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hadaprincesa04: quizmeme things!
I will make a patriotic American Independence Day post. I promise you, random American spirit guilt! I am thinking of poem selections right now!
But right now: meme time.
lol that first entry is perfect
Should I be wary ofjustbolognese's cooking?
Oh, and while making a random comment about Janus on a journal, I made the connection Janus --> Janus Films --> The Criterion Collection.
I am on my way to film geekdom!
So, The Criterion Collection is a DVD distribution company (is it US only? I'm not sure) that releases great prints (usually with lots of great extras) of films they consider "important," That doesn't mean "great" - Armageddon is in there to represent the '90's blockbuster, and The Beastie Boys video anthology is there to rep the music vids. But a lot of the films they release are classics from around the world.
And if anyone remembers the short-lived TV show The Knights of Prosperity, one of my favorite moments was when one of the characters said that he would use some of the stolen money to buy DVDs from the Criterion Collection.
So, this prompted a Clusty search for that blog where the guy is trying to watch all the DVDs in the Criterion Collection. I found out that they have a blog!
I also found what I was looking for.
Re-read the post on Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, and I just
Dickenson's camera stitches the film together by tracking cooly down empty, narrow hallways from one scene to the next: it's a crib from the cinematic grammar of horror films, used to great effect here.
-nod nod nod-
Rafferty notes that Olivier took to calling this movie "a study in Hamlet," rather than trying to pass it off as a definitive version. I think that's probably the best way to think of it; it certainly shouldn't be the only way anyone experiences the text. (As an ex-English teacher, let me be clear: don't confuse studying "a study in Hamlet" with "studying Hamlet. N.B., lazy high school students: you want the Branagh version
-nods-
I need to finish the Branagh version
The final scene to be filmed was the famous shot of Olivier jumping off a high tower onto Claudius and killing him, because it was considered to be so dangerous that it was feared that Olivier would injure himself too badly performing the stunt to film any other scenes. Olivier emerged uninjured from the leap, but the stuntman doubling as Claudius was knocked out from the impact and lost two teeth.
whoa cool.
Also, young Christopher Lee looks a little like Nando Torres
in the background here:
I mentioned that Desmond Dickenson's cinematography looked a lot like what you'd see in a horror film. Apparently, horror film directors noticed: he went on to shoot Meet Mr. Lucifer, Horrors of the Black Museum, The City of the Dead, Trog, Tower of Evil, and Murder Ahoy. That last one is more of a mystery than a horror film, apparently, but still, what a title!
I need to see those movies now
from the comments:
First, I always like seeing great actors as extras in their early roles. My favorite is Tatsuya Nakadai's three seconds in Seven samurai.
Tatsuya Nakadai is pretty cool. Now I have more reason to see The Seven Samurai.
BTW,in your review of Hamlet you don't mention the final tracking shot on the stairs as the camera registers, in the background, various symbols of love, death, marriage, etc., in effect doing an iconic narrative of the play.
so so important
and this fantastic Onion link: Unconventional Director Sets Shakespeare Play In Time, Place Shakespeare Intended.
"Audiences may be taken aback initially by the lack of Creole accents,"
lol
also, points for this Office UK reference in the Third Man post:
He may as well put a sign on his door reading "Gareth Keenan Investigates!"
I kind of want to do a similar thing. But I only watch movies that are interesting to me. (strike one point for elite film geekdom)
Maybe I'll just make a list of Criterion movies I've seen. Ask for a full review/discussion or just chat about the clothes in a movie or anything. I like these movies a lot, and I want to know if anyone else has seen them or is interested in them.
I'm too lazy for film synopses right now, and a lot of have been reviewed in my Solstice Specials. But if a title interests you, ask away!
! before favorite films, * before films that are pretty good and I liked a lot, nothing before films that are just good but I don't care much about, X before films that I tried but couldn't bother watching past 20 or 30 minutes.
! The Lady Vanishes - dir. by Alfred Hitchcock, UK, 1938
My favorite of his British films. Take that, The 39 Steps.
