Maybe Today Matinee: Recent Episodes
David Chavez and Monica Chavez
There had to be a French entry in our month of costume/fashion in movies, so this week we look at Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. Emblematic of the Nouvelle Vague, Breathless subverts many filmmaking standards of the time, and lists no costume designer, with the actors perhaps having chosen parts of their wardrobes themselves.
Sources
IMDb
Marantz Cohen, Paula in “Movies: The Potency of ‘Breathless’: At 50, Godard’s Film Still Asks How Something This Bad Can Be So Good” from The American Scholar
Scheyer, Kate in “Classic Film Style: Breathless”: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2010/04/classic-film-style-breathless
Wikipedia
How do we look at costume when a film is animated? In the case of Disney’s Cinderella, the costuming is an even-more-obvious-than-usual echo of the fashion trends at the time of the film’s creation. Plus, we look at how Cinderella rescued the faltering Walt Disney Company and at controversies surrounding the over-restoration of classic movies.
Sources
Duignan, Stephen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephen_duignan/status/988445879773351941
Hallay, Amanda at the Ultimate Fashion History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYFpVzkP3UM
Lugli, Emanuele at Bright Lights Film Journal: https://brightlightsfilm.com/tear-that-dress-off-cinderella-1950-and-disneys-critique-of-postwar-fashion/?fbclid=IwAR3JssZsnUkUgovlz73-QJJL_JgfDFz1Bgjkw7pV8GgAiqGy55F8URbhs-0#.X0sG3y2z1aq
White, Brett at Decider: https://decider.com/2020/02/15/cinderella-70-year-anniversary-saved-disney/
Wikipedia
Groundbreaking in terms of its technical achievements, Stanley Donen’s Seven Brides for Seven Brothers also features an almost uniform-like approach to the costuming of its main characters. Join us as we discuss these and other aspects of this mid-century musical, including its fantastic dance sequences and rather disturbing politics.
Sources
Cain, Eric and John Rosman in “Broken Treaties: An Oral History Tracing Oregon’s Native Population” from Oregon Public Broadcasting: https://www.opb.org/artsandlife/series/brokentreaties/oregon-tribes-oral-history-broken-treaties/
Folsey, George in “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers: Simultaneous Production Shooting in CinemaScope and Widescreen” from American Cinematographer: https://ascmag.com/articles/simultaneous-production-shooting-in-cinemascope-and-widescreen
Hallay, Amanda at The Ultimate Fashion History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_lJ_Uu6I_0&list=PLgbG7OrLeM0DBTOEl1oUHMeK28caNYvTg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6R4FaXbWNE&list=PLgbG7OrLeM0C-DipJuVacPTjCvNLjmHwh&index=5&t=0s
Harris, Thomas J in “Review: ‘Donen Dancing on the Ceiling’” from Literature/Film Quarterly
Harvey, Stephen in “Stanley Donen Interviewed” from Film Comment
IMDb
Mueller, John in “Fred Astaire and the Integrated Musical” from Cinema Journal
Wikipedia
Who better than Bollywood to launch a month on costume and fashion in film? Lekh Tandon’s colorful Amrapali exhibits the best of sixties style meets period Hindi cinema, but also generates questions about patriotism, religion, and pacifism.
