Cahiers du Cinema recommendations
Robert Keser
rec.arts.movies.international.
The comments are his and the lists are very interesting.
--Bob Keser
"Back in Dec. 1993 Cahiers du Cinema published a special issue with
essays
on 100 videos for a home video collection. This December it published a
special issue with essays on favorite DVD's. It's not intended as a best
of all
time list but as a list of personal favorites. There are a few eccentric
choices, many recent films, many American films, very few films from the
1930's and
1940's. Between the video list and this DVD list, Stanley Kubrick is
well
represented, with five films. Verhoeven, Michael Powell, Suzuki, and
Wakamatsu show up on the list; I suspect their critical stature has
risen
a lot over the past decade."
Here are the DVD's listed:
The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese, 1993)
Akira (Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988)
All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk, 1955)
An Affair to Remember (Leo McCarey, 1957)
Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959)
Angel Face (Otto Preminger, 1953)
As Good As It Gets (James L. Brooks, 1998)
L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)
Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975)
Big Trouble in Little China (John Carpenter, 1986)
Black Sabbath (Mario Bava, 1963)
Branded to Kill (Seijun Suzuki, 1967)
Can't Hardly Wait (Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, 1998)
Carlito's Way (Brian de Palma, 1994)
Cast Away (Robert Zemeckis, 2000)
Charlie's Angels (Mc G, 2000)
L'Integrale des court-metrages (Complete short films, 1917-1923) (Arte
Video)
(Buster Keaton)
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (John McTiernan, 1995)
Dirty Harry (Don Siegel, 1971)
Don't Look Back (D.A. Pennebaker, 1967)
Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1963)
Dressed to Kill (Brian de Palma, 1980)
El (Luis Bunuel, 1952)
Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)
Fait divers (News Items); Urgences; Delits flagrants (Caught in the
Act);
New York, N.Y.; Ten Minutes of Silence for John Lennon (Raymond
Depardon)
Faites l'amour avec Clara Morgane (Fred Coppula, 2001)
Fantomas (Louis Feuillade, 1913)
La femme infidele (The Unfaithful Wife) (Chabrol, 1968)
Foolish Wives (Erich von Stroheim, 1922)
The Godfather; The Godfather: Part II; The Godfather: Part III
(Francis Ford Coppola, 1972, 1974, 1990)
Go, Go Second Time Virigin (Koji Wakamatsu, 1969)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966)
The Great Silence (Sergio Corbucci, 1966)
Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)
High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, 2000)
Hollow Man (Paul Verhoeven, 1999)
I Walked With a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)
In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
Jawbreaker (Darren Stein, 1999)
Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954)
The Killer (John Woo, 1989)
The Last Laugh (Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1924)
Le magie Melies (Artes Videos) (15 short films) (Georges Melies)
The Man from Laramie (Anthony Mann, 1955)
Man on the Moon (Milos Forman, 2000)
Marnie (Alfred Hitchcock, 1964)
Monsier Hulot's Holiday (Jacques Tati, 1953)
The Music Room (Satyajit Ray, 1958)
Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922)
Ordet (Carl Dreyer, 1954)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975)
The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952)
The Red Shoes (Michael Powell, 1948)
Safe (Todd Haynes, 1995)
Scarface (Brian de Palma, 1983)
Shoah (Claude Lanzmann, 1985)
Shoot the Piano Player (Francois Truffaut, 1960)
Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Walt Disney, 1937)
Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960)
Splendor in the Grass (Elia Kazan, 1961)
Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951)
Teorema (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1973)
The Thing from Another World (Howard Hawks and Christian Nyby, 1951)
Time and Tide (Tsui Hark, 1999)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (David Lynch, 1992)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)
Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)
Western (Manuel Poirier, 1999)
Here's the 1993 "100 films for a home videotheque" list:
2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
36 Fillette (Catherine Breillat, 1988)
55 Days at Peking (Nicholas Ray, 1963)
A Nos Amours (Maurice Pialat, 1983)
The Abyss. Director's cut. (James Cameron, 1993)
L'Acrobate. (Jean-Daniel Pollet, 1976)
Adieu Philippine (Jacques Rozier, 1963)
An Affair to Remember (Leo McCarey, 1957)
L'Amore (Roberto Rossellini, 1947)
Alger le Blanche (Cyril Collard, 1985)
L'Amour a Mort (Alain Resnais, 1984)
Angele (Marcel Pagnol, 1934)
Annie Hall (Woody Allen 1977)
At Close Range (James Foley, 1986)
The Aviator's Wife (Eric Rohmer, 1981)
La Belle Noiseuse - Divertimento (Jacques Rivette, 1991)
Beware of a Holy Whore (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1970)
The Birth of a Nation (David Wark Griffith, 1915)
