“A somewhat new element was injected into the activities of the squad by the discovery of powerful apple cider, which registered up to 8% alcohol when analyzed,” the Humboldt Times said.
As Mike Flanagan’s new version of The Fall of the House of Usher launches on Netflix, we trace its dark lineage in screen adaptations of a master of American gothic: Edgar Allan Poe.
Almost a hundred years ago, Charlie Chaplin made a movie called The Immigrant (1917) where his Little Tramp character gives a surreptitious kick up the backside to an official who is herding together immigrants on Ellis Island. No such satisfying rebelliousness is allowed for Ewa (Marion Cotillard), the heroine of director James Gray’s fifth film, as she lands with her sister Magda (Angela Sarafyan) on Ellis Island in 1921. Ewa is Polish and Catholic, and her religion gives her the strength and the detachment to meet any and all difficulties. Magda is taken away from Ewa and quarantined for tuberculosis. Bruno (Joaquin Phoenix), a low-rent stage impresario, stealthily watches this lady in distress before making his move and scooping her up. It seems likely that Bruno skulks around Ellis Island a lot waiting for ladies in distress.