Heroes for Sale

Suurinta elamassa. US 1933. PC: First National Pictures, The Vitaphone Corporation. D: William A. Wellman. SC: Robert Lord, Wilson Mizner. Starring Richard Barthelmess (Thomas Holmes), Loretta Young (Ruth Loring Holmes). 76 min. Print: LoC. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 2, 30 June 2008. - A hard hitting social melodrama, to be compared with I'm a Fugitive from a Chain Gang and Wild Boys of the Road. Also an ironic tale in Voltaire's Candide tradition. The true war hero becomes a morphine addict and the wrong man gets the decorations. A picaresque story of social adversity from 1918 until 1932. The technical innovation in the laundry leads to unemployment, and our Candide who tries to prevent the Luddite reaction gets to prison believed to be a Communist, and he will be forever under the control of the state police. He donates his fortune from his partnership in the laundy innovation to feeding the poor in the ever expanding lines of the hungry and jobless and disappears underground as a tramp, being chased from state to state like the fugitive from the chain gang.

Korol Parizha

The King of Paris. RU 1917. PC: Hanzhonkov. D: Jevgeni Bauer, Olga Rahmanova. Based on the novel by Georges Ohnet (1898). Art director: Lev Kuleshov. A dvd screening at Cinema Lumière 1, Bologna, 30 June 2008. The Hyperkino project presented by Nikolai Izvolov. I followed the presentation and the beginning of the dvd screening only. The English intertitles have been prepared for the film in 2008 by Nikolai Izvolov, the current generations having seen the film previously without intertitles only.

Cento anni fà: i film del 1908: USA 1908 - Edison e altri

Curator: Tom Gunning. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 30 June 2008. Piano: Donald Sosin.
The Sculptor's Nightmare. US 1908. PC: Biograph. SC: Joseph Golden. 16mm. /16 fps/ 11 min. Print: LoC (from paper print?). Interesting clay animation in the sculptor's dream.
The Thieving Hand. US 1908. PC: Vitagraph. 107 m /16 fps/ 6 min. Print: GEH. - The loose arm has an independent, criminal mind of its own. This comedy has the same concept as Orlacs Hande, Die Hand (Unheimliche Geschichten), and The Beast with Five Fingers.
Fireside Reminiscences. US 1908. PC: Edison. D: J. Searle Dawley, Edwin S. Porter. /16 fps/ 7 min. Deutsche Zwischentitel. NFM. - A complex flashback as moving images projected in the flames of the fireplace.
Francesca di Rimini. US 1908. PC: Vitagraph. D: J. Stuart Blackton. /16 fps/ 10 min. Print: LoC. - The Dante story in tableau style.
Cupid's Pranks. US 1908. PC: Edison. D: J. Searle Dawley. 183 m /16 fps/ 10 min. Print: MoMA. - Funny comedy of Cupid interfering in romantic moments.
The Hebrew Fugitive / Im Lande der Unterdruckung. US 1908. PC: Lubin. 200 m /16 fps/ 11 min. Deutsche Zwischentitel. Print: BFINA. - A stark mini-drama of pogroms in the Pale of Settlement, and the flight to the land of liberty. Final scene of arriving in the USA can be compared with Chaplin (The Immigrant), Kazan (America, America), and Coppola (The Godfather Part II), I heard the Nino Rota score swelling in my mind.

Cento anni fà: i film del 1908: USA 1908 - Biograph prima e dopo Griffith

Curator: Tom Gunning. Viewed in Bologna, Lumière 1, 30 June 2008. Piano: Gabriel Thibaudeau.
Old Isaacs the Pawnbroker. US 1908. PC: Biograph. SC: D.W. Griffith. 274 m /16 fps/ 15 min. Print: MoMA. - Against the racial stereotype: a kindly Jewish pawnbroker helps a little girl and her mother.
Bobby's Kodak. US 1908. PC: Biograph. Starring Bobby Harron. 183 m /20 fps/ 8 min. Print: MoMA. - The rascal takes embarrassing snapshots and shows them in the family and office viewing.
The Adventures of Dollie. US 1908. PC: Biograph. D: Griffith. 235 m /16 fps/ 13 min. Print: LoC. - The Gypsies steal the little daughter, who barely survives in the barrel that gets into the river and the waterfall.
The Guerrilla. US 1908. PC: Biograph. D: Griffith. 300 m /16 fps/ 16 min. Print: LoC & Cineteca Nazionale. - DWG's first Civil War film.
After Many Years. US 1908. PC: Biograph. D: Griffith. 340 m /16 fps/ 18 min. Print: LoC. - DWG's first adaptation of Tennyson's Enoch Arden on film.

