Happy Halloween with The Greatest Film Ever Made

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Arleigh

It’s that time of year again when Through the Shattered Lens celebrates it’s favorite month with another screening of I consider the greatest film ever made. This is a film that speaks to everyone at this site in one way or another. To dispute it’s “G.O.A.T.” status would be an exercise in inept futility.

It has horror, heartache, romance, kinky sex, interspecies assault, Disney-esque reenactments, revolution, ninja stars, redneck sociopaths, chainsaws and Jawa-speak. Not to mention it has baby-sitting tips, how to make a knothole in a Christmas tree and an Evil Dead tree reenactment. It’s a film that’s fun for the whole family.

As another October comes to a close it’s another opportunity to give Jason Eisener his due and say, “Good sir, we salute you.”

What the Hell is This? The Devil’s Cabaret.

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, I want to take about 18 minutes to share something with our readers. The Devil’s Cabaret is an early color short film from 1930. I recent caught it on TCM and my immediate reaction was that I simply had to share it. Along with fitting in with the October theme of this site, The Devil’s Cabaret provides ample evidence of just how weird Hollywood could be before the production code was instituted.

Incidentally, the devil is played Charles Middleton who, nearly two decades later, would play The Strangler of the Swamp.

Enjoy The Devil’s Cabaret!

Review: Marvel One-Shot “Agent Carter”

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Arleigh

Ever since Thor was released on video (DVD/Blu-Ray) the people over at Marvel Studios have added as a special bonus to the video’s extras a small short film they’ve dubbed “Marvel On-Shot”. So far, they’ve either been about the adventures of fan-favorite SHIELD agent Phil Coulson or a brief look at a post-Avengers New York. The short films were cute, but nothing to really write home about.

With the release of Iron Man 3 on DVD and Blu-Ray we get a new Marvel One-Shot and it looks like the creative minds at Marvel Studios have decided to work a tad harder on making this new short film much better. It’s a flashback moment to one Agent Peggy Carter who is still grieving a year after Captain America (aka Steve Rogers) supposedly died trying to save New York from a HYDRA bomber full of tesseract-fueled bombs.

We see how she’s been relegated to doing paper work and kept from doing the field work she’s more adept at. This one-shot film actually shows in it’s short running time how even someone as skilled and heroic as Peggy Carter must still navigate and deal with a male-chauvinistic society that dismisses whatever accomplishments she’s earned in the past and seen more as a sort of “affirmative action” hire.

The film doesn’t try to force-feed this theme, but instead tries (and does so successfully) to blow-up the damsel-in-distress stereotype by showing Agent Carter at her best. And what she does best is doing the sort of field work that earned her not just the respect of the soldiers she worked with during WWII in Europe, but those of Captain America himself.

“Agent Carter” stars the original Peggy Carter in the form of British actress Hayley Atwell and she does a fine job of helping continue her character’s growth. She continues to show that she’s just as useful and skilled as Captain America which she showed in the film of the same name. In this one-shot we’re reminded of it and it also does an interesting thing in making it plausible to create a spin-off around her character.

Marvel has intimated that it’s something they’d be interested in doing and if the quality of this one-shot is anything to go by then a series (tv or web-based) starring Ms. Atwell as Agent Carter would be well-received by fans everywhere. This short film also showed that Marvel Studios has a new secret weapon to keep DC at bay. This was the first one-shot that truly belonged as a prologue to a feature-length Marvel film on the big-screen. Here’s to hoping that attaching future one-shots to full-length features not on video but in the theaters becomes an idea that Marvel Studios allow to happen.

A Blast From The Past: Perversion For Profit

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s blast from the past comes to us from the Citizens For Decent Literature, Inc. Originally made and released back in 1965, this 30-minute film features a deep-voiced authority figure explaining the dangers of adult magazines and sordid paperbacks.

How can I put into words how much I love this little piece of politically incorrect Americana?

It’s just so 1965.

A Blast From The Past: Duck and Cover

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Let’s face facts. We live in a scary world and it’s not getting any safer. However, before we all give up on the future, maybe we should take a look at the past. With that in mind, it’s my pleasure to share the 1951 educational short film Duck and Cover.

Seriously, if Bert the Turtle can survive then I think there might be hope for us all…

This is the epitome of one of those things that simply has to be seen to be believed. That said, if I was a child in the 50s, I think Duck and Cover would have provided me with some comfort. After all, Bert is just so cute and the Duck and Cover song is kinda catchy.

