i luv cinema

Home Archives for Classics

By Leave a Comment

Carnival of Souls (1962), a.k.a. Why Do I Put Myself Through This? Halloween Edition

First off, Happy Halloween Night, guys and ghouls!

Secondly – as the title of this post indicates – why do I do this to myself?

Mind you, I really do like watching scary films, but usually in mixed company where my sheer terror can be diffused by the enjoyment of watching the film with a group of people.

Well, not this time – this time, I flew solo in a weekend binge of scary movies on TCM and arrived at Carnival of Souls. Actually “re-arrived” – I have seen this film before, but a time ago, which means fragments of the plot specifics slipped through my sieve of a memory; I did recall a sketch of the outline: shortly after surviving a car crash, Mary Henry (played by Candace Hilligoss) embarks on a trip westward to Utah, where she is set to start a new job as a church organist. Along the way, she encounters a creepy apparition (the film’s director Herk Harvey) and is drawn to a long-ago abandoned pavilion by the lake.

Once settled into her new life, Mary continues to have episodes which she cannot explain, including continued reappearances of the apparition, all leading up to a frightful conclusion.

Made for an estimated $33,000 and produced by industrial filmmakers, Carnival of Souls is a brilliant example of how to scare your audience with simple yet effective “tricks,” tricks which left me peeking through my hands:

  • foreboding, suspenseful organ music
  • dispossessed movements of characters
  • character movement toward the camera (= camera is the 1st person POV)
  • cutaways which yield the occasional (and effective) jump scare

So yeah, it was enough to put the frighteners on my this past Saturday night. And with that, I highly recommend this cult classic, which is available on Criterion disk (DVD/BluRay) as well as in the public domain. When accessing make note of the running time. There is a 78-minute theatrical version as well as an 84-minute director’s cut.

carnivalofsouls_current_large

By Leave a Comment

A Labor of Love

100years_movies10Well, that’s a wrap ladies and gents. As Labor Day 2015 fades into night, the summer is more or less over. What awaits us movie fans? Well with Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York, we will be hit with an onslaught of award-worthy projects. I will probably discuss these a little later. But for now, I have a little assignment I have set forth for myself as the year comes to a close.

Recently, I took an “online movie list challenge,” consisting of my selecting films that made AFI’s 100, Years 100 Films list, produced over a decade ago.

The results were disappointing to say the very least. Sure, being in the 25th percentile is not a bad place in general, for someone who proclaims to love motion pictures as much as I do, that is a pretty low score.

Determined to right this wrong, I did what any good student would do – reviewed my input. What I found was an interesting pattern … while there are a few outliers, many of the films that I have “overlooked” happened to be produced during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Some movies I have seen bits of, others I have had spoiled for me – but none of them have I seen straight through from opening credits to the end.

This revision gave me an idea – a mini task/project for myself that will see me try to watch each of these missed films from now until December 31st.

Some I will probably review; others may not make it to post, I cannot make any guarantees. But be on the lookout over the next few months for a little cinematic trip back forty-plus years as I watch the following films (order listed is random):

  1. Toy Story (1995)
  2. Blade Runner (1982)
  3. Do the Right Thing (1989)
  4. The Last Picture Show (1971)
  5. Sophie’s Choice (1982)
  6. Easy Rider (1969)
  7. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
  8. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
  9. Intolerance (1916)
  10. The Deer Hunter (1978)
  11. Rocky (1976)
  12. Nashville (1975)
  13. Cabaret (1972)
  14. Network (1976)
  15. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
  16. Tootsie (1982)
  17. Modern Times (1936)
  18. The Wild Bunch (1969)
  19. Raging Bull (1980)
  20. Schindler’s List (1993)
  21. The Graduate (1967)
  22. The General (1927)
  23. Chinatown (1974)
  24. Apocalypse Now (1979)
  25. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Well lookie here … a perfect 25 films!

So I throw it you, fair reader, take the challenge and let me know how you did in the Comments section below. Good luck!

Still from "Intolerance"
Still from “Intolerance”

By Leave a Comment

The Third Man (1949), RESTORED

My film story, The Third Man was never written to be read but only to be seen … For me it is impossible to write a film play without first writing a story.

– Graham Greene, Preface to The Third Man novella

org third man13711

Over the years, I have had the occasion to reference The Third Man on this blog. I am sure one could imply that I am a fan, but let me more clearly and officially go on record and declare:

I. FREAKING. LOVE. THIS. MOVIE.

From the moment I heard that haunting zither, I was transfixed by the tale of American pulp writer Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) and his search to unravel the mystery surrounding the circumstances of friend Harry Lime’s (Orson Welles) recent death in post-war Vienna.

I think the thing I love lost about The Third Man is how in sync my own journey through the film is with that of our primary character, Martins. As the story develops and it becomes more and more apparent that things are not what they seem, the audience, along with Martins, is left wondering what lies around the corner and encouraged to find out the exact truth.

Aided by a wonderful featured cast (that includes Trevor Howard and Alida Valli) and stunning, visually-striking black and white cinematography (courtesy of Robert Krasker), this is a film I can watch over and over again and never tire of.

ThirdManBut, as the title of this post suggests, I am not simply writing here to wax poetic about The Third Man. I wanted to use this opportunity to bring to my readers’ attention that, thanks to UK-based Deluxe Restoration, in association with distributors Rialto Pictures and on behalf of Studiocanal, we now have an all-new, first ever 4K digital restoration of this classic coming to cinemas nationwide starting tomorrow (June 26th).

Regarding my thoughts on this undertaking. As much as I have seen The Third Man, this is the first time I ever saw it on the big screen. And in watching it, was clear, that the film has been “cleaned up” considerably, as one would expect. But beyond that, I don’t have a basis (i.e. a 35mm projection viewing experience) to compare it to; I look to my fellow readers who have had this privilege to comment below if they notice anything. While I know this may be of interest to many, for me, it doesn’t matter in the end. Simply having the opportunity to catch director Carol Reed’s masterpiece projected in a movie theater is more than worth the price of admission.

I have mentioned a few times the general excitement and glee I derive from screening classic films as they were crafted to be displayed. So I repeat – go see The Third Man, be it your first or fiftieth time. Check the listings to find a screening in your area;  if you are local to the greater New York City area, be sure to head down to Film Forum, where you can see The Third Man tomorrow and on through July 9th.

 

totalfilm600movieblogs