Customer Reviews

Peer Gynt

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VCI Entertainment presents "PEER GYNT" (1941) (100 min. B/W)...under David Bradley (Director/Producer), Henrik Ibsen (the play), Edvard Grieg (Original Score), David Bradley (Cinematographer), Robert Cooper (Cinematographer), Richard Roth (Cinematographer), Sally Hyde (Costume Design) ------ the cast includes Charlton Heston (Peer Gynt), Betty Hanisee (Aase), Mrs. Hubert Hyde (Old Woman), Lucielle Powell (Kari), Sue Straub (Old Woman), Katharine Bradley (Solveig), Charles Paetow (Aslak), Morris Wilson (Haegstad), George B. Moll (Drunk/Bedouian Chief), Betty Barton (Ingrid), Rose Andrews (Anitra), Alice Badgerow (Cowherd Girl), Anty Ball (Cowherd Girl), Thomas A. Blair (Button Moulder/Thin Person), David Bradley (Herr Trumpeterstraale/Bailiff), Francis X. Bushman (1965 rerelease) (voice), Robert Cooper (Man in Mourning), Alan Eckhart (Mads Moen), Roy Eggert Jr. (Dovre-King/Mons. Ballon/Priest), Alan Heston (Ugly Urchin), Rod Maynard (Lad), Warren McKenzie (MacPherson), Sarah Merrill (Woman in Green, as a Hag), Audrey Wedlock (Woman in Green), Jane Wilimovsky (Old Woman), John Jerrard (Troll) ... In 1941, upon being drafted into the Army, Bradley had to hurriedly wrap post-production ... the film had its premiere in its rough version in Aug 1941, it was not until 1965 that Bradley was able re-edit the film the way he desired and add new material, including the voice of silent movie star Francis X. Bushman as "The Boyg." ... the credits for the 1965 version, which was released by The Willow Corporation, also include Katherine Bradley, Anty Ball, Alice Badgerow, Robert Cooper, Rod Maynard and Jane Willanovsky, but it has not been determined if these actors appeared in the 1941 version without credit, or appeared for the first time as part of the new footage added to the 1965 version. The 1965 version also names Thomas A. Blair and Roy Eggert, Jr. as associate producers ... Bradley shot the film entirely in black and white, except for the section in the kindgom of "The Boyg," which is tinted first green, then blue, and finally red when "Peer" is under attack ... Director/Producer David Bradley was only 21 years old when he made this movie ... also note this was the feature film debut of Charlton Heston.

Special footnote, Peer Gynt is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was written in 1867, and first performed in Oslo (then called Christiania) on 24 February 1876, with incidental music by the composer Edvard Grieg. Ibsen wrote Peer Gynt while traveling in Rome, on Ischia and in Sorrento. It was first published on November 14, 1867, in Copenhagen. The first edition comprised 1,250 copies. It was followed by a re-print of 2,000 copies after 14 days. The large sales were mostly due to the success of Ibsen's previous play, Brand. Unlike Ibsen's other later plays, Peer Gynt is written in verse. This is because it was originally intended to be a written drama, not for stage performance. Difficulties due to rapid and frequent change of scene (including an entire act in pitch darkness) render the play troublesome to perform. It is also unlike Ibsen's later plays in that it is a fantasy rather than a realistic tragedy ... (as noted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

SPECIAL FEATURE BIOS:
1. Charlton Heston (aka: John Charles Carter)
Birth Date: 10/04/1924 - Evanston, Illinois
Died: Still Living

2. David Bradley (Director/Actor/Producer/Cinematographer)
Birth Date: 4/06/1920 - Winnetka, Illinois
Died: 12/19/1997 - Los Angeles, California

Great job by VCI Entertainment for releasing the "Peer Gynt" (1941) - Charlton Heston , digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more of the same from the '50s vintage...order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment, stay tuned once again with the classics that only VCI Entertainment (King of the Serials) can deliver...just the way we like 'em!

Total Time: 100 mins on DVD ~ VCI Home Video 8390 ~ (1/30/2007)

What a rare opportunity to view a glimpse of the young Heston, not yet affected by Hollywood. Also, David Bradley's talent is apparent in this early classic. Beautiful performance by Anitra. A wonderful film and an important piece of film history!

Easily the best zero-budget, amateur film I have ever watched.

The photography is quite nice. The director and cameramen were obviously learning their craft, and doing very well. Lighting is very good. There are very few gratuitous camera moves, and no active zooming (they probably could not afford a zoom lens.) Some of the camera moves are quite effective, although, obviously hand-held.

The amateur acting is largely cornball, but, some performances show promising talent. Of course Heston shows great potential. Betty Hanisee plays Aase, Peer's mother, with energy and expression. Betty Barton does a really commendable Ingrid, with a range of believable emotions from pitiful begging to deep anger and resentment. Well done! Katherine Bradley's part (Solveig) was a little sappy, but she carries it off without cracking, which I would find very hard to do.

