04.20.08
Posted in Cinema, DVDs at 5:10 pm by Spencer
Having been laid low for a full week by an ass-kicker case of the flu, I’ve had a lot of time to watch a lot of DVDs (or at least half-watch them while struggling to maintain consciousness). Now more-or-less ambulatory again (most of the time), I’ve been catching up on things…including some DVD news. (Forgive any incoherence, since I’m still recuperating.)
Criterion (as usual) gives me several new causes for celebration. Foremost, they’ve announced their upcoming 2-disc edition of Carl Dreyer’s Vampyr (1932), roughly coincidental with European releases by MK2 in France and Eureka in Britain (part of their excellent “Masters of Cinema” series), though the latter seems to just get postponed over and over again.
Unjustly dismissed as a sub-standard aberration by fans and scholars of the great Carl Dreyer’s work, Vampyr is one of the most hauntingly dreamlike horror films ever made. It also has a fascinating production history, one which contributed to its long lingering in a purgatory of mangled, poor-quality prints that have provided only a hint of the subtle shades of grey and the even subtler use of sound (far ahead of its contemporary works).
Criterion is releasing the landmark 1998 restoration by Martin Koerber Cineteca di Bologna — long awaited on home video (especially after the offensively shitty worthless piece of crap Image released on DVD a few years ago). Well worth a read is Koerber’s article, “Some notes on the restoration of Dreyer’s Vampyr (1932)”. (Also worthwhile, if you can find a copy, is David Rudkin’s 2005 monograph published by the British Film Institute.)
This DVD presents the film pillar-boxed in its original 1:19 aspect ratio (a very short-lived format during the earliest days of sound in Europe). The French MK2 version is inexplicably mastered at 1:33 (resulting in slight cropping of the frame) and considerably darker than the Criterion version (obscuring much of the predominant light-grey details). You can see side-by-side stills at this French web site.
Criterion’s extras will include something they’re billing as an “all-new English-text version of the film.” This is a little confusing since there was an English language version produced originally (along with German and French ones), but which is not known to survive in any form except possibly as unidentified fragments cut into versions released in later decades. A separate line in the DVD’s specs call out “new and improved English subtitles”, so this “English-text version” thing apparently means something else. Guess we’ll find out this summer. Other extras include a 1978 audio recording of Dreyer lecturing on filmmaking, and what sounds like a substantial book that boasts various essays and even the original screenplay.
Hopefully this new DVD will permit a proper reevaluation of this neglected gem of a film, but for those us who already know better it’s a cause for great celebration. While you wait for July to roll around, savor this reproduction of the original Danish program book.
And speaking of neglected gems, I exclaimed aloud when I discovered that in June Criterion will be releasing a newly restored version of Anthony Mann’s The Furies (1950), a noir western re-visioning of a Greek tragedy with Oscar-nominated cinematography by Victor Milner, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston in his last role. I’ve been wanting to see this for years, but so far as I can tell it was never even released on VHS.
Anthony Mann is one of my favorite directors, having first been hipped to him by A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies. (A fine series I suggest watching with paper and pen at hand so as to jot down titles to hunt down.) Mentored as an AD by no less than Preston Sturges, Mann was a hard working studio director who made some of the very best noir and western films of the ’40s and ’50s, but was much more than just a good genre man. His films tended to have an unusual psychological complexity for their time, coupled with a sure-footed storytelling economy and a great eye (augmented by such camera talents as the great John Alton and the aforementioned Mr. Milner).
Mann’s westerns caused me to reevaluate and finally appreciate that entire genre — not only his justly lauded dark wonders with Jimmy Stewart, but especially his last western: Man of the West (1958), an especially twisted quiet masterpiece (unforgivably unavailable on US DVD) starring Gary Cooper in his last performance that remains one of my all-time favorite westerns ever. [Update: Turns out MGM is releasing Man of the West on DVD on May 15, just a couple weeks away. Hooray!] Following that, Mann went on to direct a social satire (God’s Little Acre), a couple epics (El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire), a war flick (Heroes of Telemark) and a Cold War spy thriller (Dandy in Aspic), but perhaps because of the shifting nature of film production in the ’60s, none of these had the same masterful touch of his dozens of earlier works.
Meanwhile, Mann’s Fall of the Roman Empire is also coming out soon as a limited edition DVD, courtesy of the Weinsteins’ “Miriam Collection.”
And since I’m already serving as unofficial PR hack for Criterion’s genre film releases, definitely keep an eye out for what promises to be a spectacular version of Alexander Korda’s great fantasy epic, The Thief of Bagdad (1940). The film has been restored to its original Technicolor grandeur (which is considerable!), and the copious extras include commentary tracks by Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.
