1957 - THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION - large scale epic about pulling a big cannon around Spain

Liberal producer Stanley Kramer had carved out a decent career making quasi goody two shoe films aka "message films" for Columbia pictures.  They were generally well made thanks to talented directors Kramer hired like Mark Robson, Fred Zimmerman and Richard Fleischer.  Kramer decided to move into directing as well as producing his own films and his skill as a director was to put it mildly uneven.  In 1957  Kramer really rolled the dice with a large scale production of a C.S. Forrester novel "The Gun" which was sort of a Bridge of San Luis Rey multi character story except instead of a bridge it was a really big cannon.

The film made considerable changes to the novel.  During the war with the French in the early 1800's the British send an officer who is an expert on field artillery to assist the Spanish guerillas.  The plot involves the guerillas hauling a huge cannon around the Spanish countryside in order to take part in an attack on a French fort.  The film ends with a large scale battle with the usual cast of thousands running around.  However the drama on this film was all behind the camera.

A very uncomfortable looking Cary Grant is the British artillery officer.  Grant did not usually take roles in period films as he felt he was more suited to comedy.  Grant apparently signed up for this film to escape from a troubled marriage in Hollywood.  Frank Sinatra was cast as the Spanish guerilla leader.  Well it can be said that Italian American Sinatra wearing brown makeup and a rather ridiculous wig was probably miscast.  Apparently Sinatra took the part to be near his then wife Ava Gardner also making a film in Spain, they were having marital problems as well.   

 

Finally there was Italian actor Sophia Loren who was trying to break into Hollywood.  This was about her second or third American production and her English was none to good.  The solution was to put her into lots of low cut blouses to distract from her dialog.  To top it all off Cary Grant decided he was in love with her and spent most of the film chasing her around.

 

All this foolishness with the cast was not going to help make this a good picture.  Stanley Kramer probably had his hands full dealing with these three actors and managing and expensive production. In spite of everything The Pride and the Passion is entertaining enough although it could have been a whole lot better.  The chief merits of this film were the excellent photography, interesting Spanish locations and the kind of viewing pleasure watching a large scale production with lots of large scale action scenes can provide.

The film was written and rather poorly by Edna and Albert Anhalt, the running time is 132 minutes. 

1956 - WAR AND PEACE, King Vidor's film of Tolstoy's novel on a very epic scale.

One of those big 1950's epic films.  Photographed in Italy for the most part and featuring a cast made up of Italian and American actors.  The producer Dino De Laurentiis as they liked to say in the film's advertising "spared no expense."

Apparently six credited screen writers were involved with the director King Vidor also doing rewrites during production.  England's top color cameraman Jack Cardiff was responsible for the photography of the film. For the time supposedly 18,000 Italian troops were hired to re-stage the battle scenes, primarily the famous Battle of Bordino.  Director King Vidor had handled complex productions in the past, The Big Parade, Hallelujah and Duel in the Sun with out losing sight of the personal stories of the characters but this film might have gotten away from him in this instance.

If the film had problems it was in the mixed cast.  Henry Fonda was all wrong as the pivotal character, Pierre Bezukhov, his American Midwestern affectations seem completely out of place for a film set in Russia.  Audrey Hepburn who was cast as Natasha Rostova at least looks the part of a Russian Countess.  However Hepburn insisted at the time that her husband Mel Ferrer play Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and he's kind of hopeless.

How's the film?  Well it's long, the color photography is good.  The sets are on a massive scale.  The battle scenes are well staged as is the burning of Moscow.  Frankly the mixed cast of Italian, British and American actors is kind of jarring at times. There is a lot of dubbing that had to occur to get everyone speaking in the same language, in this case English.  The sound has kind of a hollow reverb quality to it which can get fairly distracting.

 

This version of War and Peace is usually compared to the 1967 Russian version. But I think that this is a little unfair.  The two films were made at different time periods and are really two different interpretations of the same story.

 

Here we go, the film was written by Bridget Boland, Mario Camerini, Ennio De  Concini, Gian Gaspare Napolitano, Ivo Perilli, Mario Soldati, King Vidor and Robert Westerby.  The uncredited writers were, Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost, Sergio Amidei and supposedly Irwin Shaw and King Vidor's wife Florence Vidor.  The film is 208 minutes.

