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Black Widow (Nunnally Johnson, 1954)
Jun
6
Carlotta 'Lottie' Mari (Ginger Rogers) reaching out to Nancy 'Nanny' Ordway's (Peggy Ann Garner). DP: Charles G. Clarke.
– Were you drunk when you did these?
– A little.
– They're very good.
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Riot in Cell Block 11 (Don Siegel, 1954)
June
5
1920
Inmate James V. Dunn's (Neville Brand) file. He's born on June 5, 1920 and incarcerated in Willows State Prison on August 4, 1950. Somehow he's 32 year's old. DP: Russell Harlan.
And August 4.
“You're either in or out. OK?”
– James V. Dunn
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Compulsion (Richard Fleischer, 1959)
May
16
Straus (Bradford Dillman) with Steiner (Dean Stockwell) behind the wheel. They're beaming. DP: William C. Mellor.
“Murder's nothing. It's just a simple experience. Murder and rape? Do you know what beauty there is in evil?”
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পথের পাঁচালী [Pather Panchali / Apu 1: Song of the Little Road] (Satyajit Ray, 1955)
May
10
Stamp Out Hunger
Hands exchange food through a worn-out window. DP: Subrata Mitra.
“Those who came before have passed on. And I'm left behind. A penniless beggar. Not a cowrie to my name. Look, my purse is empty… Lord, the day is done and evening falls. Ferry me across to the other shore…”
– Indir Thakrun, singing
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Летят журавли [Letyat zhuravli / The Cranes Are Flying] (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957)
May
8
VE Day
A young woman standing in what was a room in a building, looks out over the ruins of a city. A broken lampshade and a grandfather's clock whisper of other times. DP: Sergey Urusevskiy.
A non-battlefield war movie on VE Day. It had to be a Soviet film, on this date. Thank you, Russia.
“Time will pass. Towns and villages will be rebuilt. Our wounds will heal. But our fierce hatred of war will never diminish.”
– Stepan
When the cranes fly over Moscow, a young couple learns about the war. Now separated, one day, when it is over, if, they'll reunite
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Stromboli (Terra di Dio) [Stromboli] (Roberto Rossellini, 1950)
May
8
birthdays
Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman on set on Sardinia. In the background the house Bergman's character moves into with her husband. DP: Otello Martelli.
May 8 is both director Rossellini and Bergman's character Karen's #birthday.
“What mystery, what beauty.”
– Karen
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Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (Fritz Lang, 1956)
May
7
Susan Spencer (Joan Fontaine) lighting Tom Garrett's (Dana Andrews) cigarette. DP: William E. Snyder.
“It's a weird, crazy idea, but that's the reason it intrigues me.”
– Tom Garrett
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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.
“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…”
– Fontaine
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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.
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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)
“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.”
– old monk
While stationed in Burma, Mizushima disguises himself as a dhutanga, a wandering Buddhist monk, burying the remains of his fellow Japanese soldiers.
