Saturday, November 14, 1981

MELIES SUCCEFILMER

The Success Films of Méliès. Filmklubben / Filmhuset. Madeleine Malthête-Méliès presented her grandfather's films, with piano music.
Le Voyage dans la lune / Resan till månen
L'Homme-orchestre / Enmansorkestern (*)
L'Oracle de Delphes / Oraklet i Delfi
Le Maître do-mi-so-do / Maestro do-mi-sol-do (*)
Les Hallucinations du baron de Münchhausen / Baron Münchhausen ser i syne (*)
Le Fakir de Singapour / Fakiren från Singapore (*)
L'Homme-mouche / Flugmannen (*)
L'Auberge ensorcelée / Det förtrollade värdshuset
Au clair de la lune / Månskensserenaden
Raid Paris-Monte Carlo en deux heures / Paris-Monte Carlo loppet
Le Rêve du maître de ballet / Balettmästarens dröm (*)
Jack le ramoneur / Sotar-Jack
Le Bourreau turc / Den turkiske bödeln (*)
Satan en prison / Djävulen i fängelse (*)
Many of the films in the three programmes were recently re-discovered, long believed lost. They go to show that cinema in the first person, auteur cinema, is as old as cinema itself. Even ultra-subjective, solipsistic, surrealistic cinema is already here. What a wide variety of tricks. Many films were without colour, many prints were quite bearable, all worth seeing.

Thursday, November 12, 1981

MELIES BURLESKER

The Burlesques of Méliès. Filmklubben / Filmhuset. Madeleine Malthête-Méliès presented her grandfather's films, with piano music.
Le Portrait mystérieux / Det mystiska porträttet
La Cardeuse de matelas / Fyllot och madrasskarderskan
Les Cartes animées / De levande spelkorten
Sorcellerie culinaire / Förhäxad kokkonst
Au pays des jouets / Leksakslandet
Patins à roulettes / Rullskridskoåkarna
Le Tripot clandestin / Den olagliga spelhålan
Le Thaumaturge chinois / Den kinesiske trollkarlen (*)
Le Diable noir / Den svarte djävulen (*)
Un homme de têtes / Mannen med de många huvudena (*)
Le Rêve d'un fumeur d'opium / En opiumrökares dröm (*)
Les Affiches en goguette / Affischer på vift (*)
Le merveilleux eventail vivant / Den fantastiska levande solfjädern
La Duche d'eau bouillante / Den kokheta duschen
Eclipse de soleil en pleine lune / Solförmörkelse i månsken
Une chute de cinq étages / Ett fall från femte våningen
Le Cake-walk infernal / Djävulsk cake-walk

Wednesday, November 11, 1981

I HUVET PÅ MELIES

In the Head of Méliès. Filmklubben / Filmhuset. Madeleine Malthête-Méliès (who looks like her grandmother) presented her grandfather's films, with piano music.
Escamotage d'une dame chez Robert-Houdin / Damen som försvann
L'Impressioniste fin-de-siècle / En modern trollkarl
Après le bal / Efter balen
Les nouvelles luttes extravagantes / Nya extravaganta brottartag
Le Sacre d'Edouard VII / Edvard VII's kröning
Le Mélomane / Musikvurmen (*)
Le Chaudron infernal / Den djävulska kitteln (*)
Le Voyage à travers l'impossible / Resan genom det omöjliga
L'Homme à la tête en caoutchouk / Mannen med gummihuvudet (*)
Le Tentation de Saint Antoine / Sankt Antonius frestelse (*)
Le Roi du maquillage / Maskeringens konung
La Chrysalide et le papillon / Puppan och fjärilen (*)
Faust aux enfers / Fausts resa i underjorden
Dislocation mystérieuse / Fantastiska syner
La Fée carabosse / Sagan om häxan
Le Locataire diabolique / Den demoniske hyresgästen (*)