And hey, as long as we’re talking genre films I gotta let you know that Classic Media will be releasing Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975 JP, 1978 US) on April 29. A couple months ago it was included as part of their big box set, but this stand-alone will complete Classic Media’s series of “deluxe” release of the seven original-series Godzilla titles they have the US rights to. (Okay, All Monsters Attack, aka Godzilla on Monster Island Godzilla’s Revenge, is also coming out but who gives a crap — insipid even by Godzilla standards, it’s total garbage made almost entirely of clips from the earlier films.)
Terror of Mechagodzilla was the last hurrah for the original series. Considerably better than the films that preceded it (the idiotic Gigan [aka Godzilla on Monster Island] and underwhelming if action-packed Megalon films), it was the last of the series to be directed by Ishiro Honda (returning after a long hiatus in greener pastures)…and the last Godzilla film to be made until 1984. Long unavailable except in the craptacular pan-and-scan Scimitar edition, this disc has a widescreen transfer of the original Japanese version (boobies!) with subtitles, plus the dubbed US version, as well as a few marginal extras.
Copies can be had at the usual online retailers, via the official GodzillaOnDVD.com site, or most likely at Scarecrow Video here in Seattle.
According to that there official site, Classic Media does plan to follow up with releases of non-Godzilla Toho monster classics, Rodan and War of the Gargantuas, both of which are among the better kaiju flicks that have yet to get a proper home video release.
…Oookay…I’ve been staring slack-jawed at the screen for about 5 minutes. Clearly it’s nap time again.
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04.06.08
Posted in Music, Seattle Stuff, Cinema, Experimental Film, Events, 16mm Film at 6:43 pm by Spencer
This coming Sunday at the Rendezvous, the Sprocket Society presents a special event featuring original works by Los Angeles filmmaker and noted restorationist ROSS LIPMAN, plus live music by Seattle’s own RUBY THICKET and THE PHILISTINE LIBERATION ORCHESTRA.
Sunday, April 13, 2008 at 7:00 PM
The JewelBox Theater at the Rendezvous
2322 2nd Avenue, Seattle (in Belltown)
$5 suggested donation
More info at the Sprocket Society web site.
KEEP WARM, BURN BRITAIN! is Ross Lipman’s personal memoir of the London anarchist squatters movement during the 1980s. A work-in-progress, Ross will present it as a Magic Lantern slide show with live narration plus recorded music by legendary street performer Thoth (who was the subject of a 2002 Oscar-winning documentary short).
Lipman is internationally known for his film/video and performance work, as well his writings and restorations of independent cinema. His 16mm and 35mm experimental films have screened throughout the world at venues such as London International Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives (NYC), the Los Angeles Film Forum, the San Francisco Cinematheque, Sixpackfilm/Top-Kino (Vienna), AMIA (Austin, Minneapolis), Chinese Taipei Film Archive (Taiwan), and many others. This is his Seattle debut.
Lipman is also one of the world’s leading figures in the restoration of independent cinema. Working at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, he has restored films by John Cassavetes, Kenneth Anger, John Sayles, Emile de Antonio, and others. In 2007, the National Society of Film Critics gave Lipman their Film Heritage Award “for the restoration of Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep and other independent films.”
Also on the program are several of Ross’ earlier experimental shorts and and documentaries:
10-17-88 (1989, 16mm)
An optically printed collage of found and archival footage, with audio collage by John (Ruby Thicket) Shaw.
AFTERNOON IN BOTTLE VILLAGE (2007, DV)
A requiem for Grandma Prisbrey’s famous cathedral of light, built entirely of glass bottles, pencils, and industrial detritus. With a score improvised on a broken piano by Jodie Baltazar (aka Monotrona).
THE GIFT: MICHAEL BARRISH SCREEN TEST (1997, Super-8)
A screen test for a film that was never made, a feature-length narrative about the unbridgeable gap and connection between a father and son.
PLUS!
Live music by RUBY THICKET
Featuring John Shaw (vocals, guitar, bass, harmonica), Mac McClure (bowed saw and vocals), Bob Barraza (drums, shakuhachi flute, ukulele, and vocals), Jillian Graham (vocals and rhythm guitar), and Jim Graham (bass). Download sample MP3s from their CD You Never Know What You’ll See.
And the sultry cacophony of THE PHILISTINE LIBERATION ORCHESTRA
Lounge and show standards crooned (or c-ruined?) over free improvised accompaniment. Featuring the velvet pipes of John Shaw backed by composer Bill Potter on guitar-synth, the lovely and talented David Milford on fiddle, members of Ruby Thicket, and other surprise guests. The set list includes songs associated with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Kate Smith, Robert Goulet, Man of La Mancha, and Woody Guthrie.
Hope to see you there!
