reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (02/06/85)
In an effort to get some discussions going in this newsgroup, other than the
flurry of activity which occurs every time someone brings up a point of
physics in regard to a science fiction film, I'll try to bring up a topic
myself. Let's talk about obscure films. While we're at it, let's make it
good obscure films. When I'm talking about obscure films, I don't mean
"Buckeroo Banzai" or "Eraserhead". I'm talking hard core obscurity here,
films that you've seen which you suspect almost no one else (at least in
America) has. Stuff you catch at film festivals, or in university collections,
or on one week releases disguised as cheap exploitation films. The purpose
is to alert us fanatic filmgoers about movies we should be watching for.
If it only played briefly once, it's not likely to be around long any
subsequent times. While, cinematic omnivore that I am, I'm interested
in almost any curiosities out there, I'd say that good films are of more
general interest than mere oddities.
To start things off, I've listed a dozen films that I've seen that are
definitely worth looking for, and are definitely not easy to find. Some
are classics, some are just entertaining films. I recommend all of them.
"Tree of Knowledge"
This Danish film is almost certainly not an obscurity to those net folks
in the Scandanavian countries, but is completely unknown in the US. It's one of
the best films I've ever seen, and is definitely the best film about children
I've seen. Nils Malmros, the director, follows a group of adolescents as they
grow up. The story is fictional, but we see actual children growing up, as
the film was shot over a considerable period of time. The story concerns a
young girl who initially is very popular, but, for the kind of obscure reasons
only comprehensible to children, becomes almost an outcast. Malmros' insight
into childhood is extraordinary, making Speilberg's supposed rapport with
children look superficial and careless. This film, which has only been shown
publically 3 times in the US, to my knowledge, is not to be missed under any
circumstances.
"Beauty and the Beast"
This was the film that proved to me that Nils Malmros was not a fluke,
but a genuinely talented director. One or two more films of this quality and
I'll call him a genius. Not yet another version of the fairy tale, this Danish
film concerns a father who is upset by his young daughter's choice of
boyfriends. With the mother in the hospital, there is nothing to check his
combined feelings of paternal concern for his daughter's wellbeing and his
jealousy that she is no longer his alone. His overreaction causes more
damage than would have been done if he had just left things alone. Again,
Malmros' insight, this time into parents as well as children, is extraordinary.
Not as good as "Tree of Knowledge", but also not to be missed.
"The Saragossa Manuscript"
People sometimes ask me what the best film I've ever seen is. That's
a hard question that I don't have an answer for. I do know, however, what
my personal favorite film is, and it's "The Saragossa Manuscript". This
Polish fantasy-adventure is tremendously entertaining. It's got almost
everything: heroic adventurers, beautiful maidens, villains, knaves, wizards,
ghosts, demons, Arabian princesses, duels, battles, cuckolds, lovers, mysteries,
castles, caves, magic, and humor. Told in the manner of the Arabian Nights,
one story leads to another, like a set of Chinese boxes, one nested in the
another. No matter how many levels deep within stories you are, you can
expect to hear a character say, "Let me tell you a story." What's really
fascinating is when stories at different levels start interacting. Recursion
gone mad (which makes this the perfect movie for computer scientists). "The
Saragossa Manuscript" (in Polish and black and white, its only two potential
drawbacks) is shown about once a year in Los Angeles. I don't know if it's
ever been shown anywhere else in the US. Don't pass up any of the few
opportunities you may get to see this film.
"Raggedy Ann and Andy"
Now we leave the realm of unknown great films for unknown good
films. "Raggedy Ann and Andy" is a perfectly good animated film which
disappeared without trace upon release. It shows up occasionally on TV,
usually at times when only children are expected to be watching. The
animation isn't extraordinary, but it's good. There are some nice (if
not really special) songs. The characters and their adventures are
interesting. I particularly liked a gluttonous monster which is continuously
gobbling sweets and which sets it greedy eyes on Raggedy Ann's famous candy
heart. "Raggedy Ann and Andy" is several steps short of a classic, but it
certainly deserves more attention than it got.
