reiher%UCLA-CS@sri-unix.UUCP (02/06/84)
From: Peter Reiher <reiher@UCLA-CS> People have been suggesting their favorite sf movies. I'd like to tell you about a couple of extremely interesting fantasy movies. Both are foreign, and subtitled, but don't let that put you off. I feel almost compelled to tell people about these films, even though the chances that they will ever get to see them are slim. One of them plays about one night a year in Los Angeles, and perhaps occasionally in cities like New York and San Francisco. The other plays almost nowhere, for reasons which will be made clear. Should you have any influence with convention film schedulers, I strongly recommend the first, at least. First, one of my favorite films of all time, "The Saragossa Manuscript". It's a Polish film, based on a collection of Polish stories. The film concerns a young Polish nobleman of the mid-18th century. Receiving an appointment as an officer in a Spanish calvalry regiment, he makes the mistake (?) of taking a shortcut through a notoriously haunted region of Spain. After a bizarre night in a haunted inn, he meets a hermit who tells him a strange story. Then he meets another traveller who tells him a strange story. Soon a gypsy is telling a strange story, in which someone tells a strange story, in which someone tells a strange story... The fun really begins when the layered stories start to interact. (The recursion fans among us should be particularly amused). The film is loads of fun, with battles, duels, rogues, intrigue, romance, almost everything you could want. I never miss a chance to see it. The only drawbacks is that the film is in black and white, when it really should be in color, and that it is in Polish, with subtitles. A truly audacious film, not at all the dour social realism one expects out of Poland. The other is a German film called "Munchausen", a version of the legends of the famous German liar. His fantastic stories include riding a cannonball; a trip to the moon; a servant who can run from Constantinople to Vienna, and back, in an hour, with time for a nap on the way; a ring of invisibility; and more. The film is in very attractive technicolor, and, unlike most German films, is handled with a very light touch. Over all, it compares well with "The Thief of Baghdad", though its effects are a little weaker. There is only one little problem: it was made in 1943. There is absolutely no trace of Nazi philosophy in the film, or militarism, or racial hatred, or even Teutonic/Nazi paraphenalia, though there is a "modern" section which would have allowed plenty of room for it. None the less, it is a relic of the Nazi period. As a result, it is almost never shown anywhere. Whether or not this is the correct policy to take with Nazi art is an interesting question. Students of film and sf/fantasy film completests are advised to watch carefully for it, for it won't screen long, or often. Peter Reiher reiher@ucla-cs