PS — Ross Lipman will be presenting at the Pop Conference at EMP this Friday, April 11. He will give his lecture “Mingus, Cassavetes, and the Politics of Improv”, using film clips, texts, and still photographs to examine the complex and explosive collaboration of John Cassavetes and Charles Mingus for the film Shadows (1959) at a pivotal moment in the history of independent cinema, jazz, and race relations. More info is online at the Pop Conference web site.
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04.05.08
Posted in News of the World, Politics at 4:16 pm by Spencer
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve at least heard something about the current uprising in Tibet against oppressive Chinese rule and the resulting draconian crackdown, which began with the recent anniversary of the brutal 1959 invasion of Tibet.
This photo emerged about one week ago, on iReport.com:
As you can see, the photograph clearly shows Chinese uniformed police holding the signature maroon-and-saffron robes of Tibetan Buddhist monks.
It is stunningly rare corroboration of reports that Chinese authorities are using provocateurs disguised as Tibetan monks to instigate violence and other incidents to discredit the Tibetan rights movement and its sympathizers.
Today’s New York Times reports that despite a massive crackdown by Chinese paramilitary police (ahead of the Olympic torch wending its way through the region), unrest not only continues with new fatalities in Tibet but is also spreading into nearby Muslim Uiger areas, which have also suffered under decades of Chinese efforts to control if not destroy their native religious and ethnic identity.
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Posted in Music, Friends and Family, What I'm Reading, Avant Experiwhosis at 3:16 pm by Spencer
The new April/May 2008 edition of the online music zine Perfect Sound Forever includes an article by Alan Bishop about Charles Gocher, his adoptive soul brother and co-conspirator in Sun City Girls who died of cancer in February, 2007.
“Invisible Tempos of the Vanishing Assassin” was written over the course of a month-long journey through Indonesia that Alan took last August. It takes the form of a kind of memorial diary, in which Alan tells old stories, describes Charlie’s creative process, rants, and generally undertakes the impossible task of sketching who Charlie was.
It’s a great piece. Here’s a taste:
Gocher used to carry around an ant colony in his pants pocket in the form of a salt shaker filled with dirt, sugar, and a large collection of red ants burrowing within. He once brought a lawnmower to a SCG show and during the set, fired it up and ran it over several large trash bags filled with confetti. Afterwards, the confetti was stomped into the beer-soaked concrete floor and it took the manager the entire next day to remove it all with a scraper. At house parties in Arizona, he would hold court in the kitchens, playing oven rack concerts into the night or scat sing and dance till dawn. On tour in 1990, we visited the grave of Edgar Allen Poe in Baltimore and Charlie traded some new flowers he picked himself for the ones already on the grave. He later convinced a whole room of people at a late-night party to smoke those dried flowers from a pipe, claiming they had special powers from the spirit of Poe. There wasn’t a soul in the room who refused to smoke them. Regardless of how absurd or impractical he could be, people trusted him and listened to him, hanging on every word. And on the other side of the world, there he was as an aloof be-bop version of Peter Pan in a village in Sumatra 18 years ago playing a wooden flute leading a pack of 50 children all over town with the good citizens watching nervously along the way in disbelief as if an alien had landed from beyond and was taking their children away….
But this is all anecdotal. His greatest moments are reserved for those who could perceive them for their full-effect, as he was light years ahead of most of you and your shallow, socially-engineered points of reference, sorry.
…What’s a full-grown Bengal Tiger got to say to a roomful of crickets? I wouldn’t park a Rolls Royce next to an AMC Pacer. Gocher would have put the Bengal Tiger in the Rolls Royce and rammed it through the window of your fucking living room.
As the Sumatra anecdote above implies, Charlie really did have a way with kids, and kids dug him. At various parties and gatherings I attended over the years, he could almost always be found hanging out with the kids. They’d spend hours talking and laughing, pretty much in their own meta-party. For a while, he and the early-teen daughter of one scene perennial even formed their own band and gigged out a few times. She fronted, they created the music together, and it was both great stuff and inspiring to see.
How children respond to a person is, I maintain, a true barometer of that person’s character. Despite all of Charlie’s dark edges and interests, fanged black humor, and inner demons he was — deep down — a gentle and playful man with a huge heart. The kids always seemed to spot this a mile away and loved him for it. They’d bring out the best in each other.
I wasn’t especially close with Charlie (few were), and so I was spared seeing him at his darkest and worst. But every time I think of Charlie, I hear his laugh — mucousy from smoking so damn much, and because it came from deep down within him.
Be sure to catch Alan and Rick Bishop’s Brothers Unconnected: A Tribute to Charles Gocher & Sun City Girls, coming soon to a US or Canadian city near you. Visit SunCityGirls.com for latest tour info.
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