* The 400 Blows - dir. by François Truffaut, France, 1959
! M - dir. by Fritz Lang, Germany, 1931
Nanook of the North - dir. by Robert Flaherty, UK, 1922
saw this in my Ethnographic film class
* The Wages of Fear - dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot, France, 1953
really cool how they use all the different languages and nationalities in this movie. Also got fantastic use of dramatic tension.
Black Orpheus - dir. by Marcel Camus, France, 1959
A good film in its own right, but most famous for jump-starting the bossa nova music genre.
The 39 Steps - dir. by Alfred Hitchcock, UK, 1935
X Charade - dir. by Stanley Donen, USA, 1963
Not as horrible as the first time I saw some of it. A bit odd and dated for me to finish at the time. I may finish it later for some of the camera shots and for Audrey Hepburn.
* Carnival of Souls - dir. by Herk Harvey USA, 1962
Not a classic classic, but this little B-movie has atmosphere that lingers in the mind...
! Rushmore - dir. by Wes Anderson, USA, 1998
! Hamlet - Laurence Olivier, UK, 1948
* Sisters - dir. by Brian De Palma, USA, 1973
* Kwaidan - dir. by Masaki Kobayashi, Japan 1965
I am so stealing that opening credit sequence for a movie.
* Spartacus - dir. by Stanley Kubrick, USA, 1960
I AM SPARTACUS lol
* The Killers Siodmak/Siegel, USA
I like the first version in the set (and double points for starmaking roles for Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner), but after watching the extras about the '60's remake, I don't want to see the remake.
Throne of Blood - dir. by Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1957
The woman who plays the Lady Macbeth character is amazing.
! The Rules of the Game - dir. by Jean Renoir, France, 1939
! Ikiru - dir. by Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1952
That song the main guy sings. It's still in my head, after many months. Such a powerful use of songs (well, only that tune and "Happy Birthday") in this film.
* The Leopard dir. by Luchino Visconti, Italy, 1963
One of the most novelistic films I've ever seen. Also interesting is how they had to shoot the film in three languages and then dub the non-Italians in Italian. Claudia Cardinale, the lead actress, mentions in one of the extras that she had to say her lines in English to Burt Lancaster and then in French to Alain Delon. I wonder what those script meetings must have been like...
* The Battle of Algiers - dir. by Gillo Pontecorvo, France, 1966
The most politcally, historically important film on this list.
* Eyes Without a Face dir. by Georges Franju, France, 1960
an elegant, quietly terrifying horror movie.
X Touchez pas au grisbi - dir. by Jacque Becker, France, 1954
I was tired of them talking and talking and not stealing agh
* Thieves’Highway - dir. by Jules Dassin, USA, 1949
Pretty good, even with the studio-mandated softening of the ending. Very original situation too - who knew a film about the fruit-transport industry in NorCal could be so exciting?
! Night and the City - dir. by Jules Dassin, USA, 1950
dark dark film noir excellence
* The Sword of Doom - dir. by Kihachi Okamoto, Japan, 1966
very powerful ending
! Le samouraï - dir. by Jean-Pierre Melville, France 1967
Been cited as inspiration for directors like John Woo. While it is a gangster thriller, though, there isn't really a great quantity of violence. Just violence at the right moments.
X Pickpocket - dir. by Robert Bresson, France 1959
The situation was cool, and while the lead character was annoying, he was believably annoying. But they talked too much, and things felt more like ideas being discussed than an actual movie.
* Ran - dir. by Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1985
! The Fallen Idol - dir. by Carol Reed, UK, 1948
I like this Graham Greene/Carol Reed production sooooooo much more than The Third Man, which is great, yes, but cold. This movie is sad, brutal in a sense, but still warm. I want to hug it and tell it that everything's going to be all right.
X Mouchette - dir. by Robert Bresson, France, 1967
I'm just not a Bresson person, I guess.
* Bicycle Thieves - dir. by Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1948
Previously known as The Bicycle Thief. While this new translation of the title is correct, there's a lot of discussion that comes better with the original English title.
now, on to read another I'm-going-to-watch-the-Criterion-Collection blog
while we're on the subject of classic films...
viacleolinda
Lost "Metropolis" footage found
I still understood it, though...
hadaprincesa04: quizmeme things!I will make a patriotic American Independence Day post. I promise you, random American spirit guilt! I am thinking of poem selections right now!
