@razzlebathrobe don't mind if I dooooo
Firstly, the stuff Rio did fabulously:
my friend and I were INSTANTLY in love with Reynard. What a wonderfully charming, incredibly fun, complete bastard. In the words of my friend, "[DND] charisma 20" (aka maxed charisma). And so pretty and dapper 😍
Bonus points for having me realize about 5-10 minutes in that his last name is meant to be "fox" in French (renard) which I immediately took to mean that he made up his entire name, on purpose, which I LOVE
the chemistry between Reynard and Irene was SO good. Top tier, Hollywood-almost-never-manages-this good (and my viewing sample of films 1920-1960 is relatively limited, so 95% of the films in this era that I've seen have absolutely WOODEN chemistry!) They were so in love and so cute that I kept screaming about it.
Everything up until after his first scene in the labor camp is top tier. Great characterization, great drama, great character interactions, great intrigue and subtext, great management of tension.
Having Basil Rathbone in a labor camp is a genius idea. DISHEVELED HAIR. SHIRTLESS. SHIRT TORN AWAY. SWEATY AND STUBBLY. OPPORTUNITIES FOR PUNCHY OR SUBTLE ACTING. ANGST. The movie direction obviously decided to go more towards the realism end of the spectrum on costuming, which I respect, but god could you imagine if they'd gone for a scene or two of artful dishevelment. I'd explode. Certainly the scene of his escape left me with burning need to draw Emmrich Volkarin in a cold-shoulder crop top. It's happening. (Someday.)
The cinematography of the climax scene where Reynard is in that flickering light is incredible! Stunning! I love that they foreshadowed the lighting scenario too, we saw that blinking light in the background before it was used! :D
Very obviously this movie was 100% monogamous and straight and fully in line with early 20th century platonic closeness, we know that, but my friend and I were both tickled that from a modern lens it TOTALLY looks like Reynard-Irene-Dirk form a polycule (I personally think Dirk's relationship being queer platonic but secretly he's in romantic love with both of them is most fun. Dealer's choice). For people not into that, the things that simply read as homoerotic (modern lens) between Dirk and Reynard are still quite fun.
From here, things bifurcate a bit: there are some tweaks I would make to realize the vision of the directors better, and then there are bigger changes I would make to make this into a film that gets my brain buzzing.
For the director's-vision changes:
(noting again from the modern perspective that we have up to an hour of run time to add to this movie without having to cut anything)
the biggest and worst thing I want to change to really sell this film: the romance between Irene and Bill. Maybe it was casting and chemistry, maybe it was based on producer direction, but Irene spent basically all of the scenes that they were together indicating with her body language that 1. she does not particularly like this man 2. she does not trust this man 3. she doesn't particularly want to be around this man. Obviously initially this is partially because she's supposed to be charmed by him and wants to resist falling for him because she's still faithful to Paul; but I want to note that she CONTINUES to appear reluctant and averse to being touched by him WHILE SHE IS DECLARING THAT SHE LOVES HIM AND FEELS NOTHING FOR REYNARD NOW. Just basing it on the way she acted, she had a bit of attraction to start, she was briefly charmed by him as he gives his fake life story, she had fun with him during Carnival, and she respected him for creating the waterways. And. Uh. That's it-- the rest of their time together she's indicating, subvocally, that she does NOT want to proceed and even that she. Doesn't like him? They didn't sell me even a little bit on her falling for him (she was barely even indicating attraction!!)
okay so to improve that romance: recast that guy (bonus if he stops being such a visual downgrade from Basil Rathbone lol), alter the direction to show more interest (and then once she's transitioned out of loving Reynard, MORE interest still, and probably even making plans to divorce Reynard while still sending him notes in camp or whatever). Then: I... think they were trying to make Bill look like an upgrade on Reynard? And oh my god, he wasn't. Irene's type is scoundrels, obviously, but now she found a scoundrel who's arrogant rather than confident (up until he makes the dam, he's all talk and no action, and his PREVIOUS actions suggest he's not very good) and who is, very obviously, more interested in showing off than in helping people. The only thing going for him is that he's her age range. He's less of a swindler, but displays exactly the same characteristics as Reynard on wanting to trick people verbally, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ if the directors want to make him a better man, they'd need to show him, um, caring even a tiny bit about the people he was helping with that water, not just the accolades of brilliance and faux modesty of helping the needy. (Also, their racism is showing: why the hell would people native to the area for thousands of years... not know great ways of managing water? Also, damming a river struck me as a bad idea FOR THE OTHER VILLAGES IN THE AREA.)
it's not even clear to me why Irene would invite him to coffee, frankly. Even if she thinks he's attractive, he was acting ABYSMALLY at their first meeting. Improve this by maybe establishing that Irene's very lonely and adrift, improving Bill's behavior so it's not so selfish, offputting, and clearly self-serving, etc. I don't know, move the needle 20% more towards meetcute, rather than "girl you should have kicked that repulsive thing out of your garden the moment he stepped into it, belligerent, dangerous, and disinterested in hearing a word you had to say." Like fine if you want to keep him super drunk on first meeting, at least let him have the charm of visibly hanging on Irene's every word and Irene commenting that she feels listened to for the first time in months. You know. ANY HINT OF ROMANCE WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER.
