Jigoku

Jigoku (the title on film in Western letters) / Hell. JP 1960. PC: Shintoho. D: Nobuo Nakagawa. DP: Morita Mamoru - Eastmancolor - Shintohoscope 1:2,35. Starring Shigeru Amachi (Shiro Shimizu), Yoichi Numata (Tamura), Utako Mitsuya (Yukiko / Sachiko). 101 min. A National Film Center (Tokyo) print with English subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 30 September 2008. - A duped print with blurred colour. - A crazy ambience from the start: stylized, almost abstract images, song, pantomime, flames of hell. During the credits there are soft-core sex images of the luscious stripper, reminding us of the lust of the flesh. The theology professor lectures about hell in ancient religions, including Hinduism. Shiro is tormented by a demonic friend, Tamura. Last night, Shiro has been the passenger in the car driven by Tamura, and in a hit-and-run accident, a member of the yakuza ("Tiger Kyoichi of the Gondo Syndicate") has been killed. The yakuza's stripper-girlfriend swears revenge. As Shiro takes a taxi with his girlfriend Yokio to report to the police, there is another accident, and Yokio, who is pregnant, dies. - Interesting music: a selection of Bach's piano work, and jazz piano. - I saw the first 20 minutes only. - I missed the legendary last third in Hell.

The Man I Killed (UCLA restoration)

Ernst Lubitsch: The Man I Killed (US 1932).

Broken Lullaby / Särkynyt sävel / Mannen jag dödade. US © 1932 Paramount. P+D: Ernst Lubitsch. SC: Samson Raphaelson, Ernest Vajda – based on the play L'Homme qui j'ai tué (1930) by Maurice Rostand and the English-language adaptation The Man I Killed by Reginald Berkeley (1931). DP: Victor Milner. AD: Hans Dreier. Starring Phillips Holmes (Paul Renard), Nancy Carroll (Elsa), Lionel Barrymore (Dr. Hölderlin), Louise Carter (Mrs. Hölderlin), Lucien Littlefield (Schultz), ZaSu Pitts (Anna), Tully Marshall (gravedigger). 78 min. Print of UCLA restoration viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 30 September, 2008. – The restoration seems to be based on challenging source material, maybe even 16mm. I seem to remember that the NFTVA print was better. – The odd film out in Lubitsch's 1930's oeuvre: a serious Pacifist tract. – The young Frenchman cannot overcome his horror of having shot a German at point blank range (both young soldiers are violinists), and although a slick clergyman is quick with absolution, he travels to Germany, visits the man's grave, gets acquainted with his family, and becomes the surrogate to the man he killed. – The best sequence is the ironic church service for the military in the beginning, juxtaposing gleaming sabres and boots with Christian imagery. – Then it gets heavy, often declamatory, and melodramatic. The saving scenes are the ones with the small merchants. – The dull Phillips Holmes, having ruined Sternberg's An American Tragedy, now spoils the film of Lubitsch.

Les Amants réguliers

Regular Lovers. FR (c) 2004 Maïa Films / ARTE France. D: Philippe Garrel. SC: Philippe Garrel, Arlette Langmann, Marc Chodolenko. DP: William Lubtchansky - b&w - Academy 1:1,37. M: Jean-Claude Vannier. Starring Louis Garrel (Francois, poet), Clotilde Hesme (Lilie, sculptress), Eric Rulliat (Jean-Christophe). 182 min. A Films Distribution print with English subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 30 September 2008. - A fine print of a film with stark b&2 cinematography in high contrast. - A poetic meditation on the experience of May 1968 in Paris. Reflected also in visions of the revolutions of 1789 and 1848. - Garrel has stated that his film is not about the year 1968 but a generation. Like a novel by Stendhal, he moves through history and returns to the private. The second part of the film is about the return of art. Even opium is a literary device, which evokes the dreams of 1968, a return to Romantic literature or even Cocteau. - I watched the first 30 minutes and the last 15 minutes. The beginning is about the street fights at night, depicted as an anti-action movie. The ending is about the death of the poet of an opium overdose.

Päätalo / The Novelist

Hannu Kahakorpi: Päätalo / The Novelist (FI 2008) with Kai Lehtinen (Kalle Päätalo) and Susanna Anteroinen (Leena).

FI © 2008 MRP Matila Röhr Productions. P: Marko Röhr, Asko Apajalahti, Mikko Tenhunen. 

    D: Hannu Kahakorpi. SC: Elina Halttunen – based on the novels by Kalle Päätalo – and the adaptation by Miisa Lindén. DP: Jarkko T. Laine. 

    Starring Kai Lehtinen (Kalle Päätalo), Susanna Anteroinen (Leena), Nina Jääskeläinen (Laina), Pirjo Leppänen (Riitu), Antti Virmavirta (Ilmari Vouvila), Kari Hietalahti (Veikko Moilanen), Ahti Jokinen (Kummun Kalle), Maija Paunio (Leena's office pal). 

    107 min

    A Nordisk release viewed as a digital projection at Tennispalatsi 2, Helsinki, 27 September 2008.

The digital image is good in close-ups, ok in town scenes and not so good in the nature scenes and in the countryside. The colour is too bright and stylized.

This film covers the years 1951–1957 in Kalle Päätalo's life. Päätalo became Finland's best-selling author. He wrote 39 novels and several other books. The center of his oeuvre is the autobiographical 26-volume Iijoki cycle. Päätalo's books have been printed in 3,6 million copies in a land of 5 million people.

His great inspiration: Mika Waltari's Aiotko kirjailijaksi [Do You Want To Become a Writer, 1935). His first novel: Ihmisiä telineillä [People on the Scaffold, 1957]. 

The film is the story of how Päätalo became a writer. The actors are excellent. I liked Mikko Niskanen's story of Päätalo's youth before the war in the films Elämän vonkamies (1986) and Nuoruuteni savotat (1988). (The titles of those movies are untranslatable. Savotta = lumbercamp. Vonka = a wide and deep passage in a bend of the river in which logs may get stuck. Vonkamies = a lumberjack watching the river bend for logjams.)

