DIRECTORS’ CUP 2011 VOTING, ROUND 3, MATCH 5: John Carpenter (Halloween) vs D.W.Griffith (The Sands of Dee)
John Carpenter (Halloween) – 1 vs D.W.Griffith (The Sands of Dee) – 0
Courtesy of Nick Block -
John Carpenter (Halloween) 1 vs D.W.Griffith (The Sands of Dee) 0
Courtesy of Risselada -
John Carpenter (Halloween) 1 -D.W.Griffith (The Sands of Dee) 0
And then mine -
John Carpenter (Halloween) – 1 vs D.W.Griffith (The Sands of Dee) – 0
I really like Halloween, and while The Sands of Dee was fine, it didn’t have a lot of meat on its bones, so to speak.
Halloween (1) – The Sands of Dee (0)
The Sands of Dee
by
Charles Kingsley
“O Mary, go and call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home,
And call the cattle home
Across the sands of Dee”;
The western wind was wild and dank with foam,
And all alone went she.
The western tide crept up along the sand,
And o’er and o’er the sand,
And round and round the sand,
As far as eye could see.
The rolling mist came down and hid the land:
And never home came she.
“Oh! is it weed, or fish, or floating hair—
A tress of golden hair,
A drowned maiden’s hair
Above the nets at sea?
Was never salmon yet that shone so fair
Among the stakes on Dee.”
They rowed her in across the rolling foam,
The cruel crawling foam,
The cruel hungry foam,
To her grave beside the sea:
But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home
Across the sands of Dee.
. . .
Almost an unfair comparison given that Griffith directed something like 70 films in 1912. From this period of Griffith’s career, I prefer “Musketeers of Pig Alley” and “Mender of Nets.”
Lots of people love Carpenter and this film in particular, but too little attention is paid to how good Carpenter is at composing in widescreen:
John Carpenter (Halloween) 1 — D.W.Griffith (The Sands of Dee) 0
I’ve got to go with Carpenter on this one. Halloween is such an inventive low budget film—the opening tracking shot alone would make the movie worthwhile. To be honest, Sands of Dee didn’t really connect with me.
Halloween 1 – Sands of Dee 0
“, but too little attention is paid to how good Carpenter is at composing in widescreen”
was, you mean ;-)
and we pay a lot of attention to it :-)
Halloween 1 Sands of Dee 0
Both films ok, but i expected more of Sands of Dee
“and we pay a lot of attention to it :-)”
We do, yes. Most people don’t.
John Carpenter (Halloween) – 1 vs D.W.Griffith (The Sands of Dee) – 0
A great Carpenter film. Is he still in the competition if he wins this?
Every time I see the title of the Griffith film . . .
I have to apologize for not creating a film introduction thread for Halloween. Most people are quite familiar with it though.
The main strength of the film is its formal construction. As Matt pointed out, Carpenter’s way with widescreen. This is what charges what could’ve been an average thriller. I always like to think that Carpenter’s horror is the unused portion of the frame, emptiness waiting to be filled with Myers.
Halloween 1 – The Sands Of Dee 0
The Sands of Dee is about what I expect from Griffith. Technically competent but unspectacular.
Now, I don’t have a problem with Griffith always killing characters at the end of his films. I don’t even mind that these deaths are unrelated to the main plot half the time. My problem is that characters always die from things that 999 out of 1000 times would not kill anybody.
For example, “As Beullah bled to death from the paper cut she sustained writing a letter to her ex lover, Johnny vowed to continue living his life.”
This is ‘Plot lightning’ at it’s most extreme. My working theory is that all characters in Griffith films are hemophiliacs with immune system deficiencies and muscular disorders.
Mizoguchi has the same problem.
John Carpenter (Halloween): 0 —vs— D.W.Griffith (The Sands of Dee): 1
John Carpenter (Halloween) – 1 vs D.W.Griffith (The Sands of Dee) – 0
11-1 Carpenter
I’m afraid that Carpenter can’t make it to Round 4 even if he wins this match, but he could score one of the biggest blowouts of the Cup against a titan of the silent era.
From Banban-gu:
“John Carpenter (Halloween) 0 vs D.W.Griffith (The Sands of Dee) 1"
Halloween – 1 / The Sands Of Dee- 0
The Sands of Dee is a pefectly decent version of “the tragic love triangle.” Could this be the first version of that much repeated trope?
In any case, Halloween is probably the finest representative of its genre (the slasher), though to be fair, most others are awful. I’m glad Matt ran that pic of The Shape in the daytime, because one thing Carpenter from Hitch and others, that has often been forgotten, is just how important taking your time with establishing environment and set up can be. Its a scary movie because we’re invested, not because it can do a jump cut with a loud noise.
John Carpenter (Halloween) – 0 vs. D.W. Griffith (The Sands of Dee) – 1
“is just how important taking your time with establishing environment and set up can be. Its a scary movie because we’re invested, not because it can do a jump cut with a loud noise.”
Right, it’s an extraordinarily deliberate film.
John Carpenter (Halloween) 1 – D.W. Griffith (The Sands of Dee) 0
Halloween (Carpenter) – 1 // The Sands of Dee (Griffith) – 0
I’m not big on this brand of horror, I don’t really have the stomach for it. But Halloween is very good and the ending is perfect. He’s in the room; on the stairs; at your door; in the neighbourhood; in front of the house, waiting; everywhere. No release. He’s not literally still alive, is he? But what he represents will never go away. We fear what we don’t understand.
Griffith’s craft is unmistakable. I suppose at the time there was no precedent for establishing the sort of atmosphere that could do justice to Kingsley’s very moody poem. It’s still a bit of a disappointment, though. I can never get past the upbeat music in a tragedy like this.
John Carpenter (Halloween) –1 vs D.W.Griffith (The Sands of Dee) –0
This one scared the shit out of me as a kid, and it holds up well despite some script/casting issues among Laurie’s friends. A great slow-burn and a relentless final act. It was the only Halloween film in which you see Michael Meyer’s actual face, and the thing that always chills me about it is how boy-next-door normal he looks.
John Carpenter (Halloween) 1 – D.W. Griffith (The Sands of Dee) 0
Halloween isn’t even one of my favourite Carpenter pictures, but I still have to give it to him. It has a lovely sense of B-picture grime and charm. And yes, the man can compose a 2.35:1 frame.
Halloween 1 — The Sands of Dee 0
John Carpenter (Halloween) – 1 vs D.W.Griffith (The Sands of Dee) – 0
Black Christmas is even better than Halloween….
Halloween isn’t the best of the Halloween series.
nice to see some Carpenter love though.
Kai White
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John Carpenter (Halloween) vs D.W.Griffith (The Sands of Dee)
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