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The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963)
Sep
10
chicken
Feeling rather peckish.
“Are the birds gonna eat us, Mommy?”
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মহানগর [Mahanagar / The Big City] (Satyajit Ray, 1963)
Sep
6
freebie: National Lipstick Day
Edith (Vicky Redwood) applying colour to Arati's (Madhavi Mukherjee) lips. DP: Subrata Mitra.
Set in 1950s Calcutta, মহানগর is a story of emancipation in a changing society. Arati (Madhavi Mukherjee) is a housewife from a traditionalist family, who – in order to support her relatives' lavish demands – goes out to work as a door-to-door saleswoman. Slowly, she discovers her independence.
“I've got it. Film star! You'd be perfect. Dark glasses, lots of red lipstick, and 100,000 rupees per picture. And if it's a Hindi film, we'll all fly to Bombay.”
– Bani
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Red Roses of Passion (Joseph W. Sarno, 1966)
Sep
5
A blonde lustfully drinks from a cup held up for her by someone offscreen. DP: Anthony Lover.
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Homicidal (William Castle, 1961)
Sep
2
Ice cream (melting)
Emily (Joan Marshall), a stately blonde, looking down on a sulky little kid holding his slowly melting ice cream. DP: Burnett Guffey.
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The Hypnotic Eye (George Blair, 1960)
Aug
29
National Lemon Juice Day
Suave hypnotist Desmond (Jacques Bergerac) and his lovely assistant Justine (Allison Hayes) using the magic of vitamin C to demonstrate to you, the viewer, how hypnotism works. DP: Archie R. Dalzell.
The Hypnotic Eye utilises what's called the movie gimmick. This one doesn't deploy anything hugely spectacular, no Percepto! seat vibrators (The Tingler (1959)) or Witchcraft (1964) witch deflectors or even a trained nurse on standby. There's a balloon. No spoilers here
“And now I am going to demonstrate to you the power of your own mind.”
– Desmond
There are also multiple moments where hypnotist Desmond (handsome future-Revlon-exec Jacques Bergerac) directly addresses you, the (wo)man in the audience. Because you too may laugh at that folly, that gimmick, that parlour trick. But who says it isn't real? Who says you really never went to see a hypnotism show…?
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Il grande silenzio [The Great Silence] (Sergio Corbucci, 1968)
Aug
26
horse
A man in a heavy fur coat (Bruno Corazzari) is eating at a small table when Silenzio (Jean-Louis Trintignant) enters the small establishment. Outside the landscape is covered in snow. DP: Silvano Ippoliti.
– What do you want?
– We just want that horse of yours.
– You want my horse, there's an awful lot of ya. What are you gonna do with just one horse, anyhow?
– Eat it. We're gonna feed off that beast for at least a week.
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Cleopatra (Joseph L. Mankiewicz + Rouben Mamoulian, 1963)
Aug
26
National Spark The World Day

Like Rome, Cleopatra wasn't built in a day. Joseph L. Mankiewicz's epic studio breaker took six years to make and, despite it being the highest-grossing film of 1963, didn't break even until 1973. Was it a #flop? A classic flop but a flop nevertheless?
“There are never enough hours in the days of a queen, and her nights have too many.”
– Cleopatra
The star – the Queen – Elizabeth Taylor demanded an unprecedented one million dollar fee, 10,3 million in 2023 US dollars. Liz's movie dressing table hold trinkets especially designed by luxury brand Bulgari, blink and you'll miss them. The Pharaoh's lavish costumes, all 65 of them (created by Irene Sharaff who would dress Taylor again as #Cleopatra's counterpart Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)), cost almost 195K dollar (ca. 2 million today), and of course those 20 000 extras, shipped from God-knows-where to Hollywood on the Tiber to shoot one scene, had to look like their 2000 year old counterparts, and be fed, and housed.
Is it all bad? Cleopatra is one of those movies that so many – and that includes obsessive cinephiles – will get around to watch. Eventually. All four hours of it. I'm still holding out, but ooh, the spectacle!
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More (Barbet Schroeder, 1969)
Aug
22
Munchies
Druggies Estelle (Mimsy Farmer) and Stefan (Klaus Grünberg) eating straight from a jar of honey and picking crumbs out of a loaf of bread. There's Coca-Cola product placement and half-eaten foods everywhere. DP: Néstor Almendros.
– You know what's really awful?
– No, tell me.
– Getting hooked. It's the end. But, if you only take one shot every once in awhile. Its no different than an occasional drink or cigarette.
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The Servant (Joseph Losey, 1963)
Aug
16
National Authenticity Day
Manservant Barrett (Dirk Bogarde) and his master Tony (James Fox). Tony is asleep in a folding chair wearing an overcoat in a sparse room with crumbling walls. Barrett – immaculately dressed in a dark overcoat, hat, gloves, tie – stands in the doorway, looking down on the sleeping man. DP: Douglas Slocombe.
– What do you want from this house?
– Want?
– Yes. Want.
– I'm just the servant, miss.
– Get my lunch.
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Maléfices [Where the Truth Lies] (Henri Decoin, 1962)
Aug
16
milk
Ronga (Maîthé Mansoura accompanied by cheetah Nyète), sits on a straw-covered floor while holding a bowl with milk. There are potted plants and gardening equipment is placed against the wall. DP: Marcel Grignon.