1. "Black and White in Color": McSweeney's, via Walter Murch, republishes one of the first ever movie reviews by Maxim Gorky. (Hattip: jer fairall at the Film Freak Central blog)
["What follows is the astonishing outpouring of a great writer's first impressions on encountering a new medium. Maxim Gorky (1868–1936) saw a program of Lumière films at a Russian fair and published this article in a local paper a few days later, on July 4, 1896. It is written on a completely clear slate, by someone who had not already been taught how to regard the cinema by a thousand other writers, and the newness of it all leaps from the page. What is remarkable is Gorky's prescience in the last two paragraphs, as he leaps ahead from his description of the first films to speculation on what directions the cinema might eventually take, toward sex and violence. How did he know?"]
2. "New DVDs": Dave Kehr's DVD column focuses on What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? and Legend Films' Paramount collection (featuring Mandingo). At Dave's blog this occasions discussion of Richard Fleischer, along with a few musings on the recent Universal Studios fire.
[From Daryl Chin in the comments section: "The idea that the Universal archives has lost countless negatives and other materials is just heartbreaking. Of course, they’re trying to spin it, but i think that the situation is really dire. Already, programmers have been alerted that Universal titles that they have booked will not be available, and no one has been told when these titles will be back in circulation. Not meaning to be pessimistic, but it does seem as if the damage is more extensive than has been reported."]
3. "I like New York in June...": At 12 Grand in Checking, The Derelict calls for a "New York In The Movies Blog-a-thon."
["The rules are simple: write about New York and the movies. It can be anything, basically. Films actually shot in New York; films that take place in New York; famous New York filmmakers; famous New York locations; how cinema has affected our perceptions about New York; writers who came from New York to work in Hollywood; movies set in New York but shot in Toronto; actors/producers/composers/etc. who are from New York; other cities vs. New York; the state of things today when it comes to New York and the movies; the state of things in years past when it comes to New York and the movies; movies in or about the different neighborhoods and Burroughs; your most favorite/least favorite New York movie or scene; your impressions of the actual city vs. the Hollywood version of the city; etc. etc."]
4. Two Croce columns for the day: "Floating Metaphors" (on Flight of the Red Balloon, Redbelt, and Mister Lonely) and "Legends, Bedtime Stories" (on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull & Sex and the City).
["Gucci and stormy diarrhea, Vera Wang and shaggy cooches, Diane von Furstenberg and humping dogs. Maybe women and men are from the same planet, after all."]
5. "Lighthouse, presumed destroyed, found on opposite coast": A beacon found.
["Local historians for decades thought the 30-foot tall lighthouse that once overlooked Wellfleet Harbor had been taken down and destroyed in 1925. Turns out it had just been moved to the California coast. The fate of the cast-iron tower was uncovered last year by lighthouse researchers and reported by Colleen MacNeney in this month's edition of Lighthouse Digest."]
Quote of the Day: George Lichty and Fred Wagner
Image of the Day (click to enlarge): Are these an instrument of torture?
Clip of the Day: When will my bearded redneck prince come to sweep me off my feet?
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"Links for the Day": Each morning, the House editors post a series of weblinks that we think will spark discussion. Comments encouraged. Suggestions for links are also welcome. Please send to keithuhlich@gmail.com.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Links for the Day (June 5th, 2008)
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7 comments:
#1: That fascinating piece prompts me to confess a cinematic heresy I've long harbored: it's never made sense to me that audiences were startled enough to leave their seats by Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat. Even if you grant that the shock of a new medium disoriented them sufficiently to be so moved by what they knew to be a projection (and I'm not certain of that), the tracks clearly trailed off the lower left of the screen. Unless the first theater halls were much larger than I'm imagining, even a panicked viewer hysterically convinced that light and shadow were about to be made flesh would notice he was safely out of the path.
Though Gorky's admitted terror at the strangeness of viewing this desaturated, silent world has me reconsidering.
#2: While admiring Richard Fleischer's storytelling skills, I'm really not on board with the current efforts (see also Glenn Kenny) at upgrading him from admirably professional if somewhat hackish to overlooked auteur. Still, those who disagree should have at it.
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? deserves all the fresh looks it can get, however.
RE: Image of the day
I guess it depends on WHO's panties are used as the instrument of interrogation.
Rosie O'Donnel's? Yes, that's torture.
Trisha Helfer's? No, and where can I sign up to be questioned??
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OT, GREAT JOB RED WINGS!!!
Oh, I forgot...on the "bearded redneck prince" clip...
Master of illusion that "pro" wrestlers are, it looks like he's actually kissing the back of his hand not the reporter's mouth...which doesn't mean it hasn't caused her nightmares :)
Keith: I'm surprised at the tone of your panties comment, and at the tone of the MSNBC article. I'm a supporter of the war and have tended to think the panties element of Abu Ghraib was the least of the offenses there, although the situation clearly went beyond "panties on the head" and I don't support the treatment of those detainees.
However, you've been pretty consistently anti-war/anti-Bush on this blog, as have most of the commenters. I wouldn't think the tone of the text in the link, or the article itself, would be amusing to most readers.
As someone who often accuses "the other side" of being "humorless," it's odd to find myself tut-tutting someone else's approach to a serious matter.
#1: How were those 1909 color photos made? The Tolstoy one looks hand-colored, but the rest do not, certainly not the one of the woman!
Very interesting piece.
Nomi: there's a good overview of Prokudin-Gorksii's photographic technique here
and here
Anon: Thank you. Interesting -- at the time they could only be seen as color images when projected.
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