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Menschen am Sonntag [People on Sunday, a Film Without Actors] (Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Rochus Gliese, Curt Siodmak + Fred Zinnemann, 1929)
Jul
31
Someone goes to work*
“Du, Wolf, nächsten Sonntag — ?”
– title card
Berliners rest on Sunday, we still do. People lounge in the many parks, and on the shores of the city's many lakes. And then, it's Monday.
Released in 1929, according to Atlas Film, who restored this important Weimar classic long before Criterion put their grubby hands on it.
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Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, 1951)
Jun
17
A man holds up the first newspaper reporting on Leo Minosa's faith, dated June 17. The headline blares ANCIENT CURSE ENTOMBS MAN. DP: Charles Lang.
“It's a good story today. Tomorrow, they'll wrap a fish in it.”
– Charles Tatum
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Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
Feb
14
St. Valentine's Day
Sugar, Josephine, Daphne, and Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators rehearse Runnin’ Wild on the sleeper train to sunny Florida. DP: Charles Lang.
A movie about romance, of the Mafia, for St. Valentine's Day.
“Real diamonds! They must be worth their weight in gold!”
– Sugar Kane Kowalczyk
The opening shootout was directly inspired by the February 14 1929 Saint Valentine's Day Massacre (graphic), and shares an actor from one of its most famous adaptations, Scarface (1932); George Raft as the wonderfully named Spats Colombo.
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Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, 1951)
Jul
1
steak
A man dissects his steak with knife and fork at a round table with an oilcloth cover. Prominently in the centre of the table is an square cardboard box with air-holes punched in the lid. It's open and houses a small, live rattlesnake. DP: Charles Lang.
“I can handle big news and little news. And if there's no news, I'll go out and bite a dog.”
– Charles Tatum
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Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)
Dec
21
Short Girl Appreciation Day
Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) descending an ornate staircase. The size of the set gives you an approximate idea of her height. Even when several steps above him, Swanson's dwarfed by the photographer in the dark suit and glasses. DP: John F. Seitz.
The main character is a “short girl” [I do not agree with the infantilizing wording] on Short Girl Appreciation Day (USA)
“I am big. It's the pictures that got small.”
– Norma Desmond
Also starring, Buster Keaton, who was 5'5” / 1,65 m.