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Princess Iron Fan (Wan Guchan & Wan Wailing, 1941)

This is the go-to film that I always show for the Final In-Class Analysis in my Journey to the West class. It's an entertaining film, based on a classic adventure from Journey to the West, and a perfect fit for what I'm trying to accomplish with the final. Princess Iron Fan is the first animated feature in Chinese history, and is also clearly intended to serve as a propaganda film (and it works very well as such). It's easy to find on YouTube, and you should definitely check it out.

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Shoulder Arms (Charlie Chaplin, 1918)

And the run of silent films continues, this time with Charlie Chaplin's film Shoulder Arms. It's considered the first war comedy, and considering that it came out in 1918 it's difficult to imagine how you would get an older one (in that you need both a war and film as a medium). Recommended.

Amazing Ali

 My son sent this picture along the other day and it just brought me more joy than I can express. It's his wonderful wife Ali, and they're grabbing lunch at Sarducci's (which is our favorite place to eat). As a parent you, even if you're trying not to do so, imagine who your kid will marry - I could not, in my wildest imaginings, have created a better fit for my son. She is amazing.

There are many things that I'll miss about life here in Vermont, but none of them hold a candle to spending time with Gary and Ali. I suspect many plane tickets to Sicily will magically show up in their email box.

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City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931)

I've been delving into a lot of silent films lately, obviously, and that's a great thing because it's an area that I don't know as much about. Like most folks, I know the big names, but I don't know enough of the specific films, directors, and actors. Of course, while watching a bunch of Chaplin films is a great place to start, I hope that there will be other options. I remember reading years ago that something like half of the films made before 1950 are lost forever, so I'm sure that applies doubly to way too many of the silent era films. I've often seen Chaplin's City Lights, which I watched the other night, described as his classic. I liked it a lot, although I don't know if I would consider it head and shoulders above Modern Times or The Great Dictator. Still, it was great - and is required viewing. Filming an entire silent film in 1931 was awfully late, as most folks had already switched over to talkies.

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Berlin Express (Jacques Tourneur, 1948)

There are those times - and it seems to happen more in film than in other media (although I don't know how far I would push this argument) - that an OK artist somehow produces a masterpiece. I always associate it with Michael Curtiz, who was a dependable, serviceable director, who somehow directed Casablanca. I don't know why I settled on Curtiz for this designation - and it's no doubt a bit harsh - because he also directed Mildred Pierce and The Adventures of Robin Hood and Yankee Doodle Dandy and Passage to Marseille and White Christmas. That said, Casablanca always makes the short list for greatest films of all time, while those other films are pretty good or entertaining at best. However, somehow everything came together on Casablanca - and the distance between it and any of his other films is profound. Having said that, maybe it would be better if I identified that category by Jacques Tourneur instead. He directed Out of the Past, which is simply a great film and maybe the great film noir of all time. Tourneur's next best film might be - the original Cat People? Last night we watched Tourneur's 1948 film Berlin Express, which the Criterion Channel was trying to foist off as a film noir (which they tend to do, because, well, all film nuts love film noir), but it's more of a failed political thriller. It's pretty bad. The photography is beautiful, and the scenes of bombed out post-war Frankfurt were amazing/sobering to see. Robert Ryan looks like he would have been much more comfortable in a true film noir, while Merle Oberon (Wuthering Heights) and Paul Lukas (Watch on the Rhine) were trying to remember when they were in better movies. I think a good rule for judging a film is if there is a third person voiceover throughout the entire movie it's probably a bad movie.

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The Kid (Charlie Chaplin, 1921)

As part of this year of film (although every year tends to be a year of film for me) I've been diving back into some of the silent films, which have been a joy. Last night I watched Charlie Chaplin's first full-length feature, The Kid, released in 1921 (crazy to think that the film is 105 years old). It's funny and sad and redemptive, and definitely should be viewed by any and all film lovers. It's funny to think of a very young Jackie Coogan playing the Kid. Most people simply remember him from playing Uncle Fester on the Addams Family forty years later. It's also strange to think that Coogan's first wife was Betty Grable?!?!

0

 And now it is over. It's funny, if you've spent the last semester and a half counting down the days with CFL players it shouldn't hit you with the number switched from 1 to 0, but it did. There was a lovely going away soiree here in Wick yesterday, which deserves its own post so I'll revisit it soon. However, I'm feeling a terrible sense of finality and loss, which I'll talk about when I've had the change to think about it. It's definitely a bittersweet moment.

Thanks to Rolan Mulligan for loaning me his number 0 for the final Countdown installment. I'm going to have to find other ways to do fun research on the CFL (beyond going to the four CFL games in four cities this summer - which will almost certainly turn into five CFL games in five cites, how can we go to games in Ottawa, Regina, Hamilton, and Ottawa and somehow skip our hometown Alouettes?). Rolan was born in Lake Wales, Florida, and played his college ball at Reedley, UAB, and Toledo). Like many later CFL stalwarts, Mulligan kicked around the NFL for a bit, with stops along the way with the Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions, and Indianapolis Colt. Since 2021 Mulligan has played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and has achieved a lot of success. He was on the Grey Cup winning squad from last year, and has been a two time CFL All-Star as well as winning the Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award in 2024. I've had the opportunity to see him play in person, but in July we'll see him play a home game in Saskatchewan.