"Heaven's Gate"
Before you all shout "What! Not that infamous flop!", wait a minute.
How many of you saw "Heaven's Gate"? Raise your hands high, it's hard to
see you over data communications lines... I thought so, almost none of you.
Well, "Heaven's Gate" probably received the most undeserved hatchet job
critics have ever given a film, at least since the French writers unanimously
dumped on Renoir's "Rules of the Game". "Heaven's Gate" isn't a masterpiece,
but it's a solid, entertaining piece of work. The performances by the
large and distinguished cast (Kris Kristofferson, Isabel Adjani, Sam Waterston,
Christopher Walken, Jeff Bridges, John Hurt, Brad Dourif, etc.) are all
first rate, in a few cases the best work the performers have ever done. The
film looks like it cost a lot, and is beautifully photographed. The action
sequences are very nicely done and quite exciting. The political position
is rather simple minded, but when has Hollywood been the bastion of political
evenhandedness? Given the chance (somewhat hard to come by), see "Heaven's
Gate", particularly if you can see the original, 3 1/2 hour version.
"Macbeth" (full length Orson Welles version)
Two versions exist of Orson Welles' "Macbeth": Welles' original cut
and what got released. The latter shows on late night TV every so often,
and isn't anything special. The former was recently (two years ago)
reconstructed by UCLA, and has been shown two or three times. What's the
difference? Well, besides about twenty minutes more footage overall and
the use of moderately heavy Scottish accents, the cutting of the Welles
version is radically different, and definitely better. The most obvious
example is the murder of Duncan. The release version is a fairly standard
way to shoot this. The original version is a single long take without
any cuts (but with *lots* of camera movement) that lasts as long as the
reel in the camera. (According to the story, there were about 10 feet or
so left in the magazine when Welles said "Cut".) Alfred Hitchcock tried
this sort of thing at great length in "Rope". Welles did it a lot better.
"Macbeth" was shot for Republic studios on a very low budget (Republic's
big star was John Wayne, and we have Republic to thank for the dubious
stardom of Vera Hruba Ralston.). It shows, but so does Welles' genius.
"Way Down East"
D.W. Griffith doesn't get shown too much. For that matter, silent
films in general get very little exposure, and most of what is shown is
Chaplin and Keaton. Silent films have an undeserved reputation for being
stiff and melodramatic, mostly among those whose exposure to them
has taken place exclusively in Shakey's Pizza Parlors. Well, "Way Down East"
*is* melodramatic, and even stiff in places. In other places, though, you
cannot deny the genius of the first master of the screen. Nowhere is this
more evident than in the incredible waterfall sequence. Lillian Gish (in
a superb performance) has passed out on an ice flow which breaks off from
the river bank and rushes towards a waterfall. Can Richard Barthelmess
leap from iceflow to iceflow to save Gish? Normally, this question should
really be posed in terms of their standins doing it in studio recreation of
a river. In this sequence, the real stars did most of it, and it was a real
river with real ice flows and a real waterfall. Gish's hand is really
trailing in the freezing water and Barthelmess really almost panics as he
barely manages to jump to the next ice flow. Over fifty years later, this
sequence is still one of the finest, most exciting action montages ever put on
film. The film containing it is a perfectly good little melodrama in its
own right.
"I Was Born, But..."
A splendid Japanese film from the 1930s. A pair of boys come to
grips with the realities of the adult world. They can dominate another boy,
but that boy's father is the boss of their father... An excellent film
about the compromises we must make while growing up, and a reminder that
there was a great deal more than the code of the samurai in pre-war Japan.
