguished; he was notorious for basing his movies on cheap melodramas. “How can you say that!� the producer cried. “That’s a terrific movie! Nothing trite about it at all! My God, it ends with the star being shot! Dietrich! He shots Dietrich! Never been done before!�
“I’m sorry,� I replied, “I’m really sorry, but five minutes into it, I knew she’d be shot!�
“What are you talking about?� the producer protested. “I’m telling you that’s never been done before in the entire history of the cinema. How can you say that you knew what was going to happen? Don’t be ridiculous. Believe me, Buñuel, the public’s going to go crazy. They’re not going to like this ar all. Not at all!�
He was getting very excited, so to calm him down I invited him in for a drink. Once he was settled, I went upstairs to wake Ugarte.
“You have to come down,� I told him. “I need you.�
Grumbling, Ugarte staggered downstairs half-asleep, where I introduced him to the producer.
“Listen,� I said to him, “You have to wake up. It’s about a movie.�
“All right,� he replied, his eyes still not quite open. “Ambience � Viennese.� “All right.� “Epoch � World War I.� “All right.� “When the film opens, we see a whore. It’s very clear she’s a whore. She’s rolling an officer in the street, she � �
Ugarte stood up, yawned, waved his hand in the air, and started back upstairs to bed.
“Don’t bother with any more,� he mumbled. “They shoot her at the end.� (131 - 133)
I am a big fan of Skal as a commentator on the horror / science fiction branch of popular culture. In this book he looks at the portrayal of science aI am a big fan of Skal as a commentator on the horror / science fiction branch of popular culture. In this book he looks at the portrayal of science and scientists in science fiction and horror novels and films from Frankenstein in 1817 up through the films of David Cronenberg circa 1997, the year before the book was published. I’m not sure how much I agree with any of Skal’s conclusions, but I do enjoy thinking about the common themes he discovers across time and his contrasts of the works he discusses with current events from the time of their creation. Certainly the experiments of Drs Moreau and Jekyll take their inspiration from the currency of Darwin’s theory. It’s also interesting to consider whether the secret laboratories that proliferated in films of the early 1940’s, with mad scientists played by Karloff, Lugosi and Lionel Atwill, in some way reflected an awareness of actual secret experiments being undertaken for the war effort. Another parallel Skal makes is in the how the space aliens piloting UFOs eventually became overwhelmingly seen as small, hairless beings with oversized heads and eyes over the same time period that the debate over abortion became more prominent in the general culture. In looking at recurring themes across time, he notes how bodily dysfunction, especially mutilated or missing hands, are used to stigmatize mad scientists. Metropolis, Mad Love (with Peter Lorre) and Dr. Strangelove are fictional examples, though Skal also cites Stephen Hawking as a real-life incarnation of the disabled scientist able to formulate theories beyond the abilities or even comprehension of his contemporaries. The chapter on mad medical science (“The Doctor Will Eat You Now�, with reference to Dr. Hannibal Lecter) has many relevancies to the current health care debate. His opening sentence here is “While only a minority of Americans believe they have been abducted by UFOs, a much larger percentage suspect they may be under assault by HMOs.� However, this chapter, with its serious questioning as to the AIDS / HIV connection, may be the reason that this book has not been reprinted since its publication; I am not well versed in current AIDS research, but I suspect that in this case scientific progress has probably left Skal’s mad science reveries badly outdated.
If you are interested in Skal and his take on horror entertainment, I would recommend starting with The Monster Show, a most entertaining book for anyone who ever loved Chiller Theater or Famous Monsters of Filmland and who wants to explore the life and times of the monsters in a little more depth. ...more
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