Smallville Season 1, Episode 1: "Pilot" Review

As I write this, on July 11, 2021, Smallville is nearing its 20 year anniversary and it only seemed right to try something. Seeing as 2020 is the year I finally decided to commit to the series, I figured now was as good as time as any to review the series and share my experience. It’s a damned shame I didn’t begin this sooner and cover each episode as I saw it, but better late than never for a longtime Superman fan. Airing first on October 16, 2001, Smallville began the saga of Superman years before he put on the cape, the story instead focusing on Clark Kent, a teenage boy with unimaginable powers (only some of which he has yet discovered) trying to find his place in the world. I love this show, I adore it, I had never seen the show in its entirety until last year when the world was in the grip of a pandemic. It wound up being a real source of joy, being a huge fan of Superman and someone who just wants good entertainment and it's a testament to how much fun it really is that I stuck through all ten seasons, with all its twists, turns, changes and constants. Let's get into it shall we?

Already Smallville takes us into some exciting territory as the baby who will become Superman arrives in a meteor shower in Smallville that wreaks havoc on the town in a flurry of crashing meteorites, smashed buildings, exploding cars and Mark Snow's rousing music score. Up to this point, we see various important characters going about their usual business. Young farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent are shopping for flowers and wistfully imagining having a child, while Lionel Luthor is on his way to buy a factory in a helicopter while coldly scolding his timid, curly haired son Lex for his fear of heights. The contrast between the Kents and Luthors is going to be of paramount importance to the story. As the storm dies down, the Kents find the little boy from beyond the stars and take him in as their own, while Lionel finds Lex catatonic and completely bald. Bonus points for a great exchange between Jonathan and Martha as they contemplate adopting the alien child. 

 

Jonathan: Sweetheart, we can't keep him. What are we gonna tell people? We found him out in a field? 

Martha: We didn't find him... he found us.

Tom Welling is perfect as Clark Kent, despite being 10 years older, bulkier and taller than the freshman he plays, he has a sincere charm and brings a lot of energy to an otherwise mild-mannered and slightly awkward character. It's not quite the nerdy Clark Kent that you see as Superman's alter ego and despite his handsome, square-jawed looks being a dead ringer for the Man of Steel, he's not quite the seemingly invincible superhero. He's just a kid going through the self-discovery and growing pains of anyone at that age. The tone is perfectly set when, just after being denied the chance to try out for the football team and missing the bus, he cracks a grin and zips past them in a corn field. He's also capable of some great emotional range, after a pretty average day of school and pining over his unattainable crush, Lana Lang (I'll talk about her shortly), he has a chance encounter with the now early-twenties Lex Luthor (I'll get to him next), who accidentally crashes into him and sends them both off a bridge and into the river. Clark manages to save Lex and is stunned that he survived a car hitting him at 60 miles an hour. When his father later tells him to return a truck Lex had given him as a thank you and that it's normal to be upset, he plunges his hand into a wood chipper, revealing he can't be injured and bemoaning the fact that he can never be normal. His father decides to reveal that he was brought to them in a spaceship on the day of the meteor shower and Clark runs away furious that he was never told of this.

Lex Luthor. I can't imagine any other actor playing this incarnation of the character than Michael Rosenbaum, he plays Lex with dry wit and a lot of swagger and cuts a dashing figure for a character not typically known for his looks, but there's just a bit of mystery beneath the cool exterior, even a little sadness having survived a harrowing ordeal that left him bald and coming from a background of incredible wealth, but seemingly a lonely one with a father who's hard with him. Banished to work at the Smallville fertilizer plant by his father, Lex has all the makings of a fun character, a spoiled young billionaire out of his comfort zone and thrust into a whole new world after his chance encounter with Clark. Not yet a villain, he's actually quite warm to Clark and sees a chance at a great friendship, seeing his near death experience as a chance to start fresh. There's a lot yet to be unlocked, but the seeds are planted. Who is this seemingly invincible boy who ripped open his car and fished him out? Lana Lang is gets much more development in this pilot. We first see her as a child in a fairy costume granting Martha Kent a wish, a wish that came true when Clark arrived, but in the span of a few minutes she sees her parents killed before her eyes by a meteor. As a teenager played by raven haired Eurasian beauty Kristen Kreuk, she's a popular cheerleader with her boyfriend Whitney Fordman, who's captain of the football team. Clark tries to approach her, but stumbles over feeling sick due to her green necklace, a piece of the meteor rock that orphaned her, a necklace she lets her boyfriend wear for luck. When Clark is still hiding from his parents, he meets her in a graveyard where they bond. Clark never knew his birth parents, Lana saw hers die and it's still a sore spot for her. It's a sweet scene, if a bit corny, and Kreuk and Welling are both great. Whitney doesn't think so though.

