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Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit [Ways to Strength and Beauty] (Wilhelm Prager + Nicholas Kaufmann, 1925)
Apr
18
National Exercise Day
A young woman with a pageboy cut and a black bathing suit is suspended from a tree with the back of her neck. An instructor, a bald man with a moustache and tan jodhpurs, pushes her as if she's on a swing set. DPs: Eugen Herich, Friedrich Paulmann & Friedrich Weinmann.
Europeans are not too worried about certain things. Having a body for instance is something good. Instead of shame, you take care for it with regular exercise and plenty of fresh air. Preferably both. In Germany this is called #Freikörperkultur, sometimes confused with nudism.
Wege zu Kraft und Schönheit is a display of the human in various stages of exercise and undress. We see sportspeople – including future-Tarzan Johnny Weissmuller and then-movie mountaineer Leni Riefenstahl – world leaders (Rockefeller and Mussolini, though the latter was cut from re-releases) and dancers such as Josephine Baker, Baku Ishii, and the scandalous Anita Berber. The film was mostly aimed at women, who by then were part of the workforce, sitting at desks in modern Metropolises. So modern it was that people were encouraged to complete their Wege-collection of trading cards, which came with their cigarettes. Good thing they're all #outdoors.
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Un homme et une femme A Man and a Woman] (Claude Lelouch, 1966)
Mar
18
International Sports Car Racing Day
Jean-Louis Trintignant driving a Matra single-seater at the Autodrome de Montlhéry [caption taken from a photo from the same session]. Behind him his uncle Maurice in a Maserati Tipo 151/1. DP: Claude Lelouch.
A man and a woman meet and fall in love. The woman – Anouk Aimée – still mourns the loss of her stuntman husband, while the man – Jean-Louis Trintignant – is alone since his partner took her life, incapable of dealing with his near-fatal #crash at #LeMans.
“It's foolish to refuse happiness.”
#Trintignant came from a family obsessed with race car driving and was an avid amateur driver himself. His uncle, the #GrandPrix racer Maurice Trintignant, can be seen driving a #Maserati Tipo 151/1 during the race scene.
A deceptively simple film by Claude Lelouch, with an equally breezy soundtrack by Francis Lai.
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American Dreams: Lost and Found (James Benning, 1984)
Feb
24
National Trading Card Day
A Hank Aaron trading card from director James Benning's personal collection. Below it a scrolling text quoting from Arthur Bremer's diary.
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Fast Break (Mike McLeod + Don Zavin, 1978)
Feb
19
NBA All Star Game
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Le genou de Claire [Six Contes Moraux V: Le genou de Claire / Claire's Knee] (Éric Rohmer, 1970)
Feb
17
National Tennis Pro Day
Touching Claire's knee. DP: Néstor Almendros.
“Every woman has her most vulnerable point. For some, it's the nape of the neck, the waist, the hands. For Claire, in that position, in that light, it was her knee.”
– Jerome