This films jumps 20 years ahead in the Päätalo story. It starts in the countryside in Taivalkoski, and the main story takes place in Tampere, the biggest industrial city of the country.

Of the director's touch one could say that it is very matter-of-fact, plain tv drama, without a distinctive visual concept. Mikko Niskanen and Edvin Laine did well with Päätalo, and Hannu Kahakorpi keeps a sense of authenticity and truth in the characters and the storytelling.

Kai Lehtinen is very good in the leading role. He conveys a certain clumsiness of the Finnish male, but also a sensitivity beneath. This kind of Finnish man is not far from the image of the strong silent type of the Westerner in the American cinema. Pirjo Leppänen, who was already playing Kalle's mother in the 1980s, is still perfect.

Narkose

Revisited, see 16 September, 2008, notes

White Roses Seminar (publishing the first monograph on Hannu Leminen: Valkoiset ruusut, 2008)

Kimmo Laine & Juha Seitajärvi: Valkoiset ruusut (2008), a book on Hannu Leminen. On the cover: Helena Kara.

White Roses Seminar, 26 September 2008 at 14.00-16.45 at Cinema Orion, Helsinki

Kimmo Laine & Juha Seitajärvi: Introduction, a trailer, and test footage
Kaarle Stewen: Hannu Leminen Changes Media
Sakari Toiviainen: An Overview into Leminen's Oeuvre
Outi Hupaniittu: Helena Kara's Star Image
Jari Sedergren: The Political Leminen
Heini Hakosalo: Leminen and the Theme of Illness
Anneli Lehtisalo: Romantic Artists' Life in a Bourgeois Idyll
Minna Santakari: Leminen as Art Director
CANCELLED as the time run out: Antti Alanen: Four Letters from an Unknown Woman
...
The first book on Hannu Leminen, Valkoiset ruusut [White Roses], edited by Kimmo Laine and Juha Seitajärvi, was published

Also a cd called Valkoiset ruusut was published, with selections from the history of Finnish film music such as Armas Järnefelt's The Song of the Scarlet Flower (1919), Leevi Madetoja's The Battle Over the House of Heikkilä (1935), Einar Englund's The Boys (1962), and, of course, Väinö Haapalainen's White Roses (1943)

Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam

Piru tuli yöllä / Djävulen kom om natten / The Devil Strikes at Night. DE (BRD) 1957. PC: KG Divina Film. D: Robert Siodmak. DP: Georg Kraus. AD: Rolf Zehetbauer, Gottfried Will. M: Siegfried Franz. Starring Claus Holm (Inspector Axel Kersten), Annemarie Düriger (Helga Hornung), Mario Adorf (Bruno Lüdke). 105 min. A Goethe Institut print with English subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 25 September 2008. - A fine print, the best I have seen from this Goethe package "Germany After the War and Before the Wall". - Siodmak in good form, strong cinematic storytelling, with expressionistic force. I saw only the beginning and am looking forward to seeing it all.

The Smiling Lieutenant (UCLA Film & Television Archive restoration)

Ernst Lubitsch: The Smiling Lieutenant (US 1931) with Maurice Chevalier (Niki), Charles Ruggles (Max) and Claudette Colbert (Franzi).

Hymyilevä luutnantti / Leende löjtnanten.

    US © 1931 Paramount. P+D: Ernst Lubitsch. SC: Ernest Vajda, Samson Raphaelson – based on the operetta Ein Walzertraum / A Waltz Dream / Valssiunelmia (1907) composed by Oscar Straus, with  libretto by Leopold Jacobson and Felix Dörmann (= Felix Biedermann) – and a story in the book Buch der Abenteuer by Hans Müller (= Hans Lothar). DP: George Folsey – early sound aperture 1:1,2. M: Oscar Straus. MD: Adolph Deutsch.
    "Toujours l'Amour in the Army", music by Oscar Straus, lyrics by Clifford Grey, sung by Maurice Chevalier twice
    "While Hearts Are Singing", music by Oscar Straus, lyrics by Clifford Grey, played on piano by Maurice Chevalier and sung by Claudette Colbert
    "Breakfast Table Love", music by Oscar Straus, lyrics by Clifford Grey, sung by Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert
    "One More Hour of Love", music by Oscar Straus, lyrics by Clifford Grey, sung by Maurice Chevalier
    "Kaiserlied (Austrian National Anthem 1795–1918)", music by Joseph Haydn, lyrics by Lorenz Leopold Haschka,
    "Ach Du lieber Flausenthurm", sung a cappella by Maurice Chevalier to the tune of the 18th century German folksong "Ach Du lieber Augustine"
    "Jazz Up Your Lingerie", music by Oscar Straus, lyrics by Clifford Grey, played on piano by Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins and sung by both; reprised on piano by Hopkins [soundtrack listing courtesy IMDB]
    Starring Maurice Chevalier (Niki), Claudette Colbert (Franzi), Miriam Hopkins (Princess Anna), Charles Ruggles (Max), George Barbier (King Adolf XV). 

    Studio: Kaufman Astoria Studios and Paramount Studios (Astoria, Queens, New York City).

    89 min (cut)

    New York premiere 22 May 1931

    US premiere 1 Aug 1931 (wide)

    Helsinki premiere 30 Aug 1931 Bio-Bio – released by Paramount Pictures – 2560 m / 94 min (uncut)

    French premiere 22 Jan 1932 (French language parallel version)

    UCLA Film & Television Archive restoration.

    35 mm print from UCLA Film & Television Archive.

    Suomen elokuva-arkisto: Ernst Lubitsch retrospective.

    Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 25 September, 2008.

For the first time I see a good film print of The Smiling Lieutenant. The print is excellent (both sound and image), better than the ones seen of The Love Parade and Monte Carlo.

The synchronization of sound and image is deliciously humoristic, the small details as charming as the gags.

Lubitsch's specialty is that he is not only making an operetta film but also having fun with the operetta phenomenon. Somehow he transforms this into a vehicle of satire. The subjects of his satire include vanity and pretension. At the bottom there is great tenderness. We like his characters. We laugh with them.

