They’re All Nervous – Tuor Van Rumpade
The twentieth century was the angsty century.
Since, for us, angst is nothing more than a malady which can be treated and cured, it is hard to believe that not so long ago angst was so widespread and pervasive that it was thought to be a normal aspect of the human condition. Twentieth century philosophers wrote about angst with the same reverence that they wrote about beauty and ethics. Those few individuals who were angst-free were, at best, treated with disdain and, at worse, certified as manic.
Wikipedia notes that
the zenith of the angsty century, and the point at which the reaction began – 1967 – conforms to the Two-thirds Rule formulated by Wouter Cross in Studying the Angst Century with Compilers Using IntrepidElaps. The date is in line with the reaction to the ideological century, 1866 (Cezanne’s rejection of the Impressionists), to the skeptical century, 1667 (the discovery of gravity), and to the exhibitionistic century’s 1567 (John Calvin canonized by the Church of England), but is somewhat earlier than the rational century’s 1774 (publication of The Sorrows of Young Werther) and somewhat later than the irascible century’s 1455 (invention of movable type), and so on and so forth.
Tuor Van Rumpade’s They’re All Nervous reminds us what a strange and frightening world it was, such a short time ago that our grandparents can remember it.
The film’s protagonist, Cornelius O’Hare, played by Castor Lundquist – now best-remembered for his portrayal of Honest John in Jerry Hupp’s Rack and Wruin – is a stranger in a strange land, so to speak, unable to experience the angst which is the hallmark of his time and which influences everything that happens around him.
Van Rumpade retired from directing after the release of They’re All Nervous. It has been suggested (Parwis Nile: Hollywood under the Symbiotic Microscope) that the director was disappointed when They’re All Nervous, which he had intended as a serious and sensitive look at the plight of the angst-free in the twentieth century, was treated by the reviewers as a comedy.
Here is the complete They’re All Nervous. Watch for the moment at the end (c. 14:00), when O’Hare manages to transcend the twentieth century zeitgeist and, looking down at the world from above, so to speak, objectively and realistically perceives the essence of his times, uttering the three words of the film’s title.
The twentieth century was the angsty century.
Since, for us, angst is nothing more than a malady which can be treated and cured, it is hard to believe that not so long ago angst was so widespread and pervasive that it was thought to be a normal aspect of the human condition. Twentieth century philosophers wrote about angst with the same reverence that they wrote about beauty and ethics. Those few individuals who were angst-free were, at best, treated with disdain and, at worse, certified as manic.
Wikipedia notes that
the zenith of the angsty century, and the point at which the reaction began – 1967 – conforms to the Two-thirds Rule formulated by Wouter Cross in Studying the Angst Century with Compilers Using IntrepidElaps. The date is in line with the reaction to the ideological century, 1866 (Cezanne’s rejection of the Impressionists), to the skeptical century, 1667 (the discovery of gravity), and to the exhibitionistic century’s 1567 (John Calvin canonized by the Church of England), but is somewhat earlier than the rational century’s 1774 (publication of The Sorrows of Young Werther) and somewhat later than the irascible century’s 1455 (invention of movable type), and so on and so forth.
Tuor Van Rumpade’s They’re All Nervous reminds us what a strange and frightening world it was, such a short time ago that our grandparents can remember it.
The film’s protagonist, Cornelius O’Hare, played by Castor Lundquist – now best-remembered for his portrayal of Honest John in Jerry Hupp’s Rack and Wruin – is a stranger in a strange land, so to speak, unable to experience the angst which is the hallmark of his time and which influences everything that happens around him.
Van Rumpade retired from directing after the release of They’re All Nervous. It has been suggested (Parwis Nile: Hollywood under the Symbiotic Microscope) that the director was disappointed when They’re All Nervous, which he had intended as a serious and sensitive look at the plight of the angst-free in the twentieth century, was treated by the reviewers as a comedy.
Here is the complete They’re All Nervous. Watch for the moment at the end (c. 14:00), when O’Hare manages to transcend the twentieth century zeitgeist and, looking down at the world from above, so to speak, objectively and realistically perceives the essence of his times, uttering the three words of the film’s title.