1958: Bonjour Tristesse (Otto Preminger)

1958: Bonjour Tristesse (Otto Preminger)

When I first started this countdown, I mentioned that some of these entries would come from memory, things I may not have seen for a very long time.  Right or wrong, I have always given great value to the lasting impression a movie makes.  Some movies almost evaporate as if I never saw them.  Others expand and become forever embedded (even if in some other form) in my movie memory.  


For instance, I can't remember that much that is tangible about Bonjour Tristesse, yet it is the impression of it that remains so strong.  I can remember Jean Seberg in it as one of the most alluring screen presences.  And I can remember a certain uncharacteristic "softness" in the cinema of Preminger, something for him that seemed far more romantic, more poetic, more tender. 


I can't even fully remember the story well enough to say much more, but instead I am trusting the abstract, intangible impression it has left.  For whatever it's worth, I remember loving it after I watched it, but now that I can hardly remember it, I love it even more.

Other contenders for 1958: I don't have quite as many gaps this year.  These include: Roberto Rossellini's India, Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle, Douglas Sirk's A Time to Love and a Time to Die, Nicholas Ray's Wind Across the Everglades, Andrzej Wajda's Ashes and Diamonds, Jacques Tourneur's Curse of the Demon, Stanley Kramer's The Defiant Ones, Luis Bunuel's Nazarin, Don Siegel's The Lineup, Youssef Chahine's Cairo Station, Budd Boetticher's Buchanan Rides Alone, Satyajit Ray's The Music Room, and Keisuke Kinoshita's The Ballad of Narayama.  I probably should revisit Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo at some point soon as I've never connected with it on the same level as some other Hitchcock.  But from this year, I do love Anthony Mann's Man of the West, Jacques Becker's Montparnasse 19, and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil.  And as one of my closest runners-up yet and one that slightly pains me to not have as a top pick, Vincente Minnelli's Some Came Running.

2/20/11 I watched Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle.  There's no one quite like Tati in the history of cinema.  And how I'd love to see a Tati film now and see what he'd make of all the technological absurdities we have.   He's really a master when it comes to using sound and some of the gags here are laugh out loud funny.  But like much of his work, it can grow a little tedious by the end. 


3/31/11 I watched Andrzej Wajda's Ashes and Diamonds.  One of the most unconventional noirs.  Stylish with extremely effective and expressive camerawork.  Some unusual cross-cutting for its day and a guttural and visceral finale.  Not there all the time with it, but when I am, it's very strong.   


4/16/11 I watched Satyajit Ray's The Music Room.  A strange film with some scenes of beautiful music and dancing.  I'm still trying to understand the tremendous reputation that Ray enjoys.  I understand this one as an interesting mediation on class, age, and wealth, and the difficulties of facing the reality that all of the things might be lost one day.  But the film never grabbed me and seemed far too interested in atmosphere than drama of any kind.  


5/5/11 I watched Irving Lerner's Murder by Contract.  Another Scorsese favorite, this noir is utterly unique in terms of its tone.  Much of its difference comes from its Flamenco-like score that gives the film a very offbeat, bouncy and buoyant feel, in the midst of a good amount of darkness.  Vince Edwards gives a tremendous performance, and although spare and lean, the production always feels formally clean and clear.   A very strong, lesser-known work.  


12/26/11 I watched Yasujiro Ozu's Equinox Flower.  Definitely treads on familiar Ozu territory although to less effect than some of the master's greatest films.  Still worth a look though for major Ozu fans. The arc of the dad is particularly memorable.  


1/14/12 I watched John Sturges' The Law and Jake Wade.  Surtees does tremendous work yet again with town and landscape.  And of course, Widmark is always fresh, spirited, and full of extremely unique choices. It's a pretty hard-hitting, no-holds-barred little western.  Certainly worth a watch.  


2/25/12 I watched Youssef Chaine's Cairo Station.  Not sure I'd go so far as to call it a masterwork, but it's an incredibly ambitious neorealist work with an absolutely amazing lead performance and some truly fantastic moments.  

9/19/15 I watched Jean-Luc Godard's Charlotte et son Jules.  I think it is the first time I have seen this pre-Breathless short.  It is nothing earth shattering but nice to see as a Godard completist and to see certain stylistic touches, such as the hallmark Godard soundtrack ruptures, already firmly within his palatte. 

1/3/16 I watched Agnes Varda's Du cote de la cote.  A pretty mediocre, early effort from Varda.  The voiceover rhythms are very Nouvelle Vaguish but the rest was never very enthralling.

3/10/16 I watched Jacques Tourneur's The Fearmakers.  Some of the plotting, if you think about it more than a couple of seconds, doesn't hold together.  But this very minor Tourneur is somewhat interesting for Andrews' presence and as another Tourneur entry into noir, this time a contribution to the amnesiac noir.   

5/2/17 I watched Nicholas Ray's Wind Across the Everglades.  Ray made numerous films that were haunted with very dark characters spiraling deep, and almost uncontrollably, into their own obsessions and struggles.  His visual sense of abstraction was among the greatest the medium has ever seen and his diseased tone potentially more unique and consistent than that of any auteur.  I have now seen early Christopher Plummer twice (here and in The Silent Partner).  His ability to tap the hysteria within his own compulsion is a perfect match for the sensibility of Ray and his talent simply remarkable.  It is a shame more people do not discuss this work as it is the rawest, most uncompromising Ray film I have seen to date.    

9/17/18 I watched Jean Rouch's Moi, un noir.  Wow, probably the biggest influence I have ever seen on Godard's Breathless.  I have long known that Godard was a big fan of Rouch but this film blew my mind.  The cadence of Belmondo's voicemover and the frenzied rhythms of Godard's feature debut seem to have been lifted almost entirely from Moi, un noir.  It's a remarkable film for its nudity, its post-sync methods and the most pop culture references I have ever seen from a work that came out before 1960.

9/23/18 I watched Eric Rohmer's Veronique et son cancre et Presentation ou Charlotte et son steak.  The first is a very solid Rohmer short that already shows his sensitivity and his unusual ability with actresses.  The second is a tough trudge.  Godard stars and does little for this ten minute piece.

12/7/20 I watched Jacques Rozier's Blue Jeans.  Already in his early work, it feels very much like the work Rozier would become known for.  Most impressive to me was the way Rozier used jump cuts.  In the opening credits, you immediately feel the presence of a new rhythm and a new syntax.