Reynard should not have killed his fellow escapee. I think it's reasonable that they put it in there-- it's not technically OOC given Reynard is obviously a sociopath, ie, low valuation of other people's worth or need to do well by them-- but I personally didn't find it in line with the man they'd established him to be. He was a whitecollar swindler. That's extremely different from cold blooded murder. And further, the final scene would be MUCH STRONGER if he had not been established as a guy who kills people first! It indicates just how far he's gone, just how distressed he is-- rather than just being like, yeah dude, we saw him kill a guy 15 minutes ago.
Ok rubs hands together now for how I'd change the movie:
the Bill romantic subplot was sooo weak and frankly, both my friend and I HATED that guy so quickly. We didn't want to see him on the screen, we hated having to listen to him talk. So you know what? Irene is now using him. He's an engineer, she finds out. So she strings him along-- makes him believe she's falling in love with him-- in order to get Reynard out from the camp. Now we're dealing with a fun twist, AND evil-for-evil power couple. Irene's loyalty, to me, would make a much more interesting film (and take advantage of the insane chemistry already in place.)
Might be interesting if Bill was an outwardly better man, ie less of a rascal's tendency to gleefully lie to whoever's speaking to him-- but have him be just as clearly selfish and looking for praise, and not caring about actually helping other people. Ie, make him look less outwardly like a villain, without changing his inadequate morals.
having the narrative be clearly moving towards a rescue attempt gives more space for Reynard, in the camp, to be experiencing more doubt and despair. The letter didn't come from his beloved and he's dealing with profound agony. He misses her. He still believes in Dirk's loyalty, but he doesn't know if he has the strength to survive the remaining wait, not when he may have lost Irene. We see him, very clearly, showing that his own self-preservation isn't as strong as his love for Irene-- this is not a man who can walk away unscathed, so long as he has his life. He needs her, too.
artfully dishevelled Basil Rathbone costuming also. please. im begging. gaping collar showing a hint of collarbone. one lock of hair out of place. artful blush on his cheeks from the physical exertion. a bead of sweat trailing down his neck and chest. still breathing hard from having hauled something so so heavy. execs do you hear me im on my knees
the movie still ends in a tense confrontation-- I'm envisioning this on a boat off the coast of Rio. Bill may have gotten drunk again-- that alcoholism he's got is pretty intractable just at the moment, and that is NOT a thing that magically goes away when a pretty girl likes you/you manage to do one job right, especially given delirium tremens. While drunk, he's gone against the plans he and Irene made-- Irene had meant this leg of the journey to be just her, Reynard, and Dirk-- but oops, Bill is here, and he's abruptly realizing that something's not right. (Maybe Irene had told him that rescuing Reynard was just for closure, or a requirement for divorcing him, something of that nature? But seeing them together it's so damn obvious she's still in love with him.) Bill has been established to be belligerent when drunk: confused and offended, he pulls a gun. Things escalate rapidly, badly. Between being on a boat deck and being drunk, Bill winds up shooting himself. It's bleeding badly-- and they're nowhere near civilization, given the location of the prison colony. He's going to bleed out for sure. Irene gathers him in her arms, sobbing. She'd meant to use him, means to an end, but she'd certainly never intended for him to die. We get high drama, tragedy.
a second twist: Reynard's time in the prison camp changed him. He indicates that he doesn't want to get back into the swindling game, because he'd rather be poor and with Irene for the rest of their lives rather than go another week of his life without her (note, also, that his previous line of work had him traveling A LOT.) This has the advantage of tying up character threads that were already laid down in the movie in a nice, satisfying bow. I think it'd be cute to see Dirk's reaction to this as well-- he struck me as someone who'd be happier being on the straight and narrow, but his loyalty trumps his personal morals. Dirk claps Reynard on the back and says "We'll make an honest man of you yet." (CUTE.)
bonus points if the end scene shows Reynard putting that insane charisma to use in respectable profession (I haven't put enough thought into this, but it'd be SO funny if it was on behalf of a charity or something) and then getting off for the day and going to the bar where Irene sings and Dirk bartends and then asking her for a dance as soon as she gets off work. Fin
