Monday, 19 May 2025

At Cinema Reborn - Barrie Pattison's introduction to the Sydney screening of STELLA DALLAS (Henry King, USA, 1925)

Editor's note: This post was first delivered by Barrie Pattison as the introduction to the Sydney screening of Henry King's 1925 silent Stella Dallas  at the recent Cinema Reborn season. In Melbourne the film was introduced by critic Jake Wilson. Jake later expanded his piece and posted it on his Substack blog MOVING TARGETS. Click on the link to read Jake's thoughts (and consider taking out a modestly priced paid subscription). Barrie has now slightly expanded his thoughts on the film and they are published below.

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Ronald Colman, Belle Bennett, Lois Moran, Stella Dallas


I’ve been curious to see how today will go, because we have an odd situation now. Streaming has put more money into recovering early film than ever before. Outfits like Turner, RenĂ© Chateau and the Warner Archive, along with national organisations have recovered titles that we never thought we’d see again, besides some we didn’t know existed. There is more vintage film available now than there’s ever been during my life time but the traditional ways of accessing it are going away. TCM, Home video and Film Societies are all fading and, of course, Australia hasn’t had a National Film Theatre for fifty years - a scandal in its own right.

YouTube is a great resource but it has not been embraced by opinion makers. Movies still don’t exist unless they are launched with free liquor and press books or at least tea and a biscuit. However old judgments are being challenged. Veteran Hollywood directors like Leo MacCarey and Norman Taurog, who were thought old fashioned and ham-fisted, turn out to have been the lively young men of their day.

 Henry King, who made today’s film, was associated with snooze fests like his stodgy Song of Bernadette or Love Is a Many Splendored Thing but, when I finally made it to the ground zero for all this activity - the the Pordenone Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, which Google translates as a “festival of dumb films”, the first thing I saw was a young Henry King doing action hero in a World War One serial.

As a director, King pulled away from the pack with his 1921 Richard Barthlemess Tol’able David, whose groupings and pace suggest a departure point for the So-Called “Golden Years of Hollywood” - and a milestone in the Americana dramas that are still today one of their productive streams.  

 Five years later, when Sam Goldwyn wanted to prove the value in his new association with United Artists, he recruited Henry King for his prestige production of Stella Dallas, from a best-seller by a woman named Olive Higgins Prouty, who also wrote Now Voyager,  another dysfunctional mother- daughter relationship piece.

Goldwyn’s strategy of recruiting the best people for his productions asserts here. His masthead performer Ronald Colman would get top billing. Colman would be the only silent movie leading man to remain an A-Lister into the fifties. However Belle Bennett was not a star though she had been a featured player in some ambitious productions. Bennett campaigned for the key role, Stella Dallas, making herself over, putting on weight and dressing cheap - not unlike Shelley Winters promoting herself for A Place in the Sun. This was Bennett’s own place in the sun, her one remembered performance. She's billed below Colman and elegant Alice Joyce. Following this she did have the lead in a few similar films. She comes well out of The Woman Who Was Forgotten, of which I have a copy, but Belle Bennet would die young in 1932.

 The support cast is notable -  Doug Fairbanks junior still a teenager, the appealing Lois Moran, who had been an item with Scott Fitzgerald, Jean Hersholt from Von Stroheim’s Greed, later to become the forties’ The Courageous Dr. Christian and young writer-to-be Winston Miller. You’ll see his credit on My Darling Clementine. The script of Stella Dallas itself is by the prestigious Frances Marion,  one of the most important women in Hollywood as a result of her work with Mary Pickford. She would be given one of the first writing Oscars for Norman Taurog’s The Champ. Stella Dallas is shot by the great Arthur Edison, who filmed Frankenstein, Mutiny on the Bounty and Casablanca and cut by Stuart Heisler, later director of the admired Storm Warning, one of the first screen treatments of the Ku Klux Klan.

Their combined efforts returned Goldwyn’s over-spend and a handsome profit, along with enthusiastic notices even with the perceived resistance to these “women’s picture” melodramas. Stella Dallas  is more a “weepy” than any comment on division in what was claimed as a classless society. 
It was definitely state of the art for 1925, though the film never became a film studies favourite. 

 This substantial success must have factored into getting Henry King his Fox Corporation contract, which would run thirty years and make him one of the most influential - and richest - people in Hollywood. He’d make the Will Rogers State Fair, the Dionne Quintuplets movie with Jean Hersholt again and Tyrone Power films including Americana hit Jesse James. King’s most notable work was a run with Gregory Peck, starting with The Gunfighter and 12 O’Clock High. 