2/26/24 I watched Frank Tashlin's Rock-A-Bye-Baby.  Jerry Lewis continues to be a challenge for me even if I recognize him as one of the couple of successors of the cinema of Keaton and Chaplin.

1957: Men in War (Anthony Mann)

1957: Men in War (Anthony Mann)

I'm a fan of Anthony Mann.  Already at least four or five of his movies have shown up in this countdown.  He had an amazing eye for framing landscapes, and working by removal rather than addition, he was also one of cinema's ultimate simplifiers.  


However, this entry from Mann feels different from anything else I've ever seen from him.  Normally, Mann keeps you at a distance and his movies (at least his westerns from this period) move in a very beautiful but leisurely manner.  If I remember correctly though, this one immediately thrusts you into the action and feels among the most real and certainly one of the most visceral war movies ever.     


It has great characters and incredible tension, and if anyone wants to dispute Mann's raw talent as a director, this is the first one I'd send their way.

Other contenders for 1957: This must be the year when I have the most gaps of all.  These include: Budd Boetticher's Decision at Sundown, Delmer Daves' 3:10 to Yuma, Louis Malle's Elevator to the Gallows, Frank Tashlin's Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, Charlie Chaplin's A King in New York, Nicholas Ray's Bitter Victory, Douglas Sirk's The Tarnished Angels, Jean Rouch's Les maitres fous, Mikhail Kalatozov's The Cranes Are Flying, Billy Wilder's Witness for the Prosecution, Leo McCarey's An Affair to Remember, Samuel Fuller's Run of the Arrow, Jacques Tourneur's Night of the Demon, Michelangelo Antonioni's Il grido, Joseph Losey's Time Without Pity, Josef von Sternberg's Jet Pilot, George Cukor's Les Girls, Jack Arnold's The Incredible Shrinking Man, and Leopoldo Torre Nilsson's La casa del angel.  I really need to revisit Alexander Mackendrick's Sweet Smell of Success, Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries, and David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai.  It's been too long since I saw any of them to know where they would place on this list.  I really like Francois Truffaut's Les Mistons, Raoul Walsh's ultra-bizarre Band of Angels, Hubert Cornfield's Plunder Road, and Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood.  I love Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal.  And my closest runner-up is Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory.


2/28/11 I watched Josef von Sternberg's Jet Pilot.  I don't know much of the background on this one.  But what remains is a pretty big mess. It all feels purposefully jokey with a lack of any real ambition.  Leigh is sexy, but aside from that, I'm not sure of any redeeming qualities.  


3/7/11 I watched Delmer Daves' 3:10 to Yuma.  Duning's score is quite interesting.  Almost sounds like something Lee Hazlewood would put together.  And Heflin reminds how good he could be.  But once it starts moralizing and trying for any major tension, I think Daves shows some of his limitations.  


3/12/11 I watched Louis Malle's Elevator to the Gallows.  An interesting film in that it announces the perspective of some of the young generation of the French New Wave about to take over the film world.  But it's also lacking somewhat in verve and seems overworked and lacking the naturalism that made the early French New Wave films so powerful.  


3/13/11 I watched Frank Tashlin's Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Tashlin is very creative and at times reminds us that the medium of film is still young and full of unexplored possibility.  But the characters in his work lack depth to me, and so I always find myself only half-involved.  


3/24/11 I watched Leo McCarey's An Affair to Remember.  McCarey's remake to me felt considerably weaker than Love Affair, partly because I already knew the story and partly because the chemistry didn't feel as palpable as it did between Boyer and Dunne.  Still, that final scene is almost enough to justify making two movies, and McCarey pulls it off masterfully.  


3/30/11 I watched Jacques Tourneur's Night of the Demon. Supernatuaral is really not my thing.  But Tourneur is having so much fun here.  He brings a naturalistic chic that really adds to his Lewton-like approach, of visceral thrills and economic power of suggestion.  


4/1/11 I watched Mikhail Kalatozov's The Cranes Are Flying.  With an incredibly mobile camera, Kalatozov gives us some moments of real immediacy and of unforgettable romantic strength.  At times, I wish his style was a little cleaner and more restrained, but he makes up for it with conviction and a strong humanistic approach throughout.  


4/6/11 I watched Michelangelo Antonioni's Il grido.  Feels like a master still searching for and refining his ultimate signature style.  Also feels like perhaps the number one influence on Five Easy Pieces.  An interesting blend of neorealism and something more stylized, a bit aimless to a fault, but certainly of strong historical import.  


10/29/11 I watched Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Twilight.  Some of the most devastating moments I've seen yet in Ozu's work, particularly one of the final moments at the train station.  Ozu teaches us how to feel and live. His body of work may very well end up in my book as the most important the cinema has ever had.  


2/8/12 I watched Nicholas Ray's Bitter Victory.  Abstract but also very personal and full of Ray's thematic concerns.  Features a wonderful Burton performance.  A very unusual film - but definitely of interest if you come in with the right frame of mind.

10/15/13 I watched Mark Cousins' The Story of Film: An Odyssey: The Swollen Story: World Cinema Busting at the Seams.  Perhaps a little less engaging for me than some of the previous episodes, but I still greatly enjoyed being introduced to Peixoto, Guru Dutt, Xie Jin, and some of the Brazilian and Mexican cinema of the fifties.  Of particular interest to me was Cousins' handling of Kurosawa and then the correlation he makes between The Searchers, Touch of Evil, Vertigo, and Rio Bravo - all films that counterscript the prevailing idea of family life in the fifties.

1/5/14 I watched Phil Karlson's The Brothers Rico.  It is a great role for Conte, and Karlson makes great use of the location shooting in Florida and New York.  But it is one of these noirs that seems to have been made on the quick, and the shortened final moments do not do justice to what Karlson has built up to.  

10/25/14 I watched Charlie Chaplin's A King in New York.  What a wonderful oddity.  Although I know there are some fans - Jonathan Rosenbaum, the Nouvelle Vague crew, and others - I am not sure this period of Chaplin gets its full due.  I am thinking of Limelight, this film and probably the final one which I have yet to see.  Chaplin does Godard before Godard and delivers one of the most scathing films of America ever made.  His handling of the young boy is marvelous and once again Chaplin proves himself uncannily talented building scores for his heartfelt imagery.

