settima

SciFi

Your Safety First (George Gordon, 1956)

Oct

5

2000

Your Safety First (1956)

The protagonist, voiced by George O'Hanlon, reading an ad for tomorrow's car in the October 5, 2000 newspaper.

Spectres of the Spectrum (Craig Baldwin, 1999)

Oct

4

Spectres of the Spectrum (1999)

A scene from the TV series Science in Action (1950—1966) showing Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the sound barrier. DP: Bill Daniel.

Soy leyenda (Mario Gómez Martín, 1967)

Oct

3

zombies

Soy leyenda (1967)

Robert Neville (Moisés Menéndez) looking out over an empty rooftop. DP: Jesús Ocaña.

(A favourite) zombie movie*

 

Now, settima. Of all the zombie movies in the world you had to pick a vampire story? Why yes. Yes I did.

“Again he shook his head. The world's gone mad, he thought. The dead walk about and I think nothing of it. The return of corpses has become trivial in import. How quickly one accepts the incredible if only one sees it enough!”

– Richard Matheson, I Am Legend (1954)

Just like my actual favourite zombie film, that one from 1968, Soy leyenda is based on Richard Matheson's post-apocalyptic horror novel I Am Legend (1954). The story describes a world where the living have become undead vampire-like creatures. A lone man tries to rationalise that new world through reason and science, and legend.

 

In the man's mind, the undead become the familiar, the vampire. In our mind, watching this, we believe to see the foreshadowing of the popculture zombie. The abandoned well-known landscapes, the ceaseless repetition of what the old life had instilled, the normalcy of the grotesque. Oh how familiar they have become.

 

* 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.

ノーライフキング [No raifu kingu / No Life King] (Jun Ichikawa, 1989)

Sep

23

Nintendo – 1889

No raifu kingu (1989)

Makoto and his friends play with their video game console (via). DP: Osame Maruike.

Home video games: Nintendo was founded on this day in 1889.

 

It's the late 80s and Japan is in the midst of an economic and technological bubble. Like so many kids, Makoto (litt. “truth”) and his friends are obsessed with their game console. In anticipation of the release of the fourth instalment of their favourite game, rumours start doing the rounds. Some cartridges are cursed with the “No Life King”, meaning players who cannot complete the game, will die. The curse appears to spill over into the boys' real world. What if when you die in the game, you really really die…?

Ihmemies [Wonderman] (Antti Peippo, 1979)

Sep

21

Peace Day

Ihmemies (1979)

Olli Ruusunen (Antti Litja) in a diner enjoying a small hamburger with a cup of coffee (via). DPs: Pekka Aine & Juha-Veli Äkräs.

The words “world peace” are spoken on Peace Day aka International Day of Peace

TV reporter: We are not alone in the world. An increase of national income in developing countries is absolute requirement for world peace at the end of this century.

Martti Tuomola: Bullshit.

Former child prodigy Olli Ruusunen (Antti Litja) has received special brain capacity training at the Buffalo Institute in the US. Paid for by a Finish company, the idea is that Olli will act as a “rationaliser”, drastically overhauling the inner workings of the company. After getting rid of the entire management team, Olli – like others who have gone through the same training program – becomes increasingly strange. Olli decides to disappear.

The UFO Incident [Interrupted Journey] (Richard A. Colla, 1975)

Sep

19

The UFO Incident (1975)

Betty Hill (Estelle Parsons) observed from above. It's night, and tire tracks are visible. DP: Rexford L. Metz.

Un matrimonio interplanetario [A Marriage in the Moon] (Enrico Novelli, 1910)

Sep

12

Луна 2 – 1959

Un matrimonio interplanetario (1910)

Aldovin (director and author of La Colonia Lunare (1908) meets his lovely Martian fiancée halfway, on the Moon.

To commemorate the launch (not landing) of the Луна 2 aka the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket on September 12, 1959, we present The Moon.

 

According to Wikipedia, Luna 2 was the first spacecraft to touch the surface of the Moon, and the first human-made object to make contact with another celestial body. Well, Enrico Novelli went there first…

“Mars Daughter, You are fine. I am loving you and I should like very much to marry you.”

– Aldovin, Terrestrial Astronomer (Aldovin's radiotelegraph to Mars), via

…and what an adventure he had! An Earth gentleman points his telescope at the red planet, only to spot a beautiful Martian princess. He promptly falls in love and lo and behold! it's mutual! That asks for an instantaneous wedding halfway, on the Moon, and nothing can stop them!

Die Delegation – Eine utopische Reportage [The Delegation] (Rainer Erler, 1970)

Sep

9

0 h 20 GMT

Die Delegation (1970)

Reporter Will Roczinski (Walter Kohut) picks up mysterieus signals through the ether (via). DP: Charly Steinberger.

We watch the final report by Will Roczinski, who sadly died in a car crash while working on a TV documentary about UFOs and the like. A fascinating early “faux footage” film from the BRD. One can only wonder how the average West German processed the fantastic premise.

Friendship's Death (Peter Wollen, 1987)

Sep

9

1970

Friendship's Death (1987)

Bill Paterson and Tilda Swinton as Sullivan and Friendship. DP: Witold Stok.

“What will happen when your machines become intelligent? When they become autonomous? When they have private thoughts? You humans look down on your machines because they're man-made. They're a product of your skills and labour. They weren't even domesticated like animals were. You see them simply as extensions of yourself, of your own will. I can't accept that. I can't accept subhuman status simply because I'm a machine based on silicon rather than carbon, electronics rather than biology. If I sound fanatical, it's because I've been trapped in a time warp. In a world where the full potential of machines hasn't been guessed at. A world where I have to wear a human disguise to be accepted? I came here too late. It will all end before the computers that already control the fate of the world have reached the point where they wanted to survive.”

– Friendship

The Year of the Sex Olympics (Michael Elliott, 1968)

Sep

7

ESPN – 1979

The Year of the Sex Olympics (1968)

The people of a suspiciously 60s looking future critically watch the audience of a reality TV show called The Hungry Angry Show.

Sports watching on TV for ESPN's debut.

“Sex is not to do. Sex is to watch.”

– Nat Mender

All that's on TV is pornography and violence. Welcome to the Year of the Sex Olympics.