THE DAY OF THE LOCUST
US, 1974,143 minutes, Colour.
Donald Sutherland, Karen Black. Burgess Meredith, William Atherton, Geraldine Page, Jackie Earle Haley.
Directed by John Schlesinger.
Day of the Locust is Nathanael West's story of Hollywood in the '30s. It is hard- hitting; the reconstruction of the times and places is very effective; the acting is good, especially Donald Sutherland as the shy Homer; John Schlesinger is the director. Highlights are the details of filming, the accidents and especially the hysterical finale at the Cecil B. deMille premiere, the destructive plague of the title, symbolising the film's theme. It is very gripping in itself but over-strong for what precedes. An interesting film rather than an entertaining one.
1. The status of this film, the work of the director John Schlesinger, the status of the novel and its insight into Hollywood of the '30s?
2. How successful was the adaptation from the novel? The visionary aspects of the novel - Hollywood and its artificiality, the picture of America in the '30s, a destructive apocalyptic vision and cleansing? The locusts as plague? Ordinary people as locusts, the nature of their destruction? How well was this pictured, the culmination and the devices used for the picturing of the plague and the apocalypse?
3. The trend of the mid '70s to re-create Hollywood and aspects? The interest in Hollywood. nostalgia, wonder, disgust? The comparison of the '70s with the '20s and '30s of Hollywood? How much insight by these memories into the present?
4. Hollywood in the '30s as a place, the people there and their hopes, the opportunities, Los Angeles and the atmosphere of Southern California? The studios, the creativity. the assembly line for films? The atmosphere of the studios? The echoes of Nazism and fascism in Europe and the way these were indicated throughout the film e.g. by headlines? The importance of the popular songs of the time - Jeepers Creepers, Hot Voodoo etc.? Authentic flavour for these memories?
5. Todd as the centre of the film? How entering the film through him, experiencing the characters.. Hollywood. the plague? His return at the end and our identification with him in summing up our experience? An ordinary young man for the audience to identify with, lack of money, hopes, opportunities, infatuation with Faye. friendship with Homer, likes and dislikes, success and failure? Possibility that he would have been swept away with the plague? The ironies in his return to the San Bernardino Arms and seeing the cracked wall, the flower? What was the audience left with as it shared his final experience?
6. The San Bernardino mansions as a microcosm of this world? The landlady and her control, inquiries, way of acting? Abe and his being a dwarf, his attitudes towards life, people, sexuality, the insights into him during the cock-fight sequence, his behaviour afterwards? His drinking? The artificiality of these apartments? As home? Faye and Harry and living there? The return to these apartments after all that had happened in the outside world of Hollywood?
7. How well did the film portray Hollywood - its opportunities, Faye and her ambitions, her lining up for bit-parts, the glamour of her dressing up for these moments, the humour of the sequence of the harem and the going to see the film, her reaction to seeing herself, the stealing of the photo? The sequence of the ball? Todd and his continued work., drawings, imaginative and artistic sketchings? The production values of the film? The importance of the hill and the collapse of the hill with its destruction? The arguments afterwards about insurance - and the lack of human feeling? The build-up to sneak previews and their mystique, the searchlights, the crowds, the stars arriving., the frenzied tones of the commentators, the fans surging forward? How was this all linked to the significance of the title?
8. The mystique of Hollywood, its potential for creativity, its exploration of values. the entertainment industry? The world of money, big business and interconnections? The destructive potential of Hollywood - even in its creativity? That it needed a plague, that it produced a plague? The myths and the artifice of Hollywood e.g. the tour sequence?
9. How well did the film draw the character of Todd? His strengths and weaknesses, his fascination with Hollywood, the photos, his involvement with the various groups in Hollywood - Faye and the San Bernardino Arms people, Claude and the studios? His work with promotions? His devices for Claude and getting in well with him? The Waterloo drawings? The world of parties and his being involved? His being spoilt by his opportunities in Hollywood? His drinking? Such scenes as the haircut, the cock-fight? His relationship with Faye, Harry. Homer? What happened to him by this experience? Was he different at the end., better. worse?
