24 lies per second

24liespersecond - stand by my friends -

2006-12-16T14:01:00.000+01:00

First of all, i'm really sorry for not having updating this blog for nearly a year ! but i've been very busy in building a website dedicated to one of the greatest french filmaker : MARCEL CARNE.

I hope to be back "in business" here as soon as i can (possible by january 2007) because so many movies are yet to be released on dvd.

take care.

merry christmas, happy new year for everyone.

i'll be back

The Outlaw and His Wife (1918) part3 - Victor Sjostrom

2006-01-23T23:40:00.000+01:00

This is the last PART out of 3 (with a total of 181 captures) dedicated to
Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru aka The Outlaw and His Wife one of the first masterpiece in Cinematograph by Victor Sjöström.

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"After a long life, Misery fell on them /
Hunger tore apart what Time has weaved between them."

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"Kill me before you leave."
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"Stab me so it will make me believe my child bite my breast while sucking it."
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"I dreamt about us / Our only law was love /
After a long life, Misery came /
We went out together in the snow to die."

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"We have to live as long as possible."
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"Get me some wood i'm cold."
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It is time to pay tribute to Julius Jaenzon, the cinematographer without whom this movie wouldn't have been that important. He was also the cinematographer of those masterpieces : The Phantom Carriage by Sjöström in 1921 & Sir Arne's Treasure by Mauritz Stiller, not to forget the first Garbo movie : The Legend of Gosta Berling.

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"The Swedes created a poetic aesthetic in images. The Outlaw and His Wife was a model of the genre, more related to art and music than to theatres. Sjöström, in a mood of flowing and poignant light, has created a concentrated simplicity, an authenticity, and an inner, impassioned lyricism free from unnecessary gestures. With help from Nature, with its pure, clear lines, marvelously photographed à la Rembrandt, Sjöström was the first in Europe(and one may say in the entire world) to utilize light as a dramatic element, above all in the tragic sense."
Eve Francis. Temps Héroiques. 1921.

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PLOT
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"A stranger comes to work at widow Halla's farm. Halla and the stranger fall in love, but when he is revealed as Eyvind, an escaped thief forced into crime by his family's starvation, they flee and become two of the many outlaws of Iceland's mountains."
Erik Gregersen @IMDB

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NOTES
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These frames are taken from a rare broadcast on France3 Cine-Club around 1995.
The Outlaw and His Wife has been released on VHS in june 2000 by Kino video, and it seems that there is a Laserdisc edition that has been released in the nineties.

You should check these books if you're looking for more info about Sjöström :
Bengt Forslund. Victor Sjöström: His Life and His Work. New York: Zoetrope, 1988.
René Jeanne & Charles Ford. Victor Sjöström. Classiques du Cinema. Editions Universitaires. 1963.

See you nex monday for another tribute...
if i find time to do it...

bye bye now.

The Outlaw and His Wife (1918) part2 - Victor Sjostrom

2006-01-16T10:00:00.000+01:00

Well this is part 2 of my tribute to Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru aka The Outlaw and His Wife, one of the first masterpiece in Cinematograph by Victor Sjöström.

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"When the sun sheds its light over the colourless glacier /
it covers it with many beautiful colors /
Love brightened their life."

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"They didn't know what solitude meant /
When together their souls were pure."

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"Here without doubt is the most beautiful film in the world. Victor Sjöström has directed it with a dignity that goes beyond words adn it shows that he is a splendid and human actor, like his fellow players and the third, unusally impressive member of the cast: Nature!"
Louis Delluc. Cinéa. 1921.

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"The cliff was 35 meters high and they were going to pull me up with a cable until i could get hold of a shrub at the cliff's edge. Mr Ekman (Arnes) did not haul me up himself, but instead some crew members who were out of frame, with a cable that was also kept concealed. Everything went fine and i reached the cliff edge itself. Then a technician suddenly jumped forward and hugged me in his arms. It was at the last moment, the hook that was holding me had straightened out as a result of rubbing against the cliff edge, and the next instant...
Yes i have never been in such mortal danger as i was then."
Victor Sjöström. Diary (Dagen). 16 Jan 1918.

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"God may seem far away but Men are here."
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"I love you."
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"The working weeks Sjöström spent in the barren Swedish mountain environment in strenuous work, still linger today in his memory, gleaming with a certain grandeur. It was as though for the first time he was really struck by the nature of the film, what unimagined potential it contained, and how much there was to do for this new art."
'Oskrivna memoarer' Dagens nyheter 7 May 1933

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"Bjorn won't get my daughter."
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"Americans," Sjöström/Seastrom said sadly, "do not like beautiful mountains, rivers and trees. They must have action. In Sweden we can express so much with our scenery we love to see it."
Louella Parsons. NEW YORK TELEGRAPH. November 26, 1922

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This was part 2 out of 3 for an impressive total of 183 Captures !!
I hope you are fascinating by them as much as i do.

Next monday you will see PART 3.
In the meantime, any comment will be appreciated.

The Outlaw and His Wife (1918) part1 - Victor Sjöström

2006-01-09T12:05:00.000+01:00

"Another movie, another planet" but first let me wish you a happy new year.
Will this blog still be there in a year ? i really don't know. What's the use of doing all this ? if someone can tell me... But i feel that i have to do this to pay my tribute to movies which moved me and that are sadly forgotten (well, most of them!) in the DVD merciless world.
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I wanted to begin this new year 2006 going back to Silent Movies and particularly to one of the best movie by swedish director : Victor Sjöström.
Yes, i know one of the first movie i captured on this blog was : The Wind his famous movie in Hollywood with Lilian Gish in 1928. But i believe you should be aware that he also did marvellous movies in the beginning in his native sweden as you will see this January.
In 1918, There wasn't any Murnau or Lang. Cinematograph was beginning to turn into a Art. In 1916, D.W. Griffith did Intolerance. But Cinema Masterpieces were not common by this time. Yet, Victor Sjöström already had directed several movies since 1912. But Berg-Ejvind och hans hustru aka The Outlaw and His Wife was to be one of the first great masterpiece of the Silent Cinema.
Therefore i will divide my tribute in 3 parts this January every monday.
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"A tale in pictures of 2 people's fate".

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Victor Sjöström plays himself the role of Berg-Ejvind, a rugged rambler and his wife Edith Erastoff is Halla, a wealthy widow who runs a ranch. She was pregnant with a daughter at the time of the shooting.

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"You can't escape your fate not even by running away".

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"You're alive. That's enough to have enemies".

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Charles Magnusson was the producer of Svenska, the famous Swedish production company which gave to the world the great Swedish Film Art (Mauritz Stiller's Sir Arne's Treasure for instance).

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"Close your eyes, sleep a little longer, kiss me".

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"I will sleep with my eyes wide open / He loved you and now your beauty is / like a blue mountain surrounded by mist".

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The Outlaw and His Wife "is perhaps the most important event in the history of film since 1895, because here for the first time a film consciously entered the realm of art".
Bardeche & Brasillach. Histoire Du Cinema. Edit. Denoel et Steele. 1935

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"Tonight we shall leave".

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This was the first 45 frames i have captured.
Next monday you will see PART 2 out of 3.
In the meantime, any comments will be appreciated.

Distant Voices Still Lives (1988) part 2 - Terence Davies

2005-12-19T10:20:00.000+01:00

Well this is the last 39 captures of my tribute to Distant Voices, Still Lives, a deeply moving movie by Terence Davies.

