settima

@settima@mograph.social

Lonesome (Pál Fejős, 1928)

Jul

3

Sat

Lonesome (1928)

An alarm clock informs us it's 7:15 while the calendar adds that it's the 3rd on a Saturday. Next to the alarm a crumpled up ladies' magazine. DP: Gilbert Warrenton.

“You've won a doll and a kiss. I'll give you the doll and your girl can give you the kiss!”

– Coney Island barker

Burnt Offerings (Dan Curtis, 1976)

Jul

1

Burnt Offerings (1976)

The chauffeur (Anthony James). DP: Jacques R. Marquette.

“The house takes care of itself.”

– Roz Allardyce

Farewell, Etaoin Shrdlu (David Loeb Weiss, 1980)

Jul

1

1978

Farewell, Etaoin Shrdlu (1980)

All set for the July 2, 1978 edition of The New York Times, hot off the press.

Production of the last hot type copy of The New York Times on the night of July 1, 1978. The ETAOIN SHRDLU in the title refers to the accidental string of letters that sometimes would pop up using hot metal typesetting.

 

That Linotype setting, and narration, was provided by Carl Schlesinger. That same old, but now digitally set New York Times, provided a lovely farewell when the man passed. Read it here

蠱​ [Gu / Bewitched] (Chih-Hung Kuei, 1981)

Jun

30

蠱 (1981)

Exorcising demons. DP: Hsin-Yeh Li.

Le démon dans l'île [Demon Is on the Island / Demon of the Island] (Francis Leroi, 1983)

Jun

28

1947

Le démon dans l'île (1983)

Dr. Gabrielle Martin (Anny Duperey) reads her digital patient file. It mentions her day of birth, June 28, 1947. DP: Jacques Assuérus.

“Don't think too much, it could affect your health, Gabrielle.”

– Dr. Marshall

The Lottery (Larry Yust, 1969)

Jun

27

The Lottery (1969)

Drawing lots from a box. DP: Isidore Mankofsky.

This, or any other adaptation of Shirley Jackson's story.

“Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.”

– Shirley Jackson, The Lottery (1948)

Ikarie XB 1 [Icarus XB 1] (Jindřich Polák, 1963)

Jun

26

Ikarie XB 1 (1963)

An astronaut passing a perfectly symmetrical walkway, similar to the ones seen in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). DP: Jan Kališ.

L'immortelle (Alain Robbe-Grillet, 1963)

Jun

23

Sat

L'immortelle (1963)

A man's hand holds a crumbled up diary page for Saturday June 23. There are no calendar entries. DP: Maurice Barry.

“You're a foreigner and you're lost.”

La montagne infidèle [The Infidel Mountain] (Jean Epstein, 1923)

Jun

22

1923

La montagne infidèle (1923)

Unrestored film stock showing extensive damage to both the celluloid and the depicted structure. In 2024, the reels were rediscovered in Spain and restored by the Filmoteca de Catalunya (via). DP: Paul Guichard.

Filmmaker Jean Epstein and his cameraman Paul Guichard made their way to the Etna on June 22, 1923. This was merely five days after the eruption started.

“Sicily! The night had a thousand eyes. All sorts of smells shrieked at once. An unfurled coil of wire brought our car, swathed in moonlight as if surrounded by mosquito netting, to a halt. It was hot. Impatient, the drivers broke off singing the most beautiful love song, striking the car with a monkey wrench and insulting Christ and his mother with a blind faith in their efficacy. In front of us: Etna, the great actor who bursts onto the stage two or three times each century, whose tragic extravagances I had arrived to film. An entire side of the mountain was a blazing spectacle. The conflagration reached up to the reddened corners of the sky. From a distance of twenty kilometers, the rumbling at times seemed to be a triumphal reception heard from afar, as if a thousand hands were applauding in an immense ovation.”

– Jean Epstein, Le Cinématographe vu de l’Etna (1926) (via)

Un posto ideale per uccidere [An Ideal Place to Kill / Oasis of Fear] (Umberto Lenzi, 1971)

Jun

19

champagne

Un posto ideale per uccidere (1971)

A white hand places a champagne filled coupe on a tiled floor, right in front of a tabby cat. Said Highness is also enjoying a full plate of carefully prepared seafood. DP: Alfio Contini.