Showing posts with label GLASS HOUSES (1972). Show all posts
Showing posts with label GLASS HOUSES (1972). Show all posts

Sunday, November 29, 2020

INTERVIEW WITH FILM EDITOR GEORGE FOLSEY JR.

George Folsey Jr.

Today I have the happy pleasure of welcoming a very special guest, film editor George Folsey Jr., to CINEMATIC REVELATIONS for an interview. George has edited a great many movies over the years, some of these including HAMMER, BLACK CAESAR, GLASS HOUSES [my review of the film can be found here] and J.D.’s REVENGE, considered one of the best Blaxploitation genre films, the high grossing NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE, international box office success COMING TO AMERICA, and CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, one of Steve Martin’s biggest hits. 

George Folsey Jr., John Landis in Rick Baker's monster makeup, and George Folsey Sr. on location shooting John Landis' first movie SCHLOCK
George Folsey Jr., John Landis in Rick Baker's monster makeup, and George J. Folsey 
on location shooting John Landis' first movie SCHLOCK

George is the son of famed cinematographer George J. Folsey, who photographed such classics as ANIMAL CRACKERS, THE GREAT ZIEGFELD with William Powell and Myrna Loy, MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS and THE HARVEY GIRLS, both Judy Garland hits, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn vehicle ADAM’S RIB, SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, for which George Sr. received one of his Academy Award nominations, and setting the record for Radio City box office for decades, STATE OF THE UNION, and TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY, a popular all-star musical, again with Judy Garland. 

George Folsey Jr. with son Ryan Folsey

George Jr.’s son Ryan is also an editor, with successful horror comedy CABIN FEVER, hit Kristen Bell comedy WHEN IN ROME, the animated ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE ROAD CHIP, and SCOOB some of his editing credits.

George also had a notable collaboration with John Landis, editing solo, or co-editing several of his movies including horror film SCHLOCK, THE BLUES BROTHERS, another enormous hit, and COMING TO AMERICA. He also produced nine of Mr Landis’ films such as comedies THREE AMIGOS, TRADING PLACES, both financial successes, and black comedy INTO THE NIGHT. One of their most famous teamings was for the spectacularly successful Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ music video directed by John Landis, which George co-edited with Malcolm Campbell. In this post, George will be discussing his multiple roles in the making of GLASS HOUSES, which marked his debut in films, and providing other information about this fascinating, but little-seen motion picture. Welcome to CINEMATIC REVELATIONS George!

George Folsey Jr.

Athan: How did the concept of GLASS HOUSES eventuate, and how did you become involved in this project?

George: My dad was teaching at AFI and I think he met Alex Singer there. They had never worked together. Alex discussed a script that he and his wife, Judy had written and they came to me. Alex thought we could make the movie cheaply so we used our contacts to put together a crew of young upcoming guys and girls and got the IATSE to let us all work non Union. My dad put up some money and I raised the rest of the $100K budget from friends at our Golf Club. 
 

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Athan: In GLASS HOUSES you not only were responsible for the editing but also, was the film’s producer, and camera operator, shooting one-quarter of the movie handheld with the Éclair camera. How did it feel at the time taking on so many duties for this production?

George: I went to Pomona College and graduated with a degree in English Lit. There was no Film School at Pomona so GLASS HOUSES was my Film School project. I had worked at KABC-TV cutting the news and documentaries but never a feature. I did spend 6 months at MGM working as an assistant editor to Henry Berman, a famous editor who had worked with my dad. Together we worked on GRAND PRIX and Henry won an Academy Award for his work on it. He taught me his editing system which I've used throughout my career. We decided to shoot with an Eclair 35mm camera in a blimp for the dialogue scenes. My dad got a Worrell gear head from MGM and I would practice by having my wife, Belinda walk around our living room and I would try to follow her. I got better with practice. I did shoot about 25% of the movie hand held. The Eclair, without the blimp, was great for this. I definitely felt the pressure watching the money and it was a long shoot, 10 weeks. We ran the dailies silent at MGM as it was too hard to sync them each day. I learned a lot about my operating as there was no sound to distract from my camera work.
 

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Athan: What did you most enjoy about the experience of making GLASS HOUSES?

