Fifty Years of Film in 50 Weeks, #34: Sansho the Bailiff, 1954

"Without mercy, man is like a beast. Even if you are hard on yourself, be merciful to others."

Sansho the Bailiff, 1954
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
Writers: Fuji Yahiro and Yoshikata Yoda, from a short shory by Ogai Mori
Cinematographer: Kazuo Miyagawa
Producer: Masaichi Nagata for the Daiei Motion Picture Co.
Starring: Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyôko Kagawa, Eitarô Shindô

Why I chose it
I had yet to include a Japanese film in this series, and the 1950s was a fertile decade for exquisite offerings from Japanese filmmakers such as Ozu and Kurosawa. In fact, Seven Samarai (Kurosawa) was released this year, as was Godzilla (Ishirô Honda). I had seen those, but but hadn't seen anything by Mizoguchi. Sansho the Bailiff appeared on many "best of 1954" lists, and with a Criterion release and an 8.2 rating on IMDb, I was excited to watch it.

'No-spoiler' plot overview 
In 11th century Japan, the wife, daughter, and son of a benevolent local governor find themselves on their own when the ruling ministry exiles him. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes when bandits attack, and the mother, Tamaki, is sold into prostitution and the two teenage children, Zushio and Anju, are forced into slavery at the estate of a local feudal chief, the eponymous Sansho, who is cruel and unyielding. The story follows the physical and spiritual journeys of the children as they mature into adults and cope differently with the pain of separation and brutality of slavery. A number of surprising twists ensue as the two attempt to escape and find their long lost parents. 

Production Background
Mizoguchi was already nearing the end of his career when he made this film, and critics have praised it as his crowning achievement, both now and at the time the film was released. In fact, it won the 'Silver Lion' (second place) at the 1954 Venice Film Festival, along with Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. (The Golden Lion that year was awarded to Romeo & Juliet by Renato Castellani). Both Kurosawa's Rashomon (1951) and Sansho the Bailiff benefitted from the sublime cinematographic skills of Kazuo Miyagawa.

While the broad outlines of the tale are based on a famous Japanese folk legend, apparently a number of changes to Mori's short story adaptation were made by Mizoguchi and his screenwriters, including making the daughter Anju younger than her brother Zushio, so they could cast the sublime and popular young actress Kyôko Kagawa in the role. Other changes included the ending, and the lesser focus in the film on Sansho himself, which leads modern viewers to wonder why the film is named after him.

Some other notable film-related events in 1954 (from Filmsite.org):

• Federico Fellini released the classic Italian film La Strada (1954, It.) It won the first official Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, awarded during the Academy Ceremony honoring films of 1956.
• Paramount Studio's first VistaVision widescreen production was director Michael Curtiz's hit film White Christmas (1954), an Irving Berlin musical.
• The "auteur theory" was first rudimentarily expressed by 21-year-old critic/filmmaker Francois Truffaut in his essay in the French film-review periodical Cahiers du Cinema titled "A Certain Tendency in French Cinema."
• Dorothy Dandridge was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, the first African-American ever nominated in the category, for her role in Carmen Jones (1954). 
• On the Waterfront (1954) nearly swept the Academy Awards with eight wins, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), Best Supporting Actress (Eva Marie Saint), and Best Director (Elia Kazan). The acclaimed film was widely perceived as Kazan's response to critics of his testimony two years earlier before the House Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC). 

My Random Observations

• Two "e" words swirled around in my head as I thought about this movie after the final credits rolled: ethereal and elegiac. From the deliberate pacing of the scenes and even the slowness of the character's movements during much of the film, you get the sense of immersion in something you must experience, not just watch. The natural light used by Miyagawa (shot on location in Kyoto and Kashikojima Island) captured a gauzy sheen that made you feel like you were peering into a series of long-buried images. 

Early in the film, a mother, her two children, and her maid 
start their perilous journey through a forest.

In exile, Tamaki approaches the ocean and calls out to
her lost children.

