ILX Film Club, The (1924-2019)

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Here is an idea I hope catches on.
I've made a spreadsheet compiling

* The top 100 from the ILX Morbsies
* Any additional films which had a 1st place vote in said Morbsies
* The top 100 from the Sight & Sound critics' poll
* The top 100 from the Sight & Sound directors' poll

Here is the spreadsheet - please tell me if there is anything wrong and I'll do my best to fix it.

And I'm going to watch all 205 of them, one per week, in chronological order, until I finish at the start of 2027. And you can join me! If you like.

The first on the list is Sherlock Jr., from 1924 - I'll watch it this weekend, then it will be open for discussion from Monday 13th. It will be easy to share links at the start, as we go on will need more help probably. If people want to rate the films as we go, please feel free, don't think I will.

Think this will be useful for me as I have only seen 78 of these before, despite having spent three years at film school, hope it's useful to you too.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 10 February 2023 13:30 (two years ago)

I've been privately working on catching up on the missing films from these polls; this could be fun, though, after looking at the spreadsheet, I'd be skipping the movies I haven't seen that only made the list due to someone here listing it at #1 on their ballot.

Halfway there but for you, Friday, 10 February 2023 20:27 (two years ago)

think there are only something like 15 of those in any case, we'll see how you feel when we get to Holiday On The Buses, but this project is very much a hop on, hop off deal.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 10 February 2023 20:30 (two years ago)

Hugh Leonard, reviewing Holiday on the Buses gave the film zero stars out of four. Leonard added "This one should be buried in unhallowed ground".

Halfway there but for you, Friday, 10 February 2023 20:41 (two years ago)

I'll for sure chime in even if I haven't given the movie a fresh watch. (But I'll try my best to give each film a fresh watch.)

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Friday, 10 February 2023 20:53 (two years ago)

^ditto (except for this part)

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 10 February 2023 21:10 (two years ago)

I've been slowly watching the ones I haven't seen from the S&S top 100. It's only about 10 (though I might not see Peele's "Get Out" as I don't fancy it and it's obviously going to drop off next time).

Might extend it to the 250.

xyzzzz__, Friday, 10 February 2023 21:36 (two years ago)

Another 40 on the rest. Would watch most of it bar Blue by Jarman. Fuck that shit.

xyzzzz__, Friday, 10 February 2023 21:43 (two years ago)

Or Annie Hall.

xyzzzz__, Friday, 10 February 2023 21:44 (two years ago)

Why Blue? I've always meant to "watch" that as I love a few of his other films.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 10 February 2023 21:45 (two years ago)

xp Yeah this same project 20 years ago would have at least four or five Woody Allen films on the list, instead of zero.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 10 February 2023 21:47 (two years ago)

I find Jarman's films to be pretty exasperating, and I feel I will hate it even when the subject matter is sad.

xp

xyzzzz__, Friday, 10 February 2023 21:50 (two years ago)

i will try to participate, when i can! i find it really difficult to take part in film discussions, for various reasons, but i do enjoy watching them. i'm no kind of old-school buff but, due to the ilx influence (and using morbs' letterboxd list) i've seen a lot of the earlier films here, and within the last several months, to boot. it'll be nice to give them a rewatch so soon after my first encounter with them.

Karl Malone, Friday, 10 February 2023 21:52 (two years ago)

Sherlock Jr. is perfectly 45 minutes long

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Friday, 10 February 2023 22:15 (two years ago)

Or Annie Hall.
― xyzzzz

I'm probably one of the few (only?) people on here who was heartened to see Annie Hall show up. Not defending Woody Allen, just glad there are some people left who can make that distinction between the person and the film (easier with Rosemary's Baby/Chinatown, I think, just because they're so much better as films; also, Polanski's largely invisible, though he does have the cameo in Chinatown).

For some other thread, I know.

clemenza, Friday, 10 February 2023 22:33 (two years ago)

I think that this film club needs to do the On The Buses film trilogy to truly capture how it was in Ted Heath's Pre & Post EEC Britain.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Friday, 10 February 2023 22:40 (two years ago)

I think we can all agree that the ending to Annie Hall is, in effect, a happy one

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Friday, 10 February 2023 23:00 (two years ago)

"just glad there are some people left who can make that distinction between the person and the film (easier with Rosemary's Baby/Chinatown, I think, just because they're so much better as films; also, Polanski's largely invisible"

I wouldn't watch a Polanski film nowadays either, Clemenza. I have no interest in supporting their work while these people are alive.

xyzzzz__, Friday, 10 February 2023 23:34 (two years ago)

I think that this film club needs to do the On The Buses film trilogy to truly capture how it was in Ted Heath's Pre & Post EEC Britain.

― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Friday, 10 February 2023 bookmarkflaglink

We just have to step outside for that, these days..

xyzzzz__, Friday, 10 February 2023 23:40 (two years ago)

I’m in

hrep (H.P), Friday, 10 February 2023 23:45 (two years ago)

I think we can all agree that the ending to _Annie Hall_ is, in effect, a happy one

We need the Easter Eggs, on our DVDs and Blu-Rays.

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 10 February 2023 23:51 (two years ago)

Ugh, for some reason, I ventured outside this safe haven and ended up interacting with Jeffrey Wells. Not pleasant.

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 11 February 2023 00:07 (two years ago)

Yeah I'm in, tho can't promise to keep up every week - one objective I have this year is to watch more films from the rest of the world than US films overall and while these lists are varied and wonderful I fear they'd still land me on the wrong side of that in the end.

Daniel_Rf, Saturday, 11 February 2023 11:10 (two years ago)

Why does ILX hate L'Atalante so much?

Alba, Saturday, 11 February 2023 11:13 (two years ago)

Is this true?

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 11 February 2023 11:32 (two years ago)

Yes, fuck all canal barges.

Daniel_Rf, Saturday, 11 February 2023 11:46 (two years ago)

Alba can you tell which ilxors are hating I'll bully them for you.

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 11 February 2023 12:43 (two years ago)

Ha ha I was just making a glib comment after seeing the spreadsheet and noticing tha it placed relatively well in the S&S top 100s but nowhere with ILX.

Alba, Saturday, 11 February 2023 12:50 (two years ago)

I think that applies even more to Beau Travail but I was looking at the early films.

Alba, Saturday, 11 February 2023 12:51 (two years ago)

Gonna watch Beau Travail in a proper theater next week -- my first non-DVD/streaming experience w/it!

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 11 February 2023 13:47 (two years ago)

While everyone's gearing up, a reasonably engaging quiz:

Try this quiz - https://t.co/yyLpPtjiKP pic.twitter.com/fdHFKTXEpL

— DVDBeaver (@DVDBeaver) February 11, 2023

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Saturday, 11 February 2023 17:34 (two years ago)

66/100. I raced through it, probably wouldn't have done much better if I'd taken my time (I either knew it or guessed--though I would have gone back and changed a few guesses based on subsequent answers).

clemenza, Saturday, 11 February 2023 18:11 (two years ago)

more mainstream:
https://www.cinenerdle2.app/

POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 11 February 2023 18:23 (two years ago)

68/100. Projectionist but no professor. But what's wrong with being a projectionist?

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 11 February 2023 18:51 (two years ago)

Wtf, I'm boycotting this quiz

Alba, Saturday, 11 February 2023 18:52 (two years ago)

Reasoning?

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 11 February 2023 18:53 (two years ago)

Putting professors above projectionists!

Alba, Saturday, 11 February 2023 18:55 (two years ago)

Ah!

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 11 February 2023 18:56 (two years ago)

96/100 and only because I accidentally put Jacques Rivette when I meant François Truffaut

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Saturday, 11 February 2023 18:58 (two years ago)

Check out the big brain on Brad!

clemenza, Saturday, 11 February 2023 19:05 (two years ago)

77/100 -- a couple of dumb mistakes on movies I've seen, a couple of lucky guesses on movies I haven't seen

The Terroir of Tiny Town (WmC), Saturday, 11 February 2023 19:19 (two years ago)

71, though at least half were guesses.

jaymc, Saturday, 11 February 2023 20:07 (two years ago)

(Some of them informed guesses, though.)

jaymc, Saturday, 11 February 2023 20:07 (two years ago)

76. About five films I did see and couldn't place grr

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 11 February 2023 20:18 (two years ago)

88. Nailed every one I knew, every guess I guessed wrong

or something, Saturday, 11 February 2023 20:23 (two years ago)

Oh and messed up Spike Lee . Just couldn't place that image in that film somehow

or something, Saturday, 11 February 2023 20:28 (two years ago)

84/100!

I guessed on most of the contemporary Asian stuff, which rarely payed off. And I got the Black female directors all switched around. The only film I've seen that I miscredited was Death of Mr. Lazarescu.

an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 11 February 2023 21:22 (two years ago)

I just exchanged texts with my friend who actually is a projectionist but did not mention this quiz.

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 11 February 2023 22:38 (two years ago)

I got 89. several of them were guesses based on what I know about the filmmakers’ visual aesthetics or the time periods from the images. I got several directors mixed up - Mizoguchi and Kobayashi, Kazan and Wyler, Etrice and Saura and others. I guessed Larisa Shepitko’s The Ascent correctly only because I have recently seen stills from it on twitter, but I haven’t watched it. Also still have yet to watch Djibril Diop Mambéty’s films, a few of which are on Kanopy, or Cheryl Dunye’s The Watermelon Woman

Dan S, Sunday, 12 February 2023 01:31 (two years ago)

My projectionist friend told me about this yesterday:
https://framed.wtf

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 February 2023 14:33 (two years ago)

oh, it's a one-per-day thing, like wordle

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Sunday, 12 February 2023 14:50 (two years ago)

Yes. I only started doing it yesterday.

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 February 2023 15:14 (two years ago)

But I like, I like.

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 February 2023 15:42 (two years ago)

I love Framed but I get annoyed every time a Marvel movie zilches my overall record

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Sunday, 12 February 2023 16:13 (two years ago)

Will we be using this thread for discussion of films that are not on your list but are still, say, Morbius favorites?

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 February 2023 16:24 (two years ago)

Just the ones on the list, think there are several which wouldn't be there without his influence.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Sunday, 12 February 2023 16:30 (two years ago)

just downloaded sherlock jr, which i think just sneaks in as public domain. only i seem to have an entirely silent one and i can her neighbours clanking around

koogs, Sunday, 12 February 2023 16:38 (two years ago)

Looking through the list, some of my favourite directors, Louis Malle, Miloš Forman, Roy Andersson, Sidney Lumet, are either missing entirely or have a single entry, think this is probably A Good Thing on a personal level, more to explore, less so to those whose favourites are more well-represented I suppose, though otoh everyone likes talking about their favourites.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Sunday, 12 February 2023 16:40 (two years ago)

xp There are many different options for watching Sherlock Jr on YouTube with different soundtracks.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Sunday, 12 February 2023 16:40 (two years ago)

To your last post: that is sort of the whole good and bad of lists in a nutshell.

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 February 2023 16:45 (two years ago)

I've watched the first hundred.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 12 February 2023 16:57 (two years ago)

For those who have MUBI, try to catch The General over the next 3 days before it gets yanked

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Sunday, 12 February 2023 17:21 (two years ago)

I really am going to be forced to watch Holiday on the Buses huh

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Sunday, 12 February 2023 17:22 (two years ago)

Whose first place vote was that?

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Sunday, 12 February 2023 17:25 (two years ago)

Is Holiday on the Buses the same as Mexican Bus Ride?

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 February 2023 17:27 (two years ago)

Man those MUBI Leaving Soons are torture. I rewatched THE GENERAL recently and maybe still have it saved on my cable box so I think I will pass on that and watch a few others.

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 February 2023 17:29 (two years ago)

i never her.

finished Sherlock Jr as it was only 44 minutes long. (this was an archive.org download rather than youtube. ogg video in fact, only 100MB, 400x300 but perfectly watchable)

is that a recognised meaning of the work sheik?

yes -

2 usually sheik : a man supposed to be irresistibly attractive to romantic young women

lots of things that are now cliches, probably a lot different back in 1924. the suitcase jump kinda spoilt it - everything else was at least possible

koogs, Sunday, 12 February 2023 17:31 (two years ago)

THE GENERAL also avaiable in several other places, Amazon Prime, Criterion and... wait for it... Tubi. https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-general

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 February 2023 17:34 (two years ago)

Actually I have to be careful here as I have been fooled before. Oftentimes something will show up there as being on Amazon Prime but in fact it is only there with a subscription, a subscription to MUBI.

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 February 2023 17:47 (two years ago)

Is Holiday on the Buses the same as Mexican Bus Ride?

― The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 February 2023 17:27 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I like to think so.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Sunday, 12 February 2023 19:04 (two years ago)

As Mark S likes to tell me, the first On The Buses film was the highest grossing film at the box office that year.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Sunday, 12 February 2023 19:08 (two years ago)

Pfunkboy was Holiday on the Bus's #1 vote

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Sunday, 12 February 2023 21:02 (two years ago)

I knew it would be him, that wacky pfunkboy.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Sunday, 12 February 2023 21:15 (two years ago)

hes a menace

mark s, Sunday, 12 February 2023 21:16 (two years ago)

> I knew it would be him, that wacky pfunkboy.
> ― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai)

letterboxd, the vexing and sometimes OK film logging website

koogs, Sunday, 12 February 2023 21:29 (two years ago)

Ok, close enough to Monday.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Sherlock_jr_poster.jpg

Sherlock, Jr., Buster Keaton 1924
Morbies #480 Sight & Sound Critics #54
Youtube link

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Sunday, 12 February 2023 23:05 (two years ago)

First time I'd seen this, I do have a complete Buster Keaton box set but am only halfway through it. Had to watch it twice as the story only made sense with the final scene (to be fair the fact that I had about 20 acupuncture needles stuck in me probably didn't help) - second viewing I found I could appreciate the whole thing, not just the astounding set-piece stunt scenes. Suppose the reason that this is the Keaton film of choice is not just the intricate plotting, the metafictionality of having the action take place on a cinema screen as a projection of the character's own life, represented as this grand, escapist drama is a brilliant conceit, and the final scene where he learns how to propose to his girlfriend by watching the couple on screen is just a great bit of cinema. Also recognised a few scenes from the 1980 documentary series "Hollywood" - including the water tower shot which broke Keaton's neck.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Sunday, 12 February 2023 23:05 (two years ago)

I loved it when I saw it in my 20s, just kind of drifted away.

clemenza, Sunday, 12 February 2023 23:17 (two years ago)

On the Keaton thread, I posted about how perplexing Bogdanovich's Keaton documentary was.

clemenza, Sunday, 12 February 2023 23:17 (two years ago)

What about it?

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 February 2023 23:33 (two years ago)

Buster Keaton

clemenza, Monday, 13 February 2023 00:01 (two years ago)

I kind of liked that but fair enough.

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 February 2023 00:06 (two years ago)

THE GENERAL also avaiable in several other places, Amazon Prime, Criterion and... wait for it... Tubi. https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-general

― The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, February 12, 2023 11:34 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Also Wikipedia (it entered the public domain last year): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General_(1926_film)

jaymc, Monday, 13 February 2023 00:07 (two years ago)

Oh wait, actually, it's been in the public domain for decades. But anyway, yeah, it's widely available.

jaymc, Monday, 13 February 2023 00:10 (two years ago)

That's happened to me more than once, seeing multiple versions of the same film, sometimes on the same platform, many in terrible shape, wondering why this is so and then... d'oh!

The Windows of the URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 February 2023 00:19 (two years ago)

everything up to and including man with a movie camera is public domain (in usa, other places vary). i think the rules changed so that some things were, then weren't, then were again but I've also read that once a thing is pd its always pd so...

but what you will find is that some things have later audio, hence the completely silent versions on places like archive.org

koogs, Monday, 13 February 2023 04:49 (two years ago)

the problem i had with Sherlock Jr was, despite having not seen it before, everything was a bit too familiar through clips and copies.

koogs, Monday, 13 February 2023 04:52 (two years ago)

My current favorite BK is The Navigator which is in the sweet spot of having seen it enough times but not too many times, but that could easily change of course.

after the pinefox (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 February 2023 04:57 (two years ago)

I just watched Sherlock Jr for the first time. really lovely film, a nice way to kick things off. a couple notes and questions:

- near the beginning, the pile of trash, the dollars within it, the wallet with many dollars within it, and the woman who was missing a dollar - that was masterful, very like a stage play, and did wonders to quickly establish the nature of his character.
- there's a banana peel gag in this film. when did the banana peel gag start? when was the last banana peel gag?
- i loved the film within a film, which is most of this film, "Hearts and Pearls", and especially how the musicians were shown at the bottom of the shot, playing along. but the music that is played (via youtube) was added later on, of course. so, i think it would particularly brilliant to see this film in theaters, as it was shown then, with buster keaton in a film within a film with the musicans in real life playing music to accompany the fake musicians on the screen above them.
- i know keaton did all of his own stunts. holy shit, some of them. it's such a quick shot, but that part where he's on them motorcycle and the bridge collapses and he smoothly glides from an upper plane to a lower? he should have died! amazing.

President of Destiny Encounters International (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 15 February 2023 05:15 (two years ago)

oh yeah, and also, what is this painting at the top?

https://i.imgur.com/TCazPDQ.jpg

it resembles matisse's Dancers, but it's not that

President of Destiny Encounters International (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 15 February 2023 05:20 (two years ago)

it's a metafictional action movie presenting alternative lives, but it has a heart too = it's the EEAAO of 1924!

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Wednesday, 15 February 2023 16:24 (two years ago)

Episode of "Hollywood" (1980) on Chaplin, Lloyd & Keaton is here, it's well worth a watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PvymClFrPU

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Wednesday, 15 February 2023 16:30 (two years ago)

will try to watch SHERLOCK JR tonight

have we had a 2010s poll btw? I know we all gave some picks in one thread or another recently

k3vin k., Wednesday, 15 February 2023 20:42 (two years ago)

Maybe it's because of my current steady diet of Hong Kong and Indian action cinema, but though Sherlock Junior is full of great jokes what stuck out more to me is how much Keaton laid down the foundations for action cinema. This is a matter of record - Jackie Chan has spoken of his influence a lot. The stunts of course, but also stuff like the pool table scene could totally fit into a modern action film. Morbius grumbled about the lack of Keaton when ILX did an action movies poll, and I recall rolling my eyes at that a bit, but yeah he was right!

Daniel_Rf, Saturday, 18 February 2023 14:55 (two years ago)

otm

after the pinefox (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 18 February 2023 15:14 (two years ago)

The world does not deserve Buster Keaton—yet he does not complain.
-David Thomson

after the pinefox (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 18 February 2023 15:51 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/Vintage_Potemkin.jpg/424px-Vintage_Potemkin.jpg

Battleship Potemkin Sergei Eisenstein, 1925
Morbsies #762, Sight & Sound Critics #54, Sight & Sound Directors #93
YouTube link

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 20 February 2023 13:20 (two years ago)

I've been doing something like this since Xmas, starting with Dr M's list (I posted a list in the last movies watched thread).

And in the last month or so I've focused on the BFI list.

The Gleaners and I (Varda, 2000)
My Neighbour Totoro (Miyazaki, 1988)
Wanda (Loden, 1970)
City Lights (Chaplin, 1931)

Wanda was pretty good and the one film in the top 100 I hadn't heard of at all.

Miyazaki was fine (I took against anime for random reasons in a lame way in the past) and I felt quite a bit for the drawings of the little sister and the fluffy monster even if it was the overall package was no revelation in the end. But that's a deficiency in not really growing up with children's lit, I think.

The Varda was pretty much perfect despite the slightly annoying tics where she is playing a role.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 20 February 2023 15:14 (two years ago)

OK, now here's one I rewatched pretty recently, and in proximity with another silent movie with thousands of cuts that will be coming up shortly enough, and ...

Eisenstein's insertion of homoerotics aside, this one just didn't hold up that well for me. Even the Odessa steps sequence felt a few, ahem, cuts below similar montage blitzes from the same era.

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Monday, 20 February 2023 15:24 (two years ago)

(And by "didn't hold up that well" I mean it's still pretty good, but I much much much prefer the theatrics of Ivan the Terrible.)

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Monday, 20 February 2023 15:24 (two years ago)

I saw it--meaning I was physically present when it was screened--in film class 40 years ago.

clemenza, Monday, 20 February 2023 16:06 (two years ago)

Potemkin's short enough to show in a film class, as I did last week with the Odessa steps sequence before switching to The Limey (the module was on editing).

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 20 February 2023 16:12 (two years ago)

Would've been better to flip from the Odessa steps to "Take Off With Us"

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Monday, 20 February 2023 16:12 (two years ago)

So here's where I admit I'm a bad cinephile when it comes to silent cinema. The stuff I do like tends towards the populist - comedy, serials, fantasy/horror stuff with lots of cool sets and effects for me to gawk at. When things get loftier I struggle.

Rooting for the lads in this an' all but I find it difficult to imagine this being anyone's favourite film. The last twenty or so minutes in partic were hard going for me, not a big war movie guy either.

That being said: the Odessa sequence is rightly famous and very exciting. There's some memorable shots - the sailors imagining themselves hanging off the sails, the broken glasses. The preacher dude was striking.

I like the pulpy flavour of the chapter headings - Drama On The Deck, A Dead Man Calls Out.

The coloured red flag (assuming this was painted in the original and not some bizarre choice from the restoration?) looks a bit garish tbh.

Props to the score from the version I watched (BFI Player); subtle it ain't but it kept my attention at many moments where I think it would otherwise have been flagging.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 21 February 2023 18:50 (two years ago)

I've also just finished this. First thought: that must have been some really bad soup.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 21 February 2023 19:01 (two years ago)

But yes, there were so many brilliant shots or scenes here - the tracking shots at the start of the steps sequence are just astounding for example - but as an entire film it didn't really do that much for me. I can see why it's important, there's a lot that feels brand new here, but it's obvious why this is typically excepted rather than watched in full.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 21 February 2023 19:04 (two years ago)

I think I need a good commentary track to really unlock this one for me, provided one exists that actually engages with what is happening onscreen as opposed to rambling off the movie's production and cast and crew's other credits as seems to have become the norm for the form.

xppst it was made with beef that had bugs in it!

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 21 February 2023 19:04 (two years ago)

they are maggots, not worms!

Revolutions podcast had an episode mostly about the history behind this story, may have to dig it out.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 21 February 2023 19:07 (two years ago)

More dead kids in this one than a lot of other movies in our Film Club, fwiw

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Tuesday, 21 February 2023 19:08 (two years ago)

yeah the kid getting trampled was pretty gruesome and unexpected

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 21 February 2023 19:24 (two years ago)

Inspired jarring shots in Bonnie & Clyde and The Godfather:

https://anthropoetics.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/bc30-230x300.jpg

clemenza, Tuesday, 21 February 2023 20:09 (two years ago)

Eisenstein thought a lot about editing on a shot-by-shot level but didn't seem to concern himself too much with overall pacing. As a Godard fan, I don't mind didactic movies, but I'm never not going to feel like I'm sitting in a classroom when an Eisenstein film is playing.

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 01:28 (two years ago)

More dead kids in this one than a lot of other movies in our Film Club, fwiw

2nd only to Children of Men

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 01:30 (two years ago)

(shoah?)

koogs, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 01:44 (two years ago)

Sadly Narciso Serrador's Who Could Kill A Child? didn't make the cut.

As a Godard fan, I don't mind didactic movies, but I'm never not going to feel like I'm sitting in a classroom when an Eisenstein film is playing.

But Godard has doubts, he contradicts himself, he changes his mind! By contrast Potemkin is as clear cut and certain as any white hats vs black hats action film. There is no interest in interrogating anything.

To be clear, I'm not saying I wanted the czarist officer class to get a more sympathetic portrayal - it's not an event that can be Both Sides-ed. But I think the very nature of silent cinema means there's a ceiling on the interiority the characters can display, and as a result on how well the film can portray the actual complexity of events (not that silent acting can't evoke interiority, but the examples I can think of go heavily against naturalism, and so wouldn't really work here).

I'm reminded of Tom Ewing once saying on here that he doesn't think pop music is a good vehicle for actual political arguments - agitprop, sure. I think the same may be true of silent cinema; Potemkin works well as propaganda, it is cathartic and stirring and as I said the events it portrays deserve such feelings. But it doesn't teach you much of anything about politics, I don't think.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 09:38 (two years ago)

The czarist officer class are well worth criticising, but the film also functions as a piece of anti-Cossack propaganda, made in the midst of this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De-Cossackization

so some more moral ambiguity would probably be welcome.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 11:37 (two years ago)

"But Godard has doubts, he contradicts himself, he changes his mind! By contrast Potemkin is as clear cut and certain as any white hats vs black hats action film. There is no interest in interrogating anything."

It's quite a bit to expect from a film made when the revolution hadn't yet reached its tenth anniversary. Plus it's a historical film.

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 12:06 (two years ago)

Really need to see Ivan the Terrible

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 12:08 (two years ago)

Wait until you've seen it to call it "terrible"

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 13:13 (two years ago)

It's quite a bit to expect from a film made when the revolution hadn't yet reached its tenth anniversary.

Art of that sort is made often enough even as events are unfolding, let alone ten years later. But let's be real, if it was any of that it wouldn't have gotten made.

Plus it's a historical film.

I don't know what this means.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 13:54 (two years ago)

All the President's Men is, I think, a truly great film made two or three years after the events it depicts.

clemenza, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 14:14 (two years ago)

Battleship Potemkin was made 20 years after the events it portrays, think how many WWII films were made between 1940 and 1965.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 14:17 (two years ago)

I mean a lot of historical films just take a look back at a version of events, but ofc there is a reading to them so nevermind that.

"But let's be real, if it was any of that it wouldn't have gotten made."

It depends what you wanted to say that it didn't. Stuff can get through the censor, depending on how it's told, or it can be told in an underhand way.

xxp

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 14:20 (two years ago)

Stuff can get through the censor, depending on how it's told, or it can be told in an underhand way.

Agreed, but I think that a) most regimes go through phases where such subterfuge is more viable or less viable and b) it is as a rule much easier to do if there aren't too many eyes around you, so easier in literature than film for example. A big budget spectacle made under Stalin I think would have odds set against itself in that department, though you never know - are there examples of this in 20's Soviet cinema?

At any rate, I don't think propaganda is necc a bad thing, as I said it can be cathartic. Just think it's apples and oranges when compared to a Godard film.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 14:37 (two years ago)

When I was comparing the two of them, I wasn't actually thinking of the political message, more the way that everything onscreen is "presented" through an explicit explanatory frame, where the audience is supposed to notice the way events are being portrayed, and the formal means, along with the events depicted.

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 14:47 (two years ago)

more the way that everything onscreen is "presented" through an explicit explanatory frame, where the audience is supposed to notice the way events are being portrayed, and the formal means, along with the events depicted.

Interesting, do you take this from Eisenstein's writings? I haven't read him.

I can't say I noticed this in the film itself, which I felt to be reasonably immersive - I do think I noticed the formal aspects more than with yer average movie, but I think that always happens to me with silent cinema. In fact I've heard an argument be made that they should show more of it in film school because it forces students to focus on form.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 16:02 (two years ago)

It is one of Eisenstein's theories that cinema must be as didactic as possible.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 February 2023 16:10 (two years ago)

Dialectical too.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 February 2023 16:10 (two years ago)

The Watermelon Woman is on MUBI UK ATM. Watched it a couple of days ago.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Watermelon_Woman

And it's on the S&S list (100-250). What's remarkable is the person's background: woman, black, Lesbian. Making a film about those very things but the film isn't worn down by them, as the script is often funny and charming.

I wouldn't say it's top 250 but who cares it absolutely should be there. It's an excellent example of the gaming of the poll. Many voters used their votes smartly.

xyzzzz__, Friday, 24 February 2023 12:28 (two years ago)

I love a ranking where The Watermelon Woman outranks, say, The Deer Hunter.

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Friday, 24 February 2023 12:54 (two years ago)

I watched it at the height of the pandemic when Criterion made it available.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 February 2023 13:10 (two years ago)

Always wonder if Cimino's work is going to get revisited in view of the revelation that they were maybe trans? I can't get much clarity on that, but there's enough evidence for the New Yorker to mention it - https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/a-new-biography-of-michael-cimino-is-as-fascinating-and-melancholy-as-the-filmmaker-himself - it's not like a fan fiction thing.

Anyway yeah Watermelon Woman rules. The film it reminds me most of, though obviously it's miles ahead of it in quality and intelligence, is Clerks.