 Delmer Daves, one of the next generation directors on the Fox pay-roll, told me he always found himself tongue tied, going into Henry King’s office and seeing a photo of Lillian Gish in The White Sister on the wall. "What could you say to someone like that?" Delmer quit Fox because he could see all the best projects would be given to people Studio Head Darryl F. Zanuck had been working with for twenty years - like John Ford & Henry King.

Among the later Henry King films, I rate the neglected David and Bathsheba the most interesting and revealing. Zanuck expected another nice Sunday school production like The Robe or Song of Bernadette but King had become a determined Catholic, after a conversion while making The White Sister with Colman in Italy. He double crossed Zanuck and delivered a film for grown-ups  -  incorporating all that Biblical scholarship that gets re-cycled in Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark and Bruce Beresford’s King David. 

 A wealthy Hollywood Studio employee and Catholic - it’s easy to see why Henry King was never canonised by Marxist commentators.

 Stella Dallas itself also had an afterlife. Goldwyn produced a terrible sound do-over with Barbara Stanwyck directed by King Vidor and there’s a 1990 Bette Midler film, along with rip-off versions. In one, it’s Al Jolson standing in the rain, as the grief-stricken parent, watching the daughter’s wedding through a window.

None of these have the resonance of Henry King’s film. Like other repeatedly re-cyled properties - think Beau Geste, Ben Hur or Rain - all pieces anchored in the attitudes and values of the silent period, subsequent filmmakers have their effort cut out to time-shift them

 Well, I don’t know whether you’ve thought about it, but we are among the first few people in history who are able to experience one hundred year old drama in pretty much the form of its original presentation. Myself, I rate that a great privilege. 

Sunday, 18 May 2025

Rediscovering CAPTAIN THUNDERBOLT - A free webinar conducted by Michael Organ - 25 May - Sign up details


David Donaldson, who inspired the search for the complete version of the 1951 film Captain Thunderbolt for some decades, has sent through this invitation regarding a conversation to be conducted via webinar by h
istorian Michael Organ. Michael located the long-lost print in 2023. Hear his story on Zoom. 

Produced by a radio, hoping for television, Sydney group with direction by Cecil Holmes and cinematography by Ross Wood, the film is milestone in the history and development of the Australian cinema. 

Ross Wood, Cecil Holmes shooting Captain Thunderbolt

The webinar will take place on 25 May 2025 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM AEST 

Thursday, 15 May 2025

FILM CRITICS CIRCLE OF AUSTRALIA - ANNUAL AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENT - MEMOIR OF A SNAIL wins Best Picture


 May 13th 2025

 

The Annual Film Critics Circle of Australia awards for outstanding Australian film were held on March 12th 2025.

 

The Awards event was held at Paddington Woollahra RSL, hosted by FCCA President Rod Quinn

Rod Quinn commented, 

“This year’s nominees yet again highlight the diversity of subject matter from big international stories to intimate dramas and quirky comedies; they are all here on our screens. And this year the Australian documentaries are especially strong with two about the resilience of two sporting champions. It has been a very interesting year for Australian film.”

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The FCCA is the national body of professional film critics in Australia and a member of the international body of film critics, FIPRESCI. It has members in South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT.

Australian films eligible for the FCCA awards are those which have had a theatrical or public screening between January and December 2024. 

For the 2024 awards the FCCA will acknowledge eight categories for Australian feature films: Best Film,Best DirectorBest ScreenplayBest CinematographyBest Actor and Actress in a Leading Role, and Best Actor and Actress in a Supporting Role.

 

 

 

The FCCA also highlights Best Australian Feature Documentary.

It was noted that the documentary Category this year had an exceptionally high standard of submissions.

There were two awards given in this category. 

 

NOMINATIONS AND WINNERS FOR THE FILMS OF 2024

Winners in highlighted in red.

 

BEST FILM




BETTER MAN     
                                              
PAUL CURRIE (PGA), JULES DALY,   MICHAEL GRACEY (PGA), COCO XIAOLU MA, CRAIG McMAHON         

KID SNOW                                                        

BRUNO CHARLESWORTH, MEGAN WYNN, LIZZETTE ATKINS

MEMOIR OF A SNAIL                                         

ADAM ELLIOTT, LIZ KEARNEY 

FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA                               

DOUG MITCHELL, GEORGE MILLER


BEST DIRECTOR

Adam Elliot

CAMERON CAIRNESCOLIN CAIRNES        LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL

ADAM ELLIOT                                                  MEMOIR OF A SNAIL

MICHAEL GRACEY                                           BETTER MAN

GEORGE MILLER                                             FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA

