settima

drama

Whistle Down the Wind (Bryan Forbes, 1961)

Jul

9

white bread

Whistle Down the Wind (1961)

A child grabs a thick slice of white bread while the cutlery on her plate indicates she's finished eating. DP: Arthur Ibbetson.

“It isn't Jesus. It's just a fella.”

– Charlie Bostock

Whistle Down the Wind (Bryan Forbes, 1961)

Jul

9

Barn Day

Whistle Down the Wind (1961)

The man (Alan Bates) in the barn surrounded by little children. The older girl in the light coat, Kathy, is played by Hayley Mills, author Mary Hayley Bell's daughter. DP: Arthur Ibbetson.

In the barn of a remote Lancashire farmhouse, three children stumble upon a stranger. Confused, they conclude that the fellow must be the Second Coming of Christ. In the world of the adults, a man is wanted by the police.

“Good night, Gentle Jesus. Sleep well.”

– Charlie Bostock

少林三十六房 [Shao Lin san shi liu fang / The 36th Chamber of Shaolin] (Chia-Liang Liu, 1978)

Jul

8

rice

少林三十六房 (1978)

With the utmost focus, Monk San Te (Chia-Hui Liu aka Gordon Liu) carefully handles a large ladle with watery rice. His sceptical sifu (Hung Wei) looks on. DPs: Yueh-Tai Huang & Arthur Wong.

“The five flavors dull all the tastes.”

491 (Vilgot Sjöman, 1964)

Jul

7

Global Forgiveness Day

491 (1964)

One of the juvenile delinquents carving a simple arithmetical calculation into a desk during the Reverend's lecture about forgiveness. DP: Gunnar Fischer.

Early 60s, Sweden. A social experiment. Six hopelessly criminal juveniles are packed in a guesthouse – cynically named Objectivity – and loosely supervised by social workers and a reverend. The public servants speak of a new lease on life, God's servant of how Jesus forgives; all speak on their own behalf. We follow the young men closely and sense their need to break out, to be young, to be out of that house. We learn that their world, in or out, is eternally equally irrelevant.

“Jesus Christ has promised to forgive you 490 times, whatever you have done… because those were his words. But about the 491st time… He has given no words. None at all.”

– Reverend Mild

Vilgot Sjöman's 491 is an extremely, bleak, aggressive, and hopeless depiction of youth in postwar Sweden. Forgiveness is a tool of power, a method of control. And as empty as a repetitive lecture.

Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die Situation, in der er lebt [It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives] (Rosa von Praunheim, 1971)

Jul

6

National Daniel Day

Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die Situation, in der er lebt (1971)

A gay couple kissing on the street in front of a black-tiled Berlin bar. A third gay man nearby looks away. DP: Robert van Ackeren.

Daniel (Bernd Feuerhelm) is a young man in #WestBerlin exploring his homosexuality. Initially he opts for a spießbürgerlich, petit-bourgeois, almost heterosexual affair. He then probes further, swings by Berlin's public toilets and pools. Only when he encounters a leftwing gay commune he finds that pride, not conformity, is his way of living his life.

“Werdet stolz auf eure Homosexualität! Raus aus den Toiletten, rein in die Strassen! Freiheit für die Schwulen!”

Von Praunheim's Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers is a plea for rebellion and visibility. For revolt and love. A wakeup call for gays and straights alike. Such a stir this film pamphlet made it became the blueprint for West-Germany's gay liberation movement.

Lo straniero [The Stranger] (Luchino Visconti, 1967)

Jul

3

soup

Lo straniero (1967)

Arthur Meursault (Mastroianni) eating from a cracked bowl. DP: Giuseppe Rotunno.

Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1982)

Jul

2

World Sports Journalists Day

Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss (1982)

Actress Veronika Voss (Rosel Zech) with sports journalist Robert Krohn (Hilmar Thate), driving a car at night. DP: Xaver Schwarzenberger.

Veronika Voss, once one of Ufa's greats and rumoured lover of Goebbels, has a chance meeting with #sports journalist Robert Krohn. Despite not recognising her at first glance, the faded star and her world turn out to be irresistible to him.

“What do you want from Voss? She's no good at soccer.”

– Grete

Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss [litt. The yearning of Veronika Voss] is #Fassbinder's tribute to both Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd. (1950) and real-world actress Sybille Schmitz whose career, like Voss', suffered greatly due to her #morphine dependence after the Entnazifizierung.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948)

Jun

30

campfire grub

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Curtin (Tim Holt), Dobbs (Bogart), and Howard (Walter Huston) eating campfire grub. DP: Ted D. McCord.

“Say, mister. Will you stake a fellow American to a meal?”

– Dobbs

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948)

Jun

29

National Handshake Day

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Fred (Humphrey Bogart) and Curtin (Tim Holt) shake hands witnessed by gruff prospector Howard (Walter Huston). DP: Ted D. McCord.

Cheated out of their wages, broke Americans #Bogart and Holt are approached by a former prospector. There's #gold in the #SierraMadre mountains, he tells them.

“I know what gold does to men's souls.”

– Howard

Seemingly character driven, Huston's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is an adventure moved by a relentless #landscape, the urge to drift, and #greed.

Compulsion (Richard Fleischer, 1959)

Jun

29

coffee

Compulsion (1959)

A squeaky young Stockwell and Varsi at a diner. We're looking in from the outside through an open window. The place is busy but she's all enthralled by his wit and intellect (and looks for sure). DP: William C. Mellor.

“Europe, a Stutz Bearcat, the best restaurants. You fellas really have a hard life, don't you?”

– Harold Horn, DA