Banditi a Milano [The Violent Four] (Carlo Lizzani, 1968)
Oct
22
Two of the four bandits, Pietro 'Piero' Cavallero (Gian Maria Volontè) and Sante Notarnicola (Don Backy), surrounded by press and Carabinieri. DPs: Giuseppe Ruzzolini & Otello Spila.
Banditi a Milano [The Violent Four] (Carlo Lizzani, 1968)
Oct
22
Two of the four bandits, Pietro 'Piero' Cavallero (Gian Maria Volontè) and Sante Notarnicola (Don Backy), surrounded by press and Carabinieri. DPs: Giuseppe Ruzzolini & Otello Spila.
1943-1997 ['43 – '97] (Ettore Scola, 1997)
Oct
16
1943
The boy (Francesco Cencioni) on the run in a locked down town. DP: Carlo Tafani.
– The Paris Court of Appeals, meeting on October 15, 1959, pursuant to the charges against Dominique Marceau. – With a girl like that, truth may be the best defense for once.La vérité [The Truth] (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960)
Oct
15
1959
Gilbert (Sami Frey) and Dominique (Brigitte Bardot). DP: Armand Thirard.
The day of the court case. Numerous other dates are mentioned, all in flashbacks.
– You expect me to eat that? – Americans live on ketchup and milk. I'm a whiz at geography.Le passager de la pluie [Rider on the Rain] (René Clément, 1970)
Oct
10
Mélancolie 'Mellie' Mau (Marlène Jobert) and Col. Harry Dobbs (Charles Bronson), dancing. DP: Andréas Winding.
“Blood of Christ. Demon. A curse upon this man. A curse that he will never forget me. Blood of my body. Until the grave. A curse that he will never forget me.” Il demonio [The Demon] (Brunello Rondi, 1963)
Oct
6
exorcism
While several men hold her down, Purif (Daliah Lavi) sticks out her tongue to the crucifix held up to her. DP: Carlo Bellero.
[A favourite] exorcism film*
– Purificazione
When a rejected young woman puts a curse on her heart's desire, the locals see nothing less than witchcraft. It is decided that Purif must be possessed, and exorcised.
* 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.
Le boucher [The Butcher] (Claude Chabrol, 1970)
Oct
3
Popaul (Jean Yanne) and Hélène (Stéphane Audran) in the former's butcher shop. DP: Jean Rabier.
“This mirror reflected a painting… with words. Chinese idiograms. 'The she-crane calls in the shadow. Her cheek answers.'” Le orme [Footprints on the Moon] (Luigi Bazzoni + Mario Fanelli, 1975)
Sep
30
International Translation Day
Alice reflected/reflecting in a glass pane (via). DP: Vittorio Storaro.
A translator for International Translation Day
– Alice Campos
Alice, the always fantastically brooding Florinda Bolkan, works as a translator when all of sudden she loses her job and finds herself on the small island of Garma. People tell her she has been there before, recently, but she knows this is not possible.
Some English-language posters try to sell Le orme as an action-ridden sci-fi giallo, but oh boy leave that perception behind and you're in for one unsettling treat! Le orme can be placed somewhere between Don't Look Now and that other Alice film, Chabrol's Alice ou la dernière fugue. Drifting and elegant, distant and claustrophobic.
“Mars Daughter, You are fine. I am loving you and I should like very much to marry you.”Un matrimonio interplanetario [A Marriage in the Moon] (Enrico Novelli, 1910)
Sep
12
Луна 2 – 1959
Aldovin (director and author of La Colonia Lunare (1908) meets his lovely Martian fiancée halfway, on the Moon.
To commemorate the launch (not landing) of the Луна 2 aka the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket on September 12, 1959, we present The Moon.
According to Wikipedia, Luna 2 was the first spacecraft to touch the surface of the Moon, and the first human-made object to make contact with another celestial body. Well, Enrico Novelli went there first…
– Aldovin, Terrestrial Astronomer (Aldovin's radiotelegraph to Mars), via
…and what an adventure he had! An Earth gentleman points his telescope at the red planet, only to spot a beautiful Martian princess. He promptly falls in love and lo and behold! it's mutual! That asks for an instantaneous wedding halfway, on the Moon, and nothing can stop them!
Die Delegation – Eine utopische Reportage [The Delegation] (Rainer Erler, 1970)
Sep
9
0 h 20 GMT
Reporter Will Roczinski (Walter Kohut) picks up mysterieus signals through the ether (via). DP: Charly Steinberger.
We watch the final report by Will Roczinski, who sadly died in a car crash while working on a TV documentary about UFOs and the like. A fascinating early “faux footage” film from the BRD. One can only wonder how the average West German processed the fantastic premise.
“Calypso the lustrous goddess tried to hold me back,
deep in her arching caverns, craving me for a husband.
So did Circe, holding me just as warmly in her halls,
the bewitching queen of Aeaea keen to have me too.
But they never won the heart inside me, never.
So nothing is as sweet as a man's own country.” Nostos: Il ritorno [Nostos: The Return] (Franco Piavoli, 1989)
Sep
6
Magellan expedition – 1522
Odysseus (Luigi Mezzanotte) and Poseidon's kingdom, the sea (via). DP: Franco Piavoli.
A seafaring explorer in commemoration of Ferdinand Magellan's (almost) completed circumnavigation in 1522. The Portuguese Magellan was enlisted by Spain to gain access to the Moluccas' spices and other trading goods by sailing west instead of east, thus avoiding the heavily armed Portuguese and Dutch traders who were plundering Southeast Asia, its peoples and cultures.
– Homer, Odyssey, ca. 8th century CE (via)
With the war over, Odysseus returns home by sea, a ten year voyage known as the Odyssey