N.P. il segreto [N.P.] (Silvano Agosti, 1971)
Jan
3
1979
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The January 3–4 Herald Tribune reports on The Gunboat Affair. DP: Dimitri Nicolau.
And April 27.
N.P. il segreto [N.P.] (Silvano Agosti, 1971)
Jan
3
1979
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The January 3–4 Herald Tribune reports on The Gunboat Affair. DP: Dimitri Nicolau.
And April 27.
Swissmade [Swiss Made 2069] (Fritz E. Maeder, Fredi M. Murer + Yves Yersin, 1968)
Oct
20
Alien

A man hooked up to a device with tubes dreams about a strange, unsettling creature. Just out of a frame someone (H.R. Giger himself) works on the being with a grinder. DPs: Witold Lesiewicz, Fritz E. Maeder & Fredi M. Murer.
[A favourite] Alien [“alien”?] movie*
Three segments envision the future of the Swiss Confederation. In the Fredi M. Murer instalment 2069 – oder wo sich Futorologen und Archäologen gute Nacht sagen, an alien visits surveillance state Switzerland. The visitor in question is designed by H.R. Giger, and glimpses of the XX121 xenomorph are present in its exoskeletal core.
* 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.
Spectres of the Spectrum (Craig Baldwin, 1999)
Oct
4

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.
“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!” Soy leyenda (Mario Gómez Martín, 1967)
Oct
3
zombies

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.
– 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.
“Sex is not to do. Sex is to watch.”The Year of the Sex Olympics (Michael Elliott, 1968)
Sep
7
ESPN – 1979

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.
– Nat Mender
All that's on TV is pornography and violence. Welcome to the Year of the Sex Olympics.
Czułe miejsca [Tender Spots] (Piotr Andrejew, 1981)
Aug
28
1998
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Janek (Michał Juszczakiewicz) and Ewa (Hanna Dunowska) in embrace on a bed. DPs: Jerzy Zieliński & Ryszard Lenczewski.
“He moved over to the window: a smallish, frail figure, the meagreness of his body merely emphasized by the blue overalls which were the uniform of the party. His hair was very fair, his face naturally sanguine, his skin roughened by coarse soap and blunt razor blades and the cold of the winter that had just ended. “Nineteen Eighty-Four (Rudolph Cartier, 1954)
Aug
18
indigo

Winston Smith (Peter Cushing). We only see his frail looking back with the identifier KZ-6090, and his name SMITH W.
Indigo, in food or fashion*
– George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) (via)
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for August is not date-related but lists, for the most part, the colours of the rainbow.
“The walls of the room seemed to hold stories untold, whispering in the quiet.”Memoirs of a Survivor (David Gladwell, 1981)
Apr
20
Easter Sunday

A Victorian family, all dressed in white, marvel at an enormous egg in an ornate room. DP: Walter Lassally.
Eggs for Easter Sunday.
– Doris Lessing, The Memoirs of a Survivor (1974)
In a dystopian Britain, D (Julie Christie) survives taking care of a sullen teenage girl, and visiting a mirage behind the walls.
“I am the BBC as you can see, and here was the last news.”The Bed Sitting Room (Richard Lester, 1969)
Mar
22
National Goof-off Day

The BBC (Frank Thornton) bringing you the news (via). DP: David Watkin.
A truly silly film for National Goof-off Day (USA)
– The BBC
Czułe miejsca [Tender Spots] (Piotr Andrejew, 1981)
Jul
7
ice cream
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Ewa (Hanna Dunowska) licks melting ice cream with Janek (Michał Juszczakiewicz) looking on. DPs: Jerzy Zieliński & Ryszard Lenczewski.