Meanwhile, strange things are afoot as the first character who was affected by the mutating effects of the meteor rocks returns. A boy named Jeremy Creek, who young Lex encountered in the cornfield strung up like a scarecrow as part of a cruel prank, has woken from a coma still a teenager and now attacking his old tormentors with electric powers. Clark spots him at the scene of the crime as a man is carried off in an ambulance and teams with his friends at the school newspaper, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross to find more information on him. Here he discovers Chloe's "Wall of Weird," a collection of articles about all the odd events and sightings that have popped up since the meteor shower. Clark sees a picture of Lana from that day and is overcome with guilt, believing himself responsible. Unfortunately he bumps into a profoundly jealous Whitney who drags him off to be this year's scarecrow, Clark is unfortunately subdued by the meteor rock necklace and can't do much about it so when we next see him, he's stripped to his boxers and strung up in a field with a red "S" painted on his chest. Foreshadowing AND a bit of Christ symbolism in one scene, hot damn.

Unfortunately, Jeremy isn't so keen on saving Clark and realizes that taking out the same bullies who'd tormented him hasn't stopped the cruelty, so he heads off to avenge the two of them by turning on the sprinklers at the school homecoming dance and electrifying them all. Lex is heading to the factory and spots Jeremy, recognizing him, and tries to follow him into the cornfield. He finds Clark and saves him from what would probably be a potentially fatal case of hypothermia, knocking off the meteorite necklace and restoring Clark's strength. Clark dashes off to stop Jeremy, leaving Lex to find the necklace. Jeremy arrives at the school, but so too does Clark, who refuses to let him kill innocent people. They face off in a short, but still exciting fight scene, where Clark's strength, speed and quick thinking are an even match for someone blasting electricity from his hands.

Clark stops and Jeremy and brings him back to his senses, the poor kid completely confused and not remembering any of the ordeal, and Clark comforts him. Clark is too late for the dance and, in a pretty justifiable bout of pettiness,  he pulls one hell of a prank of his own and stacks his bullies' trucks on top of each other before heading home. His dad checks up on him, seemingly not knowing about anything that's happened over the course of the day, and the two share a great moment.

Clark: Dad, I'm really glad you and mom are the ones that found me.

Jonathan: We didn't find you, Clark. You found us.

After that bit of sweetness, Lana appears and dances with him for a bit, the sound of car horns snapping him out of what turns out to be a daydream (d'aww), and he thanks her for the dance from afar. She looks back for a moment, as if hearing him, smiles and walks inside as Clark looks on wistfully.

All things considered, it's one hell of a pilot episode. It perfectly lays out the groundwork for the series  and the characters who we'll be following on the adventure and in many ways it feels like a short film about Superman, putting the man before the super, though not quite yet a man. It's the little details too that make all the difference, a good deal of which I brushed past, the book of Clark's that Lana picks up being by Nietzsche, the originator of the "superman" concept, Clark's tendency to daydream such as his fantasy about being a football star and victoriously being embraced by Lana, or the supporting characters' own quirks. Ah yes, the supporting characters. It can't be said enough how much the people in Clark's life will have a profound impact on his life and their early appearances here are excellent. John Schneider and Annette O'Toole as Jonathan and Martha Kent respectively as inspired casting, younger than the usual casting choices for Clark's adoptive parents but somehow making their roles feel more real, less elderly guardians of an alien boy and more like a realistic young-ish couple trying to raise a son in a way we hadn't before often seen. Schneider gets more to do in the pilot admittedly as the firm, yet truly caring father to Clark as he tries to protect and encourage his son in equal measure, but O'Toole is great too in her few scenes as Martha, bringing a lot of warmth and spunk to the role of Martha. John Glover's early appearance as Lionel Luthor is a real treat and it'll be a joy to see him return as Lex's surly father.