But right now: meme time.
lol that first entry is perfect
Should I be wary of
justbolognese's cooking?Oh, and while making a random comment about Janus on a journal, I made the connection Janus --> Janus Films --> The Criterion Collection.
I am on my way to film geekdom!
So, The Criterion Collection is a DVD distribution company (is it US only? I'm not sure) that releases great prints (usually with lots of great extras) of films they consider "important," That doesn't mean "great" - Armageddon is in there to represent the '90's blockbuster, and The Beastie Boys video anthology is there to rep the music vids. But a lot of the films they release are classics from around the world.
And if anyone remembers the short-lived TV show The Knights of Prosperity, one of my favorite moments was when one of the characters said that he would use some of the stolen money to buy DVDs from the Criterion Collection.
So, this prompted a Clusty search for that blog where the guy is trying to watch all the DVDs in the Criterion Collection. I found out that they have a blog!
I also found what I was looking for.
Re-read the post on Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, and I just
Dickenson's camera stitches the film together by tracking cooly down empty, narrow hallways from one scene to the next: it's a crib from the cinematic grammar of horror films, used to great effect here.
-nod nod nod-
Rafferty notes that Olivier took to calling this movie "a study in Hamlet," rather than trying to pass it off as a definitive version. I think that's probably the best way to think of it; it certainly shouldn't be the only way anyone experiences the text. (As an ex-English teacher, let me be clear: don't confuse studying "a study in Hamlet" with "studying Hamlet. N.B., lazy high school students: you want the Branagh version
-nods-
I need to finish the Branagh version
The final scene to be filmed was the famous shot of Olivier jumping off a high tower onto Claudius and killing him, because it was considered to be so dangerous that it was feared that Olivier would injure himself too badly performing the stunt to film any other scenes. Olivier emerged uninjured from the leap, but the stuntman doubling as Claudius was knocked out from the impact and lost two teeth.
whoa cool.
Also, young Christopher Lee looks a little like Nando Torres
in the background here:
I mentioned that Desmond Dickenson's cinematography looked a lot like what you'd see in a horror film. Apparently, horror film directors noticed: he went on to shoot Meet Mr. Lucifer, Horrors of the Black Museum, The City of the Dead, Trog, Tower of Evil, and Murder Ahoy. That last one is more of a mystery than a horror film, apparently, but still, what a title!
I need to see those movies now
from the comments:
First, I always like seeing great actors as extras in their early roles. My favorite is Tatsuya Nakadai's three seconds in Seven samurai.
Tatsuya Nakadai is pretty cool. Now I have more reason to see The Seven Samurai.
BTW,in your review of Hamlet you don't mention the final tracking shot on the stairs as the camera registers, in the background, various symbols of love, death, marriage, etc., in effect doing an iconic narrative of the play.
so so important
and this fantastic Onion link: Unconventional Director Sets Shakespeare Play In Time, Place Shakespeare Intended.
"Audiences may be taken aback initially by the lack of Creole accents,"
lol
also, points for this Office UK reference in the Third Man post:
He may as well put a sign on his door reading "Gareth Keenan Investigates!"
I kind of want to do a similar thing. But I only watch movies that are interesting to me. (strike one point for elite film geekdom)
Maybe I'll just make a list of Criterion movies I've seen. Ask for a full review/discussion or just chat about the clothes in a movie or anything. I like these movies a lot, and I want to know if anyone else has seen them or is interested in them.
I'm too lazy for film synopses right now, and a lot of have been reviewed in my Solstice Specials. But if a title interests you, ask away!
! before favorite films, * before films that are pretty good and I liked a lot, nothing before films that are just good but I don't care much about, X before films that I tried but couldn't bother watching past 20 or 30 minutes.
! The Lady Vanishes - dir. by Alfred Hitchcock, UK, 1938
My favorite of his British films. Take that, The 39 Steps.
