Directors' Cup Voting, Quarterfinals, Match 3: Victor Sjöström (He Who Gets Slapped) vs František Vláčil (The Devil’s Trap)

Frantisek Vlacil The Devil’s Trap 1 – Victor Sjostrom He Who Gets Slapped 0

Sorry Victor.

I like what Cecil ponders on the questions of religious guilt vs folkloric jubilation. Guilt also exists in He Who Gets Slapped in a rather self-punishing effect instead of the events rolling by like a motor-wheel. The protagonists in both films won’t release any true feelings lest they’ll be accused of “trespassing the laws of decency” or in the case of the miserable Pierrot, lest he’ll be ridiculed and cheated by third individuals again.

He Who Gets Slapped 0 The Devil’s Trap 1

Another extraordinary film from Vlacil, in the league of Dreyer and Bergman, master of the psychologically intense period drama mixing human cruelty with closeness to nature and heightened senses, thanks to expressive camerawork, close ups and sounds. One in the eye for the church, long supporter of the rich and powerful v the poor masses.

Victor Sjöström (He Who Gets Slapped) 1 – František Vláčil (The Devil’s Trap) 0

He Who Gets Slapped 13 The Devil’s Trap 16

He Who Gets Slapped – 0 vs. The Devil’s Trap – 1

I like this match and Czech women.

All Eastern and South Eastern European women are HOT. I guarantee you all about Greek and Albanian women at least ;)

doesn’t everyone think the part that keeps repeating of Chaney’s clown character pointing at the spinning globe while he laughs is brilliant?

This is something that I was thinking about a lot! The kind of dividing up the scenes with this seems very theatrical. I can’t think of any specific examples, but it seems like something that may have migrated it’s way into television at some point. Can anyone think of examples of silent films from around the same time that used a similar device?

Sjöström 1- 0. Sorry I don’t know the contender but V. Sjöström made one of the best films ever (The Wind), so…

^ Vote doesn’t count unless you’ve seen both films, and name them both in the post.

@Risselada: I can think of the segment from “Intolerance” which features a woman and her child that gets used as a similar interscenic device. There’s nothing which Griffith hasn’t already done earlier… ;)

^ Marc…Griffith was born in America too ;)

(sorry, I had to say it, haha)

There’s nothing which Griffith hasn’t already done earlier… ;)

Ha, that’s what I was wondering.

I was actually conflicted about how I felt about the clown interludes. In one way they were very visually appealing and gave a good bookend. However they all had a similar tone, and sometimes appeared before and after very short scenes and I wondered if the action might have flowed better without them… I’m just trying to picture how novel of a concept this would have been back then.

And yeah the woman in The Devil’s Trap was quite hot. The stereotype always seemed to be that they were quite manish though.

I prefered Sjöström’s tone of irony. Even when he simplifies processes and psychologic constructions (touching the stereotype border), is far more aware of creating visual forms, Imo. Transition motifs and compositions (globe/circus ring, etc) seem to be so expressive and significant for the visually supported tragicomedy. He Who Gets Slapped is a very careful film in terms of framing and composition.

I couldn’t say the same for The Devil’s Trap. Its compositions are very uneven and I didn’t really feel a strong relation in terms of characters and space. If actors were marked, something failed in the mise-en-scène. If they were not, then Vlácil didn’t just place the camera in the most powerful places. There’s a strong lack of body work in the actings.

Victor Sjostrom He Who Gets Slapped (1) – Frantisek Vlacil The Devil’s Trap (0)

Damn Nick B. I hand over Vlacil to you for the seemingly smarter choice (Kobayashi) and you plow through everyone in the competition…thanks. Wish I could vote in this.

Voting is over

The Devil’s Trap wins 14-17

Go Vlacil!

Well, based on his films i’ve seen i would be quite happy if Vlacil lifted the trophy. Do we have a trophy? Czechoslovakian films of the 60s could give the French a run for their money.

Marvellous, and engraved too! Who came up with that?

It’s actually something for sports.

Ah yes i had my suspicions. Is this a proposal or the one agreed on?

I just found it on the internet.

Maybe there should be a thread for suggestions that can be voted on/

Nice trophy, Brady. I also made one, but the one you found is even better. Just for the record:

I do think the winner should have a commemorative banner placed on their director page.

Some retrospective thoughts about Devil’s Trap.

I think the cave at the end was just a cave the miller found underneath his house. Earlier in the film he remarked that the ground was hollow, and he’d been warning everyone. That’s how he knew, but he didn’t tell everyone how because he didn’t want them to know that’s how he survived the fire. He wanted to shut his mouth and let them believe it was a miracle. The cross-marked room wasn’t a trap, it was just a really unstable room with really good acoustics, so that any loud noise in the room would cause a cave-in.

But, at the same time the cave was an allegory for the problem facing the village. When the miller’s son is in the cave he is yelling and starts to hear loud echoes. In the very next scene in the church, the preacher’s voice echoes. The religious leaders were trying to trap the village into dependence, so in that sense, the way marked by the cross was the devil’s trap. The way to salvation was to follow the water.

Ah . . . my Swede is gone. Congrats to Vlacil and Nick B. on the victory.

I’m truly thrilled for anybody discovering the films of Sjostrom and Vlacil in this event. It’s been a joy for me to get to show Sjostrom’s range. Hopefully, one day, for those of you who watched a Sjostrom film for this event, when somebody asks you about great silent film directors, after you get past the Griffiths and Keatons and Chaplins of the world, you might remember to slip a Sjostrom reference in there :).