9/20/15 I watched Jean-Luc Godard's Tous les garcons s'appellent Patrick.  Up there with Les Mistons as a quintessential Nouvelle Vague short that sets the table for the brilliant films about to follow.  Rohmer pens the script, Brialy plays the lead, and Godard announces his unique mastery.

4/13/20 I watched Jacques Becker's Les Aventures d'Arsene Lupin.  Elegant as usual with Becker but a bit lighter than my favorite films of his that include Le Trou, Grisbi, Montparnasse 19 and Casque D'Or.  

4/19/20 I watched Sacha Guitry's Assassins et Voleurs.  It's easy to see Guitry's influence on the New Wave, particularly his lightness of touch and sense of playfulness.  But he also seemed to be one of the first ones of his generation to take to the streets and let actual locations be seen and felt.  

6/28/20 I watched Joseph Losey's Time Without Pity.  Everything and everyone seem keyed up to a point that I had trouble fully connecting.  Losey remains a mystery to me, capable of achieving the level of Monsieur Klein but then also being responsible for something like this.

12/30/21 I watched Vincente Minnelli's Designing Woman.  Peck and Bacall are both wonderful and the film has numerous things going for it.  But Minnelli's tone in this one is a bit hokey, particularly with the character of Maxie Stultz.  

10/1/23 I watched Allan Dwan's The River's Edge.  Dwan had a keen eye and ability to achieve heightened visual expression as we see at certain moments here, even if the story and characters are not always as engaging as we might desire.  

1956: Written on the Wind (Douglas Sirk)

1956: Written on the Wind (Douglas Sirk)
After I first watched this, I wrote to my cinephile friends and told them that I felt it, more than anything else I had ever seen, influenced David Lynch's use of color and some of his more sentimental tendencies.  At the time, I was already a huge Lynch fan, but this was the first Sirk film that completely blew me away.


So many things work so well for me in this one -- the colors, the music, the production design, the camera movements, the acting, the locations, and the story.  It's one of these rare film experiences where I'm hooked from the first frame, and then Sirk only grabs hold of me more as the story goes on.  


There's an epic feeling at work (even though the film is only about 100 minutes long), and the tragedy is pitched at an extremely high level. But what really gets me is the incredible humanity Sirk is able to express.  And that he does it, in spite of the fact that he's working in an "exaggerated realm", that of melodrama.  


I can't remember ever liking Rock Hudson more.  Nor can I remember seeing a tragic view of friendship and look at the South that feel any more real, truthful, and penetrating.  I can't recommend this one enough.  To my eyes, it's a staggering artistic achievement, incredibly ambitious and almost flawlessly executed.  

Other contenders for 1956: A year where there are a number of things I still need to see.  These include:  Vincente Minnelli's Lust for Life, Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man, Alain Resnais' Toute la memoire du monde, George Stevens' Giant, Fred Wilcox's Forbidden Planet, Orson Welles' The Fountain of Youth, George Cukor's Bhowani Junction, Satyajit Ray's Aparajito, and Kon Ichikawa's The Burmese Harp.  For some reason, I've yet to fully connect with John Ford's The Searchers.  I'll keep revisiting it though, and hopefully one day it will have the impact on me that it's had on so many others.  I really like the following films from this year: Jacques Tourneur's Nightfall, Fritz Lang's While the City Sleeps, Don Siegel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers,  and Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much.  I love Roger Vadim's And God Created Woman, Budd Boetticher's Seven Men from Now, Kenji Mizoguchi's Street of Shame, Robert Bresson's A Man Escaped, and Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria.  And my closest runner-up is one of my favorite noirs of all time, Stanley Kubrick's The Killing.


2/26/11 I watched Vincente Minnelli's Lust for Life.  It has some strong, emotional moments, and I'm always drawn to tales of artists. Douglas is wholly convincing, and Van Gogh's commitment and struggle are awe-inspiring.   The end doesn't necessarily deliver, but all in all, an extremely solid outing.  


2/28/11 I watched Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man.  This one has a major reputation, and is sometimes lumped in with the roll he's about to begin, including Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds. But this austere film never really worked for me.  It was certainly well-made and interesting as a departure for Hitch.   However, it lacks his greatest quality, his ability to entertain, and at times, like the coda, it's just downright silly.


3/3/11 I watched Fred Wilcox's Forbidden Planet.  A real head trip of a film.  Well-conceived sci-fi with thoughts and effects that still hold up. Not the kind of film I really go for, but one of the best of its kind that I've seen.  


3/19/11 I watched Kon Ichikawa's The Burmese Harp.  A masterful film.  That is one that is beautifully filmed with masterpiece ambitions, however one that always felt forced and slightly disconnected from me. Ichikawa has a great eye, and some of the camerawork is unusually expressive.  Also the non-linear structure feels incredibly modern.  And there's a certain poetry to much of it.  At the end of the day though, I never fully was in it.  


3/11/11 I watched George Stevens' Giant.  Raw and poignant but at times also heavy-handed  and corny.  An interesting epic, but one that also feels only half-formed.  Dean hints that he might have had a long, extremely interesting career, but Hudson is not as strong as he usually is.  


3/24/11 I watched Henri-Georges Clouzot's The Mystery of Picasso. It's a somewhat interesting look at the great Picasso's process.  But I wish, like Picasso says about his own work in the film, that the film went deeper.  Clouzot's process is repetitive and little engaging after awhile.


10/27/11 I watched Yasujiro Ozu's Early Spring.  Great by most people's standards but feels a little second-tier for Ozu probably because he was striving to do something somewhat topical.  

7/27/14 I watched Mark Robson's The Harder They Fall.  Entertaining enough and of interest for how dark it stays throughout.  I cannot remember Schrader's exact differentiations but I have to guess this one falls into the last nihilistic noir grouping.  At times a little repetitive and lacking significant plot surprises but worth one look at some point.  

12/28/15 I watched Satyajit Ray's Aparajito.  Not as affecting as Pather Panchali but still full of Ray's warmth and magical touches such as his handling of Apu's father walking back up the steps.  I just found it straining a little at times whereas Pather felt more effortlessly affecting.  

10/28/18 I watched Frank Tashlin's Hollywood or Bust.  Freewheeling Tashlin is entertaining and fun when the mood is for that.

4/6/20 I watched Jacques Rozier's Rentree des classes.  It is broad but an early New Wave film that captures the youth, playfulness and naturalism that would become key identifiers of the movement's initial work.  

