Criterion Month Day 3: Night and the City

Night and the City (1950)

There are plenty of directors that are closely associated with the film noir genre, from John Huston to Billy Wilder to Edward Dmytryk. However, there was really only one great noir director who found themself completely severed from the country that produced the majority of the great noirs. Jules Dassin first made a name for himself in the genre in Hollywood with fellow Criterion Collection entries 1947’s Brute Force and 1948’s The Naked City, but was blacklisted due to being a former member of several American communist party associations in his younger years. This is how Dassin ended up directing his later films in Europe, such as heist classic Rififi. While Dassin was in the midst of being ousted from Hollywood, he made a sojourn to Britain to direct Night and the City, a film fittingly about a desperate man with more than a few walls closing in on him.

Continue reading →

Criterion Month Day 2: All That Money Can Buy

All That Money Can Buy (1941)

I first learned about “All That Money Can Buy” aka “The Devil and Daniel Webster” from the same place I learn all of my pop culture tidbits: The Simpsons.

“The Devil and Homer Simpson” was the first story in The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror IV, which first aired on October 28, 1993. In the segment, Homer sells his soul to the Devil (Ned Flanders) for a donut. Lisa pleads with the Devil for a trial, but only on the conditions that Homer spend a day in Hell, and that the Devil gets to pick the jury, a jury he refers to as the “Jury of the Damned,” which includes infamous historical figures such as Blackbeard, John Wilkes Booth, Benedict Arnold, and the starting lineup of the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers.

Continue reading →

Criterion Month Day 1: Hell’s Angels

Hell’s Angels (1930)

There is not much value in getting nostalgic for how the ultrarich used to live. Yes, they seemed to have better taste, with their ornate mansions that still stand today and often serve as museums or tourist destinations, as well as their patronage to the arts. But at the same time, a billionaire is still a billionaire. And if we’re adjusting for inflation while talking about the ultra-wealthy of the early 20th century, a millionaire is still a millionaire.

That said, there is something about the image of maverick aviation pioneer Howard Hughes risking his life against the wishes of his stunt coordinator to film one of the marvelous plane combat scenes in 1930’s Hell’s Angels. It was a stunt so dangerous that Hughes crashed his plane and had to have facial surgery, which was immortalized in the 2004 film The Aviator. It’s the type of thing you’d be hard-pressed to imagine one of today’s billionaire tech turds attempting, let alone having the attention span to craft a piece of long-form storytelling, even one that mostly aims to thrill and amaze you. So with that all said, I have to give Mr. Hughes begrudging respect for pulling off one of the more entertaining movies of the early sound era I can remember seeing.

Continue reading →

The Tenth Annual Criterion Month Draft (Sort of)

Hello there, ladies and gents. We’re once again on the verge of celebrating that most highbrow of seasons here at Mildly Pleased, where we spend all of July beating the heat by staying indoors and watching films belonging to the Criterion Collection. No podcast this year, but personally, it always helps to have this post that outlines what everybody has picked for this year’s Criterion Month. So here’s a little sneak peek of what films may come in the coming weeks. Happy watching. Continue reading →