view
Пасифик 231 [Pasifik 231 / Pacific 231] (Mikhail Tsekhanovskiy, 1931)
Jul
2
Musicians superimposed over the locomotive's pistons. DP: Leonid Patlis.
“What I sought in 'Pacific' was not the imitation of the sounds of the locomotive, but the translation of a visual impression and a physical enjoyment through a musical construction. It starts from objective contemplation: the quiet breathing of the engine at rest, the effort of starting, then the progressive increase in speed, to arrive at the lyrical state, the pathos of the 300-ton train, launched in the middle of the night at 120 km/h.”
– Arthur Honegger, Dissonances. Revue musicale indépendante (1925) (via)
Hinted on in Abel Gance's La Roue (1923), composer Arthur Honegger's Пасифик 231 follows the narrative of a stream train ploughing through the night. The conductor's gestures mirror the fireman's and slowly, the machine comes to live. The music becomes abstract, machine-like, in its rendition of pistons and valves. Using double exposure and Soviet montage theory, music and movement become one. The Futurists, if not opposed to the Soviets that is, would have had a field day with this outing.
view
Picture Snatcher (Lloyd Bacon, 1933)
Jun
16
Patricia Nolan (Patricia Ellis) and Danny Kean (James Cagney). DP: Sol Polito.
“That gets it. That little touch of lavender. Am I gonna stink pretty.”
– Danny Kean
view
Daïnah la métisse [Dainah the Mixed] (Jean Grémillon, 1932)
Apr
15
Titanic
Mechanic Michaux (Charles Vanel) and Daïnah (Laurence Clavius) on the Art Deco liner. DPs: Louis Page & Georges Périnal.
A cruise ship in remembrance of the sinking of the Titanic on April 14–15, 1912.
Mestiza Daïnah, who accompanies her illusionist husband on the luxury cruise ship he works on, loves to flirt and tease the other sex, including the ship's engineer Michaux. When she disappears, suspicion falls not only on Michaux, but also on her Black husband.
view
The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock, 1934)
Mar
21
Abbott (Peter Lorre). DP: Curt Courant.
“Stand by, there's trouble coming soon.”
– Bob Lawrence
view
უჟმური [Ujmuri / Мрачная равнина / Cheerless] (Nutsa Gogoberidze, 1934)
Mar
3
Florida – 1845
A young woman, dress and arms covered in swamp water, raises a muddy shotgun. DP: Shalva Apaqidze.
A swamp (or The Everglades) on that day in 1845 Florida became the 27th state.
The swamp dwellers' trust in shaman Uzhmuri, the Queen of Frogs, prohibits the authorities from draining the wetlands in their fight against malaria.
view
Kuhle Wampe oder: Wem gehört die Welt? [Kuhle Wampe or Who Owns the World?] (Slatan Dudow, 1932)
Feb
28
unemployment
The unemployed at Kuhle Wampe, with Hertha Thiele's Anni front and center. People's states vary between still clinging on to better times up to destitute. DP: Günther Krampf.
“[Kuhle Wampe] gives witness to the true face of a struggling, suffering nation. Made by four thousand unemployed people, it never aims to be a work of art but simply aims to portray […] workers whose youthful energy is going to waste.”
– Marcel Carné, via
Kuhle Wampe, Berlin slang that means something like “empty stomach”, is the name of a real-world, improvised encampment for the unemployed at the Müggelsee. Here we find a family who lost everything after the death of one of them.
view
Even: As You and I (Roger Barlow, Harry Hay + LeRoy Robbins, 1937)
Feb
27
A film editor struggling with a long strip of celluloid. DP: Hy Hirsh.
view
Murders in the Zoo (A. Edward Sutherland, 1933)
Feb
20
A couple walks into a room, only to discover a lifeless man and a headless snake. DP: Ernest Haller.
“You don't think I sat there all evening with an eight-foot mamba in my pocket?”
– Eric Gorman
view
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.
“I don't want your husband. I want a parachute!”
– Trixie
view
À propos de Nice – point de vue documenté [À propos de Nice] (Boris Kaufman + Jean Vigo, 1930)
Jan
1
New Year's Day
Exuberant prostitutes, Jean Vigo (5th from the left), and some who appear to be men in drag, dance on a landing with confetti all around them. In the moving footage they can be seen high-kicking with increased vulgarity, the camera posed below them. DP: Boris Kaufman.
Confetti for New Year's Day.
“In this film, by showing certain basic aspects of a city, a way of life is put on trial… the last gasps of a society so lost in its escapism that it sickens you and makes you sympathetic to a revolutionary solution.”