Sources
Cooney, Patrick Louis at vernonjohns.org: http://www.vernonjohns.org/snuffy1186/amrapali.html
Narayanan, Arjun in “Love and Renunciation in Amrapali” at Picture Perfect: A fond recollection of some brilliant moments of cinema: http://visionsofcinema.blogspot.com/2013/03/love-and-renunciation-in-amrapali.html
Pawar, Yogesh in “The Journey of the Amrapali Outfit” at DNA India: https://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-the-journey-of-the-amrapali-outfit-2145758
Ramnath, Nandini in “Films that are 50: History, dance, and high fashion in ‘Amrapali’” at Scroll.in: https://scroll.in/reel/801655/films-that-are-50-history-dance-and-high-fashion-in-amrapali
Shah, Shalini in “Clothes maketh the film” at The Hindu: https://www.thehindu.com/arts/Clothes-maketh-the-film/article16816876.ece
Verma, Sukanya in “What if Amrapali Were Remade Today?” at Rediff: https://www.rediff.com/movies/2004/mar/04corner.htm
Wax, Emily in “‘Shalom Bollywood’ reveals Indian cinema’s surprising stars of its golden age” at Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/shalom-bollywood-reveals-indian-cinemas-surprising-stars-of-its-golden-age/2013/04/18/d043967c-a833-11e2-b029-8fb7e977ef71_story.html?fbclid=IwAR37l2KBJnnxr_epzmeZs2T-7FLvvBK6edNwH6MZVl-hKj0ymWD7ucJPwqU
Wikipedia
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Influential filmmaker David Lynch got his start in shorts, and today we look at two of his early works, Six Men Getting Sick and The Grandmother. If you know him from Twin Peaks or Mulholland Drive, you’ll want to listen in to hear about Lynch’s early experiments in surrealism.
Sources
“And the Winner Is...Alan Splet, Who Became a Household Word by Skipping the Oscars” from People Magazine: https://people.com/archive/and-the-winner-is-alan-splet-who-became-a-household-word-by-skipping-the-oscars-vol-13-no-18/
Carroll, Rory in “Interview: David Lynch ‘You gotta be selfish. It’s a terrible thing’”: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jun/23/david-lynch-gotta-be-selfish-twin-peaks
IMDB
Neiland, Justus in “Wrapped in Plastic” chapter from the book David Lynch
Wikipedia
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Cartoons are perhaps the most common exposure most of us have to short films, and this week we’re looking at some of the weirdest created by Disney. We trace the evolution of Goofy from unnamed Mickey Mouse sidekick in the ‘30s all the way up through the present day, and then focus on his strangest incarnation, ‘50s suburbanite George Geef.
Sources
Dave Lee Down Under in “Evolution of GOOFY Over 87 Years (1932-2019) Explained”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuH3Rp-Mnwg
Lehman, Christopher P. in American Animated Cartoons of the Vietnam Era: A Study of Social Commentary in Films and Television Programs, 1961-1973
Tvtropes: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/Goofy
Wikipedia
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Our second entry in our month of shorts features Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising, a film less characterized by a definitive plot than by a series of images against an addictive pop soundtrack. Together we try to untangle the mix of homoerotic, religious, and Nazi symbolism presented throughout Scorpio’s 28 minutes.
Sources
Carr, Jeremy in “Scorpio Rising” from Senses of Cinema: http://sensesofcinema.com/2015/cteq/scorpio-rising/
Moats, David in “Scorpio Rising: Kenneth Anger Interviewed” from The Quietus: https://thequietus.com/articles/01753-experimental-filmmaker-kenneth-anger
Moore, Rachel in “Cultural Bolshevism at Capital’s Late-Night Show: Scorpio Rising” from Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context, and Enquiry
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We kick off a month of short films with one of the earliest plot-driven movies, Georges Méliès’s A Trip to the Moon. We discuss the technology of this very early work, the talents of its actors, and its surprising thematic elements touching on imperialism and the pretentiousness of scientists.
AMC Filmsite: https://www.filmsite.org/voya.html
Kanopy: https://lbpl.kanopy.com/video/trip-moon-1
Movies Silently: https://moviessilently.com/2015/03/29/a-trip-to-the-moon-1902-a-silent-film-review/
Silentology blog: https://silentology.wordpress.com/2017/03/31/thoughts-on-a-trip-to-the-moon-1902/
Singer Kovács, Katherine: “Georges Méliès and the ‘Féerie’” in Cinema Journal
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At the tail end of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Alfred Hitchcock released a film so “modern” that its imagery and its music still thoroughly permeate pop culture 60 years later. Today we discuss Psycho: the fear, the bloodshed, and the taxidermied animals. Part 2 of 2.