The slight narrative starts with a misunderstanding. Maurice Chevalier is smiling at his sweetheart, the leader of the band Viennese Swallows (Claudette Colbert), but the insecure princess (Miriam Hopkins) thinks he is smiling at her. It all leads to marriage, unhappy at first, but Claudette gives Miriam a few sexy tips. At last, the checkers board is thrown on the bed.

...

PROGRAM NOTE 1988 EDITED BY ANTTI ALANEN

SUOMEN ELOKUVA-ARKISTO

finlands filmarkiv

The Smiling Lieutenant

Hymyilevä luutnantti / Leende löjtnanten

 

Yhdysvallat 1931. Tuotantoyhtiöt: Paramount. Tuottaja: Ernst Lubitsch. Ohjaus: Ernst Lubitsch. Käsikirjoitus: Ernest Vajda, Samson Raphaelson – Leopold Jacobsonin ja Felix Dörmannin (= Felix Biedermannin) operetista Ein Walzertraum sekä Hans Müllerin (= Hans Lotharin) teokseen Buch der Abenteuer sisältyvästä kertomuksesta.. Kuvaus: George Folsey. Leikkaus: Merril White. Ääni: Ernest Zatorsky. Lavastus: Hans Dreier. Musiikki: Oscar Straus. Musiikin johto: Adolph Deutsch. Musiikin sovitus: Johnny Green, Conrad Salinger. Laulujen sanat: Clifford Grey. Pääosissa: Maurice Chevalier (Niki), Claudette Colbert (Franzi), Miriam Hopkins (prinsessa Anna), Charles Ruggles (Max), George Barbier (kuningas Adolf XV), Con MacSun-day (keisari), Robert Strange (adjutantti von Rockoff), Hugh O'Connell (poika), Elizabeth Patterson (paronitar von Schwedel), Harry Bradley (kreivi von Halden), Karl Stall (hovimarsalkka), Werner Saxtorph (Joseph), Janet Reade (Lily), Granville Bates (velkojen perijä), Maude Allen (muuan nainen), Charles Wagenheim (upseeri). Kuvausaika: helmi-maaliskuu 1931. Kuvauspaikka: Astoria Studios, Long Island City, New York. New Yorkin ensiesitys: 22.5.1931, Criterion. – 88 min / 102 min. 

    (Lubitschin 51. elokuva ja 3. äänielokuva)  

Huolimatta The Love Paradelle suitsutetusta ylistyksestä kriitikot ylittivät itsensä ilmaistakseen ilonsa Monte Carlon johdosta, ja nyt koettivat kilvan keksiä sanoja, joilla he toisivat julki sen, että Hymyilevä luutnantti, joka oli sijoitettu pintakiiltoiseen, koristeelliseen Wieniin, oli niitäkin parempi. Aikoiko Lubitsch toistaa sen mykkäkautensa uskomattoman saavutuksen, että hänen jokainen elokuvansa oli edeltäjäänsä parempi?

   

Monte Carlon lailla Hymyilevä luutnantti perustui Hans Müllerin tarinaan. "Nux, prinssipuoliso" (Lubitschin kolmas peräkkäinen "prinssipuoliso") oli pohjana myös Oscar Straussin maailmankuululle vuosisadanvaihteen operetille Valssiunelma. Sen oli jo rakastavalla huolella elokuvannut Saksassa Ufalle Ludwig Berger mykkäversiona, jonka pääosissa olivat Mady Christians ja Willy Fritsch ja jonka maailmanmenestys jäi jälkeen vain kahdelle muulle mykälle elokuvaoperetille, Lubitschin Ylioppilasprinssille ja von Stroheimin Iloiselle leskelle. Lubitschin kiinnostus naiseen seksuaalisesti hyökkäävänä osapuolena jatkui hänen äänielokuvissaan: ensimmäisessä kolmikossa mies päätyy kuningattaren puolisoksi kuningattaren valitsemana.

   

"Elokuvassa on lukuisia täydellisiä neronleimauksia", kirjoitti William Boehnel The New York Telegrammissa, "jotka kuuluvat Lubitschin kuuluisista 'kosketuksista' loisteliaimpiin. Tässä Lubitsch on tehnyt samoin kuin René Clair Miljoonassa. Clairin tavoin Lubitsch on antanut sekä musiikkinsa että kameransa työskennellä puolestaan. Elokuvassa on pitkiä jaksoja, joissa käytetään vain musikaalista motiivia, ja silti toiminta on mahdollista ymmärtää täydellisesti. Itse asiassa tämä on upea esimerkki mykän tekniikan ja äänielokuvan menetelmien yhdistämisestä. Dialogia käytetään säästeliäästi, miltei vastahakoisesti."

   

Esimerkki lubitschilaisesta symboliikasta on tammipelikohtaus, jossa Maurice Chevalier yrittää viihdyttää sievistelevää prinsessaa (Miriam Hopkins) pelaamalla tämän kanssa tammea. Kyllästyneenä prinsessa nakkaa pelilaudan äkkiä sängylle – jotta "peliä" jatkettaisiin siellä. Erästä ihanan elokuvallista jaksoa ei saa jättää mainitsematta. Kun prinsessa kutsuu Franzin, luutnantin entisen tyttöystävän, palatsiin antamaan opastusta miehen kiintymyksen voittamisessa (mies kun ikävöi yhä Franzia) nainen tottelee kuuliaisesti. Näemme hänen juoksevan pitkin palatsin portaita, ja lumoavassa pitkässä häivytyksessä, joka alkaa hänen vielä kiitäessään pitkin portaita, näemmä hänet jo pianon ääressä kameran liukuessa pitkin koskettimia jatkuvana liikkuvana kuvana koko häivytyksen ajan Franzin käsien liu'uttaessa arpeggion matalimmasta bassosta korkeimpaan diskanttiin, ja tämä kaikki on toteutettu yhtenäisenä liikkeenä portaiden juurelta koskettimiston korkeimpaan diskanttiin. Toteutus on niin nopea ja sulava, että se salpaa hengen. Tämän jälkeen Franzi nousee ylös, hymyilee prinsessalle, sivaltaa tätä kasvoille, koska tämä on vienyt häneltä luutnantin ja sanoo sitten: "Mennään asiaan".

