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Movies Forum Index » Silent Movies Forum » Variety: La Roue...
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| Bruce Calvert... |
 Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 12:13 pm |
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http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117937022.html?categoryid=1023&cs=1
La Roue
($39.95; Release Date: May 6th, 2008 )
By PETER DEBRUGE
Flicker Alley
Cast: Severin-Mars, Ivy Close, Gabriel de Gravone, Pierre Magnier
Moviegoers who think today's blockbusters have gotten long-winded have it
easy compared to the commitment expected by French silent movie maestro Abel
Gance. When the director's landmark "La Roue" first unspooled in 1923, Gance
divided his 32-reel, 7˝--hour romantic tragedy over three separate nights.
Audiences had never seen anything like it: The extended running time
encouraged deeper connections with the characters that earlier silents,
while brisk editing and inventive visual tricks suggested new possibilities
for storytelling. An international sensation, the film influenced directors
as far-flung as Sergei Eisenstein and Akira Kurosawa, but never received a
proper U.S. release until now.
Running nearly 270 minutes in its restored form, Flicker Alley's DVD version
of "La Roue" represents the most complete print of the film seen in nearly
80 years. One can only wonder how directors such as D.W. Griffith (an avid
fan of Gance's earlier anti-war drama "J'Accuse!") might have responded, if
given the chance to see it so many decades ago. Today, with an energetic new
score by composer Robert Israel, the package serves as a wake-up call to
21st-century viewers who think of silent film in stodgy, prehistoric terms.
From the dynamic train wreck that opens the film to "La Roue's" poignant
finale (in which the wheels of another ghostly train convey the soul of its
weary hero to heaven while his love interest dances a symbolic rondolet
below), this masterpiece of early cinema illustrates the full range of
Gance's experimental spirit. The director's technique stuns even by
contemporary standards, as Gance shows his determination to push the
boundaries of the medium, orchestrating his railyard romance among active
train tracks and daring his cameramen to shoot onboard, alongside or beneath
moving locomotives.
"La Roue" will only seem tame to those familiar with Gance's more aggressive
"Napoleon," and even then, the film dazzles in its sheer variety of
sophisticated tactics, including stylized iris shots, parallel action, vivid
color tinting and in-camera dissolves. If anything feels out of place today
it is the story, which concerns an ace engineer who behaves heroically
during a ghastly train wreck, rescuing a helpless girl from the fiery
pile-up. The honorable Sisif raises the orphan as his own, never informing
young Norma or his own son Elie of their separate origins.
As young Norma blossoms into a woman, everyone becomes infatuated with the
beautiful "rose of the rail" (as Sisif nicknames her). As the suitors clash,
the resulting feud is very much a product of its time and culture, as three
equally unappealing paramours vie for Norma's affections: her adoptive
father, non-biological brother and a dastardly rich playboy.
Overwhelmed by the situation, Norma chooses the latter, sending her family
into despair. Elie (her closest match, according to age and interests) is a
wreck, while Sisif quite literally attempts to wreck his own locomotive
(with Norma aboard, no less) in a grand suicidal gesture. While such
torments recall Greek mythology (no coincidence, considering Sisif's name),
they operate within a grand portrait of early 20th-century industrial life.
The title itself, "La Roue," refers to the wheel of fate and progress that
defined the Industrial Revolution, making man subservient to machine -- in
this case, the great steam engine. "I know that Creation is a Great Wheel
that cannot move without crushing someone!," Gance quotes at the head of the
film, referencing one of his literary role models, Victor Hugo. At a time
when cinema was considered a second-class medium, Gance hoped to achieve a
feat worthy of comparison to the great novels of the time.
His grand tragedy was headed into ever-darker territory when Gance's fiancee
fell sick, precipitating an unexpected turn in the story. The director moved
the production from Nice to the French Alps, and though he wasn't able to
save the health of his betrothed, he did rescue the film in the process (one
could also argue that he forced it off the rails, abandoning his congested
modern setting for a rustic tangent). Either way, the tone of "La Roue"
changes radically in its second half, largely for the better, as Sisif
emerges a sympathetic character.
Demoted to operating a small funicular train, Sisif retreats from the
claustrophobic grip of the big city to a lonely mountain cabin. His vision
slowly fades, giving Gance license to play with subjective techniques for
blindness and hallucination (as when he looks out the window to see Norma's
face superimposed on the mountains). Throughout the film, Gance uses
double-, triple- and even quadruple-exposure tricks to suggest the
characters' various psychological states, creating effects both surprising
and intuitive.
Dialogue frequently feels awkward in silent films, as people mutely flap
their mouths, only to be followed by a card that spells out their words.
Though "La Roue" shares this problem, when the characters aren't speaking,
Gance finds incredibly effective ways to delve into their heads. Watching
"La Roue," there's a sense that cinema may have actually lost something over
the years -- today's adherence to strict realism comes at the expense of
more impressionistic forms of representation.
Music makes all the difference in a film like this, and it's easy to imagine
how the experience might be rendered tedious if not for Israel's score. With
funding from Turner Classic Movies (which aired the restored film in late
April), the assignment called for roughly 4˝ hours of musical accompaniment,
with Israel drawing from nothing more than the brief prelude composer Arthur
Honegger wrote for the film's original release. The rest of the score, like
nearly three hours of the film itself, has been lost to the ages.
Building upon earlier compositions of his own to evoke the energy of Gance's
work, Israel delivers far more than background music. His score begins with
the bombastic energy of the opening train wreck, but mellows out as the film
progresses. When Gance shifts gears to the mountains, the music helps smooth
the transition, echoing each character's theme in a softer, more romantic
context. It's important to remember that silent films were never silent.
Without a score of this caliber, contemporary audiences would find it
virtually impossible to appreciate Gance's achievement.
More than one optiona.. (Film) Napoleon
Jean-Pierre Aumont, Sacha Guitry
b.. (Film) Napoleon
1997 - Anne Lambert, Mario Andreacchio
c.. (Tv) Napoleon
More than one optiona.. (Person) Victor Hugo
Stunts
b.. (Person) Victor Hugo
Novel as Source Material, Song, Song PerformerSilent, B&W/Tinted; Running
Time: 270 MIN.
--
Bruce Calvert
--
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http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com |
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