La Fête à Henriette / Henriette (GB) / Holiday for Henrietta (US)

Julien Duvivier: La Fête à Henriette (FR 1952). Hildegarde Knef (Rita Solar) and Dany Robin (Henriette).

040366 / 16 / FR / 1952 / Duvivier, Julien / / romance

Henrietten juhlat / Fest i Paris. PC: Regina Filmsonor. D: Julien Duvivier. SC: Henri Jeanson, JD. DP: Roger Hubert. M: Georges Auric, theme ”Sous le pavé de Paris”. CAST: Dany Robin (Henriette), Michel Roux, Hildegarde Neff. 108’. B&w. Swedish subtitles. A beautiful print from Cinemateket / Svenska Filminstitutet. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Thursday 30 October 1997. *** The Bastille Day is also the calendar day for Henriette. The film takes place during the 24 hours of le Quatorze Juillet. It is a meta-film, based on the argument of two screenwriters who develop two alternative storylines which we see happening on screen. Too tricky for its own good, and too much in love with words. Less would be more. But the photography and the music are beautiful, Dany Robin is charming as the innocent Henriette and Hildegarde Neff plays her role as the seductress with style and sense of humour worthy of Dietrich.

How Green Was My Valley

John Ford: How Green Was My Valley (US 1941). Walter Pidgeon and Roddy McDowall.

024943 / G / US / 1941 / Ford, John / / drama
How Green Was My Valley / Vihreä oli laaksoni. PC: 20th Century-Fox. P: Darryl F. Zanuck. D: John Ford. Based on the novel by Richard Llewellyn. DP: Arthur Miller. CAST: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara, Donald Crisp, Roddy McDowall. 119’. B&w. MPAA Production Code Seal of Approval 7480. A beautiful NFTVA print. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Thursday 30 October 1997. **** I knew the film previously only from TV. I had had trouble with the idealization and sentimentalism, and was now able to look through them for the first time. The idyll now seems like a sugar coating to the bitter story. The conditions in the mine are harsh, causing death and suffering. The central romance remains unrequited as the bride marries money. Because of his humble origins the boy-protagonist is brutally harassed at school both by the teacher and by his classmates. All this is acknowledged, and still the film is a praise to the triumph of the spirit, about never giving up. The climax is the final sermon of the preacher portrayed by Walter Pidgeon. It is a highlight in the whole Ford oeuvre. Among the joys of the film: the faces are wonderful down to the smallest parts. They all live the drama.

Daavid - tarinoita kunniasta ja häpeästä / David - Tales of Honour and Shame

A-027791 / G / FI / 1997 / Mäkelä, Taru / / documentary

Daavid - tarinoita kunniasta ja häpeästä / David - Tales of Honour and Shame. PC: For Real Productions. D+SC: Taru Mäkelä. Narration and theme song performed by Seela Sella. ”Gefilte fish”, ”Liturgical Song”, ”S’dremlen voiglen”. Featuring: Scholem Bolotowsky, Leo Jakobsson, Leo Skurnik, Ben Zyskowicz. 94’. English subtitles by Outi Kainulainen. Viewed at VET, Helsinki, Tuesday, 28 October 1997. ****

”In the history of the Shoah there is but one exception: Finland”. In the twists of history, Finland found itself fighting with Hitler against Stalin during the very years of the Final Solution. In spite of this, not a single Finnish Jew was harassed, and Finland managed to save a few hundred Jewish refugees from Central Europe. The moral dilemma now is: could more have been done? Seven refugees perished in Auschwitz because Finland returned them. The film tells the tales of Finnish Jews and the refugees who survived here: three were awarded the Iron Cross by the Wehrmacht - who did not realize at first they were Jewish. The only field synagogues on this side of the front were in Finland. There are several prominent public figures amongst the interviewees. Ben Zyskowicz is a major figure in the Finnish Parliament. In the final scene he tells that his father was the only survivor of his family. All others were murdered. The film is made with an austere style without effects of any kind. It does not need any.

