Victoriousscarf's Adventures with Media

[victoriousscarf]

There's a 1920s gangster based Star Trek episode.

I am so very serious, and there are reasons I love the Original Star Trek so much. In the season two episode, A Piece of the Action, the crew of the Enterprise encounters a world based entirely off a book about 1920s gangsters in Chicago. Tommy guns, flapper dresses, and one very fascinated Spock abound in this episode. I am unduly amused XD

Part One on Youtube

[victoriousscarf]

Alright, so from Costco I found a DVD set that is TCM, Time Warner Classic Movies, Prohibition Era Greatest Gangster Films. Sheesh, long tittle. Anyway, so it features Little Caesar from 1930, Public Enemy and Smart Money, both from 1931, and The Roaring Twenties from 1939, not to mention a newsreel, short, musical short, cartoon short, trailer, and historian commentary on each film.

FIND.

So far I haven't been able to sit through any of the historian's commentary, though I did get through all the shorts attached to the Roaring Twenties, and the short cartoon for it was a 1939 Loony Toons... about gangsters. YES.

Also got through the Roaring Twenties... I do recommend it. It's fascinating, and the narrator just cracks me up as it goes through. I think it's a good movie on it's own as well, and has some compelling characters and a decent enough storyline/acting.

[victoriousscarf]

Alright, so while this is not quite as relevant to Felidae, I've been going through and watching quite a few films from the 1920s Weimar era from Germany.

One I would really recommend is Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, which is from 1927 I believe. It's just a lot of shots of city life from Berlin, from the morning to evening, with no words or even title cards and at 62 minutes is not too much of a time commitment, though if you have my attention span for films, bring your knitting anyway.

Some shots I really enjoyed where the ones of the high class restaurant ((which looks about like the third floor of the Demoniaque should)) and it was nice to find out they did have catwalk fashion shows back in the 20s. Philip was pleased with this information. Also, just looking at the fashion and how people presented themselves out around in the urban life was interesting, though of course taking into account this was Germany, not the USA ((Though, honestly at the time Germany and the USA were pretty palsy...))

[victoriousscarf]

Oh, the other Weimar film of note, for certain characters anyway, was Michael from 1924, which is again a German film, but that deals with the theme of homosexual men, though it's never overtly stated.

What's especially nice is this quote:

In fact, a 1926 New York Times review of the film is very much clued into the subject matter, stating that “If the producers were bent on delivering such a theme to the screen, it might have been vastly more to their advantage to picturize Oscar Wilde's story, "The Picture of Dorian Gray," or Robert Hichens's novel, "The Green Carnation," two works which, distasteful though they may be, at least possess real dramatic values.”

[victoriousscarf]

Strangely enough, 1942's Roxie Hart probably wouldn't be relevant at all to this board. Based off the same original play that the musical Chicago is based off (or the real events, still, same basic plot)(Also, the original play is called Chicago too) the film doesn't even try to look like the 20s, despite the fact it's set in 1927. Rather, Roxie's haircut is even distinctly 40s, not to mention her dress. The men's lapels are too wide as well, though pinstripes and fedoras are much in evidence.

What's interesting is the addition of the newspaper men, and the last scene... I'm not entirely sure what to make of the last scene but I am deeply interested by it.

However, while we're on this subject...Chicago, the musical one. I'm not a huge fan personally. However, I certainly understand why some people are. However, keep in mind that it's a very glitzy and glamy look at the twenties, and certain outfits would never have appeared in the time (Cell Block Tango). I'm pretty skeptical of it's historical accuracy as well. I want to point this one out especially since it's fairly popular, and one of the more popular portrayals of the twenties: take any big hollywood looking film with a huge grain of salt, enjoy it anyway, and then go look the historical information to go with it.

[victoriousscarf]

Got through Man with a Movie Camera from the late 20s. It's from Russia, and somewhat more like Berlin Symphony of a City where it's traveling around with a movie camera... but I like Berlin more I think. Man is more interesting from a putting film together perspective, but Berlin gives a better view of life in the 20s.

[victoriousscarf]

Here, have a comic about Vocab.