settima

1940s

D.O.A. [Dead on Arrival] (Rudolph Maté, 1949)

Jul

18

D.O.A. (1949)

A man's hand signs a car rental contract dated July 18. DP: Ernest Laszlo.

“You knew who I was when I came here today. But you were surprised to see me alive, weren't you? But I'm not alive, Mrs. Philips. Sure, I can stand here and talk to you. I can breathe and I can move. But I'm not alive. Because I did take that poison, and nothing can save me.”

– Frank Bigelow

The Life Magazine displayed at the San Francisco newspaper stand where Frank Bigelow stops is the issue of September 12, 1949, with Yugoslavia's leader Marshal Josip Broz Tito on the cover.

野良犬 [Nora inu / Stray Dog] (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)

Jul

14

Nora inu (1949)

A sweaty man in uniform drinks from a water fountain like a dog (via). DP: Asakazu Nakai.

Someone enjoys a drink or beverage*

“On the bus, the air was so thick, he felt woozy. A wailing infant shook with tears and the woman beside him reeked with the stink of cheap perfume.”

– narrator

On a sweltering summer day, Detective's Murakami's Colt gets stolen on a crowded bus. He must delve deep into the sticky sweaty seedy underbelly of Tokyo to retrieve it.

 

Black Friday (Arthur Lubin, 1940)

Jun

13

Black Friday (1940)

DP: Elwood Bredell.

El gran calavera [The Great Madcap] (Luis Buñuel, 1949)

May

31

El gran calavera (1949)

Lobbycard. DP: Ezequiel Carrasco.

My Name Is Julia Ross (Joseph H. Lewis, 1945)

May

5

My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)

Nina Foch as Julia Ross… or is she… Julia's lying on a made bed, looking over her shoulder at two middle-aged men and an elderly woman standing in the doorway to her room. DP: Burnett Guffey.

– You haven't forgotten us again, have you, Marion?

– You know perfectly well I'm Julia Ross!

Krakatit (Otakar Vávra, 1948)

Apr

26

International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day

Krakatit (1948)

A man on a darkened, concrete runway, running towards a man-made structure, a mirage. DP: Václav Hanuš.

Something nuclear on International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day

 

In a state of delirium, engineer Prokop chases his stolen chemical formula, worried it may be used for mass destruction

 

With the experience of yet another world war, and two devastating applications of science biggest terror, Karel Čapek's 1922 novel Krakatit [“Krakatoa”] anticipated and moulded the decades to come.

 

And R.U.R. is now, just around the corner.

Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946)

Apr

24

Notorious (1946)

Devlin (Cary Grant) and Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman). DP: Ted Tetzlaff.

And January 9.

“Dry your eyes, baby; it's out of character.”

– Devlin

Ladri di biciclette [The Bicycle Thieves] (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)

Apr

11

National Cheese Fondue Day

Ladri di biciclette (1948)

Bruno (Enzo Staiola) eating mozzarella. DP: Carlo Montuori.

Cheese or fondue for National Cheese Fondue Day (USA)

“Do you fancy a pizza? Come on, then! Come on, let's go! What the hell. We might as well go out in style. What's the point in worrying about it all?”

– Antonio Ricci

父ありき [Chichi ariki / There Was a Father] (Yasujirō Ozu, 1942)

Mar

31

a father

父ありき (1942)

Father and son fishing in a creek. DP: Yūharu Atsuta.

A father for OP's father's birthday.

 

A father, and proud teacher, raises his son alone. When the boy is an adult and a teacher himself, the elder's traditional concept of societal hierarchy affirms the balance between the generations.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948)

Feb

14

1925

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

The winning lottery numbers of February 14, 1925. DP: Ted D. McCord.

“A thousand men, say, go searchin' for gold. After six months, one of them's lucky: one out of a thousand. His find represents not only his own labor, but that of nine hundred and ninety-nine others to boot. That's six thousand months, five hundred years, scramblin' over a mountain, goin' hungry and thirsty. An ounce of gold, mister, is worth what it is because of the human labor that went into the findin' and the gettin' of it.”

– Howard