Film Snob Canada

追加: 2026-05-14

[00:00:08]You in this theater are especially privileged to join in seeing the terrifying sights that can only be seen through the mask. Each of you has been given a mask. When you see the mask put on in the picture, you put yours on, too. Then you will share an adventure into the darkest hidden recesses of the human mind.

[00:00:30]Canada never did have real film production. With no studio system or star system, the country could not compete with the United States whose product dominated Canadian movie screens, not for lack of trying. There was once a company in Halifax that produced six feature films in 1913.

[00:00:53]But the war and the depression and American producers all conspired to kill the Canadian film industry in its infancy and it didn't get to start up again until the early 60s.

[00:01:07]As a kid, I saw the movie The Mask at a matinea. The director, Julian Rothman, was pretty hardcore. He had made a previous film called The Bloody Brood about a gang of maniacs who feed ground glass to a delivery boy just to watch him die.

[00:01:26]The Mask Canada's entry into the world of 3D movies was released in 1961.

[00:01:33]It was about a haunted tribal mask that propelled the wearer into a nightmarish world.

[00:01:41]late to the party as far as 3D was concerned and with only certain segments rendered in 3D, >> you knew to put on the 3D glasses because a baritone voice on screen would echo.

[00:01:55]>> Put the mask on now.

[00:01:59]Put the mask on now.

[00:02:09]And when you did, you entered a surreal world filled with horrific images.

[00:02:28]These freakout scenes in 3D were scripted by Slavco Vorcapich, a Serbian montage artist who had previously worked on big Hollywood movies like The Good Earth and Victor Fleming's Jacqueline Hyde among others.

[00:02:57]The theme of masks is consistent.

[00:03:01]All the actors in the surreal sequences wear faces on their faces. Skulls and fire are everywhere.

[00:03:18]And because it was 3D, lots of silly stuff is hurled into the viewer's face.

[00:03:25]Equally impressive is the score by Louis Applebomb, an early electronic symphony of weird music and nerve-wracking sounds.

[00:03:58]In many ways, The Mask is an ultra cool acid trip, psychedelic before the word even existed. It must have been so much fun to shoot.

[00:04:14]Hoffman continued to work for years, but never approached the heights of The Mask.

[00:04:22]Many Canadians still have a special place in their hearts for this movie.

[00:04:26]The mask itself, a beautiful prop made from blue mosaic tiles, sits in a glass case at the Cine Ontario.

[00:04:36]Love it or hate it, there's nothing quite like the mask.

[00:04:50]>> It's an understatement to say the Canadian movies can be depressing.

[00:04:55]William Fruit's Wedding in White based on his play is about Jeanie, a small town girl played by Carol Kaine, just 16 and full of romantic longing.

[00:05:07]The walls of her drab bedroom are covered with magazine photos of glamorous couples in love.

[00:05:14]But she lives somewhere awful, maybe northern Ontario, but more likely a seapport city. And it's during the Second World War.

[00:05:24]When the movie opens, her brother and his war buddies show up on shore leave.

[00:05:33]>> I want TO MEET THE FINEST FOLKS IN THIS HERE DAMN TOWN. MY MOM AND DAD. This here's my mate Billy. He didn't have no place to go on his leave, so I brought him home with me.

[00:05:43]>> Lots of drinking ensues.

[00:05:48]Worse, the buddy rapes her on the living room floor.

[00:05:53]What? What are you doing?

[00:05:55]No. Come on. Don't act dumb.

[00:06:00]No. Please don't do that.

[00:06:08]>> Come on, you stupid [ __ ] He leaves the next morning as she struggles with the aftermath.

[00:06:23]Why were you looking at yourself like that?

[00:06:27]>> You won't tell Dad.

[00:06:31]>> Tell him what?

[00:06:35]>> I think I'm in trouble.

[00:06:38]>> This is ghastly news because it means a loss of status in the community, >> baby.

[00:06:44]>> And it means that she is sullied forever. Who will want her now? You've been with a man. I didn't want to. He put his hand over my face and I could hardly breathe and I was scared. Faces loom in the darkness.

[00:06:58]>> God in heaven.

[00:07:03]Who was he?

[00:07:06]It was that Billy >> Fruit, who went on to a career in horror, shoots much of this film like a horror movie.

[00:07:14]>> She's in trouble. When her father finds out, he is predictably outraged.

[00:07:20]>> My genie, >> she's pregnant, Jim.

[00:07:25]>> Where is she?

[00:07:26]>> He nearly kills her. And of course, he blames her for everything.

[00:07:30]>> Bloody sm.

[00:07:33]>> I'll show you what I THINK OF YOU.