The Blood of a Poet (Jean Cocteau, 1930)
Blood Simple (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1984)
Blow Up (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1967)
The Blues Brothers (John Landis, 1980)
Bonne Chance (Sacha Guitry, 1935)
Les Camisards (Rene Allio, 1971)
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
Contempt (Le Mepris) (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)
Court Circuits (Patrick Grandperret, 1980)
The Cry of the Owl (Le Cri de Hibou) (Claude Chabrol, 1987)
A Day in the Country (Partie de Campagne) (Jean Renoir, 1946)
Day of Wrath (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1943)
The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, 1979)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Bunuel, 1972)
Don't Touch the White Woman! (Marco Ferreri, 1974)
Dust in the Wind (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1986)
Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990)
Empire of the Senses (Nagisa Oshima, 1976)
Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982)
The Finger Man (Le Doulos) (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1963)
The Fire Within (Le Feu Follet) (Louis Malle, 1963)
French Cancan (Jean Renoir, 1954)
The Girl Can't Help It (Frank Tashlin, 1956)
The Great Flamarion (Anthony Mann, 1945)
The Greatest Show on Earth (Cecil B. DeMille, 1953)
Grisbi (Touchez Pas au Grisbi) (Jacques Becker, 1953)
Hi, Mom! (Brian de Palma, 1970)
His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1939)
India Song (Marguerite Duras, 1975)
Innerspace (Joe Dante, 1987)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956)
The Invisible Man (James Whale, 1933)
It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934)
It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)
Jules and Jim (Francois Truffaut, 1961)
A King in New York (Charles Chaplin, 1957)
Leather Dreams (Francis Leroi, 1992)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (Kenji Misumi, 1972)
Lumiere d'Ete (Jean Gremillon, 1942)
Man With a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1961)
Me (L'Enfance Nue) (Maurice Pialat, 1968)
Melo (Alain Resnais, 1986)
Merlusse (Marcel Pagnol, 1935)
Monsieur Verdoux (Charles Chaplin, 1944-1946)
Mr. Arkadin (Confidential Report) (Orson Welles, 1955)
Ms. 45 (Abel Ferrara, 1982)
Muriel (Alain Resnais, 1962)
My Beautiful Laundrette (Stephen Frears, 1986)
My Fair Lady (George Cukor, 1964)
The New One-Armed Swordsman (Chang Cheh, 1971)
North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
Number Seventeen (Alfred Hitchcock, 1932)
One Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)
One Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1969)
Opening Night (John Cassavetes, 1978)
Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, 1947)
Paisa (Roberto Rossellini, 1946)
Palombella Rossa (Nannu Moretti, 1989)
Le Passe-Montagne (Jean-Francois Stevenin, 1978)
Plan 9 From Outer Space (Edward Wood, Jr., 1956)
Rachel, Rachel (Paul Newman, 1968)
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Sergei Paradzhanov, 1965)
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
The Story of Late Chrysanthemums (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1939)
La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954)
The State of Things (Wim Wemders, 1982)
Switch (Blake Edwards, 1991)
Tex Avery Collection (The Blitz Wolf, The Early Bird Dood It,
Red Hot Riding Hood, Who Killed Who?, One Ham's Family, What's
Buzzin
Buzzard, Batty Baseball, Big Heel Watha, Swing Shift Cinderella, Red
Hot Rangers, The Cat that Hated People, The Peachy Cobbler, One
Cab's
Family, Little Johnny Jet, TV of Tomorrow.)
The Third Lover (L'Oeil du Malin) (Chaude Chabrol, 1961)
The Tiger of Eschnapur, and The Indian Tomb (Fritz Lang, 1959)
Three Girls (Satyajit Ray, 1961)
Through a Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman, 1961)
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (Pedro Almodovar, 1989)
Three Make a Pair (Les Trois Font La Paire) (Sacha Guitry, 1957)
Torn Curtain (Alfred Hitchcock, 1966)
The Truth (La Verite) (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960)
Two English Girls (Francois Truffaut, 1971)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)
Les Vampires (Louis Feuillade, 1915-1916)
Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1982)
Wild at Heart (David Lynch, 1990)
Paul Gallagher
>The following is a post by Paul Gallagher at
>rec.arts.movies.international.
>The comments are his and the lists are very interesting.
>--Bob Keser
I'll add that these lists don't reflect a consensus. Instead most of the
critics got to select four or five personal favorites each. Hence these lists
look very different from Cahiers' yearly top ten lists.
Paul
Paul Gallagher
>In <3C4B77AA...@ix.netcom.comRobert Keser <rfk...@ix.netcom.comwrites:
>I'll add that these lists don't reflect a consensus. Instead most of the
>critics got to select four or five personal favorites each. Hence these lists
>look very different from Cahiers' yearly top ten lists.
>Paul
Here's yet another list: the films shown for Cahiers' 50th birthday celebration.
