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'ELIA KAZAN COLLECTION' INDISPENSIBLE FOR FANS OF DIRECTOR'S WORK
By BRUCE DANCIS
Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/11/08/2407941/elia-kazan-collection-indispensible.html
Nov 8 2010
Elia Kazan reached the highest heights of the Broadway stage and
the Hollywood screen. On stage, after working with the legendary
Group Theatre in the 1930s he directed the premieres of Tennessee
Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and
Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" and "Death of a Salesman." On screen,
he won Academy Awards for directing "Gentleman's Agreement" and
"On the Waterfront" and coaxed some of the greatest performances in
film from Marlon Brando, James Dean, Eva Marie Saint, Julie Harris,
Andy Griffith, Karl Malden and others. Altogether, nine Oscars were
won by actors in Kazan's films.
The power and impact of Kazan's work can be seen in "The Elia Kazan
Collection," an 18-disc box set that includes 15 of Kazan's most
important movies and a new, personal documentary, "A Letter to Elia,"
from one of his most expressive fans, film director Martin Scorsese,
and Kent Jones (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, $199.98,
not rated).
But there is another important part of Kazan's legacy: A member
of the Communist Party for 18 months in the mid-1930s, during the
McCarthy Era he became one of the most famous former communists to
"name names," or inform, on his one-time friends and allies. In 1952,
Kazan was still a major progressive filmmaker in Hollywood when he was
twice summoned to appear before the House Committee on Un-American
Activities (HUAC), which was looking into left-wing influences in
the motion picture industry. (Many would call such hearings "witch
hunts.") In his first testimony, Kazan talked about his own involvement
with communism and his subsequent disenchantment and revulsion with
both the American party and the Soviet Union, the United States'
erstwhile ally in the Second World War. But when asked to give the
committee the names of his former comrades, he refused.
Several months later, Kazan apparently had a change of heart, and
named some of his former friends and associates in the Group Theatre,
as well as a few others, as Communist Party members. Unlike other
"friendly witnesses" who cooperated with HUAC, Kazan then took out
a full-page ad in the New York Times defending his current liberal
politics, his view of the Soviet Union as a tyrannical dictatorship and
a threat to world peace, and his decision to implicate others. "It was
because Kazan seemed to take the social content of his art so seriously
that his appearance before HUAC caused such astonished dismay among
many of his friends and colleagues," wrote Victor Navasky in his book
about the Hollywood blacklist, "Naming Names."
In subsequent years, Kazan said that he had faced two "evil" choices
when called before HUAC to become an informer, but save his career;
or to refuse to cooperate, which would aid a movement (communism) and
a country (the Soviet Union) he now despised, while also jeopardizing
his career. He went on to make at least two movies that appear to
justify his behavior: "On the Waterfront" (1954), where the hero
(Brando) testifies in court against a murderous, Mob-dominated labor
union, and 1972's "The Visitor" (not included in the collection), an
anti-Vietnam War film in which the lead character, a former American
G.I. (James Woods), has testified against two platoon mates who had
raped and murdered a Vietnamese woman.
In any event, while those who refused to testify against others
found themselves on a blacklist, their Hollywood careers ruined,
Kazan continued to prosper as a filmmaker and stage director. But
for the rest of his lifetime, Kazan's testimony remained either a
permanent stain on his honor or a badge of courage, depending on
one's political perspective.
While "The Elia Kazan Collection" does not ignore Kazan's actions and
their aftermath, they are dealt with lightly and underplayed. Both
Scorsese's documentary and an accompanying, photo-filled 100-page book
on Kazan's films discuss his HUAC testimony and the controversy that
erupted in 1999 when Kazan was given an honorary Academy Award. This
honor garnered enthusiastic support from Robert De Niro, Warren
Beatty and Karl Malden (actors who had worked for Kazan and revered
him, whatever their opinions about his testimony), and Scorsese. The
award generated equally vehement opposition by those who could not
forgive him.
