06.03.09
Posted in Cinema, Events, Silent Films, Film Festivals at 4:59 pm by Spencer
The always worthwhile Silent Movie Mondays series returns to the glorious 1920s-era former movie palace The Paramount here in Seattle. The new series runs every Monday at 7:00 PM from June 8 through June 29, 2009.
As always, the films will be accompanied on the restored Mighty Wurlitzer theater organ by the incomparable Dennis James. If you’ve never seen a silent film, this is absolutely the way you should start. Very few cities ever get this kind of authentic experience, and if they do it’s usually one-off screenings or a festival. Seattle is incredibly lucky to get what amounts to a mini-festival a couple-three times a year.
Of especial note is that admission to the first show in the series is FREE courtesy of longtime series sponsor, Trader Joe’s. Damn, thanks Trader Joe’s!
The entire line-up is excellent, as usual. I highly recommend catching the June 22 show, The Godless Girl (Cecil B. DeMille, 1929), which is great stuff (the heavy Christian moralizing notwithstanding). I had the privilege of watching Dennis accompany it at the Silent Film Festival in San Francisco a couple years back, and it was possibly the best I’ve ever seen him play. During the climactic scenes, he dang near brought down the house. Also very highly recommended is the concluding film on June 29, Seventh Heaven (1927) directed by Frank Borzage.
Here’s the full schedule, with links to details (and in turn to online ticket purchase):
June 8: Flesh and the Devil (Clarence Brown, 1926) — FREE ADMISSION! Come early for decent seating.
June 15: Romola (Henry King, 1924)
June 22: The Godless Girl (Cecil B. DeMille, 1929)
June 29: Seventh Heaven (Frank Borzage, 1927)
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12.19.08
Posted in Cinema, Events at 1:23 am by Spencer
New 35mm prints of the beautifully restored Coppola films The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974) start a one two week run at the SIFF Cinema this Friday, Dec. 19, closing on New Years Day.
Full schedule and advance ticket sales for all shows can be found at the SIFF web site. There are some marathon days, but most are one film a night.
The restorations, recently released to home video, were supervised by Coppola with the close involvement of the original cinematographer, Gordon Willis. The result is spectacular, bringing new richness to the film, including the justly famous low-light sequences.
Needless to say, attendance is mandatory.
Here’s a recent article about the restoration:
“Post Focus: Paramount Restores The Godfather” by Stephanie Argy
American Cinematographer, May 2008
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Posted in Whatever, Funny Shit, Online Video at 12:39 am by Spencer
Hampster on a Piano
The soundtrack song is pure evil, so mute this before playing. But do play it.
Damn you, Lora. I’ll get you for this.
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12.15.08
Posted in Cinema, DVDs, Cinema History, Early Sound Cinema at 10:09 pm by Spencer
Holy crap.
Normally those really spendy, over-extravagant DVD box sets just kinda piss me off. But Fox Studio Classics has just released one that I might just feel compelled to actually splurge on. (It’s also kind of a toing, because just two nights ago I spontaneously decided to watch Sunrise on DVD and meandered through the extras.)
As you can see above, Murnau, Borzage and Fox is a ginormous, 12-DVD dee-luxe $et ($240 SRP, $180 on Amazon — ouch) with not one but two hefty books of essays and photos, and a new 2 hour documentary about the directors. Mmokay. But the real grabber is the list of films — 2 by Murnau and 10 by Borzage, spanning 1925-1932, the late silent through the early sound/talkie era. A couple are acknowledged masterpieces, several are highly respected, and most-all of them have long been unavailable on any kind of decent home video. Martin Scorsese, in his BFI documentary for British television, A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995), singled out Borzage as one of the best Hollywood directors of the early sound period, not only making intelligent films but occasionally pushing the severely limited technical capabilities of the time, especially with camera work. I’ve been intending to delve into his stuff for a while now.
The two Murnau gems are noteworthy. The Sunrise disc includes two versions of the film: the Movietone version, as well as the European silent version. This is important, because the silent version was not only a somewhat different cut, it used negative from a different camera (and thus slightly different angles), and sometimes different takes. Also, the infant sound-on-film format used a fairly wide area of the available film for the actual sound, slightly reducing the horizontal space available for the image. The silent film negatives had a different aspect ratio. The DVD released a couple-few years ago (as part of a different box set) included only the Movietone version. If the official PR is to be believed, the Movietone version on this new disc has a 1:30 aspect ratio, and the Euro silent one is in 1:20.
I’m also happy to see City Girl (1930, with a 1:19 aspect ratio, thanks for asking) is included. Originally titled Our Daily Bread, Fox took control of it away from Murnau and re-edited it somewhat. He left the studio very soon after. Murnau’s original cut is, of course, lost so I’ve wanted to see the surviving version.
Dave Kehr recently gave this set a learned and positively elegiac review in the New York Times in “When Titans Roamed the Backlot at Fox” (Dec. 8, 2008): “Altogether, Murnau, Borzage and Fox represents the best that home video has to offer in quality, scholarship and enduring aesthetic interest; this is not a set that anyone will exhaust soon.”