I topi grigi 3: Il covo

The Grey Mice 3: The Den. IT 1918. D+starring Emilio Ghione. Cineteca di Bologna / Fondazione Cineteca Italiana / Cinémathèque Royale: Lumière Project 1994 print. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 30 June 2008. Earphone translation in English. Piano: Neil Brand. - The family escapes the bandits by the river. The police catches the gang in the sewers. There is a new branch in the adventure in America, under disguise. - Fairly interesting and stylish progress of the serial.

Forze irresistibili: Le suffragette al cinema: spazio pubblico e privato

Presenta Madeleine Bernstorff. Grand piano: Maud Nelissen. Viewed at Lumière 1, Bologna, 29 June, 2008.
Die Suffragette. DE 1913. D: Urban Gad, starring: Asta Nielsen. DVD Fragment 2 min. Electrifying.
La Grève des cuisinières. FR 1906. PC: Pathé. 8 min. A stereotypical farce.
Robinette nihilista. IT 1913. PC: Ambrosio, starring Nilde Baracchi. 6 min. A farce with witty choreography.
La Journée d'une musulmane / La Journée de Lily. FR 1913. PC: Eclair. Fine print: CNC. 5 min
Tilly in a Boardinghouse. GB 1911. PC: Hepworth. Print: NFM. Starring Alma Taylor (Tilly), Chrissie White (Sally). 7 min. - Wild girls escape in boys' clothing.
Bobby bei den Frauenrechtlerinnen. DE 1911. PC: Messter. 6 min. - Man dresses as woman, infiltrates into a women's meeting, and is chased.
Rêve d'une féministe. FR 1919. PC: Pathé. - Farce about the role reversal.
La Femme doit voter. FR 1912. Print: AFF/CNC. 2 min
Scenes in the Record: Demonstration of Suffragettes 19 June 1910. FR 1910. PC: Pathé. 3 min.
Scenes from Suffragette Demonstration in Newcastle 8 October 1909. FR 1909. PC: [Warwick]. 1 min. Print: BFI
The Suffragette Derby 4 June 1913. FR 1913. PC: Gaumont. 6 min. - Emily Davison throws herself under the King's horse.
Miss Davison's Funeral. FR 1913. PC: Gaumont. 3 min. - "I have fought the good fight".
Suffragettes? Yarmouth Pier and Pavillon Burnt Down 7 April 1914. FR 1914. PC: Eclair. 1 min.
Milling the Militants: A Comic Absurdity. GB 1918. PC: Clarendon. D: Percy Stow. 7 min. - Mother is a suffragette, father stays with children, windows shattered, fire breaks out, a cruel revenge in a dream.
An exciting compilation programme on the social impact of the suffragette. For a Finnish viewer this is a bit strange, as in Finland in 1905-1906 women got full political rights.

