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The Man Who Could Work Miracles (Lothar Mendes + Alexander Korda, 1936)
Jun
15
fruit
“As I want it, so it will be!”
– George McWhirter Fotheringay
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Culloden (Peter Watkins, 1964)
May
23
Wigged man at a table, drinking wine with three men lower in rank standing behind them with their arms crossed. DP: Dick Bush.
“Sir John MacDonald, Jacobite captain of cavalry. Aged, frequently intoxicated, described as 'a man of the most limited capacities'.”
– narrator
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Happy Ever After [Tonight's the Night] (Mario Zampi, 1954)
May
13
Leprechaun Day
Jasper O'Leary (David Niven) giving Serena McGlusky (Yvonne De Carlo) a stern talking-to. DP: Stanley Pavey.
Rathbarney is a typical small Irish town inhabited with a bunch of eccentrics, including a few leprechauns and a ghost, who all live in general harmony with each other, mostly at the local pub. (via IMDb)
“I've not lived long enough in Ireland to appreciate the logic of that remark.”
– Jasper O'Leary
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A Canterbury Tale (Michael Powell + Emeric Pressburger, 1944)
May
7
National Paste Up Day
Thomas Colpeper, JP (Eric Portman) and Alison (Sheila Sim), her hair still wet from washing out the glue, observing her in a tall mirror. DP: Erwin Hillier.
In a strange other #England – in the village of Chillingbourne to be precise – a train pulls into the station. On board are several people on their way to #Canterbury.
“You're not dreaming.”
– Thomas Colpeper, JP
When Alison disembarks, believing she arrived at the pilgrim's town, a stranger pours #glue in her hair. She's the eleventh, the policeman said. It's the glue man, the townsfolk know. Like the pilgrims of #Chaucer's poem, Alison and her fellow stranded travellers journey towards the closure of this mystifying case.
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Yellow Submarine (George Dunning, 1968)
Apr
28
Clean Comedy Day
A Blue Meanie pirouetting on a blossoming flower that pushes itself up into the sky. The sky is white while the flower and clouds are multicoloured.
A Gen X-er, I grew up in a completely different world where so many films and TV that kids watched – if watched with today's eyes — were not particularly kid-oriented at all. I fondly remember Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and reenacting the Black Knight scene in the school grounds. Yul Brynner as a faceless, rampaging cyber cowboy in Westworld (1973)? Sure, bring it on! Not that the official kid's movies were “clean”. Did you spot the chicken decapitation in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)? Well, you will now.
“Once upon a time, or maybe twice, there was an unearthly paradise called Pepperland. 80,000 leagues beneath the sea it lay, or lie. I'm not too sure.”
– narrator
Alright, I'll keep it clean and suggest a dose of Yellow Submarine. A fantastic adventure starring The #Beatles (well, their likeness mostly) who are summoned to save utopian, music-loving #Pepperland from the music-hating Blue Meanies. Trippy fun, and lots to discover the older you get.
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The Damned [These Are the Damned] (Joseph Losey, 1962)
Mar
19
National Automatic Door Day
An 11-year old boy, Henry (Kit Williams), opens a featureless door in a rock surface for a drenched King (Oliver Reed). DP: Arthur Grant.
An American tourist visiting Dorset is tricked by a prostitute, then falls victim to a youth gang controlled by volatile con King – a still very green Oliver Reed at his meanest. The trickster is King's sister, who confides in the American hoping to escape her brother's incestuous advances.
“I'm strange, all right! I'll show you just how strange I am!”
– King
The couple elopes to a nearby island, closely followed by King and his gang, where they find a group of #children, all contently living in an underground lab, with #AutomaticDoors only they can control.
They are the damned.
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The Queen of Spades (Thorold Dickinson, 1949)
Feb
22
Play More Cards Day
Someone's playing cards.
“Why, you might end up by gaining a fortune… or losing your precious soul.”
– bookseller
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Accident (Joseph Losey, 1967)
Feb
1
Car Insurance Day
Anna (Jacqueline Sassard) on the backseat of a car, her head tilted back. DP: Gerry Fisher.
A car accident.
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The Anniversary (Roy Ward Baker + Alvin Rakoff, 1968)
Jan
10
National Houseplant Appreciation Day
Dear Mrs. Taggart (Bette Davis) takes a moment during the anniversary to water her many many houseplants in her winter garden. DP: Harry Waxman.
“Shirley my dear, would you mind sitting somewhere else? Body odor offends me.”
– Mrs. Taggart