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Posts From the Internet Film Discussion Group, a_film_by
This group is dedicated to discussing film as art
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3401
From: bfimichael
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 4:27pm
Subject: Re: Chaplin/Keaton and Their Betters
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "jpcoursodon"
wrote:
>
>
> It's possible to admire both Chaplin and
> Keaton, although they are so different that it's hard to imagine
> someone loving and enjoying them both in the same way. It's futile
to
> always want to put one artist "above" or "under" another when they
> are at such a high level of achievement.
To my shame (though my excuse is that it's been incredibly hard to
catch halfway decent prints: during my six years as a rep cinema
programmer I never played a single Chaplin title, and it wasn't down
to prejudice), I've only just started exploring Chaplin's oeuvre in
any kind of depth, despite being extremely familiar with pretty much
Keaton's entire 1920s output for some twenty years.
But I'm glad it's worked out that way: I discovered Keaton as a
teenager, fascinated with the mechanics of both film and the wider
world (and enthralled by Kafka, Beckett and the Surrealists, all of
whom have strong thematic ties to Keaton's work), while I started
watching Chaplin properly as a thirtysomething parent. As a result,
a film like 'The Kid' has a huge emotional resonance for me today
that would almost certainly have passed me by twenty or even ten
years ago.
And the thing that's most struck me about Chaplin's post-1920 work
given what seems to be the prevailing consensus over the past forty
years or so is that he's been incredibly underrated as a director.
The subtlety (and not just for its era) of 'A Woman of Paris' in
particular was something of a revelation, and if it hadn't been for
the rather bovine passivity of Edna Purviance and Carl Miller as the
two leads (though Adolphe Menjou was sublime), it might have turned
out a little masterpiece and given Chaplin a fascinating alternative
career path.
Michael
3402
From: bfimichael
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 5:16pm
Subject: Re: Michael Powell's Bluebeard's Castle
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Peter Tonguette"
wrote:
> Anyway, I'm curious how many of you have seen these and what your
> opinions are. I'm a passionate fan of P&P, "The Red Shoes"
and "The
> Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" standing as my favorites, but I've
> seen virtually nothing after Powell's "Peeping Tom"...
By an amazing coincidence I read this on the very day that a DVD of
Powell's 1966 Australian film 'They're A Weird Mob' was finally
delivered after a wait of several months, and I'm greatly looking
forward to seeing it.
It seems to be practically unknown outside Australia but just about
every Australian I've mentioned it to says that everyone over there
knows it well. Indeed, it was one of the only really interesting
Australian films prior to 1970, when the government kick-started the
industry and the careers of Beresford, Schepisi, Armstrong, Weir,
Miller et al. As far as I can make out, it's a rather broad culture-
clash comedy about an Italian immigrant worker, but it should be
fascinating for all sorts of reasons.
We already cover a lot of 1930s and 1940s Powell & Pressburger on
Screenonline - http://www.screenonline.org.uk - which will be
extended to at least 'Peeping Tom' and hopefully beyond in the not
too distant future (our biggest headache with the post-1940s film is
the easily availability of cleared images and video clips). I have
too many personal favourites to list, but I will put in a word for
the extraordinary 'A Canterbury Tale' (1944), certainly Powell's most
deeply personal and possibly his strangest film. Does it get shown
much (or at all) outside Britain in the full 124-minute cut?
3403
From: bfimichael
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 5:24pm
Subject: Re: Michael Powell's Bluebeard's Castle
Oh, and just to follow up my own post, I can confirm that Powell's
1978 documentary 'Return to the Edge of the World' will be included
as a supplement on the BFI's forthcoming DVD of 'The Edge of the
World'. It will almost certainly be Region 2 PAL - if anyone's
interested, I'll post more details when I get them.
Michael
3404
From: hotlove666
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 6:30pm
Subject: Re: Cukor
>I think you're reading too much into it.<
--- jerome_gerber wrote:
> --- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "hotlove666"
> wrote:
> . My question is, is Cukor's
> > sexuality, which was discreet but certainly no
> secret, part of his
> > art? It certainly is in my favorite Cukor, Sylvia
> Scarlett, where
> > Hepburn causes confusion by dressing as a boy, but
> where
> else is it?
>
> Here's a thought. The post office sections of THE
> MARRYING
> KIND struck me as distinctly homosocial ...older men
>
> sheparding a younger man yet with more sensitivity
> than a
> straight director would perhaps exhibit. Also Chet's
> drunken
> dream...off the bed and down the shoots of the Post
> Office.
>
> Or am I reading too much into it?
>
I didn't mean that the nightmare can be read that way when I
agreed with Jerome's post, but I think the mentoring scene is an
example of a moment that suddenly becomes readable in a new
way when you accept the continuum Sedgwick posits by referring
to "homosocial desire" - also bearing in mind that it comes in
two varieties, male and female.
Another point Sedgwick makes - which perhaps could make
Cukor more interesting to gay studies - is that "The Closet" as a
source of epistemological incoherence didn't just vanish when
people came out of it - that's the subject of her second book.
I agree that from a social standpoint Cukor is now part of gay
history, but history is interesting, especially when the historical
figure is a genius who operated for almost fifty years at the heart
of the studio system. The Cahiers finally got around to doing
articles on four films in their Re-reading Classical Cinema
series in the 70s: a Ford, a Sternberg, a Griffith and Sylvia
Scarlett.
Finally, when I walked out of a LACMA senior screening of
Bhowani Junction last year (and read the program note about
what was cut by MGM), it finally dawned on me that Cukor wasn't
just about theatre and women - Bhowani Junction (like the
equally censored Chapman Report) is about sex, in a way that
was formally and thematically ahead of its time.
MGM is pretty good at preserving "trims" - has anyone gone
looking for those?
Also, he remains a blank in the history of the auteur theory. I even
know a few people who would like to read him out of it!
3405
From: Damien Bona
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 6:59pm
Subject: Re: Cukor; Wayne, Mason
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Gallagher" wrote:
> Richard Lippe . . .mentions Andrew Britton's argument in "Katherine
>Hepburn: The Thirties and After," that Hepburn's character
>in "Little Women" is implicitly constructed as lesbian, and her
>character in "Holiday" is implicitly bisexual. Liddle also thinks
>supporting male characters in "Little Woman" and "Sylvia Scarlett"
>are sexually ambiguous, while "Adam's Rib" "encourages the viewer
>to read [David Wayne's] character as homosexual while insisting he
>is heterosexual."
I think the only flaw in Adam's Rib is the concept of the David Wayne
character. He is so obviously gay that he even writes a Cole Porter
song, but there is his going for Katharine Hepburn.
A main theme in Cukor's ouevre is role-playing, which can be read
metaphorically as a look at gays getting by in straight society.
(Cukor wasn't exactly closeted but he was "discreet.") Even the
titles of some of his pictures work as codes: A Double Life, Two-
Faced Woman, A Life Of her Own.
Incidentally, the first time I saw The Women it was at the Regency
Theatre on a double-bill with Boys In The Band, and the two
complemented each other perfectly.
>Also, in "A Star is Born," unlike the character in the earlier
>Wellman > version, James Mason's character is "racked by
>insecurities" about his masculine identity.
There were undoubtedly some Pirandellian aspects to Mason's great
performance (If I had to choose the best performance by an actor in
an English language film, it would probably be this). I was once on
a panel with Mason's ex-wife, Pamela, at the old Ambassador Hotel in
L.A. She was commenting on all the affairs she carried out within
the bedrooms of the building. Someone in the audience professed
shock and asked, "But what about your husband?" She replied, "Oh,
James was British, and you know how the Britsish are. While I was
having affairs he was undoubtedly having affairs with men of his
own."
3406
From: jpcoursodon
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 7:05pm
Subject: Re: Cukor
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Gallagher" wrote:
> --- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "hotlove666"
wrote:
> > My question is, is Cukor's
> > sexuality, which was discreet but certainly no secret, part of
his
> > art?
>
> in "A Star is Born," unlike the character in the earlier Wellman
> version, James Mason's character is "racked by insecurities"
> about his masculine identity.
>
> He fucks a different girl just about every night (before marrying
Judy, of course) so naturally this must be interpreted as
being "racked with insecurities". I wish I were that insecure!
JPC
>
> Paul
3407
From: jpcoursodon
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 7:17pm
Subject: Re: Cukor; Wayne, Mason
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Damien Bona"
wrote:
> --- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Gallagher" wrote:
>
>
>
> I think the only flaw in Adam's Rib is the concept of the David
Wayne
> character. He is so obviously gay that he even writes a Cole
Porter
> song, but there is his going for Katharine Hepburn.
>
>
I don't think it's really a flaw. Kip (the Wayne character) is
obviously playing a role himself, pretending to pursue Amanda as a
(possible) cover for his homosexuality. His mode of courting is so
heavy-handed that it has its own ironic disclaimer built in. He knows
that Amanda won't have him as a lover and he therefore feels safe
playing his little game. Have you never met a gay guy who kept
flirting with women?
JPC
3408
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 7:39pm
Subject: Re: Re: Cukor
"Also, he remains a blank in the history of the auteur
theory. I even
know a few people who would like to read him out of
it!"
For that reason (and many others) I wish it were
possible for someone to put together a book that
assembled a judicious selection of Cukors' notes and
letters that are on file at the Academy library. This
has oten been talked about by others (Paul Morrissey
and Gavin lambert among them), and it's a daunting
task, but more than worth it if someone is capable of
putting up the money required for all the time and
effort.
When I wrote my book on gay hollywood I was looking
for very specific things in Cukor's letters and notes
(and found some very entertaining stuff including a
campy missive from Charles Walters) but it was hard to
avoid peeking at the wealth of other material that's
there. That's where I found that exchange of letters
between Cukor and Robert Bresson that I worte about
for "Positif."
Cukor was in the habit of writing up whole books of
notes for his actors. he would explain who the
character was and what the story was about in highly
allusive terms. He wouldn't talk in absolutes. He'd
recall a novel or painting or theatrical performance
that he saw to show his actors "what we're aiming for
here." And he wouldn't "talk down" to any of them.
Reading these notes is almost like having a
conversation with Cukor sitting right in front of you.
When he switched to color in the 50's Cukor's visual
style didn't so much change as expand. That's where
Hune and Gene Allen come inot the pictuyre. He could
rely on them to supply what he was looking for. And
there are a lot of things in the Cukor holdings about
this.
No one reading these notes could come away with the
impression that Cukor was anything other than a master
film director with full authoritative control of every
aspect of the art. We have only just begun to
appreciate Cukor.
--- hotlove666 wrote:
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3409
From:
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 3:01pm
Subject: Re: Re: Cukor
In a message dated 10/29/03 2:44:08 PM, cellar47@y... writes:
> We have only just begun to
>appreciate Cukor.
Wonderful post, David!
Peter
http://hometown.aol.com/ptonguette/index.html
3410
From: Patrick Ciccone
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 8:10pm
Subject: Re: Cukor
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, David Ehrenstein
> there. That's where I found that exchange of letters
> between Cukor and Robert Bresson that I worte about
> for "Positif."
David, is this where the story of Bresson's wanting to hire Burt
Lancaster and Natalie Wood for LANCELOT came from? I just can't
picture this--maybe Wood has a slightly Bressonian face, but
Lancaster?
PWC
3411
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 10:11pm
Subject: Re: Re: Cukor
Yes it is.
You can't imagine the look that came over my face when
I saw these letters. It's a complete 180 from
everything we've been taught about Bresson. He wasn't
as "pure" as he would lead you to believe.
--- Patrick Ciccone wrote:
> --- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, David Ehrenstein
>
> > there. That's where I found that exchange of
> letters
> > between Cukor and Robert Bresson that I worte
> about
> > for "Positif."
>
> David, is this where the story of Bresson's wanting
> to hire Burt
> Lancaster and Natalie Wood for LANCELOT came from?
> I just can't
> picture this--maybe Wood has a slightly Bressonian
> face, but
> Lancaster?
>
> PWC
>
>
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3412
From: jess_l_amortell
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 10:19pm
Subject: Re: Cukor
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, David Ehrenstein wrote:
> "I've never understood why Queer Theory, which is now
> practically a
> department in some colleges, and has produced some
> excellent writing
> about both literature and film, has never shown an
> interest in Cukor"
>
> Mainly because of the leaps and bounds made by
> EXPLICITLY gay filmmakers like Todd Haynes, Gus Van
> Sant, Patrice Chereau, Andre Techine, etc. Looking for
> the "gay subtext' of the past seems to many of little
> interest by comparasion.
And yet one scholar even purported to analyze Franz Schubert's music in terms of his "gayness," which I gather is only a matter of speculation. (And there must be other examples.)
3413
From: Michael Brooke
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 11:10pm
Subject: Re: Cukor
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "jess_l_amortell"
wrote:
>
> And yet one scholar even purported to analyze Franz Schubert's music
> in terms of his "gayness," which I gather is only a matter of
> speculation. (And there must be other examples.)
This may well be apocryphal, but I vaguely recall someone attempting
something similar with Frederic Chopin, about whom there's
overwhelming evidence of his heterosexuality. When challenged, the
scholar (more likely journalist) in question admitted that he hadn't
known that 'George Sand' (with whom Chopin had had a long-term affair)
was in fact a female novelist, but defended his piece by saying that
Chopin's music "sounded gay". Whatever that means.
Michael
3414
From:
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 6:35pm
Subject: Re: Cukor
David Ehrenstein's post on Cukor is fascinating!
Cukor usually does not get enough credit as a visual stylist. There are all
the complex pans in "A Double Life", "Pat and Mike" and "My Fair Lady"; the
long take camera movements in the parlor scene with Perkins and Simmons in "The
Actress" - camera movements of Ophulsian complexity; the amazing visual
spectacle in the opening theater sequence of "A Star in Born". He can be a visually
rich director.