Fleischer cartoons: "Bimbo's Initiation", "Swing You Sinners", "Minnie the
Moocher", and "Snow White"
Max and Dave Fleischer surely must rank high in the pantheon of
surrealists. Their cartoons are bizarre and intensely imaginative. "Bimbo's
Initiation" is perhaps the closest thing to a D&D adventure I have seen on
screen, as Bimbo runs through a terrifying gauntlet of tests but remains
adamantly against joining a wierd secret society ("Wanna be a member? Wanna
be a member?" "No!"). "Swing You Sinners" finds Bimbo in a graveyard after
dark; the entire graveyard, walls, trees, tombstones, ghosts, and all, come to
get him. "Minnie the Moocher" has Betty Boop and Bimbo running away to a
haunted cave, where they encounter Cab Calloway rotoscoped as a spectral
walrus (a spectral walrus?!?) singing about Minnie and her coke fiend
boyfriend. "Snow White", predating the Disney version by five years or so,
is a lightning quick tour through the fairy tale culminating in Koko the
Clown being transformed into a long legged ghost and, in Cab Calloway's
voice, singing "Saint James Infirmary". These cartoons make sense in a
nightmarish way, but have the feel of only being fully comprehensible to
those at least slightly mad. Any or all of these are worth going out of
your way to see, and are worth the price of admission even if what they're
showing with is a turkey.
"The Southerner"
If you've seen any of the recent farm movies, try to see "The
Southerner" and watch Jean Renoir blow them all away. No film before or
since has better portrayed the life of a farmer on the edge, his trials
and his joys. Zachary Scott, whose career rapidly went downhill, is
absolutely superb in the lead. Renoir was asked how he could possibly
know so much about the character of American Southern farmers. He said that
he knew nothing of the American South, but that he knew peasants intimately,
and that their plights were little different from France to Alabama.
Renoir was responsible for four or five absolute masterpieces and a dozen
or so great films. "The Southerner", almost never shown, is one of the
masterpieces.
"Vampyr"
Almost any Carl Dreyer film turns out to be obscure. "Day of Wrath"
has shown twice in LA in six years, "The Passion of Joan of Arc" once,
"Ordet" once, "Gertrude" once, and "Vampyr" once. "Vampyr" isn't the best
of these, but I have reason to beleive it is the rarest. Almost a silent
film, "Vampyr" is an eerie, unsettling film unwinding in the atmosphere of a
fever dream. Repetitious, puzzling, irritating, fascinating.
"Alice in the Cities"
Wim Wenders is a picaresque artist in the classic sense. His
characters are always travelling somewhere, and it is the trip itself,
not the destination or the purpose that is important. There are two trips
in "Alice in the Cities". First, Rudiger Vogler travels across some of the
less prepossessing parts of America on an abortive photojournalistic quest.
Then, returning to Europe, he is left in possession of a little girl who
he must take to her grandmother. But she only remembers the vaguest details
about where her grandmother lives. Vogler and the girl travel from city to
city in Germany, seeking the exact house Alice remembers. A very satisfying
film.
Well, there are twelve rather obscure films, counting the Fleischer cartoons
as one. I personally know only two other people who have seen any of these,
to my knowledge. (I've had net correspondence with another fan of "Heaven's
Gate", as well.) I'm interested in hearing other people's opinions of these
films, if they've seen them, but more interested in hearing about other obscure
pictures I should watch for. Speak up, net!
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reihersrt@ucla-cs.UUCP (02/06/85)
Apparently the judge in the John Landis "Twilight Zone" hearing is a film buff. He eluded to "Way Down East" in his trial decision. Something to the effect that it was insane to risk Lillian Gish's life for a movie many years ago, and it still is today. -- Scott
ian@loral.UUCP (Ian Kaplan) (02/08/85)
I am a fan of Japanese Samurai films. I am not refering to the sex-steel
and blood films, but the well done movies by Inagaki and Kirasowa.
Considering what I may have just done to the names of these great men, I
should appologize in advance for my misspelling of Japanese names and
words. All I can hope is the words and names are spelled phonetically.
Japanese films are not really obscure, but if Peter Reiher can include
Heaven's Gate in his list they seem fair game.
Chushingura
Again let me appologize for what is probably a mispelling of the name.
Chushingura is about a Japanese Lord named Asano who is given the duty
of entertaining the Emperor's envoy when he travels through that part of
Japan. This is considered both a great honor and a great
responsibility. The proper forms must be followed or Asano will be
dishonored. To aid Asano in his duty the Shogun sends his Chamberlain
who is versed in the proper forms.
