Describe a scene from a movie we have screened in this course. What makes this scene so memorable? Is it funny, inspiring, satirical, tragic, or just amazingly beautiful?
My favorite scene from a film that we have watched would be when the Mayor and Sherriff are discussing Williams hanging. A man named Pettibone then comes in bringing the Sheriff and the mayor the reprieve for Williams hanging. The Mayor then tries to bribe Pettibone into coming to work for him if he doesn’t say anything and pretends he never brought the letter. Pettibone is too honest and too oblivious of a man to take the offer which makes the scene so funny. One of the reasons the scene is so funny is the way that Pettibone carries himself and acts. Some of the things Pettibone says are also very funny for example, when Pettibone mentions that the governor went duck fishing he also mentions the governor is wearing a red hat, this is funny because the mayor and the sheriff don’t notice this. Another reason Pettibone is so funny is his facial expressions, when the Sheriff answers the phone and is freaking out, Pettibone’s face is wide eyed and surprised looking. The final reason as to why Pettibone is so funny is because he does not realize that the Sheriff and the Mayor are trying to bribe him. The dialogue between the Mayor and Pettibone shows how funny the scene really is.
I loved the movie The General, so any scene would work at being my favorite. However, I really thought the scene towards the beginning was hilarious when Buster Keaton is at the ladies house and then the two children are sitting watching him & his love. He then picks up his hat and begins to leave. He holds the door open for teh children and then takes about a half step out the door then he closes the door and leaves the children outside so that he can be alone with the lady. This scene cracked me up. The scene was very witty and comical. You learn early on what type of humor will occur throughout the film. This humor is simple but very witty, which makes it stand out.
Although it belongs to the film that has done the least for me, I'm a fan of the ending to The Last Laugh. We've just witnessed a pretty pathetic spectacle, the doorman-turned-washroom-attendant stripped of all dignity and despairing to such an extent that he will surely die of it. The intertitles then essentially tell us that what he have seen to that point is real life, and what we are about to see is sheer improbability, bestowed on the ex-doorman out of pity. The scene that follows drips with irony. When we first meet the main character again, he is hidden by an enormous elaborate dish that shields his entire face from view. He gorges himself and gestures elaborately like society's finest to the point of ridiculousness. Teams of people wait on him and his friend, who is lower-class; the doorman-turned-washroom-attendant-turned-millionaire, unlike the other wealthy jerks who parade around, is a compassionate and generous man, after all, the perfect neighbor, loved by all. 'All' includes the new washroom attendant, in whom our hero sees himself, and in whose hair our hero smears soap in his gestures of compassion. As he leaves, he drops a tip into a line of fawning hotel employees. By the time the ex-doorman, his dining companion, and a new recipient of the ex-doorman's endless generosity all ride away, our hero waving to the adoring crowds behind his, it is more than clear that this entire scene serves primarily to contrast everything that came before. What a ridiculous concept, every elaborate, overacted moment tells us: this unexpected inheritance, the dignity and self-respect that accompanies the money, the lives he thinks he touches with the tips he throws to the poor as if they were a wishing well. Murnau's ending is the anti-happy ending, an almost direct parody of the audience-pleasing pap that, in his mind, contradicts realism. Is a happy ending an inherently contrived thing? Of course not. But the doorman's story was never meant to end that way, and in filming the ending with irony dripping from every frame, Murnau found the way to please the studios and stick it to them, too.
Like Brian, one of the more memorable scenes I think comes from a film which was ok, but not my favorite. The final scene of bicycle theives when the father tries to steal the bike, is truly a tragic one, and despite some arguement I believe the scene caps up the whole point of the film. After this whole ordeal of trying to find his bike, we find the father in a state of such desperation that he must abandon his morals and steal a bike for the sake of his wife and son. The ordeal is a common one, when pushed into a corner when is it acceptable to push and bend morality when survival is at stake. Regardless of your view on the matter this scene is meant to highlight the grief stricken life of postwar Italy. Life was so hard, and poverty such an issue that society took on this dog eat dog mentality. Even the most valiant and stand up citizen at some point had to do something less then savory becuase they had no other choice. The dilema is tragic, and the scene portrays this moral quandry well.