Mike Grost
PS If Burt Lancaster had helped Robert Bresson make 50 movies instead of the
15 Bresson managed to direct, we would all be rejoicing today!
3415
From: jess_l_amortell
Date: Wed Oct 29, 2003 11:37pm
Subject: Re: Cukor
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Michael Brooke" wrote:
> This may well be apocryphal, but I vaguely recall someone attempting
> something similar with Frederic Chopin, about whom there's
> overwhelming evidence of his heterosexuality. When challenged, the
> scholar (more likely journalist) in question admitted that he hadn't
> known that 'George Sand' (with whom Chopin had had a long-term affair)
> was in fact a female novelist
In fairness, I should have made clear that the basic Schubert-as-gay thesis was somewhat more substantial than that, based on (Maynard Solomon's) reading of journals, letters and contemporary accounts, though apparently it was later discredited (or maybe not -- I haven't kept up with the debates). It's just that it was speculative compared to our knowledge of Cukor, say. Anyway, basically, you probably have to "get" auteurism in order to see Cukor as an auteur -- it's easier with Todd Haynes or Chereau (or Schubert).
3416
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 2:30am
Subject: Re: Cukor
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Dan Sallitt wrote:
> > He mentions Andrew Britton's argument in "Katherine Hepburn: The
> > Thirties and After," that Hepburn's character in "Little Women" is
> > implicitly constructed as lesbian, and her character in "Holiday"
> > is implicitly bisexual.
>
> After a certain point in her career, Hepburn comes across a bit mannish
> - but I wonder what Britton is thinking of with regard to HOLIDAY.
I'm not sure Britton's argument is persuasive. If I understand
correctly, he identifies Hepburn's character, Linda, with the
bisexuality thought to exist in early childhood prior to the
break with the mother and identification with the father. I'm not
sure whether Britton would claim that a real person in Linda's
situation would likely be bisexual, according to Freud, or
whether he just means she would be a more effective symbol if she
were bisexual.
Britton sees Hepburn as enacting the "return of the repressed,"
but in a positive, "conscious and intelligent allegiance to values
and experience which patriarchy necessarily inhibits."
He mentions the scene where Linda's father, Mr. Seton, lectures his
other daughter, Julia, on her upcoming engagement, using a
cigar as an analogy for Grant's character, Johnny. Since the cigar
was made on Seton's plantation for him, it is not only a phallic
symbol but a symbol of male economic power. But when Linda enters
and embraces him, Mr. Seton is alarmed, "you'll put out my cigar."
Britton also discusses the playroom, where both Linda and her
brother Ned found female companionship, independence
from the father, and identification with their late mother, whose
portrait hangs there. Julia is divided between the two spheres
and ultimately chooses identification with the father.
He emphasizes that Linda's break with her father is not brought
about or motivated by Johnny. She does it herself. And she is
never jealous of Julia; her love for her sister is always given
priority.
Britton writes, "The fact that she is ... siding with her mother,
and against construction as a 'little woman', has great
significance for the kind of heterosexual romance which is
affirmed through Linda and Johnny. Were the logic of Linda's
character to be fully realized, she would be bisexual -- and
'Holiday' can't do that. It can, however -- and it's enormously
to its credit that it does -- construct a female character whose
strength is not a matter of her 'masculinisation' and whose
heterosexuality is defined by an identification with her mother,
not as 'wife', but -- with a radical explitness -- as a woman in
opposition. From this perspective, Linda's unanswered question
to her father -- 'Was she a sweet soul, father? Was she
exciting?' -- appears, incontrovertibly, as the crux of the film."
Paul
3417
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:08am
Subject: Re: Re: Michael Powell's Bluebeard's Castle
Oh I've always wanted to see "They're a Weird Mob"!
"Age of Consent" -- Helen Mirren's debut -- is quite
teriffic.
Is "The Boy Who Turned Yellow" on video? This is the
children's telefilm that I think is Powell's very last
work.
--- bfimichael wrote:
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3418
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:48am
Subject: Re: Re: Cukor
"And yet one scholar even purported to analyze Franz
Schubert's music in terms of his "gayness," which I
gather is only a matter of speculation. (And there
must be other examples.)"
There's nothing "speculative" aout the fact that
Schubert was gay. Trying to isolate something
specifically "gay" about his music is where scholars
go off the deep end.
--- jess_l_amortell wrote:
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3419
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:48am
Subject: Re: Re: Cukor
Merci!
--- ptonguette@a... wrote:
> In a message dated 10/29/03 2:44:08 PM,
> cellar47@y... writes:
>
> > We have only just begun to
> >appreciate Cukor.
>
> Wonderful post, David!
>
> Peter
>
> http://hometown.aol.com/ptonguette/index.html
>
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3420
From: Michael Brooke
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 7:29am
Subject: Re: Michael Powell's Bluebeard's Castle
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, David Ehrenstein wrote:
> Oh I've always wanted to see "They're a Weird Mob"!
I'll report back when I've had a chance to see it - the DVD is, unsurprisingly,
Australian, and on the Roadshow Entertainment label. Unfortunately, I can now
confirm that it's Region 4 PAL, which means that I can't watch it on my locked-to-
Region 2 laptop during my daily commute, so I don't know when I'll be able to get
round to it.
> "Age of Consent" -- Helen Mirren's debut -- is quite
> teriffic.
I'm greatly looking forward to seeing this, not least because I'm specifically looking
for Shakespeare-related films for Screenonline, and this is clearly Powell's 'The
Tempest' in all but name. I can't remember why we haven't done it yet: the usual
reason is to do with rights and viewing materials (or both).
> Is "The Boy Who Turned Yellow" on video? This is the
> children's telefilm that I think is Powell's very last
> work.
>
It's not only his last feature but the last time he worked with Emeric Pressburger (who
also apparently made a pseudonymous contribution to 'They're A Weird Mob') -
'Return to the Edge of the World' was made six years later, but is only a short
documentary in which Powell and surviving cast members revisit the locations of his
breakthrough film.
I don't know about video availability - it was once available on VHS in Britain, but has
been deleted for years.
Michael
3421
From: Damien Bona
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 8:22am
Subject: Re: Cukor; Wayne, Mason
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "jpcoursodon"
wrote:
> >
> I don't think it's really a flaw. Kip (the Wayne character) is
> obviously playing a role himself, pretending to pursue Amanda as a
> (possible) cover for his homosexuality. His mode of courting is so
> heavy-handed that it has its own ironic disclaimer built in. He
knows
> that Amanda won't have him as a lover and he therefore feels safe
> playing his little game. Have you never met a gay guy who kept
> flirting with women?
I'm not sure if I buy this. Since Wayne's character is secondary in
the picture, I think he's there to provide a mirror and a foil to the
Tracy/Hepburn marriage, rather than to be a full-bofied person
commenting on his own status.
Certainly, Tracy's character didn't dismiss him as some silly fag.
Given that David Wayne made the film coming off his huge success on
the stage in Finian's Rainbow, I think he was intnded to provide a
comical portrait of a sophisticated New Yorker. I don't think
1949/50 audiences would associate that kind of rarified character
with homosexuality, although Cukor likely did.
3422
From: Henrik Sylow
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 10:22am
Subject: Re: Cukor
Fascinating reading gentlemen - I am rediscovering Cukor as the days
go by.
I have always been aware of his quality, the notion of being a
"woman's" director / man. I don't knew if he was gay (I don't care if
he was), I don't know if he really understood women as it is said he
did, but he could make them stand out and glow like no other director.
That was, in my humble opinion, his quality and for a studio, that was
as good as the Midas touch.
Perhaps its no wonder that he is "blank" in Auteurism, perhaps the
reason is, that he is no "auteur". Looking at Cukor as a director, we
can read his approach to directing, the way he would emote his way by
dialogue. We can study his films, dissect them. But when I do that, on
a casual level, and try to match it against various notions of
"auteurism", the door shots.
What if Cukor was content? After all, he was one of MGM's top
directors, he worked there basically for twenty years, he could pick
his own scripts - he was very much so a studio genius. But what if he
just enjoyed doing his job and lived quietly? To me Cukor stands out
as a very humble person, by the way he approached his actors, by the
way he directed. Perhaps that is the reason why he is a "blank".
In anyway, as David said, "We have only just begun to appreciate
Cukor."
Henrik
3423
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 2:34pm
Subject: Re: Re: Cukor
Speaking of Chopin, James Lapine's "Impromptu" with
Hugh Grant as Chopin and Judy Davis as George Sand is
an absolute delight.
--- Michael Brooke wrote:
> --- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "jess_l_amortell"
>
> wrote:
>
> >
> > And yet one scholar even purported to analyze
> Franz Schubert's music
> > in terms of his "gayness," which I gather is only
> a matter of
> > speculation. (And there must be other examples.)
>
> This may well be apocryphal, but I vaguely recall
> someone attempting
> something similar with Frederic Chopin, about whom
> there's
> overwhelming evidence of his heterosexuality. When
> challenged, the
> scholar (more likely journalist) in question
> admitted that he hadn't
> known that 'George Sand' (with whom Chopin had had a
> long-term affair)
> was in fact a female novelist, but defended his
> piece by saying that
> Chopin's music "sounded gay". Whatever that means.
>
> Michael
>
>
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3424
From: Zach Campbell
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 2:40pm
Subject: Re: Cukor
David:
> Speaking of Chopin, James Lapine's "Impromptu" with
> Hugh Grant as Chopin and Judy Davis as George Sand is
> an absolute delight.
I'll second this, if not as strongly--I saw it a few months ago.
Andrew Sarris had it topping one of his early 90's lists.
--Zach
3425
From: Elizabeth Nolan
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 3:40pm
Subject: P&P films
The RED SHOES and BLACK NARCISSUS play pretty regularly on TV, though
less than ideal, at least some exposure; I saw TL&D of Col BLIMP at the
SD MOPA last year and PEEPING TOM in a class at UCSD. It is possible
to see these films even in the frontier town of SD.
On Thursday, October 30, 2003, at 06:35 AM, a_film_by@yahoogroups.com
wrote:
> Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 17:16:25 -0000
> From: "bfimichael"
> Subject: Re: Michael Powell's Bluebeard's Castle
>
> --- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Peter Tonguette"
> wrote:
>
>> Anyway, I'm curious how many of you have seen these and what your
>> opinions are. I'm a passionate fan of P&P, "The Red Shoes" and "The
>> Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" standing as my favorites, but I've
>> seen virtually nothing after Powell's "Peeping Tom"...
3426
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 4:27pm
Subject: Re: Re: Cukor
"But what if he
just enjoyed doing his job and lived quietly? To me
Cukor stands out
as a very humble person, by the way he approached his
actors, by the
way he directed."
I'd say "relatively humble." h generalpublic certainly
didn't know of Cukor the way they knew of Hitchcock
and DeMille, but Hollywood certainly did. He was very
much a "star" among directors, and his counsel was
sought on all sorts of things. It was Cukor who
suggested Gloria Swanson to Billyw Wilder for "Sunset
Boulevard" after Wilder had struck out trying to
interest several other stars of the silent era. Wilder
hadn't been aware of the fact that Swanson was
flourishing in New York on television and in theater.
Thanks to Cukor Wilder went to Swanson and the rest is
history.
This is also why Cukor leaving "Gone With the Wind"
was such a big deal. The "woman's director" canard was
used against him in a very crude way, as "woman's
director" was Hollywood slang for gay -- and nothing
else. This WASN'T however the reason why he was
fired. GWTW was Selznick's project and he wanted to
make all the decisions -- and get all the credit.
Cukor, as is well known, did ALL the pre-production on
the film, shot all the screen tests, spent lord knows
how much time in research -- and got the shaft simply
because Selznick wanted all the credit for himself.
Cukor SHOULD have become a producer-director.he had
the talent for it, without question. And he had the
temperament. But I think he thought that if he went
this route he'd turn into another David O. Selznick,
and that he didn't want.
--- Henrik Sylow wrote:
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/
3427
From: Elizabeth Nolan
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 4:36pm
Subject: Off Topic: Frontier town of San Diego
Off topic, but felt compelled to mention following
Part of the reason SD has such tragic events this week is because SD
Fire sent some mutual aid to LA last week. When mutual aid is sent,
you cannot request it back. When the fires started here on Sunday, the
mutual aid for SD had to come from NORTH of LA and never got here until
MONDAY (and needed to rest after the 10 hour drive); Tuesday,
firefighters from Nevada and Utah arrived.
San Diego is America's Finest City, as well as America's FINAL
City...we are the end of the line. We are not the fantasy land that
many people think, but a border / frontier town with no help from the
SOUTH (excluding several small cities that look to SD for help) or WEST
and deserts and mountains to the EAST. LA was already asking for help.
You'll hear more about this as well as why the CALVARY (US NAVY) was
not called for help.
There is a lot of drama going on this week. I live on the peninsula /
island of Coronado across the bay from SD (talk about social class
differences, I grew up in the coal region in PA, am the only one of 6
children to go to college, have a PhD from Harvard & MD from Yale, and
live in Coronado). I have been only inconvenienced by the tragic FIRE
STORM / WAR. I saw this coming on Sunday, knowing about the fires,
drought and Santa Ana winds: I hunker down with water and food. We
have been indoors since Sunday (last night I went to a preview of HUMAN
STAIN). There is 24 hour television / radio coverage as the fire
doesn't go to bed at night. It is horrific and unrelenting (but not
like a war zone, when queried by a newscaster, a 90 yo war veteran
correctly informed the newscaster: There aren't dead bodies all over
the place {apologies to the 20 dead people and others physically
injured})...BUT THERE IS the unrelenting threat to many in the line of
FIRE.
3428
From: hotlove666
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:41pm
Subject: Off Topic
Hey ER, best wishes for survival from the town that sits on the
big fault. To the best of my knowledge there has never been a
great film about a forest fire, although Always probably has its
proponents. I'm sure I'll be corrected on that sweeping
statement if I'm wrong.
How was Human Stain? I loved the book, and Peter Tonguette
and I are Robert Benton fans - me particularly for Places in the
Heart (that last shot!) and The Late Show.
3429
From: George Robinson
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:42pm
Subject: Impromptu
Yes, it's lovely, with some very sly performances and arch, Cukoresque wit.
Unfortunately, Lapine's next film, "Life with Mikey" is pretty dreadful and
he's been reduced to the occasional TV movie when not working with much
greater success on Broadway.
g
The man who does not read good books
has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.
--Mark Twain
----- Original Message -----
From: "Zach Campbell"
To:
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 9:40 AM
Subject: [a_film_by] Re: Cukor
> David:
> > Speaking of Chopin, James Lapine's "Impromptu" with
> > Hugh Grant as Chopin and Judy Davis as George Sand is
> > an absolute delight.
