Arzach, the Duellist

Ridley Scott has acknowledged the influence of Jean "Moebius" Giraud, Metal Hurlant, and Heavy Metal on, not only his work (Alien, Tristan & Isolde, Blade Runner), but the sci-fi genre as a whole.  Moebius would contribute production drawings to Alien and Scott had pages of both of the aforementioned magazines on the walls of his production office during the prepping of Blade Runner and used stories and artwork from both magazines as inspirations, when he was launching his original (cancelled) production of Tristan & Isolde.  Moebius and Dan O'Bannon's The Long Tomorrow was a direct influence on Blade Runner, just as the Taarna segment of the Heavy Metal feature (not a Scott feature), baldly takes its visual cues from Arzach.

I knew all or most of this before I finally sat down to watch his first film as director, The Duellists, via the recent Blu-ray from Shout Factory!, so, perhaps, I'm looking for an intentional homage where there is only coincidence, when I note certain visual similarities between this screen grab from Scott's film and a sketch or frame from Moebius' famous Arzach strip (take away Keith Carradine's early 19th century-era pistol and the snow).  The placement of Carradine's character in the frame, his pose, the hood and cape he wears, and the mountainous, rugged terrain immediately made me think of Arzach. If this was purposely drawn up by the filmmaker as a tribute to Moebius, well...it would make me think even better of him, for whatever that's worth.

The Duellists trailer that Paramount, for some reason, would not permit Shout Factory! to put on their Blu-ray.  It does appear on the Paramount DVD version of the film:

Addendum (1/9/14): After reading the excellent book-length history of Alien...aptly titled The Alien Vault, I can confirm that Scott was an avowed admirer of Moebius and, in particular, Arzach at the time of Alien's production.  I'm not sure if he was familiar with the strip when he was making The Duellists, or if it came to his attention afterwards.

The Great Silents

Was watching Corbucci's The Great Silence last week and, as I was marveling at the great Trintignant's completely silent performance, I started thinking about other impressive dialogue-less (or, largely dialogue-less) performances in otherwise all-talking films by actors who normally use their voices.  So, what follows is a sort of Rupert Pupkin Speaks-style list of others that popped into my head as I was watching Trintignant.  I'd be interested in being reminded of those I forgot and / or need to see.  What I dig about Trintignant in Great Silence or Warren Oates in Cockfighter is these are actors who's voices are normally important tools in their craft, as is the case with most actors in the post-silent era.  I'm a "less is more" person and I love minimalist, primarily visual storytelling, so to see an Oates, normally so verbose, in a performance where the rest of his body communicates for his voice, is an immense pleasure.

Oates' Frank Mansfield takes a vow of silence in Cockfighter.

Trintignant's Silence has literally had the voice cut out of him.

Joe Morton is enormously moving as the mute, displaced Brother from another planet and shows great comic skills, along with the requisite dramatic chops, as a friendly alien stranded in Harlem.  Jeff Bridges' wonderful performance as an otherworldly visitor in Starman was justly lauded in 1984, culminating in an Academy Award nomination.  Morton's turn in Brother, also from '84, is no less special.

Vincent Gallo is normally quite willing to shoot his mouth off, whether in character or in an interview, but he utters not a word as an enigmatic man on the run in Skolimowski's Essential Killing.  It's a really impressive performance as Gallo is physically taxed in very extreme weather conditions.

The following, are silent characters and performances that exist in talking films, but which don't follow the specific criteria I laid out above...

It's not a leading role nor a performance on the level of the above four, but Jack O'Halloran was a childhood favorite as Non, General Zod's wordless henchman, described by Brando's Jor-El as a "mindless aberration whose only means of expression are wanton violence and destruction."

A boxer turned actor, O'Halloran sells the violence and physical action aspects of his character as easily as one would expect, but he also articulates the childlike, funny side of Non.

I was more of a Superman watcher as a kid than Bond, but it seems obvious that Non was meant to evoke memories of this guy...

Another wordless brute who ultimately becomes sympathetic.

Tati doesn't really fit into my initial criteria, but one cannot not mention the work he did retaining the language of silent cinema, comedy specifically, decades after the end of the silent era.

An animated character, yes--more specifically, rotoscoped--but I do admire the makers of Heavy Metal, rightly accused of going overboard with the tits and juvenile humor throughout most of the picture, for closing the film with a half-hour long, deadly serious homage to Leone, Yojimbo, and Mœbius that stars a mute warrior woman.  Far as I can tell model Carole Desbiens never acted again, but those are her facial expressions, mannerisms and movements, which animators then traced over.