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Listen to a rare interview by Terence Davies where he talks about the working class and being a director. This interview has been broadcasted on ARTE TV just before the screening of Distant Voices, Still Lives :
Dew MP3 FLASH PLAYER :

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Angela Walsh plays Eileen one of the daughter. 2 years later she will play in I Hired a Contract Killer by Aki Kaurismäki, then she disappeared sadly in the realms of Tv series. Her best friend in the movie is Lorraine Ashbourne. Guess what ? she has a small part in the new Peter Jackson King Kong (she plays in Jack Driscoll's play).

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Listen to a rare interview by Terence Davies where he talks about his mother and his relationship with his father. This interview has been broadcasted on ARTE TV just before the screening of Distant Voices, Still Lives :
Dew MP3 FLASH PLAYER :

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Listen to Angela Walsh sing "Brown Skin gal" from the movie with our
Dew MP3 FLASH PLAYER :

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"Most descriptions of the film and even the title itself suggest it embodies a kind of anti-cinema that is defined by notions of stillness, isolated sound and enclosed tableaux and yet this says little about the film's atmosphere or explicit textuality (which are both self-conscious and felt). A film which can, in turns, effectively evoke the cinema of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, Bill Douglas, Yasujiro Ozu, and the MGM musical must be considered in terms that respect its cinematic specificity."
Adrian Danks in Senses Of Cinema.

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Listen to the last song of the movie : O Waly Waly by Benjamin Britten sung by Peter Pears. The soundtrack of Distant Voices, Still Lives has been released on vinyl at the time by Rough Trade.
Dew MP3 FLASH PLAYER :

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"A ship there is, and she sails the sea,
She's loaded deep as deep can be,
But not so deep as the love I'm in;
I know not if I sink or swim."

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PLOT
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"The life of a working-class family in Liverpool. The wedding of the elder daughter and the christening of the younger daughter's baby evoke memories of the family's past, including their lives through the war years."

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NOTES
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These frames are taken from a rare broadcast on Arte in 1994.
Distant Voices, Still Lives has been released on Laserdisc in 1989 & on VHS in february 1990 by Artisan Entertainment.

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I want to dedicate this movie and this blog to those who are in need or lonely during this time of year where it's more difficult than ever.
I wish you a merry christmas if possible.
This song is for you :
Dew MP3 FLASH PLAYER :

Winter Wonderland by Cocteau Twins available on Lullabies to Violaine a compilation of singles released by 4AD in November 2005.

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This blog will now be put on hold for Christmas.
I'll be back on January 9th 2006.

See you next year.
take care dear imaginary friends...

"in the meantime, any comment is appreciated"

Distant Voices Still Lives (1988) part 1 - Terence Davies

2005-12-12T13:42:00.000+01:00

"Another movie, another planet".
When this movie was released back in 1988, it was nothing but a shock for those who have seen it. This is a movie you won't forget. And as usual, i still don't understand WHY it hasn't been released yet on DVD. My VHS copy has suffered a lot because it is 15 years old but Distant Voices, Still Lives is too important to be left in oblivion.

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Distant Voices, Still Lives is the debut feature of Terence Davies. He already did 3 short films which formed the Terence Davies Trilogy : "the three films chart the life and death of Robert Tucker, brought up - like Davies himself - in a Catholic working-class home in Liverpool. Robert is bullied at school and has a violent father who dies while the boy is still young. He is left to live alone with his mother, to whom he is devoted. As an adult, he struggles with his homosexuality, and the feelings of guilt and shame induced by his sexuality are sharpened by his Catholicism".
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Listen to the first minutes of Distant Voices, Still Lives with our
Dew MP3 FLASH PLAYER

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"Terence Davies's debut feature is actually two films, made two years apart. With the same cast and setting, and an effective matching of image and mood, Distant Voices and Still Lives work together to make a highly resonant feature which continues to mine the rich biographical seam explored in Davies's earlier Trilogy."
Annette Kuhn @ Screenonline

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Pete Postlethwaite is unforgettable in this role. You've seen him since in Alien 3, The Usual Suspects & Jurassic Park 2.
He recalled in an interview in 1997 to Metroactive : "Terence Davies' directorial style was extraordinary. He had a very, very precise vision and aural perception of what he'd wanted, of what piece of music was going to accompany a scene, how long a shot would take. Very mathematical: In a nutshell, he'd say a scene will take place at 13 1/2 seconds."

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Freda Dowie plays the mother.
Can someone tell me why this old lady isn't seen more in movies ?
I think she is adorable. Listen to her singing with the cast "barefoot days":

(She sang several songs in Distant Voices, Still Lives). The splendid soundtrack has been released on vinyl at the time by Rough Trade. It shows sometimes on Ebay or Eil. I bought mine last year.

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"All the films are imbued with tender memories of the communality of working-class life and the old forms of entertainment, such as listening to the radio, visiting the cinema and singing together."
Ewa Mazierska @ Screenonline

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This was the first 37 frames i have captured.
Next monday you will see PART 2.
In the meantime, any comments will be appreciated.

The Incident (1967) part 3 - Larry Peerce

2005-12-05T12:00:00.000+01:00

This is the last PART out of 3 (with a total of 140 captures) dedicated to The Incident by Larry Peerce.
PART 1 is available HERE and PART 2 here.

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You can still LISTEN to The Incident theme composed by Terry Knight with our new Dew MP3 FLASH PLAYER :

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LISTEN to the following scene with our Dew MP3 FLASH PLAYER

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Around the time of this movie the film composer Terry Knight had a band Terry Knight & The Pack which will turn out to be the legendary Grand Funk Railroad.
He was murdered in November 2004 by his daughter's boyfriend.

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"For me, The Incident represents a symbolic overlapping of moviemaking generations... The time we spent shooting The Incident was hands down, one of the best times I have ever had making a movie - anywhere - and those memories forever gave me a sense of how I wished the collaborative efforts of actors and crew could always be. I was then, and I remain today, deeply proud of all of our work - actors and crew - on The Incident. I am eternally and especially grateful to both Director of Photography Jerry Hirschfeld for his brilliant and dynamic black and white cinematography, and to director Larry Peerce for making me a part of this important film and personal milestone". Martin Sheen

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I don't understand why Beau Bridges hasn't been more employed in Cinema. Of course he did a lot movies but mostly were Tv series. Maybe his brother Jeff Bridges has overshadowed his career.

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"Where were you buddy ?"

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Of course the cops first reaction is to arrest the black man.
It was 1967. This is 2005 & nothing has changed in our cities
if you see what i mean.

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LISTEN to The Incident Closing Theme composed by Terry Knight with our Dew MP3 FLASH PLAYER :

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PLOT
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"The passengers on a New York subway car are terrorized by two teenage delinquents. Although outnumbered, the teenagers take advantage of the passenger's passivity and unwillingness to act together. We watch how the different personalities of the passengers react to the situation". Adam Douglas @ IMDB

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NOTES
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These frames are taken from a rare broadcast on CineClassic in 2001.
The Incident has been released on VHS in december 1989 by Fox Home Entertainment.

That's it for now.
Hope you have enjoyed these captures.
See you nex monday for another tribute...
bye bye now.

The Incident (1967) part 2 - Larry Peerce

2005-11-28T10:41:00.000+01:00

This is PART 2 out of 3 (with a total of 140 captures) dedicated to The Incident by Larry Peerce.
PART 1 is still available HERE.

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You can still LISTEN to The Incident theme composed by Terry Knight
(more about him later) with our new MP3 FLASH PLAYER
thanks to Dew.