Sources
Bertolini, John A in “‘Psycho’ at Fifty: Pure Cinema or Invitation to an Orgy?” from New England Review
Bui, Hoai-Tran in “Hitchcock’s Psycho Uncut Version Coming to US Home Video”: https://www.slashfilm.com/psycho-uncut-version-alfred-hitchcock-classics-collection/
Ebert, Roger in Reviews: Psycho: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-psycho-1960
Jhirad, Susan in “Hitchcock’s Women” from Cinéaste
Pfeifer, Lee in Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Psycho-film-1960
Rebello, Stephen in Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho
Sullivan, Jack in “Psycho: The Music of Terror” from Cinéaste
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At the tail end of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Alfred Hitchcock released a film so “modern” that its imagery and its music still thoroughly permeate pop culture 60 years later. Today we discuss Psycho: the fear, the bloodshed, and the taxidermied animals. Part 1 of 2
Sources
Bertolini, John A in “‘Psycho’ at Fifty: Pure Cinema or Invitation to an Orgy?” from New England Review
Bui, Hoai-Tran in “Hitchcock’s Psycho Uncut Version Coming to US Home Video”: https://www.slashfilm.com/psycho-uncut-version-alfred-hitchcock-classics-collection/
Ebert, Roger in Reviews: Psycho: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-psycho-1960
Jhirad, Susan in “Hitchcock’s Women” from Cinéaste
Pfeifer, Lee in Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Psycho-film-1960
Rebello, Stephen in Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho
Sullivan, Jack in “Psycho: The Music of Terror” from Cinéaste
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Modern pop culture may be more familiar with the ‘80s iteration of Scarface, but the gangster film prototype was set in the early ‘30s by a number of pre-Hays mob flicks. We discuss how the original Scarface (dir. Howard Hawks) filmmakers nevertheless dealt with an infuriating series of censorship setbacks before they arrived at a movie they could finally release.
Sources
Clarens, Carlos: Crime Movies : From Griffith to The Godfather and Beyond (1980) https://archive.org/details/crimemoviesfromg00clar/page/88/mode/2up
Thomas, Tony: Howard Hughes in Hollywood (1985) https://archive.org/details/howardhughesinho0000thom/page/74/mode/2up
Wikipedia
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Otto Preminger’s The Man with the Golden Arm takes an early look at drug addiction as its makers pushed against the by-then gradually weakening restrictions of the Hays Code. We discuss the film’s wish-fulfillment plotline as well as Frank Sinatra’s turn as a surprisingly talented actor.
Sources
Bloom, Rachel in “The Man with the Golden Arm” from Senses of Cinema: http://sensesofcinema.com/2013/cteq/the-man-with-the-golden-arm/
Dee, Jonathan in “Nelson Algren’s Street Cred” from The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/15/nelson-algrens-street-cred
Thompson, Lang in “The Man with the Golden Arm (1956)” from TCM: http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3720/The-Man-with-the-Golden-Arm/articles.html#00
Wikipedia
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This month we discuss the role of censorship in filmmaking, starting off with Oscar Micheaux’s seminal work, Within Our Gates. What kind of art were black filmmakers producing at this early period in film history? What were the effects of censorship, internal or external, on “race films” like this one? Why are silent films so prone to working with character archetypes?
Sources
The Cinephiliac: https://thecinephiliac.com/2014/02/11/the-symbol-of-the-unconquered-1920-body-and-soul-1925-and-colorism/
Kanopy.com: search “Within Our Gates”
Micheaux Mission: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/micheaux-mission/id1080024347
Wikipedia
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Our final Halloween episode is Robert Wise’s classic, The Haunting. Join us as we ponder psychological versus supernatural horror, depictions of gay characters in film, and the mysterious bendy doors and ghost dogs of Hill House.