The Chamberlain expects Asano to pay him a bribe for the information he
will need to entertain the Emperor's envoy properly. Asano refuses to
pay this bribe, since to do so runs counter to the Samurai code of
honor. The Chamberlain must perform his duty however, since the Shogun
has entrusted him with the task of making sure that things go well
during the visit. In revenge the Chamberlain bates Asano and repeatedly
insults him. Finally, when the Emperor's envoy has arrived, he bates
Asano past all endurance. Asano draws his sword and attacks the
Chamberlain. Although he wounds him, Asano does not kill him. In
attacking the Chamberlain Asano has commited the capitol offence of
drawing a sword in the presance of the envoy. The Shogun forces
Asano to commit Supuko (ritual suicide). As a result
of Asano's "crime" all of his vassals are made Ronin (masterless
samurai). The rest of the movie concerns the plot by Asano's retainers
to fulfill their obligation to avenge Asano's death, since the
Chamberlain still lives.
Chushingura is a fantastic movie. It is well filmed and the acting is
good. The story is complex however and I found that I had to
see the movie twice before I really understood what was going on. This
story is also know as "The Forty-Seven Ronin".
The Samurai Trilogy
This is a set of three movies which cover the career of Musahi Miamoto,
who is most famous in the US for having written "The Book of Three
Rings". Musahi is reputed to have been the greatest swordsman in
Japanese history. The Samurai Trilogy follows Musahi's career from his
start as a country bumpkin to his last climatic duel.
Ian Kaplan
Loral Data Flow Group
Loral Instrumentation
(619) 560-5888 x4812
USENET: {ucbvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!sdcc6!loral!ian
ARPA: sdcc6!loral!ian@UCSD
USPS: 8401 Aero Dr. San Diego, CA 92123jcjeff@ihlpg.UUCP (jeffreys) (02/08/85)
> > "Heaven's Gate" > Before you all shout "What! Not that infamous flop!", wait a minute. > How many of you saw "Heaven's Gate"? Raise your hands high, it's hard to > see you over data communications lines... I thought so, almost none of you. > Well, "Heaven's Gate" probably received the most undeserved hatchet job > critics have ever given a film, at least since the French writers > unanimously dumped on Renoir's "Rules of the Game". "Heaven's Gate" isn't a > masterpiece, but it's a solid, entertaining piece of work. The > performances by the large and distinguished cast (Kris Kristofferson, Isabel > Adjani, Sam Waterston, Christopher Walken, Jeff Bridges, John Hurt, Brad > Dourif, etc.) are all first rate, in a few cases the best work the > performers have ever done. The film looks like it cost a lot, and is > beautifully photographed. The action sequences are very nicely done and > quite exciting. The political position is rather simple minded, but when > has Hollywood been the bastion of political evenhandedness? Given the > chance (somewhat hard to come by), see "Heaven's Gate", particularly if > you can see the original, 3 1/2 hour version. > Peter Reiher > reiher@ucla-cs.arpa > {...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher I thought the 3 1/2 hour was excelent. I had the chance to see it a few months ago on The Movie Channel. I had heard that the longer version of the film was far superior than the hacked version before I came here, and when I spotted the film in the tv listings, made damn sure I wasn't going to miss it. -- [ You called all the way from America - Joan Armatrading ] [ You're never alone with a rubber duck - Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ || From the keys of Richard Jeffreys ( British Citizen Overseas ) || || @ AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, Illinois || ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ || General disclamer about anything and everything that I may have typed. || ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
leeper@ahuta.UUCP (m.leeper) (02/10/85)