Monday, November 02, 1981

NOVEMBER 1981, STOCKHOLM

Hitori musuko / The Only Son. JP 1936. D: Yasujiro Ozu. Filmklubben / Filmhuset. I'm starting to discover Ozu, it is easier for me to approach him via the early films.
Prisoner of the Shark Island / Haisaaren vanki. US 1936. D: John Ford. Fkl / Filmstaden. A fine surprise, an important step into Ford's greatest stage. Unjustly convicted for being an accessory to Lincoln's assassination the doctor (Warner Baxter) is thrown into the prison, with John Carradine as the sadistic sergeant. Ford fight lynch justice. The archetypal Griffithian-Fordian conclusion: the homecoming of the now skeletal man.
History of the World Part One / Mieletön maailmanhistoria. US 1981. D: Mel Brooks. Park. I only liked the Inquisition.
Czlowiek z zelaza / Rautamies / The Man of Iron. PL 1981. D: Andrzej Wajda. Fst. Important political gesture, but not as good a film as The Man of Marble.
Третья Мещанская / Säng och soffa / Sänky ja sohva / Bed and Sofa. SU 1927. D: Abram Room. Fkl / Fh. A Swedish print. A surprising mix of Soviet realism and the Lubitsch touch. The film seemed to be a Filmklubben favourite. To be compared with Happiness (Medvedkin) and The Outskirts (Barnet).
This Is Elvis / Kuningas Elvis. US 1981. Malcolm Leo & Andrew Solt. Fst. Colonel Parker's view of his victim.
Körkarlen. Fkl / Fh [2]
Двадцать шесть дней из жизни Достоевского / 26 päivää Dostojevskin elämässä / Twenty Six Days from the Life of Dostoyevsky. SU 1980. D: Alexander Zarhi. tv. The only bright spot: Anatoli Solonitsyn.
Quick Millions. US 1931. D: Rowland Brown. Fkl / Fst. Spencer Tracy as gangster.
Kontrakt / Sopimus / The Contract. D: Krysztof Zanussi. tv. I saw only 30 min, bored.
Fängelse / Vankila. SE 1949. D: Ingmar Bergman. Fkl / Fh. Surprise! His best 1940s film, his first masterpiece. An ironic look at Fyrtiotalismen ("The Forties-ism"). A sovereign grip on the structure. Much better than Törst. A Zeitgeist movie. The devil's rationale to oppose nuclear weapons: "Too easy a solution!"
The Wild One / Vauhtihurjat. US 1953. D: Laslo Benedek. Marlon Brando. Mythic. Brando conceited. Lee Marvin irresistible.
Drums Along the Mohawk / Liekehtivä erämaa. US 1939. D: John Ford. Fkl / Fst. The war of independence. The only Indian who is on the Americans' side is mad. The Englishmen (led by patch-eyed John Carradine) provoke the Indians against the Americans. Claudette Colbert's make-up is too thick in this Technicolor film.
Obchod na korze / Liike pääkadulla / The Shop on Main Street. CZ 1965. D: Jan Kadar & Elmar Klos. tv
Blood Money. US 1933. D: Rowland Brown. Fkl / Fh. George Bancroft as a gangster. A dense and furious gangster movie.
Days of Wine and Roses / Viinin ja ruusujen aika. D: Blake Edwards. tv. Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick as alcoholics. Good satire in the beginning, weak temperance propaganda in the end.
Abel Gance - the Charm of Dynamite. GB 1968. D: Kevin Brownlow. Fkl / Fst. Clips from J'accuse, La Roue, and Napoléon. Brilliant! G. is the missing link from Griffith to Eisenstein. The time of the cinema has arrived.
Man of Aran / Aransaaren mies. GB 1934. D: Robert Flaherty. Fkl / Fst
TV: Rock Out. Edited by Jan Olov Andersson. Frank Zappa: You Are What You Is. Rod Stewart: Tonight I'm Yours. Pete Shelley: Homosapien (*). Tom Petty: Woman In Love. Earth, Wind & Fire: Let's Groove Tonight (*). Spandau Ballet: Paint Me Down. Duran Duran: Callous Memories. Hall & Oates: Private Eyes. John Foxx: Dancing Like A Gun. Marianne Faithfull: Sweetheart. ABBA: One Of Us. - The time of the video has arrived.