>
> I'll second this, if not as strongly--I saw it a few months ago.
> Andrew Sarris had it topping one of his early 90's lists.
>
> --Zach
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> a_film_by-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
3430
From: hotlove666
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:43pm
Subject: Speaking of Chopin...
No kind words for A Song to Remember, David?
3431
From:
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 0:50pm
Subject: Re: Re: Cukor
In a message dated 10/29/03 5:24:38 PM, monterone@e... writes:
> And yet one scholar even purported to analyze Franz Schubert's music in
> terms of his "gayness," which I gather is only a matter of speculation. (And
> there must be other examples.)
>
For a corrective to practically everything that's been said on this list so
far on this subject, check out: Susan McClary's "Constructions of Subjectivity
in Schubert's Music" in Queering The Pitch.
Kevin
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
3432
From: Dan Sallitt
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:51pm
Subject: Re: Re: Michael Powell's Bluebeard's Castle
>>Anyway, I'm curious how many of you have seen these and what your
>>opinions are. I'm a passionate fan of P&P, "The Red Shoes"
> and "The
>>Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" standing as my favorites, but I've
>>seen virtually nothing after Powell's "Peeping Tom"...
My favorites are BLACK NARCISSUS and the amazing, slightly underrated
THE SMALL BACK ROOM. But there are a lot of good ones. THE 49TH
PARALLEL is excellent, and I'm very partial to GONE TO EARTH as well.
One Powell that I've never managed to like is PEEPING TOM, and I've seen
it many times. I'm okay with the unpleasant subject matter, but I
always feel that it has structural and dramatic problems.
> I have
> too many personal favourites to list, but I will put in a word for
> the extraordinary 'A Canterbury Tale' (1944), certainly Powell's most
> deeply personal and possibly his strangest film. Does it get shown
> much (or at all) outside Britain in the full 124-minute cut?
I'm almost certain that the long cut of this film has played in the US.
I didn't know what to make of it the first time I saw it, but liked it
quite a bit the second time. - Dan
3433
From: Nick Wrigley
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 6:01pm
Subject: A CANTERBURY TALE
> I'm almost certain that the long cut of this film has played in the US.
> I didn't know what to make of it the first time I saw it, but liked it
> quite a bit the second time.
A CANTERBURY TALE is my favourite English film. I went to university in
Canterbury and recognise many of the locations. It's extremely spooky
to see it heavily bombed out though (real German bombings too). What a
strange and beguiling film it is!
-
I just bought the new P&P UK 3 x DVD set for £12.99 (containing BLIMP,
A MATTER, and I KNOW). Cracking value, especially as the Carlton
transfers rival the Criterion release of BLIMP.
TALES OF HOFFMAN looks a long way off (from Criterion at least, they're
saying 2005).
-N>-
3434
From: jerome_gerber
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 6:40pm
Subject: Re: Cukor
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, David Ehrenstein
wrote:
David...I gather that putting the blame for Cukor's firing on Clark
Gable's feet was a strawman for a power move by Selznick.
Jerry
>
> This is also why Cukor leaving "Gone With the Wind"
> was such a big deal. The "woman's director" canard was
> used against him in a very crude way, as "woman's
> director" was Hollywood slang for gay -- and nothing
> else. This WASN'T however the reason why he was
> fired. GWTW was Selznick's project and he wanted to
> make all the decisions -- and get all the credit.
> Cukor, as is well known, did ALL the pre-production on
> the film, shot all the screen tests, spent lord knows
> how much time in research -- and got the shaft simply
> because Selznick wanted all the credit for himself.
>
3435
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 8:53pm
Subject: Re: Speaking of Chopin...
Only from Frank O'Hara ( in "To the Film Industry in
Crisis" a poem everyone on this list MUST read):
"Cornel Wilde coughing blood on the piano keys while
Merle Oberon berates,"
--- hotlove666 wrote:
> No kind words for A Song to Remember, David?
>
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/
3436
From: jpcoursodon
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 10:41pm
Subject: Powell: reminiscing
As one who spent the best part of two years translating Powell's
wonderful two-volume autobiography into French I feel compelled to
reminisce a bit about P&P. "A Matter of Life and Death" was the first
foreign (non-French) movie I ever saw subtitled, rather than
dubbed ,and I think it may have changed my life (I was about 14),
launching me on the cinephilia track (even earlier one of my first
film memories is watching The Thief of Bagdad on the huge screen of
the Gaumont Palace -now defunct- in Paris). I also remember living,
ten years later, in Twickenham (Middlesex)near the film studios where
Powell shot some of his early movies, and one of his last ones
(Sebastian), and soon after in London, coincidentally near the house
where part of Peeping Tom, one of my favorite Powells, was filmed.
I wrote about the 1940-50 period in Positif #478 (December 2000).
Another favorite:The Small Back Room, which no one has mentioned
here. Also of course Blimp, Narcissus, Canterbury, I Know Where I'm
Going!
Peeping Tom destroyed his career, but he was never sorry to have made
it. "An artist must be shameless," he wrote.
JPC
3437
From: Michael Brooke
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 10:54pm
Subject: Re: Powell: reminiscing
Since we all seem to be trawling through our various Powell
reminiscences, I thought I'd mention the time when I recognised Brian
Easdale queuing outside the repertory cinema I used to manage - we
were showing a triple bill of 'Black Narcissus', 'The Red Shoes' and
'Gone to Earth', all of which he'd scored.
Needless to say, I let him in free - how could I not?
Michael
3438
From:
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 6:05pm
Subject: Re: Off Topic
In a message dated 10/30/2003 12:45:54 Eastern Standard Time,
hotlove666@y... writes:
> How was Human Stain? I loved the book, and Peter Tonguette
> and I are Robert Benton fans - me particularly for Places in the
> Heart (that last shot!) and The Late Show.
I'm also curious for opinions on "The Human Stain," not having seen it yet
myself. My own favorite Bentons are probably his two quiet elegies from the
'90s: "Nobody's Fool" and the wonderful "Twilight."
Bill, I take it your that your love for "Places in the Heart" exceeds even
your dislike for Mr. Malkovich? :)
Peter
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
3439
From: Gabe Klinger
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 11:38pm
Subject: Cinematic Stain
Peter asked:
> I'm also curious for opinions on "The Human Stain," not having seen it
> yet
> myself.
I found it unbearable. I don't know if Benton has brought much of
anything to this adaptation but if he has it is obscured by the bland
"prestige" elements which have been beaten disproportionately into the
film by Miramax, the Weinsteins, etc. Everything is wrong starting with
the casting, Nicole Kidman as a broke postal worker who is naked a lot
(I'll take a clothed Kidman in DOGVILLE over this any day), Anthony
Hopkins with a horrible accent, lame, contrived voice work by Gary
Sinese. ABove everything, I don't understand why the characters in this
film interact the way they do, that they would ever interact this way
in real life or in any fiction...it's a bad amalgam of year-end Oscar
bait pictures, and I found it extremely weird, unsettling, and enraging.
Gabe
3440
From: hotlove666
Date: Thu Oct 30, 2003 11:38pm
Subject: The Malkovich Question
Peter wrote:
>Bill, I take it your that your love for "Places in the Heart" exceeds
even your dislike for Mr. Malkovich? )<
That was before my vow. Actually, he wasn't bad in that.
3441
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 0:49am
Subject: Borzage at UCLA
Four weeks of Borzage at UCLA, starting November 1:
'A Farewell to Arms'
'Man's Castle' and 'Bad Girl'
'7th Heaven' [and 'Jules and Jim']
'History is Made at Night' and 'Desire'
'The Mortal Storm' and 'Three Comrades'
'I've Always Loved You' & 'I Know Where I'm Going'
'The River' and 'Moonrise'
'Street Angel'
'Humoresque' and 'Pyaasa'
3442
From: Jaime N. Christley
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 4:25am
Subject: Kubelka
Tonight we watched four films by Peter Kubelka: OUR TRIP TO AFRICA,
SCHWECHATER, ARNULF RAINER, and ADEBAR. I did not "love" any of them
but found them each interesting for different reasons. (On the other
hand, the three Bruce Conner films we saw ranged from pretty great [A
MOVIE; my 3rd viewing] to very great [REPORT] to amazingly great upon
great multiplied [COSMIC RAY].)
I'm not here to give an evaluation of Kubelka or even these four
films. But I have two questions: one is a request, would anyone
like to share their thoughts on Kubelka so that I (and anyone else
who's interested in the filmmaker) may next time stand a chance of
coming away from his work with a better impression.
I have already read this page, once before tonight and again, just a
few minutes ago:
http://www.fredcamper.com/Film/Kubelka.html
And it's been enormously helpful. But my second question, then, is
for Fred: you don't mention the sound of ARNULF RAINER at all. Did
you watch it silent? I do not think it's supposed to be a silent
film: the soundtrack is not the bub-bub-bub-bub-bub-bub of a silent
film with the sound left on. It alternates "white noise" (radio
static, unvarying in tone, pitch and intensity) with silence,
sometimes matching the shifts between black and white, sometimes
not. This would seem to complicate the description you give on your
web site.
Thanks, and I hope you aren't angry with me for not loving
SCHWECHATER as much as you.
-Jaime
3443
From: George Robinson
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 5:07am
Subject: Re: Cinematic Stain
I'm in total agreement. The film has no rhythm, no texture. Internally the
scenes are sluggish and I suspect Harvey's been at it with the scissors.
Hopkins, Sinise and Kidman are dreadfully miscast and give lifeless
"actorish" performances, Meyer and Benton have eviscerated the book,
reducing it to a series of plot points.
For more of my foaming at the mouth, see:
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=8636
G
The man who does not read good books
has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.
--Mark Twain
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gabe Klinger"
To:
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 6:38 PM
Subject: [a_film_by] Cinematic Stain
>
> Peter asked:
>
> > I'm also curious for opinions on "The Human Stain," not having seen it
> > yet
> > myself.
>
> I found it unbearable. I don't know if Benton has brought much of
> anything to this adaptation but if he has it is obscured by the bland
> "prestige" elements which have been beaten disproportionately into the
> film by Miramax, the Weinsteins, etc. Everything is wrong starting with
> the casting, Nicole Kidman as a broke postal worker who is naked a lot
> (I'll take a clothed Kidman in DOGVILLE over this any day), Anthony
> Hopkins with a horrible accent, lame, contrived voice work by Gary
> Sinese. ABove everything, I don't understand why the characters in this
> film interact the way they do, that they would ever interact this way
> in real life or in any fiction...it's a bad amalgam of year-end Oscar
> bait pictures, and I found it extremely weird, unsettling, and enraging.
>
> Gabe
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> a_film_by-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
3444
From: Joshua Rothkopf
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 5:41am
Subject: Re: Cinematic Stain
Peter, then Gabe:
> > I'm also curious for opinions on "The Human Stain," not having seen it
> > yet
> > myself.
>
> I found it unbearable. I don't know if Benton has brought much of
> anything to this adaptation but if he has it is obscured by the bland
> "prestige" elements which have been beaten disproportionately into the
> film by Miramax, the Weinsteins, etc. Everything is wrong starting with
> the casting, Nicole Kidman as a broke postal worker who is naked a lot
> (I'll take a clothed Kidman in DOGVILLE over this any day), Anthony
> Hopkins with a horrible accent, lame, contrived voice work by Gary
> Sinese. ABove everything, I don't understand why the characters in this
> film interact the way they do, that they would ever interact this way
> in real life or in any fiction...it's a bad amalgam of year-end Oscar
> bait pictures, and I found it extremely weird, unsettling, and enraging.
And yet, another opinion. While I wouldn't disagree with you that STAIN feels
especially "prestigy," your singling of Miramax and Harvey feels kind of kneejerk. Are
we not talking about the same director/writer of KRAMER VS. KRAMER, PLACES IN THE
HEART and TWILIGHT? (Incidentally, Benton's sole producer credit, THE HOUSE ON
CARROLL STREET, is easily the most syrupy movie ever made about the McCarthy
witchhunt.)
Added to that, the conception of the novel (which I haven't read) seems fairly
pretentious to begin with: nudge-nudge Clintonite scandal, Important Race Issues,
that godawful title, etc. Anyway, it's no more pretentious than Tarantino's "Look at
me, I've seen so many martial arts films" (also a Miramax production).
That said, I thought this was Kidman's best performance since TO DIE FOR, perhaps of
her career to date. (Gabe, did you see some director's cut? She's a campus janitor, not
a postal worker, and her nudity is limited to, if I recall correctly, three tasteful shots.)
No prosthetic nose, no slowing her down a la EYES WIDE SHUT, no flouncing around
like MOULIN ROUGE. She sinks into the frowsiness of a truly louche character in a way
that I thought was completely persuasive and relaxed. Finally, she doesn't seem to be
making apologies for her looks, and is just *being* in a role.
Hopkins is terrible. Is he not the whitest actor ever? Who ever convinced him he could
play a (closeted) black man, much less a Jew? Oy vey.
-joshua
3445
From: George Robinson
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 5:46am
Subject: Re: Re: Cinematic Stain
Actually, Faunia, the Kidman character, works several jobs, including one at
the post office, which is where she and Coleman Silk first meet.
And the use of Monica-gate in the novel actually works pretty well. The
problem is that it's such a literary conceit that it should have been the
first thing that Meyer and Benton dumped when they began looking to adapt
the book.
g
The man who does not read good books
has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.
--Mark Twain
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joshua Rothkopf"
To:
Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 12:41 AM
Subject: [a_film_by] Re: Cinematic Stain
>
> And yet, another opinion. While I wouldn't disagree with you that STAIN
feels
> especially "prestigy," your singling of Miramax and Harvey feels kind of
kneejerk. Are
> we not talking about the same director/writer of KRAMER VS. KRAMER, PLACES
IN THE
> HEART and TWILIGHT? (Incidentally, Benton's sole producer credit, THE
HOUSE ON
> CARROLL STREET, is easily the most syrupy movie ever made about the
McCarthy
> witchhunt.)
>
> Added to that, the conception of the novel (which I haven't read) seems
fairly
> pretentious to begin with: nudge-nudge Clintonite scandal, Important Race
Issues,
> that godawful title, etc. Anyway, it's no more pretentious than
Tarantino's "Look at
> me, I've seen so many martial arts films" (also a Miramax production).