Eurodisc Playlist For 11.39.09

100430 / G / US etc. / 1997 / various / / music video

Eurodisc Playlist For 11.39.09 / Musiikkikooste 11-39-09. PC: Pioneer Video Manufacturing. DIST: Ulkokaupat. Laserdisc. Viewed on big screen projection in Helsinki, VET, Monday 27 October 1997.
Backstreet Boys: Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) **
Will Smith: Men In Black **
Boyzone: Picture Of You **
Hanson: Where’s The Love **
Bellini: Samba De Janeiro **
Texas: Black Eyed Boy **
U2: Last Night On Earth ***
R. Kelly: Gotham City **
The Verve: Bitter Sweet Symphony **
Mark Owen: I Am What I Am **

German Natdisc Playlist For 18.01.09

100429 / G / DE etc. / 1997 / various / / music video

German Natdisc Playlist For 18.01.09 / Musiikkikooste 18-01-09. PC: Pioneer Video Manufacturing. DIST: Ulkokaupat. Laserdisc. Viewed on big screen projection in Helsinki, VET, Monday 27 October 1997.
Dr. Motte & Westbam: Sunshine *
Tic Tac Toe: Mr Wichtig *
Rammstein: Du hast *
Garcia: Bamboleo *
Nena: Let It Rain *
DJ Sammy & Carisma: Prince Of Love *
Masterboy: La Ola Hand In Hand *
No Mercy: Kiss You All Over *
Strike: I Have Peace *
Age Of Love: The Age Of Love *

The Four Feathers

028019 / 12 / GB / 1939 / Korda, Zoltan / / war

Four Feathers, The / Neljä sulkaa. PC: London Film Productions. P: Alexander Korda. D: Zoltan Korda. PD: Vincent Korda. CAST: John Clements (Harry Faversham), Ralph Richardson (Capt. John Durrance), Jack Allen (Ltn. Willoughby), Donald Gray (Peter Burroughs). 114’. MPAA Production Code Seal of Approval 2457. Viewed as a VHS PAL video cassette big screen projection in Helsinki, VET, Monday 27 October 1997. **** Good old-fashioned war adventure on loyalty and honour in the African territories of the British Empire. Breathtaking photography by Georges Perinal, Osmond Borradaile, and Jack Cardiff. A lean, dynamic screenplay by R.C. Sherriff, Lajos Biro, and Arthur Wimperis. A producer’s dream, its Rolls Royce parts seamlessly fitted together in the factory of Alexander Korda.

Les Travailleurs de la mer (1918) (1997 restoration La Cinémathèque française)

André Antoine: Les Travailleurs de la mer (FR 1918). Collection Jean-Pierre Berthomé.

/ / FR / 1918 / Antoine / / drama

Travailleurs de la mer, Les / Havets arbetare. PC: S.C.A.G.L. D+SC: Antoine – based on the novel (1866) by Victor Hugo, in English Toilers of the Sea, in Finnish Meren ahertajat. DP: Paul Castanci, René Guichard. CAST: Romuald Joubé, Andrée Brabant, Armand Tallier. 35 mm restored tinted from La Cinémathèque française. 1854 m /18 fps/ 90’. Rehearsed Finnish earphone translation by Lena Talvio. Synthetizator accompaniment by Johannes Raumonen. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Orion, Sunday 19 October 1997. *** Good solid drama made vigorous by real location shooting by the wild ocean. The photography is exquisite, and the film archives made a good job in rescuing the film that was on the border of extinction.

Also filmed by Raoul Walsh as Sea Devils (US 1953) with Rock Hudson and Yvonne De Carlo.

Henry de Hem: Les Travailleurs de la mer (FR 1866). Gravure sur bois. Illustration de périodique. Maison de Victor Hugo - Hauteville House. 2017.0.2965.2. Paris Musées: Les Travailleurs de la mer.

The Jazz Singer (1927)

