} Crítica Retrô: O Monstro / The Monster (1925)

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Saturday, February 20, 2016

O Monstro / The Monster (1925)

ESTE ARTIGO CONTÉM SPOILERS.

THIS ARTICLE HAS SPOILERS.

Quem não gosta de filmes com cientistas malucos? Sejam eles aterrorizantes, sofridos ou mesmo carismáticos, os personagens que dedicam tanto sua vida à ciência a ponto de perder a sanidade são sempre fascinantes. Em um artigo publicado em 2005 na revista New Scientist, foi descoberto que, de 1000 filmes de terror que estrearam na Inglaterra entre 1930 e 1980, 30% (305) tinham um cientista louco como personagem. Nosso cientista maluco de hoje veio antes mesmo destes 1000 filmes da pesquisa, e certamente abriu um difícil, porém fértil caminho para eles. Afinal, é quase impossível ser um cientista mais maluco que Lon Chaney.

Who doesn't like movies about mad scientists? No matter if they are terrifying, tragic or even sympathetic: the characters who sacrifice their sanity in the name of science are always fascinating. In an article published in 2005 in the New Scientist magazine, it was noted that, out of 1000 horror films released in England between 1930 and 1980, 30% (305) had a mad scientist as a character. Our mad scientist here came even before the thousand movies in the research, and certainly opened a difficult, albeit fertile, path to them. After all it is hard to be a madder scientist than Lon Chaney.
Após um acidente de carro, o fazendeiro John Bowman desaparece. A polícia e a equipe da seguradora não têm mais esperança de encontrá-lo, mas Johnny Goodlittle (Johnny Arthur), aspirante a detetive, acredita que há um mistério muito maior por trás do desaparecimento. Enquanto não se torna um detetive profissional, Johnny é vendedor e disputa com Amos Rugg (Hallam Cooley) o amor de Betty Watson (Gertrude Olmstead).

After a car crash, farmer John Bowman disappears. The police and the insurance company have no more hopes of finding him, but Johnny Goodlittle (Johnny Arthur), a wannabe detective, believes in a bigger mystery behind the disappearance. While he is not a professional detective, Johnny is a clerk and fights with Amos Rugg (Hallam Cooley) for the love of Betty Watson (Gertrude Olmstead).

Nosso "herói" / Our "hero"
Depois de uma festa e de outro acidente de carro, Johnny, Amos e Betty chegam ao sanatório aparentemente abandonado, procurando um telefone para pedir ajuda. Mas o lugar é habitado, e o novo responsável pelos doentes, Doutor Gustav Ziska (Lon Chaney, com uma quantidade surpreendentemente mínima de maquiagem) insiste para que eles passem a noite lá... sem a garantia de estarem vivos pela manhã.

After a party and another car crash, Johnny, Amos and Betty arrive at an apparently abandoned sanatorium, looking for a phone to call for help. But there are people living there, and the responsible for the sick men, Doctor Gustav Ziska (Lon Chaney, with surprisingly just a little make-up), insists for them to spend the night there... without guaranteeing they will be alive in the morning.
Algum tempo depois, os três, desacordados, são levados para o subsolo do sanatório, onde as habilidades detetivescas de Johnny ajudam – e muito! Em uma passagem subterrânea, ele encontra o Doutor Edwards (Herbert Prior), o verdadeiro responsável pelo local. Ziska já foi um famoso cirurgião e agora é um paciente que, com a ajuda de outros loucos, prendeu doutor Edwards e tomou conta do sanatório.

A few minutes later, the three of them, unconscious, are taken to the sanatorium's underground, where Johnny's skills as a detective help – a lot! In an underground passage he finds Doctor Edwards (Herbert Prior), the real man responsible for the place. Ziska was once a famous surgeon and now is a patient who locked doctor Edwards with the help of the other patients and dominated the sanatorium.

O objetivo de Ziska é fazer algumas experiências no laboratório, um lugar sombrio muito parecido com o ambiente de trabalho do doutor Frankenstein. Cadeiras que prendem a cobaia, macas para experimentos, grandes máquinas elétricas, raios, trovões e tempestade lá fora. A experiência inédita é sem dúvida a mais louca já vista pela plateia do cinema mudo: colocar a alma de um homem no corpo de uma mulher!!! Mas, atenção: o que mais deixa o doutor Ziska maluco é... ser chamado de cientista maluco!

