Big News!!!

First off, Happy New Year everyone! Forgive my silence, but I didn't go to the cinemas while in France, so I've missed Zombieland, The Blind Side, and any other film that was released between September and mid-December, up until Avatar (which I might review should anyone request one).

However, here is the biggest news of all:

For the next three weeks, until January 26th, I will be studying "Classic American Films" under Michael Sragow, film critic for The Baltimore Sun and author of Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master, about the director of Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz (both 1939), among many other films. I had a chance to read Sragow's book this summer and was highly impressed with not only the life of this forgotten giant, but with the author's storytelling capabilities. Fleming's life is so overwhelmingly epic, one comes away from the book wondering why, out of the recent spate of the "bio-pic" genre, we haven't seen a Vic Fleming film (Imagine my delight upon discovering part of the class' readings are from his book; a good book is even better a second time through!)

I'll do my best to keep everyone up to date on this course, which began yesterday, the 5th, but allow me first to bring this description up to date. First of all, I am extremely grateful that Michael Sragow is incredibly down-to-earth; he's not a film snob in the slightest, but a man who enjoys a great film. He laughs and smiles very frequently and seems to really enjoy going down this path with us, opening American classics to our dazzled eyes. I haven't detected a bit of bombast or a pompous attitude of any kind, and I fully believe we were highly lucky in snagging Professor Sragow (as I'll refer to him hereafter) for this Centre Term.

Over our break, we were asked to read L. Frank Baum's Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which I found quite (and surprisingly) flat; on our first day of class, we were given our syllabus, discussed how film was intended originally as an extroverted, group experience and were expected to be distributed for a brief amount of time (Margaret Hamilton, who plays the Wicked Witch in Oz, balked at the notion the film would be seen in two or three years). We learned about the "Golden Ratio," the size of film screens at the time, which is supposedly the perfect ratio to concentrate one's attention for roughly 90 minutes. Professor Sragow challenged us to not view film as a passive experience, but one of give and take between the final product and the viewer.

We discussed several differences in the book and film versions of Oz, such as the dream structure the farmhands and Professor Marvel, who correspond to figures in Oz, neither of which are found in the book, and theorized on why these changes were made. We finished class by viewing Oz in Valkamp Theater; Professor Sragow offered to discuss the film after it ended with anyone who wished to talk to him. I was the only one to take him up on his offer, and I had one of the most enriching times of my life. I can't recall exactly what was said due to an exhausting couple of days and shaking, quaking nerves, but I did my best to think of questions to ask. The best thing about watching a movie with another film aficionado is the conversation you have after the film's conclusion; one is forced to make conclusions about the film, express them, defend them, and deepen them. Heck, it's just fun to talk about movies with another guy who loves movies (which is why I think it'd be a blast to talk to Quentin Tarantino)!

Today's class (that is, the 6th) was a bit more discussion based, as we reflected on Oz after a fresh viewing and after reading the chapter on the making of the film from Professor Sragow's book; we watched a short documentary on the life of Fleming (who died 61 years ago to the day) and viewed the first hour or so of Walter Mirsch's 1985 sequel Return to Oz (which is tonally a world away from Fleming's film).

Tomorrow (the 7th), we're to have read the Gone With the Wind chapter in Professor Sragow's book, because we are watching the first half of Gone With the Wind, which is a film of extreme personal importance to me. I never truly began to watch movies until I saw this film, and I still date my movie life as "before GWTW" and "after GWTW." While I no longer consider it the best film I've seen, it's still close to my heart. It's sad, though, that we cannot watch the full film at one time, as it was intended, but I still consider myself lucky and blessed to be in this class, where we can watch and discuss great American films.

So, to everyone, good night and sweet dreams

The Errant Viewer