 

BEST ACTRESS

Phoebe Tonkin, Kid Snow

LEILA GEORGE
                                               HE AIN’T HEAVY

SARAH SNOOK                                                MEMOIR OF A SNAIL

PHOEBE TONKIN                                             KID SNOW

ANNA TORV                                                     FORCE OF NATURE: THE DRY 2

JACKIE VAN BEEK                                          AUDREY

 

BEST ACTOR

Hugo Weaving, The Rooster

ERIC BANA
                                                       FORCE OF NATURE: THE DRY 2

DAVID DASTMALCHIAN                                   LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL

JONNO DAVIES                                                 BETTER MAN

BILLY HOWLE                                                    KID SNOW

HUGO WEAVING                                               THE ROOSTER


BEST SCREENPLAY 

CAMERON CAIRNESCOLIN CAIRNES            LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL

JACK CLARK, JIM WEIR                                     BIRDEATER

ADAM ELLIOT                                                     MEMOIR OF A SNAIL

SIMON GLEESON, OLIVER COLE,                    BETTER MAN

MICHAEL GRACEY

DAVID VINCENT SMITH                                      HE AIN’T HEAVY

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Eric Bana, Force of Nature: The Dry 2

ANDREW COMMIS                                            FORCE OF NATURE: THE DRY 2

SIMON DUGGAN                                               FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA

MATT TEMPLETON                                            LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL

ERIK A. WILSON                                                BETTER MAN

 

BEST ACTRESS – SUPPORTING ROLE

Ingrid Torelli, Late Night with the Devil

ALYA BROWN                                                     FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA

KATE MULVANY                                                 BETTER MAN

GRETA SCACCHI                                               HE AIN’T HEAVY

INGRID TORELLI                                                 LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL

 

BEST ACTOR – SUPPORTING ROLE

Damon Herriman, Better Man

FAYSSAL BAZZI                                                   LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL

CHRIS HEMSWORTH                                          FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA

DAMON HERRIMAN                                             BETTER MAN

RICHARD ROXBURGH                                         FORCE OF NATURE: THE DRY 2

 

BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY



A HORSE NAMED WINX                                      DIRECTOR: JANINE HOSKING
                                                                          OTTO BY OTTO                                                   DIRECTOR: GRACIE OTTO

THE POOL                                                            DIRECTOR: IAN DARLING                                                                            

THE ROAD TO PATAGONIA                                 DIRECTOR MATTY HANNON

UNBREAKABLE: THE JELENA DOKIC STORY    DIRECTORS: IVAN OMAHONEY                                                                                     JESSICA  HALLORAN                          WELCOME TO BABEL                                        DIRECTOR:JAMES BRADLEY


A PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE FCCA AWARDS NIGHT


The FCCA gratefully thanks the supporters of the 2024 Awards SEE SAW FILMS, BUNYA PRODUCTIONS, MADMAN, ALLEN & UNWIN

 


Wednesday, 7 May 2025

CINEMA REBORN - MELBOURNE SCREENINGS START TODAY - HOW THE WEST WAS LOST

 


HIGHLIGHTS TO COME


The Melbourne Cinema Reborn screenings get under way today at 2.30 with a screening of the French classic FORBIDDEN GAMES.  It will be followed by the first screening of McCABE & MRS MILLER  and the evening will conclude with Andrei Tarkovsky’s THE SACRIFICE. That session is already sold out but there is another screening on Monday and you can book for that via the Lido Cinemas website.


We want to mention to you that the program screening at 5.30 pm on Friday 9 May is HOW THE WEST WAS LOST and BREAD AND DRIPPING. This program was screened to a hugely appreciative near sell out house on our closing night in Sydney. HOW THE WEST WAS LOST was introduced by film-maker David Noakes  and by Rose Murray a Nyangumarta woman and a descendant of the original strikers who feature in the film. Both David and Rose will also be in Melbourne for the screening tomorrow and will be conducting a post-film conversation.


If you head for the Cinema Reborn website you can read extensive program noteson all our films and this includes some superb writing from David and Rose about HOW THE WEST WAS LOST. 


In the run up to the Melbourne season we have some more local media to report. The screen discussion program on Melbourne’s 3RRR Primal Screen has a lively conversation between host Flic Ford and Cinema Reborn Organising Committee Members Digby Houghton and Grace Boschetti. And the terrific website Rough Cut has a report of a conversation with Organising Committee Members Angelica Waite and James Vaughan in which they talk about the Cinema Reborn’s ethics and origins, the magic of sharing new restorations of classic and underseen works of exceptional, world-spanning cinema, and what to expect from this year’s edition.