016110 / G / US / 1927 / Crosland, Alan / / music

Jazz Singer, The / Jazzlaulaja. PC: Warner Bros. EX: Jack Warner. D: Alan Crosland. Based on the play by Samson Raphaelson and his short story ”Day of Atonement”. Music performed by the Vitaphone Orchestra. CAST: Al Jolson (Jakob Rabinowitz / Jack Robin), Eugenie Besserer (Mammy - Sara Rabinowitz), Warner Oland (Cantor Rabinowitz), May McAvoy (Mary Dale), Cantor Josef Rosenblatt. 89’. 1,2. Originally a silent film with sound on disc. The Israeli Film Archive print screened had sound on film. Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, Saturday 18 October 1997. *** 70th Anniversary Celebration. Bad direction, bad acting, and bad camerawork. Even Al Jolson does not help. Pop dinosaurs don’t project in films even now in the age of Madonna, and that curse started with Jolson: charisma magnetic to a huge live audience does not transfer automatically to a great film performance. I don’t even like Jolson’s songs, although I’d love to see a feature-length concert documentary of him. He is perhaps even after Elvis and The Beatles the most legendary performer of the century. To sum up, here is a rare instance where a magnificent screenplay shines through a clumsy mise-en-scene. The story is strong and simple. It is the story of popular culture: the reconciliation of the sacred and the profane. ”In show business we have our own religion, too”. The calling of show business can also be holy. Jack says that performing is now more important to him than anything else. The Jazz Singer is one of the most blatant Oedipal stories of the screen. Challenging his father, disowned by him, but never forgotten by mother, Jakob / Jack wanders through the world searching for his soul. Jakie’s first song is dedicated to ”Mother Divine”. ”He is not my boy anymore. He belongs to the whole world now”, says the mother crying in the audience. The father falls on his deathbed, and on Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement, Jack takes his place singing the ”Kol Nidre”. The father’s ghost blesses the son and vanishes. The scene is one of the most electrifying in film history. Musically, it’s Jolson’s best in the film. The other religious performances are great, as well, especially that of Cantor Josef Rosenblatt.

A Corner In Wheat (1997 screening of a 35 mm print from Münchner Filmmuseum)

D. W. Griffith: A Corner in Wheat (US 1909). The wheat king (Frank Powell) is found crushed under his wheat just when he has achieved total control of the world market.

/ / US / 1909 / Griffith, D. W. / / drama

Corner In Wheat, A. PC: Biograph. D: D. W. Griffith. CAST: James Kirkwood, Linda Arvidson, Frank Powell. 292 m /15 fps/ 17’. Münchner Filmmuseum print. Grand piano: Donald Sosin. Le Giornate Muto (GCM), Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, on Saturday, 18 October 1997. **** The title means wheat monopoly. As I knew previously only a 16 mm paper print transfer of the film, the discovery was startling. Firstly, in contrast to the clumsy and pedestrian Griffiths of only a year earlier. Secondly, in comparison to any modern filmmaking. The laconic force, the immediacy, the boldness of the idea. Lastly, there is the theme of exploitation: the power of the grain speculators versus the suffering of the have-nots.

...

Russell Merritt (GCM 1997): "A Corner in Wheat, shot mid-November 1909, occupies a pivotal role in Griffith's career at Biograph, and more generally, in early motion picture history. It is fair to say that film audiences had never seen anything quite like it: a movie that brought principles of parallel editing to new levels of abstraction, stretched narrative form as never before, and above all, used the power of moving images to express outrage over an ongoing social injustice." -RM

Pabst wieder sehen

/ / DE / 1997 / Pabst, G.W. / / documentary

Pabst wieder sehen / Revoir Pabst. PC: ZDF. D: Wolfgang Jacobsen, Martin Koerber, René Perraudin. ARTE Betacam PAL big screen projection 60’. Deutsche Fassung. Pordenone, Ridotto del Verdi, Saturday 18 October 1997. **** A first rate documentary on the elusive and erratic genius. Lots of exciting new footage from recently discovered materials and the latest restorations of Münchner Filmmuseum.

Julius Pinschewer’s Commercials Part II: Kupferberg Gold Champagne

/ / DE / 1912-1922 / Pinschewer, Julius / commercial

Brilliant prints from Bundesarchiv Berlin. 18 fps. Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, Friday, 17 October 1997.
Pierrot auf dem Eise! (1920)
Marionetten (1922)
Schmuggler-Jagd (1920)
Feindlichen Brüder, Die (1920)
Faun und Mädchen. Ein Schattenspiel von Julius Pinschewer (1920)
Ahnenbild, Das (1920)
Colombinchen (1920)
Tanz der Flaschen II (1912)
Sekt-Zauber (1920) DP: Guido Seeber.

Will Day IV – Points de vue sur le monde

Cecil M. Hepworth: Panorama of the Paris Exhibition nº 3 (GB 1900). My screenshot from: / view movie at: YouTube: 1900 – Panorama of the Paris Exhibition nº 3.

The Prince of Wales on the Deck of the ”Britannia” on the Riviera. GB 1897.