>
> That said, I thought this was Kidman's best performance since TO DIE FOR,
perhaps of
> her career to date. (Gabe, did you see some director's cut? She's a campus
janitor, not
> a postal worker, and her nudity is limited to, if I recall correctly,
three tasteful shots.)
> No prosthetic nose, no slowing her down a la EYES WIDE SHUT, no flouncing
around
> like MOULIN ROUGE. She sinks into the frowsiness of a truly louche
character in a way
> that I thought was completely persuasive and relaxed. Finally, she doesn't
seem to be
> making apologies for her looks, and is just *being* in a role.
>
> Hopkins is terrible. Is he not the whitest actor ever? Who ever convinced
him he could
> play a (closeted) black man, much less a Jew? Oy vey.
>
> -joshua
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> a_film_by-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
3446
From: Jaime N. Christley
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 5:48am
Subject: Re: Cinematic Stain
> (Incidentally, Benton's sole producer credit, THE HOUSE ON
> CARROLL STREET, is easily the most syrupy movie ever made about the
> McCarthy witchhunt.)
O thou hast not seen MY SON JOHN (although it happens to be a great
film). Helen Hayes plays to the balcony and the balcony behind it.
And it's PRO-McCarthy (or is it, etc)!
-Jaime
3447
From: Joshua Rothkopf
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 5:58am
Subject: Re: Cinematic Stain
George:
> Actually, Faunia, the Kidman character, works several jobs, including one at
> the post office, which is where she and Coleman Silk first meet.
This is true -- several jobs. I stand corrected; I guess was associating her work with
the majority of her scenes on the campus.
But George, I'm honestly intrigued: How is Monica-gate turned into a "literary conceit"
in the novel? Also, isn't this an element that *was* laregly dropped from the (still
unsuccessful) screenplay, which instead focuses on the equally pretentious Coleman
backstory and the loony veteran angle?
-jr
> And the use of Monica-gate in the novel actually works pretty well. The
> problem is that it's such a literary conceit that it should have been the
> first thing that Meyer and Benton dumped when they began looking to adapt
> the book.
>
> g
>
> The man who does not read good books
> has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.
> --Mark Twain
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Joshua Rothkopf"
> To:
> Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 12:41 AM
> Subject: [a_film_by] Re: Cinematic Stain
>
>
> >
> > And yet, another opinion. While I wouldn't disagree with you that STAIN
> feels
> > especially "prestigy," your singling of Miramax and Harvey feels kind of
> kneejerk. Are
> > we not talking about the same director/writer of KRAMER VS. KRAMER, PLACES
> IN THE
> > HEART and TWILIGHT? (Incidentally, Benton's sole producer credit, THE
> HOUSE ON
> > CARROLL STREET, is easily the most syrupy movie ever made about the
> McCarthy
> > witchhunt.)
> >
> > Added to that, the conception of the novel (which I haven't read) seems
> fairly
> > pretentious to begin with: nudge-nudge Clintonite scandal, Important Race
> Issues,
> > that godawful title, etc. Anyway, it's no more pretentious than
> Tarantino's "Look at
> > me, I've seen so many martial arts films" (also a Miramax production).
> >
> > That said, I thought this was Kidman's best performance since TO DIE FOR,
> perhaps of
> > her career to date. (Gabe, did you see some director's cut? She's a campus
> janitor, not
> > a postal worker, and her nudity is limited to, if I recall correctly,
> three tasteful shots.)
> > No prosthetic nose, no slowing her down a la EYES WIDE SHUT, no flouncing
> around
> > like MOULIN ROUGE. She sinks into the frowsiness of a truly louche
> character in a way
> > that I thought was completely persuasive and relaxed. Finally, she doesn't
> seem to be
> > making apologies for her looks, and is just *being* in a role.
> >
> > Hopkins is terrible. Is he not the whitest actor ever? Who ever convinced
> him he could
> > play a (closeted) black man, much less a Jew? Oy vey.
> >
> > -joshua
> >
> >
> >
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > a_film_by-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> >
> >
> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> >
> >
> >
> >
3448
From:
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 1:00am
Subject: My Son John
In a message dated 10/30/03 9:49:24 PM, j_christley@y... writes:
>And it's PRO-McCarthy (or is it, etc)!
I would tend to agree with Tag that the film makes pretty clear that Hayes is
driven completely nuts by the witchhunt. This isn't to say that the film is
pro-communism or anything like that, but I would say (again echoing Tag) that
it's very much anti-treating-people-as-political-things rather than as people;
this is what John does to his parents and what his parents eventually do to
him.
It's a beautiful film (pace the final reel) anyway. I'd actually be really
curious for Jonathan to say a few words on it since it makes his Alternate AFI
100.
Peter
http://hometown.aol.com/ptonguette/index.html
3449
From: Rick Segreda
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 6:03am
Subject: Re: Speaking of Chopin...
I remember seeing "Song to Remember" in the 1970's shortly after seeing Masterpiece Theatre's superb "Notorious Woman" featuring Rosemary Harris as George Sand. The disparity in the acting, direction, and writing between the latter and the former was too depressing for words.
David Ehrenstein wrote:
Only from Frank O'Hara ( in "To the Film Industry in
Crisis" a poem everyone on this list MUST read):
"Cornel Wilde coughing blood on the piano keys while
Merle Oberon berates,"
---------------------------------
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3450
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 6:16am
Subject: Re: Speaking of Chopin...
Let's leave the last word to the sublime Cole Porter
(from the score of "Nymph Errant"):
"Georgia Sand was an authoress
Who all through her kife had great success
Not only with her books
But also with her looks.
Among the boys who gave her fun
Young Alfred de Musset was the one
That Georgia loved the most
For he was such a good host.
Ev'ry night that beau of Georgia's
Gave an affair that woud scare the Borgias,
French champagne and Russian ballets,
Ellington's band and Rudy Vallee's
All went well til one fine night
Her favorite of males
Gave a ball and to shock them all
Georgia came in tails.
When he saw his best girl in trousers,
Alfred nearly died.
And in front of all those carousers,
Alfred loudly cried:
Georgia Sand, dressed up like a gent
Georgia Sand, what do you represent?
Where are your frills
That gave me such thrills?
Where are those undies
That made my Saturdays-to-Mondays?
Georgia Sand, can't you understand
Though I worship you
You're a little too
Plump I fear
To pull a Marlene Dietrich dear.
George Sand, go home and change."
--- Rick Segreda wrote:
__________________________________
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3451
From: Dan Sallitt
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 6:29am
Subject: Re: Borzage at UCLA
> Four weeks of Borzage at UCLA, starting November 1:
>
> 'Humoresque' and 'Pyaasa'
The Guru Dutt film? What is it doing in a Borzage series? - Dan
3452
From: Dan Sallitt
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 6:37am
Subject: Re: Re: NYC: Barnet
The schedule for the NYC Barnet series is available. Sadly, there are
only nine films on it, and only seven of them are directed by Barnet:
they used up one slot for Kuleshov's MR. WEST and another for a 1989
remake of OKRAINA, by one Pyotr Lutski.
I can't complain too much about the selection: THE HOUSE ON TRUBNAYA
SQUARE, ONCE AT NIGHT (which they call DARK IS THE NIGHT), OKRAINA, THE
GIRL WITH THE HAT BOX, BY THE BLUEST OF SEAS, ALYONKA (which they call
ALENKA), and BOUNTIFUL SUMMER.
No SCOUT'S EXPLOIT, or WHISTLE STOP, or WRESTLER AND THE CLOWN, or OLD
JOCKEY...
- Dan
3453
From: Rick Segreda
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 6:39am
Subject: Happy Halloween! (on horrible horror films)
My seasonal insomnia has reared it's restless head again, which gave me an excuse to reach for the remote, click on AMC, and watch those two William "one take" Beaudine--Carl Hittleman classics, "Billy the Kid vs Dracula" and "Jesse James meets Frankenstein's Daughter." If I ever get a teaching gig I would love to offer a course on bad movies. I have to admit that they have always fascinated me, and these two movies are almost lulling in the solemn way Beaudine directs the silliest concepts ("Count Frankenstien's Viennese granddaughter, who has a Swedish accent, relocates to the old west to continue grandpa's evil science, and there she falls in love with, and is spurned by, Jesse James, so she vows revenge...") ever for either a western or horror movie. This solemn straightforwardness extends to the acting, and part of the fascination for me is wondering what everybody in front of the camera must be thinking as they read their lines. In their own unintentional way, these movies say
something profound about the human will to dream and survive.
---------------------------------
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3454
From: George Robinson
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 6:48am
Subject: Re: Re: Cinematic Stain
Without going into huge detail -- you probably should read the book -- it's
part of Zuckerman/Roth's rumbustious, raging tantrum about American
hypocrisy and, taken in tandem with the complex time structure of the novel,
is part of some interesting ruminations on the American past. Hoberman put
it nicely in his piece: "The novel has a time-traveling investigative
structure worthy of the young Orson Welles and tragic themes that tunnel
deep into the national past."
Makes it sound a lot more pompous than it is. One of the problems with
trying to reduce Roth to his themes or his structures is you forget how
funny he is. Which reminds me of another problem with the film -- it is
desperately humorless.
Incidentally, Hoberman is someone whose name I don't recall seeing raised
here. I'm curious how many list-members share my deep ambivalence towards
his writing. But that's another thread altogether.
g
The man who does not read good books
has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.
--Mark Twain
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joshua Rothkopf"
To:
Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 12:58 AM
Subject: [a_film_by] Re: Cinematic Stain
[SNIP]
>> But George, I'm honestly intrigued: How is Monica-gate turned into a
"literary conceit"
> in the novel? Also, isn't this an element that *was* laregly dropped from
the (still
> unsuccessful) screenplay, which instead focuses on the equally pretentious
Coleman
> backstory and the loony veteran angle?
>
> -jr
>
>
> > And the use of Monica-gate in the novel actually works pretty well. The
> > problem is that it's such a literary conceit that it should have been
the
> > first thing that Meyer and Benton dumped when they began looking to
adapt
> > the book.
> >
> > g
> >
> > The man who does not read good books
> > has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.
> > --Mark Twain
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Joshua Rothkopf"
> > To:
> > Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 12:41 AM
> > Subject: [a_film_by] Re: Cinematic Stain
> >
> >
> > >
> > > And yet, another opinion. While I wouldn't disagree with you that
STAIN
> > feels
> > > especially "prestigy," your singling of Miramax and Harvey feels kind
of
> > kneejerk. Are
> > > we not talking about the same director/writer of KRAMER VS. KRAMER,
PLACES
> > IN THE
> > > HEART and TWILIGHT? (Incidentally, Benton's sole producer credit, THE
> > HOUSE ON
> > > CARROLL STREET, is easily the most syrupy movie ever made about the
> > McCarthy
> > > witchhunt.)
> > >
> > > Added to that, the conception of the novel (which I haven't read)
seems
> > fairly
> > > pretentious to begin with: nudge-nudge Clintonite scandal, Important
Race
> > Issues,
> > > that godawful title, etc. Anyway, it's no more pretentious than
> > Tarantino's "Look at
> > > me, I've seen so many martial arts films" (also a Miramax production).
> > >
> > > That said, I thought this was Kidman's best performance since TO DIE
FOR,
> > perhaps of
> > > her career to date. (Gabe, did you see some director's cut? She's a
campus
> > janitor, not
> > > a postal worker, and her nudity is limited to, if I recall correctly,
> > three tasteful shots.)
> > > No prosthetic nose, no slowing her down a la EYES WIDE SHUT, no
flouncing
> > around
> > > like MOULIN ROUGE. She sinks into the frowsiness of a truly louche
> > character in a way
> > > that I thought was completely persuasive and relaxed. Finally, she
doesn't
> > seem to be
> > > making apologies for her looks, and is just *being* in a role.
> > >
> > > Hopkins is terrible. Is he not the whitest actor ever? Who ever
convinced
> > him he could
> > > play a (closeted) black man, much less a Jew? Oy vey.
> > >
> > > -joshua
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > > a_film_by-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> a_film_by-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
3455
From: Rick Segreda
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 6:54am
Subject: Happy Halloween II! (good recent horror movies)
Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later..." almost went straight to DVD after a very brief run in theatres, this despite good reviews and word-of-mouth. The DVD is supposed to have bloodier and more pessimistic alternative endings, which I am glad I did not see, and don't really want to see (at least not yet). Anyhow, it should make my "best of 2003" list this year.
---------------------------------
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3456
From: Rick Segreda
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:12am
Subject: Jim Hoberman
To me, Jim Hoberman has always embodied one conception of leftist aesthetics and politics as being primarily in opposition to popular tastes or movements, regardless of whether the opposition is merited or not. The point is maintaining a certain elistist and supercilious distance from what is popular. Hence, his high regard for avant-garde movies. He does praise mainstream directors and films on occassion, but only if he can identify "subversive" qualities to their work. Like so many of this philosophy, he is especially hard on films that betray warm human feelings. Not surprisingly, this school of thought invariably betrays a cliched and reverse sentimental notions that confuse cynicism with insight and pessimism with profundity.
"Incidentally, Hoberman is someone whose name I don't recall seeing raised
here. I'm curious how many list-members share my deep ambivalence towards
his writing. But that's another thread altogether."
---------------------------------
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3457
From: Michael Brooke
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:28am
Subject: Re: Happy Halloween! (on horrible horror films)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Rick Segreda wrote:
> This solemn straightforwardness extends to the acting, and part of the fascination
> for me is wondering what everybody in front of the camera must be thinking as they
> read their lines. In their own unintentional way, these movies say
> something profound about the human will to dream and survive.
One of the many things I love about Tim Burton's 'Ed Wood' is the way it dramatises
this process by portraying Wood as an irredeemable optimist well beyond the point of
common sense or sanity - "What's that? It's the worst film you've ever seen? Well, my
next one will be better!".
Gilbert Adair beautifully encapsulates up this optimism in his book 'Flickers' - "Wood
seats himself behind his camera, Griffithian megaphone in hand. He cries out Action!,
the 'Open Sesame' of all filmmaking, the inept as well as the ept. Lugosi, a game old
pro, who has doubtless been here before, immerses his decrepit frame in the water
and begins frantically to engage in a to-the-death combat with the muppety monster.