2017 - BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION, sequel/prequel to Baahuvali The Beginning obviously

The writer/director S.S Rajamouli wraps up his medieval Indian action epic with this odd prequel/sequel to the first film. This film is even longer than the first one if that was possible

There's still plenty to enjoy in this series but it does seem that a lot of time is spent on this "who is the rightful ruler of the kingdom" stuff at the expense of the action elements that made the first film so much fun. It appears that the filmmaker Rajamouli attempts to make up for some slow parts in his story by really pouring on the larger than life pageant scenes at the court which consists of lots of soldiers marching and standing around in impressive formations. 

 

This film is split into two parts, a prequel and a sequel as it were.  In the prequel we see the rightful ruler of the kingdom of Mahishmati, Amarendra Baahubali deal with court intrigue and betrayal as his cousin schemes to take the throne away from him and marry his wife.  This plot line goes on for most of the running time of the film and ends with Amarendra Baahubali's defeat.  From there the last 45 minutes of this film is a sort of sequel as Baahubali's son sets out to avenge his father and become the rightful heir to Mahishmati.

 

I suppose it was probably asking a lot for this film to be as exciting as the first one.  That's the way it usually goes with sequels it's hard to capture the excitement and thrill of the initial story.  Still this is an entertaining film

The running time is 171 minutes, the film was written by S. S. Rajamouli.

2015 - BAAHUBAI: THE BEGINNING, amazing epic Indian film.

 If you enjoy large scale action epics than Baahubali: The Beginning is the film for you.  This Indian epic was one of that country's highest grossing films and extremely popular films

The film was directed by S. S. Rajamouli a specialist in this epic film stuff.  Baahubali: The Beginning is set in ancient India and features the actor Prabhas in a dual role as a father and son who fight corruption in their kingdom over several generations.

It wouldn't be an Indian film without the inclusion of several musical numbers which actually seem to add to the narrative for a change instead of just stopping the story cold.  This film is long and flips back in forth in time to tell it's story. 

 

Particularly amazing are the action and large scale battle scenes throughout this film.  Obviously computer imagery played a big role in bringing these scenes to life.  For some reason Indian filmmakers seem to do a better job integrating this enhanced imagery with their actors, something Western filmmakers always seem to be struggling with.  Let's face it a lot of the CGI in western films always ends up looking very cartoonish.

This is an impressive action epic with an epic running time.  Baahubali: The Beginning is the first part of a two part story.  you can sit back and enjoy the  fabulous action scenes and the stunning imagery throughout the film.

The screenplay was by S. S. Rajamouli, the running time is 158 minutes.

1935 - THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII - entertaining 1930's epic

This tale of the ancient Roman Empire has it all, volcanoes erupting, gladiators, Christians being led to the slaughter and the typical epic cast of thousands.  It also has special appearances by Pontius Pilate and Jesus himself although he is never actually called that.

 The story concerns a blacksmith in Pompeii played by Preston Foster.  Foster's wife and child are injured by a runaway chariot of course.  Unable to pay for a doctor they die.  The grieving Foster decides to become a gladiator to gain as much wealth as possible.  Along the way he adopts an orphan boy who he raises as his son. How does Jesus fit into all of this?  Well Foster and his son travel to Judea to see the most important man in the world.  Thinking the man is Pontius Pilate, played by a curly haired Basil Rathbone (the best performance in the film). They encounter Jesus who performs a miracle on Foster's adopted son who has been injured and almost dies.

It's back to Pompeii where Foster is arranging one of those big gladiator showdowns in the local amphitheater.  A Christian sect has been captured and is about to become fodder for a bunch of blood thirsty gladiators.  Foster's adopted son has secretly become a Christian and he ends up in the amphitheater as well.  Just as things are about to get really bad, Mount Vesuvius erupts and brings the film to a rousing climax of death and destruction. It's a lot of story to be told in 90 minutes.

 

The filmmakers are Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack, the men behind the original King Kong.  Cooper and Schoedsack had been explorers in the 1920's and got into show biz where their films were what would be called high adventure.  Besides King Kong, they filmed She, Mighty Joe Young and The Most Dangerous Game.  No drawing room comedies for these guys.

