My Amazon Review Page

The definitive Christmas Carol, marked by emotion and touted by the Christmas spirit.

A Christmas Carol (1938) directed by Edwin L. Marin, based on the novel by Charles Dickens, written for the screen by Hugo Butler.

Starring: Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge

Reginald Owen was not set to play this part until this long time friend Lionel Barrymore had to cancel his part as Scrooge because of sickness. Fate had other plans it seems.

We all know the story, mean man Scrooge humbugs his way through life, eschewing Christmas as if it was a nagging sore that rooted itself more deeply each year that he could not get away from. It seems everyone was celebrating this holiday called Christmas, with global cheer and good will for everyone under the moonlight. Scrooge, who had been bittered and shriveled through a life without love, and without forgiveness was a man of business, of rules, and of ascetic necessity. He did not know happiness and he wished that anyone he came across would keep the optimism away from him, especially a man he worked for named Bob Cratchit, played wonderfully by Gene Lockhart (whom made this film with his wife and daughter).

Bob Cratchit counted on Scrooge for his survival as well as his family. Bob oozed with altruism and obsequiousness, and Scrooge knew this--turning his blind eye to it as much as he could. One Christmas Eve, Bob, having fun with the local kids, unintentionally threw a glittering white snowball at Scrooge as he passed. Upon finding this out Scrooge fired him. Cratchit walked home that night on Christmas Eve holding his dignity in his hand and left his confidence in the melting snow that was stepped on by Scrooge himself. He wanted this night to be a night for his children and family, selflessly not revealing to them what had happened just moments prior.

Everyone who is a fan of Charles' Dickens A Christmas Carol knows how the story plays out. With some tweaks in different film adaptations here and there, knowing the moral that Scrooge learns at the end of this fateful Christmas night is the intention of every showing.

What I find different in this film as compared with the others is the characters--that are portrayed wonderfully by the cast of actors. Scrooge is a bitter, curt, presumptuously crass old man, and Reginald Owen has this look on his face. He grumbles his way through the night and humbugs all who try to help him. You can see the years of misery on his face. As the ghosts progress through the night you can sense and see the gradual inclination towards redemption and hope that he expresses with nothing but a slight opening of an eye that had been squinted from a life of lost passion and lost love showcased by the stream of a tear down his left eye. Owen grows as the film goes on and we see this happening before our eyes. Owen makes the film for me and till this day I have not been filled with as much saving grace for this character than the 1938's version of Ebenezer Scrooge. It is my definitive version and a timeless film.

- Sean Marrone

A big band trumpeter with a big way of playing.

Any trumpeter will kindly give you some of his favorite trumpet players. He might even tell you that they are the best of all time. Many are assuredly deserving of some of this esteem whereas some are so underrated or rather under appreciated that they may go by without any favoritism by the majority of trumpet connoisseurs. Now enter Harry James, one of the best big trumpeters of his time and quite possibly, one of the better innovators of the trumpet of all time.

He was known for this ostentatious, bombastic style of playing. Using techniques that some of the best trumpeters only wish they could do. He was playing Concerto for a Trumpet during a time where trumpet, jazz and smoke filled speakeasies were king--where you dressed up in a suit to go out at night.

He was a face of elegance where the music would pop and radiate any room he played in. He dubbed many movies as well as playing himself in many films, actually performing his sets live. In some of these movies you can see the other musicians looking incredulously at this virtuoso as he improvised his way through a scene.

There was not another that could play with such presence, speed, charisma, and poignancy as Harry James save possibly Rafael Mendez. Give him a listen, he might just make an appearance on your list of favorite trumpet players.

- Sean Marrone

Looking to escape in a book and nice comfy chair, but your place of stay doesn't accommodate?

Barnes and Noble, a massive bookstore to end all bookstores that offers pretty much any endeavor in any book your are looking for at any given whim, but it also serves as a place away from home to escape too that most people practice but don't recognize, me being one of them.

