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A Question of VERTIGO

August 19th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Last week I received a frantic late night call from my friend Herb Ross asking to help clarify a plot point in Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Eager to assist a fellow stickler for logic, I popped in my DVD, synced up with Herb and in no time put his mind at ease. After going through the effort of walking to the bedroom, locating my copy (filed alphabetically by director in chronological order) and carefully nesting it in my player, I figured WTF?, why not give the film of films another look?

It had been years since I sat down and watched the big “V” from beginning to end. With the exception of Midge’s comic relief, it’s all so damn depressing. My last audience was in 1997 when Robert Harris and James Katz “restored” Hitchcock’s obsessive masterwork. Though the 70mm blowup effectively reinstated the film’s original VistaVision aspect ratio and removed the heinous Universal logo hot-spliced onto the last shot of the 1984 reissue, the anemic color, heightened sound effects and computer enhanced stereo (the film was originally released in mono) proved little more than “pay attention to us” tinkering on the part of the self-serving preservationists.

For decades, it was impossible to see Vertigo in any format. I have meaningless memories of a Best of CBS telecast, but I was only six at the time and, having not yet been exposed to Under Capricorn, could not possibly have appreciated The Master’s inner-dialog. Hitchcock bought back the rights to Vertigo, along with Rope, Rear Window, The Trouble With Harry and the Technicolor remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much. The films were not put on public display until years after his death when they were re-released as a package with the proceeds going to his daughter and grandchildren.

Of the five “lost” Hitchcocks, only Rope was withheld me until the 1984 reissue. Three of the group were made readily available thanks to my nitrate “brother” Rick Marks who owned 16mm dye transfer prints of Rear Window, TMWKTM and Harry, We were so jaded that one night, while his print of Rear WIndow screened at an after hours party for the Parkway Theatre staff, we sneaked up to the projection booth to study a Marcus Welby, M.D. rerun.

Somewhere in 1980, Rick secured a video cassette copy of Vertigo. It was before I owned a VCR, and I was fortunate enough to watch it with Dave Kehr, Tom Bruggeman and Lloyd Sachs on Dave’s 15″ Sony. Instead of Motion Picture High Fidelity, this 90th generation dupe appeared to have been photographed in the grandeur of Macular Degeneration. At least it was letterboxed.

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Richard Roeper no longer at the movies

July 21st, 2008 by Scott Marks

It’s a beautiful day in Filmland!

Richard Roeper, the Chicago Sun-Times columnist turned film reviewer said that the eighth season of Ebert and Roeper At the Movies will be his last. Roeper says that he and the show’s producer were unable to reach an agreement. Roeper said in a statement Sunday that he had failed to agree on a contract extension with Disney-ABC Domestic Television. His last appearance on the show will air the weekend of Aug. 16-17.

Roger Ebert and his late partner Gene Siskel helped to sink film criticism to an all-time low in September of 1975 when they pioneered their now famous television movie review format. Sneak Previews first aired on Chicago’s PBS affiliate WTTW and almost instantly film writing as an art form was knocked for a loop by a pair of thumbs. Siskbert transformed film reviewing into a form of televised tip sheet journalism. Why stop to savor nuance when it’s so much easier to giggle out one-liners, show a clip, and position your thumbs accordingly?

The show initially aired on a monthly basis under the name Opening Soon at a Theatre Near You and was retitled Sneak Previews when it went weekly in 1977. Two years later, the show was nationally syndicated and became the highest rated weekly entertainment series in the history of public broadcasting.

In 1982, after coming to blows with WTTW, the boys jumped ship to Tribune Entertainment. WTTW was allowed to keep the name so Rog and Gene began a new life At the Movies. This lasted until Disney decided to open their deep pockets in 1986. Siskel’s parent compant The Chicago Tribune, owners and operators of Tribune Entertainment, was none too pleased. The retooled Siskel and Ebert at the Movies went on while Siskel remained under contract to the newspaper. By way of punishment the Trib hired rival Reader critic Dave Kehr as their main reviewer, allowing Gene a small box on the front page of the Friday section for “Siskel’s Flick Pick of the Week.”

Dave Kehr’s first review for the Reader was a double disembowelment of Bergman’s Cries and Whispers and Fellini’s Amarcord. It was love at first sight! I’ll never forget the headline: “Fellini and Bergman Step in Two Sacred Pies.” Having no use for Siskel as a critic, it had been ages since I bothered to read one of his reviews. With Dave on board, I couldn’t wait for the Friday edition to see the frequently hilarious juxtaposition of the two dramatically differing voices . Writing for a more commercial audience caused Dave to soften a bit in the star department, but those of us who bothered to actually read the review, his contempt for most mainstream releases remained unflagging.

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