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EleanorPerry

Ladybug Ladybug (Frank Perry, 1963)

May

21

the End Of The World

Ladybug Ladybug (1963)

In a scene evoking Ingmar Bergman's Det sjunde inseglet [The Seventh Seal] (1957), one of the older girls leads the younger children in dance on top of a hill. Their teacher Mrs Andrews (Nancy Marchand) plus two of her students walk along. DP: Leonard Hirschfield.

It's another school day in rural America when the #NuclearAttack alarm starts ringing. A teacher, instructed to calmly walk the kids home, tries to keep the youngest ones oblivious of the impending doom.

“Ladybug, ladybug, Fly away home”

children's song

While the children walk, talk and sing, this thing up there, in the sky and in the mind, grows bigger.

The Swimmer (Frank Perry + Sydney Pollack, 1968)

May

6

Beverage Day

The Swimmer (1968)

Swimmer Ned Merrill (Burt Lancaster) reaching for a drink handed to him by someone offscreen. DP: David L. Quaid.

At a poolside #CocktailParty, the swimmer appears. He notes that the houses in between his hosts' and his are connected by a “river” of #pools and decides to swim home, from one pool to the other, superficially meeting people, crashing suburban pool parties, in an increasingly irrational state.

“And the water up there. Remember? That transparent, light green water. It felt different. God, what a beautiful feeling. We could've swum around the world in those days.”

– Ned Merrill

Last Summer (Frank Perry, 1969)

Mar

25

Walk In The Sand Day

Last Summer (1969)

One of the boys striking a threatening pose with a stick aimed at Sandy (Barbara Hershey aka Barbara Seagull). In the foreground a brooding Rhoda (the fantastic Catherine Burns). DPs: Enrique Bravo & Gerald Hirschfeld.

During a #summer #vacation on #FireIsland, two young men come across Sandy, an attractive young woman with an injured #seagull. While nursing the bird back to life, the relationship between the three deepens. A second girl, the much younger Rhoda (the breathtaking Catherine Burns) is taken in by the trio.

“What are you going to do with the rest of your life? Sit on the shore and watch?”

– Sandy

Set almost entirely on a sunny #beach, Frank Perry's Last Summer may be one of the most claustrophobic films you'll ever watch.