If I move to a new place, the first thing I look for after food and the apartment/house is a Barnes and Noble. Want to know why? Because if I am bored one day or feel like getting away from anything going on in my life, instead of staying at home, driving or whatever should meet your fanciful query at that given moment, I like to delve into a nice chair with a book and atmosphere in Barnes and Noble. Most of the libraries that I could go to are either too crowded, too old and not kept up, or noisy ( I know funny isn't it?), but Barnes and Noble has a sort of eloquent ruminating quality in its stores that just feeds my calmness and musing more than anything. I find myself getting a nice smoothie from Jamba Juice, and strolling through the books, looking at what subject might interest me that day, finding a nice place to sit (sometimes the floor) and read/learn while the minutes float away. I like how Barnes and Noble, versus a traditional library, houses people that are inherently on the move, meaning they are there looking for something to buy more often than not rather than lingering around like in a library. I find this more soothing and a better environment to concentrate and drift away in.

So instead of just a megastore, Barnes and Noble can serve as a place to relax and enjoy a nice quiet day in that couldn't be found in your home.

- Sean Marrone

A life of the samurai saturated with Kurosawa's ideas, painted on screen, much like his storyboards.

Do you remember the first time you saw an Akira Kurosawa film?

Mine was Rashomon. It was a tale of a murdered man told from 4 different perspectives, even by the murdered man himself. Copied and quoted, he is one of the most influential directors of all time, even after his passing.

Using Toshiro Mifune in many his movies, he almost always centered around the wandering, loner of a samurai--using the dignity of the fading class of old Asia. He was obessive about his approach, editing his own films and using his art background to paint his storyboards before his shoots. He would take over every aspect of the film process, using what he learned earlier as an Assistant Director.

He was a master at his art and it showed. Many of his films were adapted to US versions that starred Clint Eastwood.

The use of rain in many of his films--to symbolize struggle and despair--always gave the appropriate mood for his flailing actors and environments. Kurosawa's movies speak, and they demand attention. He was a delight and a treasure of a director.

Recommended films:

1. Red Beard
2. Seven Samurai
3. Yojimbo

- Sean Marrone

Google Chrome: Keep it Simple Stupid, cliche, but it fits here.

With Google's attempt at seemingly trying to control most aspects of the internet world, they are doing a commendable job at it. With there surplus of free programs offered directly on their website, they are now offering a meritorious web browser that is and, by my standards, competing well against the likes of Microsoft and Mozilla.

When I first bought a computer I used Internet Explorer, but these were, I guess you could say, the days of the dinosaurs with the, in my eyes an ancient, medieval web browser that was prone to viruses, spy ware, and various attempts on my computers life.

Well, then I switched over to Firefox when I heard about the uproar of the free, "radicals" of .org websites and web publishers, such as open.org and the new, free "internet savvy's" web browser for those who are in the know when it comes to tech and the likes. Firefox didn't become a success simply because it was being a pariah in the wake of conformity with using Internet Explorer, it was and is still a wonderfully crafted web browser, with more security than internet explorer, and more usability and less crash prone.

The reason why I switched over to Chrome, was not for excellent hindsight, no I switched over for the reasons why I switched over to Firefox in the first place. I like to use the old saying " A rolling stone down the hill gathers no moss", well that was certainly the case when I made the decision for Chrome. I switched over the first time, with Firefox, because I just don't like to settle. Firefox was basically perfect to me to begin with, well it had a little computer slowdown, but it was perfect the way it was, and thus I I thought it was maybe my duty to myself to try something else that needed improvement, but that also would need user feedback. So with all this long-winded babble about switching and this and that, let's get to the program itself.