Cut! The eternally optimistic Wood can barely contain his enthusiasm. And it is, on
his part, nothing but sheer, blinkered optimism, for in the cold, black dawn of a
cinema auditorium, the struggle can only produce derisive laughter. And yet... there
is about it, too, in view of poor Lugosi's age and fatigue, a hint of genuine grandeur.
For a brief moment at least, we too, like Wood, believe."
3458
From: Damien Bona
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:29am
Subject: No Ray Of Hope
I was flipping channels last night and came across a PBS special of
the inaugural program from the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney
Concert Hall in L.A.
With his customary gee-whiz pomposity, Tom Hanks introduced a Bernard
Herrmann medley of movements from Vertigo and On Dangerous Ground,
asserting that apart from the music the latter is "an otherwise
modest film noir." Sheesh, even in this day and age, Nick Ray can't
get any respect in Hollywood . . . Unbelievable.
On Dangerous Ground is a great film.
3459
From: Joshua Rothkopf
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:35am
Subject: Re: Happy Halloween II! (good recent horror movies)
Rick wrote:
> Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later..." almost went straight to DVD after a very brief run in
theatres, this despite good reviews and word-of-mouth.
I don't know where you're getting this from. This was a $10 million film that ended up
with a $42 million gross (a huge commercial success) and played in theaters through
the end of August -- almost two months after its release, very uncommon for horror.
>Anyhow, it should make my "best of 2003" list this year.
You and many others.
-joshua
3460
From: Jaime N. Christley
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:36am
Subject: Re: No Ray Of Hope
> On Dangerous Ground is a great film.
Fuckin' ay, it's a masterpiece. I happen to like Hanks, but I doubt
he'd even heard of the film except for what his agent/whatever wrote
for him to say.
-Jaime
3461
From: Paul Fileri
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:46am
Subject: Re: Jim Hoberman
Auteurwannabe:
> To me, Jim Hoberman has always embodied one conception of leftist
aesthetics and politics as being primarily in opposition to popular
tastes or movements, regardless of whether the opposition is merited or
not. The point is maintaining a certain elistist and supercilious
distance from what is popular.<
Uh, whatever. There are plenty of writers who embody this position and
plenty of writers (many academics) who seem to fetishize the
"transgressive", but Hoberman isn't one of them. I don't know how
you're spinning such a simplistic characterization out of a complex,
thoughtful, and damn good critic.
>Hence, his high regard for avant-garde movies.
I'm not sure why I'm taking the time to respond to this sort of
thinking. "Hence"? You do realize you're asserting that Hoberman's
receptivity to and love for certain a-g cinema is merely a pose
deriving from some desire to condescend to anything popular? That's
ridiculous and reeks of faux-populism.
>He does praise mainstream directors and films on occassion, but only
if he can identify "subversive" qualities to their work. Like so many
of this philosophy, he is especially hard on films that betray warm
human feelings.<
To take one of many possible examples, what about his review of THE
SCHOOL OF ROCK. No claims are made for any significant subversion, and
it's certainly a film of "warm human feelings" in the end.
- Paul
3462
From: George Robinson
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 9:07am
Subject: Re: No Ray Of Hope
What do you expect from someone who thinks that working with Sam Mendes and
Bob Zemeckis is a step forward in his career.
g
The man who does not read good books
has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.
--Mark Twain
----- Original Message -----
From: "Damien Bona"
To:
Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 2:29 AM
Subject: [a_film_by] No Ray Of Hope
> I was flipping channels last night and came across a PBS special of
> the inaugural program from the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney
> Concert Hall in L.A.
>
> With his customary gee-whiz pomposity, Tom Hanks introduced a Bernard
> Herrmann medley of movements from Vertigo and On Dangerous Ground,
> asserting that apart from the music the latter is "an otherwise
> modest film noir." Sheesh, even in this day and age, Nick Ray can't
> get any respect in Hollywood . . . Unbelievable.
>
> On Dangerous Ground is a great film.
>
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> a_film_by-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
3463
From: Henrik Sylow
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 9:29am
Subject: Re: Happy Halloween III / Todays viewing
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Rick Segreda
> wrote:
>
> Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later..." almost went straight to DVD after a
very brief run in theatres, this despite good reviews and
word-of-mouth. The DVD is supposed to have bloodier and more
pessimistic alternative endings, which I am glad I did not see, and
don't really want to see (at least not yet).
The reason why "28 Days Later" fails, despite having some truly scary
moments, is, that it's science fiction arm is merely a catalyst and
it's horror arm is a rip-off of "The Omega Man" and "Day of the Dead".
So real gorehounds gutted it being flat and a ripoff and the few who
liked it were impressionable untrained hounds - and the ending is just
plain whatever.
Horror doesn't do well in todays society. American horror has become
"Sceam-ified" (here are the rules, here is the formula), has plots no
thicker than needed to link SPFX together and borders on comedy with
it's injokes and pastiches. Equally the output is down to around 5-10
films a year, which is nothing compared to 1972-84, where you had
40-70 horrorfilms per year. Where I easily can name 25 great horror
films from the new renaissance (1968-1982), I've only seen three great
horror films the last 15 years (Blade, The Others, Dark Waters).
In general Horror today has been exorsized. There is no soul, there is
no scare and the satire has been replaced with stand up comedy.
But since it's Halloween today, Im not gonna cast a gloomy shade over
this topic. It is currently 10am and in a few hours my guests begin to
arrive. Todays program will be:
Warm-Up flicks
Curse of the Undead
Zombi
Dog Soldiers
Main Program
Ju-on
The Thing
Halloween
Happy Halloween
Henrik
3464
From: Michael Brooke
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 10:40am
Subject: Re: Happy Halloween III / Todays viewing
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Henrik Sylow"
wrote:
> In general Horror today has been exorsized. There is no soul, there
is
> no scare and the satire has been replaced with stand up comedy.
>
If you'd written that five or six years ago, I'd have wholeheartedly
agreed with you, but since then it seems to me that there's been a
very welcome and long overdue return to genuinely unsettling and
disturbing horror from some quarters at least, most notably Japan and
South-East Asia. When I saw Takashi Miike's 'Audition' on its
opening weekend, it was accompanied by something I hadn't heard in a
long time - the sound of an audience collectively cringing.
Michael
3465
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 11:48am
Subject: Re: Happy Halloween III / Todays viewing
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Henrik Sylow"
wrote:
> Horror doesn't do well in todays society. American horror has become
> "Scream-ified" (here are the rules, here is the formula), has plots no
> thicker than needed to link SPFX together and borders on comedy with
> it's injokes and pastiches. Equally the output is down to around 5-10
> films a year, which is nothing compared to 1972-84, where you had
> 40-70 horrorfilms per year. Where I easily can name 25 great horror
> films from the new renaissance (1968-1982), I've only seen three great
> horror films the last 15 years (Blade, The Others, Dark Waters).
I like "Scream" a great deal -- I like in-jokes and pastiches! But
I think there have been several excellent (and mostly unironic)
horror films since 1982: The People Under the Stairs, Phenomena,
Opera, The Stendhal Syndrome, Videodrome, The Dead Zone, The Fly,
Dead Ringers, Crash, Evil Dead II, Darkman, Army of Darkness,
Body Snatchers, The Addiction, Sleepy Hollow (does The Nightmare
Before Christmas count as horror?), Aliens, Chinese Ghost Story,
Day of the Beast, Perdita Durango, Dellamorte Dellamore,
Demons, the Erotic Ghost Story series, Guinea Pig: Devil's Experiment
and some of the Guinea Pig series, Henry: Portrait of a Serial
Killer, Innocent Blood, Little Shop of Horrors, Misa the Dark Angel,
Naked Blood, Return of the Living Dead 3, The Dentist, Re-Animator,
The Sixth Sense, The Stepfather, Frankenhooker, Nadja, Prince of
Darkness, They Live, In the Mouth of Madness, Ghosts of Mars,
Two Orphan Vampires, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Lost Highway...
Plus Living Dead Girl, Tenebre, and Q if I can include 1982...
A lot of these are very eccentric films, and some people might not
classify all of them as horror films. The undercurrent of social
criticism that was in many 1970's films is less common, and a several
them really aren't scary, but horror since 1982 has been, at
the least, interesting. At least a few of the Cronenberg and
Lynch films are great works.
Paul
3466
From: jess_l_amortell
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 0:44pm
Subject: Re: Jim Hoberman
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Rick Segreda wrote:
> The point is maintaining a certain elistist and supercilious distance from what is popular. Hence, his high regard for avant-garde movies.
Hoberman began as an avant-garde filmmaker, and then writing about avant-garde films. Hence, those are his roots.
3467
From: jess_l_amortell
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 1:04pm
Subject: Re: Borzage at UCLA
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Dan Sallitt wrote:
> > Four weeks of Borzage at UCLA, starting November 1:
> >
> > 'Humoresque' and 'Pyaasa'
>
> The Guru Dutt film? What is it doing in a Borzage series? - Dan
Probably the same thing that I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING is doing there!
This series (I just looked it up) is called "Frank Borzage And His Influence." The incomplete New York retro some years ago was buttressed with non-Borzage Margaret Sullavan films, which probably wasn't altogether inappropriate, but isn't this director ever trusted to stand on his own?
3468
From:
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 8:16am
Subject: Re: No Ray Of Hope
"On Dangerous Ground" is classic, one of Ray's best films. It has a stunning
use of landscape. It is one of Ray's most visually inventive films.
I like Tom Hanks as an actor and as a director - "that thing you do!" is very
charming.
But whoever wrote that slam of "On Dangerous Ground" for Hanks is definitely
on "the road to perdition".
Mike Grost
3469
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 1:21pm
Subject: Cahiers: The Outstanding Films of the Decade (1970-1980)
Here's a 1980 poll from Cahiers du Cinéma. It's an alternative to the
view of the 1970's centered on the "New Hollywood." Many of
these films are rarely shown. I can't find any information on a few
("Pinocchio," "Video 50").
Serge Daney commented that the 1970's seemed poor compared to the
vibrant, rich, adventurous, generous 1960's, and not only in the
cinema. He wrote that most of the outstanding films are
difficult, marginal, "even paradoxical." The cinema no longer seemed
to be "the art of our time." Daney also comments that the great
event of the late 1970's was the discovery of Ozu, but notes
"the machine of cinema that permitted an Ozu to work forty years
on the same motifs, like a painter" is past.
"The childish pleasure of lists, let us succomed to them." -- Daney
By my count, these films came out on top.
1. Numéro deux (Jean-Luc Godard, 1975)
2. Milestones (Giuseppe Addobbati and Robert Kramer, 1975)
3. Entire Days in the Trees (Marguerite Duras, 1976)
Tristana (Luis Buñuel, 1970)
Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971)
We Will Not Grow Old Together (Maurice Pialat, 1972)
7. Hitler: A Film from Germany (Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, 1978)
The Passenger (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1975)
Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975)
Here are the individual lists.
JEAN-CLAUDE BIETTE
1. Femmes femmes (Paul Vecchiali, 1974)
History Lessons (Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, 1973)
Out 1: Spectre (Jacques Rivette, 1972)
Four Nights of a Dreamer (Robert Bresson, 1971)
Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975)
6. The Innocent (Luchino Visconti, 1976)
Numéro deux (Jean-Luc Godard, 1975)
Trafic (Jacques Tati, 1971)
9. Doomed Love (Manoel de Oliveira, 1979)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes, 1976)
Deux fois (Jackie Raynal, 1971)
Las intrigas de Sylvia Cousky (Adolfo Arrieta, 1974)
Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971)
Petit à petit l'oiseau fait son bonnet (Jean Rouch, 1971)
Entire Days in the Trees (Marguerite Duras, 1976)
Video 50 (Bob Wilson)
PASCAL BONITZER
(No order)
Man of Marble (Andrzej Wajda, 1977)
Perceval (Eric Rohmer, 1979)
The Devil Probably (Robert Bresson, 1977)
Ludwig -- Requiem for a Virgin King (Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, 1972)
The Passenger (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1975)
Moses and Aaron (Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, 1974)
New York, New York (Martin Scorsese, 1977)
India Song (Marguerite Duras, 1975)
Conversation Piece (Luchino Visconti, 1975)
Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977)
The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (Raoul Ruiz, 1979)
SERGE DANEY
Tristana (Luis Buñuel, 1970)
Dodes'ka-den (Akira Kurosawa, 1970)
Parade (Jacques Tati, 1974)
Ici et ailleurs (Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin, and Anne-Marie
Miéville, 1976)
Milestones (Giuseppe Addobbati and Robert Kramer, 1975)
Introduction to Arnold Schoenberg's Accompaniment to a Cinematic
Scene (Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, 1973)
Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975)
Kings of the Road (Wim Wenders, 1976)
Boy (Nagisa Oshima, 1969)
Entire Days in the Trees (Marguerite Duras, 1976)
Six fois deux/Sur et sous la communication (Jean-Luc Godard
and Anne-Marie Miéville, 1977)
Hitler: A Film from Germany (Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, 1978)
La Région centrale (Michael Snow, 1971)
PASCAL KANE
1. That Obscure Object of Desire (Luis Buñuel, 1977)
Tristana (Luis Buñuel, 1970)
3. Numéro deux (Jean-Luc Godard, 1975)
4. We Will Not Grow Old Together (Maurice Pialat, 1972)
5. Avanti! (Billy Wilder, 1972)
6. Hitler: A Film from Germany (Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, 1978)
Amarcord (Federico Fellini, 1973)
8. Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971)
Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)
10. Kings of the Road (Wim Wenders, 1976)
Death in Venice (Luchino Visconti, 1971)
12. Introduction to Arnold Schoenberg's Accompaniment to a
Cinematic Scene (Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, 1973)
Pinocchio
14. Nathalie Granger (Marguerite Duras, 1973)
Lancelot of the Lake (Robert Bresson, 1974)
SERGE LE PERON
The seven best films of the seventies.
1. Ici et ailleurs (Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin, and
Anne-Marie Miéville, 1976)
2. Milestones (Giuseppe Addobbati and Robert Kramer, 1975)
3. The Passenger (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1975)
4. Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971)
5. Husbands (John Cassavetes, 1970)
6. The Mother and the Whore (Jean Eustache, 1973)
7. Parade (Jacques Tati, 1974)
Eight other important films from those years.