Anyway, here’s the list, not including the scads of extras, commentaries, outtakes, mini-docs, and all that…
Murnau silents:
Sunrise (1927) (Movietone score version and European silent version)
The City Girl (1930)
Borzage silents:
Lazybones (1925)
Seventh Heaven (1928)
Street Angel (1928)
Lucky Star (1929)
Borzage talkies:
They Had to See Paris (1929)
Liliom (1930)
Song O’ My Heart (1930) (full sound version and music/effects version)
Bad Girl (1931)
After Tomorrow (1932)
Young America (1932)
(Thanks to the Bioscope blog’s post for the tip-off.)
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12.14.08
Posted in Cinema, Music, Online Video at 11:40 pm by Spencer
A dance sequence with some absolutely astonishing Lindy Hopping, from Hellzapoppin’ (Universal, 1941). Things really get rolling at about 2:40 min. into the clip.
No seriously, this totally kicks ass. Ya gotta see it.
If the Intermets aren’t failing me, the dance troupe are the Harlem Congaroo Dancers (aka Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers). Featured in the routine, in order, are:
- William Downes (overalls) and Frances “Mickey” Jones (maid)
- Norma Miller and Billy Ricker (chef’s hat)
- Al Minns (white coat, black pants) and Willa Mae Ricker
- Ann Johnson (maid) and Frankie Manning (overalls)
Read some more about Hellzapoppin’s “plot,” and check out some vintage poster art and blog-grabs.
I watched Hellzapoppin’ on DVD a couple years ago, stumbling across it one night at Scarecrow. (Forrest J Ackerman always used to refer to it in Famous Monsters of Filmland.) It’s like Airplane! meets low-budget 1930s movie musical. There’s some really pretty out-there stuff in it. If you Google it, you’ll find some grey-market DVD-Rs floating around.
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12.08.08
Posted in Experimental Film, Online Video, 16mm Film at 6:13 pm by Spencer
Thanatopsis (1962)
Becky Arnold and Mac Emshwiller
in a film by Ed Emshwiller
Sound design by Ed Emshwiller?
A powerful film that must be almost overwhelming when shown nice and big with a good sound system. And dig how early it is; anticipating industrial music and film/video by about 30-35 years.
More Ed Emshwiller
Screening Room with Ed Emshwiller (1975) 77 min.
Directed by Robert Gardner
Link offers video downloads for sale or rent
Ed Emshwiller appeared on [the weekly Boston TV program] Screening Room in July 1975 to screen and discuss the films Chrysalis, George Dumpson’s Place, Carol Emshwiller, Thanatopsis, Film With Three Dancers, Scape Mates, and Crossings and Meetings.
…Ed Emshwiller started out as an abstract expressionist painter and an award-winning science fiction illustrator before becoming a major figure in avant-garde cinema and the experimental film movement of the 1960s and ’70s. Eventually a highly respected video artist and dean at the School of Film/Video at the California Institute of the Arts, Emshwiller was always looking for ways to push the boundaries of film and video. He was a pioneer of computer-generated video and combining technology with art. Many of his films, including Relativity, Totem, Film with Three Dancers, and Thanatopsis received screenings and awards at New York, Cannes and other major film festivals worldwide.
…Screening Room was a 1970s Boston television series that for almost ten years offered independent filmmakers a chance to show and discuss their work on a commercial (ABC-TV) affiliate station. The series was developed and hosted by filmmaker Robert Gardner…who was Chairman of the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies and Director of the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard for many years.
This unique program dealt even-handedly with animation, documentary, and experimental film, welcoming such artists as Jan Lenica, John and Faith Hubley, Emile DeAntonio, Jean Rouch, Ricky Leacock, Jonas Mekas, Bruce Baillie, Yvonne Rainer and Michael Snow. Frequently, guests such as Octavio Paz, Stanley Cavell, and Rudolph Arnheim appeared as well.
Nearly 100 programs were produced during the years Screening Room was broadcast. Recently, The Museum of TV and Radio in New York City offered to copy the two-inch master tapes that had been given to the Film Study Center.
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Posted in Sci-Fi and Horror Flix, Online Video at 6:03 pm by Spencer
Jr. Star Trek (1969)
Produced and Directed by Peter Emshwiller
Starring
Peter Emshwiller: Capt. Kirk
Lee Lowenstein: Spock
Mark Hyams: Dr. McCoy
Dave Erits: Henry
Mark Harris: Sulu (and stunts)
John Bergison: Scotty
All: Aliens
Via YouTube, posted by the filmmaker.
Made by 10-year-old Peter and his friends using the 16mm sound camera of his dad — filmmaker, pioneering computer animator and video artist (videography) Hugo-winning science fiction illustrator and educator, Ed Emshwiller. Peter’s mother is science fiction author Carol Emshwiller.
Jr. Star Trek won WNET’s “Young People’s Filmmaking Contest,” was shown on national television, and is still shown at Star Trek conventions.
