“It's a weird, crazy idea, but that's the reason it intrigues me.”Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (Fritz Lang, 1956)
May
7

Susan Spencer (Joan Fontaine) lighting Tom Garrett's (Dana Andrews) cigarette. DP: William E. Snyder.
– Tom Garrett
“It's a weird, crazy idea, but that's the reason it intrigues me.”Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (Fritz Lang, 1956)
May
7

Susan Spencer (Joan Fontaine) lighting Tom Garrett's (Dana Andrews) cigarette. DP: William E. Snyder.
– Tom Garrett
“With nothing to do, no news and in terrible solitude, we were 100 unfortunates awaiting our fate. I had no illusions about my own. If I could only escape, run away…”Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut [A Man Escaped] (Robert Bresson, 1956)
May
2

A hand with dirty nails writing on a scrap of paper with a pencil stump. It starts “Mai 2 Ma chère maman, Je suis à la pris[…]“. DP: Léonce-Henri Burel.
– Fontaine
Misterios de la magia negra [Mysteries of Black Magic] (Miguel M. Delgado, 1958)
Apr
12

Two well-dressed women, one of them prostrated on a stone slab. DP: Víctor Herrera.
“Can't you see that whatever you do is futile? The armies of Britain and Japan can come and fight all they wish. Burma is still Burma. Burma is the Buddha's country.”ビルマの竪琴 [Biruma no tategoto / The Burmese Harp] (Kon Ichikawa, 1956)
Apr
8
花祭り

Mizushima (Shōji Yasui) holding his harp, looked over by the reclining Buddha. DP: Minoru Yokoyama.
A film about Buddhism, or set in Japan, in honour of the birth of Buddha, celebrated in Japan on April 8 as 花祭り (Hana Matsuri, aka Flower Festival)
– old monk
While stationed in Burma, Mizushima disguises himself as a dhutanga, a wandering Buddhist monk, burying the remains of his fellow Japanese soldiers.
女篮五号 [Nü lan wu hao / Woman Basketball Player No. 5] (Jin Xie, 1957)
Apr
7
March Madness

Tense moments during the match. DPs: Shaofen Huang & Xilin Shen.
Basketball: the final day of March Madness
The first full-colour Chinese sports film and an example of how “state feminism” was promoted through popular media, often in opera but also in more humanist form.
1. April 2000 [April 1, 2000] (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1952)
Apr
1
2000

The President of the Global Union (Hilde Krahl) stepping out of her spaceship. DPs: Sepp Ketterer, Karl Löb & Fritz Arno Wagner.
“He’s not a beast. No, he’s a robot. A machine created by a modern, twisted society.”野獣死すべし [Yajū shisubeshi / The Beast Shall Die] (Eizō Sugawa, 1959)
Mar
30
7 p.m.

Kunihiko Date (Tatsuya Nakadai) driving along at night. DP: Fukuzō Koizumi.
絵を描く子どもたち [E o kaku kodomotachi: jidōga o rikai suru tame ni / Children Who Draw] (Susumu Hani, 1956)
Mar
13
Youth Art Month

A little girl painting. DP: Shizuo Komura.
An artistic child for Youth Art Month (USA)
Small children work with clay, paint, and other materials. Under the camera's watchful eye, we see their work come to life.
“I sit in the subway sometimes, on buses, or the movies, and I look at the people next to me and I think… 'What would you say if I told you I was a witch?'”Bell Book and Candle (Richard Quine, 1958)
Mar
12

Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak) and her Siamese, Pyewacket. DP: James Wong Howe.
– Queenie
“Three days ago, at exactly 0600 – because that is really not the time – on February 5 – because that is really not the date – this freighter, which shall be nameless, sailed from a certain Far Eastern port. Its destination: The Port of Los Angeles, Wilmington, California. This is fact.”Hell Bound (William J. Hole Jr., 1957)
Mar
12
Saturday

A man writes a name in the 9:30 a.m. time slot of the calendar page for Saturday March 21. DP: Carl E. Guthrie.
– narrator