His friends are quite winsome too, Sam Jones III is a joy as his childhood friend from the comics, Pete Ross, encouraging Clark to join him for football tryouts lest they be the unlucky freshmen chosen to be strung up in a cornfield for the yearly prank and making bets with Chloe on Clark's tardiness or whether or not he can approach Lana without making a fool of himself. Allison Mack in particular immediately makes an impression as fast-talking amateur journalist Chloe Sullivan, with her choppy blonde hair, thrift store chic and weapons grade snark, she's definitely a lot of fun and for me, winds up being one of the best characters in the whole show. She also, despite her denial, seems to be harboring a crush on our farmboy-cum-superhero, which will be coming up again, for better or worse.

Eric Johnson doesn't have much to do as jock Whitney Fordman,  but he does fine all things considered and the seeds are planted for a character who's more than just a meathead. Adrian Glynn McMorran does a good job as Jeremy Creek, the first of the "meteor freaks" that Clark faces off against. Quietly menacing, but not evil, he's just an angry kid with a whole lot of power at his disposal. This is another great recurring theme, many of the folks who get super powers tend to use them dangerously or selfishly, whether they're actively malicious or the newfound power just gets to their heads. It's a great contrast to Clark Kent, who doesn't really want the burden of all this power, but uses it to help people. All the makings of a great Superman. The visual style of the episode balances the ordinary world with comic book flair quite well, the use of warm reds and yellows and blues hearkening to the colors of Superman's suit. Blue tends to be used more for the dark scenes, but Clark does tend to wear blue quite a bit. The Kent house is yellow, their barn is red and the high school uses both heavily.

It also boasts one hell of a soundtrack. The folksy opening of "Long Way Round" by Eagle Eye Cherry introduces us to teenaged Clark as he looks up other teenagers who've performed similar feats as him, "Eight Half Letters" by power pop band Stereoblis introduces us to Smallville High School and Clark's plucky pals, the Calling's "Unstoppable" plays as Lex speeds to his nearly fatal crash and fated meeting with Clark, Jude's cover of "Everything I Own" plays during the homecoming dance and Lifehouse's gorgeous "Everything" plays out the episode as Clark longs for Lana. Mark Snow of The X-Files fame composed the score and it really packs a punch, from the urgency and terror of the meteor shower and frenzied sadness as Lionel searches the decimated corn field for Lex to the powerful and even triumphant music when the Kents discover infant Clark. Snow never once uses any of the John Williams score from the 1978 film and instead weaves his own that never fails to hit any of the right emotional beats. It's really special.

All in all, it's a strong start to a very strong series and one of the better pilot episodes of a superhero show. There's a lot going on, but plenty of room for more surprises. What's Lex Luthor going to do now that he's befriended Clark Kent? What kind of threats will Clark have to save Smallville from? The adventure is just beginning, and what a fun adventure it is.

Come for the middle America charm, stay because you probably got killed.

THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)

THE PHILADELPHIA STORY Review by Taylor Wright

I like a good romantic comedy, but I love a great one and that's exactly what The Philadelphia Story is. The backstory for this gem is that Katharine Hepburn had been in a string of flops (one of which was the now beloved Bringing Up Baby) and was looking for a star vehicle that would break that losing streak. It came about in the form of a play by Phillip Barry, rewritten as a screenplay by David Ogden Stewart, and what a screenplay it is. Katharine Hepburn stars as Tracy Lord, a wealthy, willful, free-spirited, but abrasive and judgmental socialite of Philadelphia who has divorced her husband and fellow socialite C.K. Dexter Haven, played by the always delightful Cary Grant. Her reasons for divorce being that he didn't measure up to her very specific standards, namely being that he was a drinker, a habit which she had apparently contributed to. Now Ms. Lord is about to marry to George Kittredge (played as amusingly fussy by John Howard), a man who acquired his wealth on his own. However, the tabloids are anxious to cover the wedding and, with a little masterminding by Dexter and a scandalous story surrounding her father Seth Lord, Reporter Macaulay "Mike" Connor (James Stewart) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) do just that.