The Flowers of St. Francis (Rossellini, 1951)
Strangers on a Train (Hitchcock, 1952)
The Earrings of Madame de... (Max Ophuls, 1953)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Hawks, 1954)
Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955)
Bob le flambeur (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956)
Street of Shame (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1957)
Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958)
Hiroshima mon amour (Alain Resnais, 1959)
Les Bonnes femmes (Claude Chabrol, 1960)
Testament du docteur Cordelier (Renoir, 1961)
Cleo de 5 a 7 (Agnes Varda, 1962)
Bay of the Angels (La baie des anges) (Jacques Demy, 1963)
Before the Revolution (B. Bertolucci, 1964)
Gertrud (Carl Dreyer, 1965)
Walkover (Jerzy Skolimowski, 1966)
Mediterranee (Jean-Daniel Pollet, 1967)
Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes (Le Pere Noel a les yeux bleus) (Jean Eustache, 1967)
L'Amour fou (Jacques Rivette, 1968)
Me (L'Enfance nue) (Maurice Pialat, 1969)
Boy (Nagisa Oshima, 1970)
Lived Once a Song-Thrush (Ioseliani, 1971)
Du cote d'Orouet (Jacques Rozier, 1972)
The Sparrow (Youssef Chahine, 1973)
The Phantom of Liberty (Luis Bunuel, 1974)
Moses and Aaron (J-M Straub and Daniele Huillet, 1975)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman, 1976)
The Truck (Le Camion) (Marguerite Duras, 1977)
I Am Self-sufficient (Nanni Moretti, 1978)
Doomed Love (Manoel de Oliveira, 1979)
Every Man for Himself (Sauve qui peut (la vie)) (Jean-Luc Godard, 1980)
The Woman Next Door (Truffaut, 1981)
Field Diary (Amos Gitai, 1982)
Honkytonk Man (Clint Eastwood, 1983)
Liberte la nuit (Philippe Garrel, 1984)
A Time to Live and a Time to Die (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1985)
Summer (Le Rayon vert) (Eric Rohmer, 1986)
Innerspace (Joe Dante, 1987)
Gardens of Stone (Francis Ford Coppola, 1988)
Days of Eclipse (Sokurov, 1989)
Boiling Point (Takeshi Kitano, 1990)
I Hired a Contract Killer (Aki Kaurismaki, 1991)
A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang, 1992)
The Age of Innocence (Scorsese, 1993)
US go home (Claire Denis, 1994)
Waati (Souleymane Cisse, 1995)
Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas, 1996)
Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai, 1997)
Petites (Noemie Lvovsky, 1998)
Khrustalyov, My Car! (Aleksei German, 1999)
Esther Kahn (Desplechin, 2000)
And still one more: here is the Cahiers' best of all time poll from 1958,
made in response to the 1958 Brussels "Confrontation", the results of which are
here: http://homepage.interaccess.com/~ejohnson/sight/brussels.html.
The voters included Bazin, Godard, Chabrol, Truffaut, Rivette, and Rohmer, as
well as Claude Beylie, Charles Bitsch, Philippe Demonsablon, Jean Domarchi,
Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Jean Douchet, Claude Gauteur, Fereydoun Hoveyda,
Louis Marcorelles, Andre Martin, and Luc Moullet.
The first round of Cahiers' poll ranked the best directors of all time:
1. Murnau
2. Renoir
3. Rossellini
4. Eisenstein
5. Griffith
6. Welles
7. Dreyer
8. Vigo
10. Stroheim
11. Hitchcock
12. Chaplin
13. Ophuls
14. Lang
15. (tie) Hawks, Keaton
17. Bergman
18. Nicholas Ray
19. (tie) Norman McLaren, Flaherty
21. (tie) Bunuel, Clair
23. (tie) Visconti, Dovzhenko
Norman McLaren might seem to be the odd man out, but look for his animated
films (maybe not "Neighbours"...), and see for yourself.
The second round asked for the best films by the 12 top directors.
1. Sunrise (Murnau, 1927)
2. The Rules of the Game (Renoir, 1939)
3. Voyage in Italy (Viaggio in Italia) (Rossellini, 1953)
4. Ivan the Terrible (Eisenstein, 1945/1958)
5. Birth of a Nation (Griffith, 1915)
6. Confidential Report/ Mr. Arkadin (Orson Welles, 1956)
7. Ordet (Dreyer, 1955)
8. Ugetsu monogatari (Mizoguchi, 1953)
9. L'Atalante (Vigo, 1934)
10. The Wedding March (Stroheim, 1927)
11. Under Capricorn (Hitchcock, 1949)
12. Monsieur Verdoux (Chaplin, 1947)
The critics' enthusiasm for Mr. Arkadin over Citizen Kane was part of the
inspiration for Bazin's "On the Politique des Auteurs": "For its adherents,
_Mr. Arkadin_ is therefore more important than _Citizen Kane_ since they
discover in it, justly, still more of Orson Welles. In other terms, they
want to retain of the equation, auteur + subject = the work, only the auteur,
the subject being reduced to 0... This is not at all to deny the role of the
auteur, but to restore to it the preposition without with the noun is only
a lame concept. 'Auteur,' without a doubt, but of what?"
Paul
Tom Sutpen
Brussels sewing circle adjudged) the Swiss bankers who recut the movie to near
incoherency?
Just asking...
Tom Sutpen
"Cinema is Truth, 24 times a second" -- Jean-Luc Godard
"Movies lie 24 times a second" -- Brian DePalma
"Kill Ugly Cinema!" -- Tom Sutpen
Paul Gallagher
> But aren't the real 'auteurs' of "Mr. Arkadin" (at least the version the
>Brussels sewing circle adjudged) the Swiss bankers who recut the movie to near
>incoherency?
> Just asking...
>Tom Sutpen
OK, but the "Brussels sewing circle" had nothing to do with Cahiers.
The Brussels referendum was conducted by the International Bureau
of Historical Cinematographic Research at the 1958 Brussels International
Exposition. The Cahiers poll was a response to the Brussels referendum.
Unfortunately I posted the wrong link to the Brussels referendum. The URL I
gave was for the 1952 Brussels referendum. The 1958 poll, to which Cahiers
responded, produced the following top twelve. As you can see, silent
films and "humanist" classics predominate in the list.