Sources
“Elegant Chills: The Haunting” in American Cinematographer: https://ascmag.com/articles/flashback-the-haunting-1963
IMdB
Koresky, Michael in “Queer & Now & Then: 1963” from Film Comment: https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/queer-now-1963/
Passafiume, Andrea in “Behind the Camera- The Haunting” from Turner Classic Movies: https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/1560/the-haunting#articles-reviews?articleId=961615
Wikipedia
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Your hosts are at odds over this week’s pick, Naresh Mitra’s Kankal. Regarded as the first still-extant Bengali horror film, it combines elements of melodrama and supernatural horror. We examine the history of scary movies in India and ponder to what degree shoddy subtitling impedes our understanding of this polarizing picture.
Sources
Dhusiya, Mithuraaj in Indian Horror Cinema: (En)gendering the Monstrous https://books.google.com/books?id=jukrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT35&lpg=PT35&dq=Kankaal+Bengali+movie&source=bl&ots=Et6LEwMc_k&sig=HDjTLlfLMYQsrM5ex6_ggvykqXg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjZ9r7Ahf7dAhWLbX0KHe3BBjI4ChDoATAGegQIAxAB#v=onepage&q=Kankaal%20Bengali%20movie&f=false
Indiancine.ma: https://indiancine.ma/FWQ/info
https://indiancine.ma/DGE/info
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Today we examine an early talkie, a film which, despite the presence of audio dialogue and sound effects, still feels very much like a silent picture. Even so, there’s something about Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr that is incredibly contemporary. Join us as we discuss the second film in our month of Halloween horror.
Sources
Bordwell, David: “Carl Theodore Dryer’s Most Unusual Experiment” video essay on Criterion https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6771-carl-theodor-dreyer-s-most-unusual-experiment
Carl Th. Dreyer website: https://www.carlthdreyer.dk/en
Craig Holte, James: “Not All Fangs Are Phallic, Female Film Vampires” in Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts
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Prepare for a month of spoooooky Halloween episodes as we kick it off with a film many regard as the first example of Japanese horror cinema. Pits of doom, possessed (?) masks, naked people running through fields of intimidating grass--Kaneto Shindo’s Onibaba has it all.
Sources
Bradshaw, Peter at the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2010/oct/15/onibaba-kaneto-shindo-devil-woman
Eggert, Brian at Deep Focus Review: https://deepfocusreview.com/definitives/onibaba/
TVTropes.org: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Onibaba
Wikipedia
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Our last episode on animation covers an early ‘70s work of sci fi allegory. We discuss the differences between American and European traditional animation, as well as the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of allegory in messaging about serious social issues.
Sources
Brooke, Michael: “Fantastic Planet: Gambous Amalga” in Criterion https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/4112-fantastic-planet-gambous-amalga
Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., Istvan: “What is Estranged in Science Fiction Animation?” in Simultaneous Worlds: Global Science Fiction Cinema, ed. Jennifer L Feeley and Sarah Ann Wells
Wikipedia
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Animation as we know it today would not be the same without Japan, and today we look at one of the earliest animated feature films to be released in the country. Trying to build a Disney counterpart in the East, Toei Animation’s early films follow closely in the footsteps of Snow White and other classics, but gradually begin to carve out their own niche. We discuss the animation process in detail, down to the evolution of technology and the labor disputes, and what really counts as “children’s media.”
Sources
Pelleas.net: http://www.pelleas.net/aniTOP/index.php/the-seconding-system-at-toei-doga
Thompson, Nathaniel at Turner Classic Movies: http://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/movies/82360/Magic-Boy/
Turner Classic Movies: http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/82360/Magic-Boy/
Tvtropes.org: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Anime/ShonenSarutobiSasuke
Washi’s Blog: https://washiblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/30/the-start-of-the-anime-industry-toei-douga-The Tale of the White Serpent/
Wikipedia
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This week’s unconventional pick might be better viewed in multiple sittings. Harry Everett Smith’s one-man production may be less feature film and more art installation, leading us to question conventional methods of movie-viewing and what Smith’s intent was in creating this picture. Does art have to have an audience? And why do certain pieces of art make us feel personally insulted or angry?