This film was one of many to feature a plot involving remarriage, which was a plot device in the 30's and 40's to avoid difficulties with censorship. I believe this to be one of the best examples of those, another excellent one being The Awful Truth, which also starred Cary Grant. The chemistry and comic range of the three leads is the highlight of the film. Hepburn's performance as Tracy Lords is a perfect opportunity to tap into her own persona of a tough woman, but with enough sensitivity and wit to make it fun. And indeed, Tracy is a fun character who somehow winds up being torn between three very different men and having eat a slice of humble pie before all ends well. The scenes between Hepburn and Grant, both of whom share sparkling chemistry and a charming Mid-Atlantic accent*, are a sight to behold, the first scene in the movies shows Dexter leaving his mansion in a huff as Tracy snaps one of his golf clubs in two. Dexter is poised to strike, hesitates, then pushes her to the floor. It doesn't sound like much reading about it, but it's all about delivery. They share some very sensitive and heartwarming scenes too, Dexter's accusations of snobbery and self righteousness are as satisfying as their reconciliation, and hey, come on, we all know they'll get back together.

Equally fun are James Stewart in his Oscar-winning role as Mike and Ruth Hussey as Liz who seems to have some unrequited feelings for her colleague. If Dexter has a bone to pick with Tracy being on her high horse, Mike seems to like her there, praising her and falling for her: "You're lit from within, Tracy. You've got fires banked down in you, hearth-fires and holocausts." One of the most hysterical scenes in the film is when a very drunk Mike visits Dexter in the middle of the night with helpful information he has gathered from Tracy. Grant and Stewart crank up up their comic abilities to whole new level as as a very drunk Mike rambles on to Dexter, Cary Grant playing it off amusingly and James Stewart doing one of the most convincing drunk performances I've ever seen. The other characters are all enjoyable as well, John Halliday as Tracy's warm father Seth, Mary Nash as her kindly mother Margaret, Virginia Weilder is winsome as her sly younger sister Dinah and of course Roland Young as the hilarious Uncle Willie, who takes quite a liking to Liz. It's all tied together with George Cukor's solid direction and David Ogden Stewart's crackling screenplay. Like most romantic comedies, all's well that ends well, but it's a heck of a journey along the way with a lot of laughs and plenty of heart.

*Mid-Atlantic English (sometimes called a Transatlantic accent) is a cultivated or acquired version of the English Language once found in certain aristocratic elements of American society and taught for use in the American theatre. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent

CASABLANCA (1942)

CASABLANCA Review by Taylor Wright

Casablanca is often regarded as one of the best movies of all time, so it's funny to think that none of the incredibly talented people working on the film had much faith in what they were doing. The story takes place in December 1941, Casablanca, Morocco at "Rick's Cafe Americaine", a cafe owned and managed by a cynical American named Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, who slips perfectly in the role of an embittered, wise-cracking self-proclaimed neutral ("I stick my neck out for nobody") with a checkered past. Ingrid Bergman plays Ilsa Lund, Rick's old flame who comes back into his life as she and her husband, important leader of the Czech Resistance, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) are on the run from the Nazis, she and Rick bear most of the weight of the story. Claude Rains gives a scene-stealing performance as the likable and cynical opportunist Vichy Captain Louis Renault, Beyond the crisp black and white photography, unforgettable lines and the haunting theme song "As Time Goes By", the characters are what make this film the beloved classic that it is. As the lyrics put it: "It's still the same old story, a fight for love and love and glory, a case of do or die. The world will always welcome lovers as time goes by."

