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“I used to spend afternoons reading in bed. Tommaso would call and find me there. He could have kissed me. I wouldn't have resisted, out of boredom. But he was satisfied to watch me as I read. All those purposeless books.”
La notte [The Night] (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961)
Feb
7
Falò delle vanità – 1497
Author Giovanni Pontano (Marcello Mastroianni) pondering next to a full bookcase. DP: Gianni Di Venanzo.
Books, or art, in commemoration of Savonarola's 1497 Florentine falò delle vanità (bonfire of the vanities).
– Lidia
A lavish #CocktailParty in celebration of the launch of a novel is bookended by tragedy, in the loss of a befriended writer and the unraveling of another writer and his wife's marriage.
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“Got a lot to write about today. You.”
3 Women (Robert Altman, 1977)
Feb
7
1970
Millie Lammoreaux's Social Security card, issued on February 7, 1970. DP: Charles Rosher Jr.
– Millie Lammoreaux
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Тіні забутих предків [Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors] (Sergei Parajanov, 1965)
Feb
6
St. Dorothea of Caesarea
The childhood lovers to be newlyweds. During the wedding ceremony, the bride suddenly breaks out in smile. DPs: Yuri Ilyenko & Viktor Bestayev.
A wedding on the day of Dorothea of Caesarea, patron saint of horticulture, brewers, brides, florists, gardeners, midwives, newlyweds, and love.
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“I don't want your husband. I want a parachute!”
Madam Satan (Cecil B. DeMille, 1930)
Feb
4
Charles Lindbergh's born
You're cordially invited to Mr. James Wade's “Masquerade”, aboard the Zeppelin – CB – P – 55. Do wear a mask. DP: Harold Rosson.
A movie about aviation for that eugenicist Charles Lindbergh's birthday.
– Trixie
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“Mother, didn't you know there are children starving in Africa?”
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (Todd Haynes, 1987)
Feb
4
A brunette Barbie doll representing Karen Carpenter makes a statement in front of the White House. DP: Barry Ellsworth.
– “Karen Carpenter”
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Homunculus, 4. Teil – Die Rache des Homunculus (Otto Rippert, 1917)
Feb
3
finance
Richard Ortmann, the homunculus (Olaf Fønss). DP: Carl Hoffmann.
A film about finance because “the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issues the first paper money on February 3, 1690”. The oldest surviving paper bill in what is now the United States bears the date February 3, 1690. The first documented paper money was issued during the Tang and Song dynasties in China, starting in the vulgar year 618. Who would have thought those new colonies were not the center of world history… sigh…
In the fourth instalment of the Homunculus saga, the artificial man callously heads the nation's financial powerhouse while secretly goading the workers in revolt against the ruling class. Soulless and unable to love, he aims for the annihilation of mankind.
Some claim that Die Rache des Homunculus, “The Wrath of the Homunculus”, foreshadows Hitler. I say, beware of businessmen enthralling the working classes.
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“My name is Elia Kazan. I am a Greek by blood, a Turk by birth and an American because my uncle made a journey.”
America America (Elia Kazan, 1963)
Feb
2
New Amsterdam
Stavros (Stathis Giallelis) and other passengers on the ship. Their faces are reflected in a glass pane, showing dozens waiting at what appears to be Ellis Island. DP: Haskell Wexler.
A film about New York to commemorate the incorporation of New Amsterdam. The official Bales' rule states the year 1624, but that is the year of settlement, and even that is one year off. To cut a long story short, New Amsterdam was incorporated as a city on February 2, 1653.
– Elia Kazan, voice-over
America America tells the story of director Kazan's grandfather through the life of the Greek Stavros Topouzoglou (Stathis Giallelis), who was adamant to start anew, in New York.
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燃えつきた地図 [Moetsukita chizu / The Man Without a Map / The Ruined Map] (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1968)
Feb
2
Shintarō Katsu and Etsuko Ichihara as the detective and the missing man's wife, their faces and gestures warped by a paned window. DP: Akira Uehara.