A Blast From The Past: Control Your Emotions (1950)

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Occasionally, I like to use the Shattered Lens as a place to share old educational films from the 50s, 60, and 70s. This is because 1) these films serve as time capsules to a past that often seems implausible to us today, 2) occasionally they still have important lessons to teach, and 3) they make excellent filler whenever I find myself running behind on whatever else I may have been planning on posting.

Take, for instance, the following film from 1950. In Control Your Emotions, we watch as a creepy psychologist discusses why a typical teenager named Jeff is incapable of controlling his rage. Watching the film today, it seems pretty apparent that Jeff’s main problem is that he’s kind of stupid and just a jerk in general. However, that really doesn’t seem to set him apart from everyone else in this short film. Whether he’s dealing with his insensitive friends or a family that seems to have little use for him, it’s obvious that Jeff is doomed to live a life of disappointment and simmering resentment.

Let’s just hope that he can control his emotions because, honestly, Jeff looks like he’s about to snap under the weight of emotional repression and suburban conformity…

In case the video above isn’t working, here’s another upload of Control Your Emotions:

Short Film: Mama (dir. by Andres Muschietti)

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Arleigh

This weekend sees the release of the Guillermo Del Toro produced horror film Mama. It’s the full feature length film from a short film of the same name by Argentinean filmmaker Andres Muschietti who also directs the full film.

I’m pretty jaded when it comes to horror films purporting to scare the hell out of people, but after seeing this short I could easily believe why Guillermo Del Toro jumped at the chance to produce the feature length adaptation and put the short film’s director back in the chair to the the adaptation. It’s a short film that’s barely 3-minutes long and it’s a wonderful exercise in setting the appropriate mood and atmosphere before the money shot when we finally see the titular character of “Mama”.

Anyone who lives in a home with a second floor and stairs leading up it will definitely need to see this short film to get an idea of what to expect when they finally see Mama in the theaters.

A Blast From The Past: The Snob (1958)

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I love watching the old educational films from the 1950s. Whether they are dealing with the threat of outside agitators, the need for families to eat dinner together, or the importance of obsessive grooming, these films often provide an interesting view into the past.

(Though, as far as I’m concerned, obsessive grooming is a theme that will never get old.)

Two weeks ago, I first came across The Snob on YouTube. In the days since I first saw it, this 13-minute educational film has become something of an obsession of mine. Some of this is because this film deals with a universal subject. Though I don’t think I’ve ever been a snob, I’ve certainly known a few. Even more importantly, everyone in this film is just so intense. If Edward Albee wrote an educational film, it would have been a lot like The Snob.

Also, is it just me or is the kitchen scene between Sarah and her father kind of creepy?

A Lesson From The Past: A Date With Your Family (1950)

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s lesson from the past comes from 1950. Harry Truman was in the White House, UN peacekeepers were in Korea, and Gloria Swanson was killing William Holden on Sunset Boulevard. Meanwhile, the American family was apparently built upon a foundation of repression, conformity, and good table manners.

Or, at least, that’s the impression that one gets from watching A Date With Your Family.

A Date With Your Family is a 10 minutes education film that was apparently meant to encourage families to eat more and talk less. Not only does this film explain the importance of the family dinner but it also makes several other relevent points. For example:

1) “Pleasant, unemotional discussion helps digestion.”

2) “With your own family, you can relax. Be yourself. Just make sure it’s your best self.”

3) “These boys greet their Dad as though they were genuinely glad to see him, as though they really missed him”

This film also explains the importance of looking “pleasant” for your husband when he gets home from a hard day at the office, of not spending too much time on the phone, and of not talking about anything that might upset the family’s patriarchal unit.

Personally, my favorite moment is when “Daughter” won’t stop talking at the dinner table and the rest of her family gives her the exact same look that my older sisters always used to give me.

A Warning From The Past: Joy Ride: An Auto Theft (1976)

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I’ve mentioned in the past how much I love the old “educational” film from the past that were designed to keep stupid people from doing stupid things, like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute, attempting to steal copper wiring, or driving too fast without a license.

That last issue is the one that is dealt with in the 1976 short film (and time capsule), Joy Ride. In Joy Ride, two teenagers go to a little league game, have an existential crisis, steal a car, talk about the inherent weirdness of names, and play lots and lots of pinball.

It’s easy to make fun of a film like Joy Ride but I have to admit that I’m strangely fascinated by this short film. Between the ennui-soaked conversation of the two protagonists and the frequent use of jump cuts and zooms, it’s hard not to feel that if Jean-Luc Godard ever made a driver’s ed film, it would look something like Joy Ride.

I also have to admit that I enjoyed the use of the “You broke my car so I broke your jaw,” song.