10. Todd and Faye and his idealising of her. as in a vision? The quality of his love for her, stealing the photo.. the various outings e.g. buying the ice cream, the steaks? Barbeque? His devotion to Harry? Her warnings about herself? The things that they shared, the reaction to Harry's death. the funeral and Todd's behaviour with her at the funeral? Todd and his liking for Homer, his being irritated with Homer. jealousy? Their behaviour at the party? The discovery of Faye's infidelity? What regrets did Todd have at the end, that very little had been achieved in emotional and sexual relationship with her?
11. What was Faye symbolising? Her manner, type, age., glamour, belief in all the cliches of the fan magazines? Thinking she was better than she was? Her work. the film? Photos? Her discussions with the eating of the ice cream? The stories that she made up and their cliche nature but how much they meant to her? Her leading Todd on? Her love for her father yet her taunting him? Going to rescue him when he was ill at Homer's? Her friendship with Mary Dove and the work at the brothel? Her reaction to Harry's death and her anger? Her grief at the funeral and the encounter with Todd, with Mary? The barbeque sequence and all that it revealed of her sensuality, drinking, violence. Miguel and Earle? Her leading Earle on? Her moving in with Homer and the arrangement? The outing at the nightclub and her taunting him to drink? Her hold over Homer? The cock-fight and her behaviour, dancing with Abe., her infidelity with Miguel and her leaving? The image of the flighty butterfly of Hollywood?
12. The contrast with Homer - from the mid-west,, his moving west for his health, his awkward and ungainly manner, his shyness? Seeing him in his home, the contrast with the world of Hollywood, his reaction to Harry and being genteel with him, not knowing how to react? The flowers, the attentions to Faye? The meals? The importance of their going to the revivalist session and his involvement in it, carrying Harry to the healer, the reaction to what happened? His proposition for having Faye in the house? The happiness in his devotion to her and seeing only the good in her? The nightclub, his reaction to the drinking, to the female impersonator singing? His disgust at the party? His pain in discovering Faye in bed? Adore in the background, the Hollywood child? the possessive mother? The drawing together of these strands and his moving down the street, being oblivious of the sneak preview, his pain, sitting on the chair, Adore and his singing and taunting and the stone? How comprehensible was Homer's rage and his killing Adore? The subjective violence and the breaking out of his brutality? The ugliness of the mob turning on him and tearing him to pieces? Of what was he a symbol in terms of the Day of the Locust?
13. Harry as a personality, his dwelling on his past, the collage of his visits and their being done in music hall style, the humour of his tricks, his arguments, his re-doing his acts for various audiences, his crudity, his anti-Semitism? The importance of his listening to the preacher, his going to the revival meeting, his doing an act? The build-up to his death? The pathos of his death and the people's reaction to it? The funeral and the bitterness? The people watching and their running away to see the celebrities - the ironies of death in Hollywood?
14. The cowboys, their wag of living, their stunts, the barbeque and their drinking, dancing, the cock-fights, sexuality? The personality of Earle as a man of the west, the Hollywood cowboy, relationship with Faye? Attitude towards Todd? Miguel and his friendship, the whole background of the cock-fight?
15. Claude and the background of the Hollywood studios, his skill, interest in talent, friendship with Todd? The depraved and decadent aspects of Hollywood - going to Audrey's, the watching of the pornographic film? His involvement in the cover-up after the disaster on the film set? The ambiguities of the conversation when they were getting haircuts and this as a symbol of the group that was in and the deals done for cover-up? His relationship with his wife? Home?
16. The glimpse of the fashionable brothel, the clientele, the wealth, the external elegance, the pornographic films? Mary and her work there, friendship with Faye, Faye and her work there?
17. The build-up to the preview, the preparation of the audience with getting the various characters into the place - Todd and his wandering, Faye and her presence there, Homer? The long sequence with the flashing visuals, music, the drawings? The overtones of the '30s holocaust? The visual schools in this sequence and the impact on the audience and its place within the whole film?
18. What happened to the people in Hollywood after the plague? How was the film an allegory of the '30s?
19. Todd’s return at the end, everything back to normal? The room, the crack, the flowers? The sunlight? Todd's disappearance from our view - the eeriness of the ending? The quality of the achievement of the film, the transferring of the novel to the screen, insight into human nature, America, an epoch of the past?