REFERENCES: <3744@ucla-cs.ARPA> >I'm talking hard core obscurity here, films that you've seen >which you suspect almost no one else (at least in America) >has. Stuff you catch at film festivals, or in university >collections, or on one week releases disguised as cheap >exploitation films. Stuff that is unavailable where most people live, unfortunately. My best access to obscure films, without a day long trek to NYC, is PBS and they have not shown as much of late as they used to. I went into the city to see an uncut THE LEOPARD, which was decent but flawed so I won't include it in this discussion, but rarely have high enough expectation on a rare film (other than a genre film of some sort; I do go in to see films like WICKER MAN, LAST WAVE, CHUSHINGURA) to really go after it. > >"Heaven's Gate" This is a good substantial film about a young West without being a Western. The critics seem to either love it or hate it and like with many such films, I find myself liking it, so I am somewhere in-between. Portions are over-done for the sake of tone. I was not fond of the long roller-skating scene. I would hate to see someone edit it down without the director's say so, but I think this one scene was carried too long. I would give it a +2 on the CFQ scale. > >"I Was Born, But..." >...An excellent film about the compromises we >must make while growing up, and a reminder that there was a >great deal more than the code of the samurai in pre-war >Japan. How often do we in this country get to see a Japanese film without a monster or a samurai (or other historical warrior--GATE OF HELL was, I guess, set before the samurai period)? I liked IKIRU a lot, but it may be the only film from that country that I have had a chance to see that does not fall into the above categories. Of course, there are some very fine films that at least superficially are monster or samurai films, UGETSU and ONIBA are technically ghost stories, but then so is HAMLET. SEPPUKU is quite good for the parts that do not include the samurai story. > >"Vampyr" > Almost any Carl Dreyer film turns out to be obscure. Most people don't care for his pacing. I don't remember a lot of this film, but that it was a little slow and that there was an effective scene in a mill with flour falling on everything like dust. I remember a lot of facial expression from PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC. As for obscure film that I have liked, it isn't hard if you let me go back to the German Expressionist period. Murnau's FAUST has some silliness, but also a very effective image of the Devil spreading his cape over a town. Also WARNING SHADOWS and DESTINY. (Not to mention a host of less obscure films like CABINET OF CALIGARI, THE GOLEM, NOSFERATU, M, METROPOLIS). As a science fiction fan I really like Satyajit Ray's DISTANT THUNDER--not that it itself is science fiction. It is a true story about how famine came to a village and how it affected people's relationships. There has been a lot of science fiction on the same subject. I should be able to think of more, but not a whole lot comes to mind. It is easy to think of lot's of obscure films that are good as science fiction or fantasy films but not that many that are good on an absolute scale. Mark Leeper ...ihnp4!ahuta!leeper (new electronic address)
wombat@ccvaxa.UUCP (02/10/85)
On obscure films: If you liked *Local Hero*, look for *The Apple War*. It has some of the same feel, but is more whimsical and fantastical. We came in in the middle of it at a science fiction convention. It was Swedish, and was about a plot by bureaucrats to turn a village into "Deutch-neyland". The villagers are assisted by a friendly giant. Someday I want to see the whole thing from the beginning. "When you are about to die, a wombat is better than no company at all." Roger Zelazney, *Doorways in the Sand* Wombat ihnp4!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!wombat
del@wuphys.UUCP (Dave de Lake) (02/12/85)
> REFERENCES: <3744@ucla-cs.ARPA> > > >I'm talking hard core obscurity here, films that you've seen > >which you suspect almost no one else (at least in America) > >has. Stuff you catch at film festivals, or in university > >collections, or on one week releases disguised as cheap > >exploitation films. > > Stuff that is unavailable where most people live, unfortunately. My > best access to obscure films, without a day long trek to NYC, is PBS > and they have not shown as much of late as they used to. I went > into the city to see an uncut THE LEOPARD, which was decent but flawed > so I won't include it in this discussion, but rarely have high enough > expectation on a rare film (other than a genre film of some sort; I do > go in to see films like WICKER MAN, LAST WAVE, CHUSHINGURA) to > really go after it. > What about "Dersu Ursela"? Has that made it to the U.S. It is a fantastic Soviet film with good direction and great scenery of Siberia. I saw it in Denmark with Danish subtitles. From what I could understand of it, the plot seemed a bit too intellectual and subtle to be popular or ever even be shown in the U.S., although I wouldn't be suprised if it made it to NYC or LA (...of all the least intellectual places....) Dave @Compton Sanitarium