 — Herman G. Weinberg: The Lubitsch Touch, 1968, 1977 / AA 1988

Only Yesterday

Only Yesterday. Margaret Sullavan (Mary Lane) and John Boles (Jim Emerson). Image: from CarensClassicCinema.

US © 1933 Universal. P: Carl Laemmle, Jr. D: John M. Stahl. SC: William Hurlbut, Arthur Richman, George O'Neill - based on [n.c.] the short story "Brief einer Unbekannten" (1922) by Stefan Zweig - based on Only Yesterday: An Informed History of the Nineteen-Twenties (1931) by Frederick Lewis Allen. DP: Merritt Gerstad. AD: Charles D. Hall. M: Constantine Bakaleinikoff. ED: Milton Carruth.
    Starring Margaret Sullavan (Mary Lane), John Boles (Jim Emerson), Billie Burke (Julia Warren). 105 min.
    A Universal Studios print viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 24 September 2008. The first screening of this film in Finland.

A very good print.

The first 20 minutes are about the stock market crash of 1929. Jim is about to put a bullet through his head, when he receives the letter from the unknown woman.

The letter reveals to him that there has been a woman in his life that has remained unknown to him. In 1919, young Jim and Mary enjoy a night of love, Jim goes to the front in Europe, Mary becomes pregnant and has their child, but Jim forgets all about Mary, gets married with a society woman and becomes a big businessman.

Her son teases Mary to get married.

But in a New Year's party Mary sees Jim, and they meet in his bachelor apartment. Mary's heart is broken as she realizes that Jim has completely forgotten her and treats her as one of his one night stands. The heartbroken Mary dies.

Reading her letter of farewell Jim decides not to shoot himself and instead to find his son and take care of him.

Cinematically the film is routine, and the storytelling lacks punch, but Margaret Sullavan in her debut role is very touching.

The whole feeling of the Zweig story is changed because the man is not an artist but a businessman.

This is the only one of the first four Zweig adaptations that has no visual flair.

Letter from an Unknown Woman

Kirje tuntemattomalta naiselta / Brevet från en okänd kvinna. US (c) 1948 Rampart Productions. EX: William Dozier. P: John Houseman. D: Max Ophuls. SC: Howard Koch, Ophuls - based on the short story "Brief einer Unbekannten" (1922) by Stefan Zweig. DP: Frank Planer. COST: Travis Banton. M: Daniele Amfitheatrof. Liszt: "Un sospiro". Mozart: Die Zauberflöte. Starring Joan Fontaine (Lisa Berndle), Louis Jourdan (Stefan Brand). 88 min. A 16mm print viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 24 September 2008. - Every time this film is different. - This time I paid attention to significant repetitions such as "two weeks", uttered by both Stefan senior and Stefan junior, the latter repetition the more fatal. The theme of the foster parent is repeated, and Lisa, herself having experienced it, can handle the situation tenderly with her own son. - "If only". - "By the time you read this letter I may be dead". - Narrated by a dead woman from beyond the grave. The man who reads her letter has lost his sense of identity, even lost his talent. He has lost himself, and he finds himself one last time as he reads her letter. He can then face death with a smile on his face. - The moment of recognition. - "Tell me more about your father." - "There is always a higher one". -

Monte Carlo (UCLA restoration seen in 2008)

Ernst Lubitsch: Monte Carlo (US 1930). Jeanette MacDonald (Countess Helena Mara) and Jack Buchanan (Count Rudolph Farrière).

Monte Carlo / Monte Carlo. 

    US © 1930 Paramount. P+D: Ernst Lubitsch. SC: Ernest Vajda – based on the play Die blaue Küste (1915) by Hans Müller – and certain episodes in the operetta Monsieur Beaucaire (1919) by Booth Tarkington and Evelyn Greenleaf, based on the novel (1900) Monsieur Beaucaire by Booth Tarkington. DP: Victor Milner – 1:1,2. AD: Hans Dreier. COST: Travis Banton.

    MUSIC: Richard A. Whiting, W. Franke Harling. Lyrics: Leo Robin. "Always in All Ways," words by Leo Robin, music by Richard A. Whiting; "Beyond the Blue Horizon," "Give Me a Moment Please," "Whatever It Is, It's Grand," "Trimmin' the Women," "She'll Love Me and Like It," "I'm a Simple-Hearted Man" and "Day of Days," words by Leo Robin, music by Richard A. Whiting and W. Franke Harling.

    Musical program: [0:02] Day of Days (sung by Chorus); [0:06] She'll Love Me and Like It (sung by Claude Allister and Chorus); [0:11] Beyond the Blue Horizon (sung by Jeanette MacDonald and Chorus); [0:22] Give Me a Moment Please (sung by Jack Buchanan and Jeanette MacDonald over the telephone); [0:29] Trimmin' the Women (sung by Jack Buchanan, Tyler Brooke and John Roche); [0:42] Whatever It Is, It's Grand (sung by Jack Buchanan and Jeanette MacDonald); [0:48] She'll Love Me and Like It (reprised by Claude Allister and Jeanette MacDonald); [0:53] Always in All Ways (sung by Jack Buchanan and Jeanette MacDonald); [1:03] Give Me a Moment Please / Always in All Ways (reprised by Jack Buchanan and Jeanette MacDonald); [1:19] Monsieur Beaucaire (the opera – David Percy, Helen Garden, Erik Bey, Donald Novis and Chorus); [1:29] Beyond the Blue Horizon (reprised Jeanette MacDonald, Jack Buchanan and Chorus) from http://www.classicmoviemusicals.com/filmsm.htm#carlo
    Starring Jack Buchanan (Count Rudolph Farrière), Jeanette MacDonald (Countess Helena Mara), Claude Allister (Count Otto von Liebenheim), ZaSu Pitts (Bertha, the maid of the countess). 