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The cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld explained in the issue of American Cinematographer's May 1968 how he did this wonderful job of shooting in a subway train at night.
You could find a scan of this article on the website tribute to Emanuel Gerard the art director of The Incident (He also did Shaft).
This website has been made by his son Stephen.

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This will be Thelma Ritter's last movie. She also did 31 movies in 20 years among them : All About Eve (1950)& The Misfits (1962).
She died in february 1969 of a heart attack.

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LISTEN to the following scene with our MP3 FLASH PLAYER
thanks to Dew.

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Brock Peters has such a great role as "a man with a grudge against all white society". He began acting in movies like Porgy and Bess (1959) or To Kill a Mockingbird then we sort of lost him in the world of TV series.
He even played Admiral Cartwright in Star Trek !!
He died in february 2004.

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Ruby Dee was "the first black woman to appear in major roles at the American Shakespeare Festival". She was involved a lot in the Civil Rights movement in the sixties. She is a member of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and she even established the "Ruby Dee Scholarship in Dramatic Art for talented young black women".
She played also in Do the Right Thing (1989).

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This scene is the climax of the movie.
How Ruby Dee/Joan Robinson urged her husband Brock Peters/Arnold Robinson not to fight back is a very powerful experience.

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Jan Sterling played in Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole (1951) & was nicknamed the Film noir blonde.
She died in 2004.

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Jack Gilford and his wife were blacklisted during the Hollywood Blacklist of the 1950s. He was known in the sixties for his Cracker Jack TV commercials. He worked for TV/Films/Broadway Theaters.
And he also died in 1990. Sorry folks !

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Who is she slapping ?

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This was the Second Part.
Next monday you will see the LAST PART out of 3 (a total of 140 rare captures).
In the meantime, any comments will be appreciated.

The Incident (1967) part 1 - Larry Peerce

2005-11-21T10:15:00.000+01:00

"Another movie, another planet".
Another planet ? i should have wrote another nightmare because the movie you're about to discover is a real urban nightmare. A story of 2 thugs terrorizing people in a subway at night in New York City. I think this movie is so great that i've decided to dedicate not only 2 weeks but 3 with a total of 140 captures (in 3 parts) !!! You should understand why it sounds so accurate to watch it in those days we're living.

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LISTEN to The Incident theme composed by Terry Knight
(more about him later) with our new MP3 FLASH PLAYER
thanks to Dew.

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The Incident is what you can call a cult movie. There was a VHS copy made in 1989 by the Twentieth Century Fox but of course it's out of print and it's very difficult to watch on TV or in theaters.
It wasn't Larry Peerce's first movie. He was known for directed several TV series in the 60's, mostly the legendary Wild Wild West & Batman. Plus he already directed 2 movies at the time and he shot The Big T.N.T. Show in 1966, a live concert with performances including The Byrds, The Lovin' Spoonful, Bo Diddley or Ray Charles etc...

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The Incident was introducing for the first time on the screen the fabulous Martin Sheen whom you know of course for numerous roles among them : Badlands, Apocalypse Now and more recently Catch Me If You Can.
He was 27 at the time.

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The other leading act in The Incident is the astonishing Tony Musante. He already played in a B movie Once a Thief in 1965 with Alain Delon !!
In 1968 he will play with Frank Sinatra in The Detective.
He was 31 at the time.

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Robert Fields who plays "a nervous, lonely and pitiful homosexual" has a stunning role and is the first to be attacked. You didn't see him often in movies. But he has a small part in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, the movie Richard Brooks made in 1977 (still unreleased on DVD if you see what i mean!).

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Gerald Hirschfeld is the cinematographer without whom The Incident wouldn't have been that great. He has worked with Sidney Lumet or Mel Brooks.

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Beau Bridges plays felix one of the two soldiers.
He is the brother of the famous dude Jeff Bridges.

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What will happen to Beau Bridges ?

You have to wait next week for PART 2 of my tribute to The Incident.
-------------------------------------------------------
This was the first 48 frames i have captured.
Next monday you will see PART 2 out of 3 (a total of 140 rare captures).
In the meantime, any comments will be appreciated.

Some Came Running (1958) part2 - Vincente Minelli

2005-11-14T11:10:00.000+01:00

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Let's take a close-up onto the second part of one of our Two Movies of the Month : Some Came Running aka Comme Un Torrent.
This is one of the best movie by Vincente Minelli and i can't believe why it hasn't been properly released yet on DVD !!
yes i know that Cinemacom has released it but i fear this is another bootleg my friends.

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Shirley MacLaine is simply adorable in this movie.
How come Sinatra took so much time to fall for her ?

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Shirley MacLaine was the only woman accepted in the legendary Rat Pack as an honorary member. The Rat Pack was iniated by Frank Sinatra in 1959 after he conducted the orchestra on Dean Martin's album Sleep Warm then he joined him on stage for the first time in Las Vegas at The Sands in January 1959. It also included Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford.

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Shirley MacLaine was nominated for the Academy Awards (Oscars) as Best Actress in a Leading Role. She lost and Susan Hayward got it for her role in I Want to Live!.

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"The most poignant is the story of Dave Hirsh (Frank Sinatra) and Ginny Moorhead (Shirley Maclaine). Dave is searching for redemption; he is emotionally needy and spiritually enervated. He thinks he can find love in someone who can fill his creative needs and the void in his heart created by the war...
Dave does not realize that real love can only come from a sense of self worth, from finding someone whom he not only needs but, just as important, who needs him. Ginny is an angel, an angel in the form of a wrong-side-of-the-tracks bimbo ; but of all those in Dave's world, Ginny is the purest of heart and the purest in love, and her love is for Dave. When Dave finally realizes that his bliss lies with Ginny, it is too late, for both him and Ginny. And this ending comes in a moment that left me shattered, my mouth agape."
Jack Rice - an Amazon reviewer.

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PLOT
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"Dave Hirsch, a writer and army veteran, returns to 1948 Parkman, Indiana, his hometown. His prosperous brother introduces him to Gwen French, a local teacher. But the more flamboyant Ginny has followed him to Parkton, where he also meets gambler Bama Dillert. Dave must come to terms with his roots and with his future."
Linda Scheimann @ Imdb.
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NOTES
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These frames are taken from a Broadcast on France3's Cineclub in january 2005.

bye bye now...
See you next monday.

Some Came Running (1958) part1 - Vincente Minelli

2005-11-07T10:55:00.000+01:00

"Another movie, another planet".
This 2 months tribute to Greta Garbo is finished and we're back to normal here. But i will change my rules now. I will update this blog every monday and i will put online more than 24 frames contrary to what i previously planned.
And i will still cut in two parts the movies i intend to capture, so that means 2 new movies per month. I decided to do it mostly because i lack time for this as you surely understand. But i hope that this won't put you off.
Anyway this week let's take a close up onto one of the best movie of Vincente Minelli which is yet to be properly released on DVD for reasons i can't understand !!
MGM what are you waiting for ? come on !!

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1958 was a prolific year for Minelli. he did 3 films in a row : Gigi, The Reluctant Debutante and the best of all : Some Came Running aka Comme Un Torrent.

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Frank Sinatra was in his prime in 1958. In 1957 he recorded Come Fly With Me and in 1958 the year of this movie in one of his best act he will release Only The Lonely one of the best record of all-time.

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"Some Came Running is a film in which we think we know what we're seeing but where we have to learn to revise our understanding and learn to let more into the range of our emotional experience."
Dana Polan. Senses Of Cinema web site.

