UNDERSTANDING THE LANGUAGE OF STORYTELLING IN HOLLYWOOD: SCARFACE & THE GHOST SHIP (PART-III)

Hi Friends,

How are you doing? Hope you're enjoying my posts on the retrospect of film-making in Hollywood and how the language of story-telling evolved vis-a-vis with the coming of newer technologies. 

So far we have traversed a journey from the the silent era of black and white films to the coming of sound. While development of color was still at its nascent stage but with the coming of sound, we observed how the grammar of story-telling veered more towards this new technology i.e. you had more dialogues, sound effects and music which became an integral part of cinema. 

In last month's posting you watched a musical drama,Applause and a Vaudeville comedy, Monkey Business.For those of you who've joined in late, here's Part-I and Part-II of the series on "The Language of Hollywood: Storytelling, Sound and Color". Now, in the third part of this continuing series we're once again going to watch two sound films from the black and white era but of different genres to see how sound tells a story through each of them. 

The first one we're going to discuss is the gangster drama, Scarface (1932) directed by Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson. And the second film is The Ghost Ship (1943) directed by Mark Robson.

Here's a pointer- Be receptive to the different types of sound  you'd hear during the course of the two films. The sound effects could range from ambience sounds (murmuring in the room), incidental effects (approaching footsteps, lighting a match, taking off a hat, sounds of objects) to signature sounds (engines racing, machine guns). 

Gangster Drama by Howard Hawks

I'm well aware that technology has improved manifold and films today are far more superior than it was then. But if not for anything try to appreciate the film for it's time and considering the limitations of technology, they still come up trumps and are relevant even today in terms of film grammar and storytelling! 

Now, before I share my notes on Scarface, here are some interesting trivia related to the film:

1) If you thought gangster films were a phenomenon of the sound era...think again! Well, I too was surprised to know that a gangster film was attempted in the silent era by Josef Von Sternberg - Underworld (1927)!

Tony's 'whistle'  becomes a trademark all through the film

2) In the film Scarface, actual bullets were used on-set that so much so one person even lost his eye!

3) There was a strong censorship on this film; so producer, Howard Hughes came up with a brilliant strategy-  he decided to show the film to the press and following the positive reviews on the film by critics, he decided to release the film in the states of New Orleans and New Jersey where the censorship laws were not strict .

4) The film Scarface was inspired by The Secret Six

Observe how the stage is set for action

5) Popular gangster dramas of that era were Little Caesar and The Public Enemy that were both nominated for the Oscars.

My notes on the film - Scarface

I particularly liked the opening scene, there's an unusual silence, a visual motif establishing the 22nd Street where the scene for action is set.

1) The abstract image of Tony against the wall and a whistling sound becomes an inherent part of his personality trait all through the film; it signals to the viewer that somebody is going to get shot - Sometimes both the traits are visible in a particular scene or sometime it's just one of them -

Brace yourself for plenty of gunfire shots in Scarface

For instance:

a) In Tony's introductory scene when he goes to kill Costillo,  we see both his shadow on the wall and as well as hear the whistle

b) When Tony goes to kill Meehan at the hospital it is just the shadow you see on the wall 

c) When Tony is at John Lovo's office, no sooner he whistles, it is enough for the viewer to understand that Lovo 

is getting killed.

2) Of course, as Prof. Scott Higgins explained which I  too observed that a lot of sound motifs  (like bam-bam-bam of the machine guns, screeching sound of fast moving vehicles etc) have been used to signify the pace of action and violence followed by an eerie silence, like cries of a woman or the dog bark to depict the aftermath of a bloody violence and Howard Hawks succeeds in doing so without showing gore whether blood, injuries, deaths etc.

Observe how Tony's clout grows by the day through some symbolic shots

For instance - 

a) At the Shamrock they go on a shooting spree without letting the viewers know who or how many are killed, but the sound and mammoth of destruction is enough to convey that the damage both to human life and property is colossal.

b) Even the hospital scene - the abstracted shadow of Tony, Meehan's mortified expression and the flowers convey it all to the viewer.

c) The abstracted images on the wall of the Valentine's Day massacre also speaks volume of Hawks imagination in presenting violence differently.

d) The balling sequence is interesting because Hawks shows us the cold bloodiness of violence without exemplifying it. Yet again, as the bullets are fired, the man collapses and that's the end of the scene, no aftermaths or post-mortem of the scene, blood, body etc.

