Svengali

Holey moley. I thought Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was it, man. There are touches of the completely weirded out german expressionist mise-en-scene in everything from Son of Frankenstein to 12 Monkeys, but seeing Svengali is like sucking that shit right from the pipe. Plus, it's the second movie (after Palooka) where the title character's name has become an actual fucking word for something because of its popularity. But back to Svengali. Not only is this completely fun as a bizarre little look at what the foreign menace must have seemed like to isolationist post war middle america but the shooting is unreal here. There are model flyovers that would make Tim Burton cream in his pants.




1931 is looking like the year when sound went and became a usable commodity and not just some gimmick. Street Scene, M, La Chienne, The Public Enemy, Little Caesar, Monkey Business, The Front Page, even City Lights (although technically silent, Chaplin's original score is integral to its success) are all from 1931 and pretty much represent the first wave of real modern moviemaking