Anju waits to hear the fate of her brother, whom she has 
helped to escape from slavery to Sansho.

Zushio (left) rests on his journey to find his mother.

• Asian cultures and history are far removed from mine, as an American. So when I watched this film, I felt I was taking a lesson in all things Japanese: history, religion, arts, culture, and music. The history, of course, is on two levels: the 11th century setting of the folk tale, and the 20th century interpretation influenced, no doubt, by the ravages of the nation's recent defeat in WWII; I sensed the reverence for and vision of their own history that the Japanese hold. Interestingly, an on-screen commentary at the beginning mentioned that the story takes place in a time in which people had not yet learned to become human. I wonder if Mizoguchi felt that becoming human is in reality a process of evolution that the species has not yet perfected.

  

  A statue of the Buddhist goddess of mercy, given to Zushio
  by his father at the moment of his exile.

  
  

  

  Opening titles in a cloud-infused backdrop sets the mood.

  
  

Ceremony and rank are critical in 11th century Japan.

• I loved how very little of what took place in this film was predictable. Triumph and tragedy were always paired, so that other than the universality of human suffering, there was no time to wallow in either optimism or pessimism in the film. Yet the net effect was profound empathy with these characters.
• While Sansho the Bailiff himself was rather a one-dimensional blustering tyrant, if played well by Eitarô Shindô, the real acting stars were the mother, Kinuyo Tanaka, who had to age prematurely, and her two grown children, played by Yoshiaki Hanayagi and Kyoko Kagawa. All three were terrific, but for me, Hanayagi, as the grown Zushio, was the standout. His character was required to transform from a rebellious young man, to a desperate beggar, to an authoritarian leader; he convinced in each transformation.

Sansho, as played by Eitarô Shindô.

Anju (right) in a moment of decision, conferring with a fellow slave.

Zushio (left) sets his jaw in defiance as his minister warns him 
not to incur the wrath of the overlords.

• The soundtrack of the film, credited to Fumio Hayasaka, Kinshichi Kodera, and Tamekichi Mochizuki, is also worth spending time studying. It wove Western-style harmonies with Japanese melodies throughout, and Tamaki's lament for her children appears in many scenes, both as sung by her, and as a background musical motif at key moments, is transporting. Listen to the opening theme here.

Where to Watch
DVDs are available from Criterion and the Masters of Cinema labels, and the film can currently be streamed on The Criterion Channel, on YouTube here, and is available to rent via Amazon Video and Apple TV.

Further Reading
For a fascinating exploration of mid-century Japanese cinema, Mizoguchi's place in it, and the layered themes of the film, go here.

Fifty Years of Film in 50 Weeks, #33: Split Second, 1953

"You know, Larry, if you've seen one atom bomb, you've seen them all."

Split Second, 1953

Director: Dick Powell
Writers: William Bowers and Irving Wallace from a story by Chester Erskine
Cinematographer: Nicholas Musuraca
Producer: Edmund Grainger for RKO Pictures
Starring: Steven McNally, Alexis Smith, Jan Sterling, Richard Egan, Keith Andes, Arthur Hunnicutt, Robert Paige, Paul Kelly.

Why I chose it
My interest in Dick Powell was piqued after his role in last week's film, The Bad and the Beautiful, and when this film that he directed popped up on my list, it was an easy choice. I was also interested in seeing secondary player Jan Sterling again. She was reliable and had a strong screen presence as moderately hard-boiled dames during the mid-century in such films as Appointment with Danger with Alan Ladd and Ace in the Hole with Kirk Douglas.

'No-spoiler' plot overview 
In a 1950s version of The Petrified Forest, two escaped convicts, through a couple of well-timed car jackings, take two men and two women hostage and hide out in an abandoned desert town in Nevada that is about to be obliterated by a nuclear bomb test. The lead convict, Sam Hurley (Steven McNally) demands that the physician husband (Richard Egan) of one of his hostages (Alexis Smith) come from the city to operate on his gravely wounded compatriot, who cannot travel any further. While all await the doctor's arrival, alliances form and dissolve, and the hostages' bargaining for their lives grows increasingly desperate as the clock ticks down. 