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 24 February 2023 13:59 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/The_general_movie_poster.jpg

The General, Buster Keaton, 1926
Morbsies #733, Sight & Sound Critics #95

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 27 February 2023 10:03 (two years ago)

Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 2001). A lot more action than Totoro. Lots of adventures were had.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 27 February 2023 10:44 (two years ago)

Really love the drawings, like just the quality of them, the colour schemes...very beautiful to look at.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 27 February 2023 10:46 (two years ago)

Saw The General semi-recently, so won't rewatch. It's good ofc, less blown away by it than Sherlock tho.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 27 February 2023 10:47 (two years ago)

I really enjoyed The General, it feels much more advanced than Sherlock Jr, almost like a modern action film in many ways. There wasn't a single moment where I felt it dragging, those train sequences were flawless. Still I feel it is a bit tainted by its taking the side of The South, in particular the battle scenes at the end are very reminiscent of Birth of a Nation. The Civil War and in particular the "Lost Cause" narrative are such fixtures of pre-WWII Hollywood.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 27 February 2023 11:04 (two years ago)

Yeah, it's so needless as well, not like the film is about the Lost Cause or a Rebel Stand or anything ideological like that, switch the sides and nothing would change. It's depressing how much this was just something in the air, that ppl would employ without even thinking about it.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 27 February 2023 11:08 (two years ago)

it was a solid hour of train japes, was good.

the leading ladies on both this and the previous one, was that a fashionable look at the time, because they both looked like such frumps.

(xpost, yes, the south thing was a bit o_O)

koogs, Monday, 27 February 2023 11:15 (two years ago)

real jeopardy in what he was doing as well, i mean a real train, moving along, him dancing along the top of it or sat on the cow catcher in a bid to stop it derailing.

were a couple of time when i wondered if it was a real locomotive actually. do they move off that fast? istr there being a lot of build up before they actually move. but maybe i'm thinking of trains with lots of carriages, which this wasn't

koogs, Monday, 27 February 2023 11:18 (two years ago)

afaik it's all real trains, yes. including the one going over the bridge, allegedly the most expensive shot in history.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 27 February 2023 11:24 (two years ago)

This was also the movie wherein he broke his neck, no?

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Monday, 27 February 2023 14:29 (two years ago)

again? he's already broken his neck once in this thread! (sherlock jr, the water tower fall)

koogs, Monday, 27 February 2023 14:32 (two years ago)

actually, i didn't know until someone mentioned it. and sherlock jr fall does look more jarring than anything in the general. but yeah, similar train setting

koogs, Monday, 27 February 2023 14:33 (two years ago)

it was the water tower in Sherlock Jr, yes. though I did wonder why he felt like doing such similar scenes so soon after such a traumatic experience.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 27 February 2023 14:37 (two years ago)

Ah I was wrong ... I remembered it being the water tower gag, but for some reason misremembered it as being in The General.

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Monday, 27 February 2023 15:04 (two years ago)

There was "movie poster on walls" talk which reminded me that on watching The General I realised that my parents had a framed print from it on the wall all through my childhood. Asked my mum about it and it turns out they only watched it for the first time a couple of years ago.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Wednesday, 1 March 2023 17:04 (two years ago)

I remember a lot of Chaplin posters in relative's houses growing up.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 1 March 2023 17:14 (two years ago)

i do remember being home for christmas and turning The General on as a random alternative to the endless sport and we all sat there quite happily as a family and watched it. (similar thing happened with Hulot's Vacance iirc a decade earlier)

koogs, Wednesday, 1 March 2023 17:26 (two years ago)

Just finished Sherlock Jr. and moving onto Battleship.

I am the young one that never touched silent cinema. I offer myself as the dunce for you all to play off in this thread. I realise now I had a quiet and small fear I wouldn’t enjoy silent cinema due to only ever gouging on high definition colour and sound. Glad to have all fears and inhibitions ridiculed with how amazing Sherlock Jr. is! That motorcycle scene was just hit after hit. Then to be reminded it is all Cinema with the fade back to reality (with another hit!) was the perfect affirmation of the art form. Such a celebration of life and goodness. None of this 21st century cynicism, no irony, no meanness. It was so refreshing.

hrep (H.P), Thursday, 2 March 2023 03:16 (two years ago)

How many of these one-vote wonders from the #SightAndSoundPoll have you seen? https://t.co/wM9jWDP2ZD@letterboxd pic.twitter.com/oExu2YmQWu

— BFI (@BFI) March 6, 2023

xyzzzz__, Monday, 6 March 2023 13:47 (two years ago)

4

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Monday, 6 March 2023 13:49 (two years ago)

Fear
Macario
Casting Blossoms to the Sky
The Organizer

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Monday, 6 March 2023 13:50 (two years ago)

Sadly zero.

And speaking of things I shamefully had not seen before...

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 6 March 2023 14:17 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/97/Metropolis_%28German_three-sheet_poster%29.jpg

Metropolis, Fritz Lang, 1927
Morbsies #597, Sight & Sound Critics #67

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 6 March 2023 14:21 (two years ago)

Still have to watch last 40 minutes, here's the version I'm watching- youtube link

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 6 March 2023 14:22 (two years ago)

Possibly my most famous haven't-seen film.

clemenza, Monday, 6 March 2023 14:39 (two years ago)

Undoubtedly the greatest film featuring Loverboy and Bonnie Tyler songs.

Halfway there but for you, Monday, 6 March 2023 18:19 (two years ago)

Thanks for doing this
Had a blast watching the two Keaton films - that suitcase stunt in insane

nxd, Tuesday, 7 March 2023 04:21 (two years ago)

Finished Metropolis (finally) - some thoughts

I said that Battleship Potemkin was a few brilliant shots & scenes surrounded by a lot of other stuff that didn't grab me. Well Metropolis includes an absolute load of simply astonishing scenes and shots, ones I was familiar with, ones I was not, just so many superb ideas in design, direction, editing, the dancing scene with all the eyes watching has to be my favourite. However, as a whole film I was often left either confused or bored. The plot is nonsensical, the villain of the film is a grotesque personification of communist revolution, and the ending where the heroic son-of-the-billionaire makes his dad shake hands with the union leader is straight-up terrible. I'd love to put together a solid 60-minute edit, no intertitles, no explanations. So I'm basically looking forward to Man With A Movie Camera.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Thursday, 9 March 2023 22:33 (two years ago)

Oh and Brigitte Helm is an absolute genius.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Thursday, 9 March 2023 22:35 (two years ago)

Does the version you linked have an intermission, Camaraderie? Would like to tick this one off but I don't think I can do a single setting.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 9 March 2023 23:35 (two years ago)

there's a note at the start of this that it includes a lot of once-lost material which has been recovered, tbh I would have preferred to see the cut-down version, but some of the deleted parts are worth including. I'll have a look for a shorter cut.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 10 March 2023 06:27 (two years ago)

Just checked and no intermission, not even chapter breaks! Damn Fritz.

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 10 March 2023 10:25 (two years ago)

I did find a shorter cut, but the quality is terrible.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 10 March 2023 10:26 (two years ago)

there's no intermission, but the version of the film Camaraderie linked to is divided into three parts - 'prelude', 'intermezzo' (beginning at 1:06:25) and 'furioso' (beginning at 1:34:49).

I think the full length version is by far the best, but maybe you need to see it on a big screen with the soundtrack blaring to really appreciate it? It's not a film that really suits being watched on youtube, with all the extravagant gestures and balletic elements.

the villain of the film is a grotesque personification of communist revolution, and the ending where the heroic son-of-the-billionaire makes his dad shake hands with the union leader is straight-up terrible.

The politics of the film are definitely crypto-fascist (society is on the verge of being torn apart by the division between workers and bosses, what is needed is a charismatic populist figure who can unite the whole city/nation in common purpose) and the screenwriter (and Lang's wife at the time) apparently became a supporter of the Nazi party. Goebbels apparently admired Metropolis enough he asked Lang to become head of UFA.

soref, Friday, 10 March 2023 15:12 (two years ago)

The plot is nonsensical

this is true, but I don't think it matters because it's not a realist film, it's more like a ballet or opera.

I love Metropolis and I love Moroder, but the 1984 Moroder soundtracked version is just dire. The soundtrack is ok to listen to as an album in itself, but as a soundtrack to the film it's dreadful. One thing that makes more a difference than I'd have expected (for the worse) is the replacement of intertitles with subtitles.

soref, Friday, 10 March 2023 15:17 (two years ago)

Intertitles are a silent film tradition that I've never liked, despite being a Godard fan. The only film I can think of where they really work to punctuate the images is Dreyer's Joan of Arc. Surely the technology existed to superimpose titles on images before 1930?

Halfway there but for you, Friday, 10 March 2023 15:27 (two years ago)

If you think Metropolis is nonsensical, try Sunrise.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 10 March 2023 15:32 (two years ago)

the intertitles on Metropolis are more impressionistic though, you don't get the impression that you're supposed to be seeing every single line of dialogue the characters are saying. And they express things physically rather than via dialogue.

soref, Friday, 10 March 2023 15:34 (two years ago)

xxp it did (you make another film with just the subtitles and everything else black, project one over the other and film the result) but it's fiddly and messy - audiences expected intertitles at this point in any case.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 10 March 2023 15:34 (two years ago)

xxp I will, this weekend!

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 10 March 2023 15:34 (two years ago)

another thing wrong with the Moroder version - in the original the score is constant, only stopping between the three chapters, the Moroder soundtrack is divided into individual tracks

soref, Friday, 10 March 2023 15:37 (two years ago)

ideally I would cut all the intertitles. just let the viewer either work out what's going on or just enjoy the experience without understanding the plot

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 10 March 2023 15:39 (two years ago)

have to keep this one though

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/CrazyTatteredBlackfish-size_restricted.gif

also the titles that go from the bottom to the top of the screen as the elevator is descending

soref, Friday, 10 March 2023 15:52 (two years ago)

ok, keep that one. the elevator ones were poorly re-made in the version I linked, just looked too shiny and computer-generated.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, 10 March 2023 15:55 (two years ago)

I thought there was another animated intertitle later on in the film (maybe during the whore of babylon part), but I can't seem to find it, maybe it's not in this version

soref, Friday, 10 March 2023 16:04 (two years ago)

projected metropolis a few weeks ago, silent w live accompaniment from our pipe organ: otm about its politics but if i couldn't let sentimental corporatism slide (even at a time like this) i wouldn't have any liberal friends, and this is metropolis. audience was thrilled.

subtitled dialogue (in anything) makes you look away from the image: bad imo.

difficult listening hour, Friday, 10 March 2023 16:21 (two years ago)

(audience also didn't seem to mind the length; in 2023 being two and a half hours long makes you a brisk, zippy family entertainment)

difficult listening hour, Friday, 10 March 2023 16:29 (two years ago)

(i minded it lol)

difficult listening hour, Friday, 10 March 2023 16:29 (two years ago)

I am Grot

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 10 March 2023 17:53 (two years ago)

subtitled dialogue (in anything) makes you look away from the image: bad imo.

You always prefer dubbed dialogue in foreign movies?

Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 11 March 2023 14:41 (two years ago)

Speech not synced to mouth movements is way more distracting imo. Why you’d want to replace Toshiro Mifune or Alain Delon with a second rate anglophone beats me.

Dan Worsley, Saturday, 11 March 2023 14:51 (two years ago)

Dubbed is the worst.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 11 March 2023 15:17 (two years ago)

Ok I finished it.

Above all else I think the city is still a total marvel, can totally understand why so many subsequent creators wanted to play within that sandbox.

I don't know if I think of the story as nonsensical - perhaps I am more fond of pulp than most on this thread. Much of it was fun adventure stuff to me, lots of cool conceits (did Hammett take the title of The Thin Man from this???). It is def bloated but I can't say I was bored often - actually the closest I came was parts of the climax, which reminded me of modern disaster movies in a bad way.

The politics of the film are definitely crypto-fascist (society is on the verge of being torn apart by the division between workers and bosses, what is needed is a charismatic populist figure who can unite the whole city/nation in common purpose) and the screenwriter (and Lang's wife at the time) apparently became a supporter of the Nazi party. Goebbels apparently admired Metropolis enough he asked Lang to become head of UFA.

Add to this the subversive intellectual element which ruins the upper classes with Decadent Art and the lower classes with violent rabble rousing; the star on Rotwang's door I'm sure is supposed to signal sorcery but it's a bit too close to a star of David for comfort.

But at the same time, as per difficult listening hour's post, I think you can easily cast it as a liberal (pejorative) work instead: the mediator, after all, is not a military strongman, but an effete bleeding heart rich kid with a passion for social reform. Class conflict is cast as being fundamentally about miscommunication. The workers have indeed been given a hard lot in life and are right to protest, but for God's sake they should never resort to violence, and trying to wreck the system can only end in catastrophe - don't you see it's there to protect you, as well? In the end if we all just have a bit more heart things will turn out ok. Won't somebody please think of the children??

Daniel_Rf, Saturday, 11 March 2023 18:04 (two years ago)

Brigitte Helm's later life is uh interesting too

Helm was involved in several traffic accidents, and was briefly imprisoned. According to the Nazi Party's Press Chief Obergruppenführer Otto Dietrich's book, The Hitler I Knew, Adolf Hitler saw that manslaughter charges against her from an automobile accident were dropped.

Helm married her second husband, Dr. Hugo Kunheim, an industrialist, after her film contract expired in 1935. Helm stated that she retired from films because she was "...disgusted with the Nazi takeover of the film industry..." In 1935, she moved to Switzerland, where she had four children with Kunheim. In her later years, she refused to grant any interviews concerning her film career.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Saturday, 11 March 2023 18:34 (two years ago)

Sunrise next week, eh? Murnau I find very hard going, unless there's a vampire or a demon to liven things up.

Daniel_Rf, Saturday, 11 March 2023 18:42 (two years ago)

of course i use subtitles to watch movies in languages i don’t speak. that doesn’t make them good for the movie.

difficult listening hour, Saturday, 11 March 2023 18:46 (two years ago)

Add to this the subversive intellectual element which ruins the upper classes with Decadent Art and the lower classes with violent rabble rousing; the star on Rotwang's door I'm sure is supposed to signal sorcery but it's a bit too close to a star of David for comfort.

i wondered about this too.

difficult listening hour, Saturday, 11 March 2023 18:51 (two years ago)

But at the same time, as per difficult listening hour's post, I think you can easily cast it as a liberal (pejorative) work instead: the mediator, after all, is not a military strongman, but an effete bleeding heart rich kid with a passion for social reform. Class conflict is cast as being fundamentally about miscommunication. The workers have indeed been given a hard lot in life and are right to protest, but for God's sake they should never resort to violence, and trying to wreck the system can only end in catastrophe - don't you see it's there to protect you, as well? In the end if we all just have a bit more heart things will turn out ok. Won't somebody please think of the children??

I think apart from 'effete' most of this could apply to fascism as much as liberalism, but there's not always a clear distinction between liberal/progressive corporatism and the fascist kind, particularly in this era (e.g. Mosley's New Party). There's an argument that fascism is not right-wing per se (or left-wing) but centrist, both fascism and liberalism promise an alternative to class conflict by appealing to a greater authority that supposedly transcends it, the nation for the fascism and abstract principles that are above/beyond politics for liberalism.

soref, Saturday, 11 March 2023 19:32 (two years ago)

and even if he's a an effete bleeding heart rich kid rather than a military strongman, having the class reconciliation be embodied in a single chiasmatic person with a populist following pushes it more towards the fascist side (but this is probably just the nature of cinema, an individual hero obviously more cinematic than abstract humanist principles)

soref, Saturday, 11 March 2023 19:37 (two years ago)

Does he have a populist following tho? At rhe very very end maybe, mostly he's ignored.

Metropolis also exists pretty much in isolation - there is no evidence of other cities, other cultures. The subversive within is there and as I said coded in an anti-semitic manner, but he is also in the end just a dude grieving for his dead wife. Can fascism truly exist without the threat of an Other?

Daniel_Rf, Saturday, 11 March 2023 20:01 (two years ago)

I think he has a populist following in that he turns out to be the mediator, the figure of destiny that all the workers are explicitly waiting for even when they don't know who exactly who it's going to be.

soref, Saturday, 11 March 2023 20:18 (two years ago)

of course i use subtitles to watch movies in languages i don’t speak. that doesn’t make them good for the movie.

Sometimes I think that subtitles have a negative effect, not because they disturb the purity of the image itself, but because they draw on a different, verbal part of the mind than the image and distract from it. So I wonder, "do I like this subtitled film because in fact I prefer reading"?

Halfway there but for you, Monday, 13 March 2023 14:58 (two years ago)

some of us have ears that don’t work good!

k3vin k., Monday, 13 March 2023 15:01 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Sunrise_-_A_Song_of_Two_Humans.jpg

Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans, F.W. Murnau, 1927
Morbsies #60
Sight & Sound Critics #11
Sight & Sound Directors #33

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 13 March 2023 15:03 (two years ago)

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn) at 3:32 10 Mar 23

If you think Metropolis is nonsensical, try Sunrise.
Yes, a complete nonsense, none of that made the slightest bit of sense, but I still genuinely loved it and was absolutely gripped by the search at sea.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 13 March 2023 15:06 (two years ago)

Daniel_Rf at 6:42 11 Mar 23

Sunrise next week, eh? Murnau I find very hard going, unless there's a vampire or a demon to liven things up.
The husband is absolutely a demon, she can do a lot better.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 13 March 2023 15:09 (two years ago)

I mean, I'd let him choke me at least once ...

https://i.redd.it/x74u3p1kv6h51.jpg

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Monday, 13 March 2023 15:18 (two years ago)

He is a bit too much into choking women and throwing them off boats, not really acceptable character traits even in a beefcake.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 13 March 2023 15:20 (two years ago)

The sexual politics of Sunrise are bat shit even for the period.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 March 2023 15:21 (two years ago)

otoh he was quite kind to the drunken piglet

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 13 March 2023 15:22 (two years ago)

Sunrise screened yesterday at a local arts theatre: about 25 people, no walkouts. The presenter did adequately but didn't prepare the uninitiated for Murnau's marriage of late 19th century tropes about city vs country, the infantilzation of a certain kind of feminine object of desire. This is a movie whose male lead chokes his lover, walks out on his wife, tries drowning her, returns to her, and tries choking the lover again; and at the same time Murnau, refreshingly, objectifies O'Brien, arranging him in one scene to look like a Harlequin romance model reversed.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 March 2023 15:26 (two years ago)

I'd forgotten the comedic bits, i.e. dude obsessed with woman's shoulder strap.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 March 2023 15:27 (two years ago)

the tone was just wildly all over the place, the whole fairground sequence was so out of place, and then "I know I tried to drown you this morning but let's go sailing at night!" think I could easily write pages about how bad it was and how much I hated it, but in truth it was wonderful and I absolutely loved it.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 13 March 2023 15:47 (two years ago)

otm

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 March 2023 15:51 (two years ago)

I had the good luck for my first viewing of Sunrise to be on a big screen, and I went in not knowing much except it was supposed to be great. Thought it was pretty amazing visually, and yes also crazy.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 13 March 2023 16:12 (two years ago)

I've seen Sunrise maybe 3 or 4 times through the years and it never fails to amaze me how much its pieces shouldn't work together but, ultimately, absolutely do. Best movie to ever win a best picture Oscar outside of All About Eve.

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Monday, 13 March 2023 16:55 (two years ago)

finally saw SHERLOCK JR yesterday and loved it. the film within a film conceit, culminating in proposing to the girl at the end after seeing it done on the screen, so well executed and I imaging it felt especially fresh 100 years ago. the stunts were awesome and mostly didn’t detract from the story. only major issue I had was the female lead who was kind of a zero

k3vin k., Tuesday, 14 March 2023 16:47 (two years ago)

Enjoyed sunrise, my favourite part was the photographers face when he saw his remade statue

nxd, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 16:04 (two years ago)

yeah, total reversal of expectations, like many other touches a complete joy.

I was thinking Sunrise reminds me a little of Before Sunrise, not just the name, both films we're mainly just hanging out with a couple as they spend time together.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 18:36 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/The_Passion_of_Joan_of_Arc_%281928%29_English_Poster.png

The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928

Morbsies # 40
Sight & Sound Critics # 21
Sight & Sound Directors # 30

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 20 March 2023 22:26 (two years ago)

This was the first one I've seen already (shocking) so I just put on my DVD, but here is a youtube link for easy viewing.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 20 March 2023 22:31 (two years ago)

So yes, I voted for this in the morbsies poll, love it, now not sure I would put it above everything else from the 20s. her performance is outstanding, what utter devotion to a role, and not only does it look absolutely incredible, but the use of dolly shots seems revolutionary. but, do I care about it beyond the performance and the cinematography? not sure. there is a lot of theology here that goes over my head, cannot pretend I understand everything that's happening. feel like critic-wise this might be the new battleship potemkin, and there will be another in 20 years.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 20 March 2023 23:13 (two years ago)

This one never doesn’t work on me. Watched it fresh after the S&S results and, unlike with POTEMKIN, I was engrossed the whole time and wet-cheeked by the end.

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Monday, 20 March 2023 23:30 (two years ago)

Falconetti is riveting, just one of the all-time great performances. And Dreyer basing the script on the actual trial records was a smart choice — the film is adulatory in a way but not hagiographic, imo, and I think the trial transcripts keep it grounded.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 20 March 2023 23:36 (two years ago)

I've only seen it once, live accompaniment, definitely unforgettable (as is the quotation in My Life to Live, as is the "Nothing Compares 2 U" video).

clemenza, Monday, 20 March 2023 23:42 (two years ago)

And just in case all that’s not enough for you, Dreyer threw in Antonin Artaud to sweeten the deal.

Bringing Up Initials B.B. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 20 March 2023 23:43 (two years ago)

as far as films from this era go, I loved Chaplin’s The Kid with Jackie Coogan (1921) and Safety Last! from Newmeyer/Taylor (1923) starring Harold Lloyd.

Sunrise and The Passion of Joan of Arc are two of my favorite films of all time, but I hated Metropolis

Dan S, Tuesday, 21 March 2023 01:05 (two years ago)

The Kid and Safety Last are both good, but a bit too basic for my tastes, I thought these two Keaton films were a nice step up from that.

I considered adding the best-rated film for every missing year, on the plus side that would have meant not just Harold Lloyd and even Méliès, but unfortunately on the negative would also have meant sitting through many hours of D.W.Griffith.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 21 March 2023 13:52 (two years ago)

I'm hardly the person to advocate for Griffith--I've never voluntarily seen a film of his, just what I saw in film class; maybe j.lu would want to--but there are at least two films of his that are highly regarded (Way Down East and Broken Blossoms; I've seen the former) and I'm pretty sure have zero to do with the film that destroyed his stature or the follow-up that was supposed to excuse that one. But if you can't get past the fact that it was him who made them, I can appreciate that.

clemenza, Tuesday, 21 March 2023 19:31 (two years ago)

Yes, omitting all of Griffith, as good as it might feel, is not an accurate portrait of film history

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Tuesday, 21 March 2023 19:44 (two years ago)

sorry, didn't want to get into the griffith debate again, will just say that I don't agree and leave it at that

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 21 March 2023 20:26 (two years ago)

I mean, it's empirical but whatev

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Tuesday, 21 March 2023 20:28 (two years ago)

(Intolerance and Broken Blossoms aside, I don't even particularly enjoy Griffith that much.)

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Tuesday, 21 March 2023 20:30 (two years ago)

I'm doubtful there's any such thing as "an accurate portrait of film history" but even if there was I don't see that that is what we're supposed to be doing on this thread?

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 21 March 2023 20:37 (two years ago)

Been having a look through and these are the films which would be added if I followed the "one for every year" rule

Voyage dans la lune, Le Méliès, Georges 1902
After Death Bauer, Yevgeni 1915
Intolerance Griffith, D.W. 1916
Outlaw and His Wife, The Sjöström, Victor 1918
One Week Keaton, Buster & Edward F. Cline 1920
High Sign, The Cline, Edward F. and Buster Keaton 1921
Nosferatu Murnau, F.W. 1922
Safety Last Newmeyer, Fred C./Sam Taylor 1923
Unholy Three, The Conway, Jack 1930
Shanghai Express von Sternberg, Josef 1932
39 Steps, The Hitchcock, Alfred 1935
Make Way for Tomorrow McCarey, Leo 1937
Holiday Cukor, George 1938
His Girl Friday Hawks, Howard 1940
Double Indemnity Wilder, Billy 1944
Enfants du paradis, Les Carné, Marcel 1945
Victims of Sin Fernández, Emilio 1951
Kes Loach, Ken 1969
Goodbye, Dragon Inn Tsai Ming-liang 2003
Transporter 2, The Leterrier, Louis 2005
Clock, The Marclay, Christian 2010
Field in England, A Wheatley, Ben 2013
First Cow Reichardt, Kelly 2020

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 21 March 2023 23:11 (two years ago)

Love Holiday, love Kes. Simple as.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 21 March 2023 23:12 (two years ago)

Oh god, THE CLOCK needs to be added and mandatory

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Tuesday, 21 March 2023 23:24 (two years ago)

and Goodbye, Dragon Inn

Dan S, Tuesday, 21 March 2023 23:33 (two years ago)

Victims of Sin Fernández

One of my favourite screenings over the last few years.

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 21 March 2023 23:45 (two years ago)

One Week Keaton, Buster & Edward F. Cline 1920
High Sign, The Cline, Edward F. and Buster Keaton 1921
Nosferatu Murnau, F.W. 1922
Safety Last Newmeyer, Fred C./Sam Taylor 1923
Unholy Three, The Conway, Jack 1930
Shanghai Express von Sternberg, Josef 1932

All highly recommended by me.

I'm not inclined to defend D.W. Griffith, although he definitely helped create the feature film as we now know it.

Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Tuesday, 21 March 2023 23:58 (two years ago)

ok, I've done it.
not sure if a good idea, but I've done it.
(check link at top of thread for confusing new details)

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Wednesday, 22 March 2023 15:45 (two years ago)

would advise anyone about to watch Man With A Movie Camera to check the updated list.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Wednesday, 22 March 2023 19:46 (two years ago)

downloaded the whole of jeanne d'arc without noticing the inter titles were in French. i might be able to scrape by with my cse grade 2.

koogs, Thursday, 23 March 2023 00:44 (two years ago)

Youtube link above has english subs, I think

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Thursday, 23 March 2023 07:47 (two years ago)

Such a counter-intuitive move for a film in the pre-sound era, a court proceeding. Yet Dreyer makes it work squeezing every last drop of emotion from those faces. And of course the ending becomes plenty cinematic.

Agreed that Falconetti is superb.

The gender dynamics are so front and centre now, perhaps more than they were to people when it came out - this woman being gaslit and humiliated by a procession of grotesque men.

Failed to recognize Michel Simon, holy shit!

My own cultural context makes me read the situation as "these guys are horrible sadistic pricks, Jeanne is troubled and in need of the kind of psychological existence that didn't exist back then", but Dreyer himself was a believer, so I don't think that's how he'd read it?

Philistine alert: 80 min did still have my attention wandering, might not on the big screen tho.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 23 March 2023 11:07 (two years ago)

the few seconds i saw when ffwding through it to check last night had some odd framing in it, shots of characters from their knees to their chins, made me wonder if i had a bad version. it also had fake red curtains added at the sides to pad it out to 16:9. :puke:

koogs, Thursday, 23 March 2023 12:02 (two years ago)

One of my most philistine takes is that Passion, though extremely great, is even better with the now-standard Einhorn accompaniment.

عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Thursday, 23 March 2023 13:45 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Voyage_dans_la_lune_title_card.png

Le voyage dans la lune, Georges Méliès, 1902
Morbsies #562

Youtube link here - loads of versions on Youtube but this seems to be the best quality non-colourized, non-50fps one, if you prefer that then there are plenty of options. This version has a brass band backing which I don't care for, you can just mute it though.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 27 March 2023 13:07 (two years ago)

Update! I had thought that the hand-colour version was lost, apparently it was found and restored. This seems to be the best version I can find - it claims to be 50fps but I can see no evidence of this.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 27 March 2023 13:16 (two years ago)

Unlike most of the other films so far, I've watched this quite a few times. It's hard to judge by later film standards as Méliès doesn't really fit in the lineage, and if this were a history of the grammar of film-making, something like The Great Train Robbery (1903) would be more interesting, but it isn't, so it isn't. Obviously it's just a series of theatrical tableaux, but what tableaux!

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 27 March 2023 13:18 (two years ago)

https://i.postimg.cc/d012c5xZ/MV5-BZj-Jk-Mm-Ji-Ym-Mt-YTg4-My00-OWVi-LThh-ODIt-ZGM4-NGMy-M2-M5-Yj-Az-L2lt-YWdl-L2lt-YWdl-Xk-Ey-Xk-Fqc-Gde-QXVy-MDI3-OTIz-OA-V1.jpg

After Death, Yevgeni Bauer, 1915
Morbsies #1133

Youtube link

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 3 April 2023 12:47 (two years ago)

* A film which is likely too goth even for goths, it's essentially an advertisement for suicide.
* So, so beautiful though, all of the apparitions and that tracking shot at the party at the start is wonderful
* Male lead and director both dead within the next few years. Vera Karalli OTOH was one of two women present on the night of Rasputin's murder. Then she lived until the 70s.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 3 April 2023 12:53 (two years ago)

More or less co-sign on all of that. This and Twilight of a Woman's Soul reached me at the right moment in my life to leave an indelible imprint.

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Monday, 3 April 2023 14:29 (two years ago)

Late to give my thinking on the Mélies: the version on Amazon has a dude narrating over it, was this perhaps common practice at some point in the silent era, pre introduction of intertitles? Anyway, it's great fun, reminded me a lot of Terry Gilliam (with the bonus that I know nothing about whether Mélies was an asshole).

fav letterboxd review, from user Allan:

Pretty realistic in the sense that if you did send a bunch of old guys into space, they probably would take a nap then try to kill some aliens and then expect a medal for it when they got back

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 3 April 2023 14:55 (two years ago)

After Death - This is the first thing discussed itt that I'd never even heard of! I think I never considered that pre-revolutionary Russia would have a film industry, Eisenstein and co cast such a large shadow.