4/14/20 I watched Jacques Rivette's Le Coup du berger.  Interesting to see as a very early film of the Nouvelle Vague.  But it does not feel particularly like Rivette or even stylistically very much like what the movement would become.  

10/27/21 I watched Douglas Sirk's There's Always Tomorrow.  It's incredible to see Sirk working in black-and-white the same year he'd make one of the most color-forward films in history (Written on the Wind).  Sirk takes the leads from Double Indemnity and substitutes extramarital romance for murder.  In doing so, he is able to create the same level of suspense found in the best noirs and achieve something even more emotionally damaging as it all feels more rooted in reality - kids, family, profession.  

Louisiana film

Good news came this morning that my state continues to grow a very active film industry.  Here's all that's coming or currently filming in state:

March 3, 2010

Welcome to 225.342.FILM, the official hotline of Louisiana Entertainment. Here's what's happening for the 1st week of March

2010:

Pre-Production

NBC's The Biggest Loser is casting for individuals and teams of 2 in New Orleans Saturday March 20, 2010 at the Riverwalk Marketplace 1 Poydras Street (2nd Level) New Orleans 70130 from 10 AM to 6 PM. Contestants must have at least 100 lbs to lose, an outgoing personality and the competitive edge to vie for the $250K prize. Please bring a non-returnable photo of any size and note that no one will be allowed to line up prior to 3 hours before the open call. Applications will be provided on site.

Fox's television series "The Gates" will shoot from March 29th through August 10th in Shreveport. Please send resumes to 318.841.6446 .

The independent feature film Flypaper starring Patrick Dempsey began preproduction March 1st and scheduled to shoot May 3 through June 4th in Baton Rouge. Resumes should be directed to flypaperfilm@ gmail.com

Nu Image/Millennium feature film Drive Angry starring Nicholas Cage is scheduled to shoot from March 15 to May 14th in Shreveport. Resumes are being accepted via email at drivenproductionsll c@gmail.com

Summit Entertainment' s feature film Red starring Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis will begin shooting March 25 for 2 weeks in New Orleans. Please send resumes to redneworleans@ gmail.com

AVB Productions feature film The Americans will begin pre-production in the spring of 2010 with shooting scheduled in the summer of 2010 in Shreveport. Crew and vendor resumes should be sent to cygnetfilm@yahoo. com with attention to James Gerrick and extra resumes to the same address with attention to Gina.

Most Wanted Films feature film Death House is currently in preproduction in Baton Rouge and scheduled to shoot March 18th through June 15th. Resumes are being accepting via email at k2.miket@gmail. com

Bullet Films feature film Swamp Shark began preproduction on March 1st with principle photography to begin on April 12th in Lafayette. Resumes are being accepted via fax at 337.706.8971 and email at jobs.bulletfilms@ gmail.com .

American United Entertainment' s feature film Shotgun Wedding is scheduled to start shooting in New Orleans in mid March. Resumes are being accepted at shotgunweddingcrew@ gmail.com

Fox/New Regency feature film Change of Heart began preproduction February 8th and is scheduled to start shooting April 1st in Shreveport.

The independent feature film Jeff, Who Lives at Home is scheduled to begin shooting April 19th in the New Orleans area. Resumes are being accepted via email at jeffbrothersproduct ions@gmail. com

Court 13 International' s feature film Beasts of Wild is scheduled to begin shooting in Houma in late April. More information will become available as this production develops.

The independent feature film Samuel Bleek is scheduled to begin filming in early April in the Lafourche and Terrebonne areas. More information will become available as this production develops.

Filming

Warner Bros. feature film Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds began shooting in March in New Orleans. Construction craft resumes are being accepted via email at greenlanternfilm@ gmail.com . Please state the job position you are seeking in the email heading.

The independent feature film Silver Cord will shoot in March and April primarily in New Orleans with 3 weeks at the Celtic/Raleigh Studios in Baton Rouge. Resumes are being accepted via email at silvercordcv@ aol.com

Films in Motion feature film Blood Out starring Val Kilmer, Randy Couture, Vinnie Jones, Brock Lesnar, and Tamer Hassan is shooting in Baton Rouge from February 22 to March 12. Actors should submit resumes to talent@filmsinmotio n.com and crews should submit resumes to info@filmsinmotion. com

DMG Holdings television series, "First Date" is filming in New Orleans and Baton Rouge until the end of May. Resumes are not being accepted for this production, as it is already staffed.

The independent feature film Love Wedding Marriage starring Jessica Alba is shooting in New Orleans from February 4th until mid March. Resumes are being accepted via email at keepittogether@ gmail.com .

DMG Holdings television series Living with Leroy is shooting in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Resumes are being accepted for sound department only at k2.miket@gmail. com

The HBO television series Treme is shooting until the end of April 2010 in New Orleans. Resumes are being accepted by email atblowndeadlineprod@ gmail.com

The Film Department's feature film Earthbound starring Kate Hudson is shooting from January 18th to March 7th in New Orleans. Resumes are being accepted via fax at 504.734.3793 .

The independent documentary "Murder through the Eyes of a Child" is shooting in New Orleans from February 22 until the end of March. All resumes should be sent to Alex Willson (UPM) via fax at 815.355.1696 and email at cresent.city. film@gmail. com

1955: Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer)

1955: Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer)
I've only seen this once, but it finds its way on the list for the same reason as my final three picks (L'enfant, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, and Tulpan), Ordet is an absolute technical marvel.  Here it comes in the form of perfectly choreographed, incredibly long takes. And like Tulpan, I'm not referring to fixed frame long takes like we find in the cinema of Hou Hsiao-hsien.  Dreyer's camera and characters are almost always moving with the director hardly ever cutting to break up the action.  It's one of these films I watch and almost every five minutes can hear myself say, "I can't believe he just did that!"  The lack of cuts definitely gives this a pace that will make it not for everyone.  But, for me, it's cinema of the highest order, and one of the five or so most perfectly made movies I've ever seen.  The acting and cinematography are also in another stratosphere.  But, it's the direction that makes this one most humbling, and most impressive.  The other thing that struck me is that although a good amount of the action takes place inside one location, Dreyer never makes us feel like we're at the theater.  There's no mistaking, his approach is cinematic and his talent mastery.  Lastly, as an incredibly tiny tribute to Dreyer and his extraordinary accomplishment here, I've decided to refrain from any paragraph breaks in my short post. 

