Eclipse Series 27: Raffaello Matarazzo’s Runaway Melodramas

Discuss releases in the Janus Contemporaries, Eclipse, and Essential Art House lines and the films on them.
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Lemmy Caution
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:26 am
Location: East of Shanghai

Re: Eclipse Series 27: Raffaello Matarazzo’s Runaway Melodra

#76 Post by Lemmy Caution » Fri Aug 22, 2014 2:11 pm

I enjoyed Nobody's Children.
The mother as villain is a good, even if she thinks she's doing what is in her son's best interest. I liked the quarry scenes and worker concerns and how they are at the whims of a count and his aging mother. Anselmo makes a good villain with his blocky figure and mustache. Then at one point we get a bunch of melodramatic twists that come real fast.
Coincidences and unlikelihoods right out of Dickens and Shakespeare.

There does seem to be a scene missing, when they boy overhears Anselmo's plot against the quarry. Things get rather crazy when Anselmo steals away the baby and incidentally burns the house down.

White Angel, the sequel, mostly tried my patience.
There didn't seem much need to follow these characters more.
The count has very little to do in this film. In fact everyone is rather subdued and uncompelling. Then there was a failing of mine, as I really couldn't recognize the burlesque girl and the nun as the same person (even though the same actress), which kind of ruined the (semi-ridiculous) doppelganger theme. I had trouble staying engaged with this, though things perked up a bit in the prison towards the end. Though much of this seemed perfunctory and a bit ludicrous (ie. the tough girl's undying enmity for not passing a piece of wax quickly enough; two people being summoned to the prison as though this is normal and complying without asking why, etc).

Will likely get to the other two films soon.

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