Battleship Potemkin (Sergei M. Eisenstein, USSR, 1925)
Gold Rush (Charles Chaplin, U.S.A., 1925)
The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1948)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl T. Dreyer, France, 1928)
Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, France, 1937)
Greed (Erich von Strohein, USA, 1923)
Intolerance (D. W. Griffith, USA, 1916)
Mother (V. I. Pudovkin, USSR, 1926)
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, USA, 1941)
Earth (Alexander Dovzhenko, USSR, 1930)
The Last Laugh (F. W. Murnau, Germany 1924)
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Robert Weine, Germany, 1919)
Paul
Paul Gallagher
are cult-movies. Some are famous, some almost unknown.
Les Inrocks shares a similar outlook with Cahiers. Cahiers, Les Inrocks,
Le Monde, and Liberation form the "Bermuda Triangle" of French film criticism.
Why there are four points in the triangle, I don't know.
So Dark The Night (Joseph H. Lewis, 1946)
Awaara (Le Vagabond) (Raj Kapoor, 1951)
Dementia (John M. Parker, 1955)
The Fearmakers (Jacques Tourneur, 1958)
Circus of Horrors (Sidney Hayers, 1960)
The Honors of War (Jean Dewever, 1960)
Ai (Love) (Tahahiko Iimura, 1962)
Echoes of Silence (Peter Emmanuel Goldman, 1966)
A Bullet for the General (Damiano Damiani, 1966)
La Bague (Lise Revere, 1966) ?
Colorado (Sergio Sollima (1967) -- is this _Face to Face_?
Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (Mario Bava, 1966)-"the good Dr. Goldfoot movie"
Le Depart (Jerzy Skolimowski, 1967)
Targets (Peter Bogdanovitch, 1968)
The Swimmer (Frank Perry (1968)
Paranoia (Orgasm) (Umberto Lenzi, 1968)
Le Gai Savoir (Jean Luc Godard, 1968)
Go, Go Second Time Virgin (Koji Wakamatsu, 1969)
Wanda (Barbara Loden, 1970)
Matalo! (Cesare Canevari, 1970)
What Have They Done to Solange? (Massimo Dallamano, 1971)
Vanishing Point (Richard C. Sarafian, 1971)
The Omega Man (Boris Sagal, 1971)
A Girl is a Gun (Une aventure de Billy The Kid) (Luc Moullet, 1971)
The Professor (La Prima notte Di quite) (Valerio Zurlini, 1972)
Cocksucker Blues (Robert Frank and Daniel Seymour, 1972)
Amazon Golden Temple (Lustful Amazons) (Jesus Franco as Clifford Brown, 1973)
The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973)
Kid Blue (James Frawley, 1973)
50.81% (Raymond Depardon, 1974)
Double Agent 73 (Doris Wishman, 1974)
Un homme qui dort (Bernard Queysanne, 1974)
Hustle (Robert Aldrich, 1975)
Still Life (Sohrab Shahid Saless, 1975)
Les naufrages de l'Ile de la Tortue (Jacques Rozier, 1976)
Le Plein de Super (Alain Cavalier, 1976)
Sur Mon Rocher (Laurent Habert, 1977) ?
Flammes (Alfo Arriete, 1977-78) ?
Comme la lune (Joel Seria, 1977)
The Water-Carrier is Dead (Salah Abouseif, 1978)
The Class of MacMichael (Silvio Narizzano, 1978)
The Beyond (Lucio Fulci, 1981)
Celles qu'on n'a pas eues (Pascal Thomas, 1980)
Good Riddance (Francis Mankiewicz, 1980)
Cutter's Way (Ivan Passer, 1981)
Dans la chaleur de St Tropez (Gerard Kikoine, 1982) -- Is this
_Die Maedchen von St Tropez_?
Biquefarre (Georges Rouquier, 1974)
L'Ange (Patrick Bokanowski, 1983)
Repo Man (Alex Cox, 1984)
La nuit porte jarretemes (Virginie Thevenet, 1984)
Routine Pleasures (Jean-Pierrre Gorin, 1985)
>From the Pole to the Equator (Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricchi Lucci, 1986)
Tarot (Rudolf Thome, 1986)
Matewan (John Sayles, 1987)
River's Edge (Tim Hunter, 1987)
Encore: Once More (Paul Vecchiali, 1988)
Iguana (Monte Hellman, 1988)
My 20th Century (Ildiko Enyedi, 1989)
Mona et moi (Patrick Grandperret, 1990)
Erreur de jeunesse (Radovan Tadic, 1990)
Letter for an Angel (Garin Nugroho, 1994)
Paul
"MY GOD!! HOW BAD CAN A MOVIE BE? " - Mike Shields' response
to _The Class of MacMichael_
Paul Gallagher
>Unfortunately I posted the wrong link to the Brussels referendum. The URL I
>gave was for the 1952 Brussels referendum. The 1958 poll, to which Cahiers
>responded, produced the following top twelve. As you can see, silent
>films and "humanist" classics predominate in the list.
I see where the confusion is. When I wrote "responded," I didn't mean they
sent in their votes to Brussels. They didn't vote at Brussels. I meant they
saw the results, disagreed, and as a response did their own poll.
Paul
Robert Keser
cinema scene looks significantly different from the European viewpoint,
not because of any competing theories but simply due to limitations of
distribution. Of course, the list also reflects a range of individual likes
and dislikes, as well as historical fashions that influence distribution
(no Alain Resnais film has been released in the US for twenty years,
for example) and regional breakthroughs that open a country's film
output to distribution (thus, Les Inrocks include not one film from Iran
or China or Korea. Come to think of it, Ichikawa has maintained an
incredible pace of productivity, but neither Les Inrocks nor most
American viewers know it, let alone have a chance see the products).
