Thursday, April 01, 1982

APRIL 1982, WEST BERLIN

Who's Minding the Store? / Jerry, myyntipäällikön kauhu. US 1963. D: Frank Tashlin. tv, DF. Jerry and Tashlin at their best. In the climax Jerry demonstrates the vacuum cleaner's suction power. It draws in everything from the vicinity and then from the whole floor, including the customer's poodle and the saleslady's briefs. The bag of the cleaner swells into a giant balloon which lifts Jerry to the ceiling, where the whole debris of the consumer society explodes.
TV 2.4.1982: Fred Astaire: Change Partners and Dance /Ein Mann tanzt um die Welt 2: Zauberhafte Partnerinnen. US 1980. D: David Heeley. Fred Astaire. (part)
Le Cercle rouge / Punainen ympyrä / Vier im roten Kreis. FR 1970. D: Jean-Pierre Melville. tv. DF. A masterpiece.
TV 3.-4.4.1982: Rockpalast-Festival X Live aus der Grugahalle in Essen. A six hour live transmission. Rick James, Van Morrison, U2, Bob Seger (taped), The Kinks, David Lindley.
Safety Last / Turvallisuus viimeiseksi / Ausgerechnet Wolkenkratzer. US 1923. D: Fred Newmeyer & Sam Taylor. Harold Lloyd. A masterpiece.
Die Wahlverwandschaften / Les Affinités électives. TVM. FR/CZ/DE 1982. D: Claude Chabrol. Goethe. Stéphane Audran (Charlotte), Michael Degen (Hauptmann Otto), Pascale Reynaud (Ottilie), Helmut Griem (Edouard Otto). A boring adaptation of a novel I love. Premiere transmission.
Easter Parade / Sinun kanssasi kahden. US 1948. D: Charles Walters. Garland, Astaire, Ann Miller. tv. A feast of colour and music.
TV 5.4.1982: Hitparade im ZDF. Dieter Thomas Heck, the Heikki Hietamies of Germany.
The Invisible Ray. US 1936. D: Lambert Hillyer. Karloff, Lugosi. tv
It Started with Eve / Se alkoi Eevasta. US 1941. D: Henry Koster. Deanna Durbin, Charles Laughton. tv. DF. Trivial.
Bathing Beauty / Läpi tulen ja veden. US 1944. D: George Sidney. Esther Williams, Red Skelton. tv. Fun.
Ben-Hur / Ben-Hur. US 1925. D: Fred Niblo. Ramon Novarro, Francis X. Bushman, May McAvoy, Betty Bronson. tv. ZDF reconstruction, with colour sequence, 151 min.
Francesco, giullare di Dio / Fransiskus, Jumalan narri. IT 1950. D: Roberto Rossellini. tv. DF. The first hippie. A masterpiece, one of the great Christian films.
პასტორალი / Pastorali / Pastoraali. GE-SU 1976. D: Otar Iosseliani. Arsenal. Original Georgian version. A brilliant print. Each inch of it fine poetry. Iosseliani is one of the best directors today.
10.4.1982 an evening at Berliner Kinomuseum (the city's smallest cinema with a grandiose name):
Fox tönende Wochenschau (from the early 1950s) +
Jamaica Inn / Jamaica Innin rantarosvot. GB 1939. D: Alfred Hitchcock. Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara. DF. One of his worst. +
Die Duse des Films. The memorial film of Asta Nielsen +
Der fremde Vogel. DE 1911. D: Urban Gad. Asta Nielsen
The Red Shoes. tv. DF [2]
Across the Wide Missouri / Eränkävijäin kuningas. US 1951. D: William Wellman. tv. DF. Gable as a trapper in the 1830 who marries an Indian girl (María Elena Marqués) and is drawn to war with the Indians. Qf. Jeremiah Johnson. Belongs to the Western cycle where justice was attempted to the Indians. But didn't work dubbed in German and shrunk into the tv screen.
Let's Make Love. tv. DF [3] Strangely enough, I liked it more this time.
Brigadoon / Lumottu laakso. US 1949. D: Vincente Minnelli. Cyd Charisse, Gene Kelly. tv. DF. A masterpiece.
TV 14.4.1982: Klassiker der Filmkunst: Ernst Lubitsch. DDR.
The Beguiled / Korpraali McB. US 1970. D: Don Siegel. Clint Eastwood. tv. DF. I wasn't impressed.
The Playhouse. tv [3]
Stage Fright / Esirippu laskee. GB 1950. D: Alfred Hitchcock. Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich. Arsenal. DF. I didn't like it much at this first screening. The well-known plot problem is distracting. The protagonist's mental unbalance is used calculatingly. My favourite scene: where the little child walks towards Dietrich on stage with a "bloody" puppet in her arms.
Илья Муромец / Jättiläisten taistelu / Der Kampf um das goldene Tor. SU 1956. D: Alexander Ptushko. Filmkunst 66: Fantastival. DF. Discovering Ptushko and Soviet fantasy. The hero is a legendary figure stuck in the oven shelter while Mongols wreak havoc in the Ukraine, but once he puts his act together he can accomplish miraculous feats. (Cf. the battles against Napoleon and Hitler). Juicy, humoristic storytelling. Dubbed in German: "Mütterchen!"
Планета бурь / Myrskyjen planeetta / Planet der Stürme. SU 1962. D: Pavel Klushantsov. Filmkunst 66: Fantastival. DF. Largely stylish science fiction.
Ленин в Париже / Lenin Pariisissa / Lenin in Paris. SU 1981. D: Sergei Yutkevich. tv. Weak. Far from the level of Tales of Lenin and Lenin in Poland.
The Palm Beach Story / Hullujen paratiisi. US 1942. D: Preston Sturges. tv. DF. partly.
TV 24.4.1982: The Eurovision Song Contest + ABBA
TV 25.4.1982: Ernst Lubitsch - Lektion in Kino. D: Enno Patalas. tv. I liked the analyses of the Lubitsch tropes.
TV 26.4.1982: Na sowas. A Bavarian pop programme with Thomas Gottschalk.
TV 26.4.1982: Jugend Club. A DDR pop programme.
The Girl Can't Help It / Minkäpä tyttö sille voi / Die Schlagerpiraten. US 1956. D: Frank Tashlin. Kant-Kino. A great rock satire, a great print paying justice to the 1950s Fox colour and CinemaScope. A self-evident choice for the eve of the First of May.