John Tester Queen Victoria’s State Visit to Ireland. GB 1900
Panoramic View on the Thames. GB 1900. Cecil Hepworth
Panoramic View of the Paris Exhibition. GB 1900. Cecil Hepworth
London Prepared to Make the Coronation of Edward VII a Wonderful Spectacle. GB 1901
Edward VII’s Delhi Durbar. GB 1902.
Memorial to Indian Prince at Bexhill. GB 1910. Gaumont Graphic
St. Martin-De-Ré. A Convoy of Convicts Departs For a French Penal Settlement. GB 1912. Pathé War The War of the Five Nations. GB 1912. Pathé’s Animated Gazette
State Visit of Their Majesties to Berlin for the Wedding of the Kaiser’s Daughter. GB 1910. Gaumont Graphic
French Train Disaster at Melun. GB 1913. Gaumont Graphic
London Wants a Dreadnought. The Great Demonstration in Trafalgar Square. GB 1913. Gaumont Graphic
A Trip to the White Sea Fisheries. GB 1909. Rosie Films. D: Joe Rosenthal

Der weisse Teufel / The White Devil

Alexandre Volkoff: Der weisse Teufel (1930). Ivan Mosjoukine as Hadzhi Murat.

Alexandre Volkoff: Der weisse Teufel (1930). Hadzhi Murat (Ivan Mosjoukine) and his son (Kenneth Rive). Quelle: Murnau-Stiftung, DIF, © Horst von Harbou - Deutsche Kinemathek.

Alexandre Volkoff: Der weisse Teufel (1930). Hadzhi Murat (Ivan Mosjoukine). Quelle: Murnau-Stiftung, DIF, © Horst von Harbou - Deutsche Kinemathek

016331 / G / DE / 1929 / Volkoff, Alexandre / drama

Weisse Teufel, Der / The White Devil / Valkoinen paholainen.
    PC: Ufa. P: Noé Bloch, Gregor Rabinovich.
    D: Alexandre Volkoff. Based on the story Hadzhi Murat by Leo Tolstoy. DP: Curt Courant, Nikolai Toporkoff. M performed by Ufaton-Orchester.
    C: Ivan Mozzhuhin (Hadzhi Murat), Betty Amann (Saira), Lil Dagover (Nelidova). B&w silent with music track. Sonorized SDK print 96’.
    In the presence of Kenneth Rive, who plays Hadzhi Murat’s son.
    Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, Friday 17 October 1997.

**** Another forgotten masterpiece from the last years of the silent era. Marvellous production has great dramatic force and an excellent performance by the great Mozzhuhin… in his best role? I have seen some 10-15 of his films, from his early Russian farces to Casanova, from Father Sergius to Michael Strogoff, and this beats them all. This is also one of the best Tolstoy film adaptations.

Abwege / The Devious Path (Munich print GCM 1997)

G. W. Pabst: Abwege / The Devious Path (DE 1928) with Gustav Diessl (Rechtsanwalt Dr. Thomas Beck) and Brigitte Helm (Irene Beck).

015431 / 16 / DE / 1928 / Pabst, G. W. / / drama

Abwege / Harhateillä / Hett blod / Crisis / Desire / Crise / Crisi. PC: Erda-Film. D: G. W. Pabst. DP: Theodor Sparkuhl. CAST: Brigitte Helm, Gustav Diessl, Hertha von Walther. Silent b&w. Münchner Filmmuseum print /20 fps/ 96’. Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, Friday 17 October 1997. *** A discovery: a forgotten Pabst film that was 25 years ahead of its time, charting the same areas of alienated relationships as Rossellini and Antonioni in the 1950s. Brigitte Helm ”in her best performance”? Maybe.

There It Is

/ / US / 1928 / Bowers, Charles R. / comedy

There It Is. PC: Educational Pictures. D: Charles R. Bowers. CAST: Charles R. Bowers. GEH print /22 fps/ 20’. Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, Friday 17 October 1997. **** Weird comedy featuring Scotland Yard and Daffydil Sanitarium.

At The Villa Rose

/ / GB / 1920 / Elvey, Maurice / / crime

At The Villa Rose. PC: Stoll Film. D: Maurice Elvey. Based on the novel by A.E.W. Mason. CAST: Manora Thew, Langhorne Burton, Norman Page. 1877 m /18 fps/ 91’. Silent, tinted + toned by Harold Brown. NFTVA print presented by Clyde Jeavons. Piano by Edward von Past. Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, Thursday, 16 October, 1997. ** Dull detective mystery.

High Treason

016464 / 16 / GB / 1929 / Elvey, Maurice / / science fiction

High Treason / Sodan uhka vuonna 1940. PC: Gaumont British. D: Maurice Elvey. CAST: Jameson Thomas, Benita Hume, Basil Gill. 2056 m /24 fps/ 75’. Silent version. NFTVA. Piano by Neil Brand. Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, Thursday 16 October 1997. * Utterly boring.