Given that the budget was undoubtedly zero, it is understandable that Bradley should make it a silent film. I have a feeling that recording dialogue would have lowered the overall quality, so I don't fault him for it. The music is not the best recording quality, though, perhaps, the best available at the time. The script follows the play fairly closely, although Peer doesn't make it to the Cairo asylum in this version. The rest of the major plot elements and much of the dialogue are correct. I am a silent film fan, so I am not disturbed by the the dialogue cards. You can also clearly read the actors' lips.

The one weak spot that I found disappointing was the Boyg. I think this was one of the bits added in 1964. It is the only item with sound and this special effect clearly exceeds the zero budget. It breaks the flow of the rest of the film. I wonder what the original scene was like. There are several large-scale location shots that are obviously lifted from other films. These add to the story telling, but are discontinuous with the amateur production values. The DVD conversion is not quiet top drawer, but adequate.

The viewer must try to keep in mind the limitations under which Bradley made this Peer Gynt. Within that scope, it is really quite excellent. I would highly recommend it to film history buffs, Hestonites, and film students. Just do not buy it expecting a Technicolor, Panavision, epic production. Take it for what it claims to be, and you will, I think, be pleased.

This movie is a rare glimpse at Charlton Heston before he became a legend. If your a Chuck fan it is worth it.

---------------------------------------------------------------
CHUCK HESTON:
THE MAYONNAISE GRIMACE (PLAYING THE PRIZED PEER GYNT FLICK)

By John M. Edwards

Charleton Heston, the Hollywood hero favored by John M. Edwards, got his start in an amateur Illinois art student prod, the fantastical "PEER GYNT," based upon the classical opera by Norwegian composer Grieg.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------When I saw German director Fritz Lang's M for the first time, when ghoulish Peter Lorre absolutely stunned the cameras by apparently (perhaps apocryphally) proving himself innocent of luring children with lollipops toward their deaths, in front of an angry vigilante mob, stopped by a last-second police raid, with a soliloquy worthy of Charleton Heston in Soylent Green--("Soylent Green is PEOPLE!)--I said wow!

Who be this powerful brooding song (note: the consuetidinal "be"). It was almost as cool as Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" (featured in either Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon flicks).

The unforgettably imaginative tune I later found out was called "In the Halls of Mountain Kings," based, of course, on Old Norse loegend, by the underrated (during his life, at least) Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg.

First alerted to Charleton Heston's epic bildungsroman debut--canned when he was roughly seventeen years old--by reading Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine (very influential),and owned and operated by Hugo-Award-Winning Number-One-Fan Forrest J. Ackerman, PEER GYNT is fabled fantasy at its finest. (As a childhood expert on the genre, I once visited Forry at his Beverly Hills manse in the shadows of the "House on Haunted Hills" set, whose secretary said, "Can I call you a cab?" Yes. "Okay, you're a cab!")

Anyway, never have I seen an actor more confident that he would soon be a major star, this is, I'm afraid, called Destiny, a quest indeed worthy of an Olympian Odysseus Zeus, not a Hollywood gossip like cuckoo Rona Barrett.

I won't give away what this rare film is about that seemed unavailable back in the days of collectible but ultimately useless Super 8, but there is one "Sheltering Sky"-like scene on a foreign feast on the beach, among legionnaires trying to trick Charleton, that ranks among the most comic scenes in human history, grinning and mugging for the cameras like I don't know what.

So chuck "Chuck" in your Amazon.com right this triple sec. In some ways, the film is almost as powerful as the pounding fist of Taylor seeing Lady Liberty half buried in sand: "My God, they finally did it, they blew up the world!"

Incidentally, I was in the Charleton Heston Fan Club, and received a nice autographed photo of Charleton in "Midway," also worth buying.

--John M. Edwards, 2011

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Bio: John M. Edwards has traveled worldwidely (five continents plus). His work has appeared in such magazines as CNN Traveller, Missouri Review, Salon.com, Grand Tour, Islands, Escape, Endless Vacation, Literal Latté, Coffee Journal, Artdirect, Verge, Slab, Stellar, BootsnAll, Hack Writers, Poetry Motel, Richmond Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Michigan Quarterly Review, and North American Review. He recently won a NATJA (North American Travel Journalists Association) Award a TANEC (Transitions Abroad Narrative Essay Contest) Award, a Bradt Independent on Sunday Award, and three Solas Awards (sponsored by Travelers' Tales). He lives in New York. He is the editor-in-chief of the upcoming annual Rotten Vacations.

This is an interesting film for experimental film buffs or Charleston Heston fans. It is NOT designed to help introduce youngsters to beautiful music. The DVD does have the Peer Gynt Suite as its soundtrack, but the audio quality is inferior, so if you are trying to encourage youngsters to listen to classical music, buy a CD with a good symphony release of this masterpiece.