pumphrey@ttidcb.UUCP (Larry Pumphrey) (02/15/85)
> What about "Dersu Ursela"? Has that made it to the > U.S. It is a fantastic Soviet film with good direction > and great scenery of Siberia. I saw it in Denmark Yes, I saw this film around 5 years ago here in LA. At that time, it was shown with English subtitles. The reason that you gave the film high marks in direction is that it was made by Kurosawa (Samarai trilogy, etc.) This film was a joint effort from Japan and Russia which was unusual in consideration of the long standing enmity of these 2 nations toward each other. As I recall, the fellow who played the role of Dersu was actually from Mongolia. Larry @Citicorp TTI, Santa Monica, CA
reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (02/16/85)
>What about "Dersu Ursela"? Has that made it to the >U.S. It is a fantastic Soviet film with good direction >and great scenery of Siberia. I saw it in Denmark >with Danish subtitles. From what I could understand of >it, the plot seemed a bit too intellectual and subtle to be popular or >ever even be shown in the U.S., although I wouldn't be >suprised if it made it to NYC or LA (...of all the >least intellectual places....) > > > Dave > @Compton Sanitarium "Dersu Uzala", a Soviet/Japanese coproduction, received the usual treatment for quality foreign films in the US. It was released in cities only, and probably not in some smaller cities. In all but the largest cities, it probably played one to four weeks, then disappeared never to be seen again. In cities like LA and NY, it probably played off and on for months at various places, and is a semiregular at revival houses (showing up five or six times a year in LA, for instance). If memory serves, it was nominated for an Acadamy Award for best foreign picture about five years ago, and did not win. "Dersu Uzala" is directed by Akira Kurosawa; the best bet is to see it in an Kurosawa film program. I liked it, too. -- Peter Reiher reiher@ucla-cs.arpa {...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher
wong@rtech.ARPA (J. Wong) (02/16/85)
All the movies mentioned, THE LEOPARD, WICKER MAN, LAST WAVE, CHUSHINGURA, show up occassionally in the reporatory houses in most large cities in the US. DERSU UZULA seems to show up every four months or so, which is fairly frequent as these things go. -- J. Wong ucbvax!mtxinu!rtech!wong **************************************************************** You start a conversation, you can't even finish it. You're talking alot, but you're not saying anything. When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed. Say something once, why say it again. - David Byrne ****************************************************************
briand@tekig1.UUCP (Brian Diehm) (02/18/85)
> If you liked *Local Hero*, look for *The Apple War*. It has some of the same > feel, but is more whimsical and fantastical. We came in in the middle of it > at a science fiction convention. It was Swedish, and was about a plot by > bureaucrats to turn a village into "Deutch-neyland". The villagers are > assisted by a friendly giant. Someday I want to see the whole thing from the > beginning. Wow! I have been watching this net for over a year to see if anyone else was EVER going to mention *The Apple War*. It is DEFINITELY a great movie, and it is too bad it hasn't gotten wider play. The Duetchneyland plot was hatched by a big fat stereotype of a German developer. The villagers are assisted by a local girl. With powers. However, you're halfway into the movie before you realize that you've been accepting these "powers" without question. Eventually the entire Norse panoply of Valhalla is called in to assist - it might help but isn't necessary to understand a little Norse mythology. The movie is played light and airy. It is "uplifting" without being sappy. The folk music is great. The humor is bizarre, slapstick, tender, and not heavyhanded. It is the VERY BEST kind of fantasy, and makes things like *Wizards* or Tolkien adaptations seem like they're trying too hard. Let me put it this way - if I could find a videotape of this movie, I'd not only purchase the tape, I'd purchase a VCR to play it on too! If it ever comes to your local revival house, SEE IT! -Brian Diehm Tektronix, Inc.
