{"id":17341,"date":"2018-01-29T16:57:55","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T21:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=17341"},"modified":"2018-01-29T17:35:51","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T22:35:51","slug":"film-golden-clown-the-klovnen-1926","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=17341","title":{"rendered":"Film: Golden Clown, The \/ Klovnen (1926)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Film<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0n\/a<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: n\/a<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong> n\/a<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong> n\/a<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0 n\/a<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Drama<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0After reaching the apex of his career in wonderful Paris, a clown sees his marriage crumbling, and soon his career, pushing him to murder.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0 n\/a<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director A.W. Sandberg and co-writer Poul Knudsen went all-out in crafting a 128 min. remake of Sandberg\u2019s 1917 version of Klovnen<\/strong> \/ The Golden Clown<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Reportedly based on an actual case of a famous clown who lived in disgrace after being acquitted for beating a child to death for mockery, Sandberg\u2019s tale may not be very deep on characters, but it\u2019s redeemed by a plethora of small moments and character nuances which little by little add texture to an epic finale, unfolding with layers of cruel twists & turns before there is some degree of closure for the characters, and the audience.<\/p>\n

Sweden\u2019s G\u00f6sta Ekman is British circus clown Joe Higgins, a man of skill, humour, and agility, and a heart for Daisy (Karina Bell), the acrobatic daughter of circus owner and ringleader James Bunding (Maurice de F\u00e9raudy). As an early intertitle proclaims, a passing convertible packed with snooty rich folks will change the lives of the future couple soon after the circus has erected its tent in a town field.<\/p>\n

The gift of a gold bracelet to Daisy may have been intended to lure her into the arms of admirer, Parisian costume designer and \u201cexpert philanderer\u201d Marcel Phillipe (Robert Schmidt), but its delayed conveyance to Daisy enables her father to make a greater decision for the family \u2013 sell the bracelet for francs and pay off some debts, plus enable Joe and Daisy to have their first proper date out on the town – a night full of innocent embarrassment, but events that also bond the couple.<\/p>\n

Daisy\u2019s quietly peering parents are delighted by their daughter\u2019s blossoming romance, and almost hours after their small wedding celebration, a Parisian showman gives Joe the offer of a lifetime: migrate to the city of lights, and build a career as the country\u2019s most celebrated and beloved clown.<\/p>\n

What follows is an artist\u2019s spectacular ascension, but the eve he\u2019s bestowed a medal by the country and made an honorary artistic administrator, Daisy succumbs to playboy Marcel, endangering her marriage.<\/p>\n

Sandberg crafted a lot of small scenes which flesh out Joe\u2019s meteoric rise, and while Daisy isn\u2019t exactly the film\u2019s second-most vital character, she represents the kind of bliss that can only lasts if men and women fight to remain faithful. Daisy\u2019s parents live in the same massive apartment as their daughter and son-in-law, and although not exactly necessary to the plot \u2013 in a Hollywood production, their roles would\u2019ve been radically reduced once Joe and Daisy hit Paris \u2013 their ongoing presence provides contrast to the extreme high and low points of the younger couple.<\/p>\n

Maurice and his wife have stayed together because of love, understanding, and humour, and realistic expectations of marriage \u2013 tolerance, compromise, fidelity \u2013 and the pair\u2019s immutable togetherness makes Daisy and Joe\u2019s union seem a little na\u00efve and childish, yet Sandberg doesn\u2019t rush Daisy\u2019s dalliance and breakup with Joe: they unfold gradually, through looks, a gift, and the slow erosion of fidelity until Daisy\u2019s first evening of lust happens\u2026 and her first lie keeps Joe unaware that his marriage is doomed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SPOILER ALERT<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Shared on the Revue Cinema’s Silent Revue Facebook page.<\/p><\/div>\n

At more than 2 hours, the melodrama can feel leadened \u2013 a period review in Photoplay branded the drama as \u201cstupid\u201d and typical of Nordic heavy-handedness \u2013 but if one gets into the film\u2019s groove and appreciates both the dramatic nuances and directorial touches, The Golden Clown<\/strong> is a rewarding and insanely epic melodrama.<\/p>\n

Joe goes a little crazy, but neither brutally nor emotionally, nor in one grand swerve. He\u2019s often just several beats away from reclaiming her (and saving her), and Sandberg ratchets the tension of these missed opportunities to ridiculous degrees, using multiple montages and cross-cutting to elongate the losses and bungling which cause Joe to tumble from his perch as France\u2019s most renowned clown – a stature evidenced by very clever shots in which his name flashes above known neon entities, like Peugeot motors and the Moulin Rouge club.<\/p>\n

Daisy\u2019s final visit to her parents and slow walk out of the building is brutally cross-cut with Joe missing her at every turn, and his bungling with the front door lock is especially cruel. (Like some turn-of-the-century Berlin apartments, a tenant\u2019s key unlocked the main and separate unit doors, so Joe\u2019s hasty return to the 3rd floor and scramble down to unlock the entrance makes sense.)<\/p>\n

