错位 [Cuo wei / Dislocation] (Huang Jianxin, 1986)
Jun
17
啤酒
The engineer (Zifeng Liu) drinking many many beers with his secretary (Hong Mu). DP: Xinsheng Wang.
Könnyű testi sértés [Tight Quarters] (György Szomjas, 1983)
Jun
15
freebie: Flatmates Day
In a claustrophobically framed shot, two men and a woman – Csaba (Károly Eperjes), Miklós (Péter Andorai) and Éva (Mariann Erdőss) respectively – share a small kitchen. DP: Ferenc Grunwalsky.
“As I want it, so it will be!”
The Man Who Could Work Miracles (Lothar Mendes + Alexander Korda, 1936)
Jun
15
fruit
George McWhirter Fotheringay (Roland Young) waking up to an abundance of tropical foods in a crystal bowl, plus multiple expensive watches. His ill-fitting pajamas miss a button. DP: Harold Rosson.
– George McWhirter Fotheringay
“I want to be good, but no one believes me. Is it any wonder I cry?”
Körkarlen [The Phantom Carriage] (Victor Sjöström, 1921)
Jun
13
International Axe Throwing Day
David Holm (Victor Sjöström) attempts to break through a wooden door with the butt of an axe. This scene was the inspiration for the infamous door scene in Kubrick's The Shining (1980). DP: Julius Jaenzon.
– David Holm
Suspense (Phillips Smalley & LoisWeber, 1913)
Now he's in the…
Suspense is not only the title of this short silent thriller, but also the state of mind the viewer is put into as soon as the film opens. Using POV (point-of-view) shots and breaking the fourth wall, the imminent threat – a vagrant trespassing and creeping up to a lone woman and her newborn child – creeps up on us. We know we're safe, on the other side of the screen, but the Tramp (a particularly haunting Sam Kaufman) looks us right in the eye. He passes us on the stairs, but he's going around us so he must be, hopefully, aware of our presence.
Meanwhile, we also see something that only cinema and books can give: multiple happenings at once. The Wife (Lois Weber) calls her Husband (Val Paul) on the phone. Suddenly the screen splits into three: in the middle, the Husband on call, listening to his Wife on the right who's begging him to hurry home. On the left, the Tramp. Unlike us, he cannot see the conversation promising a happy end. But instead that bringing some relief to the viewer, he cuts the phone cable. While we see that happen, we have no way to tell the Husband to make haste, or the Wife that the Tramp's getting closer.
What's striking too is the omnipresence of modernity: the couple's home and Husband's office have telephones and therefore electricity, and the Husband speeds off in an automobile. The cinematography for the telephone and car chase scenes are filmed and edited with great knowledge of the technical possibilities of the medium; split-screen (only gathering popularity much later, see Pillow Talk (1959), and the usage of the Entfesselte Kamera [unchained camera], the latter a mid 1920s German invention.
A similar, triangular split-screen scene from Michael Gordon's Pillow Talk (1959) with (LtR) Eileen (Valerie Allen), Jan Morrow (Doris Day), and Brad Allen (Rock Hudson) on the party line. With Ms Day's character centred, we know that she's the one to identify with in this particular scene. DP: Arthur E. Arling.
With that, Suspense not only preceded Italian futurist cinema, but also the usage of suspense as a cinematic technique. Now go and watch, and remember
it's only a movie it's only a movie it's only a movie
#Bales2023FilmChallenge #PhillipsSmalley #LoisWeber #SamKaufman #USA #ShortFilm #SilentFilm #drama #suspense #crime #thriller #HomeInvasion #1910s ★★★★☆
– All I can offer is pancakes? Will they do? – They'll do just fine.
Gycklarnas afton [Sawdust and Tinsel] (Ingmar Bergman, 1953)
Jun
11
pancakes
Ringmaster Albert Johansson (Åke Grönberg) with Anne (Harriet Andersson) – holding a pot – standing over him. DPs: Hilding Bladh & Sven Nykvist.
Planeta krawiec [The Planet ‘Tailor’] (Jerzy Domaradzki, 1983)
June
7
National Tailors Day
Lobby card. A fraction of the night sky with, where you would expect the Moon, a large button. DP: Stanisław Szymański.
During the tense hours of a solar #eclipse, the locals spend their time in a bar. One litre of vodka is the wager for he who can correctly guess a woman's dress size. Of course, tailor Józef Romanek (Kazimierz Kaczor) doesn't need to guess and that one litre later, finds himself walking through space. When he comes round from his coma, Józef builds an observatory in his house, where the tailor with his home-made telescope dreams of finding an unknown planet, and discovers the world around him.
Polish tailor Adam Giedrys is not only the subject of Planeta krawiec, but also served as the film's consultant. For his passion for and devotion to astronomy, Giedrys was the first Pole to receive Lunar soil from #NASA's 1969 Apollo 11 Moon mission.
Les trois couronnes du matelot [Three Crowns of the Sailor] (Raúl Ruiz, 1983)
Jun
5
A woman at a table, writing in a notebook with a pencil. There's a Chinese newspaper, a lit candle and candle stump, and stacked tableware in the form of Chinese bowls and bamboo steamers. DP: Sacha Vierny.
“I got nothing out of this crime except the ring he offered me many times; several hundred marks; a collection of old coins, of no value; and a long letter where he advised me to leave the country.”
Les trois couronnes du matelot [Three Crowns of the Sailor] (Raúl Ruiz, 1983)
Jun
4
National Week Of The Ocean
The sailor (Jean-Bernard Guillard) on his ship. DP: Sacha Vierny.
A man murders another and meets a drunk sailor. The drunk then tells the murderer about his life on the sea. Les trois couronnes du matelot is of course never a straightforward crime film. It's Raúl Ruiz, it never is.
– the student
The sailor drinks, celebrates and mourns the women and men of his past, we all get drunk on life while the dark water closes itself again above our heads.
“I don't find you the least bit amusing, Lieutenant Whatever-your-problem- is!”
Who Killed Teddy Bear (Joseph Cates, 1965)
Jun
3
A square 1960s man – Jan Murray as Lt. Dave Madden – smugly pouring himself a stiff drink. DP: Joseph C. Brun.
– Norah Dain
