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Cronaca familiare (1962)
When dramatic dreaming was not shunned
Contrary to the American "butchered version", in Iran the movie was dubbed to elevate the film even more. The silk voice of Iranian Jalal Maghami moves the audience and adds to the dramatic richness of Cronaca Familiare. Attribute this to the sensitive closeness of Iranians and Italians or the strength of Iran's dubbing art, Cronaca Familiare remains a major part of the Iranians' nostalgia. The movie presents a world of humans sensations that rarely thereafter was as brilliantly repeated in cinema, thanks to the Hollywood "butchery" empire. Thematic line in service of the central, authentic concepts of family love that transcends to include universality, are opposed to the cruelty of modern times with all its sardonic lobbies and foucauldian hallucinations. It's pity that young cinemagoers today do not experience the same drams and are either restricted to watery ones or exposed to mundane, sensual stuff that leaves nothing but angered, egoist, isolated fleshes of them. What else to do with such audiences than to butcher!
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
Drums along the Mohawks, not reserving A name, great as John Ford.
Drums along the Mohawk
Produced in 1939 by John Ford, the American film maker and director, Drums Along the Mohawk is an adventures which involves the romance of a newly wed couple, Lana Borst Martin and Gilbert Martin (presented by Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda). After their wedding, Young Gilbert takes his bride to the Mohawk valley. Mohawk is one of those newly settled lands by whites in the mid-eighteenth century. Facing the threats of the Britain's Indian allies, in this village the young couple has neither relative nor any clear idea of its future. Of course, one of the most important issues there would be the presence of the Indians in the nearby lands. From the very early moments, just after the wedding ceremony sequence, the first introduction of an Indian feature, Blue Back (Chief John Big Tree) is accompanied with horror. Although artificial and for adding humor, the scene is, willingly or by ignorance, reconstructing the already shaped image of the Indians as the embodiment of terror and discomfort; the scene in which the young lady faces Blue Back in the old lodge. The represented picture of Indians is dualistic and this duality has some implication: one is the lovely Blue Back; he is a red skin in the white costume. The other is the terrifying and absolutely savages, who do not have the crucial thinking ability to make decision in how to ravage the houses. In one of these attacks to the whites' houses, the old lady, Mrs. Sara McKenna (Edna May Oliver) who has given job to and supported the young couple by supplying them a place to reside in, obliges the two giant Iroquois to steal her ''beloved'' bed respectfully, by ''turning it upside-down'', and the two stupid Indians obey it with great surprise and appreciation. However, the first one doesn't make a better sense to the viewer in this respect. As he is with the American people, normally is considered to have a better feature in the film. Logically, he has accustomed himself to the colonists' modes of life and behavior. He has converted to Christianity, wears American costumes such as his hat; speaks deficient English, and lives with them a domestic life. Lack of sharpness of mind is shared by both. Historically, the setting of the movie is the threshold of the Revolution. The era in which there is great amount of challenges, mutiny, treason, and spy hood among and between the British agents, patriot and loyalists among both American colonists and Indians. Another character that is notable is the one-eyed British captain Morgan (tom Tyler) .A malicious, bad-hearted guy, he is responsible of intriguing the Iroquois against the colonists and in setting the villages ablaze, and terrifying the people in the valley. The story engages the characters in a chronicle of the aforementioned part of the American history. The most populating group involved is, of course, the American whites. All types exist in the plot. The most important ones, after all, are the first two or three characters; Henry Morgan is the white, handsome, well brought up, diligent, and patriot lover. His wife, Lana, the pretty bride, has had the life of a well-to-do family. She is quite unfamiliar with the new culture, but the friendly people of the region embrace her affectionately. One of these is Mrs. Sara McLennan, an old lady who is not that good looking, but sharp and a little too courageous as a woman. Drums along the Mohawks can't be put among Ford's good productions, although it has received Oscar rewards, and a great deal amount of attention from the audiences. It seems that this is in great part due to its being a Fordian product and not its own efficiency. Aesthetically speaking, and compared with his better films, such as The Gone with the Wind, Young Mr. Lincoln, How Green Was My Valley, Grapes Of Wrath, and so many other movies, the movie lacks the usual attractiveness and harmony. One can not put it exactly among one of the distinct genres as the others. On the other hand, many critics believe that it puts the Indians at the bottom of naivety, the land being theirs; they haven't received the attention enough as to be represented thoroughly or efficiently in the film. Although it can be said that John Ford hasn't put it by volition. He has, in fact, never been engaged in the racialist or bias ideologies that have captured some among his colleagues.