    89 min

    A 35 mm print of a UCLA restoration viewed at Finnish Film Archive, Orion, Helsinki, 24 September, 2008.

For the first time I see on 35 mm this film, which I previously knew only from tv and vhs. The difference is big also because there are many long shots, and expressions are hardly visible on video. Lubitsch relishes high salons.

"The Blue Horizon", "Die blaue Küste" is the Riviera, the Côte d'Azur.

The music is catchy, "Always in All Ways" of course has all the Lubitschian meanings.

Lubitsch attacks the operetta musical format with charm, smiles at the clichés and turns it into something witty, beyond parody.

...

SUOMEN ELOKUVA-ARKISTO

FINLANDS FILMARKIV

PROGRAM NOTE 1988 WRITTEN BY PETER VON BAGH, EDITED BY ANTTI ALANEN

Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo / Monte Carlo

 

Yhdysvallat 1930. Tuotantoyhtiöt: Paramount. Tuottaja: Ernst Lubitsch. Ohjaus: Ernst Lubitsch. Käsikirjoitus: Ernest Vajda – Hans Müllerin (= Hans Lotharin) näytelmästä Die blaue Küste sekä Booth Tarkingtonin ja Evelyn Greenleafin operetin Monsieur Beaucaire joistakin episodeista, jotka vuorostaan perustuvat Tarkingtonin samannimiseen romaaniin. Lisädialogi: Vincent Lawrence. Kuvaus: Victor Milner. Lavastus: Hans Dreier. Puvut: Travis Banton. Musiikki: Richard A. Whiting, W. Franke Harling. Laulujen sanat: Leo Robin. Äänitys: Harry D. Mills. Pääosissa: Jack Buchanan (kreivi Rudolph Farrière), Jeanette McDonald (kreivitär Helene Mara), Claude Allister (herttua Otto von Liebenheim), ZaSu Pitts (Bertha, kreivittären palvelijatar), Tyler Brooke (Armand), John Roche (Paul, kampaaja), Lionel Belmore (prinssi Gustav von Liebenheim), Albert Conti (hovimestari), Helen Garden ("Lady Mary"), Donald Novis ("Mon-sieur Beaucaire"), Erik Bey (lordi Winterset), David Percy (Herald), Billy Bevan (konduktööri), Sidney Bracey (kyttyräselkä kasinolla), Geraldine Dvorak (kaunotar kasinolla), Frances Dee (vastaanottopäällikkö), Rolfe Sedan (parturi), John Carrol (upseeri, häävieras). Kuvausten alku: 21.4.1930. Kuvauspaikka: Paramount Studios, Hollywood. Ensiesitys New Yorkissa: 27.8.1930, Rivoli. Helsingin ensiesitys: 25.1.1930, Bio-Bio — tarkastusnumero 16719 — K16 — 2600 m / 95 min 

(Lubitschin 50. elokuva ja 2. äänielokuva)

 

Monte Carlo oli Lubitschin toinen pitkä äänielokuva ja yksi niistä neljästä elokuvaoperetista, joilla hän "rehabilitoi" elokuvaäänen oltuaan itse monen muun merkittävän ohjaajan lailla erittäin skeptinen. Sitä edelsi The Love Parade, ja sen jälkeen tulivat Hymyilevä luutnantti sekä Hetki sinun kanssasi. Tämä annos oli monille vakavamielisille kriitikoille liikaa, ja saattaa olla, että näiden nyrpeys sai Lubitschin ohjaamaan "ainoan dramaattisen" elokuvansa The Man I Killed, jonka "vakavuusaste" ei jättänyt kenellekään epäilyksen sijaa.

Helvetin kuuseen se klisee, että nämä teokset olisivat jotenkin kevyen kaliiberin juttuja! Sellainen käsitys toki elää yhä. Amerikkalainen William Paul, joka on hiljattain julkaissut monella tapaa ansiokkaan tutkielman Lubitschin amerikkalaisesta (ääni)kaudesta, paljastaa pintapuolisuutensa katsomalla aiheelliseksi sivuuttaa tuskin mainiten juuri nämä teokset. Jo elokuvan kielen melkein käsittämättömän vaivattomana ja rikkaana vyörytyksenä ne kannattaa muistaa – kameran ("Hänen kameransa on alituisessa liikkeessä saavuttaakseen vauhtia, vaikuttavuutta ja dramaattisia keskeytyksiä", tiivistää Herman G. Weinberg), äänen, laulujen, sanojen (kuka olisi tietoisempi siitä kielen alla kuhisevien salamielen ja kätkettyjen merkitysten tasosta, jonka kautta Lubitsch täsmentää illuusiottoman kuvansa ihmisen kyvystä pettää toisia ja itseään...), repliikkien, dramaturgisten käänteiden saumaton ykseys on tasoa, johon kukaan muu äänielokuvan varhaisista uranuurtajista ei aivan yltänyt. Oli Lubitschille tyypillistä, että hän käytti hyväkseen niin ällistyttävää ja pimeää lajia kuin operetti: suuntasi siihen katseen, joka murskasi kliseet ja tuntui muuttavan koko lajityypin suoranaiseksi vastakohdakseen. Weinberg ei suotta totea, että oltuaan ensin "mykkäelokuvan Reinhardt" Lubitsch oli nyt äänielokuvalle samaa mitä Offenbach oli ollut operetille. Todiste? Riittää, kun katsoo uskomattoman junajakson elokuvan alkupuolella – ja lopussa niin lyhyesti istuvana sivalluksena (junassa on nyt pari, männät jyskäävät, kansa vetää pelloilla kertosäettä…), että katsoja melkein itkee harmista.

