Argent [Jazz-Bank] (1928)

RATING:	100%
FORMAT:	DVD

(Image: http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/)

The large, enclosed spaces of the décor here are stylized and the camera moves through this created space with great ease. One is constantly drawn-in to the world depicted and so feels very much a part of that world. As in a Bond film, the sets relate the massively-inflated egos of the villains and enhance the capitalist intrigue and rivalry on show. The casting exemplifies the nationalistic and class-based nature of such rivalries.

The link between sexual fetishization and economics is made here as lust for capital is seen to be identical with the possession of women’s bodies - not for sexual purposes, as such, but to turn the entire world into a collection of objects to be owned. As of capitalism itself were no more than this: A synonyme of the relations of patriarchy. Money, as always, is a good servant but a bad master.

Like any criticism of capitalism - implied or overt - this film has to contend with the fact that it is, itself, a product of the very system it seeks to critique. This movie presents speculative economic bubbles well and is ultimately about a director’s hatred of what he needs to make produce cinema: Money.

The female leads here are very strong. Brigitte HELM is a sinuous and undulating snake-hipped vamp; GLORY is the perfect ingénue Both excel in their feminine animality and emphasize the melodramatic plotting.

Copyright © 2012 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.