Other contenders for 1955: A year where I have quite a few gaps. These include: Raoul Walsh's The Tall Men, Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali, Jean Rouch's Les Maitres Fous, Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows, Vincente Minnelli's The Cobweb, Alain Resnais' Night and Fog, John Ford's The Long Gray Line, Michelangelo Antonioni's The Lady Without Camelias, Frank Tashlin's Artists and Models, Max Ophuls' Lola Montes, Ingmar Bergman's Sawdust and Tinsel, Kenji Mizoguchi's New Tales of the Taira Clan, Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble With Harry, and Jacques Tourneur's Wichita. I need to revisit the following three films as it's simply been too long since I've seen them to know where they would place on this list: Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter, Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without A Cause, and Elia Kazan's East of Eden.  Even with all these gaps though, there are still a number of favorites from this year.  I really like Anthony Mann's The Far Country and The Man from Laramie, Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night, Fritz Lang's Moonfleet, and Otto Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm.  I love Orson Welles' Mr. Arkadin and Jules Dassin's Rififi.  My closest runner-up though is Robert Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly.


2/7/11 I watched John Sturges' Bad Day at Black Rock.  A wonderful cast in what feels like a very artificial, overly talky, and static film. Some interesting framing, but other than that, just all fell flat for me.  


2/9/11 I watched Raoul Walsh's The Tall Men.  Messy, pedestrian, and far from top-tier Walsh.  Some nice work on the theme of brotherhood but otherwise pretty uninspired stuff.  


2/10/111 I watched Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows.  As one would expect, the colors are extraordinary, the control and restraint masterful, with a few incredible moments of melodrama.  Doesn't reach near the heights for me of Written on the Wind, but still a very good work.  


2/19/11 I watched Alain Resnais' Night and Fog.  Absolutely chilling and masterful doc.  Resnais keeps a slight distance and never goes for the sentimental or the easy effect.  He just documents the horrors of the concentration camps, never really forcing anything on us.  However, he somehow makes us receive it all in a gut-wrenching and incredibly visceral way.  


2/23/11 I watched John Ford's The Long Gray Line.  There is a depth and humanity to Ford and this film that I really like.  But it also has a mawkish way about it that I find grating after awhile.  Ultimately, I'm left a little lukewarm.  

3/3/11 I watched Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble With Harry.  Might go down as my least favorite Hitch film I've seen thus far.  All felt very tedious and repetitive to me.  Aside from an early Shirley MacLaine appearance, little grabbed my attention.

3/30/11 I watched Jacques Tourneur's Wichita.  Tourneur proves that he definitely was an A-level director, ofter working on B-level budgets.  Nothing flashy here, but just the great taste of Tourneur that guides everything from the cast (Vera Miles is exceptionally easy on the eyes) and the locations to the script and the camerawork.  A very solid western from the great director. 


10/9/11 I watched Max Ophuls' Lola Montes.  Though I'm unsure I understood all of Ophuls' implications, this unconventional work is obviously full of great passion and conviction.  The most formally daring of all the great filmmaker's films, it's not the warmest, most inviting work but one that would be interesting to study from time to time.  

5/22/13 I watched Frank Tashlin's Artists and Models.  I have long known the Nouvelle Vague's appreciation for Tashlin but have not fully connected to anything I have seen yet from him.  This one bears great influences on Une femme est une femme and even Pierrot and Tashlin's playfulness and visual gags impress at times, but he also overplays certain moments like Lewis going up and down the stairs to answer the phone.  I will continue to dig around to see more Tashlin work, but I remain lukewarm on this one and his work as a whole.  

11/23/13 I watched Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali.  A world of truth and heft that rivals any I know on film but quite unlike anyone else's world as well.  Warmer than Ozu, closer to a documentary-like realism than Renoir, and probably a little more alive than either, Ray does not shy away from death or difficulty and captures the buoyant feelings of innocence and happiness masterfully.  A humanist film containing so much life and truth, Ray offers a spirituality so often lacking in cinema and a poetic approach to the world and the medium both rewarding and renewing.  

2/5/17 I watched William Wyler's The Desperate Hours.  I had already seen Cimino's remake.  Wyler films at times in a theatrical way, using the interior of the home more as a stage than a typical film frame.  But he proves adept at the action scenes (the milkman's demise, Hal's final moments, etc.) creating memorable, brisk moments filmed with a bit of gusto.

2/12/17 I watched Mikio Naruse's Floating Clouds.  I have very little experience with Naruse's work, this being either only the first or second film I have ever seen from him.  I'm not a fan of his almost wall-to-wall music and I wish he were more similar to Mizoguchi and Ozu in his sense of restraint.  But I admire his ability to go the distance with the material, never becoming sentimental even when it would have more palatable and more commercial to do so.  He is gifted with time, effortlessly gliding back and forth between the past and the present, and emotionally he is more engaged with reality than the cerebral Mizouchi and the distant Ozu.  

3/19/19 I watched Edgar G. Ulmer's The Naked Dawn.  It never quite grabbed me, even as powerful as Kennedy's performance was.

9/26/21 I watched Luis Bunuel's The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz.  Cold and I never really cared about any of the characters but was fascinating to see Bunuel's stylistic boldness.  Particularly the surrealistic touches and the false narratives.  

2/3/23 I watched Vincente Minnelli's The Cobweb.  A melodrama that finds its way on Rosenbaum's list of 1000 essential films that I could never quite grasp intellectually or emotionally.  

8/27/23 I watched King Vidor's Man Without a Star.  An interesting use of "wire" to discuss the closing of the frontier and some great scenes but often times a bit broad in its performances and overall approach.  

1954: The Barefoot Contessa (Joseph Mankiewicz)

1954: The Barefoot Contessa (Joseph Mankiewicz)
I'm not sure I've ever met anyone that likes this movie as much as I do. I wish that weren't the case, but what can I really do about it?

I mentioned in an earlier post that two of my favorite themes on screen are friendship and loyalty, and that's what really gets me here.  It's the friendship that Humphrey Bogart shows Ava Gardner, and his loyalty towards her, that I find so deep and moving.  In fact, it's probably my favorite purely platonic male-female relationship in the history of film.