George: The best part of making the movie was getting to work with my dad who was very helpful. We shot another movie, BONE, in the same fashion.


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Athan: Which for you were the most demanding, but emotionally satisfying moments of filming GLASS HOUSES?

George: We shot maybe 50% of the movie in the house my wife and I were renting. We had a 2 month old daughter and Jennifer O'Neill was staying with us as we had no money for hotels. She was a pleasure and very helpful. I liked it when my dad said I'd done a good job after running the dailies.
 

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Athan: I was always struck by Ann Summers, who played Adele in the picture, Victor’s wife and Kim’s mother, and the moving nature of her performance. There is very little written about her, and she remains to this day an intriguing, mysterious presence. What was the experience of working with Miss Summers in GLASS HOUSES?

George: As a Producer, you couldn't ask for a better cast member than Ann Summers! She completely got the part and was such a pleasure. We became close friends and I so saddened by her early death in 1974.
 

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Athan: The casting of GLASS HOUSES was first-rate, especially with the afore-mentioned Ann Summers, Deirdre Lenihan, Clarke Gordon, and Mary Carver, for me, being the most striking choices. Was it a difficult process to cast for this movie, or did certain performers make their presence felt from the start?

George: Most of the casting was done in New York by Singer and Joel Steinberger. Deirdre Lenihan and Clarke Gordon clearly stood out.
 

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Athan: The editing in this film is of a superlative nature, with special mention being for the final few minutes of GLASS HOUSES featuring Deirdre Lenihan and Bernard Barrow. In this short space of time, a complicated montage of shots was assembled, whereby the viewer was thrown off balance by space and time, and exactly what was taking place, and which character’s point of view is being expressed. How did it feel editing these intricately detailed sequences?

George: I haven't seen the final sequence in many years but I made a pass at it and Alex and I refined it. He was a pro and I had little trouble in editing the movie as I was able to use the Henry Berman system to great advantage.
 

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Athan: GLASS HOUSES was shot in many real-life locations, such as the Beverly Hills home in which you and your family lived in at that time, and the Topanga Center for Human Awareness. What were some of the logistical challenges posed by shooting the film in this manner?

George: We couldn't afford to shoot anything on a sound stage so everything was shot in practical locations. I remember shooting Bernie Barrow and Jennifer [O'Neill] driving down Melrose Ave. I was strapped in and surprised to see a Policeman in my finder at the end of the shot. Got cited...
 

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Athan: Have you kept in contact with any cast members and crew from GLASS HOUSES?

George: Sidney Baldwin who shot stills on the production worked on a couple of movies I produced with Landis. Jason Starkes who worked as a grip wrote JD'S REVENGE which I edited. Eric Roth who wrote FORREST GUMP, was our Lighting Gaffer. Esperanza Vasquez was our script girl. She and her husband were producers on a movie I edited in the 70's. It was such a pleasure to work with all these young people many of whom went on to successful careers in the Industry.
 

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Athan: A cast member of the movie, T.J. Halligan, was credited as passing away the same year GLASS HOUSES was shot, being in 1970. Could you enlighten us on what effect this event had on the making of the movie?

George: We were all sad to hear of the passing of T.J. Halligan but it didn't have an effect on the movie. Actually I think GLASS HOUSES was filmed in 1969.
 

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Athan: GLASS HOUSES has unfortunately largely faded into obscurity, and has never been released on either VHS or DVD. What do you think is the reason for this?

George: Considering we sold the movie to Columbia its hard to understand why there are no 35mm prints, no VHS or DVDs and where is the cut negative? I've spoken to a close friend at Columbia to try to find some element to make something but to no avail. It isn't a great movie but it's well made. Not sexy enough to qualify as an "Art" film and too sophisticated for popular release. Also, there was no Star in the cast to help the Box Office.
 

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Athan: Do you have any upcoming projects of which you would like to tell readers?

George: I'm producing a Faith/Based movie called GOD'S GONE FISHING which I hope to shoot in the late summer of 2021.
 

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Thank you so much today for your time George, and for the valuable insights you have provided into film editing, GLASS HOUSES, film editing, and production. It has been wonderful to have you on CINEMATIC REVELATIONS. You are welcome to return whenever you wish.


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Thank You Athan for letting me be a part of CINEMATIC REVELATIONS!!!
 