Rick's neutrality and desire to escape his painful past are shaken by the return of Ilsa, who reunited with her husband upon discovering that he was alive. Rick and Ilsa are severely put to the test, Rick is revealed to have smuggled weapons to Ethiopia and fought for the loyalists in the Spanish Civil War, hence his exile from the United States. Ilsa had thought her husband dead during her time with Rick and ultimately, when Victor turned out alive, Rick was left at a train station in the rain, holding a goodbye letter, one of the most iconic moments in the film. One of the most powerful moments comes about when Ilsa and Victor enter Rick's cafe, she asks the piano player Sam, played charmingly by Dooley Wilson, to play the song "As Time Goes By", which Sam reluctantly obliges. Rick storms in angrily as he forbids the song ever be played. Upon Rick and Ilsa seeing each other, the music becomes dramatic and carries a feeling of regret and heartbreak that is expressed just as powerfully in their faces. Rick has a quiet moment after closing as he drinks away his sorrows and asks Sam to "play it again", sadly uttering: "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine." Ilsa is compelling in her own right, struggling to aid her husband in his escape and obtain legal transit papers and confronting a man she loved.

Victor Laszlo is a noble character, almost flawless, but his true love appears to be his cause, and that makes him appear as a bit stiff. In a pivotal moment, several German soldiers begin singing a patriotic anthem, "Die Wacht am Rhein", which prompts Victor to defiantly sing the French National anthem. He at first starts alone until Rick beckons the band to play and sing. It becomes apparent that Rick is the stronger force in the story and perhaps the most noble. Captain Louis Renault, a man who appears to be all about self-preservation, must come to a choice between his survivalist philosophy and what the right thing to do is. The looming presence of World War II is an incredibly important factor in the story, several of the actors such as German Conrad Veidt, who plays the villainous Major Heinrich Strasser, and Austrian Peter Lorre who plays Signor Ugarte, a petty crook, fled the Nazis as they rose to power. Warner Bros. studios had taken their stand with the Allies and this film may be the best of their output during those dark times. At it's core, the film is a love story and a great one at that, it's about sacrifice, the choices people make, heroism in the face of hardship and redemption. It's a film about people that we care about and is full of the most iconic moments in cinematic history and a real emotionally powerful experience. It seems to only get better on repeated viewings, there are things that you might even not have noticed upon the first viewing. A Morrocan girl who seems to be rather close with Rick early in the film, Yvonne, has her own story arc if you pay attention. Casablanca is funny, romantic, exciting, moving and inspiring all at once. If you give the film a watch, well to quote Rick Blaine, "this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)

GONE WITH THE WIND Review by Taylor Wright

I wasn't shocked that I enjoyed this film, but rather how immensely I enjoyed this film. It's noted as a classic romance film set before, during and after the Civil War in the serene beauty of southern Georgia. It's running time is staggering as it's nearly four hours long, it's a period drama where people wear fancy costumes. But it's a great film in every sense of the word. The film opens with heartbreakingly glorious music, a sprawling opening title sequence and astoundingly beautiful color cinematography that looks decades ahead of its time, but it doesn't end there. We're quickly introduced to our protagonist, Scarlett O'Hara, portrayed by Vivien Leigh. Scarlett is the heroine and, sometimes, the anti-heroine of the story, a strong-willed, courageous yet spoiled and selfish character who we root for in face of danger but can't help but be glad to see her sometimes much deserved comeuppance. While she's a fascinating character to watch, it is through her eyes that we witness a rather romanticized depiction of the Old South, an idyllic land of prosperity, flowering trees, barbecues and the glossed-over depiction of black slaves.