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So Shirley MacLaine as Ginni Moorehead steals the show in this movie. Which wasn't that easy when your co-partner are Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin.

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Joanne Woodward should have played the act of Ginny Moorehead but she didn't like Frank Sinatra. The year after she'll play in The Fugitive Kind by Sidney Lumet.

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Another brilliant act for Shirley MacLaine who will be 5 years later in Irma la Douce by Billy Wilder with the hilarious Jack Lemmon.

----------------------------------------------------
This was the first 44 frames i'll post of this movie.
Next monday you'll see the last 44.
In the meantime, any comments will be appreciated.

Two-Faced Woman (1941) - Georges Cukor

2005-10-31T09:52:00.000+01:00

To celebrate Greta Garbo's 100th birthday in September 18th 2005, every friday in September and in October 2005 i have dedicated this blog to one of her Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies from the MGM period.
Before we begin, i want to thank TCMFrance for their nearly complete Garbo Retrospective in october 2004 without who i would never have the priviledge to own this collection. If you're living in the USA, Turner Classic Movies has broadcasted the same retrospective in september 2005 !!

00 -

For praticable reasons, i have decided to start a new blog especially for this GRETA GARBO tribute.
Come join me here : Garbo lives.

79 -

If you don't like Garbo you have to be patient but don't worry it will be back at normal in November.

- Check back November 7th 2005 -

Please understand that as i think Garbo was the Greatest actress of all time, i need to do this tribute otherwise no-one will do it.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Take care

Conquest (1937) - Clarence Brown

2005-10-28T10:28:00.000+02:00

To celebrate Greta Garbo's 100th birthday in September 18th 2005, every friday in September i have dedicated this blog to one of her Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies. Before we begin, i want to thank TCMFrance for their nearly complete Garbo Retrospective in october 2004 without who i would never have the priviledge to own this collection.
Starting this week, i will capture a new Garbo movie twice a week : every friday & every monday. These are all the MGM Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies that's left for me to capture :
Two-Faced Woman (1941)

00 -

For praticable reasons, i have decided to start a new blog especially for this GRETA GARBO tribute.
Come join me here : Garbo lives.

40 -

If you don't like Garbo you have to be patient but don't worry it will be back at normal in November. Please understand that as i think Garbo was the Greatest actress of all time, i need to do this tribute otherwise no-one will do it.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Take care

The Painted Veil (1934) - Richard Boleslawski

2005-10-24T22:13:00.000+02:00

To celebrate Greta Garbo's 100th birthday in September 18th 2005, every friday in September i have dedicated this blog to one of her Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies. Before we begin, i want to thank TCMFrance for their nearly complete Garbo Retrospective in october 2004 without who i would never have the priviledge to own this collection.
Starting this week, i will capture a new Garbo movie twice a week : every friday & every monday. These are all the MGM Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies that's left for me to capture :
Conquest (1937) - Two-Faced Woman (1941)

00 -
00 -

For praticable reasons, i have decided to start a new blog especially for this GRETA GARBO tribute.
Come join me here : Garbo lives.

00 -

If you don't like Garbo you have to be patient but don't worry it will be back at normal in November. Please understand that as i think Garbo was the Greatest actress of all time, i need to do this tribute otherwise no-one will do it.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Take care

Inspiration (1931) - Clarence Brown

2005-10-21T10:34:00.000+02:00

To celebrate Greta Garbo's 100th birthday in September 18th 2005, every friday in September i have dedicated this blog to one of her Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies. Before we begin, i want to thank TCMFrance for their nearly complete Garbo Retrospective in october 2004 without who i would never have the priviledge to own this collection.
Starting this week, i will capture a new Garbo movie twice a week : every friday & every monday. These are all the MGM Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies that's left for me to capture :
The Painted Veil (1934) - Conquest (1937) - Two-Faced Woman (1941)

00 -

For praticable reasons, i have decided to start a new blog especially for this GRETA GARBO tribute.
Come join me here : Garbo lives.

00 -

If you don't like Garbo you have to be patient but don't worry it will be back at normal in November. Please understand that as i think Garbo was the Greatest actress of all time, i need to do this tribute otherwise no-one will do it.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Take care

Romance (1930) - Clarence Brown

2005-10-17T10:30:00.000+02:00

To celebrate Greta Garbo's 100th birthday in September 18th 2005, every friday in September i have dedicated this blog to one of her Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies. Before we begin, i want to thank TCMFrance for their nearly complete Garbo Retrospective in october 2004 without who i would never have the priviledge to own this collection.
Starting this week, i will capture a new Garbo movie twice a week : every friday & every monday. These are all the MGM Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies that's left for me to capture :
Inspiration (1931) - The Painted Veil (1934) - Conquest (1937) - Two-Faced Woman (1941)

00 -

For praticable reasons, i have decided to start a new blog especially for this GRETA GARBO tribute.
Come join me here : Garbo lives.

16 -

if you don't like Garbo you have to be patient but don't worry it will be back at normal in November. Please understand that as i think Garbo was the Greatest actress of all time, i need to do this tribute otherwise no-one will do it.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Take care

The Single Standard (1929) - John S.Robertson

2005-10-14T09:35:00.000+02:00

To celebrate Greta Garbo's 100th birthday in September 18th 2005, every friday in September i have dedicated this blog to one of her Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies. Before we begin, i want to thank TCMFrance for their nearly complete Garbo Retrospective in october 2004 without who i would never have the priviledge to own this collection.
Starting this week, i will capture a new Garbo movie twice a week : every friday & every monday. These are all the MGM Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies that's left for me to capture :
Romance (1930) - Inspiration (1931) - The Painted Veil (1934) - Conquest (1937) - Two-Faced Woman (1941)

00 -

For praticable reasons, i have decided to start a new blog especially for this GRETA GARBO tribute.
Come join me here : Garbo lives.

00 -

if you don't like Garbo you have to be patient but don't worry it will be back at normal in November. Please understand that as i think Garbo was the Greatest actress of all time, i need to do this tribute otherwise no-one will do it.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Take care

Wild Orchids (1929) - Sidney Franklin

2005-10-10T12:44:00.000+02:00

To celebrate Greta Garbo's 100th birthday in September 18th 2005, every friday in September i have dedicated this blog to one of her Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies. Before we begin, i want to thank TCMFrance for their nearly complete Garbo Retrospective in october 2004 without who i would never have the priviledge to own this collection.
Starting this week, i will capture a new Garbo movie twice a week : every friday & every monday. These are all the MGM Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies that's left for me to capture :
The Single Standard (1929) - Romance (1930) - Inspiration (1931) - The Painted Veil (1934) - Conquest (1937) - Two-Faced Woman (1941)

00 -
For praticable reasons, i have decided to start a new blog especially for this GRETA GARBO tribute.
Come join me here : Garbo lives.

00 -

if you don't like Garbo you have to be patient but don't worry it will be back at normal in November. Please understand that as i think Garbo was the Greatest actress of all time, i need to do this tribute otherwise no-one will do it.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Take care

A Woman Of Affairs (1929) - Clarence Brown

2005-10-07T00:30:00.000+02:00

To celebrate Greta Garbo's 100th birthday in September 18th 2005, every friday in September i have dedicated this blog to one of her Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies. Before we begin, i want to thank TCMFrance for their nearly complete Garbo Retrospective in october 2004 without who i would never have the priviledge to own this collection.
Starting this week, i will capture a new Garbo movie twice a week : every friday & every monday. These are all the MGM Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies that's left for me to capture :
Wild Orchids (1929) - The Single Standard (1929) - Romance (1930) - Inspiration (1931) - The Painted Veil (1934) - Conquest (1937) - Two-Faced Woman (1941)

00 -
For praticable reasons, i have decided to start a new blog especially for this GRETA GARBO tribute.
Come join me here : Garbo lives.

