Centenário de Freddie Francis

Freddie Francis, um dos grandes cineastas que delinearam o cinema de horror inglês nas décadas de 60 e 70, revezando entre a Amicus e a Hammer. Além de cineasta, se notabilizou como diretor de fotografia de obras de grandes diretores. Top-5 como diretor: Top-5 como diretor de fotografia:

Mahler – Sinfonia de uma Paixão (Mahler, Ken Russell, 1974)

Em honra do aniversário de Ken Russell.

Feliz Paixão – Versão Urbain Grandier

We, the influential Lucifer, the young Satan, Beelzebub, Leviathan, Elimi, and Astaroth, together with others, have today accepted the covenant pact of Urbain Grandier, who is ours. And him do we promise the love of women, the flower of virgins, the respect of monarchs, honors, lusts and powers. He will go whoring three days long,

24 Frames: Tommy (Ken Russell, 1975)

To say that cinema often presents a contemptuous view of television doesn’t begin to capture the extremity of that representation. Ken Russell’s 1975 Tommy, to take just one instance, features one of the better-known, most hysterical portraits of television paranoia. Ann-Margret, playing Tommy’s careless mother, Nora Walker Hobbs, urges Tommy (Roger Daltrey) to respond to

Tudo que é bom vem aos pares: Bates & Reed

Mulheres Apaixonadas (Women in Love, Ken Russell, 1969) Related articles Men In Love Ken Russell: Women in Love

Roger Daltrey versus Paul Nicholas

Tommy versus Primo Kevin Franz Liszt versus Richard Wagner Qualquer semelhança não é mera coincidência. Related articles So, you don’t like Wagner?

Charles Jarrott (1927 – 2011)

Enfim, não dá nem para fazer um top-5 porque só vi 3 filmes dele, ao menos em cada um deles havia algo realmente épico, tal como: Related Articles Charles Jarrott obituary (guardian.co.uk)

24 Frames: Os Demônios (The Devils, Ken Russell, 1971)

Todavia, naquela etapa de sua carreira, a única via de escapatória que lhe resultava acessível era a do afundamento na sexualidade. Ela tinha começado por tolerar, deliberadamente, a fantasia de viver uma aventura amososa com seu beau ténébreux, o desconhecido, mas excitantemente notório por sua má reputação, Urbain Grandier. E, claro, com o tempo, uma

The Devils

*Phallic Frenzy: Ken Russell and His Films by Joseph Lanza

Cem anos de Basil Dearden

Basil Dearden was born on 1 January 1911 in Westcliffe-on-Sea as Basil Dear. His youthful interest in amateur dramatics led to him entering the theatre as an actor, but he quickly moved behind the curtain to become a stage manager. In 1931 he went to work for theatre producer Basil DEAN as his general stage manager, subsequently making the same shift into films that DEAN had, joining him at Associated Talking Pictures (ATP) whereDean was studio head. He changed his name to Dearden to avoid any confusion with his boss. When Michael Balcon took over the ATP studios at Ealing, Dearden remained. During the late 1930s he worked on a number of Ealing films, including five George Formby vehicles, usually as writer or associate producer. His directing career began on three comedies featuring another of Ealing’s music hall stars, Will Hay, with Dearden co-directing with Hay.
His first solo effort was The Bells Go Down (1943), which paid tribute to the wartime heroism of the Auxiliary Fire Service. The film’s art director was Michael Relph and his meeting with Dearden marked the beginning of a remarkable collaboration which was to last nearly thirty years. As a director-producer-writer team they became the most prolific film-makers working at Ealing. It was, perhaps, their role as studio workhorses that led to a rather poor critical reputation, with commentators dismissing their work as routine, well-meaning but dull. In retrospect, this assessment of their Ealing output seems inadequate. There are films which certainly fit the 1940s Ealing ethos in terms of adopting a realist style and dealing with contemporary issues, but Dearden and Relph frequently showed a preference for subjects which raised wider moral issues. The Captive Heart (1946) is a moving POW film, whilst Frieda (1947) deals sympathetically with the prejudice facing a German woman who, through marriage, finds herself living in postwar England. The Blue Lamp (1949) tackles juvenile crime within an exciting thriller format (a technique that was to become a trademark), but is best remembered for Dirk Bogarde’s intense performance as a young tearaway. A number of their films deal with the difficulties of postwar readjustment, from the melodramatic The Ship that Died of Shame (1955), through the documentary approach of Out of the Clouds (1955), to the crime caper The League of Gentlemen (1960). The latter was made after the demise of Ealing, but within its genre narrative offers a remarkably cynical depiction of a group of ex-soldiers who find themselves discarded in postwar Britain.
However, the sober realism that predominates in these films doesn’t tell the full story of Dearden’s output in this period. Notable among his other films are the gloriously melancholy costume piece Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948), with its sumptuous colour cinematography and rich production design, and the whimsical comedy The Smallest Show on Earth (1957), which pays nostalgic tribute to the magic of film-going in a style close to the tradition of the Ealing comedies. Dearden also provided a section for Ealing’s macabre portmanteau film Dead of Night (1945). Another reason for Dearden and Relph’s poor standing may have been this eclecticism, which didn’t sit comfortably with the strictures of the auteur theory.
In the late 1950s Dearden and Relph embarked on a series of ‘social problem’ films which explicitly tackled topical themes within a deliberately audience-pleasing entertainment format, often using the crime genre. Sapphire (1959) was among the first British films to deal with racial tensions, while Victim (1961) was groundbreaking in depicting the way that homosexuals were subject to blackmail under contemporary laws. The film was credited with being central to the subsequent decriminalisation, and eventual legalisation, of homosexuality. Violent Playground (1958) again dealt with juvenile delinquency and Life for Ruth (1962) focused on an ethical clash between religious fundamentalism and modern medicine. These films, which have become intrinsically associated with Dearden and Relph, drew a good deal of criticism on the grounds that their timid liberalism failed to fully address the complexity of the issues involved, and that the attempt to frame the topics within fairly conventional storylines drained them of any sense of conflict. The recent, and more sympathetic, reassessment of their work has tended to place the films in context, showing the risks they took in making a film like Victim, as evidenced by the fact that it effectively ended Dirk Bogarde’s Rank contract.
Their later films shifted on to safer ground, but still threwup a number of interesting items including the spectacular epic Khartoum (1965) and the modest, but neatly executed, supernatural thriller The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970), with Roger Moore as a dull man whose exciting alter ego is released in a car crash. In a ghastly irony,Dearden’s career was brought to a premature end when he died as the result of a car accident on 23 March 1971. Dearden’s considerable output is certainly uneven, particularly in the early 1950s, so it’s unsurprising that some critics dismissed him as all too typical of the restraint and mediocrity which has sometimes beset British cinema. However, his work has gradually been given more of the due it deserves. The sheer variety of his output shouldn’t obscure the consistency of his concern withmoral issues tackled within clear social settings.

