ILX Film Club, The (1924-2019)

the mr gower/young george scene is so incredibly harrowing.

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

Bitter Tea is in some ways an atypical outlier but yeah.

Some of Capra's late '30s films are way kitschier and cornier than IAWL.

Mr Smith Goes to Washington is a complete cheesefest but on balance I still enjoy it.

One of the funniest movie montages ever, Jimmy was BEATING their asses pic.twitter.com/VzTl4sBKHn

— Ben Crew (@BenjaminCrew1) November 24, 2023

so much for the tolerant uh

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.

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

The only trad cath socialists I know are members of my family, all of whom are in their 60s or older

anyway

https://i.imgur.com/oy2nS1D.jpg

Black Narcissus, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1947
Morbsies #106
Sight & Sound Critics #169

Sausages!

one of my top 3 Archers, i guess, as if that meant anything. suitably gothic too

Believe this was Jean Simmons’s follow-up role to Estella in Great Expectations. #onethread. What a one-two punch!

Guess something called Hungry Hill was in between.

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.

I still find it slightly odd that people were shocked by peeping Tom after this

I'm literally shocked just thinking about the scene with the lipstick. Shocked!

And stunned as well, no doubt.

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.

le peeping Tom c'est moi

I’ve long assumed that the ending influenced Vertigo but I don’t know if Hitchcock ever said as much.

never thought of that but very reminiscent I agree!

Whole thing is on youtube and in good quality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDm7GEnhh0I

Good point about Vertigo. Never thought about it consciously but feels like I felt it before.

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.

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.

https://i.imgur.com/gf59w9k.png

Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio De Sica, 1948

Morbsies #200
Sight & Sound Critics #41
Sight & Sound Directors #20

stressful

not bad iirc

Love it. One of the greatest for a good reason.

I owe it a rewatch, but there are so many Rossellini movies I still would rather see first

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.

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.

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.

No need to critique Bicycle Thieves in comparison to Rossellini. Italian neo-realism has stood up v well.

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.

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.

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

Paris, Texas (Wenders, 1984). Pretty successful translation of his road movie schtick to the US, with an excellent cast and score.

Let's get this restarted

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

Love it, tho I haven't seen it in years. Not my favorite Archers film — a bit portentous iirc — but beautiful to watch.

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.

Not my favorite Archers film — a bit portentous iirc

That's my conclusion