This evening's viewing: a long-overdue revisit to Wings of Desire. First seen many years ago at my beloved Filmhouse, this was the #film that introduced me to Wim Wenders, who would become one of my favourite film-makers.
Achingly beautiful piece of cinema. How many amazing works did the Filmhouse introduce me to that I'd likely never have seen otherwise? So looking forward to its return later this year...
#OnThisDay, May 21, in 1927, pilot Charles Lindbergh landed the Spirit of St. Louis in Paris, becoming the first person to make a solo transatlantic flight (depicted in The Spirit of St. Louis, 1957)
This evening's viewing: Modern Times. Been a long time since I last saw it, & while remembering the amazing & rightly famous sequence where Charlie is sucked into the cogs of the machine, I had totally forgotten about the equally amazing roller skate by the precipice scene, which still looks remarkable (the drop is in fact a glass matte painting, a clever bit of VFX for the era)
This evening's viewing: Vincent Price, Robert (Count Yorga) Quarry, inept policemen, clockwork snakes, elaborate deaths in the desert & hidden Egyptian tombs, in a revisit to the delightfully daft Dr Phibes Rises Again.
Wonderful to revisit Blade Runner on the big screen again this evening, where it really belongs. Took chum along who had never seen it before. Those forty year old visuals are still stunning, the soundtrack by Vangelis iconic.
The Cat and the Canary (1927) - the gold standard for a haunted house movie, one of my favorite silent films. Director Paul Leni brings German expressionism to Hollywood, an excellent concoction. Slightly more title cards than you'd like, but altogether enjoyable even to someone who isn't a silent film buff.
The House on Haunted Hill (1959) - somehow feels even more antiquated than The Cat and the Canary even though it's come out 30 years later. Purposefully campy and goofy, and yet still offers some genuinely creepy moments.
A Man Escaped 1956 ‘Un condamné à mort s'est échappé’
Directed by Robert Bresson
Based on a true story a captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from a Nazi prison. #France#Cinema#Classicfilm#Film#Kino
The White Reindeer 1952 ‘Valkoinen peura’
Directed by Erik Blomberg
A newly-married woman becomes frustrated as her husband, a reindeer herder for an Arctic village, spends much of his time away. Desperate for affection, she visits a shaman who offers a potion that makes her irresistibly desirable, with unexpected and deadly results. #Finland#Cinema#Cinemastodon#Classicfilm#Movie#Finnish#Film
Today, August 9, in 1962, former vaudeville star Jane serves her faded starlet sister Blanche a rat for lunch. When Jane leaves the house to pick up costumes for a new act she hopes will revive her career, Blanche tries to call for help (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, 1962)
Everything you need to know about the beauty and explosive danger of nitrate film, from how we look after it to the filmmakers who’ve been inspired by it.