Watch It: Go West

Four days into our fantastic Queue de Grâce voyage, and we're tagging along with Buster Keaton and Brown Eyes, in the grand frontier adventure, Go West.

This silent film, directed by and starring Buster Keaton in 1925, tells the tale of a young man named Friendless, who is practically penniless and must go out into the world to seek his fortune. While working on a ranch, he finds a friend in a dried-up, yet plucky, milk cow. I'm going to gush about Mr. Keaton in a few inches, but holy cow, this bovine is a scene-stealer! Her acting talent greatly surpasses that of Gwyneth Paltrow, an Academy Award Winning Actress.

Unfortunately, Geza's work schedule prevented him from being able to enjoy this one with us. He has seen many other Buster Keaton films and is a long-standing fan. So, he's cool, but he's not going to be able to offer anything here today.

Let's give the kids a turn:

This movie! Man, it's amazing how much Buster Keaton puts in just for a perfect shot. And it's wild to think that this is what he did for a living! Buster Keaton is extremely awesome. I love all of his movies. He risked his life to put a smile on your face.

They were falling on the train. They were barrels. A guy fell down on the train.

There was a grown-up, named Buster Keaton. On the train, the barrels fell out. There were potatoes in them. One barrel had Buster Keaton, it fell. It rolled out of the train and it broke. There were a million bulls. They chased him. He rode on the cow.

The film was very funny. I loved it a lot. To think that back then, when making the stampede scene, they didn't have computers to generate bull images. Nowadays, they'd just cut and paste over and over and over to make animated bulls. I'm thinking of how hard it must have been to make these movies, with such limited effects; it's impressive. 

The cows is running inside. These cows are running to the neck.






It is rare that I will get all up in a reader's face and say, "Look, this thing, you need it in your life." But, this is one of those special moments. Buster Keaton, anything with Buster Keaton: watch it.

The Great Stone Face is unlike any performer from his era. The effervescence of his clever gags and plot twists is complemented perfectly by his serious demeanor and dry delivery. If you watch any Buster Keaton film and aren't completely in love with the guy by the end of it, I will eat Thomas' least favorite fedora.

Watch It: The Mummy

Boris Karloff ushered us into our Queue de Grâce experience this week, with looming gravitas; a  perfect beginning to our October film project. We piled on the couch with our popcorn and watched a film older than any of us, The Mummy (1932), directed by Karl Freund. Since then, I have been following everyone around with my camera, recording their reactions to the film. The following is a crazy quilt of Laszlo family quotes, which will hopefully shed new light on an old classic.

I liked the movie. It was very interesting.  My favorite thing was the characters; they were played by good actors. Boris Karloff was the perfect mummy. He's tall and spooky-looking. As for the archaeologists who find him, they're very typical, studly guys. Dr. Whemple is leading the expedition and there is an older archeologist who is more of an historian. He tries to warn Dr. Whemple and his assistant not to mess with the mummy's curse.

There was a mummy and a doctor. The mummy is dead. He had ripped bandages all over him.

Along with the mummy, the archeologists find a chest and they read an inscription that says a horrible curse will come to them if they open it. So this moron goes ahead and opens it after everyone's gone.

He opens the box and reads the scroll, and it brings life to the mummy. Then he gets all crazy and dies, so they don't get to beat him up for opening it.  

Oh yeah, of course, if you dig up a mummy priest, buried with a box that says, "Death will come to those who open this box." Of course, you're going to ignore the warning, and of course you're going to open it and of course you're going to read the spell aloud. No, nobody sees that one blowing up in their faces.



In some of the most suspenseful scenes of the movie, the viewer does not see the action that creates the horror. It is only implied, and the viewer is drawn into the story by having to imagine what happened. More horror movies should have scenes like the one in which it is discovered that the mummy has left. The viewer is not directly informed of this fact, but must figure out what must have transpired as the camera slowly pans across the room revealing that the sarcophagus is empty and the mummy's bandages are on the floor, being dragged out of the room by some force.

 Twenty years later, Dr. Whemple's son, Frank, is introduced to the story. He works with his dad and the mummy has been running around for twenty years.

 

This Egyptian guy, named Ardeth Bey, comes to visit them and shows them where to dig. They end up finding a princess' tomb and they make it into a  museum exhibit. 

And it turns out the main lady of the story is actually the dead ancient princess, although she has a new incarnation, just like Ardeth Bey, who is also really the mummy. So, basically, the mummy is free now, and he's trying to get girls, but this one guy won't let him.

 I upstairs in the bed, I watch The Mommy. Tell the womens okay. What did the Mommy do?The Mommy is singing a game.The Mommy is choking.





I liked how, even though the days of ancient Egypt are gone and most of the religion was gone, the gods still were there, and their magic was there. The curses work and the statue moved when she prayed. Even though their people had died out and not many people believed in their religion, the gods and goddesses were still were there, looking after everything.


Remember, kids! When carrying out an evil plot, stab in the heart and fiery pit first, long speeches later.

I'll admit, I was kind of expecting the mummy to stagger around, strangling foolish teenagers, kind of like the original Jason. Instead, he was a complicated character whose eternal devotion drove him to defy gods. He went through agony for the one he loved. His willingness to stop at nothing caused him to become a nefarious character, but having gone through great pain himself skewed his perspective. He inflicted pain and death on others, apparently without hesitation or remorse. Like Henry, I appreciated interplay between the natural world of scientists and museum curators, and the ancient Egyptian supernatural world of  magic and reincarnation. I think, as a family, we will always heed the warnings of old historians from here on out.

Curses, scarab rings, dark cursey eyes, tattered bandages, and womens: all reasons to give The Mummy our family official seal of approval.