Welcome back faithful readers to day two of my adventures at the Virginia Film Festival. As much fun as I had with the first day, this one was quickly to surpass it. Following a quick stop in the early morning to my office to write up day one, it was off to the theater for a showing of A Day at the Race's. For those unfamiliar with it, this 1937 film was the Marx brothers first after moving to MGM. Many critics complained about it, calling it a softening of the outrageous routines the Marx brothers were known for previously. That may be true but it was still their most successful film at the box office.
 I had never seen it before and I'm glad I did. While hardly a perfect film it is frequently hysterical, with comic scenes that just continue to build momentum as they move along.
Groucho Marx plays a veterinarian named Hugo Z. Hackenbush mistaken by a wealthy hypochondriac for a physician. She is staying at a sanitarium struggling to stay open. She pressures the owner (Maureen O'Sullivan) to hire Hackenbush as the chief of staff, hinting she'll help with the bills. Hackenbush is quick to follow the money and settles in while trying to deflect the questions as to his credentials. My description almost makes the movie sound serious but it is anything but. The closest thing to a serious moment in the movie is a musical number in the middle of the movie. That scene is also the film's biggest downside. While there was nothing wrong with the music or dancing it brought the narrative to a screeching halt. Thankfully modern movies don't indulge in this kind of thing much anymore.
Easily the best scene is one where Chico Marx, posing as an ice cream salesman, keeps stringing Groucho along promising to sell a surefire tip on a racehorse. Not only is the comic timing perfect but the imagery gets progressively more ridiculous as it moves along. We may not have to suffer those musical numbers these days in movies but at the same time we never see comic genius of this level either. I somehow doubt that it is a fair trade off.
There was a discussion to follow the movie but unfortunately I couldn't stay as I had barely enough time to get across town to the next event on my schedule, a screenwriters panel featuring Sam Hamm (Batman, Batman Forever). This meant deciphering Charlottesville's bus system and finding my way across the University of Virginia campus to the right room. I may live in this town but there are two things I never do here. I never take the bus and I never set foot on campus. A friend gave me a tour of the campus shortly before I moved here five years ago and apart from attending a football game, I haven't been back. Needless to say I was lost. Luckily I got it sorted it out and skidded into the appropriate room with a minute or two to spare.
The purpose of the panel was to allow people to find out more about the process of writing scripts for TV or film. It was originally supposed to be with Hamm and Dorothy Tristan but she couldn't make it and was replaced with her husband, director John Hancock, at the last minute. As a result, Hamm did most of the talking.
It was interesting noting the wildly different habits of the two men when writing scripts. Hancock said he prefers to try and work at a very steady pace. He works with Tristan so that they can reinforce and critique each other and keep each other motivated to write. Hamm's style is quite different. He professed a habit of waiting to the very last minute to write. This gives him time to stew on ideas and let them formulate thoroughly in his mind before committing them to paper. Mostly though it puts extreme pressure on his writing that he thinks makes it more natural with more vigor. "I like to work up a good panic," says Hamm.
They faced questions about dealing with the Hollywood system. They both felt that studio execs tend to read a lot of the same books on movie making. As a result, Hamm says that he will find he keeps getting back pretty much the same notes on scripts from four or five different people. People in the audience asked if they ever felt like they sold their soul to the devil when selling a script. Hancock, who isn't known as a big time Hollywood writer or director, replied "I feel I've wasted my life by not selling my soul. And now Hollywood doesn't want it," causing the audience to roar with laughter.
It was an informative and entertaining panel. I spoke to Hamm briefly afterwards about his latest project Monkeybone. You can find the details on that here.
From there is was time to hotfoot it back across town (the bus system seemed a bit less bizarre this time) where I was attending a shot by shot analysis of The Birds by Roger Ebert. Now I won't go into the details of this because it was spread over three days and frankly would probably bore the average reader to tears. However, if you consider yourself a serious movie buff and you get the opportunity to attend such an analysis, I highly recommend it. It was informative and surprisingly entertaining. Ebert is an excellent speaker who would probably go on forever about film if not constrained by a schedule.
The format of this event was unique. We had an auditorium for it and actually watched the film on DVD. Let me point out though, that as amazing as DVD is, it was never intended to be projected onto such a large screen. Detail and color do suffer as a result but it is still very watchable. I'll talk about that again in my write up of day four. Ebert started the analysis by talking a bit about movies and then sat down with the audience to watch the movie. At any point, audiences members could yell stop and then talk about what we were seeing. Ebert would answer questions, add analysis or add opinions of his own. He says that he enjoys doing this because he tends to learn things himself, picking up on details never before noticed in a film. For instance, when Tippi Hedron and Rod Taylor are in the pet store at the beginning of the movie, on the wall behind them is a painting of Hitchcock's dogs. That detail was picked up by a sharp eyed audience member. At the same moment in the movie, Hedron makes a comment about a "hang dog expression."