03 -

if you don't like Garbo you have to be patient but don't worry it will be back at normal in November. Please understand that as Garbo was the Greatest actress of all time, i need to do this tribute otherwise no-one will do it.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Take care

Love (1927) - Edmund Goulding - Part 2

2005-10-03T09:47:00.000+02:00

To celebrate Greta Garbo's 100th birthday in September 18th 2005, every friday this month i will focus on one of her Yet-To-Be Released-On-DVD movies.

00 -

For praticable reasons, i have decided to start a new blog especially for this GRETA GARBO tribute in September.
Come join me here : Garbo lives.

00 -

If you're a fan of Garbo you will be glad to know that i'll keep on in October my tribute and capturing all her movies that are yet to be released on DVD. i.e :
A Woman of Affairs (1928) - Wild Orchids (1929) - The Single Standard (1929) - Romance (1930) - Inspiration (1931) - The Painted Veil (1934) - Conquest (1937) - Two-Faced Woman (1941)

But i will put them on line one each friday & one each monday so i hope to be finished in a month or so.

Of course if you don't like Garbo you have to be more patient but don't worry it will be back at normal in November but please understand that as Garbo was the Greatest actress of all time. I need to do this tribute otherwise no-one will do it.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Take care

Love (1927) - Edmund Goulding - Part 1

2005-09-30T09:42:00.000+02:00

Susan Lennox (1931) - Robert Z.Leonard - Part 2

2005-09-26T09:38:00.000+02:00

Susan Lennox (1931) - Robert Z.Leonard - Part 1

2005-09-23T09:37:00.000+02:00

As You Desire Me (1932) - Georges Fitzmaurice - Part2

2005-09-19T10:40:00.000+02:00

As You Desire Me (1932) - Georges Fitzmaurice - Part1

2005-09-16T09:31:00.000+02:00

The Kiss (1929) - Jacques Feyder - Part 2

2005-09-12T09:30:00.000+02:00

The Kiss (1929) - Jacques Feyder - Part 1

2005-09-09T09:30:00.000+02:00

Torrent (1926) - Monta Bell - part2

2005-09-05T09:25:00.000+02:00

Torrent (1926) - Monta Bell - part1

2005-09-02T11:21:00.000+02:00

Professione: reporter (1975) - part2 - Michelangelo Antonioni

2005-08-29T10:40:00.000+02:00

So this is my last 12 frames taken from Professione: reporter
aka The Passenger by Michelangelo Antonioni.

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I think that Professione: reporter is the last great masterpiece of Antonioni. Afterwards he lost himself. Come on, who wants to see again Beyond the Clouds ? You should read his short stories instead - That Bowling Alley on the Tiber issued notably in 87 by Oxford University Press.

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Even though i'm very fond of Antonioni's cinema (La Notte is one of my favourite movie ever), i have to admit that this movie has its ups & downs. The first hour seems to dragging on and on. But you'll be rewarded when Jack Nicholson meets Maria Schneider. Have i wrote something wrong ?

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Check this interview in 2001 by Maria Schneider on the Movie Magazine International website.

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The complete Passenger's script has been issued by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books in 1986.
Will we have to wait for Antonioni to die to see him honoured as he should be ?

I remember in the 80's and most part of the 90's when it was really difficult to see his movies & find any books about his movieworks.
He is really the last great world director alive of his generation. thank you.
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PLOT
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A reporter arrives at a desert hotel, in a North African country, to report on the guerrilla freedom-fighters there. He meets a man who dies suddenly, and who resembles the reporter so much, that he decides to change identities with the dead man - to escape his personal problems, and more. The life is of a man is made of his ingrained habits, and that will haunt him, as he tries to start a new relationship with a young, strange woman he subsequently meets...
Summary written by Artemis-9

---------------------------------------------------
NOTES
---------------------------------------------------
These frames are taken from a Broadcast on Arte in 1994.

bonus -

Next friday, i will begin a special Month Extravaganza to celebrate Greta Garbo's 100th birthday on September 18th. That means that every friday this September will be dedicated to one of her movies not released on DVD, even in the new Signature Collection Box Set.

bye bye now...
See you next friday.

Professione: reporter (1975) - part1 - Michelangelo Antonioni

2005-08-26T09:45:00.000+02:00

"Another movie, another planet".
This week let's take a close up onto the rarest movie by one of the few remaining Master of the Cinematograph : Michelangelo Antonioni.

Professione: reporter aka The Passenger has achieved a cult status among most of the people who had the chance to see it since 1975. For many years, Jack Nicholson, the leading act, owned the rights of the movie & for reasons i don't know blocked any viewing and video releases. However in 2001, It's true that Japan Company Imagica released a region 0 DVD but as it's really nearly impossible to get, i thought that Professione: reporter deserves to be honoured on this blog.

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But before going any further, i'm glad to announce that Sonyclassics will re-releases it in October 2005 in the US theaters. So maybe we can expect a true DVD release in 2006.

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Luciano Tovoli is the cinematographer.
2 years after he'll do Suspiria by Dario Argento.

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Once again Maria Schneider is gorgeous in what is may be her best movie.
Unfortunately she's well know for her part in Bertolucci's Last Tango In Paris but i think this movie is a bit dated nowadays.

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I love this sequence filmed in Barcelona at the famous La Pedrera built by Antonio Gaudi. Antonioni also shots at Palau Güell where Jack Nicholson & Maria Schneider met.

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You should read this essay about Antonioni
on the great Senses Of Cinema website.

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This was the first 12 frames i'll post of this movie.
Next monday you'll see the last 12.
In the meantime, any comments will be appreciated.

The Rain People (1969) - part2 - Francis Ford Coppola

2005-08-22T11:30:00.000+02:00

So this is my last 12 frames taken from
The Rain People by Francis Ford Coppola.

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There was a band in the eighties named Rain People. They only released one album on Epic records (1988). Was it of any good ? i don't know.

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Coppola admitted that his fourth movie was under the influence of Tennessee Williams. He also mentioned in this interview to Christopher Frayling (BBCOnline) that "There was quite a specific script. It was the first of two films that I got to write and make as I had hoped all my films would be".

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Of course apart from Shirley Knight, this movie is famous for the performance of Robert Duvall & James Caan as you've never seen him.
He is astonishing.

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PLOT
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Of course, as i took again great liberty with the script, you need the plot to understand the story :
Knight is outstanding (in a superb cast) as the pregnant woman who runs away in quest of the identity she feels she has lost as a Long Island housewife, and finds herself increasingly tangled in the snares of responsibility through her encounters with a football player left mindless by an accident (Caan) and a darkly amorous traffic cop (Duvall). Symbolism rumbles beneath the characterisations (Caan as the baby she is running from and with, Duvall as the sexuality and domination she is trying to deny) but it is never facile. Time Out Film Guide.

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NOTES
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These frames are taken from a Broadcast on TCM France in March 2005.

bonus :

bye bye now...
See you next friday.
In the meantime, you can can listen to my new Radio-Blog dedicated to a movie by Leos Carax named Mauvais Sang. It's an hour-long mix of eclectic songs & dialogues taken from the movie.
Enjoy !!