If I could sum up Chrome in one sentence, it would be: Web browsing simplified. It opens fast, it has an aesthetic, white interface with little options available in view, but has menus for. Menus were created to use a plethora of options under one click so that it doesn't turn the commodious to crowded. It has 2 menus, one which handles most of the options that most browsers have open and free on a "toolbar", and the second "menu pull down" button is simply an access port to different "specifications" for the browser that is seldom ever needed or looked at. It puts a nifty pleasing approach to the tab function, where it integrates a modern tab like system with cutoff bars that makes it seem like a program straight out of the Apple labs. One thing nifty about this browser is the fact that when you look at the browser at face value, it is nothing more than a webpage screen with the tabs on top; there are no useless buttons, toolbars, or open space. This translates into your screen seeming much bigger than it actually is. The one thing that I can say that I've found not as pleasing about the browser, is the fact it still has its share of bugs. It still gives errors when playing streaming videos, such as flash and shockwave, and in some cases can crash it all together. But the one thing that it succeeds in is simplicity and user friendless, and in that case the good outweighs the bad in this instance. So I recommend it for your browser not only as a complement to Firefox but, hey, as a staple and your default because you know? It can only get better.
- Sean Marrone

When the camera moves, the eye moves

Being that most of the movies that have been on my blogs are pre 1960, or pre color for that matter (even though color arrived before most of these black and white movies), I thought I would add a clip from a more recent movie--one that we all probably know. I do not know if this was the first type of this kind of shot, but it would be an example from me as being good camera movement. It looks as if this was shot with a Steadicam, that acts like a tracking shot. Why this represents good movement is that it does not distract from what is being said. It simply allows us to see the extent to which this guy's connections go. He enters from the back of a restaurant/club, which is a privilege, and as he takes this long walk through the back; it allows us to see that he is familiar to all. It let's us get a "frame" of the place--letting us really get a visual layout of the place, as it becomes almost comfortable. It is like taking the same route to school everyday--you get used to everything around you, the way the ground looks, the trees, and the buildings. This shot in Goodfellas allows us this same comfort.



This seems to be a home video that just happened to fall under a category that immediately came to mind when I thought of "bad movement"--slow panning at a table. This shot just does not feel right to me, even though it is a home video, because it shot from a person at the table and that person is slowly and perfunctory panning from one person to another. Have you ever been at a table and twisted your head very slowly, on the same eye level (not moving up or down) to one person and to another back and forth? Try it. It's awkward and this home movie is awkward. To the people that shot this, if you ever see this: I am sure that you or your friends or your family are not awkward. However, in a meaningful sense I would not feel right about using this type of movement within a film unless I was trying to give the point of view of a robot.



I could not find the single clips but I will add the times so that you can see what I am talking about. This is from the movie Le Notti di Cabiria (Nights of Cabiria) directed by Federico Fellini and shot by Aldo Tonti. This scene cannot be described properly to give the effect it was intended without watching the full length of the film--which I recommend if you have not. The first sequence is 3:12-3:19. This may have been slightly more involved had it used a handheld (as the camera cannot track enough to catch up with the man stealing the woman's money, however maybe it was intended as such because the man is trying to run away as fast as he can and the camera not being able to track fast enough shows how fast he was trying to get away). The reason why camera movement is important can be answered simply by this one sequence alone: picture to yourself a pan in this instance. What would it be like? Where would it be from? If it was a pan and a zoom it would emphasize quickness but rather a gradual attention (which we already would have on the subject) that would jar us, because the camera would be saying "look at this!"--but we are already aware of what is happening. It would not make sense to me. If it was a simple pan, maybe from Cabiria's perspective, it would lose its importance and devastation. It would seem as if Cabiria was casually glancing over at her hopes, of dreams and love, quietly vanish into the distance. Instead of what really is going on: her being tortured with hate and betrayal as she cannot think of anything else to do but twist around in the dirt in pain.

The second movement I want to mention is a brief but salient: 1:45-1:47. It would seem at first that the slight pan was to get the man in frame, but he is already in the frame. Cabiria is in disbelief in this moment--she wants to be proven wrong for what she is thinking is going to happen, again at this point, where she thought she had found happiness. This slight left pan makes me feel the slight hope that she has that it may just be in her mind. Let me try to explain this because this may not make sense: This man is going to betray her on the day they are going to be married (he only wanted to get her alone to steal her money). Cabiria starts to realize this but still retains that last little bit of assurance that maybe, just maybe, she might be wrong. This hint of a movement exemplifies that to me and to the viewers. We feel that bit of hope with her. It seems that the simplest of things are the most complex and dense.