September 30, 1955 (James Bridges, 1977)
Sep
30
1955
Jimmy J. (Richard Thomas) in the lobby of his movie theatre, looking at the poster for Elia Kazan's East of Eden (1955). DP: Gordon Willis.
“You'll go under like all the others.”
White Woman (Stuart Walker, 1933)
Aug
1
Horace H. Prin (Laughton) and Judith Denning (Lombard) in a promotional photo. DP: Harry Fischbeck.
– Judith Denning
“Mr. Cadell got a bad leg in the war for his courage. And you've got your sleeve in the celery, Mr. Phillip.”
Rope (Alfred Hitchcock, 1948)
Jun
9
A man in a dark suit has his clenched hand on top of a stack of fancy gilded dinner plates. He's holding a piece of rope, just an ordinary household article. DPs: William V. Skall & Joseph A. Valentine.
– Mrs. Wilson
“My son – Sebastian – and I constructed our days. Each day we would carve each day like a piece of sculpture, leaving behind us a trail of days like a gallery of sculpture until suddenly, last summer.”
Suddenly, Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1959)
Jun
7
Catherine (Elizabeth Taylor) and a man in white, seen from the back, eating alfresco near a beach. DP: Jack Hildyard.
– Mrs Vi Venable
“We seem to hear the winds of reform whistling down the chimney. Whereas the low hussy frolics off to buy her supper. Where do you keep your canned tamales, partner?”
Rain (Lewis Milestone, 1932)
May
13
canned tamales
Sadie Thompson (Joan Crawford) looking for canned tamales in the pantry of the island's only convenience store. DP: Oliver T. Marsh.
– Sadie Thompson
“The madwoman has received your grace.”
L'amore (Roberto Rossellini, 1948)
Apr
22
alms
Nannina (Anna Magnani) in “Il miracolo”, ascending a staircase while eating her alms. DP of this segment: Aldo Tonti; DPs “Una voce umana”: Robert Juillard & Otello Martelli.
– Nannina
“This winter… I'm going to the mountain. My mother went to the mountain, as did the mother-in-law of our home. So I have to go too.”
楢山節考 [Narayama-bushi kō / The Ballad of Narayama] (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1958)
Dec
11
International Mountain Day
Tatsuhei (Teiji Takahashi) with his mother Orin (Kinuyo Tanaka) in a bamboo carrier on his back. She's combing his hair. Around them the mountain range. DP: Hiroshi Kusuda.
Travel mountains on International Mountain Day
A starving community has come to the agreement that the elders approaching the age of seventy are to be carried up Narayama mountain to die. The day prior to the mountain's festival, sixty-nine year old Orin prepares to leave, carried by her son Tatsuhei.
– Orin
In Keisuke Kinoshita's highly stylised 楢山節考, the arguably cruel (and most likely fictional) practice – of 姥捨て [ubasute, abandoning an old woman] – is superbly abstracted. Narration, dramatic lighting, colour filters and very obviously a soundstage underline that what we're watching is not a film, but a kabuki play.
– Get the Ouija board.
– It's got the Bible on top of it, keeping it quiet.
The Bat Whispers [The Bat] (Roland West, 1930)
Nov
19
Play Monopoly Day
Board and planchette at the ready for a little game of Ouija. DPs: Ray June (23mm) & Robert H. Planck (70mm).
It's just a little game. But then you wonder if Ouija, the Wonderful Talking Board is actually just that. Two neat little ladies playing that quirky 1891 novelty game in Roland West's The Bat Whispers summon the aforementioned bat, black-clad fiend and Batman predecessor.
Who is he? What does he want? And how can he be stopped? Do you know the answer?
YES
NO
GOOD BYE
view
心中天網島 [Shinjū: Ten no Amijima / Double Suicide] (Masahiro Shinoda, 1969)
Oct
10
International Stage Management Day
Jihei (Kichiemon Nakamura ) and his children with a stagehand visible between them. DP: Tōichirō Narushima.
心中天網島 is based on a 1721 文楽 [#bunraku] puppet theatre play]. As traditional in this style of theatre, the puppeteers are in full view of the audience wearing all-black cloaks. 心中天網島 does the same, but substitutes the puppets with flesh and blood actors.
The puppeteers are 黒衣 [kuroko, litt. “black clad”, though there are colour variations depending on the scene's requirements], guiding the performers towards their destiny.