At any rate, I've only seen ten of these titles, but could only muster a
defense of Repo Man and River's Edge as "treasures". However, I look
forward to enjoying Go, Go Second Time Virgin (as soon as it reaches
my local megaplex).
--Bob Keser
Paul Gallagher
>This list--with so many unfamiliar titles--confirms my feeling that the
>cinema scene looks significantly different from the European viewpoint,
>not because of any competing theories but simply due to limitations of
>distribution.
Yes, the list from Les Inrocks is of films that most of its readers wouldn't
have seen or even heard of, and most of which are not taken seriously by
critics. In the US some of these films, such as _The Omega Man_ or _Repo
Man_, are very well known, while many others have never had a commercial
release and are almost impossible to find.
I posted the list from Les Inrocks partly because it's an interesting list and
partly because the belief in the equality of genres and the lack of distinction
between high and low art is interesting, as well as fairly uncommon in English
language criticism.
I was reminded of these issues because, as I typed in the list last
night, I was watching Cottafavi's _Hercules and the Captive Women_ on TV, and
as I'm writing this I'm watching Wakamastu's _The Notorious Concubines_.
Wakamatsu's films have more than enough sex and violence to be exploitation
movies, but they're radical both formally and politically. Cottafavi was
a favorite of the MacMahonists at Cahiers du Cinema, and Cahiers was ridiculed
by Italian critics for praising a director of peplums. People like
Cottafavi also divided the magazine. I think Godard said that people would
come up to him and ask if Cahiers really took Cottafavi seriously, and he
complained that because of interviews with Cottafavi, Edgar G. Ulmer, Joe
Pevney, etc., Cahiers wasn't taken seriously. Time has proven Godard wrong
about Ulmer at least, but Cahiers became more interested in theory and
less interested in popular films in the 1960's; it was left to others to
explore the margins of the cinema.
Paul
Joe Gillis
>I think Godard said that people would
>come up to him and ask if Cahiers really took Cottafavi seriously, and he
>complained that because of interviews with Cottafavi, Edgar G. Ulmer, Joe
>Pevney, etc., Cahiers wasn't taken seriously.
JOE PEVNEY is a Cahiers hero?? His movies are stiffer than a frozen mackerel!
OK, Man Of A Thousand Faces isn't that bad, but still... I guess they'll be
giving us "Jesse Hibbs -- The Subversive Deconstructionism Of His
Mise-En-Scene" next.
Time has proven Godard wrong
>about Ulmer at least, but Cahiers became more interested in theory and
>less interested in popular films in the 1960's; it was left to others to
>explore the margins of the cinema.
>
>
>Paul
=================================================
"I don't mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy." -- Samuel Butler
Paul Gallagher
>This list--with so many unfamiliar titles--confirms my feeling that the
>cinema scene looks significantly different from the European viewpoint,
>not because of any competing theories but simply due to limitations of
>distribution.
This topic came up in a thread in rec.arts.movies.international, where we
compared the best of 2001 list from Les Inrocks with the Village Voice poll.
They were very different, but this was largely because most of the films on
the Les Inrocks list hadn't been released in the US (and in fact many were
praised on the Village Voice poll for best unreleased films) and many of the
films on the Village Voice poll have not yet been released in France. However,
there are some real differences. Both the Village Voice and Les Inrocks praise
_Mulholland Drive_ and _In the Mood for Love_, for example, but Les Inrocks'
critics dismissed _Memento_ and _Moulin Rouge_, and I wonder whether _Trouble
Every Day_ will be well received in next year's Village Voice poll.
Of course the Village Voice poll is not really representative of US
critics or audiences, nor is Les Inrocks representative of French critics and
audiences -- though I suspect _Mulholland Drive_ is more likely to get
a Cesar than an Oscar. _Amelie_ and _Dancer in the Dark_ are good examples
of films despised by the Cahiers critics, but generally praised by French
and American critics. Gimmickery, dishonesty, and lack of visual grace are
some of the complaints Cahiers-ist might offer of these films. Most of
De Palma, Eastwood, and Ferrara's recent films are good examples of films
Cahiers praised and most American critics dismissed, while several
filmmakers, such as Woody Allen, Altman, Angelopolous, Malick, Fincher,
Oliver Stone, John Boorman, Chen Kaige, Tavernier, Greenaway, Makhmalbaf,
Mike Leigh, Terence Davies, etc., are usually much better received by
American critics than by Cahiers. I think these differences go beyond
taste and instead reflect differences in aesthetic principle, but I'd
have a hard time explaining them.
Paul
Paul
Paul Gallagher
>JOE PEVNEY is a Cahiers hero?? His movies are stiffer than a frozen mackerel!
>OK, Man Of A Thousand Faces isn't that bad, but still... I guess they'll be
>giving us "Jesse Hibbs -- The Subversive Deconstructionism Of His
>Mise-En-Scene" next.
Not really, there were a few critics at Cahiers who took Joe Pevney
seriously, but not many. Not even Bertrand Tavernier and Jean-Pierre
Coursodon, who can find nice things to say about just about every
American director, can find anything to praise in Joseph Pevney's films.