Production Background
This was the first film ever directed by Dick Powell, the former "song and dance man" and actor/crooner who had made an abrupt change to hard boiled roles in the mid-forties. Directing was another mountain he intended to summit, and he did. In a rather sad but ironic twist, while this film dealt with nuclear explosions, it was a later film that Powell directed, The Conqueror, near a former site of nuclear testing that is considered to have exposed cast and crew to harmful radiation. Many of them, including Powell, succumbed to cancer, although a precise link to that film cannot be proven.

The film was the only one produced at RKO during the brief tenure of entrepreneur Richard Slotkin, who had taken over the studio in a hostile maneuver, but then was ousted after his shady business practices came to light. 

Finally, in the "truth is stranger than fiction" category, actor Paul Kelly, who played the wounded convict, had been imprisoned in San Quentin for manslaughter after having killed his lover's husband in a drunken brawl in 1927. He ultimately married the new widow once they both got out of prison. His acting career resurrected, Kelly was successful on stage and in movies, even playing a warden in San Quentin in Duffy of San Quentin. He died in 1956.   

Dick Powell

Some other notable film-related events in 1953 (from Filmsite.org):

• Following the lead of James Stewart a few years earlier, seven-year contracts with actors were replaced by single-picture or multi-picture contracts.
• Ida Lupino (one of the few female directors of her era) directed the thrilling, noirish B-film drama The Hitch-Hiker (1953) -- the most successful film in her career. It was the story, based on a true-life account, of a cold-blooded, sadistic, psychotic mass murderer and kidnapper (William Talman). Its release during the height of the McCarthy "Red Scare" era reflected US paranoia about strangers.
• 1953 was the first year that the Academy Awards ceremony (honoring films released in 1952) were televised (on March 19, 1953), on black and white NBC-TV, with Bob Hope as host (in Hollywood at the RKO Pantages Theater) and Conrad Nagel (in New York at the NBC International Theatre). It was the first ceremony to be held simultaneously in two locations. It resulted in the largest single audience to date in TV's five-year commercial history - estimated to be 43 million.
• The landmark film of 50s rebellion, The Wild One (1953), by director Laslo Benedek and producer Stanley Kramer, was the first feature film to examine outlaw motorcycle gang violence in America. Marlon Brando portrayed a stunning, brooding, nomadic character - a delinquent archetype - in one of his central and early roles, popularizing the sale of black leather jackets and motorcycles after the film's release.

My Random Observations

• As I mentioned above, I was particularly eager to see another film with Jan Sterling, and she was excellent here. She has a kind of toughness but also tenderness and vulnerability. She seemed to look a little different to me from what I remembered from some of her other roles, and at first I didn't know why. A bit of research revealed that she'd had a nose job before this film, which she was open about at the time. What was a perfectly fine nose became just a bit daintier, but to me she lost some of her unique look.

Jan Sterling, as down on her luck Dottie Vail, who doesn't know yet
how much worse her luck will get.

Here's Jan Sterling in Appointment with Danger, pre-plastic surgery.

• If you're looking to be entertained for 90 minutes, you really can't go wrong if this one pops up at the top of your queue. It's taut, packed with interesting characters, and the interweaving storylines build suspense to the explosive conclusion. The only disappointment for me was the rather one-dimensional villain, Hurley, as played by McNally. Not much nuance there, but there was enough development in the other characters that rather made up for that. 

Does Mrs. Garvin (Alexis Smith) have a thing for her captor
Sam Hurley (Steven McNally)?

Dr. Garvin (Richard Egan) operates on Bart Moore (Paul Kelly) while 
Dottie plays nurse and Hurley looks on.

Mrs. Garvin is scared in a fast car drive by Hurley (McNally) with wounded
Bart Moore between them.