Cento anni fà: i film del 1908: 2: Uomini del 1908

Presentano Mariann Lewinsky & Vladimir Bosenko. Grand piano: Antonio Coppola. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 29 July 2008.
PRIMA PARTE: LA CLASSE AGIATA
1908 London Olympics: Track and Field. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 9 min. - Low contrast, no titles explaining who is who.
Kaiser Wilhelm II Hunting. DE 1908. 2 min. - A catch of deer. Good print.
Les Dragées du grand-père. FR 1908. 7 min. - The virile grandfather buys power pills from the pharmacy, but his rascal grandson takes them, too, and amazes the world with his miracle power. +
Avventura galante di un provinciale. IT 1908. PC: Milano Films. D: Luca Comerio. 4 min. - The provincial gentleman picks up a woman who turns out to be a fake.
SECONDA PARTE: DA LOCALE A NAZIONALE ED INTERNAZIONALE; NUOVI PAESI PRODUTTORI
[Alexander Girardi singt]. DE 1908. PC: Messter. 2 min. - A silent print of a singing head.
Die Beerdigung der Opfer des Grubenunglücks auf der Zeche Radbod I.W. den 16 Nov. 1908. DE 1908. PC: Welt-Kinematograph. 7 min. - An endless march.
Hänsel und Gretel. DE 1908. PC: Fita-Film. 3 min.
TERZA PARTE: CENTO ANNI DI CINEMA RUSSO
GOSFILMOFOND 60 YEARS
[A. Drankoff. St. Petersburg]. RU 1908. P: Alexander Drankov. 7 min. - The fire brigade in manouvres, red tinting.
Lev Nikolaevic Tolstoi. RU 1908. P: Alexander Drankov. 12 min. - The NFM Filmliga print with English subtitles. High contrast. Tolstoy at Jasnaja Poljana, meeting crowds at the station, visiting his Moskow home Kanovniki, Koslova station, Briansk station, morning walk in the snow, horseback riding in the winter.
Stenka Razin. RU 1908. P: Alexander Drankov. 10 min fragment. - Ponizovaja Volnitsa = liberation of the lower Volga sequence. A lot of Russian intertitles, not translated. The maid is thrown into the Volga.
St. Petersburg. DK 1908. 2 min.

I topi grigi 2: La tortura

The Grey Mice 2: The Torture. IT 1918. D+starring Emilio Ghione. 743 m /16 fps/ 41 min. Grand piano: Alain Baents. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 29 June 2008. - The Grey Mice catch Za la Mort and put him in a torturous trap where he cannot move his head. A lady saves Za. A bomb destroys the building. The crooks capture the black envelope.

I topi grigi 1: La busta nera

The Grey Mice 1: The Black Envelope. IT 1918. PC: Tiber-Film. D+starring Emilio Ghione (Za la Mort) with Kally Sambucini (Za la Vie), Alfredo Martinelli (Pierino), Alberto Francis Bertone (Grigione), Nello Carotenuto (Muso Doro), Ida Carloni Talli (La duchessa Giovanna). Restored print with the camera negative as starting point: Lumière Project 1994. 632 m /16 fps/ 35 min. Presenta Denis Lotti. Grand piano: Antonio Coppola. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 28 June 2008. - Za la Mort steals the black envelope from the Grey Mice gang in the sewers (of Paris?). Za la Mort's adopted son Leo is revealed to be the inheritor of an immense fortune.

The Salvation Hunters

US 1925. PC: Academy Photoplays. D: Josef von Sternberg. Starring George K. Arthur (the boy), Georgia Hale (the girl), Bruce Guerin (the child). 1814 m /20 fps/ 79 min. Print: UCLA. Presenta: Janet Bergstrom & Nicholas von Sternberg. Grand piano: Donald Sosin. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 28 June 2008. - Sternberg's first film is boldly personal and visually expressive. It's about three human beings that are about to fall into the gutter. The recurrent image is the dredge. It's a film about thought, as Sternberg announces: the thought of salvation, redemption, transcendence.

Cento anni fà: I film del 1908: 1: Donne del 1908

FORZE IRRESISTIBILI: ATTRICI COMICHE E SUFFRAGETTES (1910-1915) 1
Presentano Mariann Lewinsky & Monica Dall'Asta. Grand piano: Neil Brand. Viewed in Bologna, Cinema Lumière 1, 28 June 2008.
PRIMA PARTE: L'ORDINE NATURALE
Le Sarrasin en Bretagne. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 5 min. - A farming documentary, harvesting. +
La Fille de l'armateur. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 17 min. - Beautiful definition of light. +
SECONDA PARTE: CHI LAVA I PIATTI?
Madame l'avocate / La signora avvocatessa. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 7 min. - A story of the woman's place. Beautiful definition of light. *
Is Marriage a Failure? FR 19o8. PC: Pathé. 6 min. - Beautiful pantomime at the coffee table. *
The Nervous Kitchen Maid. FR 1908. PC: Pathé.
La Fabrication de la colle / Herstellung des Leims. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. +
TERZA PARTE: SPAURACCHI
La Journée d'une suffragette. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 7 min. - A farce making fun of suffragettes.
La neuropatologia. IT 1908. PC: Ambrosio. D: Camillo Negro, Roberto Omegna. 6 min. - The cure of grand hysteria.
QUARTA PARTE: DONNE PROFESSIONALI NEL CINEMA
[Madame fait du sabotage]. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. 3 min. - Comedy about the husband and his mistress, who have to run as the floor of their carriage falls down, and the wife is awaiting at the destination.
Sculpture moderne. FR 1908. PC: Pathé. D: Segundo de Chomón. 6 min. - Beautiful multi-colour print from AFF / CNC, ending with a fantastic sequence of clay animation. *
Une heroïne de quatres ans. FR 1908. PC: Gaumont. D: [Alice Guy]. 9 min. - The little girl saves three drunkards and a dog from getting under the train with his skipping rope trap.
Demain matinée. FR 1908. 1 min.