The Rain People (1969) - part1 - Francis Ford Coppola

2005-08-18T16:00:00.000+02:00

"Another movie, another planet".
Could you believe that there are still movies from great director Francis Ford Coppola to be released on DVD ?
So this time we'll take a close up on his first unforgettable movie made in 1969 The Rain People aka Les Gens De La Pluie. It was the first movie produced by American Zoetrope, the independent film production company that he co-founded with George Lucas.

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Of course this low key road movie hasn't been seen often at the time of its release and is still difficult to see. The only VHS release was in 1993.

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This movie wouldn't be so remarkable without Shirley Knight.
May be you have seen her in Sweet Bird Of Youth (1962) with Paul Newman. Or was it in The Group (1966) by Sydney Lumet ?

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For his first major movie, the Cinematographer Bill Butler did a great job of composing subtle light harmonies. It is strange that he will be more famous for Jaws or Grease. At last he did Demon Seed aka Proteus Generation !!

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The year after Shirley Knight will abandon Hollywood (or was it the opposite ?) only to return in TV dramas.
How could that be when you look at these frames ?

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This was the first 12 frames i'll post of this movie.
Next monday you'll see the last 12.
In the meantime, any comments will be appreciated.

Three Rooms in Manhattan (1965) - part2 - Marcel Carné

2005-07-29T11:46:00.000+02:00

So this is my last 12 frames taken from Three Rooms in Manhattan aka Trois Chambres à Manhattan by Marcel Carné.

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If Robert De Niro wasn't playing an extra in a scene in a Greenwich Village's bar, who will remember that movie ?

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Did i tell you that the soundtrack is terrific ? Great jazz numbers from Mal Waldron. Yes it's the same pianist who played with Billie Holiday in her last years, he also played with the Jazz Workshop of Charles Mingus and the magnificent Jeanne Lee.

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At the Venice Film Festival in 1965, Annie Girardot won the Volpi Cup despite the unbelievable uproar by the press.

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That was meant to be the last great movie by Marcel Carné, the man who did 6 masterpieces in a row !! Bizarre, Bizarre (1937) / Port of Shadows (1938) / Hôtel du Nord (1938) / Daybreak (1939) / The Devil's Envoys (1942) and of course Children of Paradise (1945).
But let's not forget his essentials other movies : Gates of the Night (1946) / Juliette, or the Dream Book (1950) / Thérèse Raquin (The Adultress) (1953) / Les Tricheurs (The Cheaters) (1958) / Terrain vague (Wasteland) (1960) /
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PLOT
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Kay (Annie Girardot) and Francois (Maurice Ronet) are two people from France who meet and fall in love in New York in this melancholy romantic drama. She is a former countess, while he is an actor. Both of them must reconcile with their past while they decide to trust their feelings and possibly enter into a relationship.
Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

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NOTES
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These frames are taken from an out of print VHS issued by Canal+ Video in 1993.

bonus -

This blog will be on hold until friday August 19th 2005.
Bye bye now.

Three Rooms in Manhattan (1965) - part1 - Marcel Carné

2005-07-29T10:16:00.000+02:00

"Another movie, another planet".
This week let's get a close up on a underrated movie from the late period of the great french director Marcel Carné. Yes, the same director that was so despised by the french New Wave & François Truffaut. Three Rooms in Manhattan aka Trois Chambres à Manhattan is nevertheless a moving picture that we should look at now without the controversies of its release. Probably made 10 years too late, try to imagine what it would have been like in 1955, before the french "New Wave", before Antonioni's "L'Avventura". it should have been seen as a masterpiece about Love and the trouble to feel it, to communicate it etc...
But maybe critics & cinephiles just don't care. they know better. Really ?

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Adapted from a novel by Georges Simenon, it should have been directed by Jean-Pierre Melville who become disinterested and prefered to direct "Le Deuxieme Souffle".

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Three Rooms in Manhattan couldn't have been that great without its two main characters : Maurice Ronet who should be seen in the rare "Raphael, or The Debauched One" by Michel Deville and Annie Girardot who will be remembered in "Rocco & His Brothers" by Luchino Visconti.

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Another beautiful black & white movie thanks to the great cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan who began his carreer with 2 masterpieces with Robert Siodmak in Germany (1930) : People On Sunday and Abschied.

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In his autobiography, "Ma Vie à Belles Dents", Marcel Carné has very harsh words about Maurice Ronet (he was imposed by the production), he feared that he was too weak & too dramatic for his part. I don't know. I just love his melancholy.

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This was the first 12 frames i'll post of this movie.
Next monday you'll see the last 12.
In the meantime, any comments will be appreciated.

This Above All (1942) - part2 - Anatole Litvak

2005-07-25T09:59:00.000+02:00

So this is my last 12 frames taken from This Above All aka Ames Rebelles.

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I could translate this saying that it's "a music that is so much more than just music". Something i often think the same about some Musics that are dear to me. Everyone knows that, no ?

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As Liz from the Joan Fontaine website rightfully wrote, "So many of Joan's really terrific films have not made it to either VHS or DVD. Hopefully that will change." Yes Liz, let's hope.

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Tyrone Power has never been so touching than in playing this moody character as Clive Briggs except maybe in The Razor's Edge that i already wrote about.

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"To thy one-self be true".

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PLOT
---------------------------------------------------
Eric Knight's wartime novel This Above All was given the Tiffany treatment in the this 20th Century Fox big-budgeter. Tyrone Power plays Clive Briggs, a conscientious objector from humble origins, who deserts the British Army because he doesn't believe in fighting to preserve his country's oppressive class structure. But Briggs is no coward, and he performs admirably in rescuing air-raid victims. Through the love of Prudence Cathaway (Joan Fontaine), a doctor's daughter and member of the women's air corps, Briggs realizes that love of country supersedes all social outrage. This Above All ends with Briggs seriously wounded, though given a good chance to survive. In the original novel, the hero not only dies, but also has a censor-baiting love affair with the Prudence character (who, of course, is as pure as the driven snow in the film). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
---------------------------------------------------
NOTES
---------------------------------------------------
These frames are taken from a broadcast on french cable tv Cine Classics some years ago. This movie is available on VHS & DVD through bootlegs companies via mail order. As i don't want to advertise them, i won't give you their adress.
Do a research through Google. It's easy.

Bonus -
"It's no use talking about it if you can't see beyond words".

bye bye now...
See you next friday.

This Above All (1942) - part1 - Anatole Litvak

2005-07-22T11:20:00.000+02:00

"Another movie, another planet".
This week let's get a close up on a Hollywood movie in the Forties made during World War 2. This Above All aka Ames Rebelles was directed by Anatole Litvak, who did also a beautiful Mayerling in 1936 with Charles Boyer & Danielle Darrieux.
You can think it is one more propaganda film under a melodramatic story but it's much more than that thanks to Tyrone Power and the moving and adorable Joan Fontaine.

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I could have dedicate these 24 frames to this only scene because it is so rare to watch a first encounter filmed so delicately.
Maybe i'm old-fashioned, so what ?

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The cinematographer Arthur C. Miller also did the lightning for the underestimated The Razor's Edge which i would have been delighted to present to you on this blog but as it is available on DVD...

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Do you know that Joan Fontaine is still alive somewhere in California ?
She's 87.
I love her.

