Other Dashiell Writings:

The Good, The Bad and The Silly
The Limey
Bringing Out
The Dead
Being John Malkovich

A Crash Course in Studios

Kane Reaction

A Guided Tour
BY CHRIS DASHIELL

One of the greatest pleasures for a movie lover is to get a guided tour through film from a master. A PERSONAL JOURNEY WITH MARTIN SCORSESE THROUGH AMERICAN MOVIES is a documentary produced for British television and available on three videos.

Scorsese just sits and talks, in a relaxed manner that seems almost off-the-cuff, presenting a lot of very well-chosen film clips, and the time flies by. His focus is on the American director, in four sections: The Director as Storyteller, The Director as Smuggler, The Director as Illusionist, and The Director as Iconoclast.

Although he mentions some major figures and films, a lot of time is spent on the non-so-well-known, underappreciated, and obscure. I never thought anyone could make me want to go see Delmer Daves' The Red House, or inspire me to investigate the ouevre of Tay Garnett, but Scorsese has a way of unearthing little gems and showing you how they sparkle. He can even convince you that DeMille's The Ten Commandments (both versions, but particulary the later one) is a beautiful work of art.

In this show he also has a habit of picking lesser-known films by famous directors. When he talks about Howard Hawks, he shows you Land of the Pharaohs, with Vincente Minnelli (along with the expected clips from The Band Wagon and other musicals) we get Some Came Running. While we're on the subject - Minnelli emerges as perhaps Scorsese's biggest American influence, next to Kazan.

The first section deals with the western, the musical, and the gangster film. John Ford, Anthony Mann, and Budd Boetticher are generously represented. Scarface, Public Enemy and Raoul Walsh's great The Roaring Twenties are canonized. The idea of the director as smuggler is perhaps Scorsese's most potent one - he goes to great lengths to show how studio directors got around the restrictions of the Code through symbolism and suggestion, and this section is heavy on the film noir, with a big dose of Sam Fuller. The director as illusionist focuses on technique - editing, camera placement and movement, the development of sound and widescreen. The director as iconoclast spotlights those artists who chose to rebel outright - mavericks like Welles, of course, and Kubrick. (And here once again, the lesser-seen film is highlighted: Lolita.)

It's a personal journey rather than a documentary history - the show is as about the directors that Scorsese is passionate about, the ones that have helped shape his work. He leaves out a lot of big names, such as Hitchcock and Capra and Wilder, to name only a few, because there simply isn't enough time, but also because this is his chance to nudge us towards some of the more underrated films and artists.

Scorsese recently did a guest shot on Ebert's show. Ebert and Scorsese? Don't get me started. That's like saying Neil Simon and Shakespeare. Or maybe Andrew Lloyd Webber and Beethoven. All I know is I could listen to this guy talk about movies for hours.