Suomalaistyttöjä Tukholmassa

Finska flickor i Stockholm / [Finnish Girls in Stockholm]. FI 1952. PC: Fennada. P: Mauno Mäkelä. D: Roland af Hällström. SC: Kaarlo Nuorvala. DP: Esko Töyri. M: Tapio Ilomäki, Josef Kaartinen. Starring Toini Vartiainen (Rauha), Eija Inkeri (Kirsti), Maija Karhi (Liisa) - Esko Saha (Olavi Peltola), Åke Lindman (Erik), William Markus (Sven) - Henake Schuback (Italian engineer), Elvi Saarnio (Finnish streetwalker). 102 min. Vintage print viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 18 June 2008. - Beautiful definition of light, but a focus problem in the old print. - Fun to compare with Sex and the City the movie. - This small and unpretentious film has unintended documentary value for the modern viewer. It records the very start of the "Ruotsinlaiva" syndrome of tenement-building-sized cruisers shuttling between Stockholm and Helsinki or Turku (Åbo). The drama is based on the abysmal difference in the living-standard of affluent Sweden and poor Finland still struggling in the aftermath of three terrible wars. (First in the 1980s the gap was getting even, and still Sweden has the superior lead in cultural heritage, manners and mores.) - We see in a cheerfully superficial mood different strategies of experiencing Stockholm, and a selection of stereotypical male responses to the unexperienced girls.

Ansiktet

Kasvot. SE 1958. PC: Svensk Filmindustri. D+SC: Ingmar Bergman. DP: Gunnar Fischer. Starring Max von Sydow (Albert Emanuel Vogler), Ingrid Thulin (Manda Vogler / Aman), Gunnar Björnstrand (Dr. Vergérus, Minister of Health), Erland Josephson (Consul Egerman), Gertrud Fridh (Ottilia Egerman), Toivo Pawlo (Police Superintendent Starbeck), Ulla Sjöblom (Henrietta Starbeck), Åke Fridell (Tubal), Bibi Andersson (Sara), Bengt Ekerot (Johan Spegel), Lars Ekborg (Simson). 100 min. Vintage print with Finnish subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 17 June 2008. - Beautiful definition of light in the print that looks like it's struck from the negative. - My previous impression was that this is light and artificial entertainment compared with Bergman's best films. Now I tend to see the strong sides only. - Yes, this is an entertainment film, an excursion into the mystery, horror, and fantasy side of life that always fascinated Bergman. - The theme of the Laterna Magica. The world of The Magic Flute. Tubal and Sara as Papageno and Papagena. - The Caligari influence in the mask of Vogler (a Caligari who looks like Cesare), the mute magnetist who starts to speak at 65 minutes of the film's duration. - Confessions as in Enskilda samtal ("my man died eight years ago").

Sommarnattens leende

Kesäyön hymyilyä. SE 1955. PC: Svensk Filmindustri. D+SC: Ingmar Bergman. DP: Gunnar Fischer. Starring Ulla Jacobsson (Anne Egerman), Eva Dahlbeck (Désirée Armfelt), Margit Carlquist (Charlotte Malcolm), Harriet Andersson (Petra), Gunnar Björnstrand (Fredrik Egerman), Jarl Kulle (Count Carl Magnus Malcolm), Åke Fridell (the groom Frid), Björn Belvenstrand (Henrik Egerman). 109 min. Vintage print with Finnish subtitles by Aito Mäkinen. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 12 June 2008. - Beautiful definition of light, as if struck from the negative. - My previous impression of this was that Bergman tries hard to do a sophisticated comedy of manners, and the world of the leisure classes is slightly too boring to care. - This time I have more the sense of something affected, forced, and cynical in a slightly shallow way. This film does not flow from the heart (like Bergman's masterpieces of the decade and also several of his lesser films). - But the mechanism in the style of the French 19th century plays is brilliantly and cinematically realized, the actor ensemble is perfect, the cinematography is lovely. - Comparing with Lubitsch: in my opinion, the secret of the Lubitsch touch is a cinematic crystallization of an insight that is simultaneously ironic and cordial. Here Bergman is a bit too smug and not cordial enough.