Sources
Carroll, Noël: “Mind, Medium and Metaphor in Harry Smith’s Heaven and Earth Magic” in Film Quarterly
Harry Smith Archives: https://harrysmitharchives.com
Wikipedia
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This month we discuss animation, and what better way to kick off our theme than with Disney? Through this live-action / animation / World War II propaganda / travelogue / musical / surrealist mish-mash, we ponder the representation of Latin Americans in movies, how tight budgets impact filmmaking, and whether sometimes a cactus is just a cactus.
Sources
Ness, Mari at Tor.com: https://www.tor.com/2016/08/11/an-aggressive-escape-from-reality-the-three-caballeros/
Spiegel, Josh at Slash Film: https://www.slashfilm.com/revisiting-the-three-caballeros-one-of-the-strangest-films-classic-disney-animation-ever-produced/
Turner Classic Movies http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/93058/The-Three-Caballeros/notes.html
Wikipedia
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The last entry in our romance theme, Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1972 sci fi flick, Solaris, offers an unconventional love story in a setting that is at once very futuristic and very 1970s. What does it mean when a psychologist deployed to a space station blasts his wife’s reincarnation into space? More seriously, what lessons can we draw from slow films like Solaris in contrast to so many modern movies with their lightning-fast pacing?
Sources
IMDB
Malcolm, Christopher: “Learning from the Masters: Filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky” https://fstoppers.com/historical/learning-masters-filmmaker-andrei-tarkovsky-192011
Miller, Greg: “Data from a Century of Cinema Reveals How Movies Have Evolved” https://www.wired.com/2014/09/cinema-is-evolving/
Totaro, Donato: “Tima and the Film Aesthetics of Andrei Tarkovsky” in Revue Canadienne D’Études Cinématographiques / Canadian Journal of Film Studies
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Perhaps the most critically acclaimed among the 20-plus film interpretations of Sarat Chandra Chattopdhyay’s novella, Bimal Roy’s 1955 film, Devdas, sends us into a discussion of mid-century Bollywood and the influence of Bengali literary culture. Plus, how does the movie compare to the 2002 incarnation, much better known to non-desi audiences and yet often maligned as inferior by South Asians and the diaspora? Finally, we discuss changing attitudes about domestic abuse and sexism throughout the history of films in the romance genre.
Sources
Raheja, Dinesh at Rediff https://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/dec/09dinesh.htm#:~:text=He%20used%20his%20perceptive%20camera,person%20caught%20in%20extraordinary%20situations.
Upadhyaya, Amit at The Print https://theprint.in/features/reel-take/why-bimal-roys-devdas-remains-the-first-among-equals/180379/
Wikipedia
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Audrey Hepburn’s charming Hollywood debut is the second entry in our romance theme, William Wyler’s 1953 romantic comedy, Roman Holiday. How did the creators pull off filming on location? What role do expectations have in shaping our reactions to movies?
Sources
Brown, William A: “Audrey Hepburn: The Film Star as Event” in Larger Than Life: Movie Stars of the 1950s, ed. R. Barton Palmer
Roznowski, Tom: “Strangers in a Strange Land: The Luminous Guidance of Roman Holiday” at Ryder Magazine
Steinhart, Daniel: Runaway Hollywood: Internationalizing Postwar Production and Location Shooting
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Leo McCarey’s 1957 movie, An Affair to Remember, is considered a classic in the romance genre, so we’re kicking off our romance theme with the Cary Grant starrer. What accounts for the movie’s longevity, and why weren’t we so impressed? Plus, commentary on the presence of people of color in Golden-Age films.
Sources
Imdb
Joseff of Hollywood on Instagram (joseffofhollywood_official)
L.A. Frock Stars (available on Amazon)
Wikipedia