“Anderntags hat man sofort getauft, weil jede Mutter lieber ein «Gotteskindli» auf die Arme nahm.” Wir Bergler in den Bergen sind eigentlich nicht schuld, daß wir da sind [We Who Dwell in the Mountains Cannot Be Blamed for Being There] (Fredi M. Murer, 1974)
Nov
17
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A mountain man smokes his pipe, accompanied by a sow and a toddler in a wooden playpen. The Alps are all around them (via). DP: Iwan P. Schumacher.
A movie set in the woods or mountains*
– Gisler-Arnold Babette, midwife (via)
Murer describes the people from Switzerland's gorges in three movements, along the lines of a symphony
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for November is, again, not date-based, but follows a sloppy schmaltzy all-American Thanksgiving-y narrative. Trying to make it work my way.
“Early one morning, just as the sun was rising,
I heard a maid sing in the valley below;
‘O don’t deceive me, O never leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?” Requiem for a Village (David Gladwell, 1975)
Nov
14

The wedding's party revellers sing. DP: Bruce Parsons.
A movie about community*
– Early one morning, via
A sort of Wicker Man visits Mon oncle, this painting of an old England is. Painter filmmaker David Gladwell's impressionist work takes us to a small Suffolk community that, like all other communities, is both frozen in time and unable to escape its progression. The churchyard's caretaker, amongst the living and the dead, watches, works, and knows.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for November is, again, not date-based, but follows a sloppy schmaltzy all-American Thanksgiving-y narrative. Trying to make it work my way.
E tanta paura [Plot of Fear] (Paolo Cavara, 1976)
Nov
14
1975
spoiler warning: click to toggle image

Two newspaper clippings in a scrapbook, one of them with the date November 14. DP: Franco Di Giacomo.
– Why do they call you The Gorilla?
– Because I'm big and strong… and everyone has to have a name.Götter der Pest [Gods of the Plague] (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1970)
Nov
12
1943

Pornography peddler Carla Aulaulu's (Carla Egerer) criminal record. She's born on November 12, 1943 in Kronstadt. DP: Dietrich Lohmann.
During one scene a perpetual calendar is visible. It's a 26th.
Na wylot [Through and Through] (Grzegorz Królikiewicz, 1972)
Nov
4
1933

Maria (Anna Nieborowska) and Jan (Franciszek Trzeciak) in court. The film is based on the 1933 Jan and Maria Malisz’s Case. DP: Bogdan Dziworski.
“A man with no country, will have no grave in the Earth, I forbid you to leave.” المخدوعون [Al-makhdu'un / The Dupes] (Tawfiq Saleh, 1972)
Nov
2
النَّكْبَة

The three men on top of the water truck (via). DP: Bahgat Heidar.
Starting over*
– opening quote (via)
A few years after the start of the Nakba, three generations hope to make a new life for themselves. In the steel belly of a water truck, the men travel Palestine into Iraq, then crossing the desert towards the promised land, Kuwait.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for November is, again, not date-based, but follows a sloppy schmaltzy all-American Thanksgiving-y narrative. Trying to make it work my way.
“Well, as I said before, I say again, here's… Here's to a son… to the house of Frankenstein.” Frank Stein (Iván Zulueta, 1972)
Oct
30
Karloff

The Monster (Karloff) in Zulueta's recut (via). DP: Iván Zulueta / Arthur Edeson + Paul Ivano.
A [favourite] Boris Karloff film*
– Baron Frankenstein
Zulueta's mycotoxic fever dream of Whale's Frankenstein.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for October is horror-themed as opposed to date-based, and is all about favourites. Expect non-horror and films I believe to be relevant instead.
Śledztwo [The Investigation] (Marek Piestrak, 1974)
Oct
28

A person offscreen shoots a handgun. DP: Edward Kłosiński.