[00:07:35]YOU'LL NEVER PLEASE.

[00:07:37]>> WHERE'S MY BELT?

[00:07:40]>> YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.

[00:07:43]I'VE GOT A HOOD FOR A DAUGHTER. THEN he gets a terrific idea.

[00:07:47]>> He offers her hand to his war buddy.

[00:07:50]>> Gee, come on. Come in here. I uh I picked up something for you on my way home.

[00:07:56]>> Sandy, the buddy, is thrilled to be given a child bride. Whereas the only thing that makes her even the slightest bit happy is the secondhand wedding gown her father buys for her.

[00:08:10]>> It's beautiful.

[00:08:13]See, Mom.

[00:08:15]>> Where did you get it, Jim?

[00:08:17]>> Oh, I I picked it up the Seconds on False Street. Of course, that's not exactly brand new, but I'm be damned if I'm going to pay out a whole lot of money just for a dress you wear one day.

[00:08:27]Mom.

[00:08:28]>> So, they have the saddest wedding ever.

[00:08:31]Then they all leave the happy couple by themselves so they can get down to the love making.

[00:08:36]>> I'll be all right.

[00:08:46]Sandy is dead drunk and snoring as Jeie cries in the corner. Then he comes to staggers over to her.

[00:08:58]How old Yeah. No crying, are you?

[00:09:39]Oh, genie. Oh, come on.

[00:09:45]Come on.

[00:09:52]>> Oh, don't be frighten.

[00:09:57]>> And what happens to this poor girl is so awful, you want to reach into the screen to pull her out.

[00:10:04]>> But there is no escape for Genie. Our stomachs sink as she and Sandy make their way up that darkened staircase and then this.

[00:10:15]>> He gives her ass a shove up the stairs and into the bedroom.

[00:10:20]Fruit holds in this bleak image for a long time. He wants us to realize how shitty her life has become.

[00:10:28]This, ladies and gentlemen, is a classic Canadian movie and the winner of that year's best picture award. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

[00:10:43]>> Attention, attention. Could I uh have this area cleared? Could I have a little cooperation here, please? You gentlemen over there on the corner, could you clear that corner, please? Uh clear the whole area out. That means you, lady.

[00:10:56]Move. Move. All right.

[00:11:05]The Rubber Gun is entirely crude and cheap, but it is fueled by a crazy spirit. It's about a group of drug dealers who live in a commune in Montreal. The leader of the gang is Steven Lack, who, like all the other actors in this movie, uses his real first and last name for his character.

[00:11:25]It kind of gives it a documentary dimension somehow.

[00:11:30]He plays a talented painter who is sidetracked by selling drugs, mostly cocaine and heroin.

[00:11:37]>> Lack's super gay devil may care performance brought him a genie nomination for best actor.

[00:11:44]>> Here he speaks to his connection Pierre using classic drug lingo made to confuse cops who might be listening in.

[00:11:52]>> All right. What's happening with you?

[00:11:55]mailman dropped over a pamphlet this morning and it gave me a complete preview of what we're going to be up to.

[00:12:03]>> Heavy reading. I love literature. What color are the pages? White.

[00:12:08]>> It reads white. Heavy white light.

[00:12:12]>> I'm ready for the uncanny.

[00:12:14]>> One day, Lac cruises and picks up a guy named Bozo, who is also Alan Moy, the film's director.

[00:12:21]>> All right, buddy. You're bastard. All right, let's take a look at your little treasure.

[00:12:26]>> He takes him home to meet the rest of the commune, which also includes a madman named Peter Broly and a young couple, Pierre and Pam, who have a baby daughter named Rainbow.

[00:12:37]>> A Rainbow, if you got a cold, do like two acted and pass them around, okay?

[00:12:44]>> If you don't have a cold, just do one and stash them. Okay.

[00:12:47]>> Oh, you guys are really disgusting.

[00:12:49]>> We're so [ __ ] concerned. like it's 8 ft across the room to go take them from.

[00:12:52]>> Where'd you cop a heavy acted habit?

[00:12:54]>> Don't increase your dosage. Just keep it at two and you won't cop a habit. Four is getting heavy.

[00:13:00]>> Rainbow, do you want to start dealing acted and kindergarten?

[00:13:05]Hey, you want to line up all the little kids and trade them in their little rubber elephants and their plasine horses for little green and white pills.

[00:13:14]Hey, >> Rainbow, the acted queen.

[00:13:18]Boza was a grad student who after meeting Lack's friends decides to write his thesis about the commune.

[00:13:25]>> Totally. My uh my my original premise. I I want to build a theory that drug use for this particular group has had the exact opposite effect.

