settima

1950s

猫と庄造と二人のをんな [Neko to Shōzō to futari no onna / A Cat, Shozo, and Two Women] (Shirō Toyoda, 1956)

Feb

20

Love Your Pet Day

猫と庄造と二人のをんな (1956)

Shōzō (Hisaya Morishige) on the beach with his beloved cat Lily. DP: Mitsuo Miura.

Someone owns a pet on Love Your Pet Day (UK)

“I'm sharing my husband with a cat. This is humiliating!”

– Nakajima

Shōzō is torn between his ex-wife and his current spouse, but really just wants to spend time with Lily, his cat.

野獣死すべし [Yajū shisubeshi / The Beast Shall Die] (Eizō Sugawa, 1959)

Feb

17

airline food

野獣死すべし (1959)

Kunihiko Date (Tatsuya Nakadai) enjoys an in-flight meal. DP: Fukuzō Koizumi.

Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)

Feb

14

St. Valentine's Day

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Sugar, Josephine, Daphne, and Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators rehearse Runnin’ Wild on the sleeper train to sunny Florida. DP: Charles Lang.

A movie about romance, of the Mafia, for St. Valentine's Day.

 

Musicians Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) witness a killing by the Mob at the St. Valentine's Dance where they were hired to perform. In an attempt to escape the Chicagoan gangsters, they go overcover as Josephine and Daphne (“Well, I never did like the name Geraldine.”) in an all-gall jazz band, and fall head over heels for ukelele player Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe).

“Real diamonds! They must be worth their weight in gold!”

– Sugar Kane Kowalczyk

The opening shootout was directly inspired by the February 14 1929 Saint Valentine's Day Massacre (graphic), and shares an actor from one of its most famous adaptations, Scarface (1932); George Raft as the wonderfully named Spats Colombo.

L'oro di Napoli [The Gold of Naples] (Vittorio De Sica, 1954)

Feb

9

National Pizza Day

L'oro di Napoli (1954)

Sophia Loren as herself, handing out fresh pizza fritta at Cucina del Toro to promote L'oro di Napoli (part of this description comes from Pinterest; I have no guarantee it is correct). DP of the movie: Carlo Montuori.

Someone eats pizza on National Pizza Day (USA).

 

In the segment Pizze a credito (“Pizza on credit”), unfaithful pizza baker Sofia (Sophia Loren) loses her wedding band in the dough, then accidentally deep-fries it into a pizza fritta Napoletana.

“Buon giorno, donna Sofia! Dateme 'na pizza! Cominciamo la giornata di…”

– pizza customer

As you may know, Sophia Loren wrote several cookbooks in her life and of course, there's a recipe for pizza. This one is Pizza Alla Napoletana and it goes like this: recipe.

暗黒街の美女 [Ankokugai no bijo / Underworld Beauty] (Seijun Suzuki, 1958)

Feb

8

暗黒街の美女 (1958)

A man, all in #bandages besides one half of his face, is interviewed by a policeman. Captions read: February 8th. DP: Wataro Nakao.

Policeman: What's today's date?

Injured man: February 8th.

暗黒街の美女 [Ankokugai no bijo / Underworld Beauty] (Seijun Suzuki, 1958)

Feb

3

oden

暗黒街の美女 (1958)

At a yatai specialised in oden, someone chops an ingredient (daikon?) in two with what looks like a nakiri. DP: Wataro Nakao.

Οι παράνομοι [Oi paranomoi / The Outlaws] (Nikos Koundouros, 1958)

Jan

26

Survival Day

Οι παράνομοι (1958)

One of the convicts and the woman. DP: Giovanni Varriano.

Convicts: a convict settlement in Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788 marks what is considered the founding of Australia.

1. April 2000 [April 1, 2000] (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1952)

Jan

20

Inauguration Day

1. April 2000 (1952)

Austria's new Prime Minister (Josef Meinrad). DPs: Sepp Ketterer, Karl Löb & Fritz Arno Wagner.

Inaugurations for Inauguration Day (USA).

 

In the future year 2000, on April 1, the newly-elected Prime Minister of Austria is inaugurated. Much to the shock of the Global Union, he declares Austria's independence!

Nowhere to Go (Seth Holt + Basil Dearden, 1958)

Dec

22

Tue

Nowhere to Go (1958)

A man checks into a hotel. A wall calendar reads December 22, a Tuesday. DP: Paul Beeson .

“Sloane! Be lucky!”

– Paul Gregory

Valkoinen peura [The White Reindeer] (Erik Blomberg, 1952)

Dec

21

Yule

Valkoinen peura (1952)

Pirita (Mirjami Kuosmanen) in Gákti in front of a prism-like structure with a reindeer skull on top. Antlers stick out in the snow around her. DP: Erik Blomberg.

Pagans for Yule. The reindeer plays an important part in Sámi #animism (1/2).