It's Humphrey at the end of his career, wise and settled in this very powerful way.  And, Ava Gardner, who I think is as beautiful as anyone I've ever seen.  Also, of note, are the colors and the grand sense of tragedy that Mankiewicz creates around it all.  

Another one I'd take on a desert island with me.  Be a great one to have, too!  If a stranger shows up, they probably wouldn't even want it.

Other contenders for 1954: A year, like any other, where I still have some things I need to see.  These include:  Luis Bunuel's Wuthering Heights, John Sturges' Bad Day at Black Rock, Andre De Toth's Crime Wave, Richard Quine's Drive a Crooked Road, Allan Dwan's Silver Lode, Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar, Kenji Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff, William Wellman's Track of the Cat, and Josef von Sternberg's The Saga of Anatahan.  I really need to re-watch both Henri-Georges Clouzot's Les diaboliques and Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samourai.  It's been too long since I saw either of them to know where they would place on a favorites list.  Even with all these gaps though, there are still some films to mention.  I really like Otto Preminger's River of No Return and Anthony Mann's The Far Country.  I love Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront, George Cukor's A Star Is Born, and Jacques Becker's Grisbi.  But my closest runner-up is Roberto Rossellini's Voyage in Italy.

2/11/11 I watched William Wellman's Track of the Cat.  The fact that this is on Jonathan Rosenbaum's top 100 films of all time list makes me a little more skeptical of the great critic's taste.  Mitchum turns in a strong performance, and there is a decent allegorial weight to it all.  But much of it feels too theatrical for my liking, and with just mediocre Val Lewton-type suggestion.  

2/18/11 I watched Allan Dwan's Silver Lode.  Allegorical with some nice expressionistic touches from Dwan and Alton.  Just wish the execution was a little more subtle and the atmosphere more carefully and subtly handled.  

2/19/11 I watched Kenji Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff.  Mizoguchi has a darker, more violent streak than Ozu, and his films can be rough where Ozu's are soft.  Heavy metal to Brit pop if you will.  But he's also a humanist.  And that comes through in this hefty work.  Mizoguchi feels very modern and masterful when it comes to dealing with non-linear structure, and certain moments, like when the mom and children are separated by boat, pack a real power.  Not fully felt for me but appreciated with the utmost respect.   

2/25/11 I watched Andre De Toth's Crime Wave.  The real stars here are the city of Los Angeles and a bunch of delicious character actors (particularly Jay Novello, Tim Carey, and Charles Bronson).   De Toth keeps things spare and taut, but a few times some inventive camerawork sneaks in.  Meanwhile the noir atmosphere never falters.   An exceptional example of B-noir.  Flawed, certainly, but an unusually strong outing.   

11/15/11 I watched Roberto Rossellini's Dov'e la liberta...?  A strange Rossellini that feels more Felliniesque than the work of the master of restrained and austere.  Almost felt like a made-for-hire.  

3/16/13 I watched Roberto Rossellini's La Paura. Bergman is wonderful as always, and it's interesting to see Rossellini doing noir. But the script is a bit lackluster at times. Particularly, without Rossellini's transcendent ending, the whole things ends up leaving a bland taste on the buds.  

10/11/13 I watched Douglas Sirk's Magnificent Obsession.  My first time with this well-known Sirk, and it certainly is as loony as I heard whisperings of.  But Sirk gives it tragic depth and keeps the emotion swirling and somehow manages to transform seemingly insane form (garish music and color) and content (plotting that no one in their right mind would ever consider plausible) into something uniquely wonderful.  Although I still prefer Written as it seems perhaps a little more restrained in its content and outlandish in its form, Magnificent deserves a place all its own. 

11/2/13 I watched Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar.  Feverish with Ray's unique emotionalism and spatial mastery on grand display.  Crawford is as powerful as ever, and this western is a world all its own.  It's pulp, melodrama, and baroque art.  It's no surprise this film enjoys such a major reputation - it's a wonderful piece of work by a great filmmaker. 

11/24/13 I watched Richard Quine's Drive a Crooked Road.  A very effective noir featuring the best and most natural Rooney performance I have seen.  Traces of the film show up in Lost Highway and possibly even Drive.  Cold, tight, and full-blooded noir, Quine might not be as harsh as Lang or Ray but he is courageous in his depiction of the femme fatale and seems at ease no matter how fatalistic the plot and the characters become.  

10/3/20 I watched Herbert Biberman's Salt of the Earth.  From a historical standpoint, it is a completely fascinating film.  I can't recall an earlier American work that bears so much Italian neorealist ethos.  While perhaps not always cinematically of the greatest interest, it is bold in the subject matter it tackles, particularly that of sexual equality.

2/2/23 I watched Robert Wise's Executive Suite.  Wise could very well be an unfair victim of the auteur theory.  Although I have seen no where near his entire body of work, I'm a huge fan of The Set-Up and really like The Day the Earth Stood Still.  I watched this because it's one of Rosenbaum's 1000 essential films and man is it good.  It's unique in its exploration of corporate America and seems like a clear predecessor to Lumet's 12 Angry Men.  

1953: The Big Heat (Fritz Lang)

1953: The Big Heat (Fritz Lang)

THE noir that first hooked me on the genre.  

I first saw this one as part of a Fritz Lang retrospective, curated by Lang authority Bernard Eisenschitz at the amazing Lux cinema in Caen, France.  I believe Eisenschitz screened every single Lang film over the course of a month.  But since it was 1994, and I was still early in my cinephile awareness, I didn't realize the magnitude of the opportunity.  I think this was the only Lang film I went and saw.


I mentioned in my Out of the Past post that I was a fan of noir for several reasons.  One is I like the complex and mysterious stories of many of the genre's key films.  But even more important, I like the rawness and the certain brutal honesty that these films seem to have. When I first saw The Big Heat, I remember being absolutely jolted by its car explosion and "incident" with Gloria Grahame.  At the time, it was the most unfiltered violence I'd ever seen on screen.  Or, if not, it certainly felt that way.

I think many people in their angst years -- teens, maybe early twenties, maybe forever -- gravitate towards those things that would never appeal to their parents (I've loved The Beastie Boys, for instance, most of my life).  The Big Heat (and later, noir in general) was the first cinematic equivalent of this for me.  Sure, I liked the characters, the filmmaking, the stories.  But what I particularly responded to was its lack of sentimentality.  It was angry, pissed off, and what was important was expressing these feelings.  These feelings made sense to me.   And seeing them played out on screen, without any edge taken off, felt more real than most of what I'd seen up to that point. 