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George Folsey Jr. links


+George Folsey Jr. IMDb Page

+GLASS HOUSES IMDb page

Sunday, November 10, 2019

GLASS HOUSES (1972)


Title: GLASS HOUSES

Year of Release: 1972

Director: Alexander Singer

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Synopsis: Portrait of a family in meltdown; Victor is having an affair with a young woman, nineteen year old daughter Kim is involved with her father's business associate Ted, and Victor's wife and Kim's mother, Adele, holds civic meetings at home, carrying on a secret relationship with the neighbourhood novelist.

Within a film history context: With the breakdown of US film censorship in the late 1960s and the introduction of a self-regulatory censorship system, the MPAA, cinematic films began to showcase more explicit themes in terms of sexual content, violence and language which had heretofore been banned. The inception of the R and X ratings in the US was a watershed for film censorship, freeing directors and writers to explore content in a much freer manner than beforehand. BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE (1969), MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969), and EASY RIDER (1969) were all pivotal films at the time for their frank treatment of sex and related themes. GLASS HOUSES arrived several years after these particular movies, and was also candid in how it handled its content.

GLASS HOUSES highlighted a dysfunctional family, reviewing its dynamics, and also looked at incest pertaining to a father-daughter relationship. Dysfunctional families have been explored over the years in cinema in various capacities. Films such as A SUMMER PLACE (1959) focused upon two families, specifically highlighting mother-daughter, father-daughter, and son-mother relationships, morality, and fractured families. Forward twenty years and Robert Redford's excellent ORDINARY PEOPLE (1980) explored family grief at the loss of a child, and how the surviving sibling was viewed by his parents. GLASS HOUSES differs from these in that it examines an affluent couple whose marriage has gone stale, and how the daughter harbours a secret, incestuous love for her father.

The incest theme is handled in a highly tense, provocative but understated manner, without showing anything unseemly occurring between the two characters. The editing in the final scenes leaves the door open for the viewer to imagine what might, or might not happen to the characters, which elevates the film into an artistic domain, and away from exploitation territory. It looks forward to films such as THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD (1975) a supernatural thriller also with an incest theme, in that a man falls in love with his daughter after being reincarnated in another man's body. GLASS HOUSES does not go as far as this film, but there are inferences that the father in the movie may subconsciously desire his daughter, in light of his affair with a young woman his daughter's age.

Overview: Alexander Singer directed only five feature films in his career, the majority of these centred upon their female characters, the exception being western CAPTAIN APACHE (1971). Mr Singer presented their flaws, foibles and strengths, warts and all to viewers to sympathize and understand, if not necessarily to agree with. His first film A COLD WIND IN AUGUST (1961), was the character study of a stripper who falls in love with a seventeen year old young man. LOVE HAS MANY FACES (1965) was a melodrama about a woman caught in a difficult situation, adultery, and intrigue in Acapulco. PSYCHE 59 (1964) was an elegant, suspenseful drama about a woman's loss of memory, and the impact this had on her life, and that of her sister and husband.

GLASS HOUSES focused upon a family consisting of father Victor, his wife Adele, and their nineteen year old daughter Kim. Mr Singer has successfully made a film which, despite a short running time, delineates the characters and their situation for the viewer with great clarity. Unlike his other films, GLASS HOUSES does devote a significant amount of screen time to its female characters, but also does likewise with its male protagonists. The film is the study of a Southern Californian family, and begins with the husband and father's affair with a young woman. Taking place over the span of approximately two days, the action shows Victor coming home after a late night tryst, and his cooling relationship with wife Adele the next morning, witnessed by him kissing her on the cheek rather than on the lips. Their daughter, Kim, watched her father return home from his clandestine affair the night before, and countless times prior, and makes sure her mother knows what is going on the next day. The most intense scenes in the film involve Kim, who knows exactly how to push both her mother, and her father's buttons. The mother-daughter/father-daughter relationships are presented by the director as alternately tenuous, tragic, but very relatable.