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"If i say it was all those things, he will laugh because those words have been said so often before".
This is the most famous scene of This Above All. Poetry, love, fight, honor.
Great monologue.
This was the first 12 frames i'll post of this movie.
Next monday you'll see the last 12.
In the meantime, any comments will be appreciated.

Leviathan (1962) - part 2 - Leonard Keigel

2005-07-18T09:54:00.000+02:00

So this is my last 12 frames taken from Leviathan aka Dark Journey.

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I bet you've never seen Louis Jourdan as a stalker !!

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One of his first major film was in The Paradine Case Directed by Alfred Hitchcock alongside Gregory Peck.

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Don't you think that Marie Laforet bears a striking resemblance to Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas ?
or maybe it's just me !

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Of course, i also have to pay my tribute to Nicolas Hayer, the cinematographer who also filmed "Le Doulos" by Jean-Pierre Melville the same year !! He's also responsible for the brilliant filming of Orphée by Jean Cocteau.

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I haven't seen a lot of Maïtena Doumenach (Marie Laforet real name)'s movies but i doubt she'll be as moving and beautiful as in this movie.
The year after in 1963, her first ep "Les Vendanges De l'Amour" will be a huge success in France and her movie career will be put aside. Can you believe it after looking at these moving frames ?

23 -
I almost forgot to write about the fantastic score of this movie.
Leonard Keigel use Arnold Schönberg's Verklärte Nacht op. 4 (1899) with great care.
You'll be enthralled when you'll hear it at the end when Marie Laforet whispers "I was sure that you'll come". I personally prefer the interpretation of l'Ensemble InterContemporain by Pierre Boulez recorded in 1985.

24 -

Well, it's time to give you the plot as i only focused on the first part of the movie :

---------------------------------------------------
PLOT
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In this moody and slightly eerie film, Jourdan plays a married tutor in a small French town. He meets Laforet, a young girl who lives in the village, and becomes wildly infatuated with her. His attraction grows into obsession, and he begins following her everywhere. He discovers that she is the mistress of the man whose son he has been tutoring. When Jourdan confronts her, she denies this, and he makes a pass. When she resists his advances, he tries to kill her and disfigures her face permanently. From then on he's on the run, killing an older man along the way.
(TVGuide)

---------------------------------------------------
NOTES
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These frames are taken from a broadcast on french cable tv Cine Classics a couple of years ago.
To my knowledge, this movie hasn't been released yet on VHS nor DVD of course.

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bye bye now...
See you next friday.

Leviathan (1962) - part 1 - Leonard Keigel

2005-07-15T10:49:00.000+02:00

"Another movie, another planet" could have sing Peter Perrett of The Only Ones. This time, we'll take a look at the first movie of Leonard Keigel : Leviathan aka Dark Journey inspired by the book of Julien Green. Strangely enough, Leonard Keigel is one of the co-founder of "Les Cahiers Du Cinema" with Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, André Bazin and Lo Duca. I said "strangely enough" because this movie is nothing like a "Nouvelle Vague" movie. That's one of the many paradoxes of this polemical magazine that shouldn't surprise you.

Starring Louis Jourdan, yes the same one from GiGi, Leviathan is a rare french movie about the different aspects of love & its mysteries.
Complex, mysterious, overwhelming, a shelter & a downfall ...

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This is the fascinating Marie Laforet in one of her best part with Plein Soleil aka Purple Noon by Rene Clement.

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Yes, she sings too. she has a few hits in the sixties.
I personally love her cover of The Rolling Stones Paint It Black as Marie Douceur Marie Colere.

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This was the first 12 frames i'll post of this movie.
Next monday you'll see the last 12.
In the meantime, any comments will be appreciated.

Ferryman Maria (1936) - part2 - Frank Wisbar

2005-07-11T13:15:00.000+02:00

So this is my last 12 frames taken from Ferryman Maria.
This is Cinema at his Peak.
Enjoy!

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I love the mysterious mood of this journey with Maria & The Man In Black.

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Fassbinder based his movie Veronika Voss on the sad story of Sybille Schmitz. A declining and drug-addict UFA actress.

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The Man In Black is played by Peter Voß or Peter Voss.
He is really breathtaking in this movie, but i couldn't find any reliable information on him except his filmography.

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Time has come to praise the Director of Photography Franz Weihmayr who created an unique atmosphere with darkness and dusk, using Light like they used to do in the great Silent Movies. this art of light is way long forgotten now. But i don't regret it. Don't get me wrong. i like Modern Cinema. But let's face it. Cinema has become something else.
Oh !! i know he's more famous for filming the infamous Triumph Of The Will on the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg. Nobody's perfect.
Does it justify to undervalue his work on Ferryman Maria ? No.

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Now i can tell you that Sybille Schmitz is more famous for playing in the fantastic Carl Theodor Dreyer's Vampyr.

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"Un amour pour lequel on consent à sacrifier sa vie pour sauver l'être aimé triomphe des pires tourments. C'est le thème de cette histoire".

More than ever i have to give you the Plot because as there were so many frames i wanted to show you about this forgotten movie i had to focus on just the story between Death & Maria.
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PLOT
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A strange, abstract story in which Death appears as a man on the ferry, a tall, imposing, ghostly man. Maria is a young woman, a runaway, a stranger in the village, who takes over the job of ferryman at a river crossing after the old ferryman dies. Just as she gets settled into the little cottage that comes with the job, a wounded man appears on the other side of the river. She ferries him across and hides him in the cottage. Death appears again, this time in pursuit of the man. She leads Death though a swamp, praying that she may be taken instead of him. Death sinks into the swamp, the man gets well, and the two of them leave the village and go across the river to his home.

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NOTES
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These frames are taken from a rare broadcast on french tv Arte 10 years ago.
To my knowledge, this movie hasn't been released yet on VHS nor DVD of course.

Ferryman Maria (1936) - part1 - Frank Wisbar

2005-07-08T13:34:00.000+02:00

As i don't want this blog to focus mainly on Silent Movies, let's take few moments of your browsing time to look at a very rare german movie from the 30's. Directed by Frank Wisbar, who is better known as a B-movie director in the 50's, Ferryman Maria aka Death and the Maiden aka Fährmann Maria is a very symbolic and poetic movie. I personally rate it as one of the best german movie of all-time.

Yes, it is "Moody and atmospheric and shot in the style of early silent films with very little dialogue and ponderous pacing". i won't tell you about the plot now, i prefer to let you imagine one based on those frames.

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Sybille Schmitz also played the role of Elizabeth in Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) by Georg Wilhelm Pabst with Louise Brooks.

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Broke and forgotten, she killed herself out of despair at 44 in 1955.

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Sybille Schmitz is astonishing in that sequence.

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Frank Wisbar did a remake of Ferryman Maria in 1946 in the acclaimed Strangler Of The Swamp. It is supposed to be "a must for anybody interested in good early horror" if you believe The Psychotronic Video Guide. But i never saw it. Maybe someday.

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This was the first 12 frames i'll post of this movie.
Next time you'll see the last 12.
In the meantime, any comments will be appreciated.

Paris Qui Dort (1925) - part2 - René Clair -

2005-07-04T11:17:00.000+02:00

This is the last 12 frames of my tribute to Paris Qui Dort by Rene Clair.
I chose to focus on the story happenning on the Eiffel Tower because you 've never seen her filmed like that. The characters seem to ignore the gravity and play with it as it wasn't that important. This is poetry at its best.
Wish we were there, don't you ?

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Madeleine Rodrigue is Hesta. She disappeared in the realms of the Cinematograph with the Talkies. Who knows what happened to her ?