• Noted noir cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca can usually be counted on to deliver atmospheric scenes, and he did here as well. I enjoyed the variety of settings from the ghost town dark interiors to the aerial shots of the desert and nuclear testing ground, to the bright government offices. All in black and white, of course.
  
  

  

  An itinerant miner (Hunnicutt, left) fortuitously shows up to help
  the hostages. Here he confronts Hurley and Dummy (Frank DeKova).

  
  

  

  The business of government and the press collide. Newsman Larry
   (Keith Andes, far left) is told he is to report on a prison break
   instead of the nuclear test.

  
  

  

  Aerial shot of the ghost town - from the RKO lot.

  
  

  

  The only lights in a deserted Nevada desert town glimmer
  through cracks in the walls of an abandoned bar.

  
  
• I liked that the ending wasn't all "bad guys are vanquished and lovers happily reunite" that often accompanies Hollywood films from this era, even noir. While--spoilers here--not everyone survives, the outcome isn't necessarily predictable. I suppose what is predictable, though, is a heavy handed apocalyptic theme.

End credits begin over a mushroom cloud.

Where to Watch
The movie is currently available to stream on archive.org here, and it's been released on DVD by the Warner Archive label.

Further Reading
The excellent TCM article is here. The "Czar of Noir", Eddie Muller, always delivers great information when intro'ing and outro'ing movies on Noir Alley on TCM; check out his offerings for this movie here (intro) and here (outro). They are definitely worth your time.

Fifty Years of Film in 50 Weeks, #32: The Bad and the Beautiful, 1952

'Gaucho': Don't talk like that about Georgia - or Jonathan. He's a great man!

Lila: Hah hah. There are no great men, buster! There's only men!

The Bad and the Beautiful, 1952

Director: Vincente Minnelli
Writers: Charles Schnee, from a story by George Bradshaw
Cinematographer: Robert Surtees
Producer: John Houseman for MGM
Starring: Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Gloria Grahame, Barry Sullivan, Gilbert Roland

Why I chose it
I had tried at least three different times to watch this, and for whatever reason--it being late, or something coming up--I'd never finished it. Now was the time. It didn't hurt that it was a celebrated star-studded MGM feature from the tail end of the Hollywood studio system, a contrast from last week's Italian film.

'No-spoiler' plot overview 
Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas) is a powerful Hollywood producer who, during his own career ascent,  helped establish the careers of star Georgia Lorrison (Lana Turner), director Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan), and writer James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell). Unfortunately, his Machiavellian motives resulted in him abandoning each of them when they were no longer convenient. Fast forward several years, and Shields has found himself on the outs in Hollywood. Through his second in command, Harry Pebbel (Walter Pidgeon), Shields is desperate to make a comeback employing this aggrieved threesome. With the comeback ploy as a framing device, the film illustrates in sequential flashbacks, the details of his relationships with each of the three.

Harry Pebbel (W. Pidgeon, standing) convenes Jonathan
Shields' former associates Barstow, Lorrison, and Amiel.

Production Background
The original short story that the film was based on a story by George Bradshaw, Memorial to a Bad Man, about a unscrupulous producer on Broadway. It was changed, though, at the request of producer John Houseman at MGM, who had received the film assignment from new studio head Dory Schary. Houseman claimed to be sick of Broadway pictures (from an interview in Film Comment Journal in 1975). Another departure from standard was hiring director Vincente Minnelli, who was better known as a top director of musicals, even though he directed Madame Bovary in 1949. 

Houseman apparently had MGM star Robert Taylor in mind for the pivotal role of Jonathan Shields, but Minnelli wanted Douglas. Minnelli intended that Shields be a three-dimensional character, and told Douglas to play it for charm. Frequently during filming, Douglas would turn to Minnelli and say, "I was very charming in that scene, wasn't I?" (from an 1977 interview with Minnelli by Henry Sheehan).

The film was highly successful, earning over $400K. Gloria Grahame won Best Supporting Actress for her short (9 minutes) of screen time, shortest for an winner in that category for many years. The look of the film had many fans, as it also netted Oscars for screenplay, black-and-white cinematography, black-and-white costume design, and black-and white art direction.

