settima

1960s

Lights (Marie Menken, 1966)

Dec

1

National Christmas Lights Day

Lights (1966)

A display of what appear to be red, yellow, green and blue bell-shaped Christmas lights among silhouetted tree branches. DP: Marie Menken.

Christmas lights for National Christmas Lights Day (USA)

 

It took experimental filmmaker Marie Menken three years to shoot Lights. From midnight until 1 AM, she filmed New York's window displays during the holiday season, using her camera, motion, colour, and available light sources as her paintbrush.

“There is no why for my making films. I just liked the twitters of the machine, and since it was an extension of painting for me, I tried it and loved it. In painting I never liked the staid and static, always looked for what would change the source of light and stance, using glitters, glass beads, luminous paint, so the camera was a natural for me to try—but how expensive!”

– Marie Menken, c. 1966

Filming at night helped to avoid unwanted interruptions of people and cars, but turned out to be problematic for her hand-cranked #Bolex, which kept stalling in NYC's icy winter nights.

1999 A.D. (Lee Madden, 1967)

Nov

27

Cyber Monday

1999 A.D. (1967)

Mother Karen (Marj Dusay) taking a break from online food planning by shopping for a new wardrobe for everyone but herself. DP: Vilmos Zsigmond.

Shopping online on Cyber Monday

 

In the soul crushing future of 1999, one heroic nuclear family bravely fulfils their gender-specific duties. While Father Mike works in his computer-aided office, Son Jamie fails at computer homeschool and Mother Karen slavishly shops, cooks, and cleans as if the 70s never happened.

 

Thankfully, the future turned out to be even bleaker.

Weihnacht (Roland Klick, 1963)

Nov

24

Black Friday

Weihnacht (1963)

The miracle of Christmas, as seen in a fancy shop window. A dress shirt is on display among Sputnik-style decorations and an entranced toddler is reflected in a gilded mirror. From across the street, “Woolworth's” in neon text bounces off the window pane. DPs: Jochen Cerhak & Roland Klick.

A little boy takes in the magic of pre-Christmas, while the adults rush and worry about all that must to be bought.

O slavnosti a hostech [A Report on the Party and Guests] (Jan Němec, 1966)

Nov

22

grapes

O slavnosti a hostech (1966)

A man in tuxedo removes a grape seed from his mouth. He's seated at a wonderfully opulently set table in a birch forest. DP: Jaromír Šofr.

O slavnosti a hostech [A Report on the Party and Guests] (Jan Němec, 1966)

Nov

22

Bales' Birthday

O slavnosti a hostech (1966)

The birthday party mingled in with the others in the woods, all dressed immaculately and seated at elaborately decked tables. The guests and their host raise their glasses towards the camera. DP: Jaromír Šofr.

“So will someone tell me what happened or not? A brother shouldn't turn against his brother. And a guest shouldn't turn against a guest.”

– the host

Tätowierung [Tattoo / The Delinquent] (Johannes Schaaf, 1967)

Nov

18

National Adoption Day

Tätowierung (1967)

Benno (Christof Wackernagel), a pensive young man with dark hair and dark eyes. DPs: Petrus R. Schlömp & Wolf Wirth.

16 year old Benno (Christof Wackernagel) lives in a reformatory until the Lohmanns, a rich middle-aged #WestBerlin business couple decides to adopt him. A new world opens up, one of adulthood and responsibility. For the teenager, this neatly regulated new bourgeois life feels all wrong.

Muloorina (David Cobham, 1964)

Nov

17

Guinness World Records Day

Muloorina (1964)

The Bluebird parked amongst the crew's Jeeps. DPs: John Daniell, Ross King, Frank McKechnie, Ian Millar & Bob Wright.

Short in gorgeous Technicolor, Muloorina tells about a small, arid town in Australia that one day finds itself on the world's stage. Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, a local salt lake that hasn't seen a drop of rain in nine years, is the perfect spot for a landspeed record attempt by British daredevil Donald Campbell and his Bluebird.

 

A play of contrasts. The supersonic blue machine on the ancient white riverbed and the slowness of the eternal landscape versus something faster than should be possible. And meanwhile, the locals care for their land and animals, and wait for rain.

Something's Got to Give (George Cukor, 1962)

Nov

10

Forget-Me-Not Day

Something's Got to Give (1962)

Marilyn on set during the infamous pool scene, four days days after singing Happy Birthday at JFK's birthday gala. DPs: Franz Planer & Leo Tover.

Everyone assumed that Ellen Arden, swept away during a yacht race, was gone. But there she is, years later, and very much alive.

“Fame will go by, and so long, I've had you, fame.”

– Marilyn Monroe, 1962

The story ends on August 4, 1962, almost two months after she was fired from the shoot. Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home. She was 36 years old.

Matka Joanna od Aniolów [Mother Joan of the Angels] (Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1961)

Nov

9

Chaos Never Dies Day

Matka Joanna od Aniolów (1961)

A possessed nun in white spinning on her axis among her sisters. Black clad priests in the background observe the scene. DP: Jerzy Wójcik.

Four years after the tragic events at Loudun. Mother superior, the titular Mother Joan, is still possessed by the Devil and has slowly pulled in the other sisters. A priest, the fourth one, is send to the convent to exorcise the demons who at this point have possessed all but one sister. Chaos ensues.

“If one can't be saint, it's better to be damned.”

– Mother Joan of the Angels

Seconds (John Frankenheimer, 1966)

Nov

7

International Merlot Day

Seconds (1966)

Nora (Salome Jens), seen from the back with her dress half unzipped, holds up a glass of red wine while kissing a reluctant Antiochus (Rock Hudson) during the ecstatic Bacchanal scene. DP: James Wong Howe.

At a bacchanalia, Rock Hudson's Antiochus Wilson finally strips down his hesitancy and realises he has a second chance at life, as a member of the new generation. To the Queen of wine! To Bacchus! To Pan!

“Bacchus gives us his blood so we may be born again.”

Director of photography James Wong Howe's very controlled framing of the (initially censored) pre-Woodstock #Bacchana​lian scene beautifully frames this pinnacle moment and proved almost too much for American censors.