Anyway, enjoyed this a lot! A lot more plot focused than most of what we've watched so far, could easily imagine it as a short story. Very Russian, of course. Do think the ending could have been pulled off more economically, I suppose they're trying to build towards a crescendo but it doesn't really escalate so much as maintain the same level imo.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 5 April 2023 09:17 (two years ago)

that dinner party long shot was beautiful

nxd, Wednesday, 5 April 2023 13:35 (two years ago)

watch my french jeanne d'arc. very strange framing at times as i've probably said before. and the burning at the end (spoilers) lingered on the corpse to an uncomfortable degree.

also recognised one shot of the cover of that adorable cd i have

https://www.discogs.com/master/20907-Adorable-Sunshine-Smile

koogs, Sunday, 9 April 2023 19:24 (two years ago)

the other startling thing, towards the end, is when he tracks people moving from in front of the camera to behind it - he rotates the camera in an axis such that the shot ends up upside down.

koogs, Sunday, 9 April 2023 19:33 (two years ago)

https://i.postimg.cc/7LpQnB7Y/517px-Intolerance-film.jpg

Intolerance, D.W. Griffith, 1916
Morbsies #956

Youtube link

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 10 April 2023 15:39 (two years ago)

I have 50 minutes left on my rewatch of this, so will save my thoughts for a bit.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 10 April 2023 15:39 (two years ago)

Yeah, sitting this one out.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 10 April 2023 15:40 (two years ago)

Remove Bookmark from this Thread

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Monday, 10 April 2023 15:52 (two years ago)

I'm actually curious what Camaraderie has to say!

the very juice and sperm of kindness. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 10 April 2023 16:07 (two years ago)

I am compelled to drop Morbs' own review of the movie here:

https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/intolerance/

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Monday, 10 April 2023 16:26 (two years ago)

I'm glad he settled on "influential" rather than "innovative"

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 10 April 2023 16:32 (two years ago)

Also, I'll do clem's work here and link up Kael's review too (which, very much a product of its time, does not stop short of calling Birth of a Nation a great film):

https://letterboxd.com/notpaulinekael/film/intolerance-loves-struggle-throughout-the-ages/1/

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Monday, 10 April 2023 17:12 (two years ago)

I think it’s fair to say that Movies Silently isn’t a fan of Griffiths or Intolerance.

One pervasive myth is that DW Griffith apologized for the racism of THE BIRTH OF A NATION by making INTOLERANCE, which examined the ways prejudice caused suffering throughout history.

So let's just cut down that argument at the knees, shall we? pic.twitter.com/xfwuvEceib

— Movies Silently 🐀 (@MoviesSilently) October 13, 2022

Dan Worsley, Monday, 10 April 2023 18:07 (two years ago)

Yes, I have been very tempted to post her threads on DWG.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Monday, 10 April 2023 18:24 (two years ago)

Very fair game

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Monday, 10 April 2023 19:12 (two years ago)

I agree that the idea that Intolerance was any kind of mea culpa is basically bunk

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Monday, 10 April 2023 19:13 (two years ago)

I mostly agree with the review; I saw the film long ago, bug-eyed over its bat shit insanity. But, yeah, it's not a mea culpa so much as a chance to do TBOAN again but more bat shit.

the very juice and sperm of kindness. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 10 April 2023 19:15 (two years ago)

I will say I had a lot of fun traipsing around the collapsing sets of Intolerance in the video game LA Noir.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 11 April 2023 09:44 (two years ago)

OK, finished it! The second time I've seen the film and it was a lot easier to follow each of the four plots this time. I would say I have softened on it slightly, there are certainly some parts I liked, but overall I still feel its importance is wildly overstated and much of it is bad or dull.

Ancient Babylon - this was by far the strongest section, in fact if this were the film I'd probably be singing its praises. The cinematography, the set design, the sheer scale of the thing are incredibly striking and impressive. Constance Talmadge puts in a brilliant performance too. But what is the story? under the spectacle it's a load of nothing, just a few bible verses padded out.

Jesus - this story is barely there, less than ten minutes of screen time, but still manages to be heavy-handed incoherent antisemitic guff.

St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre - Presumably here as a concrete example of intolerance? But what do we have, an evil woman plans a massacre, the massacre takes place, that's pretty much it, not even interestingly staged, though the killings are surprisingly graphic.

Modern day - This is the core of the film really, everything else is presumably here to illustrate it. There is some good cinematography here, some shots are stunning, some editing is fairly good, the chase scene with the car and the train is great (but very much bolted on to the story without any justification) But also what the fuck is any of this? A factory owner massacres his workers for striking, a man is unjustly convicted of murder, but somehow this is not the focus. Instead the moral is that social services and welfare charities are the greatest evil of our times because they take money from honest capitalists and are also ugly jealous old women who take babies away? I mean, what exactly the fuck is that? That's your takeaway, DWG?

Also there is a good deal of poor editing and direction in this section, I know it's 1916 but if we are crediting DWG with innovations then I have to say his tricks are not original and others have done better.

Overall I also feel like such a long film covering four separate time periods should have a central story or concept uniting the threads, but it's completely missing. I can understand how the French story is about intolerance, but the other three have nothing to do with it by any sane definition. So I'm left trying to imagine what DWG's point is beyond "baddies do bad stuff" and I can't see what it is at all. "The baddies should tolerate the goodies and then get out of their way, the goodies are under no obligation to tolerate the baddies"? I feel stupid even trying to figure it out, it's just his feeling that he has a right to his prejudices and nobody should dare challenge him, presented with a massive budget over several hours.

The cases I see for why this film is important are innovation and influence, I would question the first of these as above, the second I'm not sure where to go with - yes there later were some epic dramas which attempted a similar scale. Would they have existed without Intolerance? No idea, it seems perfectly possible, but could concede that - and then what? Why does that make this worth watching?

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 11 April 2023 13:31 (two years ago)

ugly jealous old women who take babies away?

a menace of our times imo

the very juice and sperm of kindness. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 11 April 2023 13:33 (two years ago)

fwiw there is absolutely a terrible history of govt social services being paternalistic-to-outright-hateful to the working class in general and marginalised groups within it in particular, and adoption in particular is a huge can of worms within that context. griffith def not the guy to tackle that tho.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 11 April 2023 14:44 (two years ago)

I mean he specifically says they are motivated by being too old & unattractive to attract men any more, right at the start of the film.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 11 April 2023 14:52 (two years ago)

Those old caption writers sure did go hard back in the day

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Tuesday, 11 April 2023 14:59 (two years ago)

Anita Loos wrote the intertitles, so god only knows what DWG would have put there if unfiltered.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 11 April 2023 15:14 (two years ago)

All else aside, I appreciate you giving it a fresh shot, caal

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Tuesday, 11 April 2023 15:34 (two years ago)

no worries, I need something to do while my wife sticks needles in me every weekend.

anyone else have a few hours to spare to see if you agree? fine if not.

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 11 April 2023 17:46 (two years ago)

It was good of you to take one for the team.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Tuesday, 11 April 2023 18:23 (two years ago)

One Way or Another (Gomez, 1974)

This is simply excellent, it's in the top 250 of the S&S poll and a great example of how the poll has improved and isn't shit anymore as you get to see this strange documentary/normie narrative/agitprop hybrid from Cuba.

I think it's still on MUBI UK for a little while.

xyzzzz__, Friday, 14 April 2023 15:45 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c7/Berg-Ejvind_och_hans_hustru_1918_film_poster.jpg

The Outlaw and His Wife, Victor Sjöström, 1918

Morbsies #1133

Youtube link

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 17 April 2023 18:11 (two years ago)

That's a good one!

The Titus Andromedon Strain (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 17 April 2023 18:24 (two years ago)

Sjöström! I've only watched The Wind.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 17 April 2023 18:53 (two years ago)

I've just got about half an hour left of this one, should have some thoughts tomorrow.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 17 April 2023 20:59 (two years ago)

For UK readers, this is on Netflix, as part of that weird deal between Netflix and the Swedish Cinematheque.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 17 April 2023 21:18 (two years ago)

does the one on Netflix have a soundtrack? the criterion dvd rips on YouTube are completely silent, this is the only one with sound and it seems to have been tacked on

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 17 April 2023 21:33 (two years ago)

No soundtrack, no. Nice looking copy tho.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 17 April 2023 21:38 (two years ago)

Some good tunes on that YouTube one tho

nxd, Tuesday, 18 April 2023 17:06 (two years ago)

For UK readers, this is on Netflix, as part of that weird deal between Netflix and the Swedish Cinematheque.

― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 17 April 2023 bookmarkflaglink

Good stuff lol, always wanted to check Sjostrom..

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 18 April 2023 19:51 (two years ago)

Well that was relentlessly grim.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 19 April 2023 18:43 (two years ago)

I mean, it was still good. I think. but really not what I needed to see when I'm worrying about how to support my family over the next year, that's for sure.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 19 April 2023 18:47 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Buster_keaton_one_week_poster.jpg

One Week, Buster Keaton & Edward F. Cline, 1920

Morbsies #947

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 25 April 2023 07:11 (two years ago)

I went through the Keaton shorts a while ago and this was really a big jump in quality when you watch 'em chronologically, one of his best imo.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 25 April 2023 08:53 (two years ago)

Here's the youtube link

Yeah, a very enjoyable 25 minutes, every joke felt extremely well-crafted. Not really as ambitious as his longer films, obviously, but for what it is, it couldn't be much better.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 25 April 2023 08:59 (two years ago)

It's been

formerly abanana (dat), Friday, 28 April 2023 02:14 (two years ago)

you know I don't think I've ever heard that song. and yet I got the reference somehow.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 28 April 2023 13:37 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/The_High_Sign_%281921%29_-_Ad_1.jpg

The High Sign, Buster Keaton & Edward F. Cline, 1921

Morbsies #630

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 1 May 2023 21:39 (two years ago)

I found this one to be a bit of a step back from One Week, which makes sense as it was actually filmed earlier and held back for some reason. A boilerplate silent comedy short plot - Buster is hired to protect a man from the mob and also hired by the mob to kill him, but of course there are plenty of brilliant stunts and set pieces to keep you entertained, and as it's less than 20 minutes there's no danger of boredom. Still nothing here as inspired as Sherlock Jr, The General or even One Week.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 2 May 2023 08:10 (two years ago)

here's a youtube link

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 2 May 2023 08:11 (two years ago)

Tantalised by the 101 films on @SightSoundmag’s Hidden Gems list? @_edb’s pick, Claudia von Alemann’s ‘Blind Spot’ (1981), is now on @mubiuk. Here’s what Erika had to say about it: https://t.co/b59rDtKdqV pic.twitter.com/ql1eU1TTlc

— Arjun Sajip (@ArjSaj) May 2, 2023

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 2 May 2023 09:15 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/Nosferatuposter.jpg

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, F. W. Murnau, 1922

Morbsies #833
Sight & Sound Critics #196

Youtube link

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 8 May 2023 13:52 (two years ago)

Would anyone be interested in some kind of watch-along stream for the public domain movies?

formerly abanana (dat), Monday, 8 May 2023 13:56 (two years ago)

how would that work? like a twitch stream?

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 8 May 2023 14:58 (two years ago)

i don't know, to be honest.

formerly abanana (dat), Wednesday, 10 May 2023 10:01 (two years ago)

Ok, so Nosferatu then. I had already seen this, a few times I think, but in memory it is much less absorbing than I found it this time. Think the restoration job and the soundtrack on the link above really make a lot of difference here. It succeeds where other Dracula adaptations fail because Murnau wisely cuts the interminable gentlemen's meetings, in fact the much weaker second half of the story is cut to less than 30 minutes, and that includes the famous bedroom scene. I don't think it's at all scary, think perhaps due to overfamiliarity.

What I have noticed this time around is the antisemitism, and am not sure how I missed it before. it's not just Orlok who's uncomfortably like a hideous Jewish caricature, the estate manager Knock (who doubles as Renfield) is also obviously coded as Jewish. so yeah, that's not great.

still there's a lot if great art here, most scenes are intricately set up and lit. shocked to find out that the restoration was needed because a court ordered every print destroyed, and it's a miracle it survived that when the majority of films from this era are gone forever. is this the first ever victim of a copyright troll (in the form of Stoker's estate)? probably someone can think of an earlier one.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 10 May 2023 20:06 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Safety_last_poster.jpg

Safety Last, Fred C Newmeyer & Sam Taylor, 1923

Morbsies #1133

Youtube link

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 15 May 2023 21:58 (two years ago)

I have a blu-ray of this! But for some reason my allegedly region-free Chinese DVD/blu-ray player is insisting that it's the wrong region, so here I am watching it on youtube with the plebs, present company excluded of course.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 15 May 2023 22:01 (two years ago)

Whole film is apparently embedded on the Wikipedia page as a webm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Safety_Last_(1923).webm

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 15 May 2023 22:05 (two years ago)

Heard something along the lines of Harold Lloyd's work was exhibited on TV less (I think due to rights issues?) and this accounts for his lower profile when compared to Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel & Hardy.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:29 (two years ago)

i do remember harold lloyd on tv in the uk, specifically watching it around my gran's. seemed to be always on. "hooray for harold lloyd"... possibly a clip show.

yeah, these, from 1977 - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2yaO_4_FwpkWNviqJsyrKIw16fVFT9YO

koogs, Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:41 (two years ago)

Yes, I believe that came up in the convo as well, the UK being an exception.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 16 May 2023 10:57 (two years ago)

can't believe it took me so long to watch this in full.

the building climbing scene, of course this is just fantastic, just the sheer planning and imagination needed, nothing is wasted. enjoyed it as a thriller more than as a comedy.

the rest of the film is fine, if a bit weak. I know I've been spoiled a bit with all this Keaton & Chaplin, but Lloyd just doesn't quite have the same charisma, or the same quality of writing.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 18 May 2023 21:32 (two years ago)

I dispute the notion of Lloyd lacking charisma

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Thursday, 18 May 2023 21:53 (two years ago)

oh he has it, just not quite as much

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 18 May 2023 22:03 (two years ago)

ok, back to the main plot

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 22 May 2023 16:46 (two years ago)

https://i.postimg.cc/HL8sYCqW/18574.jpg

Man With A Movie Camera, Dziga Vertov, 1929

Morbsies #193
Sight & Sound Critics #9
Sight & Sound Directors #30

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 22 May 2023 16:50 (two years ago)

Should really post a youtube link. Very nice post-rock/jazz soundtrack from The Cinematic Orchestra.
Should also post some thoughts as I've now watched it three times, but that can wait for tomorrow.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 26 May 2023 22:39 (two years ago)

I was looking forward to this as I've already used Dziga Vertov's sound collages in my mixes (in fact I structured my 1925 mix entirely around one) but was not ready for how deeply and immediately I would fall for it. I could say it's the way he frames the film with the audience / the orchestra / filming himself filming / his eye / stopping the action and showing the editing of the film we're watching / the intercuts of birth & death - but all of these I'm sure have been talked about a lot already, and are enough to make me admire the work. What I absolutely love about it though is the feel he has for editing at pace, the way the cuts build up and crash down like a symphony. So many shots feel so wildly ahead of their time too, every few minutes there's something I could swear I've seen referenced in 50s/60s/70s cinema.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 27 May 2023 08:21 (two years ago)

Started watching The Unholy Three (1930), and think I will substitute this for All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) which will surely be a bit less shit.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 27 May 2023 22:01 (two years ago)

This short can represent 90% of Hollywood films in 1930.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH7XlG9j0xs

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 27 May 2023 22:06 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_%281930_film%29_poster.jpg

All Quiet on the Western Front, Lewis Milestone, 1930

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 29 May 2023 10:08 (two years ago)

Apologies to ILX user J.Lu, whose vote got The Unholy Three to #434 in the Morbsies, I couldn't sit through it.
No votes for All Quiet on the Western front in Morbsies or Sight & Sound polls, but it's the top rated film of 1930 in a number of places, and I haven't seen it before.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 29 May 2023 10:11 (two years ago)

Gave this one a spin.

It's certainly visually impressive for a sound feature from 1930. Obviously showy are those tracking shots following the boys as they run through the field, explosions around them, but often it's also just a matter of making the blocking and general visual information onscreen aesthetic and interesting enough that you don't mind the static camera. Lots of smart editing as well.

I've read a couple of Remarque novels but not this one, still feel I can say the film mostly does a good job of capturing his mix of cynicism and romanticism. I'd like to think the corniest moments from this read different in the novel but tbh Remarque wasn't above a cheap tear jerker moment or two.

A big problem is none of the lads we follow have much charisma, they all seem basically interchangeable and none of the actors exude much star power. The semi-comedic grizzled veterans are much better, and much closer to how we think of grunts now.

A scene featuring extensive dialogues in French, spoken by native speakers! Classic Hollywood was so much more cosmopolitan than modern Hollywood. Helps to have a couple world wars provide a torrent of talent from all over I guess.

I'll also admit that on a shallow level, I don't find modern warfare scenes exciting. My hippie parents never encouraged me to play with toy soldiers or watch military-related stuff. I did read fantasy though, so give me some orcs and a dragon or two and suddenly it's a different story. I can't get enough of those LOTR battles.

There's certainly a lot of cheese here, though obv allowances have to be made, a lot of the stuff that registers as total cliché wasn't so much so when this came out.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 11:07 (two years ago)

How crap must the recent version be? I don't think the current scene has much of a way with hard boiled gallow's humour, which I think is the best part of the story.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 11:09 (two years ago)

Just finished watching and yes! agreed with you on almost all of that. These early sound films are all so hokey, they haven't figured out how to do dialogue on screen, so you get these looooong two-shots of actors unconvincingly going through this stagey dialogue which also sounds muffled and hard to make out - honestly feels like film has stepped back a decade in terms of artisty. It also doesn't help that Lew Ayres (and the rest of the young cast to be fair) are clearly not up to the job of portraying the horrors of war.

The best thing here is definitely the battle scenes, which are as beautiful as they are terrifying. Some of those tracking shots are absolute works of art. Just a shame the majority of the film is so deeply average.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 3 June 2023 12:12 (two years ago)

Dunno if I would extend this to early talkies as a whole - checking my letterboxd for 1930, this came out the same year as Lubitsch's "Monte Carlo" and the Marx Bros movie "Animal Crackers", both of which do fine on dialogue. Slightly more comparable to "All Quiet..." from this year is Hawk's "The Criminal Code", which has its fair share of corny moments but manages much better due to the star power of Walter Huston and Boris Karloff. The technical limitations you mention def play a part but I think it's also to do with the specific brand of oscarbait-y drama that this film is.

Daniel_Rf, Saturday, 3 June 2023 21:06 (two years ago)

Well yes, I might have been a little hyperbolic there, but I think it holds up as a general rule for most of the 1928-1931 talkies I've seen. Even Animal Crackers and Monkey Business suffer from these problems, though both still great, the jump in quality when you get to Horse Feathers is huge (let's not even talk of The Cocoanuts). Haven't seen Monte Carlo or The Criminal Code, may take a look. The "Tomatos Another Day" video I posted upthread is a brilliant parody of early talkies, and sums all of this up really well.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 3 June 2023 22:29 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/City_Lights_%281931_theatrical_poster_-_retouched%29.jpg

City Lights, Charles Chaplin, 1931

Morbsies #160
Sight & Sound critics #36
Sight & Sound directors #46

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 5 June 2023 07:44 (two years ago)

youtube link

afraid I have a bit of a challops on this one

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 5 June 2023 07:46 (two years ago)

so this was, what, fine? OK? a bigger budget version of the longer silent comedies from the late 20s, and I enjoyed watching it well enough, but that's kind of it. the cinematography was nothing special, the comedy scenes were neither funny nor spectacular (apart from the first one where he was sleeping on the statue) - the story with the rich drunk could have been developed a little. most importantly I'm afraid i found the central love story just kind of mawkish and basic, and the famous last scene just left me cold. think I have to conclude that I am Just Not Into Chaplin.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 5 June 2023 08:48 (two years ago)

Think Keaton works better for a modern audience than Chaplin does, the latter often gets mawkish.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 5 June 2023 09:10 (two years ago)

I don't like how transactional the romance feels. she loves him because he paid for the operation which restored her sight, but there's very little to show she really knows who he is. what if, having found out he's a penniless tramp and the money was stolen, she finds she isn't really into him? Kindness towards people you pity isn't romance, surely. of course this is entirely my reading and she may actually be really into him, but it was a surprise that I didn't feel completely on-board at the end.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 5 June 2023 09:50 (two years ago)

https://i.postimg.cc/hGCj1LB8/lf.jpg

M, Fritz Lang, 1931

Morbsies #70
Sight & Sound Critics #36

youtube link, English subs

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 12 June 2023 21:06 (two years ago)

I have yet to meet the person who doesn't love or at least really, really like this movie. Prove me wrong, ILX!

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Monday, 12 June 2023 21:38 (two years ago)

Melancholia (von Trier, 2011)
The Earrings of Madame de...(Ophuls, 1953)

Finally got to watch it on MUBI. Just perfect. Silly people make it hard for themselves.

I was reminded this evening that I watched the von Trier a couple of months ago. It's kinda unique how Von Trier got into making really good films by the end of his career.

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 14 June 2023 22:39 (two years ago)

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.) at 10:38 12 Jun 23

I have yet to meet the person who doesn't love or at least really, really like this movie. Prove me wrong, ILX!
Not going to rock the boat here, this was a superb piece of work. The world it conjured up was so vivid, the set design, the characters, the occasional use of tracking shots, just felt like a new representation of city life (how accurate it was I have no idea, but it rang true) - one thing I always appreciate is how spaces & buildings are used, and Lang has a real feel for this. The sound design was perhaps the thing that struck me most, especially the whistling leitmotif, and how it worked as a plot point. Think this may be the earliest film with truly excellent sound design, can't think of anything else from 28-31 that compares. And of course the scene in the cellar, what a performance from Lorre, and how brave to present such ambiguity about the fate of such a man, and the right of others to judge him. The short scene at the end with the mothers holding up a sign saying "One has to keep closer watch over the children" was kind of clumsy and a poor way to end though, so I'll pretend it finished there in the cellar.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 15 June 2023 07:23 (two years ago)

https://i.imgur.com/mrQz5lH.jpg

Shanghai Express, Josef von Sternberg, 1932
Morbsies #229

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 19 June 2023 21:49 (two years ago)

Flaming, goddamn masterpiece this one is

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Monday, 19 June 2023 21:52 (two years ago)

it's here because it's somebody's number one pick.

I thought I had it downloaded, but I didn't, so just resolved that.

it isn't on youtube

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 19 June 2023 21:58 (two years ago)

The only one of the six-film run from Morocco to The Devil is a Woman that has never been in the “first among equals” position in my personal rankings is Devil, but lately I am settling on Shanghai being the true best, tho Empress outdoes it in sheer gall

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Tuesday, 20 June 2023 01:37 (two years ago)

this was an odd one, for the first half an hour or more I wasn't getting into it at all, despite those amazing shots of the train going through the market, I think maybe the lack of restoration on the copy I was watching hobbled it somewhat.

then suddenly it all clicked, and I was gripped. Marlene Dietrich's performance is straight up astounding, and the way close ups are used! it just feels like a breakthrough, very much pre-code in the way the characters are free to be themselves, even Chang is well-drawn and in no way a cartoon villain. (Did find it bizarre that this warlord and his army in Northern China were speaking in Cantonese throughout, but makes sense in terms of actors available in Hollywood in 1932)

Oh and quite chuffed to have picked up that it was a loose adaptation of Boule de Suif, I was a bit obsessed with Maupassant after doing some of his short stories for GSCE English literature, and don't see him referenced nearly enough.

Going to try to find a restoration for a better re-watch.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 23 June 2023 10:51 (two years ago)

think I'm too cishet to fully "get" Sternberg/Dietrich :(

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 23 June 2023 11:13 (two years ago)

not really sure what you mean, I don't really like camp or kitsch and I didn't see any of that here

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 23 June 2023 11:32 (two years ago)

Yeah I'm not sure what is meant by that.

---

The Earrings of Madame de...(Ophuls, 1953)

xyzzzz__, Friday, 23 June 2023 11:56 (two years ago)

Sorry lol already posted about that.

xyzzzz__, Friday, 23 June 2023 11:57 (two years ago)

Yeah, only parts of Scarlet Empress and maybe Devil is a Woman are, to my eyes, tipped over into genuine camp

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Friday, 23 June 2023 12:06 (two years ago)

I dunno about camp, but I bought that Criterion box and watched up to and including Blonde Venus - there seemed to be a big thematic preoccupation with obsessive passion arising from often forbidden or impossible love, and a focus on female pain (that last shot of Morocco!), portrayed with solidarity as opposed to sadism. Is it controversial to say those are traditionally queer themes? Anyway while I admired the visuals and emotional commitment of those films there was something about them that kept me at arm's length regarding them, thus my initial post, which was meant half-jokingly and self-deprecatingly if that didn't come through.

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 23 June 2023 12:28 (two years ago)

Is it controversial to say those are traditionally queer themes?

No, but also, y'know, feminist themes as well

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Friday, 23 June 2023 12:37 (two years ago)

I like Sternberg (aka the fake "von") but I'd rather discuss Ophuls.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 June 2023 13:19 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Kingkongposter.jpg

King Kong, Merian C Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933

Morbsies #546

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 26 June 2023 09:24 (two years ago)

Saw someone in a discord the other day arguing that sfx age but good storytelling does not so we still like King Kong because it's a great story, despite the aged effects. Wrong! Special effects can have aesthetic value that goes beyond their state-of-the-artness and the reason we like King Kong is because big munhkee looks great, despite the story being mostly bullshit.

"Twas beauty killed the beast" - nah dude pretty sure it was you taking this poor animal out of his habitat and flogging him as a circus attraction that's to blame here.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 26 June 2023 09:28 (two years ago)

Not sure if I've seen this in full before, if I have then it was in the early 90s and I wasn't paying attention.

This is not on youtube in full, there is a hacked down one-hour version but I won't bother sharing it.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 26 June 2023 09:32 (two years ago)

It's on iplayer for brits and those with a VPN.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 26 June 2023 09:33 (two years ago)

they used to show an extract from this on the Granada Studios Tour (before the MotionMaster "experience", which was a bit disappointing in comparison), it was definitely the best part after getting to walk round the real Coronation Street

he thinks it's chinese money (soref), Monday, 26 June 2023 11:09 (two years ago)

Finally watched this last night, all very familiar, but interesting to see it in the context of the year. The editing & direction for the non-monster scenes is interesting after watching Shanghai Express, there is still this slight disconnect between lines of dialogue, but it's at least getting there. Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong were fine, other actors were pretty bad, including Bruce Cabot, who seems to have made the best career out of it anyway.

Agreed that Kong himself looks magnificent, just really ground-breaking animation, really feels like a living, breathing character, this is the main (if not only) reason the film works so well. The dinosaurs on the other hand were a bit shit.

So yeah, not by any means the best film I've ever seen, and the racism is inexcusable, but I can understand why this would be someone's favourite.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 29 June 2023 11:11 (two years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Duck_Soup_%281933_poster%2C_Style_B_half_sheet%29.jpeg

Duck Soup, Leo McCarey, 1933

Morbsies #31
Sight & Sound Critics #211

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 3 July 2023 12:26 (two years ago)

I have seen this looooads of time already, so I'm going to spend the week bingeing the 30s Marx Brothers films and see if I can work out why this is The One.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 3 July 2023 12:27 (two years ago)

Is there a Marx brothers box set out there in region 2?

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Monday, 3 July 2023 12:51 (two years ago)

Arrow has a box of the 4 paramount features.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 3 July 2023 12:55 (two years ago)

there is a comprehensive torrent out there too

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 3 July 2023 12:57 (two years ago)

I'm going to spend the week bingeing the 30s Marx Brothers films and see if I can work out why this is The One.

My theory (and worth less than what you paid for it): a combination of a better director of comedy, the Marx Bros' growing experience and confidence in film performing, and little or no enforcement of the Hays Code.

Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Monday, 3 July 2023 16:32 (two years ago)

'Duck Soup' and 'Everything Everywhere all at Once' are the only two films I simply could not finish in the last six months.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 3 July 2023 16:55 (two years ago)

I can imagine if you aren't into their humour then any Marx Brothers film would be challenging to watch.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 3 July 2023 17:09 (two years ago)

But I am very much into their humour.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 3 July 2023 17:09 (two years ago)

Not finishing an 80-minute film takes some effort!

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2023 17:12 (two years ago)

Sorry -- 70 minutes.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2023 17:13 (two years ago)

Horse Feathers is 63 minutes!

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 3 July 2023 17:17 (two years ago)

actually, now I'm inspired: xyzzz, have you seen much Hollywood comedy and what are your favorites?

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2023 17:22 (two years ago)

xyzz surprisingly not a fan of Marx!