Джентльмены удачи

Dzhentlemeny udatshi (Finnish transliteration) /Dzhentlmeny udachi (English transliteration) / Onnensoturit / Tre äventyrare / Gentlemen of Fortune. SU 1971. PC: Mosfilm. D: Aleksandr Seryi. SC: Georgi Danelia, Viktorija Tokareva. Starring Jevgeni Leonov (Troshkin / the Docent). 88 min. A vintage print with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Ulla-Liisa Heino / Jutta Leffkowitsch viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 10 June 2008. - Clean print, soft definition, colour intact. - I watched the funny start only of the comedy, where a tender kindergarten teacher gets the mission to go undercover into jail masking as a tough gangster, who is his identical double. An original variation of the idea familiar from the Columbia classic The Whole Town's Talking (1935) written by Robert Riskin and W.R. Burnett, and directed by John Ford.

Sex and the City

Sex and the City - sinkkuelämää / Sex and the City. DE/US (c) IFP Westcoast Erste GmbH & Co. KG. New Line Productions, Inc. D+SC: Michael Patrick King - based on characters from the book by Candace Bushnell and the TV series created by Darren Star. DP: John Thomas - shot on 35mm KodakVision - digital intermediate 2K - 35mm Fuji print 1:1,85. Starring Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie Bradshaw), Kim Cattrall (Samantha Jones), Kristin Davis (Charlotte York), Cynthia Nixon (Miranda Hobbes). 145 min. Released in Finland by FS Film with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Taina Komu / Joanna Erkkilä. Viewed in Tennispalatsi 1, Helsinki, 6 June 2008. - This was my introduction to the Sex and the City phenomenon. I had only caught little glimpses of it on tv. My reliable lady friends report that this film is watered-down in comparison with the tv series. - I sat in the first row in Finland's biggest cinema in a sold-out screening on the premiere night in a cinema filled with almost only women. It was clear that they enjoyed it, and so did I. - The Finnish title of the series is "Singles' Life", and this film spells the end of that, as everyone is married / getting married / going steady except Kim Cattrall's Samantha. - Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda are all very different, and they are going their separate ways, but friendship is forever. - "Labels and love". The project has been noted for its particularly blatant product placement. It can also be seen as satirical, but the satire is too gentle to bite. - It certainly is interesting to compare this with the golden days of the woman's film in the 1930s and in the 1950s. The material would have been ideal for George Cukor.

Brilliantovaya ruka / The Diamond Arm

Leonid Gaidai: Бриллиантовая рука / Brilliantovaya ruka / The Diamond Arm (SU 1969) starring Yuri Nikulin.

Бриллиантовая рука / Brilliantovaja ruka (translitteration FI) / (translitteration EN) / Briljanttikäsi / Briljanthanden. SU 1968, premiere 1969. PC: Mosfilm. D: Leonid Gaidai. DP: Igor Tshernyh – Sovcolor – Sovscope 1:2,35. Starring Juri Nikulin, Nina Grebeshkova, Andrei Mironov, Anatoli Papanov. 99 min. Vintage print with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Ulla-Liisa Heino / Eirik Udd. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki 5 June 2008. – Colour fading in this print. – The protagonist takes an Adriatic cruise and in Istanbul is mistaken for a smuggler. As the police get wind of this they let him continue as their bait to catch the whole smuggler gang. A Russian answer to the Pink Panther films, a lightweight, ludicrous farce with satirical quips about the status symbols of the rising standard of life. One of the great box office hits in the USSR.