* The 400 Blows - dir. by François Truffaut, France, 1959
! M - dir. by Fritz Lang, Germany, 1931
Nanook of the North - dir. by Robert Flaherty, UK, 1922
saw this in my Ethnographic film class
* The Wages of Fear - dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot, France, 1953
really cool how they use all the different languages and nationalities in this movie. Also got fantastic use of dramatic tension.
Black Orpheus - dir. by Marcel Camus, France, 1959
A good film in its own right, but most famous for jump-starting the bossa nova music genre.
The 39 Steps - dir. by Alfred Hitchcock, UK, 1935
X Charade - dir. by Stanley Donen, USA, 1963
Not as horrible as the first time I saw some of it. A bit odd and dated for me to finish at the time. I may finish it later for some of the camera shots and for Audrey Hepburn.
* Carnival of Souls - dir. by Herk Harvey USA, 1962
Not a classic classic, but this little B-movie has atmosphere that lingers in the mind...
! Rushmore - dir. by Wes Anderson, USA, 1998
! Hamlet - Laurence Olivier, UK, 1948
* Sisters - dir. by Brian De Palma, USA, 1973
* Kwaidan - dir. by Masaki Kobayashi, Japan 1965
I am so stealing that opening credit sequence for a movie.
* Spartacus - dir. by Stanley Kubrick, USA, 1960
I AM SPARTACUS lol
* The Killers Siodmak/Siegel, USA
I like the first version in the set (and double points for starmaking roles for Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner), but after watching the extras about the '60's remake, I don't want to see the remake.
Throne of Blood - dir. by Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1957
The woman who plays the Lady Macbeth character is amazing.
! The Rules of the Game - dir. by Jean Renoir, France, 1939
! Ikiru - dir. by Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1952
That song the main guy sings. It's still in my head, after many months. Such a powerful use of songs (well, only that tune and "Happy Birthday") in this film.
* The Leopard dir. by Luchino Visconti, Italy, 1963
One of the most novelistic films I've ever seen. Also interesting is how they had to shoot the film in three languages and then dub the non-Italians in Italian. Claudia Cardinale, the lead actress, mentions in one of the extras that she had to say her lines in English to Burt Lancaster and then in French to Alain Delon. I wonder what those script meetings must have been like...
* The Battle of Algiers - dir. by Gillo Pontecorvo, France, 1966
The most politcally, historically important film on this list.
* Eyes Without a Face dir. by Georges Franju, France, 1960
an elegant, quietly terrifying horror movie.
X Touchez pas au grisbi - dir. by Jacque Becker, France, 1954
I was tired of them talking and talking and not stealing agh
* Thieves’Highway - dir. by Jules Dassin, USA, 1949
Pretty good, even with the studio-mandated softening of the ending. Very original situation too - who knew a film about the fruit-transport industry in NorCal could be so exciting?
! Night and the City - dir. by Jules Dassin, USA, 1950
dark dark film noir excellence
* The Sword of Doom - dir. by Kihachi Okamoto, Japan, 1966
very powerful ending
! Le samouraï - dir. by Jean-Pierre Melville, France 1967
Been cited as inspiration for directors like John Woo. While it is a gangster thriller, though, there isn't really a great quantity of violence. Just violence at the right moments.
X Pickpocket - dir. by Robert Bresson, France 1959
The situation was cool, and while the lead character was annoying, he was believably annoying. But they talked too much, and things felt more like ideas being discussed than an actual movie.
* Ran - dir. by Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1985
! The Fallen Idol - dir. by Carol Reed, UK, 1948
I like this Graham Greene/Carol Reed production sooooooo much more than The Third Man, which is great, yes, but cold. This movie is sad, brutal in a sense, but still warm. I want to hug it and tell it that everything's going to be all right.
X Mouchette - dir. by Robert Bresson, France, 1967
I'm just not a Bresson person, I guess.
* Bicycle Thieves - dir. by Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1948
Previously known as The Bicycle Thief. While this new translation of the title is correct, there's a lot of discussion that comes better with the original English title.
now, on to read another I'm-going-to-watch-the-Criterion-Collection blog
while we're on the subject of classic films...
via
cleolindaLost "Metropolis" footage found
I still understood it, though...