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 3 July 2023 17:25 (two years ago)

I got very uncomfortable with it tbh. Wasn't doing anything for me and had nothing to hang onto. It's really rare when that happens.

xp: I've seen a Chaplin film as part of this. Several Buster Keaton films. I find lots of things funny.

xxp: 😂

xyzzzz__, Monday, 3 July 2023 17:29 (two years ago)

I found Duck Soup more theoretically amusing than actually laugh-inducing, though I enjoyed the "mirror" scene a lot.

Halfway there but for you, Monday, 3 July 2023 17:31 (two years ago)

Oh, I meant if you've watched any Sturges, Hawks, etc.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2023 17:32 (two years ago)

yeah I like Duck Soup and will likely show it in class but it has as many misses as hits. The brio of the thing gets it by.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2023 17:32 (two years ago)

My discovery this week is how solid Animal Crackers and Monkey Business are. I'd kind of written them both off as unpolished and patchy but there's loads of great stuff in both.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 3 July 2023 17:36 (two years ago)

Oh, I meant if you've watched any Sturges, Hawks, etc.

― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 3 July 2023 bookmarkflaglink

Like Bringing up Baby. Not seen anything like enough though.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 3 July 2023 17:40 (two years ago)

Today was Duck Soup day, think I have worked out why this one seems like a step up. Previously I considered it basically on a par with Horse Feathers, but with a weaker ending. But while I still loved Horse Feathers yesterday I have to admit there's a 20-minute stretch (the piano lesson / scene on the boat / failed kidnapping / start of the football game) which is a bit sub-par, especially the bit on the boat, Thelma Todd is mostly excellent, but in that scene she and Groucho are tonally completely off. Whereas in Duck Soup you've got Margaret Dumont, who is never anything short of perfect as a foil.

But Generally Duck Soup just doesn't have any of those weaker sequences, in fact the mirror scene (I think my favourite) is placed at the same point in the story as the sagging section of Horse Feathers. In the previous four films they vacillate between having no real plot at all and having a plot acted out by Serious Actors with the brothers intruding. In Duck Soup they are central to the plot, and people don't ignore them, someone even starts a war because Groucho has been so rude to him, and that just feels right.

Also should note that Zeppo is barely in this one, you can already feel he's halfway out of the door. While I do feel sorry for him, it's never really worked out, and just inserting him as the romantic lead was never going to work.

The ending, then. Last watch I felt it was too rushed, this time it felt just right, I just wanted more! less than 70 minutes is not enough.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 4 July 2023 22:51 (two years ago)

Watched A Night At The Opera last night, have seen many times before and was wondering whether it would be worse in context. the MGM pictures (I've just discovered) have this reputation for getting away from the core Marx Brothers product and wasting time on extravagant musical numbers, etc. And yes, several huge musical numbers (including the titular opera of course) and proper actors doing a proper plot, and the spirit of chaos has definitely been dialed down several notches. But it turns out I still love it. The musical numbers are spectacular, the atmosphere of the song on the boat and Chico & Harpo vamping after is an incredible bit of cinema. Then there are so many brilliant scenes - the contract, all the people in the cabin, moving the beds in the hotel, just all the mad things that happen during the opera - the bigger budget only makes these better. The only thing I would say is a step down is the pace of some of the dialogue, Groucho keeps pausing between lines, or saying things that aren't jokes, "I was looking forward to this breakfast" for example. But it's only a minor gripe, I still think it's as good as Duck Soup.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 7 July 2023 17:21 (two years ago)

https://www.originalposter.co.uk/uploads/366726100444794_mainphotos.jpg

L'Atalante, Jean Vigo, 1934
Sight & Sound Critics #34
Sight & Sound Directors #46

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 10 July 2023 22:22 (two years ago)

I had given up checking, but the whole thing is available on youtube it seems.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 12 July 2023 18:20 (two years ago)

Still regard the moment 9:10 into the movie where Dita walks the length of the barge at dusk, her white bridal gown gleaming against the dark, industrial backdrop, as one of the great magical moments in early cinema

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Wednesday, 12 July 2023 18:34 (two years ago)

Man, was Michel Simon ever young??

Towards the beginning of this it felt so idyllic - ppl building their own happiness outside of the strictures of polite society, it reminded me of the movie Holiday and also of the Moomins. But at the same time, lord, so much bickering! I was left uncertain whether to take the final scenes as a happy ending or the continuation of a vicious circle.

A friend brought this film up yesterday, unrelated to this project, and he had misremembered it as a silent film. Which is weird in one way because it is very chatty but there are def a few sequences that feel like silent cinema.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 13 July 2023 16:36 (two years ago)

The underwater sequence!

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 13 July 2023 17:12 (two years ago)

Yeah, it's beautiful. Also a film stuffed with sexuality and sensuality in a way that Hollywood, even Pre-Code, would never have gone for.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 13 July 2023 17:45 (two years ago)

It's a fantastic film.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Thursday, 13 July 2023 20:27 (two years ago)

Loved this

nxd, Tuesday, 18 July 2023 21:52 (one year ago)

Don't we get a new one? And Camaraderie's thoughts on L'Atalante?

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 18 July 2023 22:48 (one year ago)

No - keeping us at arms length.

Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 18 July 2023 23:06 (one year ago)

nearly finished with it! hold yr hosses!

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 05:09 (one year ago)

yeah this was lovely, just re-watching as had missed a lot of the cinematography due to the lousy rip I posted above. it was an odd one as everything seemed kind of inconsequential at first, but as it built up and I became invested in their lives everything clicked. such rich, believable characters and such insight into their lives. it felt like I was watching the first french new wave film, so many parallels not just in filmmaking, but in the way it feels, the way it just immerses you in a world, that mix of social realism and fantasy.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 09:14 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/Scarlet_empress.jpeg

The Scarlet Empress, Josef von Sternberg,1934

Morbsies #605

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 09:18 (one year ago)

Good one, though Sam Jaffe's performance needs adjusting to.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 09:20 (one year ago)

this one also is on youtube and looks to be in reasonable quality this time

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 09:22 (one year ago)

Man, was Michel Simon ever young??
bloody hell, he was 38!?

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 09:26 (one year ago)

I watched Deux Heures A Tuer, a middling French murder mystery from the 60's, and he's in it basically still playing the same kind of role.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 19 July 2023 09:30 (one year ago)

The first five minutes of this one alone, my god ... the dissolve from a suspended man serving as the unwilling clapper to a gigantic bell to Marlene's guileless ingenue enjoying a spring swing

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Wednesday, 19 July 2023 13:57 (one year ago)

There's not many pre-1940 movies where I get insistant about seeing it projected onto a giant screen, but this is prob #1

Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 20 July 2023 22:04 (one year ago)

I enjoyed this a great deal, but also it was quite the cheese-fest, and really stagey, I never once forgot that this was a film set with professional actors doing their thing. Not exactly a disqualifying factor, but I just didn't find any of this with Shanghai Express. Some of the shots were of course terrific, that one long tracking shot of the wedding feast for example. But there were also some odd editing mistakes, especially towards the end, and the use of intertitles was a bit of an unexpected throwback.

What this all oddly reminded me of was early-to-mid-70s gothic horror Doctor Who serials, like The Monster of Peladon. Just something about the way it felt, and the non-theatening cartoon villain.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 22 July 2023 10:50 (one year ago)

None of those things are negatives in my experience

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Saturday, 22 July 2023 14:09 (one year ago)

Fair enough! Will stress that I did like it.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 22 July 2023 16:08 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/The_39_Steps_%281935%29_-_poster.jpg

The 39 Steps, Alfred Hitchcock, 1935
Morbsies #374

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 24 July 2023 19:36 (one year ago)

Perfect in its way.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 July 2023 20:12 (one year ago)

this one is also on youtube, albeit in non-restored quality, if anyone has any tipoffs about a better quality stream then please share.

This is, I think, my 4th viewing of The 39 Steps, will try my best to have some new things to say about it!

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 24 July 2023 21:11 (one year ago)

I generally don't have much to say about Hitchcock's British stuff except that The Lady Vanishes is by a fair distance my favorite

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Monday, 24 July 2023 21:13 (one year ago)

Lucky to have seen L’Atalante in 35mm once. I believe it was at the Cinefamily in Los Angeles

beamish13, Monday, 24 July 2023 21:55 (one year ago)

Agree Lady Vanishes is best, but 39 Steps is a good 'un too. Love that final shot of them holding hands.

John Buchan in general a rather dull writer, aside from all the bigotry - safe to jump straight to Ambler imo.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 26 July 2023 09:09 (one year ago)

Watched this again last night, it is kind of throwaway nonsense, but done so perfectly, not a moment is wasted. I love how Hitchcock doesn't hesitate in throwing out all of the dodgy or nonsensical stuff from Buchan's book and cutting it down to the essentials, then adding the brilliant "Mr Memory" plot and of course Pamela. Everything works so well that it's no wonder he recycled the film twice (Saboteur and North By Northwest)

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 09:45 (one year ago)

Just been given a much better-quality upload by the youtube algorithm, in case anyone wants to watch this.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 21:45 (one year ago)

This is the film that makes certain purists think he should never have crossed the pond.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 26 July 2023 21:48 (one year ago)

What a weird opinion, especially considering how much, as Camaraderie mentioned, this is a blueprint for NBNW. What do these people dislike in the American work, not enough location shooting?

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 27 July 2023 10:10 (one year ago)

the level of sexiness in 39 Steps is off the chart for a Brit flick of its era

Let's talk about local tomatoes (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 27 July 2023 10:21 (one year ago)

What a weird opinion, especially considering how much, as Camaraderie mentioned, this is a blueprint for NBNW. What do these people dislike in the American work, not enough location shooting?

― Daniel_Rf,

Residual snobbery for Hitch's crossing the pond.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 27 July 2023 12:20 (one year ago)

Well the egg's certainly on his face leaving the powerhouse of creativity that was the British film industry of the 1930's.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 27 July 2023 14:41 (one year ago)

Why do some people like Buñuel’s Mexican films more than his French films?

Live and Left Eye (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 27 July 2023 15:09 (one year ago)

Have you seen Simon of the Desert? There's your answer

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Thursday, 27 July 2023 15:10 (one year ago)

Simon is the best

Let's talk about local tomatoes (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 27 July 2023 16:11 (one year ago)

It really is. I like a lot of his Mexican films but I love neo-realism so..

Wouldn't say I prefer them to his French stuff though.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Friday, 28 July 2023 09:58 (one year ago)

Why do some people like Buñuel’s Mexican films more than his French films?

― Live and Left Eye (James Redd and the Blecchs)

I'm not seeing this? He made more Mexican than French films, of variable quality.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 28 July 2023 12:12 (one year ago)

Add another "some" if that works for you.

Live and Left Eye (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 28 July 2023 13:21 (one year ago)

My question was kind of just really trying to make some kind of anology between Mexican Buñuel and British Hitchock, what was done with less gloss on a more limited budget in the native tongue.

Live and Left Eye (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 28 July 2023 13:23 (one year ago)

Next you're going to point out that British and American English are the same language and Buñuel was Spanish, not Mexican.

Live and Left Eye (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 28 July 2023 13:24 (one year ago)

I think my position that 80-90% of the best stuff of Hitchcock's career came from his American period is probably a minority one

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Friday, 28 July 2023 13:25 (one year ago)

I dunno, took a quick glance at the s&s 250 and all 4 Hitchocks I saw are US productions.

I think The Lady Vanishes, 39 Steps and The Lodger are highly rated but pitting the whole of the UK work vs the US stuff saying UK is superior feels like contrarianism.

Aside from anything else the UK stuff doesn't have Cary Grant or James Srewart!

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 28 July 2023 13:47 (one year ago)

I think my position that 80-90% of the best stuff of Hitchcock's career came from his American period is probably a minority one

― fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.)

An opinion.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 28 July 2023 13:52 (one year ago)

When Robin Wood published Hitchcock's Films in 1965, he was working against what he saw as the elevation of the UK films over the American. Of course, he was in the UK at the time, where that opinion may have been more prevalent. Nowadays, I'd say the US films are much more widely acclaimed (as is Hitchcock's work in general).

Halfway there but for you, Friday, 28 July 2023 17:35 (one year ago)

39 Steps and the o.g. Man Who Knew Too Much are maybe the only two of his pre-US films i love as much as the later stuff

Let's talk about local tomatoes (Noodle Vague), Friday, 28 July 2023 17:37 (one year ago)

Add The Lodger.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 28 July 2023 17:39 (one year ago)

haven't watched that in an age and i probably should

Let's talk about local tomatoes (Noodle Vague), Friday, 28 July 2023 17:42 (one year ago)

I think my position that 80-90% of the best stuff of Hitchcock's career came from his American period is probably a minority one

To repeat what a couple of others point out, I think that's been far and away the common view for at least a couple of decades. To the point that his best British films probably get overlooked. I loved The Lady Vanishes the one time I saw it, probably as much as anything except Rear Window and Psycho.

clemenza, Saturday, 29 July 2023 22:05 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Modern_Times_poster.jpg

Modern Times, Charles Chaplin, 1936
Morbsies #239
Sight & Sound Critics #78
Sight & Sound Directors #72

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 31 July 2023 09:09 (one year ago)

only clips available on youtube, open to suggestions about where it's available to watch, apart from torrents

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 31 July 2023 09:12 (one year ago)

Criterion do a UK regioned blu-ray of Modern Times.

xpost

The proposition that American Hitchcock was superior to English Hitchcock first pushed by French critics in the 1950s? Wood's first piece of film criticism, an essay on Psycho, rejected by Penelope Houston for Sight and Sound (because Wood hadn't acknowledged that Psycho was a 'comedy') but accepted by Cahiers du Cinema.

For at least the last thirty years, certain British critics - led by Charles Barr - have argued in favour of the English films, and it's quite an industry now. A former ILXOR published a good book-length study of The Lodger a year or so ago.

Ward Fowler, Monday, 31 July 2023 09:26 (one year ago)

That former ilxor was often pushing against the notion that Brit cinema was bad when posting here. I guess being told Godard was god when you think it's juvenalia gets old.

I am not as negative as some (though I started like that), but I am not fully sold on the glories of it either. Saying the UK channeled a lot of those energies on making often excellent TV is hardly a disaster for culture.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 31 July 2023 09:59 (one year ago)

Well, not in the 1930's tho!

I do remember a post by the poster who shall not be named saying Hitchcock was "miles ahead of everyone else in Britain" circa The Lodger.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 31 July 2023 10:01 (one year ago)

I wanted to re-watch Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai, 2003) after it topped the mini-poll we ran a couple of months ago...and as I watched the first five mins it turned out I had never seen it lol.

What a film though. Just about perfect.

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 2 August 2023 22:23 (one year ago)

Always with Tsai in this period is to talent to assemble the right composition to convey sadness and hilarity.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 August 2023 22:25 (one year ago)

Very much a film that will make you laugh and cry.

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 2 August 2023 22:34 (one year ago)

So, Modern Times then.

Definitely a big step up from City Lights I'd say, mostly appreciate it for the set design and cinematography, both of which are all-time, to the extent that it felt like The Tramp just got in the way from time to time. Once again the plot is just an excuse for a series of set pieces, which must be amazing if you are a fan of Chaplin and find him hilarious and adorable, but I have to conclude at this point that I just don't, sorry. Paulette Goddard is just wonderful though, such a modern actor, and much better than the simpering Virginia Cherrill. Doesn't have a great deal of chemistry with Chaplin, which is odd considering they married this year. The shot of them walking away together at the end is perfectly done, couldn't have imagined better.

So I'm not in love with this, but it's such a beautiful film that I don't really care.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 5 August 2023 13:16 (one year ago)

39 steps on tptv this afternoon for the Britishers

koogs, Saturday, 5 August 2023 13:41 (one year ago)

oh no, that was the 59 version with Kenneth More

koogs, Saturday, 5 August 2023 18:22 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Make_Way_for_Tomorrow_%281937_poster%29.jpg

Make Way for Tomorrow, Leo McCarey, 1937
Morbsies #723

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 7 August 2023 18:47 (one year ago)

And devastating as any Ozu.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 7 August 2023 18:56 (one year ago)

*as

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 7 August 2023 18:56 (one year ago)

Looks really good.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 7 August 2023 19:20 (one year ago)

xyzzzz, am I wrong in remarking that you haven't seen much older Hollywood fare? (Not a dis at all, btw, just an observation).

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 7 August 2023 19:32 (one year ago)

No problem. I'd say that's correct, yes. Silents is a massive gap overall.

Only classic US mini-genre I've seen quite a lot of is noir.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 7 August 2023 20:04 (one year ago)

it is curious that what I think of as the typical examples of the golden age of Hollywood (basically MGM musical extravaganzas) are so underrepresented in this list

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 7 August 2023 20:11 (one year ago)

fantastic film. rewatched it with my dad a while back and he loved it.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Monday, 7 August 2023 21:07 (one year ago)

Welles was right about Make Way. Pretty sure that, outside of Only Angels Have Wings, this is my favorite golden era Hollywood movie

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 01:40 (one year ago)

Saw it once ages ago, thought it was very good. Going My Way--the way it handles Barry Fitzgerald's character--is also an excellent film about getting old.

clemenza, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 02:02 (one year ago)

In case Eve -- sorry, Eric -- doesn't know to which Welles quote he refers:

Orson Welles said of the film, "It would make a stone cry,"

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 02:05 (one year ago)

It would.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 08:08 (one year ago)

This is a good film, but I couldn’t help being frustrated by how useless the husband is and how his wife shelters him from the realities of their situation. In a way, it makes the film more potent, because we see her perspective and how she has to bear the burden of understanding the end of the relationship on her own. Still, it’s hard for me to embrace a film based around keeping someone ignorant of the truth of their prospects and fate.

Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 10 August 2023 12:13 (one year ago)

Why not? The keeping up -- the shattering of -- illusions is in part what it's about. Many films have a similar theme.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 10 August 2023 12:14 (one year ago)

It might make me heartless that I’d prefer to see the husband’s illusions broken.

Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 10 August 2023 12:15 (one year ago)

Sure! But is that a reason to recoil? Sorry if I'm pressing.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 10 August 2023 12:21 (one year ago)

I wouldn't say "recoil", just that the film didn't reach a potential level of dramatic tension; although I do feel for the wife having to protect a fool from the consequences of his actions. Maybe, in a way, it's cruel of her to allow him to keep his optimism, only for it to (presumably) be shattered, later, when he is alone?

Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 10 August 2023 13:28 (one year ago)

I don't think it will be shattered, he'll keep on trying to find work, I think he knows too, deep down, but he just always tries to put a positive spin on things. Reminds me of my dad, and of me to a certain extent.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 11 August 2023 21:44 (one year ago)

Anyway, finally watched this this evening, agreed with Orson that it's very affecting stuff, all the more so because the children aren't monsters, they're just dealing with their own shit.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 11 August 2023 21:47 (one year ago)

It’s really close to Renoir, as Hollywood filmmaking goes

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Friday, 11 August 2023 21:50 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4c/Holiday_poster.jpg

Holiday, George Cukor, 1938
Morbsies #144

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 15 August 2023 08:15 (one year ago)

Maybe Hepburn's best early performance, close to Grant's best, period, and while the film's message is weird (i.e. we all need holidays) it's so damn un-American I'm surprised people weren't arrested.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 15 August 2023 09:17 (one year ago)

Much prefer this to The Philadelphia Story

Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 15 August 2023 09:18 (one year ago)

yep

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 15 August 2023 09:24 (one year ago)

It might be the most modern of all the screwball era comedies, in that it has a progressive message and none of the more manipulative/abrasive gender relations stuff.

It's certainly not the funniest of them. But it's so kind hearted and warm that I don't really mind that.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 16 August 2023 10:59 (one year ago)

the kindheartedness is the key

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 16 August 2023 11:51 (one year ago)

https://archive.org/details/ld-4y-1938

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 20 August 2023 19:35 (one year ago)

it's odd how many of these films take ages to grab me but by the end I'm absolutely sold. loved Grant and Hepburn, in this, loved the leisurely pace and the way they were just fooling around, but at the same time making massive decisions that would affect their whole lives, a perfect match of feel and message. the scene with the two of them doing circus tricks in the attic, and the punch & Judy show were perfect, and the ending felt completely earned. really enjoyable hour and a half, and one I'll come back to.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 21 August 2023 17:06 (one year ago)

I've said this before but Lew Ayres is my favorite screen alcoholic: sad, ironic, possibly gay.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 August 2023 17:10 (one year ago)

yeah he was a lot more convincing here than in All Quiet On The Western Front.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 21 August 2023 17:15 (one year ago)

Also: Julia isn't a villain. She loves her sister. You can see the sparks of their former camaraderie. No one's a villain in this picture except for Henry Daniell.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 August 2023 17:21 (one year ago)

Yup, even Henry Kolker was far from being an ogre.

Anyway, here's a biggie...

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 21 August 2023 17:32 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c3/La_regle_du_jeu.jpg

The Rules of the Game, Jean Renoir, 1939
Morbsies #7
Sight & Sound Critics #13
Sight & Sound Directors #38

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 21 August 2023 17:34 (one year ago)

oh I've heard of this one

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 August 2023 17:35 (one year ago)

It's on youtube but without subtitles.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 21 August 2023 17:38 (one year ago)

Of all the movies that regularly get called, more or less, the best of all time, Rules is the one where you just have to go "Yeah, of course it is."

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Monday, 21 August 2023 17:46 (one year ago)

I've had mediocre experiences teaching this one to college students the last five years.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 21 August 2023 17:49 (one year ago)

I've seen it one (1) time, in my first month at film school, my script-writing tutor (this guy) showed it to us on a little TV before he let us write anything.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 21 August 2023 17:50 (one year ago)

That was a quarter of a century ago and I remember very little

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 21 August 2023 17:52 (one year ago)

^Studied under Thorold Dickinson = UK film studies royalty (only a degree of separation from Raymond Durgnat would score you higher!)

Rules definitely one of those films that genuinely gets better every time you see it (wld say the same about Vertigo, and perhaps explains why they're often in GOAT competition).

Ward Fowler, Monday, 21 August 2023 18:05 (one year ago)

Yeah he was easily one of the best tutors on the course (and I only had him the once) - he also showed us his debut feature, a relentlessly grim film about prostitutes in the old west called Painted Angels, I appreciated it but don't think many of my classmates agreed.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 21 August 2023 18:12 (one year ago)

Loved this of course, how could I not? Nothing stood out as being spectacular in terms of script, acting or cinematography, it was all just perfectly pitched, not a moment wasted, every character seemed alive and full of contradictions. It was heavily stylised without ever seeming artificial or mannered. Feel like I want to go back and watch the whole thing again, but should probably move on as it's Monday.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 28 August 2023 10:34 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/His_Girl_Friday_%281940_poster%29_crop.jpg

His Girl Friday, Howard Hawks, 1940
Morbsies #115
Sight & Sound Critics #129

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 29 August 2023 12:27 (one year ago)

This one is on youtube, but looks like a crappy rip. ANy other links would be welcome.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 29 August 2023 12:39 (one year ago)

Every public library in the country carries a DVD if you can't find it online.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 29 August 2023 12:52 (one year ago)

which country?

koogs, Tuesday, 29 August 2023 13:03 (one year ago)

In Soviet Russia His Girl Friday rents you!

Not a fan of this film but I've discussed that on here semi recently.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 29 August 2023 13:06 (one year ago)

God I run hot and cold on Hawks, even still ...

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Tuesday, 29 August 2023 13:40 (one year ago)

Cary Grant is so sexy as an unrepentant asshole, especially in that hat.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 29 August 2023 13:48 (one year ago)

Thought I had seen this before but seemed entirely unfamiliar. Enjoyed parts of it a great deal and a lot to admire, but something about it just didn't sit right with me - the middle third (restaurant scene to criminal climbing in window) just didn't seem to work in terms of plot or characters. The scene where she's typing up the story and not listening to her fiancée was the highlight for me, something very relatable and not often seen on screen.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 5 September 2023 10:01 (one year ago)

https://i.imgur.com/Qb9ILTr.jpg

The Maltese Falcon, John Huston, 1941
Morbsies #62

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 5 September 2023 10:04 (one year ago)

By gad, sir, you are a character, if you don't my saying so!

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 September 2023 10:08 (one year ago)

Bogart looks a bit weird in that poster?

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 5 September 2023 10:17 (one year ago)

I suspect it's a promo shot for High Sierra, for which I think he sported a crew cut.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 September 2023 10:18 (one year ago)

Too formative for me to evaluate disinterestedly. I guess Peter Lorre's performance is problematic on at least two levels but it also just rules, love Joel Cairo.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 5 September 2023 10:19 (one year ago)

I know Lorre and Greenstreet got paired on a couple of films but they really should have gotten a Thin Man-like franchise.

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 5 September 2023 10:20 (one year ago)

This one is also available on archive.org here in decent enough quality though not sure if it is available everywhere.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 5 September 2023 10:23 (one year ago)

"Make Way for Tomorrow, Leo McCarey, 1937"

Screening of this at the BFI on the 24th, as part of the Ozu season.

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 5 September 2023 10:50 (one year ago)

When Astor, Greenstreet, Lorre, and Bogart are together, it's glorious.

Good thread: Best Villain in "The Maltese Falcon"

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 September 2023 10:55 (one year ago)

i recently saw elisha cook in corman's haunted palace, and i was reminded of what a limited character actor he was. same character in almost everything he was in, and when he did television he'd usually mug for the camera the same way in everything. His filmography still has some amazing highs: Maltese Falcon, Hellzapoppin, The Big Sleep, The Killing, Rosemary's Baby.

formerly abanana (dat), Tuesday, 5 September 2023 12:42 (one year ago)

Don't forget his crazed drumming in Phantom Lady!

The Thin, Wild Mercury Rising (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 5 September 2023 13:48 (one year ago)

So this was excellent, of course, though very confusing for the first half hour - but I enjoy being confused so that's no bad thing. Enjoyed the ambiguity about truth/lies and moral/immoral, even if it did come out on the side of good, not even Bogie made it through with his soul unblemished. And yes, "'You... you imbecile. You bloated idiot. You stupid fat-head you!"

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 11 September 2023 21:40 (one year ago)

https://i.imgur.com/ohRFeLC.png

The Lady Eve, Preston Sturges, 1941
Morbsies #85

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 11 September 2023 21:44 (one year ago)

The greatest movie of all time.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 11 September 2023 21:53 (one year ago)

finished one above this

close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Monday, 11 September 2023 22:30 (one year ago)

the horse scene

ciderpress, Monday, 11 September 2023 23:31 (one year ago)

I saw this at a local revival on July 4 weekend...it'd been years since I'd seen an audience have such a good time. Stanwyck and Fonda are infallible; Fonda plays convincingly dense. And with Charles Coburn, William Demarest, Melville Cooper offer impeccable support.

the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 11 September 2023 23:34 (one year ago)

Just finished this, finally. What an absolute joy! Can't think of when I last loved a film so much first viewing. Feel like I'm going to be coming back to this again and again.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 23 September 2023 00:17 (one year ago)

hugs

hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 September 2023 02:21 (one year ago)

Anyway, bit late but probably less to say about this one.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Citizen_Kane_poster%2C_1941_%28Style_B%2C_unrestored%29.jpg

Citizen Kane, Orson Welles, 1941

Morbsies #19
Sight & Sound Critics #3
Sight & Sound Directors #2

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 23 September 2023 10:12 (one year ago)

pretty good iirc

hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 September 2023 11:15 (one year ago)

Never heard of it

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 23 September 2023 11:28 (one year ago)

Obligatory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PyAO91qArI

50 Best Fellas (Eric H.), Saturday, 23 September 2023 13:01 (one year ago)

Never heard of it

Where can I stream it?

Kizza Me on the Bus (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 23 September 2023 14:12 (one year ago)

Also obligatory

https://tedhicksfilmetc.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/rosebud-was-his-sled2-peanuts.jpg

Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 23 September 2023 20:55 (one year ago)

I think with Citizen Kane it does help to watch a ton of Hollywood movies from the years preceding it - and not just the acclaimed masterpieces - to see how wild what he was doing on a formal level was.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 25 September 2023 08:52 (one year ago)

"Make Way for Tomorrow, Leo McCarey, 1937"

Screening of this at the BFI on the 24th, as part of the Ozu season.

― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 5 September 2023 bookmarkflaglink

Good to see older people being front and centre of a film.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 25 September 2023 09:38 (one year ago)

I found this script with edits fascinating. Welles removed Kane's lines that tried to justify his behavior. Reminds me of Joyce cutting the narrative voice out of the Dubliners stories.
https://www.wellesnet.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Citizen-Kane-3rd-Revised-Final-Script-With-Overlay.pdf

formerly abanana (dat), Monday, 25 September 2023 12:02 (one year ago)

!!

Smoother and more natural: Welles added hundreds of small edits and additions that created more natural speaking and focused communication between characters. These changes also often resulted in opportunities for overlapping dialogue, a device that increases the realism of conversations; overlapping dialogue would become a trademark of Welles’ direction.

Some additions are more realistic as the result of Welles making them longer and more detailed. For example, in the scene of Susan Alexander rehearsing in a pathetic singing lesson with Signore Matiste – a scene in which it becomes painfully obvious that she cannot sing – every version of the draft scripts showed the scene begin with Susan singing for a few seconds, Matiste stopping her, and Kane then interrupting.