Other shows on Friday include Carlos Saura’s CRIA CUERVOS (1.15pm), Julien Duvivier’s PEPE LE MOKO (3.30 pm introduced by Kevin Cassidy), TOUCH OF EVIL(7.10 pm introduced by Adrian Danks) and DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS  (9.30 pm introduced by Janice Loreck). Click on the film titles for links to bookings  for these sessions at the Lido Cinemas. Lido Movie Club concessions apply for all sessions and students tickets are $15. 


CHARITABLE DONATIONS

There is still time for our supporters to make tax-deductible donations to support our work. There are significant costs, most notably our screening fees, which have to be met each year and we are always grateful for the financial support we receive that defrays these costs and charges and enables us to keep our tickets at regular prices. If you would like to make a donation you may do so via the Australian Cultural Fund, a service which enables small unincorporated organisations like ours to access this taxation benefit. To make a tax deductible donation, small or large, any time between now and the end of Cinema Reborn 2025 click on this link to the Australian Cultural Fund 

Thursday, 1 May 2025

CINEMA REBORN - WEEKEND PREVIEW (1) - McCABE & MRS MILLER, SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS, HOW THE WEST WAS LOST and more.

 




Thanks to Jason Di Rosso of the ABC Radio National Screen Show for a splendid interview with David Noakes on yesterday’s program. The discussion about the birth and rebirth of David’s magnificent  documentary HOW THE WEST WAS LOST, screening at the Ritz on Tuesday 6 May at 6.00 pm and at the Lido on Friday 8 May at 5.30 pm, was warm, enlightening and hugely enthusiastic about the prospects for this film to once again influence the ongoing debate in Australia about the history of our relations with the Indigenous community.


It's now available on ABCI-view. The segment with David starts at about the 24” mark and runs for close to half an hour. Great radio.


Saturday and Sunday are densely packed days for Cinema Reborn. Six films each day from eight different countries, ranging from the silent masterpiece STELLA DALLAS restored by New York’s Museum of Modern Art through to two programs of autobiographical documentaries by Australian women film-makers Rivka Hartman & Lee Whitmore and Anna Kannava.


Likely to attract the biggest crowds are our two Saturday evening presentations so here’s a little more information to help you decide to join the throngs.


McCABE & MRS MILLER is Robert Altman’s remarkable western starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. Critic Roger Ebert laid it out "(It) is like no other Western ever made, and with it, Robert Altman earns his place as one of the best contemporary directors…Robert Altman has made a dozen films that can be called great in one way or another, but one of them is perfect, and that one is McCabe and Mrs Miller” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times


In the Program Notes published on the website and the printed catalogue critic Adrian Martin recalls his first youthful encounter with the film and in particular the music of Leonard Cohen which threads its way through the soundtrack. “Like many teenage cinephiles in the 1970s, I realised that the quickest, easiest, cheapest way to possess a piece of a beloved film was to run an audio cable from my TV set into a humble tape recorder – which is not such a simple procedure today. That’s how, at any rate, I came, once upon a time, to listen so obsessively to the soundtrack (not the soundtrack album – there wasn’t one) of McCabe& Mrs. Miller (1971). Even more than the sheer presence of Leonard Cohen’s haunting songs, I was bowled over by the strange dialogue between the lyrics and other elements in the sound mix: Cohen’s ‘I told you …’ echoed, moments later, by Warren Beatty as McCabe mumbling to himself: ‘I told you …’. Was that planned, or a serendipitous collision discovered in editing? Ladies and Gentlemen and others, welcome to the cinema of Robert Altman.”


Full notes and links to bookings


SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS is Sergei Parajanov’s masterpiece of folk art: Here’s a paragraph from Laleen Jayamanne’s program notes. “The film is based on a tale of legendary star-crossed lovers, and their lost love sets the tone and framework for presenting the everyday life and key rituals of the tribe, such as a wedding, a funeral and Christmas with pagan overtones in the use of grotesque masks. These events are performed in unusual ways presented in disjunct non-chronological sequencing, an aspect of Parajanov’s poetic idiom. Later, this fascination with masks and the idea ofthe puppet (in popular folk theatre and in the Soviet avant-garde), influenced how he directed his actors who also danced in his major films. It’s best to relax into the rhythms of the film and ritualised gestures, instead of trying to “grasp” at meaning, and in that relaxed state the film may speak to you in unexpected ways, as Parajanov’s films are wont to do.”


Full notes and links to bookings


CINEMA REBORN