 

The special effects were by stop motion animator Willis O'Brien and Vernon Walker and expert at creating optical effects. In the case Walker expertly blending actors with O'Brien's stop motion effects. 

This is a very entertaining 1930's film. Between the story and the big action finale you really can't go wrong.  Cooper and Schoedsack were always about putting on a good show.

The screenplay was by Ruth Rose, the running time is 96 minutes.

1922 - ROBIN HOOD, a spectacular film from Douglas Fairbanks.

An action adventure film from the man who invented the action hero, Douglas Fairbanks.  The film is in many ways an attempt to out do his previous action films, The Mark of Zorro and The Three Musketeers. 

The story of Robin Hood is told on an amazingly larger than life level.  Gigantic sets were built and then augmented with special effects to make them completely dwarf the actors.  It looks like hundreds it not thousands of extras were employed for the crowd scenes.

Douglas Fairbanks was known for doing a lot of his own stunts and this film is not an exception.  Fairbanks was a superb athlete and many of the action scenes were clearly thought out and executed by Fairbanks himself.

 

The director of Robin Hood was Allan Dwan but the real driving force and creative person in this film is Fairbanks himself.  Not only was Douglas Fairbanks the producer who had complete control of the film, he also wrote the screenplay.

 

Robin Hood is an entertaining and important film in the Hollywood film cannon.  It made Fairbanks a lot of money.

Written by Douglas Fairbanks, the running time is 127 minuets.

1922 - THE LOVES OF PHARAOH aka The Wife of the Pharaoh

One of the most important directors in early film history.  Ernest Lubitsch started out in silent films in Germany and made the transition to sound films in the United States until his death from a heart attack.  Lubitisch is chiefly remembered as a director who was good with intimate stories of love and romance.  But for whatever reason, probably just to show he could do it, he made a few epic films.  The Loves of Pharaoh is one of these.

The film stars one of the biggest stars in silent cinema Emil Jannings.  He was big stuff for a while until World War II when he starred in a lot of propaganda films for the Nazis during the war.  This didn't really work out very well for him.  After the war he was finished in the film business due to his association with the Nazi party.

 

Well anyway Jannings plays the Pharaoh of Egypt who happens to fall in love with a slave girl and all hell breaks lose as only it can in one of these larger than life stories.  This story was shot on a massive production level with huge sets and large scale battle scenes.  The film is well staged by Lubitsch who for a man who preferred to make more intimate stories did a very good job on this larger than life story.  The Loves of Pharaoh is certainly worth a look for the production values and battle scenes alone.

The film was written by Norbert Falk and Hanns Kräly.  The film exists on YouTube in a very good copy.  The running time is 100 minutes.

1923 - THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, first DeMIlle version

There are film historians who think that Cecil B. DeMille's first version of the biblical story about the Jew's exodus from Egypt,  is a lot better than his Vista Vision epic which he filmed in 1956,  the older version  certainly moves along story telling wise much better than the ponderous and very long version he remade with Charlton Heston.

DeMille and his writer Jeanie MacPherson sure keep things hopping along.  A decision to essentially split the film into two different stories allowed for DeMille to pour on the spectacle of the Bible story with large sets and impressive special effects for 1923.

 After the parting of the Red Sea in the first half of the film, the story jumps ahead to the present day and we get a tale that dramatizes the different Commandments as they apply to modern life. The modern tale is about two brothers, one who follows the Commandments and the other who doesn't and even  bad mouths God.  You know how he is going to end up.

 

Silent film brought out the best in DeMille, his staging and direction of the film is at times quite impressive.  Silent film also helped rein in the worst aspects of his film making, essentially sparing the audience from having to endure the ponderous dialog and wooden performances that usually plagued his sound films.

 

This film is an impressive achievement.  The running time is 136 minutes.

1956 - ILYA MUROMETS, incredibly large scale Russian epic

 It's big, it's crazy, it's a large scale Russian epic and I do mean large scale. 

Everything about the film is larger than life, the widescreen photography, the cast of thousands, the overacting, the sets, you name it.

 

The film ends with a spectacular battle using an actual fire breathing dragon all of things. Very impressive and remember this is 1950's technology.

 

I've said it before but this a one of it's kind watching experience.