During production, Welles made this scene much more realistic – and emotionally draining for Susan – by writing expanded instructions for Matiste to Susan, showing him desperately and unsuccessfully trying to coax a decent performance from her while Kane watches at the back of the room; only then does Kane intrude.
watches at the back of the room; only then does Kane intrude

hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 25 September 2023 12:16 (one year ago)

Finished watching this again last night, think around the 10th time I've seen it and was expecting to have nothing new to say about it (as was the case in the 9th viewing) but actually there was loads I picked up on this time and it made me wonder how much I'd really seen before. So much in the way of little details which you'll miss if you look away for a moment - like when Susan says "you know what mothers are" and he nods and you know he's thinking about how he never really knew his mother.

I was impressed by how much of the cinematography was straight out of German expressionism - deep focus with close-ups and action in the background, the way the camera is always positioned so low, the stark lighting - that shot with the bird and the scream is straight from a surrealist film. The first section (the newsreel about his life) in particular is so packed with detail, especially if you've seen the film before. Never really paid attention to the shot of him on the balcony with Hitler before.

In terms of general themes, think I've always taken Citizen Kane to be about the corrupting influence of power and money (so is Citizen Kane ultimately an anti-capitalist film? etc.) but increasingly thinking this is just a convenient lie Kane falls back on towards his death, in fact Kane never has any principles to corrupt, even from the start of his time at the newspaper he is completely full of shit, lying and setting himself up as man of the people while he obviously doesn't care about anyone but himself. The statement of principles clearly never means anything at all, it's just an advertising gimmick. It's not that he gets more corrupt, he just slowly realises he can't use his money and charm to get everything he wants. The film is also a portrait of an abusive relationship, his emotional manipulation and barely supressed violence towards Susan are genuinely disturbing.

So yeah, glad I watched this again. And on to the one I should be watching this week.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 27 September 2023 21:34 (one year ago)

Such a fun movie.

hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 September 2023 21:36 (one year ago)

Kane is Gatsby, Reagan -- the archetypal Man from Nowhere who recreates himself into a brilliant charismatic nullity.

hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 September 2023 21:36 (one year ago)

This In Our Time discussion on Citizen Kane is well worth listening to - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001g37l

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 27 September 2023 21:41 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/CasablancaPoster-Gold.jpg

Casablanca, Michael Curtiz, 1942

Morbsies #102
Sight & Sound Critics #63

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 28 September 2023 08:18 (one year ago)

Another biggie, and not even worth looking for a youtube link.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 28 September 2023 08:20 (one year ago)

Maybe the film with the most iconic lines that just keep coming and coming?
Brilliant film.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Thursday, 28 September 2023 08:29 (one year ago)

incredible

close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Thursday, 28 September 2023 09:11 (one year ago)

If you break it down, is it even the best role for each of the actors? I think of at least a half-dozen other Bogart movies first before “oh yeah…”

Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 28 September 2023 09:16 (one year ago)

I can’t think of any other movie where the alchemy of movies itself is legit magical.

Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 28 September 2023 09:19 (one year ago)

Big recommendation to go see it in a non-digital theater. Legit awestruck at how efficient it is at being the greatest movie ever.

Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 28 September 2023 09:22 (one year ago)

I watched it in colour, and with a happier ending.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 28 September 2023 09:28 (one year ago)

Pretty damn daring to release a film like this during the actual war.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Thursday, 28 September 2023 09:30 (one year ago)

Dunno about that, the US was already involved - plenty of examples of Hollywood productions attacking Hitler before the US joined tho (Chaplin the most obvious).

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 28 September 2023 09:36 (one year ago)

It’s been way too long since I’ve seen (and meh’d) this one. I owe it a rewatch

50 Best Fellas (Eric H.), Thursday, 28 September 2023 12:52 (one year ago)

I was about to post basically the same thing. I don't know about y'all but I saw so many parodies and references to this before I ever got around to seeing the film that my exp was entirely postmodern—all those iconic lines were just quotations I'd already heard repeatedly. Very difficult to actually enjoy it under those circumstances, wish I'd managed to see it as a kid first.

rob, Thursday, 28 September 2023 13:03 (one year ago)

Maybe the film with the most iconic lines that just keep coming and coming?

I watched it once with a friend who'd never seen it and all through the movie he kept going, "Oh, that's where that line comes from."

I love Casablanca unreservedly. I understand its weaknesses, hokiness, implausibilities, overheated melodrama etc etc, but it's still just so great. I agree that it might not be any of the actors' best roles — except maybe Claude Raines — but the whole is much greater than the sum. So many great little moments — "Liebchen, what watch?" "Yvonne, I love you — but he pays me" "Vultures, vultures everywhere"

It's a hoot.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 28 September 2023 13:04 (one year ago)

Rains, sorry.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 28 September 2023 13:05 (one year ago)

If I were a woman, and I were not around, I should be in love with Rick.

hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 September 2023 13:37 (one year ago)

Claude Rains is really good in a David Lean film none of y’all seem to have seen called The Passionate Friends.

Dose of Thunderwords (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 28 September 2023 13:52 (one year ago)

i've never found that the sense of "already seen thru endless references" has spoiled Casablanca for me, but i do ask myself if it's notably better than other well-crafted ensemble pieces of its era and i kinda think no it isn't exceptional

Steve Bully IX (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 28 September 2023 13:54 (one year ago)

luckily i don't keep league tables lol

Steve Bully IX (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 28 September 2023 13:55 (one year ago)

I never watch it willingly but won't change the channel when it's on. Michael Curtiz sure knew how to use light and, as Orson Welles pointed out, direct crowds. He didn't know how to use Ingrid Bergman, who is both ideally cast and gives her worst performance to date.

hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 September 2023 13:57 (one year ago)

I was about to post basically the same thing. I don't know about y'all but I saw so many parodies and references to this before I ever got around to seeing the film that my exp was entirely postmodern—all those iconic lines were just quotations I'd already heard repeatedly. Very difficult to actually enjoy it under those circumstances, wish I'd managed to see it as a kid first.

Didn't have this at all with Casablanca, but did have it with those Star Wars movies. Watched the original trilogy around age 12 and my takeaway was "cool, now I know what all those references are from" and nothing else.

but i do ask myself if it's notably better than other well-crafted ensemble pieces of its era and i kinda think no it isn't exceptional

post your POX ensemble pieces of that era so we can quibble

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 28 September 2023 17:51 (one year ago)

these are .... kinda forced criticisms as far as they are criticisms imo

"ive nothing bad to say about this but gimme five mins"

close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Thursday, 28 September 2023 17:56 (one year ago)

The thing moves too.

hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 September 2023 17:57 (one year ago)

It's a small detail and not that uncommon in Hollywood at the time, but: nice to see an American film with lots of foreign languages being spoken correctly by native speakers of those languages.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 28 September 2023 18:02 (one year ago)

post your POX ensemble pieces of that era so we can quibble

For one, Only Angels Have Wings makes utter mincemeat of Casablanca on basically every front

50 Best Fellas (Eric H.), Thursday, 28 September 2023 18:08 (one year ago)

(tbh it's unfair to compare any movie to Angels)

50 Best Fellas (Eric H.), Thursday, 28 September 2023 18:08 (one year ago)

I love it too, despite Jean Arthur

*ducks*

hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 September 2023 18:13 (one year ago)

Aw, I like her in it a lot. But OK, the female lead is the one admitted advantage Casablanca has then

50 Best Fellas (Eric H.), Thursday, 28 September 2023 18:16 (one year ago)

Casablanca totally wins in the star power stakes I'm sorry - Thomas Mitchell, Richard Barthelmess and Noah Beery Jr are fine, but stacked up against Claude Rains, Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre?

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 28 September 2023 18:20 (one year ago)

I've written on ILX that Jean Arthur and I are not simpatico, The Talk of the Town and The More the Merrier excepted.

hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 September 2023 18:20 (one year ago)

these are .... kinda forced criticisms as far as they are criticisms imo

"ive nothing bad to say about this but gimme five mins"

― close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Thursday, September 28, 2023 1:56 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago)

sure I wondered if I needed to post tbh, but was curious if anyone had had the same experience / genuinely lament that the film was essentially drained of energy for me before getting to see it. Daniel's SW response was interesting, as this really is the only film I can think of where I've had this experience, partially down to how thorough the parodies sometimes were. Like as a counter-example, when I saw Taxi Driver I'd def heard the mirror bit dozens of times before, but none of the rest of it was familiar. Casablanca I'd heard quotes, misquotes, plot points, etc. I honestly think it's a bit strange! totally subjective too of course, just an odd quirk of my personal childhood media consumption choices

rob, Thursday, 28 September 2023 18:41 (one year ago)

tbf the oft quoted/parodied bits of Taxi Driver are really only a couple of scenes or so. I wonder how many films there are that have been as thoroughly swallowed by popcult references as Casablanca and SW - Wizard Of Oz maybe? I liked that when I saw it but perhaps not as much as I could've.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 28 September 2023 18:46 (one year ago)

it would be funny if Scorsese's Taxi Driver monologue got parodied in Tiny Toons or whatever

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 28 September 2023 18:47 (one year ago)

I wonder how many films there are that have been as thoroughly swallowed by popcult references

yeah this was what I was trying to get at. this is *the* exemplar of this phenomenon for me, having somehow missed it until my 20s

rob, Thursday, 28 September 2023 18:56 (one year ago)

what truly killed it for me was seeing THAHN before it, on the big screen too. plus, y'know, the cheesy script. plus seeing it on a plane lol

imago, Thursday, 28 September 2023 19:00 (one year ago)

xp maybe tbf maybe

there's definitely examples where id personally feel similarly but im not sure to the point where it obscures the movie (then how would one know i suppose)

close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Thursday, 28 September 2023 19:00 (one year ago)

Oh, and "As Time Goes By" is truly one of those Golden Age Hollywood songs that still kills it every single time

50 Best Fellas (Eric H.), Thursday, 28 September 2023 19:08 (one year ago)

What is THAHN. Sounds like a Shah Rhukh Khan vehicle from the title so I'm in favour of it pending future info.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 28 September 2023 19:29 (one year ago)

To Have and Have Not?

50 Best Fellas (Eric H.), Thursday, 28 September 2023 19:32 (one year ago)

sadly the latter

imago, Thursday, 28 September 2023 19:32 (one year ago)

I was about to post basically the same thing. I don't know about y'all but I saw so many parodies and references to this before I ever got around to seeing the film that my exp was entirely postmodern—all those iconic lines were just quotations I'd already heard repeatedly. Very difficult to actually enjoy it under those circumstances, wish I'd managed to see it as a kid first.

― rob, Thursday, 28 September 2023 bookmarkflaglink

First time I saw any number of Kane scenes it was like "oh so that's what that Simpsons episode/other parody was ripping off".

That kind of thing enhances the enjoyment.

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 28 September 2023 21:30 (one year ago)

it would be funny if Scorsese's Taxi Driver monologue got parodied in Tiny Toons or whatever


“You squawkin to me?!” was literally a weekly joke in animaniacs

Boris Yitsbin (wins), Thursday, 28 September 2023 21:36 (one year ago)

(In the goodfeathers segment, which is otherwise mainly a parody of pesci’s “funny how?” scene - 11 year olds in the 90s were mad for send ups of that and also rain man)

Boris Yitsbin (wins), Thursday, 28 September 2023 21:39 (one year ago)

I could see the brain doing Marty’s bit from TD

Boris Yitsbin (wins), Thursday, 28 September 2023 21:42 (one year ago)

Yes wins I was thinking of that exact reference and parody combination, thus my choices :)

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 29 September 2023 08:29 (one year ago)

(When I mention the Scorsese monologue I do mean the Scorsese monologue, not the DeNiro one.)

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 29 September 2023 08:36 (one year ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTVUDfCiMPs

hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 29 September 2023 12:05 (one year ago)

Enjoyed this as much as ever - this project seems to have gifted me the ability to focus more on films and get more out of them, but there wasn't a lot of extra detail here, just an appreciation of how tight and small the story is, doesn't amount to a hill of beans, etc. Think Rick is kind of a petty prick for a while, it's the fucking nazis ffs, but he needs to be to create tension. Maybe this is why it's a film I can appreciate a lot without actively loving it - it's such a Hollywood view of How Anything Works - done brilliantly of course, but for all its perfection still doesn't quite move me the way my favourite films do.

Anyway, on to the next.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 4 October 2023 16:24 (one year ago)

https://i.imgur.com/UyL3XxL.jpg

Meshes of the Afternoon, Maya Deren & Alexander Hammid, 1943

Morbsies #96
Sight & Sound Critics #16
Sight & Sound Directors #62

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 4 October 2023 16:30 (one year ago)

Silent version is on youtube here
Version with music by Teiji Ito (1959) is on vimeo here

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 4 October 2023 16:34 (one year ago)

Meshes of the Afternoon is a one-and-done deal for me.

hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 4 October 2023 16:50 (one year ago)

It's obvious you're not a woman

peanut filibuster parfait (Eric H.), Wednesday, 4 October 2023 17:36 (one year ago)

unfuckwithable

Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 4 October 2023 21:43 (one year ago)

“The ritualistic form treats the human being not as the source of the dramatic action, but as a somewhat depersonalised element in a dramatic whole. The intent of such depersonalisation is not the destruction of the individual; on the contrary, it enlarges him beyond the personal dimension and frees him from the specialisations and confines of personality. He becomes part of a dynamic whole which, like all such creative relationships, in turn, endow its parts with a measure of its larger meaning.”

Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 4 October 2023 22:00 (one year ago)

she didn't say that about meshes, but it's something i think about a lot

Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 4 October 2023 22:00 (one year ago)

Flashback to a terrific late-2000s Spectrum gig at the Echoplex which used Meshes… as a backdrop and source for some very good video effects.

Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 4 October 2023 22:12 (one year ago)

I liked this, but just as much as a load of other experimental short films I've seen. Mirror-face was the best character. Reminded me of Jan Švankmajer's Alice, a very formative film for me.

Might watch it again tomorrow, it is only 13 minutes after all.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 7 October 2023 22:46 (one year ago)

CASABLANCA and MESHES are both perfect

k3vin k., Saturday, 7 October 2023 23:02 (one year ago)

yes, agree

Dan S, Saturday, 7 October 2023 23:57 (one year ago)

Love Meshes of the Afternoon for its economy (in terms of setting, cast, budget, running time) in creating a world.

Halfway there but for you, Monday, 9 October 2023 03:56 (one year ago)

I first saw Meshes in a college film class and it BLEW MY MIND. (One of those moments when college really is everything it's supposed to be.) It still pretty much does.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 9 October 2023 04:18 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3f/Colonel_Blimp_poster.jpg

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1943

Morbsies #69
Sight & Sound Critics #196

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 9 October 2023 16:36 (one year ago)

This on is on youtube in its entirety!

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 9 October 2023 16:37 (one year ago)

tried to get into this could not do it, i should try again maybe. scorsese talks about it in these reverential terms

Tracer Hand, Monday, 9 October 2023 16:38 (one year ago)

I interviewed Jyoti from White Town for my radio show and he said it was his favourite film, and I promised to watch it. That was a couple of years ago and only getting around to it now, sorry Jyoti!

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 9 October 2023 16:41 (one year ago)

I'll, ahem, rescreen this one. Loved it but it's been decades.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 9 October 2023 16:42 (one year ago)

l like this, very much

koogs, Monday, 9 October 2023 16:52 (one year ago)

Great film

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Monday, 9 October 2023 16:52 (one year ago)

I like it a lot but it's not my favorite Archers.

hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 9 October 2023 16:53 (one year ago)

I've yet to see a truly bad Archers.

BFI season coming up so I still might!

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 9 October 2023 16:54 (one year ago)

fantastic film! my Archers rankings change all the time, but I definitely wouldn't start with this one at the very least

rob, Monday, 9 October 2023 16:56 (one year ago)

Just finished Colonel Blimp, excellent of course but I'll have a sleep on it to think about what I really thought, etc. And then on to the next one.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 22:24 (one year ago)

So yes, a very enjoyable watch, not sure what I was expecting, but certainly not something so lush and cinematic. The characters were full of surprises, and all felt very human and also of their time - it's an annoyance to see historical fiction with people acting as they would today, so this isn't the mild praise it may seem.
The problem I have is that I've just spent a year immersed in the second world war and have come away from it with a desire to avoid all WWII-related materials for the foreseeable future, especially slightly jingoistic (as much it needed to be!) British WWII takes. The film does take a critical line on British culture, but it obviously was no time to rock the boat, and right now I want to see that boat rocked, and rocked hard. No fault of The Archers, of course, and I'm looking forward to seeing their other films.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 19 October 2023 10:30 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Double_Indemnity_%281944_poster%29.jpg

Double Indemnity, Billy Wilder, 1944

Morbsies #107

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 19 October 2023 10:33 (one year ago)

The film does take a critical line on British culture, but it obviously was no time to rock the boat

But it very much did rock the boat! As the Criterion website puts it:

No less than Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself tried to prevent Colonel Blimp from being made; he and his administration objected to what they considered to be slurs on the British military, to the friendship between Candy and the German officer and to the implication in the final scenes that unless the British fought dirty, they would lose the war.

Ward Fowler, Thursday, 19 October 2023 10:40 (one year ago)

oh I know! it balances things well enough that it was able to be released, even if it was not received well by certain people.
But I'm just a bit burnt out on the war.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 19 October 2023 10:55 (one year ago)

Found Double Indemnity on archive.org

https://archive.org/details/double-indemnity-1944-restored-movie-720p-hd

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 19 October 2023 21:01 (one year ago)

Finished Double Indemnity, really peak film noir for me, not the slightest hint of a sly wink to the camera through the whole film, ironic for a director who would later be best known for comedies. Really very gripping, especially during the murder, and amazing how much they got away with considering the Hays Code was in full effect. Only slight gripe is the ending, which was not nearly as exciting or inventive as the rest of the film.

Anyway, we are quite behind schedule now, will put up the next one shortly!

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 28 October 2023 13:12 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/12/Childrenofparadise.png

Les Enfants du paradis, Marcel Carné, 1945

Morbsies #448

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 28 October 2023 21:37 (one year ago)

It's on archive.org here - https://archive.org/details/les-enfants-du-paradis-1945 - but kind of a big file and no subtitles.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 28 October 2023 21:44 (one year ago)

Getting a bit behind on the schedule as it took me a week to watch this, sorry.

I liked it, of course, but some reservations which were once again swept away by a brilliant last 20 minutes. It reminded me of a couple of Zola novels, loved he way it worked in cycles, with the parade at the end mirroring the parade at the start, the playful reflections on how everyone performs the roles of their own lives, it was never dull for a moment. All the same, at nearly 200 minutes long, I do have to wonder whether it couldn't lose an hour or so somewhere.

Also to note - this is the second French film in a row about a group of young men in pursuit of a woman who is clearly in her 40s, was every vieille vague film like this? Fantastic if so.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 5 November 2023 23:26 (one year ago)

https://i.imgur.com/0HbszMB.png

A Matter of Life and Death, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1946

Morbsies #716

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 5 November 2023 23:30 (one year ago)

Whole thing is on YouTube this time.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 5 November 2023 23:33 (one year ago)

All of the great P&P movies take wilder swings than you’ve ever seen in a quote-unquote mainstream movie, and this movie probably has the wildest of them all

Dwigt Rortugal (Eric H.), Monday, 6 November 2023 02:06 (one year ago)

Gotta give a shout to Les Enfants — one of my favorite movies, a great 19th-century romp. Like Hugo or Dickens. Just totally delightful, romantic, sad. (And the circumstances of its production are something else.)

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 6 November 2023 02:24 (one year ago)

Never seen it in a theater.

hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 6 November 2023 02:32 (one year ago)

Me either, but I would love to.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 6 November 2023 03:32 (one year ago)

Big P&P retro at the bfi right now, wonder if this one will be playing this week.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 6 November 2023 10:46 (one year ago)

23rd December at the IMAX apparently

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 6 November 2023 13:07 (one year ago)

> A Matter of Life and Death,

bbc2 Saturday lunchtime

koogs, Thursday, 9 November 2023 20:34 (one year ago)

Just heard about that from this article which I posted earlier on The Archers thread: https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/cutting-edge-thelma-schoonmaker-on-powell-and-pressburger-scene-by-scene

My Prelapsarian Baby (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 9 November 2023 21:18 (one year ago)

Finished this yesterday, just some of the greatest cinematography I've ever seen, a bizarre story, but one that worked perfectly, some very memorable performances, some incredible scenes, so not sure why I liked it (a lot) rather than loved it.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 10 November 2023 09:03 (one year ago)

Also to note - it somewhat blows my mind that June is Zira in Planet of the Apes two decades later.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 10 November 2023 09:05 (one year ago)

Les Enfants du paradis, Marcel Carné, 1945

Morbsies #448

― the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 28 October 2023 bookmarkflaglink

Cine Lumiere in London usually screens this around Xmas. Maybe I will watch this year

xyzzzz__, Friday, 10 November 2023 10:19 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Bigsleep2.JPG

The Big Sleep, Howard Hawks, 1946

Morbsies #542
Sight & Sound Critics #133

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 10 November 2023 21:59 (one year ago)

The DVD featurette on the differences between the versions is worth watching too.

formerly abanana (dat), Saturday, 11 November 2023 18:55 (one year ago)

As I probably also said about Maltese Falcon (can't remember), I can't be objective about these Bogart movies, my dad showed them to me when I was a kid and it was some real father-son bonding stuff. A third generation was also involved: we saw them dubbed into German on VHS tapes that my grandfather would send to us in Portugal. Grampa was an enthusiastic but none-too-capable techie, so he'd program the VCR for stuff to send to us and inevitably it would show up with the beginning or end cut off - which is to say I was in my early 20's before I saw the ending, and frankly between the jolly spousal abuse musical moment and the ending not being Bogart looking defeatedly into the darkness like a noir should be, I could leave it. The plot doesn't matter to such an extent that the truncated VHS version I knew as a child was a fully satisfying experience anyway.

Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 12 November 2023 10:25 (one year ago)

its the sexiest movie ever made i think

close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Sunday, 12 November 2023 12:11 (one year ago)

Dorothy Malone is still my all-time movie crush yeah

no gap tree for old men (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 12 November 2023 13:11 (one year ago)

The plot doesn't matter to such an extent that the truncated VHS version I knew as a child was a fully satisfying experience anyway.

Yeah it's very much a world-building exercise, this alluringly corrupt realm of wealth and seduction and betrayal. It's one of those movies I watch because I like to inhabit it for a little while.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 12 November 2023 14:27 (one year ago)

Haven’t rewatched in ages but yeah. Love Daniel’s story. Also, it was a surprise but not really a surprise to learn that Dorothy Malone in real life was kind of a prude, as discussed on a Sirk thread recently.

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 November 2023 15:07 (one year ago)

Because it is part of a WRITTEN ON THE WIND add-on currently available on Criterion.

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 November 2023 15:13 (one year ago)

General Sternwood: I seem to exist largely on heat, like a newborn spider.

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 November 2023 15:45 (one year ago)

Was trying to remember what famous person Martha Vickers was married to and it was Mickey Rooney, d’oh!

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 November 2023 15:46 (one year ago)

its the sexiest movie ever made i think

― close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Sunday, 12 November 2023 12:11 (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'm twenty minutes in and every woman in this wants to fuck Bogart, and I think one just did

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 16 November 2023 18:11 (one year ago)

Go ahead and scratch.

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 November 2023 20:18 (one year ago)

Yes I do think Bogart movies gave me unrealistic expectations regarding how little initiative I would have to deploy in order to get laid.

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 17 November 2023 10:08 (one year ago)

Tell that to all those lads that bought fedoras

Tyler Perry's Cystitis (Noodle Vague), Friday, 17 November 2023 10:33 (one year ago)

That is slander NV, you know full well none of those lads have ever watched a Bogart film. They may have seen Sin City and played LA Noire.

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 17 November 2023 10:37 (one year ago)

well yeaaaaah but it's kind of Bogart by osmosis

Tyler Perry's Cystitis (Noodle Vague), Friday, 17 November 2023 10:40 (one year ago)

That was a very enjoyable watch, no idea what was going on for the most part.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 18 November 2023 12:54 (one year ago)

famously, neither did the cast and crew

Daniel_Rf, Saturday, 18 November 2023 13:18 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Notorious_%281946_film_poster%29.jpg

Notorious, Alfred Hitchcock, 1946

Morbsies #52
Sight & Sound Critics #133

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 18 November 2023 22:53 (one year ago)

never been able to watch it. i think its a very badly directed and acted movie.

i expect this not to be the consensus

close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Saturday, 18 November 2023 23:14 (one year ago)

Whole thing is on youtube here

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 18 November 2023 23:16 (one year ago)

never been able to watch it. i think its a very badly directed and acted movie

challops of all challops

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 18 November 2023 23:19 (one year ago)

Probably Hitch's best film, Cary Grant's best "dark" performance, the thing is an expertly wound clock.

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 18 November 2023 23:19 (one year ago)

That's a silly thing to say, but it is good

plax (ico), Sunday, 19 November 2023 00:06 (one year ago)

Claude Rains is great too!

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 19 November 2023 00:19 (one year ago)

Louis Calhern okay too but a standard performance. Anyway the whole thing is on the vector that leads through Vertigo to Marnie of the crepey male lead but with 40s glamour to boot.

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 19 November 2023 00:22 (one year ago)

I enjoyed Evil (OR IS HE?) Cary Grant in Suspicion, though the film itself was definitely c-tier Hitchcock at best.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 19 November 2023 13:21 (one year ago)

Y’all with these Hitchcock tiers now.

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 20 November 2023 20:18 (one year ago)

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2023/11/243052055_10158507664862358_5734586301119557719_n.jpg

active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Monday, 20 November 2023 20:23 (one year ago)

film fans otm

ciderpress, Monday, 20 November 2023 20:35 (one year ago)

Meh, swap out Dial M for Murder for any one of the four on the other side, but probably most especially The Birds or Shadow of a Doubt.

active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Monday, 20 November 2023 20:45 (one year ago)

Rope? Rebecca?

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 20 November 2023 21:09 (one year ago)

George Sanders is turning over in his grave.

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 20 November 2023 21:10 (one year ago)

To catch a thief is basically unwatchable

plax (ico), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 11:47 (one year ago)

I like all the Bergman ones, including under Capricorn which is a deeply weird film but not like his terrible weird films like the trouble with Harry

plax (ico), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 11:52 (one year ago)

Re what someone said earlier , yes Hitchcock is very tiered.

Marnie is only okay. Psycho beats vertigo for me, but mainly for the first section before she arrives at the motel. So lurid! the way the camera follows Leigh around in her sweater is obscene! I also think Perkins is so sweet in it. ('I'd love a sandwich!' - me.)

plax (ico), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 11:59 (one year ago)

Vertigo score is the best and the moments of abstraction keep their strangeness while the tricks in e.g. rear window wear off after a few watches

plax (ico), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 12:00 (one year ago)

Rear window is fun to watch with people who've only seen cartoon parodies that only follow the plot until the first big twist.

plax (ico), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 12:01 (one year ago)

The Simpsons ep that is based on Rear Window is just as good as the film

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 12:08 (one year ago)

To catch a thief is basically unwatchable

It's a nice foreign holiday for two hours, and I like the Franju-esque cat burglar stuff at the end.

Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 15:49 (one year ago)

TCAT is minor Hitchcock, but it moves and doesn't waste time. Before you make claims about unwatchable try watching Jamaica Inn, The Paradine Case, I Confess, or Topaz.

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 15:54 (one year ago)

LOL I Confess at least has a far from unwatchable Monty, and Jamaica Inn has Laughton, likewise. I know it has its admirers, but Under Capricorn is the unwatchable one for me, in part because it seems to have fallen out of copyright so there are no decent restorations of it on physical media.

Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 15:58 (one year ago)

Have read back, I now know Under Capricorn it has its admirers including plax

Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 15:59 (one year ago)

I find Marnie ponderous and deeply stupid but I'm in the minority.

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:01 (one year ago)

I'm sure I floated the idea on here somewhere that Marnie is Hitchcock's Giallo, and I'm sticking with that.

Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:02 (one year ago)

Glad we're all discussing every Hitchcock except the one just posted :)

active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:09 (one year ago)

The only thing anyone remembers about To Catch a Thief (and why it scores highly on general public) is the fireworks kiss

active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:10 (one year ago)

Late to this but plax talking truth

Tyler Perry's Cystitis (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:12 (one year ago)

hitchcock shd make a movie abt whoever designed that unreadable square venn diagram

mark s, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:13 (one year ago)

I think I like *I Confess* more because of the Canadian (?) flick that metaed it in the late 80s

Tyler Perry's Cystitis (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:17 (one year ago)

There's a lot of Hitchcockian joy in random misfires tho, The Wrong Man is really good

Tyler Perry's Cystitis (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:18 (one year ago)

whoever designed that unreadable square venn diagram

Saul Bass

Canadian (?) flick

Le Confessionnal), taking advantage of I Confess having been shot in Québec.

Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:19 (one year ago)

Good shout ta

Tyler Perry's Cystitis (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:21 (one year ago)

TCAT is v watchable but plax wrong is better than many right

close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:23 (one year ago)

The sexiest and best scene in To Catch a Thief is when Grant swims out to the float to talk to Brigitte Auber, and then Grace Kelly swims out to join them

Just saw Dial M for Muder with 3-D glasses and there is really no good reason for that film to be in 3-D. One single effect in the big violent scene scene stays with me. If anything the 3-D makes Hitchcock's rear projection shots look worse.

Josefa, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:28 (one year ago)

Dial M just happened to be unluckily made in the first wave of trying to make 3D happen yeah?

I think I'd still argue that Gravity is the only 3D movie that uses it and transcends gimmickry

Tyler Perry's Cystitis (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:34 (one year ago)

I'd say Herzog's documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:35 (one year ago)

Cool I shd see that then

Tyler Perry's Cystitis (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:36 (one year ago)

xps Yeah and I think Dial M was rarely actually shown in 3-D when it was released, most theaters choosing to show the flat version of it.

But I've seen '50s films that do use 3-D very effectively, such as Creature from the Black Lagoon and Kiss Me Kate.

Josefa, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:37 (one year ago)

Foster Hirsch's new Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties is good on the effect of 3D on production.

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:39 (one year ago)

I just read that book and it's pretty great. Also the chapter on CinemaScope and other wide screen processes is very enlightening.

In fact that book is tied into the recent programming at the Film Forum in Manhattan where they've been showing a bunch of '50s films including 3-D ones. Hirsch has been there introducing some of the films.

Josefa, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:43 (one year ago)

I managed to miss that whole series but I did see Dial M for Murder in 3D back in the 80s at the 8th Street Playhouse, I think. The scissors are the only 3D that I remember.

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:50 (one year ago)

yep the hand reaching out and the scissors is that one effect I was referring to

Josefa, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 16:52 (one year ago)

Also saw the 3D Dial M for Murder in the 1980s, w/ red and green glasses.

House of Wax has good gimmicky 3D effects.

Godard's Goodbye to Language has the most woozily disorientating use of the 'modern' 3D process I've ever seen.

Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 17:36 (one year ago)

Glad we're all discussing every Hitchcock _except_ the one just posted :)

Had to scroll back up to see what it was;)

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 17:37 (one year ago)

I’m a big fan of Notorious, don’t know what to say about it right now. Claude Rains plays a similar kind of role in David Lean’s The Passionate Friends. Also like the way it is used in Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. The long long shot that goes from very wide to a tight tight closeup he liked to do so much is particularly well done in the famous example here.

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 17:42 (one year ago)

Anyway, Notorious. While I do rank it in the top tier, I think what plax said about Rear Window applies more, with me, to Notorious. Once Hitch's hand is revealed, all that's left on rewatch is the thrill of the mechanics and the admittedly considerable spectacle of Cary Grant in Bastard Mode™.

But obviously that's minor carping. I just give a slight edge to the Hitches that are less in control, is all.

active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 17:43 (one year ago)

a lot of the joy of Hitch is the thrill of the mechanics

it suddenly occurs to me

Tyler Perry's Cystitis (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 17:57 (one year ago)

Indeed

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 18:35 (one year ago)

Bergman is sexy as fuck. So is Louis Calhern spreading cheese on crackers in bed.

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 18:59 (one year ago)

xp agreed

https://i.etsystatic.com/14442283/r/il/b84a6f/4949951027/il_570xN.4949951027_p761.jpg

active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 19:00 (one year ago)

I'm trying hard to remember notorious. Tbh I misremembered it as spellbound. I'm sure I've seen it but don't remember it right now. I remember it was good though!

The one with Joan Fontaine and cary grant is only okay but I also really like Rebecca because I'm a teenage girl.

plax (ico), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 19:46 (one year ago)

ooh is he *bad* idk I was not riveted

plax (ico), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 19:47 (one year ago)

Spellbound is the one where Dollars cements his normie avant grift

but that one flash is sweet

Tyler Perry's Cystitis (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 21 November 2023 19:53 (one year ago)

39 steps is the hitch I watch the most. robert donat telling madeline carroll about what a dastardly murderer he is and getting to the bit about the "hare-lip" and mc laughing is just the best. it's also sexy as fuck.

oscar bravo, Tuesday, 21 November 2023 20:15 (one year ago)

Paradine Case truly is rubbish

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 22 November 2023 10:34 (one year ago)

Yep. And Spellbound.

Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 22 November 2023 10:46 (one year ago)

Gregory Peck is the sexiest-dullest psychiatrist ever.

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 November 2023 10:49 (one year ago)

Maybe classic Hollywood's blandest leading man? Of those that retain a little name recognition anyway.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 22 November 2023 10:56 (one year ago)

Really a block of wood pretty much every time I’ve seen him.

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 November 2023 12:22 (one year ago)

Like, say, Rock Hudson without the subtext.

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 November 2023 12:23 (one year ago)

He's fine in The Gunfighter, and that shows how his stiff moral rectitude should have been curdled into taciturn moral corruption more often - it seems sort of surprising that Hitch didn't find the same darkness as he did with Grant and Stewart. Perhaps the actor (or his agent) just didn't want to play ball and risk cracking an image.

Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 22 November 2023 12:58 (one year ago)

Also quite effectively cast in Twelve O'Clock High.

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 22 November 2023 13:02 (one year ago)

i think he's good in roman holiday!

but he was only rarely ever in that manner of movie

in hollywood terms his "thing" was being an unusually outspoken "nice liberal" (spoke out against HUAC and vietnam, for example)

mark s, Wednesday, 22 November 2023 13:23 (one year ago)

Notorious was good! Though felt like a great episode of a tv show rather than a great film. Act 3 was like 15 minutes in total, not enough. Cary Grant's plan was completely irresponsible and could have gotten her killed, he could have instead asked her to make an impression of the key in soap, make a copy of the key, break in at night, surely? not turn up at their party with a stolen key which happens to also be the place they are keeping the wine so he will definitely notice.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 23 November 2023 17:08 (one year ago)

He had to humiliate her.

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 23 November 2023 17:27 (one year ago)

I did appreciate that he was just an insensitive prick and it didn't mean he was a villain, just that he was an insensitive prick.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 23 November 2023 17:57 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life_%281946_poster%29.jpeg

It's a Wonderful Life, Frank Capra, 1946
Morbsies #81
Sight & Sound Critics 133

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 23 November 2023 22:59 (one year ago)

Bit odd to watch this in November I know

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 23 November 2023 22:59 (one year ago)

Poster isn't notably Christmassy

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 23 November 2023 23:00 (one year ago)

Doesn't seem to be streamable online on youtube etc, the copyright status of the film is insane and unique, however britishers can fine it on the Channel 4 player & can't imagine it's hard to find elsewhere.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 23 November 2023 23:17 (one year ago)

Wasn’t it out of copyright at some point which was partly why it was so ubiquitous?

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 23 November 2023 23:29 (one year ago)

I’m about to read the BFI monograph on that one, been saving it for after Thanksgiving

active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Friday, 24 November 2023 00:13 (one year ago)

It is truly deserving of its status imo, just a great great film that tries to find comfort within quite a desperate worldview.

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 24 November 2023 10:57 (one year ago)

Opening scene p good experimental cinema too.

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 24 November 2023 10:58 (one year ago)

the copyright status, via wiki

A clerical error at NTA prevented the copyright from being renewed properly in 1974. Despite the lapsed copyright, television stations that aired it still had to pay royalties because—though the film's images had entered the public domain—the film's story was still restricted as a derivative work of the published story The Greatest Gift, whose copyright Philip Van Doren Stern had renewed in 1971...  in 1993, Republic Pictures, which was the successor to NTA, relied on the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Stewart v. Abend (which involved another Stewart film, Rear Window) to enforce its claim to the copyright. While the film's copyright had not been renewed, Republic still owned the film rights to The Greatest Gift; thus, the plaintiffs were able to argue its status as a derivative work of a work still under copyright.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 24 November 2023 11:00 (one year ago)

the mr gower/young george scene is so incredibly harrowing.

oscar bravo, Friday, 24 November 2023 20:16 (one year ago)

The looks Reed gives Stewart while she's decorating the tree and knowing the bottom has truly fallen out are among the most heartwrenching depictions of marriage I've seen, and it's maybe all of 30 seconds of screen time

active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Friday, 24 November 2023 21:51 (one year ago)

I've never seen it, I think the only Capra film I've ever seen that I enjoyed is the Clark gable/Claudette Colbert one. I always presumed this was one of the ones where someone makes a speech about the perseverance of the human spirit, I hate that. That said I haven't seen very much Capra, people say the silent ones are good?

plax (ico), Friday, 1 December 2023 07:02 (one year ago)

Hmmm, "preserverance of the human spirit" I dunno...it's about how community demands you sacrifice your dreams but maybe, just maybe, it will come through for you in exchange for that. Very bleak, which is part of why I love its x-mas film status.

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 1 December 2023 08:17 (one year ago)

finished this last night, though I've seen it at least four times before, still a genuinely touching piece of work - the part where they lose the $8000 really grabbed me in particular, that sense of panic at having lost something important is so real to me, been there so many times, nothing quite that important of course, but can't think of any other film that evokes that feeling so well.

the restoration really brings home how carefully shot it is, no really experimental shots after the first scene, bit just beautifully put together, giving you such a sense of place.

the politics of the film are a great capsule of the time. the focus on family and community, the moral that what you're really looking for at home, it's very much a socially conservative film, especially in the scenes of Pottersville, which is supposed to be hell on earth but actually looks very cool and exactly the place I'd want to hang out if I were transported back to 1946. Jazz and jitterbugging are bad, Frank? but then on the other hand the villain of the film is a personification of robber baron capitalism, and the moral is a repudiation of him and all he stands for. you would be astonished to find someone with this mix of politics in 2023, but having listened to political debates from the 1930s I see a lot that is familiar there.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 1 December 2023 10:08 (one year ago)

I've never seen it, I think the only Capra film I've ever seen that I enjoyed is the Clark gable/Claudette Colbert one. I always presumed this was one of the ones where someone makes a speech about the perseverance of the human spirit, I hate that. That said I haven't seen very much Capra, people say the silent ones are good?

― plax (ico)

Give him a chance. Watch The Bitter Tea of General Yen, quite erotic.

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 1 December 2023 10:27 (one year ago)

i haven't watched IaWL since last year but on that last viewing i was thinking what a mature take on social relationships it has compared to most British films of that era. i definitely don't think of it as a schmalzfest

Honnest Brish Face (Noodle Vague), Friday, 1 December 2023 12:24 (one year ago)

Bitter Tea is in some ways an atypical outlier but yeah.

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 1 December 2023 14:36 (one year ago)

Some of Capra's late '30s films are way kitschier and cornier than IAWL.

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 1 December 2023 14:42 (one year ago)

Mr Smith Goes to Washington is a complete cheesefest but on balance I still enjoy it.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 1 December 2023 15:07 (one year ago)

One of the funniest movie montages ever, Jimmy was BEATING their asses pic.twitter.com/VzTl4sBKHn

— Ben Crew (@BenjaminCrew1) November 24, 2023

active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Friday, 1 December 2023 15:10 (one year ago)

so much for the tolerant uh

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 1 December 2023 15:31 (one year ago)

mr deeds is the one that maxed out my tolerance but im honestly not claiming this as *superior insight* i just didn't enjoy some and haven't prioritised seeing more when there are so many other directors who im more interested in.

plax (ico), Friday, 1 December 2023 15:40 (one year ago)

the focus on family and community, the moral that what you're really looking for at home

It's not like George ever gets the chance to explore the world - if he did, perhaps it wouldn't be to his liking as Pottersville isn't, but perhaps he'd love it, grow tons, end up a more rounded, satisfied person. He chooses to sacrifice all these possibilities, and his reward for this in the end is merely the knowledge that, in the event of total catastrophe, the community will rally around him. It is a remarkably austere pitch for his lifestyle, and yet not at all insincere - compare it to something like Sunrise, where the Goodness of the rural vs the urban is so much clearer.

you would be astonished to find someone with this mix of politics in 2023

regret to inform this cocktail is basically what the trad cath socialists on twitter are up to in 2023 afaict

Daniel_Rf, Friday, 1 December 2023 21:07 (one year ago)

The only trad cath socialists I know are members of my family, all of whom are in their 60s or older

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 1 December 2023 22:12 (one year ago)

anyway

https://i.imgur.com/oy2nS1D.jpg

Black Narcissus, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1947
Morbsies #106
Sight & Sound Critics #169

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 1 December 2023 22:17 (one year ago)

Sausages!

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 1 December 2023 22:35 (one year ago)

one of my top 3 Archers, i guess, as if that meant anything. suitably gothic too

Honnest Brish Face (Noodle Vague), Friday, 1 December 2023 22:42 (one year ago)

Believe this was Jean Simmons’s follow-up role to Estella in Great Expectations. #onethread. What a one-two punch!

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 1 December 2023 23:28 (one year ago)

Guess something called Hungry Hill was in between.

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 1 December 2023 23:30 (one year ago)

I could not believe this film when I saw it first! So lurid! I love it! The absolute number one sex-mad nun movie imo.

plax (ico), Saturday, 2 December 2023 00:56 (one year ago)

I still find it slightly odd that people were shocked by peeping Tom after this

plax (ico), Saturday, 2 December 2023 00:57 (one year ago)

I'm literally shocked just thinking about the scene with the lipstick. Shocked!

plax (ico), Saturday, 2 December 2023 01:06 (one year ago)

And stunned as well, no doubt.

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 2 December 2023 01:56 (one year ago)

I still find it slightly odd that people were shocked by peeping Tom after this

― plax (ico), Saturday, 2 December 2023 bookmarkflaglink

Yes, it was there all along.

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 2 December 2023 12:36 (one year ago)

le peeping Tom c'est moi

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 2 December 2023 12:42 (one year ago)

I’ve long assumed that the ending influenced Vertigo but I don’t know if Hitchcock ever said as much.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 2 December 2023 14:24 (one year ago)

never thought of that but very reminiscent I agree!

plax (ico), Saturday, 2 December 2023 16:47 (one year ago)

Whole thing is on youtube and in good quality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDm7GEnhh0I

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 2 December 2023 22:23 (one year ago)

Good point about Vertigo. Never thought about it consciously but feels like I felt it before.

Blecch’s POLLero (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 3 December 2023 05:17 (one year ago)

I recently revisited the somewhat famous exchange when Truffaut poses a question that is a variant of his “British cinema is an oxymoron” hobby horse and Hitchcock’s response is quite cagey. He sort of dances around it and doesn’t agree necessarily but he doesn’t put forth any counterexamples either.

Blecch’s POLLero (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 3 December 2023 05:21 (one year ago)

Black Narcissus was excellent, the minor quibbles I had with Colonel Blimp and Matter of Life & Death entirely resolved, such a beautiful film, so full of unspoken subtext and ambivalence about any western morality. And astonishing what Deborah Kerr and Kathleen Byron can do with just a look.

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 13 December 2023 20:24 (one year ago)

https://i.imgur.com/gf59w9k.png

Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio De Sica, 1948

Morbsies #200
Sight & Sound Critics #41
Sight & Sound Directors #20

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 15 December 2023 12:27 (one year ago)

stressful

plax (ico), Friday, 15 December 2023 12:30 (one year ago)

not bad iirc

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 15 December 2023 12:32 (one year ago)

Love it. One of the greatest for a good reason.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Friday, 15 December 2023 14:45 (one year ago)

I owe it a rewatch, but there are so many Rossellini movies I still would rather see first

stephen miller is not your friend (Eric H.), Friday, 15 December 2023 15:47 (one year ago)

i don't really get it. the moral circle is too neat and i would prefer to watch literally any rossellini movie but also i want him to get the bike back.

plax (ico), Friday, 15 December 2023 15:57 (one year ago)

The Bergman collaborations were eye-openers for me about a decade ago, so it's hard for me to return to what was for decades readily available.

stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 15 December 2023 16:01 (one year ago)

I liked this film a lot better when I saw the original ending, where he and his son team up to burn down the entire neighbourhood of the real bicycle thief.

Halfway there but for you, Friday, 15 December 2023 16:22 (one year ago)

No need to critique Bicycle Thieves in comparison to Rossellini. Italian neo-realism has stood up v well.

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 16 December 2023 12:08 (one year ago)

I watched:

Napoleon (Gance, 1927)
Daughters of the Dust (Dash, 1991) - find that early 90s soundtrack score has dated badly but otherwise there are some beautiful images. This was through MUBI so needs a proper big screen watch.

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 16 December 2023 12:12 (one year ago)

The best observation in Mark Cousins’ History of Cinema series is when he points out a moment in the Bicycle Thieves where the little boy nearly gets run over while crossing a busy road - you don’t get much more realist than that, but De Sica doesn’t make a big deal of such a happy near accident.

Ward Fowler, Saturday, 16 December 2023 13:27 (one year ago)

not making a big deal out of almost getting run over is the minimum bar for realism if a movie's supposed to be set in Rome

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 16 December 2023 16:02 (one year ago)

Paris, Texas (Wenders, 1984). Pretty successful translation of his road movie schtick to the US, with an excellent cast and score.

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 28 December 2023 15:32 (one year ago)

Let's get this restarted

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 2 January 2024 20:54 (one year ago)

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/617LG8aPc2L._AC_SX522_.jpg

The Red Shoes, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1948
Morbsies #282
Sight & Sound Critics #67
Sight & Sound Directors #72

the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 2 January 2024 20:57 (one year ago)

Love it, tho I haven't seen it in years. Not my favorite Archers film — a bit portentous iirc — but beautiful to watch.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 2 January 2024 21:22 (one year ago)

Haven't seen it yet but it was the favourite film of a prick I used to share a house with, called Jacques. Will try not to hold this against it.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 2 January 2024 21:26 (one year ago)

Not my favorite Archers film — a bit portentous iirc

That's my conclusion

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 2 January 2024 21:28 (one year ago)

Any P&P from this run is a candidate for "best British movie ever," basically. But this one is the one I feel the most strongly about, and I can't imagine that changing as I get older.

stephen miller is not your friend (Eric H.), Tuesday, 2 January 2024 21:29 (one year ago)

it definitely sometimes is my favourite P&P

emishi sun hack (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 2 January 2024 21:32 (one year ago)

As with the other P&Ps, the criterion remaster is up in full on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fmI_8MwNeI

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 2 January 2024 21:36 (one year ago)

Not my favorite Archers film — a bit portentous iirc

That's my conclusion

― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, January 2, 2024 4:28 PM (two hours ago)

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8b/df/27/8bdf2798db7e447ea6d1da6bc7ea098d.jpg

rob, Wednesday, 3 January 2024 00:24 (one year ago)

i don't really get this film. the shoes are red am i missing something else.

every time i read something about how good it is its like 'its in technicolor'

plax (ico), Wednesday, 3 January 2024 21:57 (one year ago)

The Archers stumble a bit in this when they try to make overarching commentary on what it means to be an artist. I also have the same issue with Powell's Peeping Tom.

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 3 January 2024 22:01 (one year ago)

i love peeping tom. the artist as pervert is a much more fun analogy

plax (ico), Wednesday, 3 January 2024 22:04 (one year ago)

i always think about the line about 'the blind live in the rooms upstairs' when my neighbours are making noise although this is probably quite ableist

plax (ico), Wednesday, 3 January 2024 22:06 (one year ago)

plax otm

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 3 January 2024 22:38 (one year ago)

Remove bookmark from this thread

stephen miller is not your friend (Eric H.), Wednesday, 3 January 2024 23:35 (one year ago)

I absolutely love the Kate Bush song this film inspired

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 3 January 2024 23:36 (one year ago)

Wow Lermontov and Craster are both fucking dicks.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 9 January 2024 23:04 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Late_Spring_Japanese_Poster.jpg

Late Spring, Yasujirō Ozu, 1949
Morbsies #39
Sight & Sound Critics #21
Sight & Sound Directors 62

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 11 January 2024 22:19 (one year ago)

THE GREATEST

craning to be leather (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 11 January 2024 22:35 (one year ago)

I may lean a tiny bit more toward An Autumn Afternoon these days, but that's just because I'm getting really flipping old now

Wack Snyder (Eric H.), Thursday, 11 January 2024 22:37 (one year ago)

to some extent picking my favourite is arbitrary but Late Spring is perfect, so much inner drama evoked through such stillness, i think my love reflects my flipping oldness too, it speaks to my feelings about the stasis we resign ourselves to and maybe, eventually, accept

plus Ozu is probably my favourite director of architecture as a character in itself

craning to be leather (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 11 January 2024 22:46 (one year ago)

Watching here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU-iOxf4vI0

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 16 January 2024 21:46 (one year ago)

Loved Late Spring, can't think of much to say about it, oh well.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 29 January 2024 23:35 (one year ago)

https://i.imgur.com/F5EqIzo.png

The Third Man, Carol Reed, 1949

Morbsies #12
Sight & Sound Directors #63

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 29 January 2024 23:36 (one year ago)

My students just wrote their first essays (the other choice: Do the Right Thing).

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 29 January 2024 23:37 (one year ago)

...on this marvel.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 29 January 2024 23:37 (one year ago)

As before I had a great time watching this, and there's so much to enjoy about the art direction, the Dutch angles, the world building, the sound design and the music of course, the performances from just about everyone, the sewers!, that first shot of Harry Lime! - but despite everything I just can't shake the feeling that it's all a bit of a trifle, an Ealing caper movie like The Lavender Hill Mob. But maybe I like it all the better for that, I do love The Lavender Hill Mob after all, anyway I'm full of shit and this is great.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 6 February 2024 22:35 (one year ago)

It's admitidely been a minute since I've seen The Lavender Hill Mob, but I don't remember it having a harrowing depiction of postwar Europe, or of the effect of faulty medication on children, or a sad meditation on friendship gone wrong. Is it just that The Third Man has crime in it?

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 8 February 2024 10:46 (one year ago)

No it doesn't have any of those things (well maybe a meditation on friendship) but it has that late 40s/early 50s British studio feel - and while it ultimately isn't a crime caper, it also has a lot in common with that.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 8 February 2024 11:27 (one year ago)

The problem is that Harry Lime is so likeable a character that it's too easy to overlook how he is exploiting postwar Europe (specifically the children who got the contaminated medicine). Consider that the Lime character got (softer and lighter) radio and TV spinoffs, rather than Holly or Anna.

My biggest issue is how that zither theme KEEPS. COMING. BACK.

Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Thursday, 8 February 2024 13:37 (one year ago)

Is it a problem? I think the film and Greene's script underscore those crimes fairly well before and after Lime's appearance.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 February 2024 13:40 (one year ago)

You are correct, but Welles' performance is so grand that viewers may overlook or excuse those crimes.

Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Thursday, 8 February 2024 13:46 (one year ago)

one slight frustration is that Holly doesn't make the case to Anna that "you shouldn't have any loyalty to Harry, he's murdering children, ffs"

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 8 February 2024 13:53 (one year ago)

idk I've shown this film to student and they get the Charming Monster trope possibly more than 1949 audiences.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:26 (one year ago)

*students

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:26 (one year ago)

i saw this film at the bfi once and immediately after it ended someone turned around and said 'cracking film, absolute classic' and unfortunately i hate it now

plax (ico), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:33 (one year ago)

not really but the disappointment of other carol reed movies does tarnish it a bit. the parts with orson welles are fun but feel a bit cheap when you think about it too much after, just too desperate to charm.

plax (ico), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:35 (one year ago)

Have always irrationally hated it. Everyone should get at least one classic that just rubs them the absolute wrong way, and this one is mine.

Rich E. (Eric H.), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:35 (one year ago)

i dont hate it i just hate the people who like it

plax (ico), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:37 (one year ago)

Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol, Outcast of the Islands, Our Man in Heaven, all good films.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:40 (one year ago)

I didn't catch The Third Man until the mid '90s and even then Harry Lime didn't engage my sympathy, way before we understood how gaslighting works. He was an engaging bastard who deserved to hang.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:43 (one year ago)

i dont hate it i just hate the people who like it

New board description

Rich E. (Eric H.), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:45 (one year ago)

I get why people like The Third Man ... I can't fathom what people see in Odd Man Out

Rich E. (Eric H.), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:45 (one year ago)

odd man out is particularly bad I barely made it through. unbearable gurning from gate actors.

plax (ico), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:45 (one year ago)

fallen idol is at least competently made but its whole perspective really grated.

plax (ico), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:46 (one year ago)

apologies, abbey actors - much worse.

plax (ico), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:47 (one year ago)

I can't fathom what people see in Odd Man Out

― Rich E. (Eric H.), T

James Mason in stubble.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:47 (one year ago)

I feel like I'm definitely in the minority in finding the Third Man score p hideous.

Ward Fowler, Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:51 (one year ago)

It's fine for about three minutes and not continuous three minutes.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:53 (one year ago)

it's not very Austrian is it?

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 8 February 2024 14:58 (one year ago)

ah the old corrupt europe

plax (ico), Thursday, 8 February 2024 15:09 (one year ago)

The Third Man always surprises me with how exciting it is. The specificity of its setting, the minor characters (like the landlady), the way one of the MPs is a fan of Holly's books, just a wildly entertaining movie.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 8 February 2024 15:18 (one year ago)

"A parrot bit me."

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 February 2024 15:23 (one year ago)

I can't fathom what people see in Odd Man Out

snow. beautiful snow

wang mang band (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 8 February 2024 17:42 (one year ago)

You are correct, but Welles' performance is so grand that viewers may overlook or excuse those crimes.

― Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Thursday, February 8, 2024 8:46 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

not a bad thing! a good film needn’t be so didactic, and anyway I think a viewer with even the slightest degree of discernment can figure out who the bad guy is here. Holly is our stand-in, and his journey from dogged defender of lime’s name to working with the cops to take him down says it all.

saw this for the first time a few days ago and just loved it

truly humbled underdog (k3vin k.), Thursday, 8 February 2024 17:51 (one year ago)

I mean we’ve all read paradise lost, sometimes the bad guys are cooler than the good guys. we’re fallen

truly humbled underdog (k3vin k.), Thursday, 8 February 2024 17:52 (one year ago)

it's not very Austrian is it?

I believe the story is Reed caught Karas in a nightclub during filming and that's what lead to the choice, so it's authentically "something you could catch when going out in Vienna", tho I agree it doesn't sound it.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 8 February 2024 20:07 (one year ago)

Well it means nothing to me

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 8 February 2024 20:29 (one year ago)

Sorry, anyway, on we go, interested on your different perspectives on this next one.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 8 February 2024 22:02 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Rashomon_poster.jpg

Rashomon, Akira Kurosawa, 1950
Morbsies #151
Sight & Sound Critics #41
Sight & Sound Directors #20

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 8 February 2024 22:03 (one year ago)

Poster does not really give an accurate flavour of the film there IMO.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 8 February 2024 22:04 (one year ago)

The Third Man always surprises me with how exciting it is.

I know more kids/young people that have enjoyed this movie than most ancient B&W movies. Not sure why, but maybe this is why? Shares a lot of zip with the best of Hitchcock.

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 8 February 2024 22:05 (one year ago)

https://i.imgur.com/Om9PGUe.gif

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 February 2024 22:05 (one year ago)

Poster does not really give an accurate flavour of the film there IMO.

are you saying...that's not how you remember it?

wang mang band (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 8 February 2024 22:11 (one year ago)

Well yes I have to post this I suppose

https://y.yarn.co/e38fdba7-18cb-4e8a-9d3e-0adff0a08aa0_text.gif

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 8 February 2024 22:15 (one year ago)

Rashomon was another Kurosawa film that got a Western remake - https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0058437/

Paul Newman, William Shatner... it's quite faithful and worth a watch

koogs, Friday, 9 February 2024 04:24 (one year ago)

i saw this film at the bfi once and immediately after it ended someone turned around and said 'cracking film, absolute classic' and unfortunately i hate it now

lmaoo always a risk at the bfi

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Friday, 9 February 2024 11:17 (one year ago)

three weeks pass...

didn't post too much on this page but enjoyed the discussion
hope it continues x

nxd, Saturday, 2 March 2024 19:03 (one year ago)

i couldn't find this thread until you bumped it. thx.