seltzer@lebeef.DEC (02/18/85)
Dersu Uzala was recently on Bravo (Cable). I recorded it (Beta VCR). It wasn't anywhere near as good as I had been led to believe. I guess you'd have to see it on a big screen to get the full effect of the photography. On television, despite my strong desire to watch it and enjoy it (I had written an historical novel set in that part of the world at that same c. 1900 period -- The Name of Hero), I found myself drifting off to sleep. Technically, the thing that struck me the most was that this film by a Japanese director was done totally in Russian (presumably for authenticity). Richard Seltzer decvax or ihnp4!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-hubie!kreidler
steven@ism70.UUCP (02/21/85)
Artsy Fartsy Criticism from Mr. Box Office: Re: The roller skating sequence in _H_e_a_v_e_n_'_s_ _G_a_t_e going on too long. The roller skating sequence is critical to the film's symbolism. First symbol is that the sequence goes to sepia color to give a feeling of nostalgia. The audience is supposed to connect the rolling and dancing on the rink with the lawn waltzing sequence earlier at Harvard. Kris Kristofferson dances with the common people in the Heaven's Gate rink just the way he did among the priveleged classes. Kristofferson is the one who feels nostalgic about his past happiness coming to an end. After the roller skating sequence, Kristofferson and Isabelle Huppert talk about getting out of the area before everything goes to hell. He says he has to stay. He's not gonna run away again.
mgh@hou5h.UUCP (Marcus Hand) (02/22/85)
I saw a movie a few years back which starred and I thought was directed by Roman Polanski. My recollection is that the film was called "What" and that it took place in the Rivierra (French or Italian). The plot revolved around the eccentricities of the residents of a large villa to which the heroine (victim?) of the film escapes after being picked up and molested by two young men. As the movie progresses it becomes more and more apparent that this is a sanctuary for sexual deviants. Does anybody know if this movie was released under a different name? I'm left with an image of Roman Polanski padding around in trunks and fins carrying a harpoon gun, lisping, "I call this my stinger -- you think its something sexual, don't you? Well it is!" -- Marcus Hand (hou5h!mgh)
citrin@ucbvax.ARPA (Wayne Citrin) (02/22/85)
THE PARKING PROBLEM IN PARIS: Jean-Luc Godard 1971 7 hours 18 min. Godard's meditation on the topic has been described as everything from "timeless" to "endless." (Remade by Gene Wilder as NO PLACE TO PARK.) INCONSEQUENCE: D.W. Griffith 1919 3 hours 5 min. Bloated script and indifferent acting have tended to obscure the eloquence of Griffith's central theme, a call for resistance to race mixing and the exclusion of "inferior" eastern and southern European immigrants. Watch for a young Stan Laurel as an Italian peasant. With Lillian Gish. RHINOPLASTY MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER: Mayles Brothers 1975 1 hour 50 min. The cinema verite technique has never been as effective as in this documentary examining the motivations of men and women undergoing cosmetic surgery. O.E.D.: David Lean 1969 3 hours 30 min. Lean's version of the Oxford Dictionary has been accused of shallowness in its treatment of a complete work. Omar Sharif tends to overact as aardvark, but Alec Guiness is solid in the role of abbacy. As usual, the photography is stunning. With Julie Christie. SUSHI-DO: Akira Kurasawa 1948 1 hour 55 min. One of Kurasawa's earliest samurai epics examines the fate of a masterless Ronin, who becomes a chef and must adjust his code of behavior to match his new station. With Toshiro Mifune. TRACTORS AGAINST TEUTONS: Sergei Eisenstein 1936 2 hours 5 min. Eisenstein made this film in an attempt to please Stalin. It relates the story of 15th century Russian factory workers' struggle to increase tractor production for defense against the invading Teutonic Knights. The film closely parallels the later ALEXANDER NEVSKY, particularly in the climactic battle on the ice. With Boris Badanov and Natasha Fatale. (Sorry, but I just had to post these. They were dreamed up by my friend Stuart Sechrest.) Wayne Citrin (ucbvax!citrin)