7. We Will Not Grow Old Together (Maurice Pialat, 1972)
8. Six fois deux/Sur et sous la communication (Jean-Luc Godard
and Anne-Marie Miéville, 1977)
9. Numéro deux (Jean-Luc Godard, 1975)
10. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (Martin Scorsese, 1974)
11. Sinai Field Mission (Frederick Wiseman, 1978)
12. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
13. Alice in the Cities (Wim Wenders, 1974)
14. Nationalité immigré (Sidney Sokhona, 1975)
JEAN NARBONI
1. Numéro deux (Jean-Luc Godard, 1975)
2. Milestones (Giuseppe Addobbati and Robert Kramer, 1975)
3. Hitler: A Film from Germany (Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, 1978)
4. Entire Days in the Trees (Marguerite Duras, 1976)
5. Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975)
6. Fortini/Cani (Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub, 1976)
7. We Will Not Grow Old Together (Maurice Pialat, 1972)
8. Femmes femmes (Paul Vecchiali, 1974)
9. Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971)
10. Mr. Klein (Joseph Losey, 1976)
LOUIS SKORECKI
1. Dodes'ka-den (Akira Kurosawa, 1970)
2. Deux fois (Jackie Raynal, 1968)
3. Numéro deux (Jean-Luc Godard, 1975)
4. Film About a Woman Who... (Yvonne Rainer, 1974)
5. Anatomy of a Relationship (Luc Moullet and Antonietta Pizzorno, 1976)
From the Clouds to the Resistance (Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle
Huillet, 1979)
7. Hindered (Stephen Dworskin, 1974)
8. The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Paul
Newman, 1972)
9. The Merchant of Four Seasons (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972)
Milestones (Giuseppe Addobbati and Robert Kramer, 1975)
Nationalité immigré (Sidney Sokhona, 1975)
Le Théâtre des matières (Jean-Claude Biette, 1977)
13. The Last Woman (Marco Ferreri, 1976)
Eugénie de Franval (Louis Skorecki, 1974)
15. Coatti (Stavros Tornes et Van Gelder, 1977)
Chromaticité I (Patrice Kirchhofer, 1977)
Entire Days in the Trees (Marguerite Duras, 1976)
Je, tu, il, elle (Chantal Akerman, 1974)
Déjeuner du matin (Patrick Bokanowski, 1974)
Trafic (Jacques Tati, 1971)
Tristana (Luis Buñuel, 1970)
SERGE TOUBIANA
The Passenger (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1975)
The Mother and the Whore (Jean Eustache, 1973)
Numéro deux (Jean-Luc Godard, 1975)
The Marquise of O (Eric Rohmer, 1976)
Milestones (Giuseppe Addobbati and Robert Kramer, 1975)
Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973)
Tristana (Luis Buñuel, 1970)
Amarcord (Federico Fellini, 1973)
The Last Woman (Marco Ferreri, 1976)
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Paul
Newman, 1972)
We Will Not Grow Old Together (Maurice Pialat, 1972)
In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Oshima, 1976)
Nathalie Granger (Marguerite Duras, 1973)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes, 1976)
3470
From:
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 9:27am
Subject: Re: Happy Halloween III / Todays viewing
"Night of the Demon" (Jacques Tourneur, 1957) and "The Forms of Things
Unknown" episode of the TV series "The Outer Limits" (Gerd Oswald, 1964) would make
a great Halloween double bill. Both films are strong on eerie atmosphere.
Neither has any gore. "Mr Hobart has tinkered with time - just as time has
tinkered with Mr. Hobart!"
Also truly gripping as a piece of storytelling: "The Pit and the Pendulum"
(Roger Corman, 1961). It is especially strong in the second half, as the plot
kicks into full gear.
Happy Halloween!
Mike Grost
PS Shameless self-promotion:
I once wrote a mystery story with a Halloween setting.
It is available on my web site at:
http://members.aol.com/MG4273/hschool.htm
The story is short on gore, and long on creepy mysterious goings-on.
3471
From: Michael Brooke
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 3:35pm
Subject: Re: Cahiers: The Outstanding Films of the Decade (1970-1980)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Gallagher" wrote:
> Here's a 1980 poll from Cahiers du Cinéma. It's an alternative to
the
> view of the 1970's centered on the "New Hollywood."
>
> By my count, these films came out on top.
> 1. Numéro deux (Jean-Luc Godard, 1975)
> 2. Milestones (Giuseppe Addobbati and Robert Kramer, 1975)
> 3. Entire Days in the Trees (Marguerite Duras, 1976)
> Tristana (Luis Buñuel, 1970)
> Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971)
> We Will Not Grow Old Together (Maurice Pialat, 1972)
> 7. Hitler: A Film from Germany (Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, 1978)
> The Passenger (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1975)
> Salo, or The 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975)
Given the nature of this group, I thought it might be worth listing
individual directors and the number of votes they garnered:
1. Jean-Luc Godard (10 votes)
2. Marguerite Duras (7 votes)
3. Luis Buñuel, Giuseppe Addobbati, Robert Kramer, Jean-Marie Straub,
Danièle Huillet (5 votes)
4. Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, Jacques Tati, Anne-Marie Miéville, Maurice
Pialat, Monte Hellman (4 votes)
5. Michelangelo Antonioni, Robert Bresson, John Cassavetes, Pier
Paolo Pasolini, Martin Scorsese, Luchino Visconti, Wim Wenders (3
votes)
Michael
3472
From: Dan Sallitt
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 3:35pm
Subject: Re: Re: Jim Hoberman
> > To me, Jim Hoberman has always embodied one conception of leftist
> aesthetics and politics as being primarily in opposition to popular
> tastes or movements, regardless of whether the opposition is merited or
> not. The point is maintaining a certain elistist and supercilious
> distance from what is popular.<
>
> Uh, whatever.
I think Hoberman's among the all-time great critics. - Dan
3473
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 3:43pm
Subject: Re: Re: Jim Hoberman
Film criticism is by its very nature elitist.
--- Dan Sallitt wrote:
> > > To me, Jim Hoberman has always embodied one
> conception of leftist
> > aesthetics and politics as being primarily in
> opposition to popular
> > tastes or movements, regardless of whether the
> opposition is merited or
> > not. The point is maintaining a certain elistist
> and supercilious
> > distance from what is popular.<
> >
> > Uh, whatever.
>
> I think Hoberman's among the all-time great critics.
> - Dan
>
>
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/
3474
From: Fred Camper
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 3:48pm
Subject: Re: Re: Jim Hoberman
Paul Fileri wrote:
>Auteurwannabe:
>
> >Hence, his high regard for avant-garde movies.
>
>I'm not sure why I'm taking the time to respond to this sort of
>thinking. "Hence"? You do realize you're asserting that Hoberman's
>receptivity to and love for certain a-g cinema is merely a pose
>deriving from some desire to condescend to anything popular?
>
Um, it *is* possible to have a "high regard for avant-garde movies"
because you actually love watching them. Hoberman is hardly the only
former Ken Jacobs student whose "high regard"
for avant-garde films, based on the experience they provide him when he
views them, experiences he has written about eloquently, survived for
decades after Jacobs's tutealge.
- Fred
3475
From: Tosh
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 4:04pm
Subject: Re: Kubelka
Kubelka is my perfect ideal of entertainment! I find his films
hypnotic and fascinating. They (the films) are these perfect little
moments that just sucks me right into the screen.
--
Tosh Berman
TamTam Books
http://www.tamtambooks.com
3476
From: Tosh
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 4:24pm
Subject: Re: Re: Jim Hoberman
> > > To me, Jim Hoberman has always embodied one conception of leftist
>> aesthetics and politics as being primarily in opposition to popular
>> tastes or movements, regardless of whether the opposition is merited or
>> not. The point is maintaining a certain elistist and supercilious
> > distance from what is popular.<
>>
Sounds like my type of critic!
--
Tosh Berman
TamTam Books
http://www.tamtambooks.com
3477
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 4:36pm
Subject: In Defense of Tom Hanks
Last year my friends the Michelsons invited me to a black-tie awards
dinner put on by the Hollywood Film Festival. This near-worthless
Festival is the work of one guy named Carlos whom I met when he was
just starting it, and some of the conversation at my table
(production designers) was speculation about where Carlos's money
came from. This thing was lavish: bowls of roses on each table the
size of my breakfast table, etc.
Anyway, the awards were...awards...but the speeches were interesting,
because everyone wrote his own and there were no time limits. NO TV
CAMERAS! And this was the A-list: Hanks presented, very wittily - he
walked on talking on the phone to Elizabeth Taylor in NY who had
asked him to stand in for her, and a couple of the jokes went over MY
head.
It was people we've seen a million times - Spieleberg, Hanks, Jodie
Foster... I never DREAMED Jodie Foster could be so sexy and charming!
She always seems like such a grim little stump. It was strictly for
industry consumption, and the few dopes - Doug Wicks, Matthew
McConaughey - also wrote their own material and no one laughed. (NO
APPLAUSE SIGNS!) The gals from Charlie's Angels recited a love poem
they had written to McG (apparently actresses really appreciate good
directors: Foster was creaming over David Fincher, and she clearly
meant it), Naomi Watts went into a verbal delirium that lasted 5
minutes and made littlesense, delightfully, and so on.
My point is - and remember, I could give a shit about any of these
folks (except Drew Barrymore) - that you would never know what they
are like from seeing them on tv. It is a Cyclopean eye that emits
dumbness rays at everyone it focuses on. I even started to wonder if
some of the people in Washington might not have brains that are being
concealed from us - it took some skills to get where they are, no?
I'm sure Hanks never saw On Dangerous Ground. Someone wrote it for
him, and that someone was a lot dumber than he is.
On the other hand, when Charlton Heston at the DGA service after
Welles' death called Touch of Evil "the best B movie ever made"
(apologetically, rather than: one of the best films of all time), he
meant it. Praise and honor to him for making it happen, anyway.
3478
From: Jason Guthartz
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 4:58pm
Subject: rarities on DVD-R
A site with a nice selection of hard-to-find items like Fuller's "White Dog"
and Preminger's "Skidoo":
http://www.5minutesonline.com/index.htm
Anyone have any experience purchasing titles from this site, or know of the
quality of the transfers?
I don't know if my DVD player can play DVD-Rs -- but if they're worthwhile
it's another incentive to upgrade to a multi-region, multi-format player.
-Jason
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
3479
From: Jaime N. Christley
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 4:56pm
Subject: Re: Jim Hoberman
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Tosh wrote:
> > > > To me, Jim Hoberman has always embodied one conception of
leftist
> >> aesthetics and politics as being primarily in opposition to
popular
> >> tastes or movements, regardless of whether the opposition is
merited or
> >> not. The point is maintaining a certain elistist and
supercilious
> > > distance from what is popular.<
> >>
>
> Sounds like my type of critic!
Great, I've got a team of monkeys that can do the same exact thing
for literally bananas. (Not applicable to J.Hoberman; I have no
opinion of the man or his writing.)
-Jaime
3480
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 5:10pm
Subject: Re: In Defense of Tom Hanks
"I never DREAMED Jodie Foster could be so sexy and
charming! "
Must have been a Replicant.
--- hotlove666 wrote:
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/
3481
From: samfilms2003
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 5:14pm
Subject: Re: Jim Hoberman
> I think Hoberman's among the all-time great critics. - Dan
And he IS a critic, like Fred, David Sterrit, Rosenbaum and a few others in the press.
If you want warm & fuzzy, who needs critics, there's no shortage of movie
reviewers.
I just hope the Voice, which has a track record of hiring real critics, doesn't cut the
column space any more and virtually force their writers into phrase-making and
blurbology.
-Sam Wells
3482
From: Tosh
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 5:33pm
Subject: Re: rarities on DVD-R
I too want to know more about this particular site as well as DVD-R's
playing on a regular DVD machine (in America).
There are some really cool titles on this site!
>A site with a nice selection of hard-to-find items like Fuller's "White Dog"
>and Preminger's "Skidoo":
>http://www.5minutesonline.com/index.htm
>
>Anyone have any experience purchasing titles from this site, or know of the
>quality of the transfers?
>I don't know if my DVD player can play DVD-Rs -- but if they're worthwhile
>it's another incentive to upgrade to a multi-region, multi-format player.
>
>-Jason
>
>
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>a_film_by-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
--
Tosh Berman
TamTam Books
http://www.tamtambooks.com
3483
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 5:33pm
Subject: Re: rarities on DVD-R
Can't tell of "Skidoo" is letterboxed.
--- Jason Guthartz wrote:
> A site with a nice selection of hard-to-find items
> like Fuller's "White Dog"
> and Preminger's "Skidoo":
> http://www.5minutesonline.com/index.htm
>
> Anyone have any experience purchasing titles from
> this site, or know of the
> quality of the transfers?
> I don't know if my DVD player can play DVD-Rs -- but
> if they're worthwhile
> it's another incentive to upgrade to a multi-region,
> multi-format player.
>
> -Jason
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/
3484
From: Nick Wrigley
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 5:35pm
Subject: Re: rarities on DVD-R
> I too want to know more about this particular site as well as DVD-R's
> playing on a regular DVD machine (in America).
>
> There are some really cool titles on this site!
I've found that DVD-Rs usually only play on DVD players that are 1 or 2
years old and can also play MP3 CDs, CD-Rs, VCDs, etc.
Most of my US friends have Malatas or Cyberhome players (they're
relatively cheap, I think amazon had the Cyberhome for $60 after rebate
a while back) - these players allow you to watch all region discs, PAL
or NTSC, as well as DVD-Rs, VCDs, etc. The Malata also has a beautiful
scaling function that allows you to manually adjust the overscan
(without going into the engineer menus of your TV to do that).
OVERSCAN:
http://www.carldreyer.com/masters/reviews/03lookingbeyond.htm
DVDBeaver have information about Malatas and Cyberhomes.
http://www.dvdbeaver.com
-N>-
3485
From: jess_l_amortell
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 5:39pm
Subject: Re: rarities on DVD-R
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Jason Guthartz" wrote:
> A site with a nice selection of hard-to-find items like Fuller's "White Dog"
> and Preminger's "Skidoo":
> http://www.5minutesonline.com/index.htm
>
> Anyone have any experience purchasing titles from this site, or know of the
> quality of the transfers?