By the way one of the first memories I have of someone praising a
director's style comes from reading David Gerrold's "The World of
Star Trek," where, if I remember correctly, Gerrold praised Star Trek's
directors for keeping things simple and not trying anything fancy with
the camera. Since Joe Pevney directed Gerrold's "The Trouble with
Tribbles," maybe Gerrold had Pevney in mind...
Paul
Robert Keser
Paul Gallagher wrote:
In his two volumes on American directors, Coursodon finds nothing to
say *at all* about Pevney (there's one reference to him, but as an actor
in Body and Soul). I think Ephraim Katz nailed him with this description:
"Directed with certain flair many simpleminded Universal action and
adventure pictures along with more ambitious productions," although
I question the flair on display. Of the Pevneys I've seen, I'd say:
Just Across the Street = mildly amusing
It Happens Every Thursday = reasonably heartwarming
Yankee Pasha = mildly lurid
Six Bridges to Cross = mildly exciting
Foxfire = mildly dramatic
Female On the Beach = overwrought melo
Away All Boats = mildly interesting (some good spectacle)
Congo Crossing = mildly diverting
Tammy and the Bachelor = mildly cute
Man Of a Thousand Faces = overwrought bio-melo
The Crowded Sky = mildly suspenseful
I'm shocked that I've seen so many of his films! Somehow, he strikes
me as the perfect director for AMC on television: inoffensive and...
well, mild.
Now, how about that George Sherman and Jerry Hopper...okay, Jesse
Hibbs, too.
--Bob Keser
Robert Keser
Paul Gallagher wrote:
> I posted the list from Les Inrocks partly because it's an interesting list and
> partly because the belief in the equality of genres and the lack of distinction
> between high and low art is interesting, as well as fairly uncommon in English
> language criticism.
>
> I was reminded of these issues because, as I typed in the list last
> night, I was watching Cottafavi's _Hercules and the Captive Women_ on TV, and
> as I'm writing this I'm watching Wakamastu's _The Notorious Concubines_.
> Wakamatsu's films have more than enough sex and violence to be exploitation
> movies, but they're radical both formally and politically. Cottafavi was
> a favorite of the MacMahonists at Cahiers du Cinema, and Cahiers was ridiculed
> by Italian critics for praising a director of peplums. People like
> Cottafavi also divided the magazine. I think Godard said that people would
> come up to him and ask if Cahiers really took Cottafavi seriously, and he
> complained that because of interviews with Cottafavi, Edgar G. Ulmer, Joe
> Pevney, etc., Cahiers wasn't taken seriously. Time has proven Godard wrong
> about Ulmer at least, but Cahiers became more interested in theory and
> less interested in popular films in the 1960's; it was left to others to
> explore the margins of the cinema.
Yes, the margins of cinema have yielded up some treasures (like
Ulmer's The Strange Woman), but it's enough trouble keeping up
with the main tract! I can't recall seeing any Cottafavi (do you
recommend Hercules and the Captive Women?), but at least I've
*heard* of him, unlike Wakamatsu. Personally, I'm a big fan of
Masumura's Red Angel (Akai tenshi, 1966), a film which could
easily be dismissed as softcore S&M.
--Bob Keser
Mike White
Paul Gallagher
>In his two volumes on American directors, Coursodon finds nothing to
>say *at all* about Pevney (there's one reference to him, but as an actor
>in Body and Soul).
Playing Shorty Polanski -- or is it Polaski? -- in a film cowritten
by Abe Polanski...
Coursodon and Tavernier get around to writing about Pevney in their
"5O ans de cinema americain." They are kinder to him than I
remembered. They say he's incapable of adding "the least trace of
his taste" or "the least semblance of technical brio," but on his
best days they're impressed by his gentleness, naivite, and good
will. They note that actors were very fond of him, and they think
the reason French critics were so kind to him is that when they
met him, they found him to be a very nice guy. They choose "Female on
the Beach," with Joan Crawford and Jeff Chandler, as his best
film, with some powerful moments despite a weak ending. They also
think "Six Bridges to Cross", "Foxfire," "The Desert Legion,"
and "Congo Crossing" are pleasant.
Is Joseph Pevney still alive?
Paul
monterone
Hasn't Resnais' _Same Old Song_ (_On Connait la Chanson_) been
released in US? The exception that proves the rule..?
Robert Keser <rfk...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message news:<3C4CAAB3...@ix.netcom.com>...
Paul Gallagher
>Yes, the margins of cinema have yielded up some treasures (like
>Ulmer's The Strange Woman), but it's enough trouble keeping up
>with the main tract! I can't recall seeing any Cottafavi (do you
>recommend Hercules and the Captive Women?), but at least I've
>*heard* of him, unlike Wakamatsu. Personally, I'm a big fan of
>Masumura's Red Angel (Akai tenshi, 1966), a film which could
>easily be dismissed as softcore S&M.
>--Bob Keser
There's a lot of S&M in Wakamatsu's films too.
I liked "Hercules and the Captive Women." It's fun and colorful
and funny. It also was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3OOO,
but the film is gentle parody to begin with. MST 3OOO just
picked up on humor that was already there. Tavernier calls it
an anti-nuclear satire, and that's in there. The evil Queen of
Atlantis -- the actress was featured on Groucho Marx' show, "You
Bet Your Life," -- apparently inspired a few people: I once saw
an X-rated Italian comic based on the movie...