Nathan der Weise / Nathan the Wise (1922)

Manfred Noa : Nathan der Weise / Nathan the Wise (DE 1922) starring (right) Werner Krauss.

/ / DE / 1922 / Noa, Manfred / / historical drama
Nathan der Weise / Die Erstürmung Jerusalems. PC: Filmhaus Bavaria. D: Manfred Noa. Based on the play (1779) by Lessing. CAST: Werner Krauss (Nathan), Carl de Vogt, Max Schreck. 

    2675 m /18 fps/ 128 min
    Unreleased in Finland.

    Münchner Filmmuseum / Gosfilmofond. 

    Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, Thursday 16 October 1997. 

*** Epic adaptation of Lessing’s play made during the Golden Era of German cinema presents exciting mass scenes and a striking mise-en-scène based on symmetry and graphic forms, including masks and vignettes. The film is faithful to the concept of the play - the tragedy of the ”Holy War” of Jerusalem. The staging of the tale of the three rings is impressive. Each of the sons (symbolising Judaism, Christianity and Islam) is given ”the only true ring” by the father. ”He who has the true ring will be revealed by his love of humanity”. It is a tale no less relevant today than when it was written. The film’s release in Munich led to the earliest anti-semitic riots of the Nazi Party.

Will Day III - Le Cinéma des origines

/ / GB / 1890 / Friese-Greene, William / non-fiction
Hyde Park, London. Vertical 65mm transferred to 35mm. 1’.
King’s Road, Chelsea, London. 60mm transferred to 35mm. 1’.
Stereoscopic Film: Hyde Park. 155mm transferred to 35mm. 1’. The greatest treasures of the Will Day collection: the Friese-Greene fragments probably represent ”the world’s first films on celluloid, the first perforated films, and the first films shot on outside locations” (DR). They look beautiful today transferred to the standard film format.
/ / FR / 1896 / Demenÿ, Georges / non-fiction PC: Gaumont-Demenÿ, Comptoir Générale de Photographie. 58mm transferred to 35mm.
Station Ménilmontant, chemin de fer de ceinture
Dancing Girl No. 2
Débarcadère du bateau à vapeur Wilhelm Tell
Dispute espagnole / / US / 1897 / Mutoscope and Biograph / non-fiction PC: Mutoscope and Biograph Company. 68mm transferred to 35mm
[Halle au vin, No 1]
[Halle au vin, No 2]
[Cachette, La] / / GB / 1898 / Biokam camera / / non-fiction Short movies filmed on Biokam camera. 17,5mm transferred to 35mm.
Bain de mer No 1
Bain de mer No 2
Rival Clothiers, The / / GB / 1903 / Jumeaux & Davidson / non-fiction
Trichrome Experimental Film. Colour system by Benjamin Jumeaux and William Norman Lascelles Davidson. / / GB / 1912 / Friese-Greene, William / non-fiction
Posters On Hoarding. Colour system by William Friese-Greene, produced by Lascelles Davidson. / / GB / 1896 / Paul, Robert William / non-fiction
Engineer’s Shop At Nelson Dock
Westminster
Blackfriars Bridge / / GB / 1896 / Collings, Esme / / non-fiction
Children Paddling / / GB / 1899 / Bennett-Stanford, John / non-fiction
Troops Passing Over Mooder River / / GB / 1899 / Hepworth, Cecil / non-fiction
Arrival of Train-Load of Visitors at Henley Station

Will Day II - Comiques et dramas

Devil In the Studio, The. GB 1901. PC: Paul’s Animatograph Works. 2’. Mephistopheles does tricks in an artist’s studio.
How To Stop a Motor Car. GB 1902. PC: Hepworth Manufacturing. 3’. A wild trick film.
Village Fire Brigade, The. GB 1907. PC: Williamson Kinematograph. 6’
That Fatal Sneeze. GB 1907. PC: Hepworth Manufacturing. 5’. Apocalyptic sneezes.
Why Girls Leave Home. US 1908. PC: Edison. 7’. A parody of melodrama histrionics.
If We Only Knew. US 1913. PC: Biograph. D: Anthony Sullivan. CAST: Blanche Sweet, Henry B. Walthall, Harry Carey. 13’. Visually beautiful short in the Griffith style. Interesting to see Carey’s signature gesture here.