Running time 83 minutes. Written by Mikhail Kochnev.

1970 - WATERLOO, large scale recreation of the famous battle

This is a large scale film with literally a cast of around 15,000 people, (in this case the Russian Army) in a re staging of Napoleon's defeat at the hands of the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo a town located in Belgium.  Probably only one person, Sergei Bondarchuk the director of the large scale Russian version of War and Peace and his team could have pulled off the impressive battle scenes in the last half of the film.

The film for all of it's impressive physical production had some huge problems.  Chiefly, the very poor story and screenplay by H.A.L. Craig which does not do a good job of explaining the importance of the battle or the strategies of Napoleon and his counterpart the Duke of Wellington.  The characterization of the two commanders is also not really developed very well and you don't get a sense of who these men were and what their motivations were before and during the battle.

 

The film also has a big problem in the casting of Rod Steiger as Napoleon.  Steiger and actor from New York gave a real over the top performance and certainly doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word subtle with his portrayal of the "Little Corporal."  On the other hand we have Christopher Plummer who doesn't give much of a performance as Wellington.  If Steiger is loud and obnoxious, Plummer is so stiff and uncomfortable it's hard to get a handle on his character.

 

What the film has to recommend it are the spectacular battle scenes and they are something to see.  The money on the production was certainly well spent on the staging of these scenes.  Of course with current film making techniques these battle scenes would all be created digitally.  Still there is something to be said for seeing actual people reenacting this famous battle.

Screenplay and story by H.A.L. Craig, Sergei Bondarchuk, Vittorio Bonicelli, and Mario Soldati.

1956 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, one of those 50's super spectaculars

 This was the big one for 1956,  It won many awards and was very popular with movie going audiences.  The producer was a man called Michael Todd who was apparently quite the showman.  He was also known for his chutzpah a man so brash he somehow got Elizabeth Taylor then in her mid twenties to marry him.  Todd was forty seven years old at the time.

Todd was one of the original founders of Cinerama, the wide screen movie process.  He split from that company and patented his own widescreen format called Todd-AO.  Looking for a suitable movie to showcase his widescreen miracle,  Todd decided to make a film out of Jules Verne's Around The World in 80 Days.  Basically pumping all of his money into the film Todd actually found himself with a substantial hit. 

 

The film today looks very much like a widescreen super spectacle.  Lots of photography of scenery, (the film was shot in a lot of different locations) at the expense of a well paced story.  The actors, particularly David Niven have to work hard to have some kind of a presence in the film.  The Mexican actor known as Cantinflas, was hired to play Niven's faithful servant. Cantinflas carries much of the load in the film with lots of unfunny physical comedy.  Cantinflas is unsual casting in that he was primarily known as a verbal comedian in Mexico.

The film is entertaining when the viewer isn't being bombarded with lots of scenic vistas.  The last hour of the film is entertaining. This film is so over the top that the ending credits by Saul Bass run six minutes. 

 

To ensure box office success, Todd loaded the film up with lots of Hollywood actors in parts he called cameos.  The film is almost a record over 1950's actors.

The running time is a whopping 182 minutes.  The screenwriters were James Poe,  John Farrow and S.J. Perelman.

1961 - EL CID, hugh epic filmed on an epic scale

The director is Anthony Mann, the producer is Samuel Bronston.  The film is huge.  A cast literally of thousands, real castles and massive battle scenes.

Charlton Heston is the legendary Spanish knight fighting to save his country from the Moors while dealing with a worthless King. Sophia Loren is his impossibly beautiful wife and the rest of the cast is the usual bunch of British actors hired to class these kind of films up.

They don't make them like this anymore and they never will again.  Viewing the film just for the large scale production values is certainly worth it.  The film also has a very memorable ending.

 

The film was written by Philip Yordan, Fredric M. Frank and Ben Barzman.  It has an epic running time of 184 minutes.

1928 - THE TRAIL OF 98, a spectacular silent film

Clarence Brown's spectacular epic about the Klondike gold rush was filmed on a large scale.  Almost every scene has a large scale quality to it.  The story involves a group traveling to Alaska in search of gold and encountering many hardships along the way.