Paul
Robert Keser
> Robert Keser <rfk...@ix.netcom.com> writes:
>
> >In his two volumes on American directors, Coursodon finds nothing to
> >say *at all* about Pevney (there's one reference to him, but as an actor
> >in Body and Soul).
>
> Playing Shorty Polanski -- or is it Polaski? -- in a film cowritten
> by Abe Polanski...
>
> Coursodon and Tavernier get around to writing about Pevney in their
> "5O ans de cinema americain." They are kinder to him than I
> remembered. They say he's incapable of adding "the least trace of
> his taste" or "the least semblance of technical brio," but on his
> best days they're impressed by his gentleness, naivite, and good
> will. They note that actors were very fond of him, and they think
> the reason French critics were so kind to him is that when they
> met him, they found him to be a very nice guy.
It doesn't hurt to be nice, despite conventional "wisdom": he got to go
to work everyday with Ann Sheridan and Errol Flynn and Jane Russell
and Cagney and Jane Greer and...
> They choose "Female on
> the Beach," with Joan Crawford and Jeff Chandler, as his best
> film, with some powerful moments despite a weak ending.
Those French subtitles must have given them a wrong impression. I've
seen this one several times--on big screen and small--and it just doesn't
gel for me. Sudden Fear and Queen Bee are *much* better films in the
same vein.
> They also
> think "Six Bridges to Cross", "Foxfire," "The Desert Legion,"
> and "Congo Crossing" are pleasant.
...mildly pleasant...
> Is Joseph Pevney still alive?
If he is, he's 80 years old. If he isn't, no one's told IMDb.
--Bob Keser
Chicago
Robert Keser
> Fascinating thread here.
>
> Hasn't Resnais' _Same Old Song_ (_On Connait la Chanson_) been
> released in US? The exception that proves the rule..?
The film is now available on video (not DVD), but I don't believe it
enjoyed a proper commercial release ( I saw it in a non-commercial
venue last year). If we don't count this, then the last Resnais film to
play in a theatre was Mon Oncle d'Amérique in 1980 (which was
relatively successful, as I recall).
There was also a traveling museum program last year that
featured some of the rarities (La Vie est un roman and Smoking/No
Smoking) at the Film Center in Chicago, affording some relief for
hardcore Resnais-ophiles (not for me, though, as I wasn't able to
attend).
Having just spent yesterday evening wallowing with my new bootleg
video of the absolutely superb Mélo, I am aghast that people can't see
this movie...
--Bob Keser
Joe Gillis
>
>Paul Gallagher wrote:
>
>> Robert Keser <rfk...@ix.netcom.com> writes:
>>
>> >In his two volumes on American directors, Coursodon finds nothing to
>> >say *at all* about Pevney (there's one reference to him, but as an actor
>> >in Body and Soul).
>>
>> Playing Shorty Polanski -- or is it Polaski? -- in a film cowritten
>> by Abe Polanski...
>>
>> Coursodon and Tavernier get around to writing about Pevney in their
>> "5O ans de cinema americain." They are kinder to him than I
>> remembered. They say he's incapable of adding "the least trace of
>> his taste" or "the least semblance of technical brio," but on his
>> best days they're impressed by his gentleness, naivite, and good
>> will. They note that actors were very fond of him, and they think
>> the reason French critics were so kind to him is that when they
>> met him, they found him to be a very nice guy.
>
>It doesn't hurt to be nice, despite conventional "wisdom":
I assume personal niceness & willingness to be interviewed by Frenchmen is why
Robert Parrish was admitted to the Cahiers pantheon.
Robert Keser
> >Paul Gallagher wrote:
> >>
> >> Coursodon and Tavernier get around to writing about Pevney in their
> >> "5O ans de cinema americain." They are kinder to him than I
> >> remembered. They say he's incapable of adding "the least trace of
> >> his taste" or "the least semblance of technical brio," but on his
> >> best days they're impressed by his gentleness, naivite, and good
> >> will. They note that actors were very fond of him, and they think
> >> the reason French critics were so kind to him is that when they
> >> met him, they found him to be a very nice guy.
> >
> >It doesn't hurt to be nice, despite conventional "wisdom":
>
> I assume personal niceness & willingness to be interviewed by Frenchmen is why
> Robert Parrish was admitted to the Cahiers pantheon.
>
Hey, I'll put you in *my* pantheon if you're nice to me! Anyway, The
Wonderful Country is pretty good, and parts of The Purple Plain,
but his autobiography is much more interesting...
--Bob Keser
Tom Sutpen
favorite sites:
> Personally, I enjoy the *Cashiers du Cinemart* recommendations...
>
> http://www.cashiersducinemart.com
*****
So do I. You guys do a helluva job over there. I'd sooner heed your
recommendations than "Cahiers" anyday.
Tom Sutpen
> I assume personal niceness & willingness to be interviewed by Frenchmen is
why
> Robert Parrish was admitted to the Cahiers pantheon.
*****
You assume correctly. They're so star-struck about directors over there,
they'll belly up for any hack (not that Parrish was a hack) that'll sit there
and play the 'auteur' game with them.
Was it ever not so?
Enidcoleslaw2
>p...@panix.com (Paul Gallagher) wrote:
>Colorado (Sergio Sollima (1967) -- is this _Face to Face_?
I think it's actually THE BIG GUNDOWN, part of a trilogy with FACE TO FACE
and RUN MAN RUN.