Sandberg technique is to keep motion within the frame \u2013 in close-ups and sustained shots there\u2019s always back & forth action behind the subject \u2013 and scenes are cut to a brisk tempo that compresses time but never reduces small moments and performance nuances \u2013 decisions that enable the cast to radiate. Ekman and Bell have high-pitched moments, but like their co-stars, their performances are arguably more restrained than American colleagues: when Daisy starts to fall for Marcel, there\u2019s a range of gradual reactions and behaviour instead of some mad self-flinging and ravishing; and Sandberg prefers to show the teasing, foreplay, and end results instead of the dirty gritty details.<\/p>\n

It could also be a deliberate ploy to keep things just a little vague; for a moment we could believe Daisy didn\u2019t sleep with Marcel, just as much later we feel Joe may well save Daisy from a suicide attempt; and in the end, Daisy may still be alive, allowing the couple to reunite and rebuild their lives. The same goes for Daisy\u2019s expulsion from the apartment by her father: for a moment he may well give in to paternal duty, unlock the door and give her a second chance. It\u2019s pitched melodrama, but it\u2019s also brutal for audiences who are continuously denied the easy, happy or quick & cruel resolution.<\/p>\n

When Marcel finds another lover, his latest conquest destroys him, and an auction scene is vicious in the way he sees the ex-lover with a new mark, and the little priceless, one-of-a-kind dolls he once treasured are tossed into a corner because they can\u2019t even fetch two shitty francs.<\/p>\n

Sandberg keeps chiseling away at each character\u2019s dignity, documenting their loss of stature until the two rivals meet in what\u2019s expected to be the film\u2019s poetic finale: the same type of poor man\u2019s circus where the pair first met and Marcel laid lay eyes on Daisy. The build-up to revenge is (unsurprisingly) elongated, but Joe\u2019s given closure and absolved of murder because fate finally intervenes and metes out proper justice towards Marcel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

END OF SPOILERS<\/p>\n

This is grand melodrama with an emotional Grand Guignol cruelties, and it\u2019s hard to imagine any other actors inhabiting these roles, let along anyone attempting to eclipse Sandberg\u2019s direction which is assured, and poetic in the use of images and \u2018visual sounds.\u2019 Joe\u2019s rendition of \u201cThe Song of the Clown\u201d is ostensibly silent, and regardless of what music is performed live, it\u2019s Ekman\u2019s marvelous performance that gives us the impression of hearing an actual song. The penultimate rendition \u2013 Joe in a striking golden outfit, and clowned musicians coming to life on painted steps \u2013 is performed, shot, and edited as if there\u2019s sound, making it unfold like a demented Ziegfeld extravaganza.<\/p>\n

Christen J\u00f8rgensen\u2019s cinematography is gorgeous: the compositions are neat, clean, and filled with energy, while night scenes are tinted blue to add to already stark shots of Joe and Daisy snogging by her parents\u2019 trailer, and the epic street chase that has Marcel following Joe in a slow-moving taxi.<\/p>\n

The sense of being in Paris is accentuated by some lengthy shots of the city, including its landmarks, and a later sequence where Joe struggles to reach Daisy across a busy city street, but as high as Joe ascends in Paris\u2019 creative community, there are no elaborate scenes of audience adulation; like a Michael Hanneke drama, Sandberg denies the clich\u00e9d cutaways and sticks to what the characters feel before and after those triumphs and bad behaviour, and although the decision may be purely budgetary, the camera\u2019s always on the leading actors, with Ekman carrying the epic drama through its cruel twists.<\/p>\n

Unavailable so far in North America on video, The Golden Clown<\/strong> was restored by the Danish Film Institute in 2006, and has appeared in Europe as a standalone DVD and Ekman-themed set in Denmark.<\/p>\n

Stage-trained G\u00f6sta Ekman died at 47, and his best-known roles on this side of the pond may be F.W. Murnau\u2019s Faust<\/strong> (1926) and the first version of Intermezzo<\/strong> (1936) with Ingrid Bergman. Karina Bell also appeared in Sandberg\u2019s 1924 version of Little Dorrit<\/strong> and retired from film after 1933, as did Robert Schmidt, who also appeared with Bell in Sandberg\u2019s David Copperfield<\/strong> (1922). French actor and scene-stealer Maurice de F\u00e9raudy shifted from directing to acting in his later years, and passed away in 1932.<\/p>\n

The film work of cinematographer J\u00f8rgensen seems very compact, lensing 16 films, and ending with the German production Revolutionshochzeit<\/strong> (1928), directed by Sandberg and starting Ekman and Bell. Sandberg\u2019s career did extend into the sound era, but concluded with the documentary Vikingerne, deres forf\u00e6dre og efterkommere<\/strong> (1937), after which he died at 50 a year later.<\/p>\n

The Golden Clown<\/strong> was apparently the only feature film scored by Walter Schr\u00f8der, and the 2006 restoration was recently screen at Toronto\u2019s Revue Cinema<\/a> with an energetic live performance by Jeff Rapsis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2018 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sweden\u2019s G\u00f6sta Ekman is British circus clown Joe Higgins, a man of skill, humour, and agility with eyes for Daisy (Karina Bell), the acrobatic daughter of circus owner and ringleader James Bunding…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[5513,5518,5512,5514,5520,5515,5511,5516,5517,827,5519],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-4vH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17341"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17341"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17360,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17341\/revisions\/17360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}