settima

FilmDuJour

Riot in Cell Block 11 (Don Siegel, 1954)

June

5

1920

Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)

Inmate James V. Dunn's (Neville Brand) file. He's born on June 5, 1920 and incarcerated in Willows State Prison on August 4, 1950. Somehow he's 32 year's old. DP: Russell Harlan.

And August 4.

“You're either in or out. OK?”

– James V. Dunn

A cavallo della tigre [On the Tiger's Back] (Luigi Comencini, 1961)

Jun

4

A cavallo della tigre (1961)

Mario (Mario Adorf) rinsing his mouth while eyeing two of the wardens. DP: Aldo Scavarda.

or June 5th?

Red & Rosy (Frank Grow, 1989)

Jun

3

Red & Rosy (1989)

Big Red (Rico Martinez) in his hotrod. DPs: Frank Grow, Ralph Hawkins & Rico Martinez.

1999 A.D. (Lee Madden, 1967)

Jun

2

1999

1999 A.D. (1967)

Mother Karen (Marj Dusay) busy with online meal planning, her husband supervising her from the other screen. While she scheduling for Tuesday, June 2, 1999 in reality fell on a Wednesday. DP: Vilmos Zsigmond.

“What year is it now? I forgot.”

– Jamie

Zítra vstanu a opařím se čajem [Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea] (Jindřich Polák, 1977)

Jun

1

Zítra vstanu a opařím se čajem (1977)

Time-traveling tourist Shirley White (Marie Rosůlková) dragging a bewildered Hitler (František Vicena) in front of her husband's photo camera. DP: Jan Kališ.

“Patrick, it's Hitler! Yes it is Hitler! Patrick, you must take a picture of me with him!”

– Shirley White, American time traveler

Dwaj panowie 'N' [Two Gentlemen 'N'] (Tadeusz Chmielewski, 1962)

Feb

29

Dwaj panowie 'N' (1962)

Elzbieta Brylska (Joanna Jedryka) and Sgt. Jan Dziewanowicz (Stanislaw Mikulski). DP: Jerzy Stawicki.

Private Property (Leslie Stevens, 1959/1960)

Jul

21

Private Property (1959 – 1960)

Duke (Corey Allen) and Boots (Warren Oates) “watching TV”. Ann Carlyle (Kate Manx) stripping for her husband is on. DP: Ted D. McCord.

Date watched, not the date in the movie. The quote was too good to leave it off this blog.

– He's got a calendar in there. – What day is it? – It's a broad in a cowboy hat. – Scooby doo bi doo ba ba.

Who, why, and what

This film blog, which is part of the fediverse, compliments my Mastodon musings and to a degree my Letterboxd logs. It consists of three parts:

The oldest is the Bales 2023 Film Challenge. This was a 2023 fediverse (and Twitter/X) challenge where the participants had to post about a film based on the daily theme. 2023 wasn't the kindest year, and at one point I had to skip a title. And then more. And more. And in 2024 I'm still catching up. Read about it on Letterboxd. Note that blog posts are timestamped on their corresponding daily challenge; you may have to scroll all the way back a year, or follow the #Bales2023FilmChallenge, #Bales2024FilmChallenge (December only) and #Bales2025FilmChallenge tags.

Then there is the Film du jour. This too once was a Letterboxd list until a blogger, backed by LB, blatantly copied my list and ran off with my gold medal. That list is now private and the titles – auto-posted on Mastodon on the day they take place – can be found here under the tag #FilmDuJour. The titles repeat yearly, with more and more ingredients added. It's like the soup of the day, but in celluloid form. Delicious!

Talking about food. Over time I announced my film-watching-during-dinner on Mastodon with the hashtag #FilmDinner. Initially just with a nice/interesting still, but then I decided to post a screenshot of a food-related moment in said movie.

The most recent addition is #Arcs, journaling those odd moments where I watch two or more films in a row with very similar scenes or setups. That happens, more often than anticipated.