Still, this box set's packaging of 15 of Kazan's films, including
the DVD debuts of five of them - "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," "Viva
Zapata!," "Man on a Tightrope," "Wild River" and "America, America" -
makes "The Elia Kazan Collection" indispensible for viewers interested
in Kazan's approach to political and social issues and in the triumph
of Method acting on screen. Performances by Brando (in "A Streetcar
Named Desire" and "On the Waterfront"), Dean (in "East of Eden")
and others changed the landscape of film acting, bringing to the
forefront a new type of emotional realism and psychological depth.
In addition to these masterpieces, as well as "Gentleman's Agreement,"
one of the first Hollywood movies to deal with anti-Semitism, the
Kazan collection includes many notable films. Two of the director's
earlier movies, 1947's "Boomerang" and 1950's "Panic in the Streets,"
show Kazan's affinity for on-location filmmaking and his solid grasp
of the kind of naturalism expressed by Italian neo-realists such as
Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica. His outstanding, prescient
"A Face in the Crowd," from 1957, was one of the first movies to
examine the manipulative power of modern media (in those days, radio
and television) and the potential for their political abuse.
But 1963's "America, America," a deeply personal film (based on Kazan's
uncle) and the director's acknowledged favorite among his own movies,
is disappointing. This tale about a Greek immigrant and his difficult
journey to the United States suffers from Kazan's desire to make
an epic. As gripping as his portrait may be of Greek and Armenian
oppression in late 19th century Turkey and of one man's desire to
seek freedom and fortune in the United States, the film moves along
far too slowly. A great film is never boring whatever its length,
but at nearly three hours "America America" seems dragged out.
In "Letter to Elia" Scorsese includes some footage of Kazan (who
died in 2003) discussing his craft. "If you can stir up the real
emotions," Kazan says, "whether anger or love or desire ... then you
have something that is unique and unusual. That's what drama is."
"Stirring up emotions" was something that Elia Kazan succeeded at
throughout his life and career - on the stage, on the movie screen
and in the highly-charged political atmosphere of America during the
Cold War and beyond.
From: A. Papazian
By BRUCE DANCIS
Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/11/08/2407941/elia-kazan-collection-indispensible.html
Nov 8 2010
Elia Kazan reached the highest heights of the Broadway stage and
the Hollywood screen. On stage, after working with the legendary
Group Theatre in the 1930s he directed the premieres of Tennessee
Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and
Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" and "Death of a Salesman." On screen,
he won Academy Awards for directing "Gentleman's Agreement" and
"On the Waterfront" and coaxed some of the greatest performances in
film from Marlon Brando, James Dean, Eva Marie Saint, Julie Harris,
Andy Griffith, Karl Malden and others. Altogether, nine Oscars were
won by actors in Kazan's films.
The power and impact of Kazan's work can be seen in "The Elia Kazan
Collection," an 18-disc box set that includes 15 of Kazan's most
important movies and a new, personal documentary, "A Letter to Elia,"
from one of his most expressive fans, film director Martin Scorsese,
and Kent Jones (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, $199.98,
not rated).
But there is another important part of Kazan's legacy: A member
of the Communist Party for 18 months in the mid-1930s, during the
McCarthy Era he became one of the most famous former communists to
"name names," or inform, on his one-time friends and allies. In 1952,
Kazan was still a major progressive filmmaker in Hollywood when he was
twice summoned to appear before the House Committee on Un-American
Activities (HUAC), which was looking into left-wing influences in
the motion picture industry. (Many would call such hearings "witch
hunts.") In his first testimony, Kazan talked about his own involvement
with communism and his subsequent disenchantment and revulsion with
both the American party and the Soviet Union, the United States'
erstwhile ally in the Second World War. But when asked to give the
committee the names of his former comrades, he refused.