Mutta myös "temaattisesti" – miten tosiaan erottaa "teemaa" siitä ilmaisun ja tyylin ilotulituksesta, joka on näiden elokuvien ydintä! – Monte Carlo on jännittävä elokuva. Kun The Love Parade oli kehitellyt kuningattaren ja alistetun prinssipuolison aihetta – sovinismi tulee ymmärretymmäksi, kun polkijana on nainen! – tässä vastakkain ovat rikasta esittävä (ja itse asiassa rutiköyhä, jos kauniista naisesta voi niin koskaan sanoa tavaramarkkinoiden aikakaudella) ruhtinatar (MacDonald) ja palvelija, itse asiassa sellaiseksi tekeytyvä raharikas (Jack Buchanan). Väärinkäsityksien strategia tunnustaa perinteisen operetin sääntöjä, mutta se kompleksisuus, jonka Lubitsch tästä roolipelistä kehittää on tietysti aivan toista maata – elokuvankin skaalassa jo lähempänä modernia musikaalia kuin oman aikansa monoperinnettä. Niinpä jakso, jossa tunteet ja intuitiot mitataan oopperassa "Monsieur Beaucairen" esityksen aikana, kirpoaa elämän ja fiktion monimutkaisessa vuorovaikutuksesta tavalla, joka tuo mieleen paljon myöhemmät musikaalin kuningastyöt, Minnellin (The Pirate) tai Kellyn ja Donenin (Singin' in the Rain).

Rahan/vallan ja toisaalta todellisten tunteiden yhteismitattomuus oli Lubitschin toistuva aihe, jolle moni muukin Holly-wood-komedia tai musikaali antoi koskettavan muodon. Aitoa ja väärentämätöntä Lubitschia oli kuitenkin se lopullinen ironia, joka kohdistuu kuvattuun maailmanjärjestykseen. Ihmisen arvo on kovin epäiltävä, jos hänen omaisuutensa perustuu itse tehtyyn työhön – todella arvostettua se oli vain, jos se perustui perintöön. Marionettien, friikkien ja pelleavioliittojen Monte Carlo on kokoava esitys siten kuin Stroheimin vastaavissa elokuvissa, ja tälle loiseläjien ryhmäkuvalle juuri puhdas tyyli, luonnottoman operettikulttuurin ja alituisten lauluun pulpahtamisten laji antaa oman orgaanisen syvätarkkuutensa. Dramaturgisten oivallusten posketon vuoksi on olennaisimpaan keskitettyä, ja psykoanalyytikkoja onkin kiinnostanut tekijän taito pelata pelinsä libidon ja rahan voimaviivoilla sortumatta monotonisuuteen.

Lubitschin "opereteista" kolmessa (ja niiden jälkeen vielä Iloisessa leskessä) miespääosan näytteli Maurice Chevalier, jonka kyky olla oma itsensä ja samalla tarkastella itseään ulkopuolisena oli vailla vertaa – Brecht olisi voinut luottaa siihen mieheen! Yhtä vakituinen oli Jeanette MacDonald, eikä Lubitschin näyttelijäohjaajan taidoista ole parempaa esi-merkkiä kuin verrata MacDonaldia hänen ohjaamanaan niihin suosittuihin teoksiin, joita tähti teki myöhemmin puupökkelöä muistuttavan laulaja Nelson Eddyn kanssa. Monte Carlon miespääosassa on kuitenkin Jack Buchanan, "Englannin Fred Astaire", joka ei ikinä kyennyt valkokankaalla peittämään teatterimonsterin elkeitään – seikka, jonka Lubitsch täs-sä ja Minnelli myöhemmin (The Band Wagon) osasivat hyödyntää loistavasti. Lubitschilla oli loistava kyky saada tilanteet ikään kuin kasvamaan suoraan näyttelijöistä: siksi hänen elokuvansa eivät tunnu tehdyiltä ollenkaan, ne vain jotenkin kukkivat. Neronleimaus, jossa MacDonald ja Buchanan puhuvat ja laulavat toisilleen puhelimessa on juuri tällä tavalla kertakäyttökamaa ja voi olla vain näiden kahden tähden välinen, vain tuossa tilanteessa, jossa on sekä tietämättömyyttä, etäisyyttä ja tunteettomuutta, mutta myös sielujen sympatiaa ja libidon pulssia.

— Peter von Bagh 22.3.1988 / AA 1988

Himmel ohne Sterne

Taivas ilman tähtiä / Himmel utan stjärnor / Sky Without Stars. DE 1955. PC: Neue Deutsche Filmgesellschaft. P: Harald Braun. D+SC+narrator: Helmut Käutner. DP: Kurt Hasse. Starring Eva Kotthaus (Anna Kaminski), Erik Schumann (Carl Altmann), Georg Thomalla (Willi Becker), Horst Buchholz (Mischa Bjelkin), Camilla Spira (Elsbeth Friese), Otto Wernicke (Inspector Hoffmann). 108 min. A Goethe Institut print with English subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 23 September 2008. - A dupe from a (vintage?) English-titled print, low contrast and high contrast. - Thüringen and Bayern. The young mother, Anna, from the East wants her son back from the West. Her own parents live in the East. Her husband has died in the war, and his parents live in the West. There is a kindly Bavarian border policeman, Carl, who helps her. A deserted railway station becomes their meeting place. - One of the best films about the Iron Curtain grows into a full-blown tragedy. Against cliché, it presents the human sacrifice resulting from the political situation. - Käutner has a sensitive touch as a director of actors, but I miss a certain sturdiness in the narrative.

The Love Parade

Prinssipuoliso / Prinsgemålen. US © 1930 Paramount. P+D: Ernst Lubitsch. SC: Ernest Vajda - based on the play Le Prince consort (1919) by Léon Xanrof (= Léon Fourneau) and Jules Chancel. DP: Victor Milner - 1:1,2. AD: Hans Dreier. COST: Travis Banton. M: Victor Schertzinger. Songs: "Dream Lover," "My Love Parade," "Paris, Stay the Same," "Let's Be Common," "March of the Grenadiers," "Nobody's Using It Now," "Gossip," "Anything to Please the Queen," "Ooh, La La" and "The Queen Is Always Right," words by Clifford Grey, music by Victor Schertzinger. Starring Maurice Chevalier (Count Alfred Renard), Jeanette MacDonald (Queen Louise), Lupino Lane (Jacques), Lillian Roth (Lulu). There is the Hitchcock favourite John Williams or his lookalike in the first sequence. 109 min. UCLA restoration viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 23 September 2008.