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Henri Rollan fights with Albert Préjean, who was the leading act in Marcel Carne's first movie Jenny.

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"is there anybody out there ? " ...
"someone will listen at least for a short while"

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Have we dreamed this story ?
Have you read Calderon's Life Is A Dream ?

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yes, another happy-ending !!
but that's mainly the difference between movies & life, isn't it ?
You may need the Plot to know what's going on in this movie because i took great liberty with the story :
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PLOT
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The watchman at the top of the Eiffel Tower wakes up one morning to find everyone and everything in Paris completely frozen. He walks along deserted streets, occasionally encountering men and women who are alive but quite unconscious. Just as he is beginning to engage in the type of laughter denoting approaching madness, he runs into a group of people who just flew in to town during the night and are very much up and about. The little group settle in and begin to take advantage of their peculiar situation, indulging in good food and the like during the day and sleeping high up in the Eiffel Tower at night in order to avoid a repeat performance of whatever seemed to freeze the rest of the population down below. Midway through the film, the guys suddenly realize that there is only one woman in the group and, for all they know, in the world, so they start fighting among themselves. Eventually, they find out what happened to the world around them. A mad scientist fellow named Dr. Crase activated his "Crase ray" (or crazy ray) and basically stopped Paris and presumably the whole world in its tracks. Convincing the professor to reverse the effects of the ray turns out to be only the first step at restoring normalcy to their lives.
- Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" - Amazon.com -
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NOTES
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These frames are taken from a rare broadcast on french tv Arte a couple of years ago.

Paris Qui Dort (1925) - part1 - René Clair -

2005-06-30T11:25:00.000+02:00

This time i wanted to dedicate the next 24 frames to a short movie by Rene Clair named Paris Qui Dort.

Made in 1925, it is one of the most poetic movie made from the avant-garde of the french cinema in the Twenties, also know as "Le Cinema Pur". I chose to select certain frames to make up another movie based on what moves me most in Paris Qui Dort.
But first of all, i have to say that this one is the exception to my rule of focusing this blog on out of print & rare movies because
1 - you could find it recently (2002) on a Criterion DVD as a bonus to the first full-length movie of Rene Clair : Sous Les Toits De Paris.
2 - You could also strangely find it on another DVD still as a bonus to The Bells (1926) a gothic melodrama by James Young !! released in 2000.
As i think many of you won't buy these DVD only to see this short movie, i thought i have to do this because Paris Qui Dort needs to be seen by everyone interesting in Cinema as Art. Then, buy the Criterion edition because if Sous Les Toits De Paris is more conventional it is still one of the great french movie of the Thirties and highly influential to the "Realisme Poetique".
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This was the first 12 frames i'll post of this movie.
Next time you'll see the last 12.
In the meantime, any comments will be appreciated.

7th Heaven (1927) - part2 - Frank Borzage

2005-06-27T10:17:00.000+02:00

This is the last 12 frames of my tribute to Seventh Heaven by Frank Borzage. I hope those frames do justice to this real masterpiece. Don't tell me about syrupy romance please !!
Borzage was at his prime at this time, making "4 chef d'oeuvres" in a row : 7th Heaven - Street Angel - Lucky Star - The River. Of course, none of them are available in DVD, so expect them some day or other to be found on this blog.

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This sequence is one of the most powerful one. Chico & Diane are feeling one another through space & war thanks to this medallion. They are connected themselves as a few years later will do Gary Cooper and Ann Harding in Henry Hattaway's Peter Ibbetson or Jean Dasté and Dita Parlo in Jean Vigo's L'Atalante. These movies show us the great mysteries of Love in all its simplicity and its beauty. Either you'll get it or you don't.
This is not for the cynics.

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Did i tell you that Charles Farrell did his best pictures with Borzage ?
I'll remember him.

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I told you that sentence is magical.

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Sometimes, not every happy endings are bad.
If you like trivia, you'll be happy to know that this movie won 3 Oscars but who cares for prizes anyway ? It also was laudaded by the surrealists at the time.
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PLOT
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Chico (Farrell) is a poor sewer worker who has only two dreams in life: to be promoted to sweeping streets and to find a woman who will be his wife. While he prays for guidance and blessings, he continues to work in the filth beneath the Parisian streets. However, one day he meets Diane (Gaynor), a beautiful woman who has been handed many hardships in life and is being chased by the police for a petty crime. Chico helps her hide from the cops, and soon the two have fallen in love. Despite their poverty, they give each other a reason to go on, and they happily marry. But their bliss is shattered when Chico is called to fight in World War I; Diane lives for the day he returns, and when she's told that Chico was killed in battle, her world collapses and she renounces her faith in God. However, while Chico was severely injured on the battlefield and is now blind, he did not die, and now he must find his way back to the woman he loves. (New York Times)
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NOTES
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These frames are taken from an original VHS issued in Italy by Mondadori Video in 1991.
I believe it's the only commercial copy available so far (June 2005).
No relation whatsoever with the french film of the same name issued in 1997 by Benoit Jacquot.

7th Heaven (1927) - part1- Frank Borzage

2005-06-26T15:52:00.000+02:00

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Seventh Heaven by Frank Borzage is one of the most moving silent movie i have ever seen. The love story between Diane & Chico is pure melodramatic. Simple and powerful. Love over fate or whatever. I don't know how to write so i won't make a fool of myself. Read real critics instead. I can only be sensitive about movies. Don't know and don't want to know how to "intellectualize" them.

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Look at Janet Gaynor. how she is radiating in this frame !!
Most of people know her from Murnau's Sunrise but i think she never was as wistfully beautiful than in Borzage's movies. and she's done several. We'll talk about this later.

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You have to see the movie to understand how magical this sentence could be :
"You are an extraordinary person".

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This was the first 12 frames i'll post of this movie.
Next time you'll see the last 12.
In the meantime, any comments will be appreciated.
...

The Wind (1928) - Victor Sjostrom

2005-06-26T15:49:00.000+02:00

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The Wind (1928) - Victor Sjostrom

Let's start this blog with one of the great silent movie by swedish director Victor Sjostrom, renamed in Hollywood Seastrom.
I'm not a movie critic, i don't want to analyze movies that i deeply feel inside. I'm just interested in emotions. So don't expect here big comments and film studies.
This is not a tribute to Serge Daney or Les Cahiers Du Cinema !!
This is about pictures, frames that moves me. Hope you'll feel the same way.
If you want more informations, check the links and do your own research. You'll be rewarded, trust me.
So, "The Wind" is Lilian Gish masterpiece & i focused these 24 frames mostly on her & how you can feel her emotions on her face. But it was very difficult to choose 24 frames out of this beautiful movie because this is a very visual movie, a sort of swan song of the Silent movies , the sad year of the start of the Talkies. If only the Talkies could have begun a couple of years later, what great silent movies would have been made !! but that's another story.
So watch Lilian Gish and fall in love...

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What is this with these silent movies that we don't find anymore ?

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PLOT
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Letty (Lillian Gish) travels from Virginia to Texas to stay with her best friend. Unfortunately, he lives in a place in the middle of the desert and the wind is constantly blowing and throwing sand around. Letty begins to slowly go mad living there. She marries a man she doesn't love (handsome Lars Hanson), kills a man who rapes her and almost kills herself. (Imdb)
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NOTES
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These frames come from a VHS copy recorded in early nineties on FrenchTV sunday cine-club program named : "Le Cinema De Minuit".