What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Wes

The Informer (1935) This was a real discovery, about an ex-IRA man who suffers a dark night of soul on the streets of Dublin after informing on a comrade for thirty pieces of silver (or twenty pounds). This is John Ford as German expressionist, the threadbare sets were given a surreal otherworldly complexion by Joseph August’s camerawork, all shadows and fog, and clearly a forerunner for what would become film noir. Orson Welles famously said that before he embarked on Citizen Kane, he ran Stagecoach over and over again to learn the basics of film making but I suspect Welles and Kane cameraman Greg Toland must have had The Informer in mind as well…

I have this in a box set with Wagonmaster, Mary of the Scots and The Fugitive.

Whilst i thought they were all ok, ok was as far as it got really. It seemed to me that Ford was searching for an identity that he would fully grasp with Stagecoach and then go onto greater things.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

I like the story about Orson Welles turning up on the set of Citizen Kane without much of an idea what to do, so Gregg Toland made him go away and watch Stagecoach. Welles did just that and came back the next day (I think) and rewrote accepted cinematic grammar.

[Wes]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I have this in a box set with Wagonmaster, Mary of the Scots and The Fugitive.

Whilst i thought they were all ok, ok was as far as it got really. It seemed to me that Ford was searching for an identity that he would fully grasp with Stagecoach and then go onto greater things.

I think so too... I mean I imagine Ford was just given assignments by the studio during this era (although I think he asked for The Informer) - Mary of the Scots is definitely an odd one out. I must pick up the Blu of Man Who Shot Liberty Valence in the next few days. I'd say the stories of Ford being a monster on set are largely true...

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Wes

I think so too... I mean I imagine Ford was just given assignments by the studio during this era (although I think he asked for The Informer) - Mary of the Scots is definitely an odd one out. I must pick up the Blu of Man Who Shot Liberty Valence in the next few days. I'd say the stories of Ford being a monster on set are largely true...

That would be why he worked with John Wayne so much. Their personalities were both huge and probably reeled each other in from going totally OTT.

I guess the book will confirm or deny this though.

[Demoncrat]

Linda (1981, Jess Fanco) Sleaze abounds in this tale of siblings gone awry and redemption (really?). If you have the Kinks song Two Sisters, tells you all you need to know haha.

Witch Who Came In From The Sea (Matt Cimber, 1976) Like Ms 45, if Mike Leigh had directed it , this rather flat and torrid (great trick to pull off) tale of recovered memories and revenge was well worth the wait, recommended! Though to whom, I'm nae sure....

What Have They Done To Your Daughters? (1974, Massimo Dallamando) Ferman would have had kittens with this one. Nasty. Little. Film. Must get the Shameless release as this was a fairly poor print cough cough.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Wes

I think so too... I mean I imagine Ford was just given assignments by the studio during this era (although I think he asked for The Informer) - Mary of the Scots is definitely an odd one out. I must pick up the Blu of Man Who Shot Liberty Valence in the next few days. I'd say the stories of Ford being a monster on set are largely true...

Do you have The Iron Horse Masters of Cinema BD? It's an excellent silent epic by John Ford and the Eureka release is superb.

[Hawkmonger]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

Witch Who Came In From The Sea (Matt Cimber, 1976) Like Ms 45, if Mike Leigh had directed it , this rather flat and torrid (great trick to pull off) tale of recovered memories and revenge was well worth the wait, recommended! Though to whom, I'm nae sure....

What Have They Done To Your Daughters? (1974, Massimo Dallamando) Ferman would have had kittens with this one. Nasty. Little. Film. Must get the Shameless release as this was a fairly poor print cough cough.

Love the imagery in WwcftS. I can understand why some tight think it trite and overbearing, but I think it's a smashing little film and a HD master would be greatly appreciated.

WhtdtyD is also a masterpiece in sleaze. genuinely unsettling to watch and I love it very much.

[Wes]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

Do you have The Iron Horse Masters of Cinema BD? It's an excellent silent epic by John Ford and the Eureka release is superb.

I sure do Nos, and I revisited it a few weeks ago (on the back of Ken Burns' monumental series The West). Incredible film. The Criterion Stagecoach comes with another Ford Silent as an extra, this one a short 4-reeler so must grab a screening of that as well...

[keirarts]

BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE.


Damn, I don't watch this for a while and ALMOST forget how good this film is. I shan't bother with a synopsis for a film i'm betting everyone here has seen, suffice to say it was as thrilling to watch the good quality VCI blu-ray as the first time i'd seen it. The supurb soundtrack, excellent editing and cinematography and the genuinely suspenseful scenes (the 'yellow raincoats' the scene with suzy kendall being terrorized and the climactic scene in the killers apartment are all standouts) It's almost impossible to equate this standout piece of cinema with the same filmmaker that delivered sub-standard dross like Dracula 3d and Giallo. I'm thinking I need to get back to the old days where I watched this film once every six months or so and i'm definately feeling in the mood to start an Argento marathon sometime soon.

[keirarts]

Just to say is it wrong to actually get high from a film?

Sounds weird but my heads still buzzing from BIRD...