Some other notable film-related events in 1952 (from Filmsite.org):

• The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) negotiated the first contracts in 1952 that granted performers-actors (including singers, announcers, stuntmen, and airplane pilots) residuals paid by studios for feature films sold to television.
• The first film to win a Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture (comedy or musical) - a newly-created category - was An American in Paris (1951), in the 1952 awards ceremony.
• 1952 was the last year that film comedian Charlie Chaplin produced a US film, Limelight (1952). During post-production, he traveled to Europe for premiere openings of the film in London and Paris. His INS application for re-entry into the US (since he was a resident alien) was revoked by Attorney General James McGranery (who called Chaplin an "unsavory character"), and he would have to submit to questions about his political and moral behavior before being allowed to return.
• MGM's swimming star Esther Williams appeared in her only biographical film role, as Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman in Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) - a title which became her popular nickname (and the title of her published autobiography in 1999).

My Random Observations

• Having watched so many different types of older films over the couple of decades, I sometimes forget how special it is to view a quality studio-era film that is bursting with stars--not just one or two A-listers, but a bushelful. That's what you get here. To the point that I was surprised that lesser star Barry Sullivan won one of the parts in the trio of characters spurned by Kirk Douglas's Jonathan Shields. And Gloria Grahame's Oscar-winning performance came only in the last third of the film. Folks, there is no doubt that this is truly a "classic Hollywood" gem.

Director Amiel (B. Sullivan, left) realizes he's getting the
shaft from Shields (K. Douglas).

This time it's Georgia Lorrison (L. Turner) who gets
rejected in dramatic fashion by Shields.

Gloria Grahame plays the loyal if flighty wife
of writer James Lee Barstow (D. Powell).

• I loved how this film made you feel that you were walking around an active film studio in late 1940s Hollywood. From the opening shot showing a film in production, to inner office meetings with moguls, it was just ... real. I suppose it didn't hurt that characters in the film were inspired by real folks ranging from directors Josef von Sternberg and Alfred Hitchcock, producers Val Lewton and David O. Selznick, to one-time star Diana Barrymore. 
  

In the opening scene, director Amiel (B. Sullivan) zooms in
on his star in a scene in progress.

A car approaches the gates of Shields Studio in Hollywood.

• One of my favorite Hollywood all-star blockbusters is All About Eve (1950). Watching this one gave me distinct vibes from that classic from just a couple years earlier. From the casts of luminaries, to the dry humor, the skewing of parts of the entertainment business, the melodrama, and of course top notch production teams, these two films seem as kissing cousins.
  
  Both of these films kept the skewering from going over the top, with just enough wit and fun to keep you enjoying your experience watching them. For a completely different portrayal of Hollywood's golden age, watch The Big Knife (1955). You'll feel that you had a knife inserted somewhere in your body after. I wrote about that film here.

Hollywood studio executives and creatives confer in 
The Bad and the Beautiful

The principal stars in All About Eve (from criterion.com)

• For my second installment of "Bit Player Bingo", I spied character actor/forever-associate-of-leading men Paul Stewart here. He had a great mug, a sharp Brooklyn accent perfect for noirs and urban procedurals, and a long resume of films and TV. His first credited role was in none other than Citizen Kane. Second and in an even smaller, and uncredited, role, is everyone's favorite 1950s mom with pearls (Leave It to Beaver), Barbara Billingsley.

Paul Stewart (right) looks on, at his usual position behind
the star Douglas.

Barbara Billingsley (standing) as a studio employee in the
costume department.

Where to Watch
Warner Archive released a blu-ray in 2019. Or you may stream the film on a number of platforms for a small fee. 

Further Reading
Fellow CMBA blogger Leah at "Cary Grant Won't Eat You" wrote an insightful analysis of the themes of the film here.
More background and production information can be found on Albany.edu film notes section here.