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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*
“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.”
– 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.
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Die Republik der Backfische [The Republic of Flappers] (Constantin J. David, 1928)
Sep
20
1928
The Berliner Zeitung (a rag of a paper that's still around to this day) of September 20, 1928. It blares something about America and Graf Zeppelin, the then-new airship. DP: Mutz Greenbaum.
Depending on the language version you watch, you'll see a 1928 newspaper headline dated September 20 (a Thursday), January 10 (a Tuesday), or January 9 (a Monday).
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Слънцето и сянката [Slantzeto i syankata / Sun and Shadow] (Rangel Vulchanov, 1962)
Sep
18
National First Love Day
The two young lovers (Georgi Naumov and Anna Prucnal). DP: Dimo Kolarov.
First love for National First Love Day (USA).
A boy and a girl fall in love at a resort at the Black Sea. He's the son of an architect, an optimist who sees creation where possible. She's the daughter of a nuclear scientist, the future an inevitable apocalypse.
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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…
“Mars Daughter, You are fine. I am loving you and I should like very much to marry you.”
– Aldovin, Terrestrial Astronomer (Aldovin's radiotelegraph to Mars), via
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Maléfices [Sorcery / Where the Truth Lies] (Henri Decoin, 1962)
Sep
10
Myriam Heller (Juliette Gréco) sharing a bed with Nyète, her cheetah. DP: Marcel Grignon.
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Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959)
Sep
6
Sun
The newspaper of Sunday, September 6, announcing a derby. DP: Léonce-Henri Burel.
“The pickings were poor and not worth the risk.”
– Michel
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海底から来た女 [Kaitei kara kita onna / Woman from the Sea] (Koreyoshi Kurahara, 1959)
Sep
4
The mysterious sea woman (Hisako Tsukuba, who under the name Chako van Leeuwen went on to produce the Jawsploitation franchise Piranha) and a bewitched Toshio (Tamio Kawachi). Note how the boat's sail resembles a shark's dorsal fin. DP: Yoshihiro Yamazaki.
A strange woman appears in the life of a young man. He falls in love with her, but the fishermen know. She's the wife of a shark killed years ago. And she's out for revenge.
Doing Hooptober parallel to Bales. Expect some contamination of the September/October posts.
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Taxi zum Klo (Frank Ripploh, 1980)
Sep
2
Christa McAuliffe 1948 – 1986
Frank (Frank Ripploh) teaching kids about the human body on an anatomy dummy. DP: Horst Schier.
A teacher for what would have been Christa McAuliffe's birthday.
“Ich mag Männer, bin 30 Jahre alt, von Beruf Lehrer.”
– Frank Ripploh
Frank Ripploh is a sexual ethics and biology teacher by day, and hedonistic gay man and aspiring pornographer by night. When Frank Ripploh, the man, publicly came out in 1978 in the tabloid Stern, he lost his teaching job and did become that filmmaker. Taxi zum Klo – litt. taxi to the john/loo – is his story. A frank pre-AIDS pre-Internet pre-victimhood depiction of male gay culture in West Germany. Maybe raw, possibly misogynist, definitely true to life.
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Happy End (Oldřich Lipský, 1967)
Sep
1
1889
Butcher Bedřich Frydrych (Oldřich Lipský), born September 1, 1889 in Trumberk. DP: Vladimír Novotný.
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Les créatures [The Creatures] (Agnès Varda, 1966)
Aug
29
Mylène (Catherine Deneuve) and Edgar (Michel Piccoli) Piccoli playing checkers at a small table. DPs: Willy Kurant, William Lubtchansky & Jean Orjollet.
“Everything is rotten. Decadence is everywhere. Why fight it?”