A great work of restoration, perhaps partly from difficult materials? The first time I see a good print of this film. (I had only seen the Prague print of 92 min). - Chevalier the military attaché of Sylvania is banished from Paris because of his love scandals. He is to be punished by the Queen (Jeanette MacDonald) but gets a dinner invitation, instead. Things escalate into marriage. - Highlights include the royal guard commanded to sneak to avoid waking up the queen, the reading of the confidential report, the telling of a risqué joke, playacting a regular first date (what can be left for later? plenty!), the Afghan ambassador's grim warning "No chongo!" ("It won't work!"), bad omens before wedding, the hesitation of the groom before the priest, the annoying cannon shots during the wedding night, the wedding night duet of Lupino Lane and Lillian Roth, the sponsored radio announcement, the boredom of the prince consort, "Nobody's Using It Now", the opera gala with the prince consort as a star. - The Lubitsch touch: the salacious details are always conveyed via reactions.

Recipes for Disaster

Katastrofin aineksia / Ingredienser för en katastrof. FI/DK (c) 2008 Millennium Film / Magic Hour Films Aps / [a third company]. P: Kristiina Pervilä. D+SC: John Webster. Shot on video, digital intermediate, distributed on 35mm film, colour. 85 min. In English (part Finnish) with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Janne Staffans. Viewed in Kinopalatsi 2, Helsinki, 20 September 2008. - A home video look. Largely handheld video with stock footage inserts transferred to video and back to film. - The Webster family's experiment to a year without oil and plastic. - Also this film (like Kummeli Alivuokralainen) starts in Africa. - An interesting experiment that threatens the happiness of the family. - They manage to cut their ecological footprint into half. - It belongs to the extremist-experimental trend of the current documentary film. - There has been a lot of attention to the film, there was a good attendance in the show, and the viewers seemed positively surprised, there was lively discussion of the details and the large issues. - We need to act decisively, but everyone feels confused and disoriented as the opinion leaders do not seem to live as they teach. - This film shows that a lot can be done by personal initiative.

Kummeli Alivuokralainen / The Subtenant

Matti Grönberg: Kummeli Alivuokralainen / The Subtenant (FI 2008).

Kummeli – underhyresgästen

    FI © 2008 Solar Films. P: Jukka Helle, Markus Selin. 

    D: Matti Grönberg. SC: Timo Kahilainen, Heikki Vihinen based on their play. DP: Jari Mutikainen – shot on HDTV (Sony CineAlta F23) – distributed on digital and 35 mm – 1:2,35, color. 

    Starring Heikki Silvennoinen (Pauli Bergström), Mikko Kivinen (Lauri Mustonen), Timo Kahilainen (Robban), Heikki Hela (John Molotov / Josef Molotov), Tuija Ernamo (Lydia Molotova), Ritva Jalonen (Marketta), Leea Klemola (Rautiainen), Risto Korhonen (Rafu), Jussi Lampi (Hirvonen), Oiva Lohtander (Pena), Taneli Mäkelä (man at service station), Jasper Pääkkönen (Roger / Kikke), Jukka Rasila (host), Mari Turunen (Inkeri Sortavala). 

    A digital projection at Tennispalatsi 2, Helsinki, 20 September 2008.

A bright and pleasant HD digital look. – The fourth Kummeli film. – The Kummeli is a popular Finnish comedy team with a comedy series of their own. The dvd releases of their comedy episodes have tremendous success. The team consists of Heikki Silvennoinen (1991–), Timo Kahilainen (1991–), Heikki Hela (1992–), Heikki Vihinen (1995–), Olli Keskinen (1991–1994, 1999–2000), Mari Turunen (1995–), Miia Selin (2003–), Mikko Kivinen (2003–) (thanks to Wikipedia for this list, the complete Kummeli-graphy can be found in the Finnish Wikipedia). – I have seen all the Kummeli cinema films, and this I liked best. – Pauli and Lauri have been living on a very affordable rent in a spacious apartment (the actual apartment used is in Ullanlinna, Kapteeninkatu 20-22), but when the rent is updated by a sergeant major inheritor, they need a subtenant, and promptly there is a young gay nobleman. – The farce is largely based on the prejudices against gays. It would be interesting to hear what gays think about it, but to me it seemed it presented gays as men who are confident with their identity and not afraid to have fun with it. – It felt strange to have many children in the audience. I would not recommend it to under-teenage viewers.

Shinji Imaoka at the Imaginary Japan Conference (Love & Anarchy, Helsinki 2008)

Shinji Imaoka: Lunch Box / 熟女・発情　タマしゃぶり/ Jukujo: hatsujō tamashaburi [lit. Mature Woman: Rutting Ball-Play] aka Bowling Ball / たまもの / Tamamono (JP 2004) starring Yumika Hayashi (1970–2005) as Aiko Fukui.

Mr. Shinji Imaoka, film director, guest of The Helsinki International Film Festival (Love & Anarchy), visited the Imaginary Japan Conference (Japaneseness and Fantasy in Contemporary Popular Culture) organized by Suomen Elokuvatutkimuksen Seura (SETS, The Society of Finnish Moving Image Researchers). The Saturday programme took place in Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 20 September 2008. The host interviewer was Alex Zahlten, and the translator, Mr. Sami Hilvo.

Mr. Shinji Imaoka is one of the "seven lucky gods of the Pinku Eiga". He shoots Japanese sex films on 35 mm, shot in one week, on low budget, with a team of amazing pros, they are rated 18, the duration ca 60 min, five sex scenes are obligatory.

In his youth Imaoka was impressed by the roman porno genre, now extinct. Imaoka: they started me as a film maker, at 25 I became assistant director of pinku eiga, at 30, director. – In annual pink festivals, Imaoka receives awards. Renamed, his films reach art cinemas, expanded by half an hour, and those 90 min versions are called "director's cuts". The pink films have even a female fan base. – Issues of sex are eternal.

Excerpts were shown from data files with English subtitles.

