The Lady Eve

Preston Sturges directed the film The Lady Eve in 1941. The Lady Eve is one of the greatest screwball comedies throughout film history. Peter Tonguette claims that The Lady Eve is fundamentally dialogue driven. It depicts a unique relationship between two people. The leading woman, Jean, is in control more so than the male character, Charles. During the film, audiences are able to see both characters roles change while they are trying to make their relationship work meanwhile the audience can get in a good laugh.

According to Peter Tonguette, The Lady Eve is a virtual embodiment of some of the precepts of the feminist movement. Several examples in the film depict his reasoning such as when Jean Harrington played by Barbara Stanwyck held the mirror during the dinner watching Charles Pike played by Henry Fonda. Some would say that the mirror represents her crystal ball and that Jean signifying her dominance over Charles. Another example is how Jean controlled the situation with getting Charles’ attention with making him trip over her shoe but also by getting him to come back to her room. Jean not only controls Charles but also tries dictating to her father, 'Colonel' Harrington, especially during the card games where she actually beats him at his own game.

On a philosophical level, the film can be interoperated as Sturges presenting the audience a comic version of the explosion from the Garden of Eve (p. 47 Cavel). This is help determined by the action between Jean dropping the apple on his head to gain his attention and the interaction between Charles’ snake and Jean’s dreams. Their relationship disintegrates when Charles gains new knowledge. The idea of the fall is shown over and over in the film for example when Charles keeps falling at the party three or four times.

Today, Preston Sturges' fast-paced films, with their inimitable dialogue, are still first-rate comedy material. On close scrutiny, however, they reveal themselves to be a series of tenacious attacks on American mores, values, ideals and beliefs. This is something that audiences would have to study and watch more than once in order to understand what Sturges is trying to depict. Since the dialogue and comedy is well done it is hard for viewers not to realize what Sturges is trying to express and just take it for face value.

Quote: Preston Sturges foresaw this our modern mayhem and left us with a lesson to be learned: the very least one can do is to laugh the laugh of the doomed and desperate. “It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cock-eyed caravan.”

The Conversation

The 1974 film The Conversation directed by Francis Ford Coppola fits in with the Hollywood’s era of the cinema of paranoia. During the seventies, things in the U.S. were very difficult with the Kennedy brothers and Watergate. Films during that time depicted how people and the country were dealing with and felling about everything. According to Philip Kemp, this film turned out to be a film about responsibility.

In the opening shot, it makes the viewer feel like they themselves are a hit man and they are stalking someone. The very next scene the audience sees the sniper. The first couple of scenes give the audience the perspective of the sniper and that they are stalking someone. Through out the film, Harry Caul changes from the stalker to being stalked. This occurs not only with Harry but with the audience as well. Harry’s character is one who obsesses over his privacy but yet invades other. He makes no emotional connection with people and tries not to get involved but that soon changes he develops a sense of responsibility. In the end the machine devours its own: the bugger, punished for a momentary deviation into human feeling, becomes the bugged i.e. Harry.

The best element of this film is its audio. The audio is endlessly played and replayed throughout the film, in full or in brief snatches, sometimes with pictures, sometimes just on tape or re-echoing in Harry's mind, as its various levels of meaning are gradually teased out (Kemp, Philip). There are different audio levels throughout and the soundtrack to the film that is very enjoyable. The best is when Harry is playing the trumpet and the record is playing. In this scene, there is a close up of Harry’s hand working the three tape players and then the film goes back to the establishing shot. The audio controls the shots of the camera. It leads to a flashback from what we have already seen but through the eyes of the audio. In the end, the audio is what makes him go crazy. According to Brenda Austin-Smith , it is a madness brought on by extreme self-consciousness, with not even his faith to sustain him (he smashes the statue of the Virgin, as if it were Ann, while searching for the bug).

The film is quite slow in some parts. The film makes the audience focus on one thing and that is the audio. Even the visuals in the film point how important the audio is for the film. This film is one that people need to watch multiple times to get the different points and supporting elements. For one reason, the point of view of the film being audio is one that people are not use to even in the twenty-first century. With the U.S. at war right now, this film can appeal to audiences today. This film is timeless one that can always be interpreted and relatable to any audience anywhere.

Klute

Alan J. Pakula directed the 1971 film noir Klute. The film stylistically is what makes the film a success not the content. For within the film, the angles of the camera and the lighting are what captivates the audience and makes it fit in with the Hollywood drama genre. According to Thomas L. Erskine, the film is generically both film noir thriller and a psychological thriller, and the audience identifies with Bree Daniels, a developing character whose inner conflict torments her, not with John Klute, the static and reticent male.

In the beginning, the camera angles create a pattern. The first shot in the scene is an establishing shot then it goes from each individual shot and back to an establishing shot. There are no close ups within this pattern. The first close up the audience sees is when the tape recorder is playing a tape. This was done as a hint to the audience of its importance and its role throughout the film. Another great shot is when Bree Daniels, the main character in the story, walks directly into the camera creating suspense but also engaging the audience. The camera angles within the film were very captivating and creative. One that was really effective when the camera was when Klute was standing and Bree was at the table sitting. The camera was at the height of Klute’s hip so in the scene Klute was visible with his leg and the audience is able to see Bree sitting down. This gives the audience the perception that they are standing right by Klute.

The lighting in the film was very important and what makes this film a film noir as well as creates the drama and thrill from within. In the scenes, eerie music would be playing in the scenes that had dark lighting. Some examples of that are when Bree is walking down the hallway and when she is in the bed and the camera slowly backs further and further away to create more space. A primordial response to darkness and light is a deep-seated element of human psychology that filmmakers have harnessed in order to influence the ways viewers respond to narrative development (http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Independent-Film-Road-Movies/Lighting.html). With the dark lighting and the music this builds suspense for the viewer as well as the viewer is trying to figure out what will happen next and to whom. One of the purposes for lighting in film is the creation of atmosphere or emotional effect. With the different examples mentioned above, the audience tended to feel worried about Bree and if the killer was going to kill her as well as the sense of wanting to find out who the killer was.

The film’s story was the weakest part. Some areas were very slow and dry. The only thing that kept my attention was the style of the film. I thought the actors were very professional and believable. I was able to figure out who the killer was in the very beginning when they first showed the character who would later be the killer. The rest made it uninteresting because I already knew what was going to happen. Yes, this film was a great thriller in the 70’s and is much better than some of the recent thrillers and drama films but I want something that grabs my attention throughout. I want something that will keep me guessing and wandering who did it and what will happen next, much like the film Fracture.

So all in all style of the film great, story not so great.