My favorite scene from a film that we have watched would be when the Mayor and Sherriff are discussing Williams hanging. A man named Pettibone then comes in bringing the Sheriff and the mayor the reprieve for Williams hanging. The Mayor then tries to bribe Pettibone into coming to work for him if he doesn’t say anything and pretends he never brought the letter. Pettibone is too honest and too oblivious of a man to take the offer which makes the scene so funny.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons the scene is so funny is the way that Pettibone carries himself and acts. Some of the things Pettibone says are also very funny for example, when Pettibone mentions that the governor went duck fishing he also mentions the governor is wearing a red hat, this is funny because the mayor and the sheriff don’t notice this. Another reason Pettibone is so funny is his facial expressions, when the Sheriff answers the phone and is freaking out, Pettibone’s face is wide eyed and surprised looking. The final reason as to why Pettibone is so funny is because he does not realize that the Sheriff and the Mayor are trying to bribe him. The dialogue between the Mayor and Pettibone shows how funny the scene really is.
I loved the movie The General, so any scene would work at being my favorite. However, I really thought the scene towards the beginning was hilarious when Buster Keaton is at the ladies house and then the two children are sitting watching him & his love. He then picks up his hat and begins to leave. He holds the door open for teh children and then takes about a half step out the door then he closes the door and leaves the children outside so that he can be alone with the lady. This scene cracked me up. The scene was very witty and comical. You learn early on what type of humor will occur throughout the film. This humor is simple but very witty, which makes it stand out.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it belongs to the film that has done the least for me, I'm a fan of the ending to The Last Laugh. We've just witnessed a pretty pathetic spectacle, the doorman-turned-washroom-attendant stripped of all dignity and despairing to such an extent that he will surely die of it. The intertitles then essentially tell us that what he have seen to that point is real life, and what we are about to see is sheer improbability, bestowed on the ex-doorman out of pity. The scene that follows drips with irony. When we first meet the main character again, he is hidden by an enormous elaborate dish that shields his entire face from view. He gorges himself and gestures elaborately like society's finest to the point of ridiculousness. Teams of people wait on him and his friend, who is lower-class; the doorman-turned-washroom-attendant-turned-millionaire, unlike the other wealthy jerks who parade around, is a compassionate and generous man, after all, the perfect neighbor, loved by all. 'All' includes the new washroom attendant, in whom our hero sees himself, and in whose hair our hero smears soap in his gestures of compassion. As he leaves, he drops a tip into a line of fawning hotel employees. By the time the ex-doorman, his dining companion, and a new recipient of the ex-doorman's endless generosity all ride away, our hero waving to the adoring crowds behind his, it is more than clear that this entire scene serves primarily to contrast everything that came before. What a ridiculous concept, every elaborate, overacted moment tells us: this unexpected inheritance, the dignity and self-respect that accompanies the money, the lives he thinks he touches with the tips he throws to the poor as if they were a wishing well. Murnau's ending is the anti-happy ending, an almost direct parody of the audience-pleasing pap that, in his mind, contradicts realism. Is a happy ending an inherently contrived thing? Of course not. But the doorman's story was never meant to end that way, and in filming the ending with irony dripping from every frame, Murnau found the way to please the studios and stick it to them, too.
ReplyDeleteLike Brian, one of the more memorable scenes I think comes from a film which was ok, but not my favorite. The final scene of bicycle theives when the father tries to steal the bike, is truly a tragic one, and despite some arguement I believe the scene caps up the whole point of the film. After this whole ordeal of trying to find his bike, we find the father in a state of such desperation that he must abandon his morals and steal a bike for the sake of his wife and son. The ordeal is a common one, when pushed into a corner when is it acceptable to push and bend morality when survival is at stake. Regardless of your view on the matter this scene is meant to highlight the grief stricken life of postwar Italy. Life was so hard, and poverty such an issue that society took on this dog eat dog mentality. Even the most valiant and stand up citizen at some point had to do something less then savory becuase they had no other choice. The dilema is tragic, and the scene portrays this moral quandry well.
ReplyDelete