Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Aug 27th
Bicycle Thieves***  
(Ita 1948)         

A man and his eldest son search Rome for his stolen bicycle upon which depends his livelihood.
Poignant Italian neo-realist social drama, rather sentimental to look at now but beautifully humanely observed from many different angles of destitute post-war Italian life, with moments of Chaplin-like pathos and The Crowd-style power.

Written by: Cesare Zavattini, Suso D'Amico, Vittorio De Sica, Oreste Biancoli, Adolfo Franci, Gerardo Guerrieri, from the novel by Luigi Bartolini.
Producer: Giuseppe Amato.
Director: Vittorio De Sica.
Starring: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staida, Lianella Carell, Gino Saltamarenda, Vittorio Antonucci, Giulio Chiari, Elena Altieri.
Photography: Carlo Montuouri.
Music: Alessandro Cicognini.


Preceded by:
Bugs Bunny in
Rhapsody Rabbit**
(US 1946. 7m.; d: Friz Freleng; voices of Mel Blanc.)

RHAPSODY RABBIT. A zanier performance of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody than the superior Cat Concerto, which led to lawsuits and counter-suits between Warner Brothers and MGM for alleged plagiarism, but also offers an interesting comparison between the differing animation styles of the two studios. Several moments seem eerily similar to the Tom and Jerry classic.


Thursday, August 15, 2013

Haxan**

(The Witch)
aka: Witchcraft Through the Ages

(Firstsite, Colchester)

(Swe/Den 1922)
Svensk Filmindustri/Aljosha. 104m. bw silent

A semi-historical collection of tales of devilry and witchcraft in 7 parts, the director revelling in some of the depiction as well as supposedly debunking it. Rather ploddingly over-captioned for nearly every scene (in a polemic style similar to D.W. Griffith), and the closing modern segments don't convince, but still with some very arresting images. Not surprisingly it was considered a little racy for cinema audiences of the time, and was heavily censored (this is the restored version.)

Written and Directed by: Benjamin Christensen.
Starring (in no particular order): Elith Pio, John Andersen, Benjamin Christensen (as the devil, as well as briefly appearing as himself), Oscar Stribolt, Maren Pedersen, Clara Pontoppidan.
Photography: Johan Ankersjerne.
Editing: Edla Hansen.

Music: various classical.


Saturday, August 10, 2013

Count Dracula*

original title: Nachts Wenn Dracula Erwacht (Nights When Dracula Wakes)
aka: Bram Stoker's Count Dracula; The Nights of Dracula; Dracula 71; El Conde Dracula; and others

(Spa/WG/Ita/Liechtenstein 1970)

Cheap but spirited attempt to tell the faithful story of Stoker's original novel which begins well and has some stylish moments but takes inevitable short cuts with the plot, economically shot within the Gothic confines of sunny Spain. The star looks resolutely sour-faced and intense, and secretly perhaps just a little bored at playing the role yet again.

Written by: Augusto Finocchi, Jesus Franco, from the novel by Bram Stoker.
Producer: Harry Alan Towers.
Director: Jesus Franco.
Starring: Christopher Lee, Herbert Lom, Fred Williams, Klaus Kinski, Maria Rohm, Soledad Miranda, Paul Muller, Jack Taylor, Jesus Franco.
Photography: Manuel Merino, Luciano Trasatti.
Music: Bruno Nicolai.