I still love this film.  It's cold, mean, and unapologetic.  But just spend five minutes looking into Lang's life, and you'll understand why.  

Other contenders for 1953: As with other years, I have gaps in 1953.  These include:  Federico Fellini's I vitelloni, Phil Karlson's 99 River Street, Billy Wilder's Stalag 17, John Ford's The Sun Shines Bright and Mogambo, Ida Lupino's The Hitch-Hiker, Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess, George Stevens' Shane (yes, I admit it!), and Charles Walters' Dangerous When Wet.  I really need to re-watch both Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu and Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story.  At this point, I'm unsure of where they would place on a favorites list as it's been too long since I've seen either.  The films that I really like this year are Anthony Mann's The Naked Spur, Samuel Fuller's Pickup on South Street, William Wyler's Roman Holiday, Howard Hawks' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Fred Zinnemann's From Here to Eternity. Meanwhile, my closest runner-up, with its harrowing action and great Yves Montand performance, is Henri-Georges Clouzot's The Wages of Fear.

11/28/10 I watched Billy Wilder's Stalag 17.  Wilder gives Holden a great hero role, and some of the subtext on resourcefulness and free enterprise is interesting.  But all in all, not near as enjoyable and as full of memorable characters as other similar movies like The Great Escape and The Guns of Navarone.  

11/30/10 I watched Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess.  A Hitch film, full of complex exposition and various plot twists.  Some logic could be contested, but it gets into some fairly interesting psychological areas. All in all, not fully satisfying, but full of examples of Hitch's wonderful eye and cinematic flair.  

12/3/10 I watched Charles Walters' Dangerous When Wet.  An odd film, part Preston Sturges, part Hollywood '50s Technicolor marvel. Zany, screwball-ish, but with an unexpected emotionality towards the end.   

12/4/10 I watched Federico Fellini's I vitelloni.  By this point, Fellini has clearly moved away from his neo-realist beginnings.  It's a film with some excellent scenes, particularly the one with Fausto at the movie theater.  But all in all, it just didn't carry me emotionally in the way that I would have hoped.

12/5/10 I watched John Ford's Mogambo.  A flawed film, certainly.  But a fever dream of a flick, with the painfully beautiful Grace Kelly, and some of the most suspenseful scenes in the history of cinema involving animals and humans.  Nice to see Ford taking a break from the Irish thing and delivering this complex tale.  

3/29/11 I watched Phil Karlson's 99 River Street.  Some striking photography and location work.  I also thought John Payne's quite good.  Evelyn Keyes, however, doesn't totally work for me, and the plot only seems somewhat satisfying.  

10/24/11 I watched Ida Lupino's The Hitch-Hiker.  A gritty, ultra low-budget noir with some nice, expressionistic touches.  But the limited budget makes its storytelling ultimately a little underwhelming.  

8/11/13 I watched John Huston's Beat the Devil.  Kael was a huge fan, and it does conform to her fondness for a certain looseness and bubbly tone.  It is harmless enough, but I quickly found its freewheeling nature devoid of too much of any real entertainment or substantive value.  

11/23/13 I watched Andre De Toth's House of Wax.  An obviously very unique storyline and there are some wonderful moments including the tension-filled climax at the museum.  But not completely my thing and even though De Toth proves himself very adept at the material I was more in admiration than in thrall.

3/12/16 I rewatched Max Ophuls' The Earrings of Madame de....  A film that above all is classy which is a word that for me describes all that might be deficient about current times.  What is class?  It has to do with restraint (even the title is restrained depriving us of the Madame's full name).  It has to do with refined, developed taste.  In Ophuls' case, the way he puts the sets together, the way the camera slinks around for the entire film, and the way he dutches the camera at certain moments selectively and with purpose.  Class is almost every one of De Sica's movements and gestures, and it's the sophistication of approach and intellect in every frame of this Ophuls masterwork.      

5/1/16 I watched Ida Lupino's The Bigamist.  Whereas in some of her other work, I was impressed by Lupino's Wellesesque expressive camerawork, here what most jumped out were the performances, O'Brien's and most of all Lupino's herself.  A daring film for its time, patiently observed and stood up by its humanism.  

1/7/17 I watched Vincente Minnelli's The Band Wagon.  It was the first time I had seen it since I first saw it at Cafe des Images in Herouville, France in 1994 or 1995.  Minnelli has a huge reputation (I love Some Came Running, this film is considered one of the very best musicals (I love a number of them) and one of the very best Astaire films (I am a huge fan of Top Hat and Swing Time).  I did not fall for it back in '94 or '95 and again I failed to connect to it in the same way I relate to my favorite films of the genre.  None of the numbers give me that rush and boost of adrenaline I get from my favorite musical moments and I just do not feel Astaire's plight in the same way I do in some of his earlier work.  

4/30/17 I watched Josef von Sternberg's Anatahan.  It has only been 20+ years since I first heard of the film and have been wanting to see it ever since.  It belongs in that special category of master director's final films and it has that same odd tone of finality of Dreyer's Gertrud and perhaps even Bresson's L'argent.  It is a mood film dripping with atmosphere and style and succeeds in throwing the viewer into its exotic land and bringing the strangeness terrifically alive.  Sternberg excelled at this type of cinema that also includes Macao and Morocco.  

7/11/18 I watched Jean Rouch's Mammy Water.  Reminiscent of Visconti's La terra trema, this early Rouch film is impressive in how consistent it is already with Rouch's later style and work.  But it does not reach the heights of what I have seen from some of his greatest work.

1/1/20 I watched Jean Gremillon's The Love of a Woman.  I sought it out since it was one of the films on Les Inrockuptibles' list of 100 Most Beautiful French Films.  It has a certain weight to it, mostly due to its silences and remote island setting.  But it also felt ominous throughout in ways that, by the end, because of a lack of any major event (other than of course the main relationship in the film), felt more frustrating and unnecessary than effective.  It is of interest as an early French film about the evolving place of the woman in society.  

7/2/20 I watched Chuck Jones' Duck Amuck.  It's cute and creative but I never emotionally got into it at all.

11/25/22 I watched Michelangelo Antonioni's The Lady Without Camelias.  An interesting early Antonioni that has glimpses of the work he'd come to be known for in the sixties.  Very disillusioned in its outlook, more so than any of the work I've seen of his peers from this period.  