British Film Directors: A Critical Guide – Robert Shail

Professor David Huxley’s laborious, licentious spotted-leopard labor day film quiz

1) Classic film you most want to experience that has so far eluded you. 2) Greatest Criterion DVD/Blu-ray release ever 3) The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon? 4) Jason Bateman or Paul Rudd? 5) Best mother/child (male or female) movie star combo 6) Who are the Robert Mitchums and Ida Lupinos among working movie

Professor Fate’s Spring-Loaded, Great-Racing Spring Break Movie Quiz

1) William Demarest or Broderick Crawford? 2) What movies improve when seen in a state of altered consciousness? Todos? 3) Favorite studio or production company logo? 4) Celeste Holm or Joan Blondell? 5) What is the most overrated “classic” film? Todos, nada criado pelo ser humano vale suficientemente a pena. Embora não lembre de nenhum

Filmes bacanas de cada ano que o cinema viveu: 1963

A Casa é Escura (Khaneh Siah Ast, Forugh Farrokhzad) Nota: Para manter viva esta série, agora não há mais anotações bobas, nem numeração, nem grau de importância pessoal, são só filmes que muito me apetecem por um motivo ou outro. Só não vale passar de 10.

Filmes bacanas de cada ano que o cinema viveu: 1965

1- Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!/Mudhoney/Motor Psycho (Russ Meyer)Ôpa ôpa ôpa! Russ Meyer em dose tripla naquele ano. 2- Monitor: The Debussy Film (Ken Russell)Debussy, Ollie, Russell e um maluquete adorador de Wagner que gosta de atirar em gatos. Basta. 3- Ipcress – Arquivo Confidencial (The Ipcress File, Sidney Furie)A pergunta é: como o Sidney Furie

Achado bloguístico do dia: The Oliver Reed Film Festival

Blog sobre a carreira do Ollie: The Oliver Reed Film Festival . I looked like Charles Bronson dressed up as a Boy Scout. . Leave me alone. You can’t touch me – I’m one of the Four Musketeers! . I’m not a scholar. If I wanted to be a scholar I would have gone to

Bill Sikes

                    Só a nata.

Filmes bacanas de cada ano que o cinema viveu: 1967

1- O Diabo é Meu Sócio (Bedazzled, Stanley Donen)Taí finalmente algo importante, o filme do senhor meu marido, George Spiggott, também conhecido como diabo, satanás, coisa ruim, capeta, etc etc etc ou nas palavras do próprio: I’m the Horned One. The Devil. Como deve ser óbvio, sou meio idólatra para com Peter Cook (gênio! gênio!).

Ollie e Moony bebendo suco de laranja

Porque hoje faz uma década que o Ollie se foi. Morreu dentro de um pub inglês em Malta, é claro.

Outras Obras Russell-Lawrenceanas

Mulheres Apaixonadas (Women in Love, 1969) Sequência literária imediata aos acontecimentos narrados em O Arco-Íris. Com a diferença de 20 anos separando tal filmagem de sua prequel, Russell escolhe Mulheres Apaixonadas para incursionar em seu segundo longa para cinema e sua primeira adaptação de Lawrence para as telas. É uma ótima adaptação, mas a presença

Filmes bacanas de cada ano que o cinema viveu: 1969

1- Um Beatle no Paraíso (The Magic Christian, Joseph McGrath)Yul Brynner é uma drag cantando para um Roman Polanki bêbado, Laurence Harvey faz um show de striptease representando Hamlet, Richard Attenborough treina Graham Chapman em Oxford, Christopher Lee é um vampiro, Raquel Welch é a gostosa habitual, Spike Milligan é um guarda e Graham Stark