>Tavernier calls it
an anti-nuclear satire, and that's in there.
Two of the best British film critics, Tom Milne and Raymond Durgnat, also
spoke highly of Cottafavi. There was even an issue of the MacMahonist
magazine--Presences du Cinema?--devoted to his work.
--Chris
Enidcoleslaw2
>Having just spent yesterday evening wallowing with my new bootleg
>video of the absolutely superb Mélo, I am aghast that people can't see
>this movie...
MELO isn't available from any of the grey-market dealers, is it? It sounds
interesting: how similar/different from other Resnais films is it?
--Chris
Robert Keser
> >rfk...@ix.netcom.com wrote:
>
> >Having just spent yesterday evening wallowing with my new bootleg
> >video of the absolutely superb Mélo, I am aghast that people can't see
> >this movie...
>
> MELO isn't available from any of the grey-market dealers, is it?
I bought it on eBay, but I think the dealer has been blackballed by them,
for whatever reason...
> It sounds
> interesting: how similar/different from other Resnais films is it?
I'd say this film is more different: for one thing, it's a photographed play,
basically a love triangle, that only ventures out of the studio once or
twice, yet it rarely looks static (the User Comment on IMDb describes
it well, I think). But the play itself is fascinating, with some clever
ellipses,
and all the actors have extraordinary scenes, especially Sabine Azéma.
Also atypical for Resnais, memory is not an organizing principle, although
the final scene connects to this theme. Instead, the subject is the fragility
of emotion, using music as a metaphor, with a heroine torn apart by
warring allegiances. After being rather disappointed with On connait
la chanson, I was unprepared for the same actors in such an affecting
work.
--Bob Keser
>
>
> --Chris
Paul Gallagher
>Enidcoleslaw2 wrote:
>> >rfk...@ix.netcom.com wrote:
>>
>> >Having just spent yesterday evening wallowing with my new bootleg
>> >video of the absolutely superb Milo, I am aghast that people can't see
>> >this movie...
>>
>> MELO isn't available from any of the grey-market dealers, is it?
>I bought it on eBay, but I think the dealer has been blackballed by them,
>for whatever reason...
Melo is available for rent at Kim's Video here in New York. I don't
remember which grey-market company issued it. I'll check next time
I'm there. There are copies of Melo being sold on eBay right now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1505345809
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1504877234
Paul
Avoid normal situations.
[..]
> (no Alain Resnais film has been released in the US for twenty years,
> for example)
A crying shame.
--
alt.flame Special Forces
"The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a bit longer."
-- Henry Kissinger
Paul Gallagher
>Two of the best British film critics, Tom Milne and Raymond Durgnat, also
>spoke highly of Cottafavi. There was even an issue of the MacMahonist
>magazine--Presences du Cinema?--devoted to his work.
>--Chris
I didn't know that Tom Milne admired Cottafavi. I looked in _Cinema:
A Critical Dictionary_, and saw that Milne had written an essay on
Freda, Bava, and Cottafavi. He particularly admires "The Hundred
Horsemen," which I haven't seen. He calls it "extremely striking
visually" and calls the climactic battle "as bleak and bitter a vision
of war as the battle scenes in Orson Welles' _Chimes at Midnight_."
Incidentally, Jesus Franco was second unit director of these sequences.
Welles saw _Death Whistles a Blues_ and wanted Franco to be his
assistant. The Spanish producers tried to convince Welles that Franco's
films were trash by showing him Franco's _Rififi in the City_, but since
that film is itself an homage to Welles, it only served to convince Welles
to hire Franco. They became good friends. However, when Welles ran out
of money, Franco, without Welles' permission, sent a rough cut of
the film to his friend, Harry Saltzman (who produced all the early
James Bond films). Saltzman provided the needed money. Even though
Franco saved the production, Welles was angry Franco had gone behind
his back and took Franco's name out of the credits.
Paul
monterone
>
> > Hasn't Resnais' _Same Old Song_ (_On Connait la Chanson_) been
> > released in US? The exception that proves the rule..?
>
> The film is now available on video (not DVD), but I don't believe it
> enjoyed a proper commercial release ( I saw it in a non-commercial
> venue last year). If we don't count this, then the last Resnais film to
> play in a theatre was Mon Oncle d'Amérique in 1980 (which was
> relatively successful, as I recall).
Lincoln Plaza in New York on Oct. 15, 1998.
http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/092698song-film-review.html
NMacphe421
>He particularly admires "The Hundred
>Horsemen," which I haven't seen. He calls it "extremely striking
>visually" and calls the climactic battle "as bleak and bitter a vision
>of war as the battle scenes in Orson Welles' _Chimes at Midnight_."
>
>Incidentally, Jesus Franco was second unit director of these sequences.
Am I mistaken in thinking that Franco's duties as second unit director on
Chimes at Midnight included directing the battle scenes? I've always been
stuck by the image of good old Jess Franco stumbling into the best filmmaking
anyone's ever done and not getting a bit of credit for it.
Paul Gallagher
>>From: p...@panix.com (Paul Gallagher)
I remember reading that too (and I do like the idea that the man currently
making _Barby Dolls vs. Doktor Satan_ filmed the greatest battle scene
ever), but I couldn't find any confirmation online, and the chapter on
Franco in Tohill and Tombs' _Immoral Tales_ doesn't indicate that
Franco directed those scenes by himself.
Paul