Tukkijoella (1951)

Timmerflottarna / [Timber River]. FI 1951. PC: Fennada. P: Mauno Mäkelä. D: Roland af Hällström. Based on the musical play by Teuvo Pakkala and Oskar Merikanto (1899). DP: Esko Töyri. M: Oskar Merikanto (the original play) and Tapio Ilomäki (additional score). Starring Tauno Palo (Turkka), Rauni Ikäheimo (Katri Pietola), Sirkka Hirvonen (Anni), Helge Herala (Huotari), Rakel Laakso (Maija Rivakka), Kalle Viherpuu (Tolari), Lasse Pöysti (Pölhö-Kustaa), Ema Vinermo (rättäri), Anton Soini (the master of Pietola), Irja Viherpuu (Pahna-Maija), Kerttu Salmi (Poro-Pirkko), Ritva Putkonen (Lenkka-Leena), Leo Jokela (Oterma the lumberjack). 97 min. 16mm. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 3 June 2008. - A faulty 16mm print struck with dirt on the upper part of the gate, leaving a distracting veil on the image.
"Vielä niitä honkia humisee"
"Tukkilaisten laulu"
"Ei meitä suruilla ruokita"
"Tukkipoika se lautallansa"
"Tuulen henki, lemmenhenki" sung by Rauni Ikäheimo
"Turkan laulu"
"Tolarin laulu"
"Tukkilaisjenkka" sung by Tauno Palo
"Voi minun nuorta sydäntäni" sung by Palo, Ikäheimo
"Sun kanssasi kahden kun soudan" sung by Palo
"Hih, hih, huh, hei, meijän Maija keittää kahvit"
"Katkera on kahvia juoda ilman sokeritta" sung by Helge Herala and the girls
"Tuulan tei" sung by Palo, Ikäheimo
Oskar Merikanto is the favourite composer of the Finnish homes, where Sibelius is the favourite composer of the Finnish concert halls.
This all-time big favourite Finnish music play has been filmed three times, never very successfully, always interestingly. Hällström would have been the ideal director, but also he did a sloppy job with it. Maybe he felt the material was too obvious and familiar. Tauno Palo is not in top form, only very good. His song performances in this film are not absolutely brilliant, but still to be cherished, including the lovely duets with Rauni Ikäheimo. I would select their "Voi minun nuorta sydäntäni" and "Tuulan tei" to my Merikanto anthology.

La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo

Naurettavan miehen tragedia / Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man. IT 1981. PC: Fiction Cinematografica, Ladd Company. P: Giovanni Bertolucci. D+SC: Bernardo Bertolucci. DP: Carlo Di Palma - Technicolor. M: Ennio Morricone. LOC: Parma. Starring Ugo Tognazzi (Giovanni Spaggiari), Anouk Aimée (Barbara Spaggiari), Laura Morante (Laura), Victor Cavallo (Adelfo). 116 min. Vintage print with e-subtitles in Finnish by Lena Talvio. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 3 June 2008. - This print has not been brilliant to begin with, from one intermediate too many, with focus problems. And now the colour has started to fade. - The film can be compared with Kurosawa's High and Low, with the big industrialist as the main figure. The son has been kidnapped, but it is a trick plot of the young radical terrorists with the son's collaboration. - The drama of the Parmese cheese factory facing bankruptcy, the hard challenges also seen from the industrialist's viewpoint. As in Kurosawa's film, he's a self-made man. - A lively Ennio Morricone score. - Autumnal cinematography by Carlo Di Palma.

Adorable menteuse

Tyttö pyjamassa / Flickan i pyjamas. FR 1961. D: Michel Deville. Starring Marina Vlady (Juliette), Macha Méril (Sophie). 110 min. A vintage print with Finnish / Swedish subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 3 June 2008. - Lovely definition. - I saw the last half hour only, with the remarkable Marina Vlady at her most charming, also as a singer-guitarplayer. "Unconventional" editing, maybe prompted by the nouvelle vague.

The Last Hurrah

Viimeinen koetus / Det sista försöket. US (c) 1958 Columbia. P+D: John Ford. SC: Frank Nugent - based on the novel by Edwin O'Connor (1956). DP: Charles Lawton. Starring Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Dianne Foster, Pat O'Brien, Basil Rathbone, Donald Crisp, James Gleason, John Carradine, Willis Bouchey, Ricardo Cortez, Anna Lee, Jane Darwell. 121 min. Vintage print with Finnish / Swedish subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 1 June 2008. - Good definition of light in this daringly darkly photographed film. Works fine in the Academy ratio. - I watched a portion only of this moving farewell film about the elderly Boston politician. It portrays American political life with a special blend of satire and tenderness.