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Posted in Cinema, Cinema History, Sci-Fi and Horror Flix, Online Video at 3:20 pm by Spencer
Via YouTube:
“[In the] Summer of 1986 my old friend and then student Luis Pelayo and I ventured to the home of horror icon Forrest J Ackerman to shoot some footage to go with the appearance of 4SJ on Air Talk, a long running Pasadena City College radio program that we had recently developed as a live cable TV program.
“The program was entirely student produced under the auspices of a class taught by myself and Sharon Stephens.
“…Here are some surviving clips of the interview and the ‘tour’ of his home cum museum.”
– HauntedStudio
Another tour:
A Visit to the Ackermansion — Home video from 1998
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
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12.07.08
Posted in Cinema, Cinema History, Sci-Fi and Horror Flix at 10:39 pm by Spencer
Forrest J Ackerman
November 24, 1916 – December 4, 2008
I still remember the moment I first spotted Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine at a corner drugstore in Indianapolis, catercorner from the Glendale Shopping Mall. As a lonely horror and sci-fi movie nerd in the Midwest, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The writing was pretty dopey, even to my 10-year-old tastes, but all the amazing photos were pure mana. I rarely missed an issue for years after, and I started collecting back issues thanks to the prodigious stocks at the old Comic Carnival shop in Broad Ripple.
Like legions of others, Forry and his mag had a huge impact on me. Through it I started to learn about these great (and not-so-great) films, those who made them, and the whole history of what were then still largely dismissed genres. The info about special effects — still mostly mechanical then — led me to learn about movie technology. Many times I’d see an article or just a single tantalizing still about some obscure film, and off I’d go to the library to comb through the film books in the stacks trying to find out more about it. I can’t imagine how many hundreds of hours I must’ve spent in those stacks.
And it was because of this that I learned of the existence of the film branch of the public library in Indianapolis. In those pre-home video days they had an unimaginable treasure: hundreds of old films on Super 8, Regular 8, and 16mm. All you needed was a library card. My mom had a friend who owned a Super 8 projector, and got her to lend it — I borrowed it so much, she wound up just giving it to me. (And it was a really nice sound projector, too — thanks Katie! I kept it for many years, then gave it to a filmmaker.)
I first saw The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Metropolis, The Lost World, Vampyr, and dozens of other films on the wall of my bedroom, that projector clattering next to me. The library lent them for a week at a time, so I could run whole movies or selected reels over and over. Eventually I started having movie parties, usually on my birthday, subjecting my friends to four solid hours of movies at a time — two hours of shorts, an intermission, then a silent feature. Soon, after brow-beating my parents into buying me a cheap Super 8 camera, I started making my own movies (now all lost forever).
So in truth, it’s largely thanks to Forry that my love for cheesey horror and sci-fi flicks grew into something resembling scholarship about film in general, that I’ve continued to do film programming through the years, started collecting films, and today, as a pot-bellied guy entering middle age, actually get to project 35mm movies at my local cinematheque. His love for the art, his love for his fellow nerds, his playful spirit, and the fact that he managed to forge a life completely devoted to the thing he loved — even when most in the world thought it was worthless trash — were enormous and formative influences for me.
Thanks, Forry.
Famous Monsters of Filmland celebrated its 50th anniversary last month. Forrest J Ackerman (no period after the “J”, please) died quietly at 11:58pm on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008 at the age of 92.
Forrest J Ackerman interview video: A Life as a Fan (2007)
Excerpt from an interview transcribed for a Sept. 2007 “revival” of Thrilling Wonder Stories.
Watch more streaming video from the same interview.
Links
Obits: L.A. Times, NY Times, Time magazine, and The Guardian (UK)
AICN: “Forrest J Ackerman is gone… Dr. Acula has returned to the grave… & the Ackermonster is at peace…” — A remarkable euglogy by Harry Knowles which includes Ackerman’s own “In Contemplation of My Inevitable Demise,” written on Mother’s Day, 2003.
Wikipedia: Forrest J Ackerman
Some books edited and compiled by Forry — James A. Rock & Company, publishers (Rockville, MD)
Forrest J Ackerman MySpace page
Famous Monsters of Filmland cover gallery — all issues, 1958-present.
Famous Monsters of Filmland — official Web site (now owned by Phil Kim)
Filmland Classics — offers Famous Monsters reprints and other related collectibles
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11.16.08
Posted in Cinema, Music, Space is the Place, Avant Experiwhosis, Experimental Film, Online Video at 7:23 pm by Spencer
Calling Planet Earth (1986)
Video short by Bill Sebastian. Made at Mission Control, Boston. 13 min.
“Visuals performed by Bill Sebastian on the Outerspace Visual Communicator.”
Music by Sun Ra and his Arkestra: Ra-keyb, voc; Al Evans-tp; Fred Adams-tp; Tyrone Hill-tb; Marshall Allen-as; John Gilmore-ts; Danny Ray Thompson-bs; Eloe Omoe-bcl; James Jacson-bsn, perc; Bruce Edwards-eg; John Brown-d; June Tyson-voc. Dance, gesture, and Virtual Reality: Michael Ray, Barday, Eddie Thomas (Thomas Thaddeus), Atakatune.
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