settima

1950s

Les statues meurent aussi [Statues also Die] (Ghislain Cloquet, Chris Marker + Alain Resnais, 1953)

May

18

International Museum Day

Les statues meurent aussi (1953)

A Black African woman looks at objects of African origin – several statues, a mask, an object decorated with beadwork – in an antique store's window. Behind her white people pass by. It's raining. DP: Ghislain Cloquet.

Commissioned by the #PanAfrican literary magazine Présence Africaine to make a short film about African art, Chris Marker and his collaborator Alain Resnais – the latter still emboldened by his Van Gogh (1948) – were struck that unlike the Dutch painter's work, this #art was not on display in the Louvre or a similar cultural temple, but in the ethnological Musée de l'Homme.

“An object dies when the living glance trained upon it disappears. And when we disappear, our objects will be confined to the place where we send black things: to the museum.”

– narrator

These works of “Negro” art that embody such a deep cultural and artistic significance for the creators and the people they are part of, were, within the boundaries of Western civilisation, merely things. The editing (Alain Resnais), photography (Ghislain Cloquet) and dialogue (Chris Marker) bring life to these works. Through these voices they speak to the viewer, escaping the institutes' walls.

 

This voice was enough for the CNC to censor Les statues meurent aussi; only the first third of the film, the segment that's not blatantly #AntiColonial, was to be watched. And to this day, the documentary still has not seen a restored, digital release.

Happy Ever After [Tonight's the Night] (Mario Zampi, 1954)

May

13

Leprechaun Day

Happy Ever After (1954)

Jasper O'Leary (David Niven) giving Serena McGlusky (Yvonne De Carlo) a stern talking-to. DP: Stanley Pavey.

Rathbarney is a typical small Irish town inhabited with a bunch of eccentrics, including a few leprechauns and a ghost, who all live in general harmony with each other, mostly at the local pub. (via IMDb)

“I've not lived long enough in Ireland to appreciate the logic of that remark.”

– Jasper O'Leary

Mutya ng Pasig [Muse of Pasig] (Richard Abelardo, 1950)

May

2

National Foster Care Day

Mutya ng Pasig (1950)

A young woman, drowned, held up by several helpless looking people. DP: Ray Lacap.

In this #supernatural Filipino melodrama, it being a Filipino melodrama, the town's muse tragically drowns, taking her newborn child with her. The orphaned baby floats down the river then is picked up by an older, childless couple who gladly raise her as their own. The child has a strange attachment to the #Pasig river where at night, a mysterious spellbinding voice sings the #kundiman [traditional love song] Mutya ng Pasig.

 

While Mutya ng Pasig is a lovely, somewhat predictable mystery by Richard Abelardo, it's well worth your time on a slowly meandering, hot summer night.

Orphée [Orpheus] (Jean Cocteau, 1950)

Apr

27

Morse Code Day

Orphée (1950)

Orphée (Jean Marais) in the black car, hearing poetry in Morse. DP: Nicolas Hayer.

#Cocteau's Orpheus – here the mythological poet and musician is personified by Jean Marais – accompanies a fallen young poet transported to the Underworld by car. The car radio plays fragments of poetry, interrupted by #MorseCode. When back in this world, #Orphée obsesses over the lines of radical poetry he heard and returns to the car's radio to retrieve them.

“Sleeping or dreaming, the dreamer must accept his dreams.”

– The Princess

Morse code and other industrial sounds serve as a soundscape for Cocteau's characters. They swerve in and out of it, sometimes fully aware of them (#Orpheus himself is attuned to the #poetry to be found in emergency radio broadcasts), by times passing through like a mirage.

Distant Drums (Raoul Walsh, 1951)

Apr

24

Scream Day

Distant Drums (1951)

The Scream happening to Judy Beckett (Mari Aldon) and Capt. Quincy Wyatt's (Gary Cooper) dismay. DP: Sidney Hickox.

One joyous day, Pvt. Wilhelm gave his dear life for movie geeks everywhere. The Gary Cooper (super duper!) western Distant Drums (1951) is the origin of what's known as the Wilhelm #scream. During a dramatic action scene, our dearly beloved private is hit in the thigh with an arrow.

– GATORS! GATORS!! – AAH! – AH!

That bloodcurdling scream was part of a sounds effect reel voiced by Sheb Wooley, known better for his 1958 rock 'n roll novelty song The Purple People Eater than fighting off hostile natives. Later, other screamers popped up in anything from A Star Is Born (1954) to Reservoir Dogs (1992).

 

And yes, even a long time ago. In that galaxy far far away.

羅生門 [Rashōmon] (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)

Apr

22

April Showers Day

羅生門 (1950)

Two men sheltering from torrential rain in the gate of a wooden temple. DP: Kazuo Miyagawa.

“It sounded interesting, at least while I kept out of the rain. But if it's a sermon, I'd sooner listen to the rain.”

– commoner

Boy on a Dolphin (Jean Negulesco, 1957)

Apr

14

National Dolphin Day

Boy on a Dolphin (1957)

Phaedra (Sophia Loren) posing victoriously on the bow of a sailboat, with the statue, still in its ropes after hoisting it off the ocean floor, behind her. DP: Milton R. Krasner.