I always thought kurosawa adapted the story into a deliberate take on the christian gospels. the story "in a grove" has two short, seemingly neutral accounts, followed by five longer accounts. The movie has four accounts, of which the first three are fairly similar, followed by a wild final account. much like how the first three gospels are the synoptic gospels, and john is the most different.

see also the movie kuroneko, the original japanese title translating to "in the grove of a black cat", for an early rashomon imitator.

formerly abanana (dat), Saturday, 2 March 2024 19:32 (one year ago)

oh god has it been three weeks?
Actually watched Rashomon last night.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 2 March 2024 20:55 (one year ago)

So yeah, more than a quarter of a century since I saw this, not sure if there has been a major remastering job done or whether it always looked this incredible. The visual style was so vivid and restlessly creative throughout - the starkness of the light and the violence in the performances reminded me of Tetsuo, not a connection I made the first time round. The medium was definitely my favourite character, you can watch a hundred experimental films and not see anything that grabs you like that. Actual lol at how shit the samurai was at sword fighting - sure that was intentional.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 2 March 2024 22:16 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Sunset_Boulevard_%281950_poster%29.jpg

Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder, 1950

Morbsies #25
Sight & Sound Critics #78
Sight & Sound Directors #62

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 2 March 2024 22:45 (one year ago)

Is it called "Sunset Boulevard" or "Sunset Blvd."? Nobody seems to have a definite answer on this, so going with the poster.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 2 March 2024 22:46 (one year ago)

Oh it's okay. A bit too desperate to please.

plax (ico), Sunday, 3 March 2024 00:19 (one year ago)

Fun film, essential viewing for a hypothetical course about Movies About Movies.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 3 March 2024 01:58 (one year ago)

I’m sure there was a point in my early cinephilia where this was a for-sure top 10 all-timer, before I’d seen many other noirs, or gothic thrillers, or satires … or really all that much other classic Hollywood. So I guess what I’m saying is, as a gateway film to other great things, it’s not bad

Rich E. (Eric H.), Sunday, 3 March 2024 03:39 (one year ago)

the Nancy Olson parts set my teeth on edge, but the Holden-Swanson scenes still kick. The last sequence earns the pathos.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 3 March 2024 03:42 (one year ago)

In Oscar Wars, which I finished yesterday, the author notes how Bette Davis, Gloria Swanson, and Judy Holliday -- the Best Actress frontrunners and winner -- were all trapped and ruined by their most famous roles.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 3 March 2024 03:44 (one year ago)

I wouldn't say that about Davis?

plax (ico), Sunday, 3 March 2024 10:29 (one year ago)

It's OK but yeah just wouldn't care to rewatch SB.

I have watched a couple more films for the first time in the S&S top 250.

The Thing (Carpenter, 1982)
Twenty Years Later (Coutinho, 1984)

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 3 March 2024 11:04 (one year ago)

The latter is using half-finished footage from a film -- which the filmmakers couldn't finish at the time -- about a peasant leader's murder, as the military junta comes to power in Brazil. Some of the interviews of the people this leader knew: wife, friends, enemies are powerful though it's bizarre this is in the top 250 and Guzman's Battle for Chile didn't make it. The young ones who voted for it must really like pomo-y games.

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 3 March 2024 11:08 (one year ago)

I wouldn't say that about Davis?

― plax (ico)

I direct you to Another Man's Poison, The Star, and, I know I'm an outlier, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 3 March 2024 12:51 (one year ago)

<3 buster keatons cameo

nxd, Sunday, 3 March 2024 16:48 (one year ago)

Enjoyed this a great deal. The only Wilders I'd seen before were Some Like It Hot and The Apartment, both of which are favourites, so guess I should check out some more. Did not realise quite how noir this one would be, surprising as it's really not that kind of a story for the most part.

Barely beneath the surface here there was a lot of thought about transactionality in relationships and how people live lives as a series of compromises, just the kind of messy stuff that usually gets glossed over in order to make a simpler plot, and that was the heart of it for me - and why the ending (as brilliant as it is) seemed to be from a more predictable film. Her being a deranged delusional primadonna is less interesting than her struggling to deal with the reality of her life.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 9 March 2024 19:25 (one year ago)

Stanwyck makes that all plausible.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 9 March 2024 19:41 (one year ago)

Swanson, surely?

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 10 March 2024 09:37 (one year ago)

"i saw this film at the bfi once and immediately after it ended someone turned around and said 'cracking film, absolute classic' and unfortunately i hate it now"

Me after watching:

To be or Not to be (Lubitsch, 1942)

--

Also watched:

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (Greaves, 1967)
Paris is Burning (Livingston, 1990)

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 10 March 2024 10:11 (one year ago)

Muttering 'this is fine' to the docs I am catching up on in the S&S top 250

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 10 March 2024 10:13 (one year ago)

https://i.imgur.com/negLbxY.png

Víctimas del Pecado (Victims of Sin), Emilio Fernández, 1951

Morbsies #381

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 10 March 2024 11:19 (one year ago)

Great film. Saw this @ the bfi two years ago and it got to be the most surprising randomish thing I saw there.

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 10 March 2024 13:05 (one year ago)

Never heard of this one.

formerly abanana (dat), Sunday, 10 March 2024 18:11 (one year ago)

Victims of Sin just announced for the Criterion Collection, I see.

adam t. (abanana), Friday, 15 March 2024 17:14 (one year ago)

Hope they can get it out in the next couple of days. it is on youtube but with no subtitles.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 15 March 2024 17:20 (one year ago)

Almost eerily timed

Rich E. (Eric H.), Friday, 15 March 2024 18:36 (one year ago)

Shoah (Lanzmann, 1985). Watched part two, many years after part one.

Who could argue with this? It's unforgettable and moving. There is a problem to Lanzmann's interviewing technique. Maybe it's just the notorious scene with the barber where he turns the screws on someone who... wasn't brave enough to say no? But then he probably wouldn't be alive to make it to be interviewed like this. But it's also a once seen never forgotten scene.

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 23 March 2024 11:46 (one year ago)

I have hacked together a way of watching this film - downloaded from youtube and found some subtitles to add. Not ideal but it's working, will report back tomorrow.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 23 March 2024 22:06 (one year ago)

Here's Richard Brody's response to Pauline Kael's infamous dismissal.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 March 2024 22:43 (one year ago)

xp are you talking about Shoah? I watched it on YT. The subtitles were fine?

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 23 March 2024 22:52 (one year ago)

I will Google that piece, Alfred. Your link is taking you to something about Kurosawa?

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 23 March 2024 22:54 (one year ago)

lol sorry, I didn't clear my ctrl-p. Here: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/shoah-at-twenty-five

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 March 2024 22:58 (one year ago)

Camaraderie is talking about Victimas del Pecado

Daniel_Rf, Saturday, 23 March 2024 23:02 (one year ago)

Lol OK yes, it's been a long day

(thx Alfred, weird piece that turns into a Kael rant)

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 23 March 2024 23:05 (one year ago)

Her negative review was a massive discussion point in 1985, I've read.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 March 2024 23:18 (one year ago)

There was another, contemporary, review that replied to her Shoah review, by J. Hoberman.

Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 23 March 2024 23:25 (one year ago)

I’ve never read that one in full but probably should

Rich E. (Eric H.), Saturday, 23 March 2024 23:32 (one year ago)

He ends by quoting her: "Lanzmann could find anti-semitism anywhere", adding "maybe even at the New Yorker".

Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 23 March 2024 23:36 (one year ago)

So, Víctimas del Pecado, what a wild ride this was. Like a hays code free film noir, but also a musical (the musical numbers are just fucking incredible, mambo, son, mariachi and more - and actually performed by some of the characters as much of the action takes place in a night club) and I dunno a soap opera? The plot follows no structure I've ever seen, if I wrote a description (don't want to spoil, so won't) then 50% would be crammed into the last 15 minutes. It's a deeply moral film but really not scared to show characters doing awful things, within five minutes of the start you have a live baby put into a trash can for example, and it's not really giving anything away to say the woman doing this suffers no consequences besides a brief flash of guilt. The characters are all very broadly-drawn, but also have a good deal of depth and nuance when you look at them closely. Not sure if I actually love this or if it's just a window into a different world of film-making, but absolutely sure that the musical numbers are all-timers. Thanks whoever voted for this as their favourite film of all time, I will look into getting the Criterion DVD when it comes out.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 24 March 2024 10:16 (one year ago)

Whole thing is here, without subtitles, and with an annoying popup thing on the screen every five minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5mRVW66ebI

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 24 March 2024 10:28 (one year ago)

man brody bodies kael in that essay. salute

brony james (k3vin k.), Sunday, 24 March 2024 11:46 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Singin%27_in_the_Rain_%281952_poster%29.jpg

Singin' in the Rain, Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952

Morbsies #38
Sight & Sound Critics #10
Sight & Sound Directors #53

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 24 March 2024 12:21 (one year ago)

Seen this around ten times already, you all probably have too. These are the next five if you don't want to see it again:

Ikiru
Ugetsu Monogatari
Madame de...
Tokyo Story
La Strada

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 24 March 2024 12:23 (one year ago)

Ikuru (better known as Singin' in the Snow

Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 24 March 2024 13:43 (one year ago)

That list reminds me that a lot of the World Cinema Classics of the 50s are films I respect rather than love.

Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 24 March 2024 13:45 (one year ago)

xp Not forgetting the British remake, Grumblin' in the Miserable Pissy Rain

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 24 March 2024 13:53 (one year ago)

Ikiru
Ugetsu Monogatari
Madame de...
Tokyo Story
La Strada

5 of my fave films

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Sunday, 24 March 2024 14:04 (one year ago)

The Earrings of Madame de... has resided in my top ten for almost thirty years.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 24 March 2024 14:11 (one year ago)

I've never watched Ikiru, maybe now is the time.

I have also seen Singin' in the Rain many times, but I'm always happy to watch it again. When I first saw it I got antsy and bored during the long dance sequence, but I've come to look forward to it. It used to feel out of sync conceptually with the movie, but it eventually clicked with me that it is a celebration of how far the medium had advanced and evolved in just a few decades of color and sound.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 24 March 2024 15:16 (one year ago)

(plus also obviously it was a massive Gene Kelly flex at the height of his powers as a movie star and director, he could do what he wanted)

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 24 March 2024 15:18 (one year ago)

Don and Cosmo are one of the truly great gay couples of the Hollywood golden era

Rich E. (Eric H.), Sunday, 24 March 2024 16:07 (one year ago)

I've watched SITR many times at home and shown it in class, but the silent sequence still strikes me as long and boring.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 24 March 2024 17:34 (one year ago)

just learned that the "famous zip girl of the screen" Zelda (very jazz age) was played by rita moreno. although her introduction scene gets stolen by a shouting extra.

https://www.tcm.com/video/1525509/singin-in-the-rain-1951-movie-clip-that-famous-zip-girl

adam t. (abanana), Sunday, 24 March 2024 21:32 (one year ago)

also little thing i missed: she's clearly dating the old guy for his money, but the announcer says "zelda's had so much unhappiness, i hope this time it's really love"

adam t. (abanana), Sunday, 24 March 2024 21:36 (one year ago)

I find gene Kelly very off-putting and have seen this way too many times

plax (ico), Thursday, 28 March 2024 06:52 (one year ago)

Watched this yesterday and as always it's a complete joy. Remember when I was a kid my dad saying Donald O'Connor was the best, and being more familiar with silent comedy now I feel like I can really appreciate this. The energy Gene Kelly puts into the Broadway Melody section is also kind of astounding though. As a depiction of the birth of sound film there's a load this gets wrong, but as it was still fairly recent memory I suppose they probably knew but didn't care. It's probably been said a thousand times before but having these in chronological order really underlines how much this most famous example of a big studio musical also marks the end of big studio musicals - those Busby Berkeley dance spectaculars were already history, and this was Kelly's last major hit. I guess this is also the start of Hollywood looking back with nostalgia at its golden age, which it has been doing intermittently ever since. The timescale is bizarre though, the equivalent today would be a film set in the year 2000.

I don't mind Kelly's constant mugging to the camera, but I can understand anyone who finds it off-putting. I'm afraid I find Jean Hagen may be the weak link personally - her comedy performance is of course wonderful, but I just don't buy her as a silent movie star, she doesn't have that theatricality to her face. Kelly isn't 100% convincing either, but he seems to at least be trying.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 28 March 2024 08:49 (one year ago)

If you want to see a spot-on parody of the problems with early sound film I can heartily recommend this short from 1930

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH7XlG9j0xs

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 28 March 2024 08:51 (one year ago)

Kelly's mugging helps his character, an insecu.re mediocrity

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 March 2024 11:55 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Ikiru_poster.jpg

Ikiru, Akira Kurosawa, 1952

Morbsies #230
Sight & Sound Critics #157
Sight & Sound Directors 72

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 30 March 2024 14:05 (one year ago)

I'm at a loss: the one Kurosawa masterpiece I can't like. I can watch any number of Ozu films from this period about aging/dying men, though.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 30 March 2024 14:23 (one year ago)

Great film

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 30 March 2024 14:27 (one year ago)

I’m with Alfred aside from the “only Kurosawa I don’t like” part. It’s no secret he’s not at the top of my list of Japanese masters (tho I do quite like his later ones), and in IKIRU’s case I just don’t think I ever get on the same wavelength of its tone. I had higher hopes for this one going in though, so the falloff might have been partially expectation-based

Rich E. (Eric H.), Saturday, 30 March 2024 15:26 (one year ago)

He's still the top of mine so that evens it out!

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 30 March 2024 15:28 (one year ago)

Love Ikiru, it's all about that long final scene with the dudes at the funeral getting drunk and angry and wondering how to Fix Things.

Daniel_Rf, Saturday, 30 March 2024 21:45 (one year ago)

Yup, it is an amazing thing when the funeral comes on.

Kurosawa is a curious one. I liked to loved pretty the three or four I've seen but I never went onto obsessively track the other half a dozen or so down.

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 31 March 2024 00:00 (one year ago)

Kurosawa has like 30 films still available. and of those i think only one is out of print and hard to find (The Idiot)

koogs, Sunday, 31 March 2024 06:46 (one year ago)

First saw Ikiru as part of a Sociology Of Death college class in the late 80s. Not my favorite Kurosawa, but easily one of my fave watching experiences.

Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 2 April 2024 05:25 (one year ago)

Finished this yesterday, in agreement with most of the above in one way or another, it's kind of tonally all over the place until the last section at the wake, when it finally all clicks this this is less a film about death, and more a film about bureaucracy. Also enjoyed the brief scene in the night club earlier on, I have some Japanese jazz from the era and it's really like nothing else.
His son is a prick.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 12 April 2024 21:40 (one year ago)

Holiday is now available in full on YouTube

nxd, Saturday, 13 April 2024 11:24 (one year ago)

So is Ugetsu Monogatari

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 13 April 2024 13:21 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Ugetsu_monogatari_poster.jpg

Ugetsu Monogatari, Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953

Morbsies #462
Sight & Sound Critics #90

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 13 April 2024 13:28 (one year ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNPfl1dcTkI

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 13 April 2024 13:28 (one year ago)

Now that most of his great films have become available in the last 20 years, I have less time for Ugetsu, but it's a landmark of creepiness and erotic sorrow.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 13 April 2024 13:43 (one year ago)

Not my favourite Mizoguchi but still devastating, timeless

Bitchin Doutai (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 13 April 2024 13:49 (one year ago)

Brilliant

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 13 April 2024 16:18 (one year ago)

The phrase I see a lot is “first among equals.” I submit that there should be a similar and near-equally laudable “second among equals,” which UGETSU probably is, alongside Mizoguchi’s late run

Rich E. (Eric H.), Saturday, 13 April 2024 16:23 (one year ago)

I don't want to do "better than" arguments, so I'll try very hard not to do that, but what a movie, what magic he crafted throughout his career but the 50s especially, fuiud

Bitchin Doutai (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 13 April 2024 16:30 (one year ago)

I've dug thru the source material cos it fascinates me and I'd confidently argue that - like Hitchcock for example - he made his sources his own and made them better. Ugetsu taps a bunch of veins at once, political personal, but the big point is it sticks with you, it transcends what it might be "about"

Bitchin Doutai (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 13 April 2024 16:36 (one year ago)

It's strange that the most memorable scene from this for me is where the "samurai" brags about his non-existent virtues to his young cronies. The ghost story stuff is a little vague by comparison, though it obviously made a big impression on Tarkovsky.

Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 13 April 2024 17:32 (one year ago)

So this was wild. Don't think I've ever seen anything like it.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 17 April 2024 07:09 (one year ago)

Watched with my wife who knows a decent amount about Japanese ghost culture, my idea was that the story followed a dreamlike narrative, but she pointed out that it was a standard, fairly simple morality play if you are familiar with Japanese ghost stories. It was the atmosphere, especially the sound, that made it work for me.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 17 April 2024 10:15 (one year ago)

yeah, there are quite a few like it. i think i prefer Kuroneko. i need to rewatch Ghost of Yotsuya (it's on youtube). Kwaidan has similar bits too. Onibaba...

useful list here, including more modern j-horror
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnica240Wq4

koogs, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 11:47 (one year ago)

the kiln aspect was interesting as well - there was a bbc4 japanese traditional arts programme on just before i saw Ugetsu for the first time and the same kilns are still in use (although not universally)

koogs, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 11:51 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/08/Madamedeposter.jpg

Madame de..., Max Ophuls, 1953
Morbsies #499
Sight & Sound Critics #90

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 20 April 2024 19:55 (one year ago)

Sometimes the greatest film ever made.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 20 April 2024 19:57 (one year ago)

Another cracking film.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 20 April 2024 19:57 (one year ago)

I love Earrings... because it's a film whose editing and camera movements convey a passage of time as subtle as any novel. When I read Balzac and Trollope, the marriage between Boyer and Darrieux is how I imagine the day-to-day functionalities of a patrician 19th century marriage. The beauty of Boyer's performance is how he's perfectly willing to go along with it but with the quiet half-grins that Ophuls catches it's clear he also loves Louise enough to have given a more erotic marriage a shot if she wasn't so bent on escaping within her confines. Few films convey how possessions delineate the confines of one's own entrapment.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 20 April 2024 20:14 (one year ago)

Modern Times also on YouTube now too
Really enjoyed that, especially the automatic food layer bit

nxd, Tuesday, 30 April 2024 20:33 (one year ago)

Only started watching films by Ophuls six months ago. Forgive me, God

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 30 April 2024 21:14 (one year ago)

Om watching Earrings.... as I type and my god

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 30 April 2024 21:25 (one year ago)

I finally got around to Earrings a few years ago and boy does it deliver. 19th century novels are a good reference point, it has that richness of detail and emotional specificity.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 30 April 2024 21:28 (one year ago)

Boyer is the key: aware of everything, ready to play along, but ignore him and he'll put a bullet in your throat.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 30 April 2024 21:41 (one year ago)

19th century novels are a good reference point, it has that richness of detail and emotional specificity.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, April 30, 2024 5:28 PM (one hour ago)

otm Alfred and tipsy. I already had that association, and when I started reading Anna Karenina the other day I immediately thought of Earrings

rob, Tuesday, 30 April 2024 23:01 (one year ago)

there's a Chaplin season on sky arts in the UK and Modern Times (78 in the S&S list) and City Lights (36) will be two of those (i think MT is next Saturday and Sunday). so far there's been The Kid, Gold Rush, The Circus. Criterion logo in all the credits.

koogs, Tuesday, 30 April 2024 23:24 (one year ago)

Finished watching Madame De..., you are all dead-on with the novel comparisons, reminded me of Zola's "La Curée", though without the politics, such a dance the three do with each-other, and the fact that they spent so much time actually dancing did not seem like a blunt metaphor. I did find it a little difficult to connect with on an emotional level, as I always do with the Belle Époque upper class, not sure why this is.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 3 May 2024 20:57 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Tokyo-story-20201121.jpg

Tokyo Story, Yasujirō Ozu, 1953

Morbsies #141
Sight & Sound Critics #4
Sight & Sound Directors #4

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 5 May 2024 15:55 (one year ago)

Heartbreaking.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Sunday, 5 May 2024 16:27 (one year ago)

yeah, didn't even make the top 100

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 5 May 2024 16:32 (one year ago)

I finished Tokyo Story a little while ago and have been slowly digesting it - while I liked it quite a lot I still haven't worked out why it's a masterpiece, maybe this is just something not worth worrying about, but it just reminds me of a lot of other low-key studies of family life - that's something I generally love anyway, maybe it's that I've seen so many of its successors that it just doesn't seem novel? I am also a little confused by Chishū Ryū's acting, it is so low-key that I find myself questioning whether he's actually doing anything. (Also cannot believe that he's 49 years old in this and lived until 1993! And Kyōko Kagawa is still alive!)

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 16 May 2024 19:51 (one year ago)

is so low-key that I find myself questioning whether he's actually doing anything.

best kind of acting imo

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 May 2024 20:27 (one year ago)

I am undecided between "best" and "not best" - certainly he would be at home in a Roy Andersson film, so that sounds like I should come down on the side of "best"

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 17 May 2024 06:39 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/La_Strada.jpg

La Strada, Federico Fellini, 1954

Morbsies #648
Sight & Sound Directors #38

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 18 May 2024 14:24 (one year ago)

This one is on youtube in its entirety with English subtitles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPefZ8cZCl0

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 18 May 2024 14:25 (one year ago)

brilliant film

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 18 May 2024 15:52 (one year ago)

I liked it but I suspect Fellini thought it was about how sex is evil and makes you subhuman

adam t. (abanana), Saturday, 18 May 2024 16:00 (one year ago)

So Gelsomina is supposed to be autistic, right?

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 25 May 2024 19:45 (one year ago)

Just finished this, quite a bleak ending and I'm not sure what to take away - but the world conjured up on the way was certainly worth it.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 27 May 2024 21:20 (one year ago)

I do find it a little hard to get over what a complete dick Zampano is though, just not really interested in his internal life, he's so despicable.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 27 May 2024 21:28 (one year ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Rear_Window_film_poster.jpg

Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock, 1954

Morbsies #22
Sight & Sound Critics #38

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 30 May 2024 12:54 (one year ago)

This was always by least-favourite of the a-tier Hitchcocks, however my exposure to it was on my Film Studies degree while being introduced to "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" so the heavy-handedness I remember may just be the lecturers.

Obviously this isn't freely available on Youtube - anyone know where it is streaming?

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 30 May 2024 12:57 (one year ago)

I know it's tempting to hold the movie's easy pedagogical meta elements against it. But I wouldn't, it's maybe the most sheerly entertaining movie he made between The 39 Steps and Psycho.

Rich E. (Eric H.), Thursday, 30 May 2024 13:14 (one year ago)

I feel fortunate to have seen all those classic Hitchcock movies like Psycho and Rear Window on tv when I was a kid and have my appreciation further deepen for them as I get older.

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Thursday, 30 May 2024 13:24 (one year ago)

The 1998 remake starring Christopher Reeve is apparently free to stream on youtube. Probably not going to bother with it.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 30 May 2024 13:50 (one year ago)

Obviously this isn't freely available on Youtube - anyone know where it is streaming?

It's on Bezos-Prime

Ippei's on a bummer now (WmC), Thursday, 30 May 2024 14:06 (one year ago)

If you don't mind hard-coded subs: https://archive.org/details/rear-window-1954_202007
gear icon -> HD

adam t. (abanana), Thursday, 30 May 2024 14:24 (one year ago)

Eric otm. When Stewart, Kelly, and Ritter plot together, it'direction. point of Hitch's ensemble directing.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 30 May 2024 14:50 (one year ago)

Yeah, Rear Window rocks. Has overtaken North By Northwest as my fave Hitch.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 30 May 2024 15:12 (one year ago)

some of the early relationship scenes drag
otherwise it's great

adam t. (abanana), Thursday, 30 May 2024 15:16 (one year ago)

i find that "heavily foregrounded meta but glommed onto pure story-telling thrills" is the core of Hitchcock's attraction tbh

i love a man in a unicorn (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 30 May 2024 16:17 (one year ago)

Whoa -- I apologize for my phone-posted post. I meant: "best Hitchhock-directed ensemble."

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 30 May 2024 17:36 (one year ago)

Forget Vertigo -- Stewart never played a better Pure Acting moment than when he watches Thorwald assault Lisa.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 30 May 2024 17:37 (one year ago)

Forget Vertigo

I will not

Rich E. (Eric H.), Thursday, 30 May 2024 18:36 (one year ago)

Just rewatched RW for the first time in ages because of this thread. Agree, hugely entertaining and well conceived and executed. It’s also so perverse of Hitchcock to cast Stewart in two different parables of impotence. (Tho he let him have TMWKTM in between I guess.)

Something there obviously about the WWII generation of men becoming redomesticated and incorporated into bland American life.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 2 June 2024 16:12 (one year ago)

Yeah, they give a little more shading to the conventional wisdom about ‘50s America

Rich E. (Eric H.), Sunday, 2 June 2024 16:20 (one year ago)

The domestication of the American male was fodder for thinkpieces in the 50's - a lot of talk about "a crisis in masculinity". Pretty funny when now you hear mra types say we need to get back to that era.

Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 2 June 2024 20:58 (one year ago)

Grace Kelly cooing about seeing him in a grey flannel suit a couple years before the infamous short story.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 2 June 2024 21:03 (one year ago)

I love the shot at the end where she puts down her Himalayas travel book and picks back up Harper's Bazaar. She's not going anywhere, and neither is he.

a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 3 June 2024 00:31 (one year ago)

My memory is so terrible. I spent this whole rewatch convinced thorwald didn't do it.

Poor miss lonely heart! What a damning indictment on Jeff and Stella, ignoring the potential suicide happening in front of them multiple times for the simple thrill of the chase.

Think I might be in love with Grace Kelly. Hope to get a date when I meet her up in the stars one day

H.P, Sunday, 9 June 2024 23:58 (one year ago)

Sorry, very slow right here. Yes, this was much better than I remembered, love the construction of a particular space and a time, just so vividly conjured. And the story is so self-contained, doesn't feel like it's just under two hours at all. Parallels with Vertigo are spot on, when he falls at the end, that's basically the start of Vertigo, isn't it? The exploration of viewer as voyeur is fine, but it was good not to think about it too much.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 14 June 2024 21:44 (one year ago)

Still prefer Vertigo though

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 14 June 2024 21:45 (one year ago)

Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa, 1954

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Seven_Samurai_poster.jpg

Morbsies #97
Sight & Sound Critics #20
Sight & Sound Directors #14

Another biggie! For context here are the next five in the list

Johnny Guitar
Journey to Italy
Sansho the Bailiff
Ordet
The Night of the Hunter

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 15 June 2024 14:25 (one year ago)

LOL, perfect timing: Male weepies: Pick the "best," I guess

Rich E. (Eric H.), Saturday, 15 June 2024 14:26 (one year ago)

Every single one of the next five movies in line is a flaming goddamned masterpiece. I love all of the next five movies in line. They are great. Yep, love 'em.

Rich E. (Eric H.), Saturday, 15 June 2024 14:27 (one year ago)

Ordet happens to be your particular abnormality

(j/k I can understand loving it)

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 15 June 2024 14:40 (one year ago)

xps

Greatest film ever made IMO

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 15 June 2024 14:54 (one year ago)

Hm, guessing you mean Seven Samurai?

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 15 June 2024 14:56 (one year ago)

mibbes aye mibbes naw

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 15 June 2024 15:04 (one year ago)

Can be found here - https://archive.org/details/seven-samurai - it is quite long, isn't it?

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 15 June 2024 20:27 (one year ago)

The length of it feels fine

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 16 June 2024 11:18 (one year ago)

should explain that I somehow haven't seen it before

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 16 June 2024 11:32 (one year ago)

It flies by. Not a second overlong.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Sunday, 16 June 2024 11:55 (one year ago)

I wouldn't rank Seven Samurai in my Kurosawa top five.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 16 June 2024 12:27 (one year ago)

I probably wouldn't either, but that's more about how many great films the dude has.

It is a bit sad that this is The One because there's a lot of more accessible intros - Yojimbo, Stray Dog, Ikiru.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 17 June 2024 15:55 (one year ago)

The samurai film genre is interesting because if you compare it to the western, even though Ford and Hawks and etc certainly had moments where they questioned the myths there are a few decades' worth of films that mostly celebrate those myths, and so when the revisionist western rolls around we know what it's revising. But the samurai film, for a western audience, only comes into vogue in the postwar era, and so it's a generation of writers and directors who grew up with the samurai sprit being part of govt wartime propaganda and so it's pretty much all revisionism, very few movies come to mind where bushido is seen as anything other than a sick joke. At some point it just becomes part of the trope.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 17 June 2024 16:00 (one year ago)

Donald Richie's book on Kurosawa is essential reading, and not surprisingly the chapter on Seven Samurai is great. (It may have been his favorite Kurosawa film - he usually listed it as one of his favorite films, period.)

I think it's very compelling to look at how WWII impacted Japanese films and how Japanese films grappled with the aftermath, especially now in light of the current rise of nationalism in certain parts of the world (like ours). Generally speaking, I never found comparisons between Japanese period epics and American Westerns all that interesting, but comparing The Seven Samurai to the American films it inspired (not just The Magnificent Seven but also Saving Private Ryan) does seem edifying in highlighting the differences in history and culture. The Seven Samurai always seemed like a great war film to me - nine years isn't that far removed from the end of WWII, and I was left with the impression that a defeated country was far more likely to re-examine and interrogate the culture surrounding war in ways that a proud and jingoistic country would not like to do. The myriad class conflicts and moral hypocrisies are either watered down or stripped away in something like The Magnificent Seven (turning samurai/military officers into "gunfighters" will do that), but they're always there in The Seven Samurai.

birdistheword, Monday, 17 June 2024 21:32 (one year ago)

Kikuchiyo gun stealing scene the heart of this movie. Stunning end shot with the Katanas in the graves

H.P, Tuesday, 18 June 2024 12:21 (one year ago)

The horses in this movie reminded me of the horse(s) in Andrei Rublev. Put me off, for what were some great scenes. hmph. I did eat stake for dinner though so I'm a bit of a simpleton in this way

H.P, Tuesday, 18 June 2024 12:27 (one year ago)

I like my stake either well done or in the ground.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 12:29 (one year ago)

Rear window is a movie that I had seen so many parodies of that end at first reveal (most famously the Simpsons, but so many others), so the second part suddenly felt really disorienting!

the moment the man looks out of the screen at the audience is so crazy the first time you see it,

and the film is incredible in how it seems to surface filmic epistemologies in an instantly graspable way that can't be untangled from the film's dramatic dynamism! Sorry for the turgid way of phrasing that but I think its clear what I mean???

