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Every Day's a Holiday (A. Edward Sutherland, 1937)
Nov
21
National Entrepreneurs Day
Lobbycard. Peaches O'Day (Mae West, dressed by Schiaparelli) hands her business card to yet another sucker. They're on the Brooklyn Bridge, which can be seen in the background. DP: Karl Struss.
In my book, entrepreneur is just a fancy talk for conman. A famous one, the one who may've tried to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge, was George C. Parker. He'd peddle the famous landmark to any hapless rube, immigrant, or sucker who then would promptly erect a little tollbooth to make a fast buck from any hapless rube, immigrant, or sucker.
“Selling the Brooklyn Bridge again, huh?”
– Police captain Jim McCarey
Like Parker, Mae West's Peaches O'Day bamboozles it her way. And boy, does she have a bridge to sell you!
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Lonesome (Pál Fejős, 1928)
Nov
20
A Beautiful Day
Two hopelessly lonely hearts meet each other at Coney Island, spending the most wonderful day in each other's company. Pál Fejős' joyful Lonesome was made just when motion pictures became talkies, and new and more modern novelties were expected by the audience. Fejős delivers, with sound and musical inserts, and the occasional – almost shocking – burst of colour.
– Nice day, isn't it?
– Yes, isn't it!
– It's swell. It's perfect.
With light touches of Murnau's groundbreaking Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) and Jean Vigo's more experimental À propos de Nice (1930), Lonesome depicts the exuberance of youth with an optimism soon to be lost to the vices of history.
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Something's Got to Give (George Cukor, 1962)
Nov
10
Forget-Me-Not Day
Marilyn on set during the infamous pool scene, four days days after singing Happy Birthday at JFK's birthday gala. DPs: Franz Planer & Leo Tover.
Everyone assumed that Ellen Arden, swept away during a yacht race, was gone. But there she is, years later, and very much alive.
“Fame will go by, and so long, I've had you, fame.”
– Marilyn Monroe, 1962
The story ends on August 4, 1962, almost two months after she was fired from the shoot. Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home. She was 36 years old.
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瘋癲老人日記 [Fūten rōjin nikki / Diary of a Mad Old Man] (Keigo Kimura, 1962)
Oct
29
World Stroke Day
Utsugi (Sō Yamamura) lusting after his daughter-in-law Sachiko's (Ayako Wakao) feet while she takes a shower. DP: Nobuo Munekawa.
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Hellzapoppin' (H.C. Potter, 1941)
Oct
24
National Crazy Day
Olsen and Johnson break all the walls. DP: Elwood Bredell.
“Any resemblance between HELLZAPOPPIN’ and a motion picture is purely coincidental”
– tagline
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Привързаният балон [Privarzaniyat balon / The Tied-Up Balloon] (Binka Zhelyazkova, 1967)
Oct
1
Balloons Around The World Day
The balloon sails along as a young woman in white (Janet Miteva) walks with it. DP: Emil Vagenshtain.
One day, a large blimp shows up over a small Bulgarian village. The townspeople, seeing the prosperity in all that beautiful silk and then some, go after it.
“It was fear that created the first gods.”
– Stratius
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Céline et Julie vont en bateau: Phantom Ladies Over Paris [Celine and Julie Go Boating] (Jacques Rivette, 1974)
Sep
17
National Women's Friendship Day
Celine (Juliet Berto) leans into Julie (Dominique Labourier) in the back of a car. DP: Jacques Renard.
“It doesn't hurt to fall off the moon.”
– Julie
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Warum läuft Herr R. Amok [Why Does Herr R. Run Amok] (Michael Fengler, 1970)
Sep
11
National Boss Employee Exchange Day
Der Chef (Franz Maron) berates Herr R. (Kurt Raab). DP: Dietrich Lohmann.
“No, no, geh' nicht vorbei, als wär' nichts gescheh'n,
Es ist zu spät, um zu lügen,
Komm und verzeih, ich werd' mit dir geh'n,
Wohin dein Weg auch führt,
Und die Welt, sie wird schön.”
– Christian Anders, Geh nicht vorbei (1969)
So why does Herr R run amok?
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Stroszek (Werner Herzog, 1977)
Sep
9
German Language Day
A warm Railroad Flats, Wis. “Willcomen” [sic] for (LtR) Scheitz, Eva, and Bruno, with Mr Scheitz's nephew (Clayton Szalpinski) squeezed between his “Onkellein” and Eva. DP: Thomas Mauch.
Bruno Stroszek (Bruno S.), his friends Eva (Eva Mattes) and Scheitz (Clemens Scheitz, responsible for the fairy-tale music you hear in this film) decide to leave dreary #Berlin behind and move to #Wisconsin where the latter's nephew lives. A new life, with dreams of music and animal magnetism, awaits them there.
“Was ist loos? Der Hund is loose.”
– Clayton
As so oft with #Herzog, the story behind Stroszek is as engrossing as the resulting film. Documentary maker Errol Morris and Herzog were fascinated by Wisconsin's own Ed Gein and wondered if Gein had dug up his own mother, as was rumoured at the time. As they would, they decided to open the poor woman's grave. Morris never showed up, and neither did Herzog but only because his car broke down en route to Plainfield, Wisconsin. Trying to get the vehicle fixed, Herzog entered the workshop of a Clayton Szalpinski.
A character in his own right, and a non-actor to boot, Clayton ended up in Stroszek as Scheitz's nephew; a MacGuffin odder than a dancing chicken.
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Stroszek (Werner Herzog, 1977)
Sep
9
turkey
“We're in America now.”
– Bruno S.