1954: On the Waterfront 6/10
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Don Lope de Aguirre |
Rate the Director: Elia Kazan |
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1951: A Streetcar Named Desire 5/10
1954: On the Waterfront 6/10 |
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Anasazie |
Re: Rate the Director: Elia Kazan | ||
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1. On the Waterfront (1954) 6/10
2. The Last Tycoon (1976) 5/10 3. East of Eden (1955) 4/10 |
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wpqx |
Re: Rate the Director: Elia Kazan | ||
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) - 9/10
A Gentleman's Agreement (1947) - 10/10 Boomerang! (1947) - 8/10 Sea of Grass (1947) - 8/10 Pinky (1949) - 8/10 Panic in the Streets (1950) - 8/10 A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) - 10/10 Viva Zapata (1952)-9/10 On the Waterfront (1954) - 10/10 East of Eden (1955) - 10/10 Baby Doll (1956) - 8/10 A Face in the Crowd (1957) - 9/10 Wild River (1960) - 8/10 Splendor in the Grass (1961) - 10/10 America America (1963) - 10/10 The Arrangment (1969) - 9/10
Last Edited By: wpqx
7-Feb-09 11:11 AM.
Edited 1 times.
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A |
Re: Rate the Director: Elia Kazan | ||
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Seen a few when I was younger, but I need to see more of Kazan's output.
1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945 / USA) 9/10 2. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) 7/10 3. On the Waterfront (1954 / USA) 7/10 2. East of Eden (1955) 9/10
Last Edited By: A
29-Jan-09 09:52 AM.
Edited 1 times.
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R6dw6C |
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1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) 10/10 (24)
2. Gentleman's Agreement (1947) 8/10 (20) 3. A Streetcar named Desire (1951) 10/10 - 24/25 4. Viva Zapata! (1952) 10/10 - 23/25 5. On the Waterfront (1954) 9/10 (23) 6. East of Eden (1955) 10/10 - 24/25 7. A Face in the Crowd (1956) 9/10 - 22/25 8. America, America (1963) 9/10 - 22/25 9. The Arrangement (1969) 9/10 (in bad need of another viewing as soon as possible) 10. The Visitors (1972) 9/10 - 23/25
Last Edited By: R6dw6C
29-Apr-09 08:47 AM.
Edited 7 times.
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wpqx |
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I'll admit my rating of The Arrangement is high by most people's standards but the film was very imaginative to me. Kazan was certainly embracing the
freer film language of the day and played with editing in a way that wasn't really noticeable in his early work. It's autobiographical nature seemed to
work against it when it was released, but I'm a big fan of Kazan's self reflective work (America, America). There is a Warner DVD of it that gives it
the proper aspect ratio and color treatment.
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R6dw6C |
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I'll admit my rating of The Arrangement is high by most people's standards but the film was very imaginative to me. Kazan was certainly embracing the freer film language of the day and played with editing in a way that wasn't really noticeable in his early work.I'm glad to hear that since it is exactly what I'm hoping for (though maybe not what I expected but the strong realism yet visual stylization in "America, America" already tought me about Kazans change of form in his later years). It (still) seems to be common thinking that Kazan was brilliant in directing actors but that he was cinematically dull and conventional - I'm amazed everytime I come across a quite like that since there is such a strong visual continuity in the films I've seen and the (partial) compositional complexity and cinematic quality (overall) of, lets say, "Viva Zapata!" or "East of Eden" can't be totally denied, can it? This is what I wrote elsewhere about this topic: I strongly dislike the overall consensus about Kazan being a "stagey" and "non-cinematic" director. I've only seen six of his films (STREETCAR, ZAPATA, WATERFRONT, EDEN, A FACE IN THE CROWD and AMERICA, AMERICA) but all of them are bound together by a very strong visual impact, complex compositions, just marvellous cinematography. And though he worked with different DOPs on those six films, they all got many things in common regarding the photography and the editing. My guess is that he always preferred b&w instinctively and worked out a more distinguished formal concept with it as he did in EAST OF EDEN (though his use of color also is remarkable). AMERICA, AMERICA and VIVA ZAPATA probably have some of the greatest moments of black-and-white photography I've seen so far. Regarding "America, America", the self reflective basement does, in my opinion, both harm and good to the film - in a little comment I wrote about it (in German), I compared it to Emanuele Crialeses "Nuovomondo" (2006) and while that film isn't nearly as remarkable (it is rather weak, actually), it has similar faults, caused by different reasons, I guess. My feeling was that Kazan maybe treated this fairly personal, familiar material with a little too much respect and veneration - and therefore (just my impression) didn't manage to get much more than a very authentic "reconstruction" of his family's history out of it. That alone makes the film stunning and grand in its own right, but I simply missed the "narrative transcendence" or, to be more precise, the overall ambiguity which I loved so much about the other five films, most notably the wonderfully mysterious dramaturgy of "Viva Zapata!". Hopefully, my birthday will bring me a little money so that I can purchase THE ARRANGEMENT.
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wpqx |
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America America was my favorite Kazan when I first saw it, but that was 9 years ago or so by now, so it definitely needs to be revisited, just a shame after
all this time it still hasn't been released on DVD here.
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