There's a reason an analysis like this takes place over three days. With this level of attention to detail, we only got as far as the first bird attack in the movie by the end of the first session. I spoke to Ebert briefly afterwards and got his recommendations on some books on visual styles in movie making. I was there to learn after all.
It was time to once again head (say it with me now) back across town for the next item on my schedule. This was to be a sneak preview of Barry Levinson's new movie An Everlasting Piece. I've already written my review here so I won't comment too much on the movie itself. Prior to its showing I know some people were a bit reluctant to go. When the schedule to the festival was first posted it was listed simply as a sneak preview. No information was provided as to what movie we would see. When it was announced I think there was a bit of disappointment that it wasn't a more high profile movie.
Despite some grumbling there was still a sell out crowd on hand. Producer Mark Johnson introduced the movie. He talked about seeing writer/star Barry McEvoy performing a reading of his script and knowing right then that he had to make this movie. He wanted Levinson to direct but felt the need to be a bit sneaky about getting him on board. He gave Levinson the script, telling him that he didn't know who should direct and maybe Levinson could make a suggestion. After reading it Levinson said he loved the script, giving Johnson the opening to suggest that maybe Levinson should direct it then.
The ruse worked. Then it was necessary to find a studio. They showed it to Stephen Spielberg who immediately insisted that DreamWorks needed to make this movie. It's amazing how quality material greases the wheels.
There were two things of concern in making the movie. First was that McEvoy insisted that he had to play the lead in the movie. He was a struggling actor and had mostly written it for himself. Levinson agreed after seeing him at a reading of the script. The other major concern was that the movie had to be made on location in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was absolutely vital to the movie for it to work properly.
Location shooting was a problem because it was cheaper to shoot in Ireland than Northern Ireland. Additionally, despite improvements in the political landscape in recent years, the wounds of division in the region were still very fresh in memory. A movie set in some of the worst turmoil in that area was sure to stir things up. The murals I mention in my review are no longer there and had to be repainted for filming. The locals weren't exactly thrilled to see them back.
McEvoy was also on hand for the screening. He talked about the movie afterwards. As I mentioned he has been a struggling actor and he clearly isn't used to the spotlight of celebrity. Introduced after the movie, he received a standing ovation from the audience and looked quite embarrassed by all the attention. He did have the presence of mind to pull out a camera and take a photo the the standing ovation though.
Asked about the origins of the material used to write the script he cited his own childhood growing up in Belfast. His father was a barber and actually had a side business selling hairpieces. His mother said that whatever money he made from that was his to keep so essentially he "was putting his ass on the line for golf money."
When he set about writing the script McEvoy gave his father a tape recorder and asked him to use it to record his stories, which reportedly he seemed to have an endless supply of. His father would sit down in the basement reciting the stories for the tape recorder with such vigor his mother said he sounded like a madman down there. While the material helped McEvoy write the script he didn't end up actually using a lot of it. He says that his father harasses him about that. He hints that he could use it for a potential sequel.
One of the movie's best dramatic scenes takes place in a restaurant called Dixieland Fried Chicken. The restaurant is covered with Confederate imagery from the American civil war period. It makes a nice parallel to the division in Northern Ireland. The invention of this imagery turned out to be a happy accident. They had really wanted to shoot the scene in a Kentucky Fried Chicken as much of the dialogue revolved around how much the characters loved the food there. However KFC was uncomfortable with being associated with some of the material in the film and wouldn't allow them to use one of their restaurants or even a mock up of one. As a result, Dixieland Fried Chicken was invented. The dialogue stayed largely the same except they said that Dixieland's food wasn't as good as KFC's and proceeded to launch into the original ravings about KFC's food.
A lot of the movie's little touches are based in reality. For instance, McEvoy's mother in the movie has a tendency to wear her panties on her head to keep her cigarette smoke out of her hair. His grandmother really did that. The mental hospital was an invention though. McEvoy said he chose that as a place to set some of the scenes "because Northern Ireland is a big nuthouse."
It was pointed out to McEvoy that the IRA members in the movie might seem a bit one dimensional and unintelligent. He replies that this wasn't meant as an insult to the IRA. He wanted to reinforce the idea that regardless of religious or political affiliation, everyone in this movie is treated as a human. He points out that actually most people in the film are a bit dumb. "Everybody's an idiot but everyone is human," he says.
For the last event of the evening I actually got to stay in the same place for once. Woo hoo! The evening would culminate with a showing of The Creature from the Black Lagoon in 3-D. This was the first time I ever had the chance to see a 3-D movie in a theater and it was a trip. The effect mostly works but it takes some getting used to. The best moments were shots inside a shark tank where the sharks kept swimming right at the camera. More than a few yelps and loud gulps came from the audience at those moments.
I felt like I was on familiar ground with this movie. It was like the biggest ever meeting of the movie club. Almost every member of the sell out audience was laughing at the movie and making wisecracks about the action and dialogue. You've got to love really old horror films like this.
That wraps up coverage of day two at the festival. Tune in tomorrow for what was arguably the coolest day of them all. How often do you get the opportunity to meet two of the gods of moviemaking?
- John Shea
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