This is interesting -- when it comes to widescreen films, though, it may not be a good sign that there's no reference to aspect ratios for SKIDOO or BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING, for example, or on the page explaining the quality ratings.
3486
From: jerome_gerber
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 6:08pm
Subject: Re: rarities on DVD-R
This topic came up on another listserv by a member who spotted
WHITE DOG on that intriguing website...he asked if anyone knew
anything about it and then in a forthcoming post, he answered
his own question. I quote:
--- In DVDBeaver@yahoogroups.com, Adam Lemke
wrote:
> Ahhh... closer look reveals it to be a DVD-R from a rare high
quality VHS
> print... bleh.
Buyer beware...would be my motto on the other titles as well...
Jerry
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "jess_l_amortell"
wrote:
> --- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Jason Guthartz"
wrote:
> > A site with a nice selection of hard-to-find items like Fuller's
"White Dog"
> > and Preminger's "Skidoo":
> > http://www.5minutesonline.com/index.htm
> >
> > Anyone have any experience purchasing titles from this site,
or know of the
> > quality of the transfers?
>
>
> This is interesting -- when it comes to widescreen films,
though, it may not be a good sign that there's no reference to
aspect ratios for SKIDOO or BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING, for
example, or on the page explaining the quality ratings.
3487
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 6:18pm
Subject: Re: rarities on DVD-R
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, Tosh wrote:
> I too want to know more about this particular site as well as DVD-R's
> playing on a regular DVD machine (in America).
>
You can check which formats a DVD player supports here:
http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers.php
Paul
3488
From: Joseph Kaufman
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 6:30pm
Subject: Re: In Defense of Tom Hanks
Bill wrote:
>Last year my friends the Michelsons invited me to a black-tie awards
>dinner put on by the Hollywood Film Festival. This near-worthless
>Festival is the work of one guy named Carlos whom I met when he was
>just starting it, and some of the conversation at my table
>(production designers) was speculation about where Carlos's money
>came from. This thing was lavish: bowls of roses on each table the
>size of my breakfast table, etc.
The other question is how Carlos gets all those big celebrities to
show up. I went this year, where there *was* a time limit on
speeches. This is an awards show that seems to have gotten
established entirely on hot air, and now gets big-time folks like
George Lucas to do intros and the like. People who simply have
bought all-fest passes are sometimes forced to wait on standby lines,
despite the big expenditure.
Hobnobbed a bit with Gary Graver and Jillian Kesner, where the
subject of conversation swung around for a moment to you, Bill, and
this list.
--
- Joe Kaufman
3489
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 6:45pm
Subject: Cyberhome and DVD-R
Cyberhome doesn't play DVD-Rs, but there's software you can
download that makes it DVD-R compatible. Otherwise it freezes
every couple of minutes.
3490
From: Dan Sallitt
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 6:58pm
Subject: Re: Cyberhome and DVD-R
> Cyberhome doesn't play DVD-Rs, but there's software you can
> download that makes it DVD-R compatible. Otherwise it freezes
> every couple of minutes.
My Cyberhome 500 plays all the DVD-Rs that I've tried. It does have a
problem with 16:9 aspect ratio, though. - Dan
3491
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 7:47pm
Subject: Cahiers 1963: Best American Sound Films
Another poll, from the Dec. 1963 Cahiers. There are some
surprising choices. There are no films by Ophuls, Capra, or
Borzage. I'm surprised Cukor and Anthony Mann received only
one vote each.
The top films, by my count:
1. Vertigo (Hitchcock) (7 votes)
2. North By Northwest (Hitchcock) (6 votes)
The Searchers (Ford)
Singin' in the Rain (Kelly-Donen)
5. The Birds (Hitchcock) (5 votes)
Citizen Kane (Welles)
Moonfleet (Lang)
Scarface (Hawks)
Splendor in the Grass (Kazan)
While the City Sleeps (Lang)
10. You Only Live Once (Lang) (4 votes)
To Be Or Not to Be (Lubitsch)
The Quiet American (Mankewiecz)
Bonjour Tristesse (Preminger)
Band of Angels (Walsh)
15. Wind Across the Everglades (Ray) (3 votes)
Touch of Evil (Welles)
The Shanghai Gesture (Sternberg)
The Miracle Worker (Penn)
The Band Wagon (Minnelli)
Ruby Gentry (Vidor)
Rio Bravo (Hawks)
Rally 'Round the Flag Boys (McCarey)
Monsieur Verdoux (Chaplin)
The top directors (I'm not sure my count is correct):
1. Hitchcock (24 votes)
2. Hawks (23)
3. Lang (21)
4. Ford (15)
5. Welles (13)
6. Ray (12)
7. Mankiewicz (11)
8. Preminger (10)
Donen (10)
10. Walsh (9)
McCarey (9)
Lubitsch (9)
Kelly (9)
14. Kazan (8)
Chaplin (8)
16. Minnelli (7)
17. Vidor (6)
Sternberg (6)
19. Renoir (5)
20. Huston (3)
Dwan (3)
Arthur Penn (3)
Jean-Pierre Biesse
1. Only Angels Have Wings (Hawks)
2. Vertigo (Hitchcock)
3. The Devil Is a Woman (Sternberg)
4. Moonfleet (Lang)
5. Two Rode Together (Ford)
6. The Miracle Worker (Penn)
7. The Great Dictator (Chaplin)
8. Rally 'Round the Flag Boys (McCarey)
9. Splendor in the Grass (Kazan)
10. Touch of Evil (Welles)
Charles Bitsch
(chronological order)
Scarface (Hawks)
Design For Living (Lubitsch)
Duck Soup (McCarey)
Modern Times (Chaplin)
You Only Live Once (Lang)
Citizen Kane (Welles)
The River (Renoir)
The Quiet Man (Ford)
Singin' in the Rain (Kelly-Donen)
The Birds (Hitchcock)
Pierre-Richard Bré
1. While the City Sleeps (Lang)
2. Battle Cry (Walsh)
3. Bonjour Tristesse (Preminger)
4. The Birds (Hitchcock)
5. Merrill's Marauders (Fuller)
6. Hatari (Hawks)
7. They Live By Night (Ray)
8. Suddenly Last Summer (Mankiewicz)
9. The Wings of Eagles (Ford)
10. The Courtship of Eddie's Father (Minnelli)
Patrick Brian
1. The Bad and the Beautiful (Minnelli)
2. Singin' in the Rain (Kelly-Donen)
3. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (Mankiewicz)
4. Moonfleet (Lang)
5. North By Northwest (Hitchcock)
6. The Prisoner of Zenda (Thorpe)
7. Scaramouche (Sidney)
8. Deadline U.S.A. (Brooks)
9. The World, the Flesh and the Devil (MacDougall)
10. The Lawless Breed (Walsh)
Claude Chabrol
(chronological order)
The Grapes of Wrath (Ford)
Citizen Kane (Welles)
The Shanghai Gesture (Sternberg)
To Be Or Not to Be (Lubitsch)
The Big Sleep (Hawks)
Notorious (Hitchcock)
On Dangerous Ground (Ray)
Stalag 17 (Wilder)
Kiss Me Deadly (Aldrich)
Splendor in the Grass (Kazan)
Jean-Louis Comolli
1. Red River (Hawks)
2. The Wings of Eagles (Ford)
3. Anatomy of a Murder (Preminger)
4. Band of Angels (Walsh)
5. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (Lang)
6. Monkey Business (Hawks)
7. North By Northwest (Hitchcock)
8. The Quiet American (Mankiewicz)
9. While the City Sleeps (Lang)
10. Wind Across the Everglades (Ray)
Michel Delahaye
(alphabetical order)
Band of Angels (Walsh)
The Birds (Hitchcock)
Elmer Gantry (Brooks)
Fury (Lang)
Hatari (Hawks)
Ruby Gentry (Vidor)
The Searchers (Ford)
Singin' in the Rain (Kelly-Donen)
Splendor in the Grass (Kazan)
Sylvia Scarlett (Cukor)
Jacques Doniol-Valcroze
(in alphabetical order of directors)
Louisiana Story (Flaherty)
The Big Sky (Hawks)
Vertigo (Hitchcock)
Beat the Devil (Huston)
A Face in the Crowd (Kazan)
It's Always Fair Weather (Kelly-Donen)
The Man From Laramie (Mann)
Ruby Gentry (Vidor)
Citizen Kane (Welles)
Touch of Evil (Welles)
Jean Douchet
1. While the City Sleeps (Lang)
2. Exodus (Preminger)
3. The Naked and the Dead (Walsh)
4. North By Northwest (Hitchcock)
5. Rio Bravo (Hawks)
6. Bells Are Ringing (Minnelli)
Cluny Brown (Lubitsch)
Suddenly Last Summer (Mankiewicz)
9. Wind Across the Everglades (Ray)
10. Samson and Delilah (DeMille)
Bernard Eisenschitz
(alphabetical order)
An Affair to Remember (McCarey)
Detour (Ulmer)
Exodus (Preminger)
The Late George Apley (Mankiewicz)
The Lawless (Losey)
The Ministry of Fear (Lang)
Pearl of the South Pacific (Dwan)
Psycho (Hitchcock)
Pursued (Walsh)
Way of a Gaucho (Tourneur)
Jean-Claude Fieschi
1. Vertigo (Hitchcock)
2. Bringing Up Baby (Hawks)
3. Moonfleet (Lang)
4. The Searchers (Ford)
5. The Shanghai Gesture (Sternberg)
6. Duck Soup (McCarey)
The Miracle Worker (Penn)
Splendor in the Grass (Kazan)
9. Heaven Can Wait (Lubitsch)
10. The Quiet American (Mankewiecz)
Jean-Luc Godard
1. Scarface (Hawks)
2. The Great Dictator (Chaplin)
3. Vertigo (Hitchcock)
4. The Searchers (Ford)
5. Singin' in the Rain (Kelly-Donen)
6. The Lady From Shanghai (Welles)
7. Bigger Than Life (Ray)
8. Angel Face (Preminger)
9. To Be Or Not to Be (Lubitsch)
10. Dishonored (Sternberg)
Jacques Goirnard
1. Only Angels Have Wings (Hawks)
2. While the City Sleeps (Lang)
3. The Searchers (Ford)
4. Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys (McCarey)
5. Bonjour Tristesse (Preminger)
6. The Band Wagon (Minnelli)
7. The Quiet American (Mankiewicz)
8. Wind Across the Everglades (Ray)
9. The Asphalt Jungle (Huston)
10. Give a Girl a Break (Donen)
Fiereydon Hoveyda
(no order)
The Prowler (Losey)
Party Girl (Ray)
Duck Soup (McCarey)
The Magnifiaent Ambersons (Welles)
Our Daily Bread (Vidor)
To Be Or Not to Be (Lubitsch)
Modern Times (Chaplin)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Ford)
The Nutty Professor (Lewis)
Fury (Lang)
Pierre Kast
(in alphabetical order of directors)
Monsieur Verdoux (Chaplin)
Monkey Business (Hawks)
The Birds (Hitchcock)
Beat the Devil (Huston)
Wild River (Kazan)
It's Always Fair Weather (Kelly-Donen)
The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T. (Rowland)
The Great McGinty (Sturges)
Ruby Gentry (Vidor)
Citizen Kane (Welles)
Andre S. Labarthe
1. The Long Voyage Home (Ford)
Bringing Up Baby (Hawks)
The Searchers (Ford)
Under Capricorn (Hitchcock)
Heaven Can Wait (Lubitsch)
6. Othello (Welles)
The Shanghai Gesture (Sternberg)
Monsieur Verdoux (Chaplin)
North By Northwest (Hitchcock)
The Miracle Worker (Penn)
Michel Mardore
(alphabetical order)
Band of Angels (Walsh)
The Barefoot Contessa (Mankiewicz)
Confidential Report (Welles)
Heaven Can Wait (Lubitsch)
Northwest Passage (Vidor)
Rancho Notorious (Lang)
Sergeant York (Hawks)
Some Came Running (Minnelli)
Vertigo (Hitchcock)
Wild River (Kazan)
Luc Moullet
1. The River (Renoir)
2. Rebel Without a Cause (Ray)
3. Scarface (Hawks)
4. Rear Window (Hitchcock)
5. You Only Live Once (Lang)
6. Rio Bravo (Hawks)
7. Vertigo (Hitchcock)
8. The Fountainhead (Vidor)
9. While the City Sleeps (Lang)
10. The Diary of a Chambermaid (Renoir)
Jean Narboni
1. The Diary of a Chambermaid (Renoir)
2. The Birds (Hitchcock)
3. To Have and Have Not (Hawks)
4. Bitter Victory (Ray)
5. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (Lang)
6. Bonjour Tristesse (Preminger)
7. The Quiet American (Mankiewicz)
8. To Be Or Not to Be (Lubitsch)
9. A Time to Love and a Time to Die (Sirk)
10. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Ford)
Dominique Rabourdin
1. Band of Angels (Walsh)
Moonfleet (Lang)
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (Mankiewicz)
Forever Amber (Preminger)
5. The Band Wagon (Minnelli)
Tennessee's Partner (Dwan)
Wichita (Tourneur)
Run of the Arrow (Fuller)
An Affair to Remember (McCarey)
Rio Bravo (Hawks)
Jacques Rivette
(chronological order)
Scarface (Hawks)
You Only Live Once (Lang)
The Grapes of Wrath (Ford)
Citizen Kane (Welles)
Monsieur Verdoux (Chaplin)
They Live By Night (Ray)
On the Town (Kelly-Donen)
North By Northwest (Hitchcock)
Splendor in the Grass (Kazan)
The Cool World (Clarke)
Bertrand Tavernier
1. The Hanging Tree (Daves)
2. Pursued (Walsh)
3. Moonfleet (Lang)
4. Angel Face (Preminger)
5. An Affair to Remember (McCarey)
6. To Have and Have Not (Hawks)
7. Silver Lode (Dwan)
8. Singin' in the Rain (Kelly-Donen)
9. The Band Wagon (Minnelli)
10. The Searchers (Ford)
Francois Truffaut
(chronological order)
Scarface (Hawks)
You Only Live Once (Lang)
The Magnificent Ambersons (Welles)
Notorious (Hitchcock)
The Woman On the Beach (Renoir)
The Saga of Anatahan (Sternberg)
Johnny Guitar (Ray)
Rear Window (Hitchcock)
A King in New York (Chaplin)
North By Northwest (Hitchcock)
Francois Weyergans
(alphabetical order)
The Barefoot Contessa (Mankiewicz)
Bitter Victory (Ray)
Bonjour Tristesse (Preminger)
Hatari (Hawks)
Rally 'Round the Flag Boys! (McCarey)
Rancho Notorious (Lang)
Singin' in the Rain (Kelly-Donen)
Touch of Evil (Welles)
Vertigo (Hitchcock)
3492
From: Patrick Ciccone
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 8:17pm
Subject: Re: Cahiers 1963: Best American Sound Films
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Gallagher" wrote:
> Another poll, from the Dec. 1963 Cahiers. There are some
> Moonfleet (Lang)
Is there any film with a greater divide between its French and
American reputations? Not that it's disliked or even seen here--I
like the film a lot myself.