Tamamono (Lunch Box, JP 2004). Protagonist: a young woman who does not speak, boyfriend at post office, woman prepares lunch boxes for him, but he is no good. In the excerpt a talking black head persuades: "strike". The man is seen in a pool of blood. The woman has been neglected, she internalizes the killing, it's the first time she feels free, that moment brings her freedom.
In pink films the more sex the more it is accepted, but ther has to be more, more feeling, it has to move.
Imaoka: I did not feel myself as part of a group.
Yumika Hayashi (1970–2005) was the star of the new porn for 15 years, a beautiful, wonderful actress.
Imaoka is now working with a monster-pink film mix, and a musical-pink mix.

Ojisan tengoku (Uncle's Paradise, JP 2006) is set on a small coastal town, realist setting turns surrealist, there is a pathway to hell, the monster is a squid, man approaches woman forcibly, the squid kills a man whose face is spotted, there is a wake at the coffin.
The films have changed, there is the ensemble, they were more melancholy, now getting more dynamic. Imaoka: I'm not aware of a change, but the circumstances are different, friends have died. The strange insect comes back to life from hell.

Tasogare (JP 2008). A story of sex among seniors, tenderness among the elderly. The Buddhist woman and the amorous man. Sexual tenderness interrupted by a lullaby and by a flashback to youth, the girl slapping the boy's oversized penis.
Imaoka: the performers are almost amateurs, the screenwriter Akira Taniguchi (65) is a first-timer, a former teacher of ethics at high school. Old classmates get a new life. Based on personal experiences.
The pinku eiga films are screened in special pinku eiga cinemas. They are old, worn out, run-down. The art cinemas are high class, very nice.
There is an industry self-censorship body in Japan.
The reason for using 35 mm is purely financial.

Shinji Imaoka: Tasogare / Liebestoll im Abendrot / The Tender Throbbing Twilight / いくつになってもやりたい男と女 / いくつになっても男と女 / たそがれ / Ikutsu ni natte mo yaritai otoko to onna (original title) / Ikutsu ni natte mo otome (dvd title) (JP 2008) with Masaru Taga (Funakichi).

Burn After Reading

Ethan Coen & Joel Coen: Burn After Reading (US/GB/FR 2008).

US/GB/FR © 2008 Focus Features. P+D+SC+ED: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen. P also: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner. DP: Emmanuel Lubezki – 35 mm – digital intermediate – print 35 mm color 1:1,85. M: Carter Burwell. Starring George Clooney (Harry Pfarrer), Frances McDormand (Linda Litzke), Brad Pitt (Chad Feldheimer), John Malkovich (Osborne Cox), Tilda Swinton (Katie Cox), Richard Jenkins (Ted Treffon), David Rasche (CIA Officer), J. K. Simmons (CIA Superior). A FS Film print viewed at the opening gala of the Helsinki International Film Festival (Love & Anarchy) at Bio Rex, Helsinki, 18 September 2008. – Print with a slightly denatured digital intermediate look. – The Coen brothers in good form. – Joel Coen: "If you want to call it a comedy I wouldn't protest. It's sort of about the CIA, the culture of physical fitness and internet dating". – The auteurs see this as the third film of their idiot trilogy. – A black comedy with fine performances (the best performance I have seen from Brad Pitt) and effective music by Carter Burwell. – The satire of a soulless way of life got a good laugh response from the audience. – The sharply written film has surprising twists, the ensemble is excellent, and it is not totally empty.

Crin blanc

Crin blanc, le cheval sauvage / White Mane, Wild Horse / Valkoinen ori / Vildhästen / [Valkoharja, villihevonen]. FR (c) 1953 Films Montsouris. P+D+SC: Albert Lamorisse. DP: Edmond Séchan. M: Maurice Leroux. LOC: Camargue. Starring Alain Emery (Folco). 40 min. A Films Distribution print with English subtitles by Siomann O'Neill. E-subtitles in Finnish by Lena Talvio. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 18 September 2008. - A good print, with a slightly duped look, with some noise on soundtrack. - A children's classic. Folco of the fisherman's family meets Crin blanc, the untamable lead stallion of a pack of wild horses. A film of natural poetry. High points: Crin blanc drags Folco through the water and the reeds; the fight of the horses for leadership; the captors attempt to catch Folco with fire and smoke; rabbit hunt; the final hunt to the sea. - It's a dream about liberty. - One of the case studies in André Bazin's essay "Montage interdit".

Le Ballon rouge / The Red Balloon

Albert Lamorisse: Le Ballon rouge / The Red Balloon (FR 1956) with Pascal Lamorisse.  

Punainen ilmapallo / En röd ballong / The Red Balloon. FR © 1956 Montsouris. P+D+DC: Albert Lamorisse. DP: Edmond Séchan - Technicolor. M: Maurice Leroux. LOC: Ménilmontant (Paris). Starring Pascal Lamorisse (Pascal). 35 min. A Films Distribution print with English subtitles. E-subtitles in Finnish by Lena Talvio. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 18 September 2008. – A children's classic, a contemporary fairy-tale, a Technicolor dream in Paris. The red balloon expresses the immemorial aspiration of transcendence. One of the main examples in André Bazin's essay "Montage interdit".

Aurinkotuuli

Solvinden / Sun Wind. FI 1980. PC: Filminor. PC: Kullervo Kukkasjärvi. D: Timo Linnasalo. SC: Ilpo Tuomarila, Linnasalo - based on the novel by Kullervo Kukkasjärvi. DP: Heikki Katajisto. M: Antti Hytti. ED: Juho Gartz. Starring Paavo Piskonen (gravity researcher Erik Rankamaa), Lilga Kovanko (gravity researcher Laura, Pauli's wife, Fabian's daughter), Antti Litja (Paul, doctor), Erkki Pajala (Fabian, janitor). 122 min. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 17 September 2008. - Ok print. - A rare Finnish scifi film. - Erik has been deep-frozen after his death in 1970, and he is brought back to life in 1999. A film of visions and reflections, not based on special effects, very slow, an ecological warning of a decaying world with dilapilated buildings, air without sun. - A memorable opening shot: the composition is divided in half by sea and shore, and slowly the camera turns upside down. - I watched half an hour this time.