2/5/23 I watched John Ford's The Sun Shines Bright.  I have been watching more John Ford of late than I ever have and it is clear I am only beginning to scratch the surface of who he was as a filmmaker.  What seems clear to me at this point is that he was deeply interested in America, where we had been and where we might be going.  He wanted to tell our history, examine it, and expose our people for the times they fought for unjust causes.  The more I watch, the more Ford seems like the narrative version of Wiseman, a filmmaker deeply concerned with our institutions and the very foundation on which this country is supposed to rest.

8/5/23 I watched George Cukor's The Actress.  Far from the very top tier of Cukor's work yet there are still wonderful passages where you appreciate Cukor's sense of wonder about his performers and the freedom and space he was willing to give their work.

1952: Casque d'or (Jacques Becker)

1952: Casque d'or (Jacques Becker)

What a treat to find a place on this list for Jacques Becker!  For almost the first ten years of his career, Becker worked as an Assistant Director to Jean Renoir, and it's not hard to see Renoir's influence on his work.  


Like Renoir, Becker was an extraordinary humanist, incredible with actors, and had a certain amount of interest in the crime film, too.  I haven't seen all of Becker's work, as some of it is still hard to find in the States.  But I can't recommend enough this one, Grisbi (very possibly my favorite French crime film of all time), Le Trou, and Modigliani.


Casque d'or absolutely swoons with romanticism, tragedy, and has as much feeling as any film I can think of from this period.  The relationship Becker creates between two of France's greatest actors (Simone Signoret and Serge Reggiani) is so real, so painful, so right that he makes you feel every second of it.  This one easily has a place alongside my other favorite love stories -- Letter from an Unknown Woman, Splendor in the Grass, The Shop Around the Corner, Gertrud, Holiday, and A Place in the Sun.  


Feel like your film-watching has become too cerebral?  Need an emotional experience that doesn't feel like it cheats or cheaply manipulates?  Give this one a whirl.  It has a great feel for period but much more important, it has great feel for the human heart.  
  

Other contenders for 1952: As with other years, I still have some things I need to see.  These include:  John Ford's The Quiet Man, Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot's Holiday, Luis Bunuel's El, Ingmar Bergman's Summer with Monika, Howard Hawks' The Big Sky, Fritz Lang's Clash by Night, Frank Tashlin's Son of Paleface, Kenji Mizoguchi's The Life of Oharu, Howard Hawks' Monkey Business, Samuel Fuller's Park Row, Charlie Chaplin's Limelight, Leo McCarey's My Son John, and Phil Karlson's Kansas City Confidential.  I need to re-visit both Max Ophuls' Madame De... (I think Scorsese was the one that said you had to have a certain maturity to really appreciate it. Maybe, I have it by now?) and Vittorio De Sica's Umberto D.  After first viewing, neither had the impact that I would have expected.  I do have a good number of films from this year though that I really like.  I'll break them into three tiers:  films that I really like, films that I love, and my closest runners-up.  The films that I really like are:  Max Ophuls' Le Plaisir, Rene Clement's Forbidden Games, Anthony Mann's Bend of the River, and Fred Zinnemann's High Noon.  The films that I love are Roberto Rossellini's Europe '51 and Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru.  Meanwhile, my two closest runners-up are Nicholas Ray's The Lusty Men and Orson Welles' Othello.

8/30/10 I watched Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot's Holiday.  Tati's cinema can become a little tedious to me after awhile.  But I'm not sure anyone has done as much to explore sound in the medium, and there are several incredible moments in this one, including when Hulot takes to the tennis courts.


11/18/10 I watched Charles Chaplin's Limelight.  One of the more personal and wounded films we have by a great auteur.  Not always easy to like, but courageous, unusual, challenging, sentimental, deep, and smart.  Chaplin's Gertrud but perhaps even more prickly.   


11/19/10 I watched Fritz Lang's Clash by Night.  I found it to be pretty tedious and somewhat uninspired for a Lang work.  Not first, or even second tier Lang.  


11/22/10 I watched Howard Hawks' Monkey Business.  Hawks-lite with a couple of nice moments.  But overall one that felt like it overstayed its welcome more often than not.  


11/25/10 I watched Vittorio De Sica's Umberto D.  Perhaps the film if you want to understand the bond between a dog and its owner.  Moving, realistic, wise, and full of heart.  A movie with a huge reputation, and rightfully so.  


12/1/10 I watched Phil Karlson's Kansas City Confidential.  Seems to have been a major influence on Reservoir Dogs.  Some of the plotting is a little clunky, and not every subplot seems to be wholly satisfying.  But has some great moments, particularly Pete Harris in the Mexican airport.  


12/5/10 I watched John Ford's The Quiet Man.  In general, I struggle a little with Ford's cinema.  I find much of his work a bit mawkish for my liking and boisterous and rowdy in a way that wears on me after awhile.  This one has some very nice moments, including the masterful flashback of Wayne's days as an athlete, but I never entirely connected to it.  


2/14/11 I watched Frank Tashlin's Son of Paleface.  Tashlin was a major influence on Godard, and his unhinged playfulness is certainly on display here.  And Hope proves to be a pretty top-notch entertainer. But after awhile it all gets a little too zany and tedious for me.  


10/2/11 I watched Rene Clement's Forbidden Games.  A second time viewing for me after many years.  The ending is one of the strongest in the history of the medium, and Clement builds a great bond between Michel and Paulette.  The flamenco music grows tiresome after a little while.  But Clement keeps things moving and full of nice, little touches.  

7/14/12 I watched Samuel Fuller's Park Row.  Wound up and a wonderful example of the physical cinema we've come to associate with Fuller.  It's clear that this is a personal project for Sam as he uses his camera like a weapon thrusting it through spaces and spewing bile on all who stood in his way.  One of the truly great Fuller films that I have seen.

10/13/13 I watched Mark Cousins' The Story of Film: An Odyssey: The Devastation of War and A New Movie Language.  Highpoints inlcude his discussion of Welles, Double Indemnity, Stanley Donen, and The Third Man.  

11/30/14 I watched Roberto Rossellini's The Machine That Kills Bad People.  Certainly not among my favorite of one of my favorite director's works.  But for any huge Rossellini fan, another film of interest and value, if nothing else simply as something that further proves Rossellini as one of the medium's greatest humanists.