Patrick
3493
From: Paul Gallagher
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 8:25pm
Subject: Re: Cahiers: Best films of the 1990's
Here's yet another Cahiers poll.
Editors' choices for best films of the 1990's:
1. Carlito's Way (Brian de Palma)
Goodbye South, Goodbye (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood)
4. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (David Lynch)
Close Up (Abbas Kiarostami)
Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)
8. Crash (David Cronenberg)
Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton)
The River (Tsai Ming-liang)
Following Michael Brooke's example, I tried to count the
votes by director.
1. Clint Eastwood (13 votes)
2. David Cronenberg (10 votes)
3. Hou Hsiao-hsien (9 votes)
Abbas Kiarostami
5. Brian De Palma (6 votes)
Wong Kar-wai
7. Tim Burton (5 votes)
Jean-Luc Godard
Stanley Kubrick
David Lynch
Manoel de Oliveira
12. Arnaud Desplechin (4 votes)
Danielle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub
Tsai Ming-liang
Cedric Anger
1. Carlito's Way (Brian de Palma)
2. The Godfather Part III (Francis Ford Coppola)
3. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
4. Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)
5. Nouvelle vague (Jean-Luc Godard)
6. Agantuk (Satyajit Ray)
7. Close Up (Abbas Kiarostami)
8. Goodbye South, Goodbye (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
10. Bitter Moon (Roman Polanski)
Bernard Benoliel
Antigone (Danielle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub)
Casino (Martin Scorsese)
Close Up (Abbas Kiarostami)
Carlito's Way (Brian de Palma)
Ma 6T va crack-er (Jean Francois-Richet)
Reprise (Herve Le Roux)
Rosetta (Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne)
Dangerous Game (Snake Eyes) (Abel Ferrara)
Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano)
A Perfect World (Clint Eastwood)
Benoliel's Alternate List:
Crash (David Cronenberg)
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch)
Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton)
Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
Fargo (Joel Coen)
Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai)
Kids (Larry Clark)
Mad Dog and Glory (John McNaughton)
The Birth of Love (Philippe Garrel)
The Stendhal Syndrome (Dario Argento)
Stephane Bouquet's top directors
David Cronenberg
Claire Denis
Hou Hsiao-hsien
Joao Cesar Monteiro
Manoel de Oliveira
Alexander Sokurov
Danielle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub
Bela Tarr
Wong Kar-wai
Emmanuel Burdeau
5 cineastes:
David Cronenberg
Clint Eastwood
Hou Hsiao-hsien
Abbas Kiarostami
Manoel de Oliveira
9 films:
Close Up (Abbas Kiarostami)
Crash (David Cronenberg)
Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-wai)
Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)
Day of Despair (Manoel de Oliveira)
Mission: Impossible (Brian de Palma)
New Rose Hotel (Abel Ferrara)
Nouvelle Vague (Jean-Luc Godard)
Sicilia! (Danielle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub)
Clélia Cohen
Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)
A Perfect World (Clint Eastwood)
Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood)
Carlito's Way (Brian de Palma)
The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese)
The Flowers of Shanghai (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola)
Husbands and Wives (Woody Allen)
Petites (Noemie Lvovsky)
NYPD Blue (TV series produced by Steven Bocho)
Marie-Anne Guerin
1. Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton)
2. Miller's Crossing (Joel Coen)
3. L'Annonce faite a Marie (Alain Cuny)
4. Border Line (Daniele Dubroux)
5. The Sentinel (Arnaud Desplechin)
6. An Ordinary Night (Jean-Claude Guiguet)
7. Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood)
8. Crash (David Cronenberg)
9. The River (Tsai Ming-liang)
10. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
Erwan Higuinen
The Lovers on the Bridge (Leos Carax)
Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood)
Carlito's Way (Brian De Palma)
Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai)
Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton)
Good Men, Good Women (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
Hélas pour moi (Jean-Luc Godard)
Mad Dog and Glory (John McNaughton)
The Birth of Love (Philippe Garrel)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (David Lynch)
Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes)
Thierry Jousse
My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument (Arnaud Desplechin)
Crash (David Cronenberg)
Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
The Idiots (Lars von Trier)
I Can No Longer Hear the Guitar (Philippe Garrel)
Boiling Point (Takeshi Kitano)
Step Across the Border (Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel)
Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (David Lynch)
US Go Home (Claire Denis)
Olivier Joyard
Hélas pour moi (Jean-Luc Godard)
The Rebels of the Neon God (Tsai Ming-liang)
Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-wai)
Goodbye South, Goodbye (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola)
Bitter Moon (Roman Polanski)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (David Lynch)
Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood)
The Sentinel (Arnaud Desplechin)
Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis)
Face/Off (John Woo)
Jean-Marc Lalanne
My Sex Life... Or How I Got in an Argument (Arnaud Desplechin)
A Tale of Winter (Eric Rohmer)
Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton)
The Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami)
Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai)
Carlito's Way (Brian De Palma)
The Day of Despair (Manoel de Oliveira)
My Favorite Season (Andre Téchiné)
Wild Reeds (Andre Techine)
M. Butterfly (David Cronenberg)
The River (Tsai Ming-liang)
Jerome Larcher
Batman Returns (Tim Burton)
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch)
Face/Off (John Woo)
Goodbye South, Goodbye (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
M. Butterfly (David Cronenberg)
The Apostle (Robert Duvall)
Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano)
Travolta and Me (Patricia Mazuy)
Twin Peaks (film and TV series, David Lynch)
Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis)
A Perfect World (Clint Eastwood)
US Go Home (Claire Denis)
The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami)
Charles Tesson
1. Close Up (Abbas Kiarostami)
2. The Valley of Abraham (Manoel de Oliveira)
3. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
4. Sicilia! (Danielle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub)
5. Van Gogh (Maurice Pialat)
6. Miller's Crossing (Joel Coen)
7. eXistenZ (David Cronenberg)
8. The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami)
9. Goodbye South, Goodbye (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
The River (Tsai Ming-liang)
10. Matinee (Joe Dante)
Serge Toubiana
Van Gogh (Maurice Pialat)
Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)
Lost Highway (David Lynch)
The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami)
Drifting Clouds (Aki Kaurismaki)
Crash (David Cronenberg)
Live Flesh (Pedro Almodovar)
Goodbye South, Goodbye (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
Dear Diary (Caro diario) (Nanni Moretti)
Histoire(s) du cinéma (Jean-Luc Godard)
Nicole Brenez (Feb. 2000 letter to Cahiers, "10 'best' films."
Sombre (Philippe Grandrieux)
A Child's Garden (Stan Brakhage)
The Serious Sea (Stan Brakhage)
Le Dernier Chaman (Raymonde Carasco and Jean Rouch)
New Rose Hotel (Abel Ferrara)
Le Repas de guepes (Helga Fanderl)
Green Snake (Tsui Hark)
Ile de beauté (Ange Leccia and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster)
Hard Boiled (John Woo)
Ma 6T va crack-er (Jean-Francois Richet)
Made in Hong-Kong (Fruit Chan)
Also: all the films of Rose Lowder, Cecile Fontaine, Johanna
Vaude, Peter Tscherkassky, Sothean Nhieim, Phillipe Jacq,
I Stand Alone (Gaspar Noe), Travolta and Me, Starship Troopers
(Paul Verhoeven)
3494
From: David Ehrenstein
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 8:44pm
Subject: Re: Re: Cahiers 1963: Best American Sound Films
"Moonfleet" is rarely discussed in English. It's a
fabulous movie. Rivette screened it for his entire
cast and crew before shooting "Noroit."
--- Patrick Ciccone wrote:
> --- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Gallagher"
> wrote:
> > Another poll, from the Dec. 1963 Cahiers. There
> are some
>
> > Moonfleet (Lang)
>
> Is there any film with a greater divide between its
> French and
> American reputations? Not that it's disliked or
> even seen here--I
> like the film a lot myself.
>
> Patrick
>
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
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3495
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 8:45pm
Subject: Carlos
Joe,
Maybe he's everybody's dealer.
I'm sorry to hear he's imposing time limits - that was the whole
charm of the ceremony, harking back to the Brown Derby days. I
hear he wants to be on tv like everyone else.
Was anyone good this year? A German visitor said she liked
Diane Keaton's speech.
3496
From: Joseph Kaufman
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 8:59pm
Subject: Re: Carlos
Bill wrote:
>I'm sorry to hear he's imposing time limits - that was the whole
>charm of the ceremony, harking back to the Brown Derby days. I
>hear he wants to be on tv like everyone else.
In addition to the tech people getting the musical "tinkle" to move
on, they also gave it to Geoffrey Rush. However I've got to say the
whole thing felt kind of endless. It really comes off as bargain
basement compared to the many other Hollywood awards shows.
>Was anyone good this year? A German visitor said she liked
>Diane Keaton's speech.
She probably got the best reaction, saying "And I fucking mean it."
Amy Pascal was pretty good, nice hug with Drew Barrymore, no
Madonna/Britney lip action though.
--
- Joe Kaufman
3497
From: hotlove666
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 8:58pm
Subject: Re: Carlos
Sounds like the B team.
3498
From: Damien Bona
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 9:21pm
Subject: Re: Cahiers: The Outstanding Films of the Decade (1970-1980)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Gallagher" wrote:
> Here's a 1980 poll from Cahiers du Cinéma. It's an alternative to
the
> view of the 1970's centered on the "New Hollywood."
This is a fascinating list, and it does serve as an important
corrective to the now-doctrinaire view of the 70s as a supposedly
glorious time cinematically thanks to the Young (or in Altman's case,
Middle-Aged) Turks of Hollywood. It's interesting that there is no
mention of Altman in this poll, and only one citing of Coppola.
In his recent article in The New Yorker, "My Life As A Paulette,"
David Denby all-too-predictably, continues to perpetuates the 70s
myth, saying "I see nothing so terrible about a group of critics
speaking as a single voice at a breakout time in the arts," and he
proudly writes of Kael and her acolytes, that they "were not the only
ones pushing Scorsese, Coppola, Altman, Spielberg, and the rest, but
we did it early, and we helped a group of directors make their way."
(I don't seem to recall them pushing Altman's Countdown.)
The problem with the former statement is that the 70s were less of a
breakout time than the mid-to-late 60s, and that this "single voice"
was never particularly insightful or interesting. As for Danby's
latter point, in the 70s much of the most rewarding work was coming
from establshed directors who were working with great feeling and
delicacy, ranging from Hitchcock to Wilder to Edwards to Losey to
Richard Lester and so on. Although he didn't live up to his promise,
for me the most interesting young director of the 70s was Jonathan
Demme – I never followed Kael closely enough to know, but did she
champion him at all? Or another terrific filmmaker of the day,
Jonathan Kaplan? As Denby points out, she ignored Fassbinder.
Denby is is usual drearily pompous and self-reverential self in this
article, but what come across most lucidly in this portrait of
Pauline Kael and her boys is how nasty and obnoxious a woman she
seemed to be. Her bullying, apparently, wasn't confined to her
hectoring writing style, but was part-and-parcel of her life,
certainly of her inter-action with others, even (or perhaps
especially) those to whom she was supposedly a mentor.
R. Porton (message 3079) points out Kael's disgraceful behavior in
which she berated the ailing Nicholas Ray. In addition to her
boorishness, the fact that she couldn't appreciate Ray's sublime work
only points how the superficiality and worthlessness of her
film "criticism."
Denby also cites two examples of her talking back to the screen in
movie theatres. Once at a showing of Cromwell, the other at Deep
Throat. She (and Denby) obviously thought she was being clever; in
actuality, she was witless
I wonder what the motivation behind Denby writing this piece at this
particular time. Is it the realization that as time goes on, Kael is
becoming more and more irrelevant to anyone's understanding of and
appreciation for film?
3499
From: Frederick M. Veith
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 10:02pm
Subject: Re: Re: Cahiers: Best films of the 1990's
A small correction: this is actually one film entitled 'A Child's Garden
and the Serious Sea'.
F.
On Fri, 31 Oct 2003, Paul Gallagher wrote:
> A Child's Garden (Stan Brakhage)
> The Serious Sea (Stan Brakhage)
3500
From: Michael Brooke
Date: Fri Oct 31, 2003 10:14pm
Subject: Re: Cahiers: The Outstanding Films of the Decade (1970-1980)
--- In a_film_by@yahoogroups.com, "Damien Bona" wrote:
> Although he didn't live up to his promise,
> for me the most interesting young director of the 70s was Jonathan
> Demme – I never followed Kael closely enough to know, but did she
> champion him at all?
In a word, yes - she wrote a rave review of 'Handle With Care' almost
exactly twenty-five years ago (October 24 1977, to be precise). She
doesn't have a huge amount to say about Demme per se (though she
invokes 1930s Renoir in conveying the film's hazy, laid-back humour),
but she loved the film, and a couple of months later included Demme in
a list of filmmakers with "a true comedy gift: a visla slapstick
sense" (the others, for the record, were Michael Ritchie, Blake
Edwards, Altman, De Palma, Bertrand Blier, Marco Ferreri and Ettore
Scola).
She clearly remained a fan of Demme - I don't have it to hand, but I
remember her review of 'Stop Making Sense' being a pretty well
unqualified paean of praise too.
Michael
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