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盘丝洞 [Pan si dong / The Cave of the Silken Web] (Dan Duyu, 1927)
Jul
14
Pandemonium Day
One of the many demons accompanied by the sisters, having a vision in a cup. DP: Ganting Dan.
“Today is our Queen's wedding day, let us drink it up!”
Note that some of the reels are still missing, and the English translation I found is subjective at best, so have a translation app at the ready. Nevertheless, take a moment to dim the lights, and accompany Tang Sanzang, the Monkey King, and Pigsy on their pilgrimage. Even if only for a little while.
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Lisztomania (Ken Russell, 1975)
Jun
16
National Richard Day
“No, Wagner! Stay in Hell where you belong!”
– Franz Liszt
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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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A Midsummer Night's Dream (William Dieterle + Max Reinhardt, 1935)
Jun
10
Superman Week
Oberon (Victor Jory) – King of the Fairies – on his horse with Puck (Mickey Rooney) – a trickster sprite. While they ride of, Oberon's cape flows behind them through the trees, supported by the fae. A lot of the other-worldly fairy sparkle was accomplished by generous amounts of DuPont® cellophane and cinematographer Hal Mohr's contribution of trimming the trees with aluminium paint, cobwebs, and small metal particles. DP: Hal Mohr.
Capes, cloaks, and mantles are everywhere in Dieterle and Reinhardt's lavishly outfitted A Midsummer Night's Dream. The dreamlike #CostumeDesign by Max Rée and the uncredited Milo Anderson is as much as a personality as #Shakespeare's characters are.
“Now, until the break of day,
Through this house each fairy stray…”
Any reports of Kenneth Anger's presence as the Changeling Prince are greatly exaggerated.
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Sinong lumikha ng yoyo? Sinong lumikha ng moon buggy? [Who Invented the Yoyo? Who Invented the Moon Buggy?] (Kidlat Tahimik, 1979)
May
30
National Creativity Day
Kidlat Tahimik test driving his moon buggy, closely followed by faithful crew member Gottlieb (Kidlat Gottlieb Kalayaan). DP: Kidlat Tahimik.
“If you don't eat too many Gummy Bears you could be my co-pilot.”
– Kidlat Tahimik, speaking to a budding crew member
Sinong lumikha ng yoyo? is a remarkable display of imaginative filmmaking. Together with Kidlat we ponder about practicalities, suddenly see connections that were obscured by too much thinking, and realise all the new possibilities we have in life. Part documentary, part animation, part fantasy, part sci-fi, Kidlat transports us to yet unexplored spaces!
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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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You the Better (Ericka Beckman, 1983)
May
8
VE-Day
One of the players, an handsome young white man, celebrates a score. He wears blue pants with a yellow string, a blue shirt with a blue T-shirt underneath. On his head a red and white hat. The bill hides part of his face. He's got his right arm raised in victory. Behind him other players in identical kits. On the back of shirts a a symbol that looks like a surprised smiley, or a bowling ball.
“HANDS UP
PUT YOUR HANDS UP
GIMME MORE
GIMME GIMME MORE BETTER GIMME MORE”
– recurring chant
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Limonádový Joe aneb Konská opera [Lemonade Joe or The Horse Opera] (Oldřich Lipský, 1964)
Apr
27
Kola Loka
A tough cowboy takes a bite out off a fiddle. DP: Vladimír Novotný.
“The Kola Loka is the law!”
– Limonádový Joe
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Yanco (Servando González + Mohy Quandour, 1961)
Apr
21
Fiddlers Frolic
Juanito (Ricardo Ancona), seen in silhouette, playing his violin in the chinampas. DP: Álex Phillips Jr..
In Mayan worldview, mortals move along the horizontal, gods along the vertical plane. A boy travels both worlds, united by music and wonder.
Juanito, a #Mixquic boy with hypersensitive hearing, finds solace from the hustle of #MexicoCity in the silence of the chinampas – the pre-Hispanic man-made agricultural plots in lake #Xochimilco. There he plays his cardboard fiddle for the nature around him, until the sound from a real violin reaches him. The violinist, an old hermit who lives on one of the chinampas, takes the boy in and teaches him how to master Yanco, his hand-built instrument. When the man dies, the boy goes out at night to be able to play Yanco. In a changing world where the living and the dead used to naturally cross paths, the strings stir different to some.
The #Nahuatl film Yanco is a small cinematic miracle that begs for a beautiful restoration akin to how Govindan Aravindan's കുമ്മാട്ടി [Kummatty] (1979) opened up the world to indigenous filmmaking.
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Mighty Joe Young (Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1949)
Apr
12
National Only Child Day
Jill playing the grand piano in a ballgown while suspended high up in the air by Joe. DP: J. Roy Hunt.
Young Jill – played by the tragically doomed Lora Lee Michel – grows up on a ranch in an undisclosed African country (aka “Africa”) with her father. One day, two porters pass her house carrying an orphaned baby #gorilla. Smitten, she wants and gets the ape, names it Joe, and raises it until the simian reaches exceptional size. That's when a couple of showman collecting exotic menagerie for a Hollywood nightclub come across the odd couple. After long consideration and desperate for money, Jill decides to take Joe to the States where the two become an overnight cabaret sensation. But like Kong before him, Joe is not made for the concrete jungle.
“Am I dreamin', or did I just see a gorilla? And a beautiful dame!”
– Max O'Hara
One decade and a Hays Code later, the people who brought the world King Kong (1933) present Mighty Joe Young: more drama, more spectacle, and superior special effects by Marcel Delgado, Ray #Harryhausen and Willis O'Brien et al. A box-office dud ánd Academy Award for Special Effects winner, Mighty Joe Young is now recognised as an #animation classic. In particular the nightclub scenes (keep your eyes peeled for Phil “The Swedish Angel” Olafsson!) are a wonderful display of the magic of #StopMotion.