Shot on location in Greece, sponge diver Phaedra (Sophia Loren) makes a splash when she finds an ancient statue of a boy on a dolphin, rumoured to bring good luck to her town. Her attempts to sell it to the highest bidder makes not only the bronze but also her the object of desire of an honest archaeologist and an unscrupulous antiques dealer playboy.

“Our paths have crossed and re-crossed: in Dresden, Rotterdam, Florence – wherever the Nazis looted. Raphaels, Rembrandts, even down to a dreary little china pot, which belonged to Madame Pompadour… there was always Captain Jim Calder of the U.S. Army, restoring priceless objects to their rightful owners – a typical middle-class gesture.”

– Victor Parmalee

Boy on a dolphin is not only the title of this movie but also possibly a reference to #Arion, son of the inhabitants of Lesbos (would that make this movie a bit too wild for 1957?), or #Taras, son of Poseidon and Satyrion. According to Greek legend, both mythological characters were saved by #dolphins.

Vynález zkázy (1958)

Vynález zkázy (1958)

April 11: ride a #submarine on #NationalSubmarineDav

Vynález zkázy [A Deadly Invention] (Karel Zeman, 1958)

“Jules Verne was a dreamer. He was a dedicated follower of technology, but he saw it through his own eyes, and the eyes of his time. But with his vast imagination, he created a whole world of magical things imbued with a delightful naiveté, which charms us even today.” —Karel Zeman

Karel Zeman was a Czech film maker who seemingly magically combined live action with stop motion animation. In his Vynález zkázy, loosely based on Jules Verne's Face au Drapeau [Facing the Flag aka For the Flag] (1896), a fiendish count kidnaps a professor to get his hands on a terrible super-weapon. Underwater pursuits commence!

Vynález zkázy (1958)

Based on the engravings that accompany the Verne story, Zeman came up with fantastic, highly stylised in-camera effects that make the sets, actors and props resemble cross-hatched etchings.

That's more than enough words for such a spectacle. Watch the trailer

#Bales2023FilmChallenge #KarelZeman #JulesVerne #LuborTokos #StopMotion #animation #fantasy #adventure #SciFi #BookAdaptation #trailer #Czechoslovakia #1950s ★★★½

#ToDo

Harvey (Henry Koster, 1950)

Apr

9

freebie: Easter Sunday

Harvey (1950)

Promotional photo. James Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd, holding a stuffed anthropomorphic rabbit. Both man and bunny wear black hats and smile at the camera. DP: William H. Daniels.

James Stewart is Elwood P. Dowd. An ordinary man with an extraordinary claim: his best friend is an invisible, six feet three and a half inches-tall #pooka – a mythological Celtic, shapeshifting creature – who in Mr Dowd's case resembles a rabbit called Harvey. Elwood's sister and niece, who also occasionally see the furry goblin, have their relative send to a sanatorium where the doctors and us viewers learn more about this curious case.

“Harvey and I sit in the bars… have a drink or two… play the juke box. And soon the faces of all the other people they turn toward mine and they smile. And they're saying, 'We don't know your name, mister, but you're a very nice fella'.”

– Elwood P. Dowd

Harvey, based on Mary Chase's #PulitzerPrize​Play with the same name, is guaranteed to bring a smile on your face, this humbug's scout's honour! Have a nice #Easter, CineMastodons!

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954) & The Wormwood Star (1956)

The Scarlet Woman (Marjorie Cameron) wearing a fantastic peacock-like robe and crown. DP: Kenneth Anger.

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954)

March 26: someone wears purple on #PurpleDay / #InternationalEpilepsyDay

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (Kenneth Anger, 1954)

Purple beyond purple: it is the light higher than eyesight. — Liber AL vel Legis sub figura CCXX

Both in The Wormwood Star (Curtis Harrington, 1956) and Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (Kenneth Anger, 1954) Marjorie Cameron wears shades of purple. Professionally known as Cameron, she was a follower of #Thelema, the philosophical movement founded by occultist Aleister Crowley.

Cameron as herself. Here too she wears references to the peacock Aiwass, who dictated The Book of the Law to Crowley.

The Wormwood Star (1956)

The Wormwood Star (Curtis Harrington, 1956)

Meanwhile in 1946, rocket scientist #JackParsons and (pre-Scientology) sci-fi author #LRonHubbard worked on a series of #Crowley-related magic ceremonies named Babalon Working. After Parsons declared the rituals a success, he encountered Cameron in his own house. She became the element required to continue the ceremonies, this resulting in her being declared Babalon, the #Scarlet Woman.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge #KennethAnger #SamsonDeBrier #MarjorieCameron #AnaïsNin #CurtisHarrington #PaulMathison #colours #purple #occultism #Magick #ShortFilm #Avantgarde #USA #1950s ★★★★☆

#Bales2023FilmChallenge #CurtisHarrington #Cameron #PhilipHarland #LeonaWood #PaulMathison #documentary #occultism #FineArt #colours #purple #witches #USA #AleisterCrowley #1950s ★★★½

#todo