The Cars That Ate Paris [1974]

Weir’s first feature length film – done on a shoe-string budget and essentially given a tight timetable to finish this film. It’s often criticized for being too quirky to be horror – for Western audiences I can agree – but if you expand your mind and think outside the box of what horror is – it’s a surrealistic nightmare.


Weir – though on such a small budget uses all he can to build up his directing skill – he builds up the atmosphere of this town to perfection. Uses odd interesting camera angles to help create the feeling that this town isn’t like other towns – and that it’s so far removed from “the real” world that their everyday is of course nothing like our everyday.


The rest is an excerpt from a review I wrote back in August 2008:


This movie deals with a small town in Australia named Paris that has an odd way of sustaining its economy. Since it’s so far out in the country with under-developed roads and infrastructure – they “purposely” cause the cars that pass through to crash – “because city folk have a hard time with those old dirt roads” – then they loot the wrecks for valuables. Any survivors are either lobotomized or in some cases (such as children) adopted as part of the town. One day they cause two brothers to crash – killing one of them – and the other Arthur is left petrified of driving and is adopted into the town as the mayor’s new “son” (even though he must be in his 30’s).

The town is split into essentially 2 factions – the elders who run the show – and the youth who spend their time drag racing around the town causing problems. I love this dichotomy especially when it comes to one of the themes – old vs. new. The old timers are obviously in the wrong – but in their minds they are right. And they raised their kids doing the wrong/right things – and the kids as they grow up they rebel and take it to the next level of wrong/right. Which of course in the minds of the elders is viewed as wrong – though it’s essentially the same thing that the elders do.

Then you have Arthur who’s caught in the middle – played by Terry Camilleri who pulls off in a subtle mousy performance – he’s the perspective that we all share as the viewer. At first we aren’t 100% sure of what’s going on – and as it develops we start getting the hang of it – and then are further repulsed by the town’s behavior.

The budget of this film must have been tiny – but they make the most of it. Using and destroying plenty of junker cars and building and destroying pretty much an entire town. The acting - which is a bit hammy – is pulled off well by essentially a bunch of amateurs. The one thing this film does have heaps of is – talent behind the camera – Weir really displays some great directing chops and does a fantastic job of creating a feel of isolation and even claustrophobia which help further define Arthur’s state of mind.

Director Roulette: Peter Weir

Birth: 21 August 1944

First Film (as director): The Cars That Ate Paris [1974]

Last Film (as director): The Way Back [2010]

Notable Projects: Picnic at Hanging Rock [1975], Gallipoli [1981], Dead Poets Society [1989], The Truman Show [1998], Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World [2003]

Genres: drama, satire

Common Themes: forbidden love, culture clashes, violence versus pacifism, conformity versus non-conformity

Directing Techniques: dreamlike compositions sometimes bordering on the surreal, distorted sounds, slow motion, and un-naturalistic light exposure

Interesting Facts: He’s a private man – not exactly a prolific director – about 15 feature films in his 35-year career. He’s worked with and help further launch careers of actors that had previously been unable to show their full range (Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey)

My Comments: Weir borders on and almost never fully reaches, a comic pitch in his films – which makes him hard to pigeon hole as solely being a dramatic director – the closest I can think of director wise is Terry Gilliam – who shares a similar style and seems to tackle things in the same fashion – but Weir uses “less” where Gilliam uses “more”.

Modern Times [1936]

This film is an outstanding achievement in showing how far films have come – but also truly great all in itself.


It’s apparent that though filmmaking was still in its early stages when Chaplin became a director – he was quite proficient at it while making Modern Times. This was a fast paced film – with lots of action and pretty quick edits. Of course since Chaplin was not only the director – but also the writer and star – he realized that his performance in the picture is the #1 – fancy camera work wasn’t a requirement – just keep the right performer in frame (that being the standard of the time anyway – it’s no surprise).


Simple technical proficiency allowed a few composite shots intertwined into the film that worked surprisingly well – and quite advanced looking for the time. The special effect shots with the gears and the feeding device – was well used – and well made – down right beautiful.


I found the film overall quite charming – and it managed to elicit a few actual laughs – which is a feat for modern comedies. Story structure is something that Chaplin seemed quite aware of – working in gags to use into the story of The Tramp and the Orphan Girl seemed to be key – as opposed to creating gags and working around them.


Chaplin’s score was for lack of a better word – brilliant. It’s not something that I can sit around listening to – but in the context of the film – it showed that he was a perfectionist.
The everyman, Chaplin, again plays The Tramp – who works in a manufacturing plant – the pressure of the work makes him snap and he is sent to an asylum. He’s released and looking for a job – and is subsequently arrested by mistake – sent to jail – where he’s quite comfortable and quite frankly does not want to leave. Once released he meets and orphan girl – who he befriends only on his path to get himself re-incarcerated – they look out for each other and he sets down the path of trying to be legit to help support the both of them.


For THE MOST important aspect of films - the purely entertainment standpoint – Modern Times is well worth watching. From historical and directing point of view – it’s most certainly worth watching as well.
If you consider that this film captures life back then – the scarcity of work in Great Depression – how difficult it was just to survive – and how it’s really not unlike what we’re experiencing in America today. The rich remain rich – well off – and without a care in the world – because they earn it off the back of the workers – that are disposable. You can make more money if you limit the wages – work them harder – and cut them when they begin to be a nuisance.


Chaplin was one of the great Hollywood liberals – looking out for the working man used his films as his platform – and did it effectively – finding comedy and hope in the depths of the tragedy. Instead of opiates for the masses with superheroes and such – a page pulled from Chaplin/Modern Times would be much better choice these days.

Director Roulette: Charlie Chaplin

Birth: 16 April 1889

Death: 25 December 1977

First Film (as director): Twenty Minutes of Love [1914]

Last Film (as director): A Countess from Hong Kong [1967]

Notable Projects: The Immigrant [1917], The Kid [1921], City Lights [1931], The Gold Rush [1935], Modern Times [1936], The Great Dictator [1940]

Genres: Slapstick, mime, visual comedy

Common Themes: poverty, run in’s with the law, social commentary, autobiographical

Directing Techniques: Early in his directing career Chaplin never shot from a completed script to allow him to work out the story on film and as ideas came to him – until he started working on talkies in the 40’s

Interesting Facts: Chaplin directed 60+ films – and worked on 82 completed films according to his autobiography. Chaplin’s Monsieur Verdoux [1947] was a story idea of Orson Welles. Worked slowly for filmmakers of the time – doing many takes in order to get exactly what he wanted. While traveling to promote his 1952 film Limelight – Chaplin’s American re-entry permit was revoked due to supposed communist sympathies and lived in Switzerland the remainder of his life.

My Comments: I haven’t seen any of Charlie Chaplin’s films prior to starting my Director Roulette series – which is exactly what I was going for. Though Chaplin is an intimidating historical figure to start with due to the fact he had been in films since pretty much the beginning of the narrative art of movies – and it’s really tough to pick out a few things for what is supposed to be a brief entry.