GLASS HOUSES has elements of drama, comedy and suspense, the director skilfully weaving these together without the film ever being uneven. A great example is the intercutting of the civic meeting with Kim, her lover Ted, Victor and mistress Jean at the 'Institute of Encounter Awareness', a health and wellness retreat. The relative calm of the retreat, with people relaxing or getting their feelings out in the open in therapy sessions is contrasted with the raucous civic meeting, where a variety of people from all walks of life voice their concerns about community issues and the environment, morality, and people's quality of life. The film is at its peak in these moments, juggling high drama with comedy, and more poignant moments.

There have been comparisons made with Paul Mazursky's earlier BOB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE (1969) but, for me, GLASS HOUSES is the superior of the two films. While the other film was largely comic in scope and had good performances, its tone was rather modish, and the characters seemed to like to punish each other, downgrading their marriages just for the sake of being in fashion. GLASS HOUSES differed as it presented a real life situation, being a couple over forty whose life has become all work and no passion, with their liberated, voracious daughter not helping matters in any way. GLASS HOUSES also positions its characters within the world of the late 1960s/early 1970s, touching upon influences such as the hippie generation, feminism, women's place in the home and public sphere, the changing role of men in society as women's roles evolved, and the generation gap. It also explored most notably, and in a more explicit manner, younger women/older men relationships, something that had been touched on in cinema from time to time, with CASS TIMBERLANE (1947) and SABRINA (1954) famous examples, with LOLITA (1961) a scandalous variation on the theme. GLASS HOUSES, in essence, was much more than some attractive people dabbling in recreational drugs and daring each other to commit illicit acts, which is how BOB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE sometimes appeared.

Acting: This is a movie where the acting is highly skilled by the entire cast, both main actors and supporting cast. Ann Summers beautifully portrays Adele as the hapless, unappreciated mother and wife, her reactions to situations touching but also, priceless. One of the best segments of the film is seeing Adele, who was sad and unwanted in the first half, come alive during the civic meeting scenes, mixing with the people present, and creating a positive atmosphere. Apart from this, her scenes with novelist Les Turner, played by Clarke Gordon, also have a magical, comical but sad aura all rolled into one. Clarke Gordon makes a memorable mark in the film with his pipe-smoking, irreverent novelist. With much of his dialogue delivered with a pipe in his mouth, Mr Gordon brought a style and passion that added flair to the film. His chemistry with Ann Summers effectively was akin to the blossoming of a withered flower in the spring after a very cold winter. In addition to these actors, two other thespians were notable in the film for their contributions.

Deirdre Lenihan handles a difficult role as Kim with aplomb, alternating between playing daddy's little girl, a hellion making her mother feel insecure and unworthy, a sex kitten with Ted, with shades of vulnerability throughout. The success of the film largely rests on her shoulders, and the effective portrayal of the mood changes and tendencies the character exhibits. Apart from these three actors another performer made an indelible impression in GLASS HOUSES. In a small role in the civic meeting scene, the bravura Mary Carver brought her impassioned character to vivid life. Miss Carver's role is one of the most startling cameos of anger, confusion and righteousness ever captured on film.

Soundtrack: The brilliant instrumental theme music composed by David Raksin perfectly complements the content, adding suspense particularly during the opening credits, and the final scenes. Variations of the main theme are utilized throughout the film which emphasize the tone of the scenes depending upon what is happening onscreen.

Mise-en-scene: The film was notable for its use of real locations which bring the narrative world to life for the spectator. The film captures the sights, sounds and feel of Southern California, with a real home used as the family base of Victor, Adele, and Kim. The use of the kitchen, bedrooms but in particular, the living room, with its spiral staircase, add validity and realism to the narrative world. Other locations such as Victor and Ted's office with its wide clear windows, offering a view of the city, Ted's dual level seaside home, the bungalow of Kim's friend Linda, with its soft beige interior and colourful ornaments all work to give the characters a life beyond just surface appearances. Outdoor location filming is also excellent, adding crispness to the film. The film showcases sights such as Victor's trek to work across the freeway, his stops at the gas station for petrol, and the courtyard of the health retreat, to name a few, which could not be replicated in a studio.

Award-worthy performances in my opinion: Ann Summers, Deirdre Lenihan, Mary Carver, Clarke Gordon.

Suitability for young viewers: No. Adult themes, sexual themes and language, and female nudity.

Overall Grade: A

Link: IMDB Page

Movie Excerpt