Several months later, Kazan apparently had a change of heart, and
named some of his former friends and associates in the Group Theatre,
as well as a few others, as Communist Party members. Unlike other
"friendly witnesses" who cooperated with HUAC, Kazan then took out
a full-page ad in the New York Times defending his current liberal
politics, his view of the Soviet Union as a tyrannical dictatorship and
a threat to world peace, and his decision to implicate others. "It was
because Kazan seemed to take the social content of his art so seriously
that his appearance before HUAC caused such astonished dismay among
many of his friends and colleagues," wrote Victor Navasky in his book
about the Hollywood blacklist, "Naming Names."
In subsequent years, Kazan said that he had faced two "evil" choices
when called before HUAC to become an informer, but save his career;
or to refuse to cooperate, which would aid a movement (communism) and
a country (the Soviet Union) he now despised, while also jeopardizing
his career. He went on to make at least two movies that appear to
justify his behavior: "On the Waterfront" (1954), where the hero
(Brando) testifies in court against a murderous, Mob-dominated labor
union, and 1972's "The Visitor" (not included in the collection), an
anti-Vietnam War film in which the lead character, a former American
G.I. (James Woods), has testified against two platoon mates who had
raped and murdered a Vietnamese woman.
In any event, while those who refused to testify against others
found themselves on a blacklist, their Hollywood careers ruined,
Kazan continued to prosper as a filmmaker and stage director. But
for the rest of his lifetime, Kazan's testimony remained either a
permanent stain on his honor or a badge of courage, depending on
one's political perspective.
While "The Elia Kazan Collection" does not ignore Kazan's actions and
their aftermath, they are dealt with lightly and underplayed. Both
Scorsese's documentary and an accompanying, photo-filled 100-page book
on Kazan's films discuss his HUAC testimony and the controversy that
erupted in 1999 when Kazan was given an honorary Academy Award. This
honor garnered enthusiastic support from Robert De Niro, Warren
Beatty and Karl Malden (actors who had worked for Kazan and revered
him, whatever their opinions about his testimony), and Scorsese. The
award generated equally vehement opposition by those who could not
forgive him.
Still, this box set's packaging of 15 of Kazan's films, including
the DVD debuts of five of them - "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," "Viva
Zapata!," "Man on a Tightrope," "Wild River" and "America, America" -
makes "The Elia Kazan Collection" indispensible for viewers interested
in Kazan's approach to political and social issues and in the triumph
of Method acting on screen. Performances by Brando (in "A Streetcar
Named Desire" and "On the Waterfront"), Dean (in "East of Eden")
and others changed the landscape of film acting, bringing to the
forefront a new type of emotional realism and psychological depth.
In addition to these masterpieces, as well as "Gentleman's Agreement,"
one of the first Hollywood movies to deal with anti-Semitism, the
Kazan collection includes many notable films. Two of the director's
earlier movies, 1947's "Boomerang" and 1950's "Panic in the Streets,"
show Kazan's affinity for on-location filmmaking and his solid grasp
of the kind of naturalism expressed by Italian neo-realists such as
Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica. His outstanding, prescient
"A Face in the Crowd," from 1957, was one of the first movies to
examine the manipulative power of modern media (in those days, radio
and television) and the potential for their political abuse.
But 1963's "America, America," a deeply personal film (based on Kazan's
uncle) and the director's acknowledged favorite among his own movies,
is disappointing. This tale about a Greek immigrant and his difficult
journey to the United States suffers from Kazan's desire to make
an epic. As gripping as his portrait may be of Greek and Armenian
oppression in late 19th century Turkey and of one man's desire to
seek freedom and fortune in the United States, the film moves along
far too slowly. A great film is never boring whatever its length,
but at nearly three hours "America America" seems dragged out.
In "Letter to Elia" Scorsese includes some footage of Kazan (who
died in 2003) discussing his craft. "If you can stir up the real
emotions," Kazan says, "whether anger or love or desire ... then you
have something that is unique and unusual. That's what drama is."
"Stirring up emotions" was something that Elia Kazan succeeded at
throughout his life and career - on the stage, on the movie screen
and in the highly-charged political atmosphere of America during the
Cold War and beyond.
From: A. Papazian