3) To show Tony's might increasing by the day, the passage of time is established with the bullet sounds and the flipping calendar - this was yet another treatment of the film that I particularly liked.

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Of Atmospheric Horror, Thriller and Mystery...The Ghost Ship

Now coming to the film The Ghost Ship, you'd observe that sound is used to create an element of atmospheric horror and mystery. 

You will have to minutely observe three instances in the film - "The Hook" and "The Chain" scene and how sound creates a monster and amplifies the tension on the boat. The third being the climax which is very unique because the suspense  of the story is brought out in 'silence' with a nice happy song played in the background. In that given scene, Finn is mute, the hero is drugged while the Captain dare not speak or the cat will be out of the bag - so it's a unique way to unravel a suspense. Also observe how the knife is the popular motif right through the film. 

Observe the hook sequence in the film

Now, before I share my notes on The Ghost Ship, here are some interesting trivia related to the film:

1) The production didn't have money to build large sets; so they used fewer sets and existing sets from RKO's previous productions like Pacific Liner and for exterior shots they used footage from King Kong.

The cat is out of the bag in 'silence'!

2) While Universal pictures preferred showing and advertising the monster (The Mummy, Frankenstein) through their films but Val Lewton preferred not to show the monster rather 'suggest the monster'.

3) Val Lewton had a simple formula to recreate "atmospheric horror"- the plot would have a  love story, three scenes of suggested horror, one of actual violence and fade out. 

Here are my notes on the film -- The Ghost Ship

Finn too at  some point is your target of suspicion!

Ghost Ship was a creative film from the point of view of story-telling while experimenting with sound and yet giving us an all new genre of film making, which in this case was 'horror'! 

Largely the sound effects, the spooky occurrences (like the instances of the hook and the chain), the opening scene of the film with the blind man singing and telling Merriam that the ship is jinxed and the killings that take place gives us the ominous feel of something untoward taking place on the ship. 

Of course most unexpectedly it turns out that it is Captain Stone who is on the brink of insanity and is the villain of this well orchestrated crime. 

But if you observe carefully, the director drops subtle hints all through the film about Captain Stone's clout on the ship and his deranged mental attitude. 

Captain Stone...the many shades of a character!

Clearly, four instances that come to my mind are when he gives Merriam a lecture on authority (that sounded more like autocracy). 

Secondly when the hook is creating a menace and in the third instance when a co-worker on the ship dies because of the chain - he displays a sense of indifference and a cold attitude towards the whole incident. 

Finally, when no one testifies against Captain Stone in the in-house hearing, you definitely feel that Captain Stone has a hypnotic effect on his crew, who have shut their ears to the sounds of mishaps taking place on the ship and have immersed themselves into music. 

Of course, in the last fifteen minutes of the film everything is revealed as the layers of Captain Stone's personality is gradually unmasked.

The mystery of paranormal activities on The Ghost Ship!

Overall, it was an interesting film from the point of view of how abstract images and sound could create an atmospheric horror. 

Today, if the same film had to be made, the director would have depicted the scenes more visually through color (probably using a different color tone to highlight his point), SFX, VFX and amplified sound effects. Perhaps, I also visualize that the director would have shown how Captain Stone meticulously planned the killings to make it a more engaging thriller.

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Before I conclude this month's post, I'd once again like to acknowledge my deepest gratitude to Professor Scott Higgins of Wesleyan University who conducted this well meaning course and because of whom I am able to share these wonderful insights on this fascinating subject  of "The Language of Hollywood: Storytelling, Sound and Color" through my blog posts. And I do hope you're sharing these postings freely with your friends who are film enthusiasts just as Professor Higgins did!

Till then, take care and ciao!

Love,

Sonyaa