 

The film was also a hardship to make behind the camera.  Thousands of men were employed in a spectacular scene climbing a mountain pass in -60 degree weather.  Another scene involved a river rapids stunt which ended up killing 4 stuntmen.  Watching the out of control river with boats sailing down it is impressive and rather frightening.

The film stars early Harry Carey and Dolores Del Rio.  Carey went on to be associated with John Ford early in Ford's career.  Del Rio was one of the most beautiful women to grace the screen.

This silent film has that weird synchronized sound track where there is music and background noise but no actual actors mouthing dialog.  Still, this is an extremely impressive film which ranks up there with other epic film.

The screenplay was by Joseph Farnham. Benjamin Glazer, Robert Service and Waldemar Young, the film runs 97 minutes.

1965 - THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL, big budget western comedy

 This large scale western/comedy wanted to be another Mad Mad Mad Mad World, but it's not really very funny.  The Hallelujah Trail was a disaster for the filmmaker John Sturges who up to this point was considered one of the best directors of action films during the 1960's.

Somehow Sturges got it in his head that the public wanted to see these kind of large scale epics.  The problem was that Sturges had never demonstrated any particular skill with crazy comedies throughout his career.

Although The Hallelujah Trail is generally considered a failure as a film I enjoyed it for the technical skill that the production team brought to the film.  Nobody knows how to stage a film in the great outdoors like John Sturges.

 

This epic film has an epic length, 165 minutes.  It was written by John Gay who usually wrote dramas.

1939 - THE FOUR FEATHERS. there will always be an imperalist England

Almost a dry run for Lawrence of Arabia. This large scale and big budget film is impressive for the on location photography and battle scenes filmed in the Sudan in Technicolor.  This is a considerable achievement, the early Technicolor cameras were huge and weren't actually film friendly when it came to moving these monsters around on dollies and cranes.

The is a very old fashioned adventure.  The story was probably a little dated when it was filmed but the basic situation of an ex soldier having to prove he isn't a coward is rather interesting.

The film was directed by Zoltan Korda and produced by his brother Alexander Korda. This family practically invented the British film industry.  The film looks good in another well done Criterion presentation.

 

Written by R. C. Sheriff, Lajos Biro and Arthur Wimperis.

Running time 130 minutes.

1965 - IN HARM'S WAY, Otto Preminger's navy epic

Otto Preminger's World War II epic about navy life was dismissed by most critics when it was released but it's a good film that deserved better.   John Wayne is front and center in one of those all star casts.  Patricia Neal is his love interest and is a strong enough actor to stand up to the Duke.  Kirk Douglas plays an antihero character who is Admiral Wayne's second in command.  

Preminger rounded up a decent supporting cast and the wide screen black and white photography at times looks pretty spectacular.  The final sea battle was criticized for looking a little too much like models in a studio swimming pool.  The battle is certainly a noisy confusing mess but real war is a noisy confusing mess.

Everyone expected fireworks from the liberal director and the very right wing star but apparently they were very respectful of each other.  

A good war drama that the public stayed away from unfortunately.

165 minutes, written by Wendell Mayes.

1947 - UNCONQUERED, Another DeMille epic impressive and ridiculous.

Here he goes again.  DeMille films another historical epic where he uses American history to warp and shape it to his needs.  In this case it's the Pontiac Rebellion of 1763.  Or it's Gary Cooper and Paulette Goddard vs white villain Howard De Silva who is selling what else, guns to the Indians.

All of the interesting DeMille stuff is here the methodical staging of scenes that are reminiscent of tableau's, the odd use of back project during the epic action scenes and most interestingly the manipulation of Paulette Goddard in some sort of sexual torture fetish scene.

As typical with DeMille, the actors are directed to play it very broad.  Since this is a larger than life story Gary Cooper can pull it off.  The underrated Paulette Goddard is the chief female that everyone slobbers over.  Goddard plays a slave so she is subject to all sorts of  the usual DeMille perversions.

Well how to rate this film?  The 40's technicolor is gorgeous, the mishmash of historical figures (oh look it's George Washington) is as wacky as usual.  The plot, overlong and convoluted as usual.  A typical late 40's DeMille film.

146 minutes, written by Charles Bennett, Fredric M. Frank, Jesse Louis Lasky Jr. and Jeanie MacPherson.