Ziska's goal is to make some experiences at the lab, a dark placed that looks a lot like doctor Frankenstein's workplace. Chairs that hold victims tight, hammocks for experiments, big electrical machines, lightining, thunders and storms out there. The brand new experience is without a doubt the craziest ever seen by a silent movie audience: put a man's soul in a woman's body!!! But, attention: what drives doctor Ziska mad is... being called a mad scientist!


Os dois personagens masculinos principais, Johnny e Amos, são muito semelhantes fisicamente, e isso às vezes atrapalha. São ambos morenos e usam bigode, embora Johnny seja mais baixo. Quando não estão juntos em cena, são necessários alguns segundos para identificarmos quem realmente estamos vendo. Johnny, o mais fraco e atrapalhado, é sem dúvida o protagonista, e em duas cenas ele faz acrobacias dignas de Buster Keaton: em sua entrada no sanatório por uma rampa e no momento em que ele precisa andar sob fios de alta tensão para escapar do capanga do Doutor Ziska.

The two main characters, Johnny and Amos, look alike, and sometimes this is a problem. Both have dark hair and a mustache, but Johnny is shorter. When they are not together in a scene, we need some seconds to identify who we are seeing. Johnny, weakier and clumsier, is without a doubt the main character, and in two scenes he does acrobactic stunts that could have been made by Buster Keaton: when he enters the sanatorium through a ramp and when he needs to walk in high-tension cables in order to escape Doctor Ziska's minion.
O filme não pode ser classificado em um só gênero. Os momentos em que Lon Chaney aparece, e também logo que os personagens entram no sanatório, são cheios de suspense e terror. Mas há também muito humor, seja na presença atrapalhada de Johnny ou nos intertítulos hilários.

The film can't be classified in only one genre. When Lon Chaney is on the screen, and also right after the characters enter the sanatorium, there is a lot of thrill and horror. But there is also a lot of humour, with Johnny's goofy presence or the hilarious intertitles.


Este não é o melhor filme de Lon Chaney. Assim como em outros em que seu papel é reduzido a poucas, porém vitais cenas (como “Oliver Twist”, de 1921), é quando Chaney aparece que tudo fica melhor. Entretanto, Chaney tem a honra de ser o primeiro cientista louco do cinema a ter capangas, ou seja, o Doutor Ziska de Lon Chaney é o tataravô de Gru e seus minions!

This is not Lon Chaney's best film. Like in other movies in which he has few, but vital scenes (like “Oliver Twist”, from 1921), it is when Chaney arrives that everything gets better. And Chaney has the honor of being the first mad scientist in movie history to have minions. This means that Lon Chaney's Doctor Ziska is the great-grandfather of Gru and his minions!

Não é o melhor filme de Lon Chaney. Mas é um filme com Lon Chaney. E isso já faz dele digno de ser visto. Afinal, este é um filme para treinar sua... engenhosidade!

It is not Lon Chaney's best film. But it is a Lon Chaney film. And this alone makes it a film to be seen. After all, this is a film to train your... ingenuity!
This is my contribution to the Movie Scientist Blogathon, hosted by Ruth at Silver Screenings and Christina Wehner.

5 comments:

Silver Screenings said...

I was getting a slight chill just looking at the images you posted. This film looks like it has lots of sinister atmosphere!

I didn't realize that so many horror films featured mad scientists – thanks for including that research. I guess, when you think about it, it's a perfect fit. A brilliant mind that's gone a bit wacko always makes for a great movie!

Thanks so much for joining the blogathon, and for bringing Lon Chaney. It's never a party until you arrive. :)

Christina Wehner said...

I have recently been discovering Lon Chaney's films and this sounds so fun...in a creepy kind of way! Lon Chaney looks like he's thoroughly enjoying himself, too, in those images.

Thanks for introducing me to a new Lon Chaney and a new mad scientist! So glad you could participate in the blogathon!

Caftan Woman said...

I didn't think much of this film upon first viewing, but may give it another chance someday. All of the good parts didn't seem to come together very well.

Pedrita said...

eu amo filmes malucos. falei de um filme clássico no meu blog. beijos, pedrita

Lesley said...

Thank you for the stats on Mads in horror movies—I was wondering but didn't take that essential research step...

This movie is new to me and I'll make sure to watch it when the opportunity presents itself. One of the ways people who don't "get" classic films get everything wrong is in assuming that in the past people were serious about everything—that is, I think many people would have trouble understanding that a silent film could be both a horror film and also have comic characters and scenes. But of course we're not any smarter than our forbears—we just think we are.

Enjoyed reading this. Don't forget to read my post (in the Day 3 recap)!

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