The Great Gabbo

[phantom8019]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 8:20pm

I need to discuss this movie with someone.

My friend showed it to me. I liked it, even though it was a little weird. But I didn't fall in love with it or anything.
Imagine my surprise to still be thinking about it 2 days later.
Mainly, I can't believe how sad it has made me. I have forgotten how weird and simplistic the movie was and can only think about how pathetic and sad Gabbo was, and the creepy but touching way he communicated through the doll.
The last scene, with him walking around the ladder rather than walking under it... wow.
Am I stupid for getting so much out of this? Perhaps I am also being swayed by my love of that era. Everyone seemed just so damned innocent. And the music... it just makes the present seem so boring.

[tazber]

Posted: 10/19/09 at 8:47pm

I've always loved this film. Stroheim's performance creeps up on you and really gets under your skin. I always though that Anthony Hopkins based his performance in "Magic" on this movie.

If you haven't already, check out Kino video's library of early sound films.

[Jon]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 12:24pm

I'm sorry, I thought this was about that puppet on The Simpsons...

"I can do the Hully Gully
I can imitate Vin Scully!"

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/20/09 at 12:34pm

This film is available on DVD, right? It's included on one of the Kino von Stroheim DVDs, I think...

Good old von Stroheim. When he's good, there's nobody better. GREED is really something.

[phantom8019]

Posted: 10/21/09 at 9:27am

Yeah, I got it from Netflix. There was another movie on the DVD--Blind Husbands. I didn't watch it. It's a silent film.

I love Gabbo from The Simpsons. That's what led me to this movie. "All the little kids in Springfield are SOBs."

[Jon]

Posted: 10/21/09 at 11:33am

There's a terrific opera, "McTeague", based on the novel that was the source material for "Greed".

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 10/21/09 at 11:49am

Phantom, I am slightly obsessed with these very early musical films from 1928-1933, and I love THE GREAT GABBO. It was originally shot in 'Multicolor' an early rival to Technicolor, and had a jaw-dropping musical number "The Ga-Ga Bird" featuring chorus girl dressed as giant chickens with huge webbed feet.

There's an excellent summation of the film in A SONG IN THE DARK: THE BIRTH OF THE MUSICAL FILM by Richard Barrios, which is the definitive tome on the subject in addition to being one of the very best-written books on film.