That said there's something that really 'wears off' about the effect that is very different from e.g. Vertigo, where it burrows down into your subconscious (why does she take the backdoor to the florist???). I think this one relies too much on a central trick or conceit, very A minus grade Hitchcock. There's also something about how its been parodied that gives it a flat, repackagable quality although that's not really its fault. Its a shame because its got so much good stuff in it (thelma ritter, wendell corey, Dior by Head and barbara bel geddes designing gravity defying bras etc) but i could probably never see it again and I wouldn't lose sleep.

plax (ico), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 12:33 (one year ago)

seven samurai is so good and to me so obviously one of the best kurosawas so i'm curious what people who think this mid level would put ahead of it

plax (ico), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 12:34 (one year ago)

Vertigo wears me down at the hour mark. Acts I and III are strange and powerful

What I'd rank over Seven Samurai:

Red Beard
The Bad Sleep Well
Throne of Blood
Stray Dog
High and Low

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 12:47 (one year ago)

lol high and low is fun but bad

plax (ico), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 13:56 (one year ago)

the scenes where they're all shouting at each other about shoes are really funny so i'll allow it

plax (ico), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 13:57 (one year ago)

so much melodrama for the sake of a shoe mogul!

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 13:57 (one year ago)

lol xpost

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 13:58 (one year ago)

The shoe business can be a great setting for tragedy: see Bastards by Claire Denis.

Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 18 June 2024 14:08 (one year ago)

yeah i remember the shoe company stuff being kind of dull, but the police procedural half of the movie is excellent

na (NA), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 14:13 (one year ago)

High & Low is my 2nd fave Kurosawa

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 14:25 (one year ago)

Ran and High & Low are my fave Kurosawa's

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 14:44 (one year ago)

High and Low and Ran are among my very favorite Kurosawa films too (along with The Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Ikiru and maybe a couple of others. I have no desire to actually rank them, they're all great films doing very different things.

birdistheword, Tuesday, 18 June 2024 15:17 (one year ago)

Ran's in my top ten.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 15:18 (one year ago)

It's in my top 10 ... of 1985

Rich E. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 15:24 (one year ago)

I need to see "The Bad Sleep Well"

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 15:30 (one year ago)

FWIW, if there's ever a 35mm print of Ran playing at a repertory theater near you, it's definitely worth seeing. Obviously an epic is going to play better in a theater, but the current restoration that's being used in all DCP's, streaming and Blu-ray/UHD masters is marred by dubious color grading, something older film curators have pointed out given their familiarity with the oft-programmed film.

birdistheword, Tuesday, 18 June 2024 15:34 (one year ago)

is Ran the one where there was an actual typhoon while they were filming and Kurosawa was like "we can use this"

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 18 June 2024 22:12 (one year ago)

It was, Tracer. Kurosawa so great in utilising the weather in his movies. Stray Dog - sweatiest movie ever made?

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Wednesday, 19 June 2024 00:21 (one year ago)

The rain really was the 8th samurai of this movie

H.P, Wednesday, 19 June 2024 00:55 (one year ago)

fist pumped every time that deep sloshing mud came on screen

H.P, Wednesday, 19 June 2024 00:56 (one year ago)

Few directors use movement as masterfully as Kurosawa, and his use of weather is tied to that. (IIRC the rain in Seven Samurai was completely generated - definitely planned.) One standard trick he knows well is how mixing furious or chaotic movement with stillness (or close to stillness) can amplify the emotional impact of any given moment. The rainy climax in The Seven Samurai has such moments (like right after the battle is over), but there are times where Kurosawa will have his characters simply stand there and look and he contrasts that with flags furiously rippling in the wind, or he'll have them next to a bonfire that'll have a lot of movement (either in the smoke or the rippling of the flames or the light). Other moments - in Ran when the emperor leaves his palace in a daze, his face frozen and the invading army just standing before him while all that smoke and fire ripples apocalyptically into the sky. IIRC the climax of Yojimbo has Mifune standing in opposition of the others, and again just standing around but you have a strong wind swirling all that dust. I almost want to compare it to the tension you might feel if you knew an earthquake was building up in the still earth beneath your feet.

birdistheword, Wednesday, 19 June 2024 01:54 (one year ago)

I guess I should try again with Kurosawa. I’ve only seen a couple but found them kind of boring.

o. nate, Wednesday, 19 June 2024 02:14 (one year ago)

Which ones?

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 19 June 2024 02:25 (one year ago)

FWIW, I've seen Kurosawa get knocked down a few pegs simply because he's gotten so much more praise in the U.S. than Ozu and Mizoguchi. I think mainstream critics typically gravitated towards Kurosawa during his lifetime - I have a vague recollection of Roger Ebert and the staff at Entertainment Weekly more or less calling him Japan's greatest filmmaker - and a much higher percentage of his films are available to U.S. audiences. A big factor may be Spielberg and Lucas - at the height of their careers, they championed him endlessly as an enormous influence, so I'm sure that raised his profile.

Richard Brody of The New Yorker flat out wrote that he's "certainly not in the same artistic league with either Ozu or Mizoguchi." I suppose I would agree, but I also think it's also an incredibly uncharitable assessment.

birdistheword, Wednesday, 19 June 2024 02:58 (one year ago)

Yeah, Kurosawa's experienced a counter-revolution in the last 30 years as Naruse, Mizoguchi, and Ozu's films have become available. He's "not human" in that Renoir vein or something.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 19 June 2024 03:14 (one year ago)

There's also the fact that Kurosawa's movies are full of gangsters and swordplay, which gives them a crossover appeal to genre audiences...though frankly Kurosawa's non-violent dramas are great too.

Overall though I'd say Kurosawa, Ozu and Mizoguchi are all still benefiting from the lack of availability of so much from the golden age of Japanese cinema - I'd say at this point the Japanese New Wave is even more well represented. Take someone like Tomu Uchida - according to Kinema Junpo he made the second greatest film in the history of Japanese cinema, but how many of his movies have you seen?

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 19 June 2024 10:00 (one year ago)

Also gonna do that annoying reductress "men gets little charge out of telling ppl John Lennon beat his wife" thing and mention again that, when Japanese actress Kinuyo Tanaka embarked on her (very good) directorial career, Ozu and Naruse supported her in the press and during shooting, while Mizoguchi went to the papers to decry his star actress as "limited" and tried his best to blackball her from working altogether.

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 19 June 2024 10:04 (one year ago)

He also tried to get a 13-year old John Lennon to intervene.

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 19 June 2024 11:13 (one year ago)

For many years, Kurosawa, Mizoguchi and Ozu were the big three Japanese directors, so it's natural that they'd be pitted against each other. I'd take Oshima over them all myself.

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 19 June 2024 11:16 (one year ago)

Which ones?

Yojimbo and Dreams, I think, but it was a while ago.

o. nate, Thursday, 20 June 2024 00:34 (one year ago)

I find them boring too.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 20 June 2024 01:10 (one year ago)

Ikiru
Throne Of Blood
Stray Dog
Dreams
Yojimbo
Kagemusha
Seven Samurai
One Wonderful Sunday
Rashomon
Drunken Angel
Sanjuro
Ran
The Men Who Tread On Tiger's Tails

Haven't seen the rest yet. Even the bottom choice here is still far from a bad film tho.

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 20 June 2024 09:36 (one year ago)

It really needs a reissue (and a restoration) to bring it back into print, but Rhapsody in August is worth catching. Haven't seen it in a long time (maybe high school?) so I'm not sure how the filmmaking would come off now, but at the time it was the first film I saw to really address the use of nuclear weapons to more or less end WWII. Plenty of famous examples pre-date it and according to Wikipedia there was controversy with some vocally criticizing the film's political stance, but at least to me I didn't think it was defending Japan's wrongs with regards to WWII - simply on humanitarian grounds it made a deep impression.

birdistheword, Thursday, 20 June 2024 14:50 (one year ago)

i've bought a copy of that in the last year (currently unwatched)

koogs, Thursday, 20 June 2024 15:13 (one year ago)

(the two i'm missing are The Idiot and Dreams)

koogs, Thursday, 20 June 2024 15:14 (one year ago)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_vs._the_Spider

why is this not titled "A small town sheriff and high school teacher vs. the spider"

| (Latham Green), Thursday, 20 June 2024 19:32 (one year ago)

one month passes...

Sansho the Bailiff > Seven Samurai

H.P, Monday, 12 August 2024 03:39 (eleven months ago)

co-sign

birdistheword, Monday, 12 August 2024 04:06 (eleven months ago)

Sorry it has somehow taken me a month to watch Seven Samurai. In my defence it is very long, not a lot happens in the first half, and I've had a lot on with work, etc.

Anyway, yes it is very good but I just have a natural aversion to action films, nothing logical, just the whole long setup followed by fight/racing sequences structure somehow doesn't tally with how I experience the world, and while I was watching I could see how influential this film was in setting that up as a model to follow.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 17 August 2024 11:54 (ten months ago)

Obviously plenty to love here too, the rice harvest scene at the end with them all singing was just beautiful.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 17 August 2024 11:59 (ten months ago)

I experience the world as a series of conversations with villagers before I explode into violence.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 17 August 2024 12:09 (ten months ago)

lol Alfred, your poor students

H.P, Saturday, 17 August 2024 12:10 (ten months ago)

But then we chill over Negronis.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 17 August 2024 12:13 (ten months ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Johnny_guitar.jpg

Johnny Guitar, Nicholas Ray, 1954

Morbsies #88
Sight & Sound Critics #122

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 17 August 2024 13:44 (ten months ago)

Loved this, but think I'll just go and listen to its wonderful song rather than watch the whole film again

H.P, Saturday, 17 August 2024 13:55 (ten months ago)

This film is mad.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 17 August 2024 13:56 (ten months ago)

I watched this one time in a lecture theatre in 1998 and the general vibe I remember seems like it cannot be right.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 17 August 2024 14:02 (ten months ago)

https://i.imgur.com/k6kcVlI.gif

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 17 August 2024 14:07 (ten months ago)

it's been 25 years and i should watch it again but at the risk of being picky it's good but i don't think it's All That

the news is terrible, i'm in the clear (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 17 August 2024 14:11 (ten months ago)

you're not wrong

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 17 August 2024 14:25 (ten months ago)

i suspect some of its oddness came about from the writers not knowing how to make a western with a female lead. but ray is a great director and he makes it work.

master of the pan (abanana), Saturday, 17 August 2024 14:27 (ten months ago)

It's part of that weird psychosexual melodrama subgenre of westerns that showed up in the 50's, think it may have felt less odd within that context.

Daniel_Rf, Saturday, 17 August 2024 18:00 (ten months ago)

Johnny Guitar finally clicked for me when I saw a good print of it on a big screen - it’s a genuinely operatic horse opera - it reminds me more of The Red Shoes than Red River.

Ward Fowler, Saturday, 17 August 2024 21:43 (ten months ago)

lol otm

The Zing from Another URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 17 August 2024 23:00 (ten months ago)

It's weird and I didn't know what to make of it the first time around but there stuff in it that has stuck with me all these years, I love the way Almodóvar used it in WOMEN ON THE EDGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN and there are cat fights in other Westerns, most notably in Anthony Mann's THE FURIES (actually can't think of any others right now). Or basically what Ward Fowler said.

The Zing from Another URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 17 August 2024 23:04 (ten months ago)

Love the "lie to me scene". I think the greatest of this film is that somehow, it makes melodrama its great strength

H.P, Saturday, 17 August 2024 23:58 (ten months ago)

I accidently hit enter a little early on that malformed sentence/idea 😬

H.P, Sunday, 18 August 2024 00:00 (ten months ago)

I think the greatest of this film is that somehow, it makes melodrama its great strength

That is film's great strength, period.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 18 August 2024 00:17 (ten months ago)

I accidently hit enter a little early on that malformed sentence/idea 😬

Welcome to the campclub

The Zing from Another URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 18 August 2024 00:19 (ten months ago)

Just found this: https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/westward-women-psychological-westerns

The Zing from Another URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 18 August 2024 00:21 (ten months ago)

Skimming now, seems good, has many films I wasn't recalling and a few I haven't seen.

The Zing from Another URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 18 August 2024 00:22 (ten months ago)

Found on Dailymotion:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8kcv9u

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 18 August 2024 11:29 (ten months ago)

So yeah, that was an enjoyable western, some very memorable scenes. Mercedes McCambridge was brilliant as Emma, really nailed that resentful small-town sadism. Set design and cinematography were beautiful. There was something a bit off about the editing or possibly the direction, lots of cuts which broke the geometry of scenes in a way I can't quite put my finger on. And I am sure this thing had a tragic ending, maybe because it feels like it should have. The two of them walking away together just feels a bit hollow after everything that's happened. - so yeah, fine on the whole, not going to go in my favourites list.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 26 August 2024 10:10 (ten months ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/Viaggio_in_Italia.jpg

Journey to Italy, Roberto Rosselini, 1954

Morbsies - No votes(!)
Sight & Sound Critics #72

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 26 August 2024 10:25 (ten months ago)

Ah no, found it in the Morbsies spreadsheet as "Voyage to Italy" at #879

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 26 August 2024 10:29 (ten months ago)

And it's on Youtube in decent quality. This is the right version? I can see a variety of running times on Wikipedia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDoF3uk9aWY

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 26 August 2024 10:32 (ten months ago)

A marvelous portrait of instability.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 26 August 2024 11:52 (ten months ago)

Flawed slightly by the male lead, I think.

I was looking for Europa '51 on YT the other day..

xyzzzz__, Monday, 26 August 2024 13:59 (ten months ago)

amazing bergman half, good sanders half

master of the pan (abanana), Monday, 26 August 2024 20:17 (ten months ago)

so what to make of this? Well yeah Bergman's half, with the troubled but awestruck travelogue, amazing, just beautiful, wistful ennui, I am already looking into a trip there next year. OTOH George Sanders' character was just a prick, nothing redeemed him at all, and when they got back together at the end I felt it was a bit anticlimactic - I mean obviously it made sense for the characters but just a downer that her buttoned-down anxieties make it comfortable to box herself into his little world.

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 7 September 2024 05:52 (ten months ago)

https://i.postimg.cc/cHby2gxK/MV5-BMzk4-ZGVm-NDYt-YWQ3-OS00-MGUz-LThh-ZTIt-ZGJk-Y2-Fk-NTE5-YWFl-L2lt-YWdl-L2lt-YWdl-Xk-Ey-Xk-Fqc-Gde-QXVy-NTc2-MDU0-NDE-V1.jpg

Ordet , Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955

Morbsies #520
Sight & Sound Critics #48
Sight & Sound Directors #30

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 7 September 2024 09:46 (ten months ago)

man I wish I loved this thing

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 7 September 2024 10:09 (ten months ago)

Day of Wrath is the Ordet I love

vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Saturday, 7 September 2024 10:15 (ten months ago)

same

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 7 September 2024 10:34 (ten months ago)

Ordet is incredible esp the ending.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 7 September 2024 12:23 (ten months ago)

Funny joek about that in a new film by a director who makes his own film at a similar rate. Slower even.

The Zing from Another URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 7 September 2024 23:26 (ten months ago)

Kierkegaard part of the plot? Keen!

H.P, Sunday, 8 September 2024 01:59 (ten months ago)

i don't care about religious conflicts. great simple cinematography though.

master of the pan (abanana), Sunday, 8 September 2024 02:00 (ten months ago)

It's the heart of art tho :*(

H.P, Sunday, 8 September 2024 02:01 (ten months ago)

Sorry I'll wait till I watch this to comment more

H.P, Sunday, 8 September 2024 02:01 (ten months ago)

Bunuel a more interesting and a funnier religious director

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 8 September 2024 02:41 (ten months ago)

I dunno, Bunuel's stuff often just makes me think "yes, agreed, and?". Dreyer more alien to me thus more interesting.

Daniel_Rf, Sunday, 8 September 2024 17:48 (ten months ago)

I've never thought of Bunuel and confirmation bias, but I suppose it makes sense. Dreyer's later work (like Eric H's beloved Gertrud) plays like sci fi to me.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 8 September 2024 17:55 (ten months ago)

Tarkovsky ftw

The Zing from Another URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 8 September 2024 20:16 (ten months ago)

Yes, these last two movies are both very good but I think of them stylistically as somewhat awkward precursors to Antonioni and Tarkovsky respectively.

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 11 September 2024 12:32 (ten months ago)

I deeply wept at four different occasions watching this

H.P, Wednesday, 18 September 2024 11:44 (nine months ago)

Instant top 5 films for me. Deeply, deeply moving. A miracle.

H.P, Wednesday, 18 September 2024 11:46 (nine months ago)

found kael's ordet blurb funny:

Carl Dreyer made two emotionally overpowering great films--THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC and DAY OF WRATH. He also made the visually and conceptually daring VAMPYR. But ORDET, which the world press greeted as his masterpiece, may be considerably less than that. Kaj Munk, author of the play, was a Danish pastor, famed for such statements as "It is better that Denmark's relations with Germany should suffer than that her relations with Jesus Christ should suffer." In 1944, the Nazis shot him through the head and tossed him in a ditch. His play, written on the text "O ye of little faith," deals with a modern Resurrection, and Dreyer treats it with extreme literalness. Some of us may find it difficult to accept the holy-madman protagonist (driven insane by too close study of Kierkegaard!), and even more difficult to accept Dreyer's use of the protagonist's home as a stage set for numerous entrances and exits, and altogether impossible to get involved in the factional strife between bright, happy Christianity and dark, gloomy Christianity--represented as they are by people sitting around drinking vast quantities of coffee. In Danish.

karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Wednesday, 18 September 2024 13:55 (nine months ago)

I don't often say it these days but Kael 100% otm. LOLed several times

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 September 2024 14:01 (nine months ago)

You won't be LOLling after close study of Kierkegaard!

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 18 September 2024 14:14 (nine months ago)

represented as they are by people sitting around drinking vast quantities of coffee

This is the only way to get me involved in duscussions of Christianity!

Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 18 September 2024 19:33 (nine months ago)

Negronis preferable tbh

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 September 2024 20:59 (nine months ago)

"Ordet" is on Netflix!

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 18 September 2024 22:23 (nine months ago)

It's not the Dreyer one though

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Thursday, 19 September 2024 01:30 (nine months ago)

It stars Michael J. Fox and Linda Hamilton.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 19 September 2024 02:06 (nine months ago)

Lol

Yes I got a little too excited, it’s by Gustaf Molander

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 19 September 2024 07:48 (nine months ago)

Ok I'm excited

xyzzzz__, Thursday, 19 September 2024 07:53 (nine months ago)

the proper one is currently available on slsk

This is Dance Anthems, have some respect (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 19 September 2024 08:43 (nine months ago)

Official thread theme tune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkZss7qE3bM

Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 19 September 2024 09:20 (nine months ago)

Anything new to say about the night of the hunter? I already got my two cents out on its dedicated thread

H.P, Saturday, 28 September 2024 11:42 (nine months ago)

chiilllllllldrennnn

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 28 September 2024 11:48 (nine months ago)

My favourite "classic" to show to people with certain preconceived notions about Golden Age Hollywood. By the time you reach the ending, even the "god bless the little children" sentiment feels a bit unnervingly surreal.

cryptosicko, Saturday, 28 September 2024 18:05 (nine months ago)

It's the furthest you can push against those notions I think - I can't think of another studio film that feels as much like an arthouse production.

Daniel_Rf, Monday, 30 September 2024 09:26 (nine months ago)

one month passes...

Finished Ordet a couple of weeks ago, I can see why people like it, it does have a slow-moving proto-Bergman kind of beauty, but just didn't grab me enough, IDK. Have not felt like posting again, but hey distractions are good again.

John Backflip (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 9 November 2024 13:59 (eight months ago)

So

John Backflip (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 9 November 2024 13:59 (eight months ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/The_Night_of_the_Hunter_%281955_poster%29.jpg

The Night of the Hunter, Charles Laughton, 1955

Morbsies #6
Sight & Sound Critics #25
Sight & Sound Directors #41

John Backflip (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 9 November 2024 14:01 (eight months ago)

Haven't seen this in full, but I've used clips in mixes.

John Backflip (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 9 November 2024 14:02 (eight months ago)

classic

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 9 November 2024 14:07 (eight months ago)

This is the only semester in years I haven't shown The Night of the Hunter in class and I miss it already.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 9 November 2024 14:08 (eight months ago)

Great great movie. (Shout-out James Agee.)

Blitz Primary (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 9 November 2024 14:21 (eight months ago)

been meaning to watch this for years, will put some time to this weekend

nxd, Saturday, 9 November 2024 16:08 (eight months ago)

the screenplay is worth reading too. it's in the library of america agee book.

master of the pan (abanana), Saturday, 9 November 2024 16:09 (eight months ago)

Should note that Laughton, in an appreciative gesture, let Agee claim sole credit, but Laughton rewrote the script from scratch.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 9 November 2024 16:11 (eight months ago)

Forgot about that

Sir Lester Leaps In (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 10 November 2024 13:52 (eight months ago)

I went into this movie for the first time expecting a classic noir. It is very much not that (I love both).

Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 12 November 2024 15:33 (eight months ago)

four weeks pass...

finally got around to seeing it yesterday
love the use of silhouettes and shadows throughout

nxd, Wednesday, 11 December 2024 09:26 (seven months ago)

What an odd and astonishing film, so much in there. His mix of repulsion and lust towards women. The mother's calm acceptance of her fate. The scene when the boat starts to drift down the river and the girl starts singing. The hypocrisy of the small-town neighbours. The boy's reaction when he sees him being held down and handcuffed as his father was. And just the cinematography in general, such care taken over shots like these.

https://i.imgur.com/ZwCEQRm.png

https://i.imgur.com/nz7CnTo.png

So yes, loved this.

bad love's all you'll get from me (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 13 December 2024 23:24 (seven months ago)

I wanna get EARL GREY knuckle tattoos in honor of this film

Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 13 December 2024 23:53 (seven months ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/Pather_panchali_poster_in_color_1.jpg

Pather Panchali, Satyajit Ray, 1955

Morbsies #130
Sight & Sound Critics #35
Sight & Sound Directors #22

bad love's all you'll get from me (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 21 December 2024 14:50 (six months ago)

Whole thing is on youtube with English subs in pretty good quality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2B7dpPFuiY

bad love's all you'll get from me (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 21 December 2024 14:50 (six months ago)

So great

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 21 December 2024 14:54 (six months ago)

Watching a 4K restoration in 2015 was one of my cinemania highlights.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 21 December 2024 15:50 (six months ago)

I watched Night Of The Hunter for the first time and I was spellbound. The soundtrack with Laughton doing some superhuman narration is well worth listening to

Sade of the Del Amitri (dog latin), Saturday, 21 December 2024 16:34 (six months ago)

It was probably only AI cliptext in my FB feed, but I just read some interesting and funny stuff from Jim Jarmusch about working with Mitchum.

James Carr Thief (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 21 December 2024 16:41 (six months ago)

I watched Pather Panchali a about a year back and I was confused about the first half hour, which doesn't seem connected to the rest of the movie. My guess was that Ray shot that part as a short and later turned it into the start of the feature, but I couldn't find much information about it. anyone know?

master of the pan (abanana), Saturday, 21 December 2024 21:15 (six months ago)

Finished Pather Panchali today, struck by how much it reminded me of Italian and French cinema, just a beautiful piece of work, especially the cinematography. Love these films which seem to meander along yet convey great personal drama at the same time.

MJ Slenderman (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 31 December 2024 19:03 (six months ago)

The other 2 in the trilogy are great too

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Tuesday, 31 December 2024 20:48 (six months ago)

^this

James Carr Thief (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 31 December 2024 22:54 (six months ago)

Yeah I will check them out for sure.

First though, let's start off 2025 with

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Night_and_Fog.jpg

Night and Fog (Nuit et brouillard), Alain Resnais, 1955 (or maybe 1956)

Morbsies #250

MJ Slenderman (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 1 January 2025 15:21 (six months ago)

A half-hour documentary about the Holocaust isn't usually how I like to start the year, I have to say. This is here because it was someone's #1 choice in the Morbsies.

MJ Slenderman (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 1 January 2025 15:24 (six months ago)

Having trouble finding this one online with English subtitles - but if you speak French or Spanish then this link is for you - https://archive.org/details/vimeo-123483626

MJ Slenderman (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 1 January 2025 15:26 (six months ago)

Well fucking hell. I knew that a Holocaust documentary was going to be hard-going, but still. Fucking hell.

MJ Slenderman (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 2 January 2025 21:38 (six months ago)

I saw Night and Fog at least a couple of times decades ago, and I found the distanced approach (and brevity) alleviated some of the tendency it could have had to be overwhelming - while never feeling like it was pulling back on the facts or softening the material.

Halfway there but for you, Friday, 3 January 2025 16:17 (six months ago)

I found the distancing made it all the more galling somehow. A brilliant piece of work but not watching that again.

MJ Slenderman (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 3 January 2025 18:25 (six months ago)

Here's one I absolutely love but haven't watched for a quarter of a century

MJ Slenderman (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 9 January 2025 22:46 (six months ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/A-man-escaped.jpg

A Man Escaped, Robert Bresson, 1956

Morbsies #118
Sight & Sound Critics #95
Sight & Sound Directors #41

MJ Slenderman (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 9 January 2025 22:48 (six months ago)

Perfection. No BS. Nothing there that doesn't need to be. Even my Dad thought it was brilliant when we watched it a year before he died and he wasn't one for subtitled films.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Thursday, 9 January 2025 22:57 (six months ago)

He loved Le Trou as well.

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Thursday, 9 January 2025 22:58 (six months ago)

There aren't very many subtitles needed, to be fair.

MJ Slenderman (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 9 January 2025 23:05 (six months ago)

My 13yo is watching Prison Break right now (?!) and I was reminded instantly of both those movies - will try and wedge at least one into the rotation (it helps that he speaks French)

Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 11 January 2025 22:14 (six months ago)

two weeks pass...

Watched this a week ago and haven't updated sorry. It was as great as ever, there was a lot more talking than I remembered. The actual escape scene at the end was unsurpassable, would love a whole film of just that sort of thing.

Inside The Wasp Factory with Gregg Wallace (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 25 January 2025 22:34 (five months ago)

Anyway, better press on

https://i.imgur.com/4720Izk.png

The Searchers, John Ford, 1956

Morbsies #211
Sight & Sound Critics #15
Sight & Sound Directors #72

Inside The Wasp Factory with Gregg Wallace (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 25 January 2025 22:37 (five months ago)

ooh my favorite contested classic!

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 26 January 2025 00:14 (five months ago)

beautiful film. shame that it's racist, the ending only makes half sense, and the "ethan is secretly attracted to his brother's wife" idea is nonsense.

master of the pan (abanana), Sunday, 26 January 2025 23:24 (five months ago)

I don't think you can separate the racism, and the movie does indict Edwards.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 26 January 2025 23:29 (five months ago)

two weeks pass...

Didn't like it. Felt like I was watching Triumph of The Will. Sure there's some nice cinematography, but to what end? If it wasn't 2025 I might have given it a chance, but it is 2025, and fuck all these people.

Inside The Wasp Factory with Gregg Wallace (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 14 February 2025 23:19 (five months ago)

I dunno man, I think the extent to which it is a critique of racism is overblown a fair bit by its partisans, but Triumph Of The Will...that's p hyperbolic imo.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 14 February 2025 23:23 (five months ago)

Hyperbolic maybe, that's just how it felt.

Inside The Wasp Factory with Gregg Wallace (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 14 February 2025 23:26 (five months ago)

Have you watched Triumph of the Will? I have not cuz yikes

rob, Saturday, 15 February 2025 01:59 (five months ago)

I have seen it, yes, it was on sale at a DVD stall in China for equivalent of 20p. Aside from the epic opening it was dull, lots of speeches and marching and nothing much else. Don't still have it of course, think I binned it.

Inside The Wasp Factory with Gregg Wallace (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 15 February 2025 08:19 (five months ago)

I guess my take on it has been documented several times on ILX: I basically think it's on a level with Heart Of Darkness in being skeptical of white notions of superiority but that the "deep down we're all savages" attitude doesn't do much to humanise non white characters, also the comedy bits are terrible. Others see more in it tho.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Saturday, 15 February 2025 10:56 (five months ago)

I feel no duty to give it a fair hearing, there are other films to watch.

Inside The Wasp Factory with Gregg Wallace (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 15 February 2025 11:13 (five months ago)

Fair enough!

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Saturday, 15 February 2025 11:19 (five months ago)

For example

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/69/Seventhsealposter.jpg

The Seventh Seal, Ingmar Bergman, 1957

Morbsies #192
Sight & Sound critics #136
Sight & Sound directors #75

Inside The Wasp Factory with Gregg Wallace (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 15 February 2025 11:21 (five months ago)

My second fave film ever!

Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 15 February 2025 13:30 (five months ago)


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