Part 5 of the Library of Congress features 5 films. 3 of which are NOT silent, and 4 of which are close to an hour a piece. Watched over the last several months as I've happened upon them. Here is a brief write up on each.
Big Business (1929) [8/10]
Stan Laurel &
Oliver Hardy are a fun pair. This short film gives you a good taste of their comedy. Something that I could easily see fitting into a scene from a feature length film, yet standing on its own very well. At only 19 minutes this is the shortest film in this listing of the LoC. It is the best not because of its length, but instead for its entertainment value.
This film was actually very hard to find. It is part of the Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy Volume 1, a very expensive buy on Amazon and removed from Youtube. I greatly appreciate the individual that gave this to me and hope to watch the entire lost films collection eventually. If you can find it then check it out.
The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944) [7/10]
The Germans had the Red Baron, the Americans had the Memphis Belle. A USAAF Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress that was in 25 complete missions in Europe including a very important one over German. This documentary shouldn't be confused with the fictional remake of the 1990s, it is easy to find from government archive footage and features some pretty good footage of the Memphis Belle in action. Not the most exciting however, and not something I'd watch again. If you are a WWII or fighter plane nut you should watch this.
Sky High (1922) [6/10]
The 6/10 is very generous for this 1920s silent western. Really only good for its camera footage of a stunt man REALLY flying over the Grand Canyon. The first flight over the canyon was for this movie. Pretty cool, and I wouldn't want to be the first in a rickety 1920's plane. Someone had to be, and if you can find the 5 minutes of footage of this then skip the boring plot of this pretty basic silent "save-the-damsel-in-distress" film.
The March (1964) [6/10]
I fail to understand why the Library of Congress wants to add a film like this to the archive. Less than a handful of people have seen it, there aren't even 5 votes on imdb, including my own for this one. I fully understand why they THINK it needs to be in here. It is archive footage from the million man march, but I think they are diverging a little from the idea of archiving historic memorable film. Are their no other editions of the million man march out there? A CBS or NBC documentary? Something that millions watched in their homes, rather than something narrated by a white guy just for this archive? I like the idea, but not the film.
A Time for Burning (1967) [5/10]
Here is a film that looks at the burning issue of segregation in a small town in Nebraska. Nominated for an Academy Award, this film follows a local priest that attempts to unify his church racially just to see his congregation reject the idea and kick him out. He had support from some, but without everyone on board it collapsed. This collapse had happened before, so it was expected. But it brought forth a lot of those issues, and for its time hopefully was an inspirational film.
A pretty average group, nothing all that exciting, nothing that was really that bad. Until next time...
This film has been giving me writers block for about a week. It is hard to form an opinion on a film where I fail to understand so much. This is Ingmar Bergman's last feature length film and it was quite a challenge to get through.
