mad love 1935
directed by karl freund
cinematography by chester lyons and gregg toland
art direction by cedric gibbons
this is rich, rich territory. i'll be mining this film for a few posts, that's for dang sure. it was directed by the cinematographer of metropolis and dracula, so naturally the visuals are stunning. cedric gibbons makes sure all objects in the foreground, background, everything in sight could stand alone yet blend together perfectly. oh but the storyline.... they say that mad love hastened the implementation of the hayes code. they say that upon viewing, britain tried to ban it as well as all horror movies. yes, its horrific. yes, its explicit. yeah, a little racy. i'm not giving anything away however - i hope merely to inspire you to view it (again) for yourselves.
2 comments:
"Mad Love" is indeed terrific. The hint of German Expressionism in those walls seduces me every time.
When I first started really loving film, I discovered team of Cedric Gibbons and Edwin B Willis in so many of my favorites. If I recall, Gibbons worked on many Lon Chaney films in the early '20s, and continued until the 1960s. His career was amazing.
i love german expressionism too. in fact i'd rather hire a set decorator to work on my home than an interior designer!
and i'm already working on a little cedric gibbons post. free time is pretty non-existent these days but soon, i promise.
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