[00:13:36]>> Of all the family members, Pierre Rober gives the most remarkable performance, correctly depicting a drug addict's habit of constantly negotiating and deflecting. He's hilarious, too.

[00:13:48]>> What can I do for you, Pierre? My little Tatskala.

[00:13:52]>> Well, it's You can't do too much for me.

[00:13:54]Um, all I need is $900 for 2 hours.

[00:14:04]I love it. $900 for 2 hours. What? Are you a flip out? 900 beans for 2 hours.

[00:14:12]I'm really rolling, Rober. No, definitely. $900 for 2 hours, Pierre.

[00:14:21]I've only I don't even have nine bucks for 2 hours.

[00:14:25]>> Well, can I have that?

[00:14:28]>> Hello.

[00:14:30]>> Is that you, Bozo?

[00:14:32]>> Bozo and Lack share a lot of intimate space. Are these guys gay? No one has ever explicitly identified as gay, but no one seems particularly straight either.

[00:14:43]Regardless, the film was challenging for some. Not just because a baby lives with drug addicts, but because of this scene.

[00:14:50]>> Back from all over the world to see these little dolls.

[00:14:54]>> Go away, boys. You're really like upsetting my friend over here.

[00:14:57]>> I can't stand this. Don't do that.

[00:15:02]>> Jesus. Clock the [ __ ] goalie. Don't Don't look.

[00:15:06]>> I can't check him out anymore. The goalie is driving me nuts.

[00:15:09]>> The goalie. If I can have the goalie at my next hockey game, forget it.

[00:15:15]>> I like the kid in the red.

[00:15:17]>> I wonder who did his hair.

[00:15:21]>> Hey, fix my wrist. Fix my wrist. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:15:25]>> Oh, Jesus. Look at those goons. I can't believe he's bringing a thing.

[00:15:30]>> Do you think he's got a heart on or is he just hung? Is he hard or is he hung?

[00:15:34]Would somebody like could we get maybe you should just like run over and see if he's like uh happening? Listen, man. My friend and I my friend and I were having a little rap and we wanted >> whether it was like hard >> somehow or just fly, >> you know, like is it big or is it like just like >> one day the big shipment arrives and it is locked in a locker at the train station, but the cops who've been running surveillance on the gang are all over it. So the dealers have to think of some other way to get that stash.

[00:16:09]>> So 107 97 the numbers are going so >> chances are uh that they're not here and like I think the air conditioning's off.

[00:16:26]So >> it's really warm. Hey, what do you think?

[00:16:30]>> What do you think?

[00:16:31]>> Pierre comes up with a plan.

[00:16:32]>> What do you think?

[00:16:33]>> Lack cautions against it.

[00:16:35]>> Been through the mint and Millie show, you and Rainbow underneath the carpet, the Gooners from Verdun, and the rubber gun show. I've seen a lot of spectaculars, you know. I put up with people looking for you and long distance phone calls and airplane tickets and the whole >> You can't put it down.

[00:16:59]all that bread.

[00:17:01]>> They decide on creating multiple distractions involving a fake epileptic fit and a similar looking suitcase.

[00:17:17]>> Okay, fell.

[00:17:22]That's a brick.

[00:17:33]But ultimately it doesn't work and the product is seized and arrests are made and lives are ruined.

[00:17:41]In the end, Bozo proudly presents his thesis paper to Lack, hoping to impress him.

[00:17:47]>> You look like you've eaten canaries for me.

[00:17:50]>> Yeah.

[00:17:50]>> A present.

[00:17:51]>> Yeah.

[00:17:51]>> Can I open it now or? Uh, >> please do. It's a present from me to you and me, Stephen.

[00:17:59]>> Sounds ominous.

[00:18:00]>> That Stephen is the last installment on my master's thesis. And as of now, I'm in the doctorate program. They accepted it. In fact, they love it. Look through it. Look in the front page.

[00:18:10]>> I'm looking.

[00:18:12]>> It's dedicated to you, Stephen.

[00:18:14]>> I see. I'm all over.

[00:18:14]>> A couple of faculty um advisers want me to expand it into a a book.

[00:18:21]Well, I hope you don't mind if I'm not too thrilled about it.

[00:18:26]>> I always felt that this was one of the most real and honest films I ever saw.

[00:18:30]Alan Moy went on to direct Pump Up the Volume with Christian Slater among other movies. Whereas Steven Lack gave up acting entirely to become a full-time painter.

[00:18:40]Available nowhere, The Rubber Gun is my most favorite Canadian movie.

[00:18:46]Like Canada, it is both blunt and ingratiating at the same time.