Yes, slavery isn't portrayed as we might expect from a film nowadays, it's decidedly simplistic and everyone seems to be pretty happy. We see black men toiling away contentedly in the fields, a not-so bright maid named Prissy ("I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies!") whose high pitched voice and fussy hysterics are grating and uncomfortable, she may easily be the film's low point. There's an interesting sense of a desire to compromise in the film, however. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the slaves are reluctant to leave out of loyalty to Scarlett, perhaps to make them appear more noble to the audience, even if it essentially denies them personal freedom. Still, Hattie McDaniel walks away with her dignity as Mammy, the sensible, outspoken housemaid who isn't afraid to tell Scarlett what's what. Scarlett often needs a good reality check once in a while, over the course of the film she levitates back and forth between two very different men: Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), a tepid man betrothed and eventually wed to Scarlett's cousin, Melanie Hamilton, and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), a tough, cynical man who seems to be the perfect foil to the stubborn Miss O'Hara.

Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara's romance is the film's heart, Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh have incredible chemistry and subtle (but sometimes not so subtle) sexiness which really pushes the film forward. Rhett's intensity, brutal honesty, opportunism and pragmatism and lustfulness seem to click with Scarlett, who pines for the gentle, idealistic and ultimately weak Ashley Wilkes, played by Leslie Howard. Scarlett's unending pursuit of Ashley proves problematic and brings about trouble, it also serves as a sharp contrast to Rhett. If the first half of the film chronicles the Civil War and events leading up to it, the latter half of the film focuses on the Reconstruction Era and gives way to the tumultuous marriage of Rhett and Scarlett. The conflict between the North and South and the aftermath become secondary to Scarlett's conflict in herself. She was and still is one of the greatest female protagonists in cinematic history, our guide through the romanticized Old South and a melting pot of courage, strength, weakness, vanity, lust, warmth, coldness and charisma. Gone With the Wind is truly a sight to behold and, thank goodness, will never be gone.

THE CAMERAMAN (1928)

THE CAMERAMAN Review by Taylor Wright A master of self-depreciating physical comedy and what are still some of the most impressive stunts in cinema history, Buster Keaton still manages to put a smile on our faces and get some great laughs. In The Cameraman, Keaton stars as a small-time photographer, named Buster who falls for a secretary named Sally who works for MGM Newsreels. In an effort to be close to her and impress her, he spends all his money on a film camera and tries to get a job as a cameraman for the studio. This seems to work, but nothing is ever so simple as Keaton finds himself is increasingly wacky and dangerous scenarios. As he had just moved to MGM, albeit reluctantly, his was to be the last film Buster Keaton would make where he had considerable creative control, beyond starring in his his own films as the lovable underdog, he directed the films and created incredibly funny and exciting scenes often through improvisation. This film proves to be what may be his last real masterpiece. Some of his greatest moments are in this film, Buster taking Sally to a pool for a date and having to a share a changing room with a big man, leading to a hilarious mixup of swimsuits, a cop who witnesses Buster's antics as he dashes about town and my personal favorite, Buster's solo reenactment of a baseball game at an empty stadium. The heart of the story is the relationship between Buster Keaton and Sally, played sweetly by Marceline Day. Unlike quite a few leading ladies, she's a warm, supportive and likable character and a more realistic love interest than the fickle women who appear so often in the silent comedies. And Buster Keaton shows off his own acting prowess in the film's quieter moments, soaked and cold in the rain after their date, the pep in his step when Sally kisses him on the cheek is a charming moment, just as the sadness from his supposed defeat by his rival for Sally's affections is genuinely disheartening, but this is a comedy after all, do we really believe it will end sadly? And as the plot suggests, Keaton's fascination with film is on full display. The footage of the Tong war (violent wars between criminals in Chinatown, put simply) is magnificent and has an air of authenticity; the climactic rescue of Sally from drowning and the aforementioned baseball antics are all shot beautifully. Buster's own mishaps with his camera are familiar to anyone who has dabbled with a camera, albeit more modern ones. Even early forms of photography are something for modern audiences to learn about. At the beginning of the film, Buster is a Tintype photographer. Tintype was a method of photography that involved print a photo directly onto a metal plate, it was something of a novelty in it's time and is interesting to see on screen. But it's Buster Keaton's love of the art that makes the film a masterpiece, spectacle, humor and heart win the day and it makes for great entertainment. Even if it was to be his last great film, it's a fitting swan song.