the foxling

Kailey's David Lynch Manicure

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 12:06:00 +0000

Quick post to highlight the wonderful Kailey's David Lynch inspired manicure. Please vote her in the ModCloth Marvelous Manicure Competition. Good luck, Kailey! xxx

In other news, another costume designer post will be up soon.

My Top 20 Costume Designers (6-10)

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 21:21:00 +0000

The second part of my top 20 costume designers. Lots and lots of photos under the cut.

6. Eiko Ishioka

I was very sad to hear that Eiko Ishioka died earlier this year. She was one of Japan's leading artists and worked in many Hollywood films. Her costumes have a certain sinister beauty which was truly unique.

photo credit: onefiestystitch

stage costume for Grace Jones

photo credits: wickedhalo, finefettleguide, illustrated perfume, cheerleaderofdarkness, fashionfoiegras, costumersguide
7. Jean Louis
Head of Costume Design at Columbia Pictures for over 20 years, Jean Louis designed for Gilda and many other films. He worked for Marlene Dietrich for her tours, and, perhaps his most famous creation, the "Happy Birthday, Mr President" dress, which was worn by Marilyn Monroe.

7. Andrea Galer

Very difficult to choose a designer from the "BBC period drama" set. I nearly chose Mike O'Neill, but I've settled upon Andrea Galer because she has an amazing ability to make clothes look real. There's no shock, awe and sequins, she designs clothes which look true to the characters, their situation and time. She places emphasis on cut, delicate simplicity and beautiful fabrics, and is probably best known for her work on Withnail & I. Clothes, including bridal couture and the Withnail coat, are sold on her website.

I very much admire her support of traditional craft. She set up The Power of Hands Foundation, a charity which raises money by selling handmade lace to support Sri Lankan lacemakers and their families in the aftermath of the Tsunami.

All photos from andreagaler.co.uk

8. Travis Banton

Travis Banton worked as a costume designer from the silent era and was one of the most famous designers in the 30s. After designing for the Ziegfeld Follies, his move into film made him a favourite of Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard and Mae West.

photo credit: lastgoddess

9.Chloé Obolensky

10. Jenny Beavan
This woman is so prolific, I can't cover anywhere near enough of her work in this post. A really excellent designer. If you're ever wondering who did the costumes on fairly recent period era film, there's a fair chance that it's Jenny Beavan.

photo credit: costumersguide

photo credit: jowithitsportfolio

photo credit: Denise Marie of Soba Designs

photo credit: everaftercostumes

10. Walter Plunkett

Where to start? Amazing designer who is most famous for his work on Gone with the Wind. I believe that the number of costumes he designed for that one film ran into the thousands. He was dedicated to historical accuracy (not always very important in film, especially in 'Classic Hollywood') and without doubt produced some of the most memorable costumes of all time.

Most of the Gone with the Wind photos are courtesy of vivandlarry.com

My Top 20 Costume Designers (1 - 5)

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 14:28:00 +0000

Over the next few days I'll be posting my top 20 costume designers. Most are legendary, but I'd like to highlight a few lesser known designers whose work is particularly interesting and beautiful. I'll just post 5 at a time because of the number of photos involved, but I hope that you enjoy them. Please get in touch with your favourite costume designers!

1. Adrian

One of the most famous and influential costume designers of Hollywood history, Adrian designed over 250 films, including The Wizard of Oz. His quirky sense of fun and his ability to embody a character in his designs made him a favourite designer for many actresses such as Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Katharine Hepburn.

He was responsible for the ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz, as in the books, the slippers are silver, but Adrian thought that red would look better on screen.

He moved into fashion, setting up his own fashion house and designing wonderful collections throughout the war years but sadly died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 56.

Adrian with Greta Garbo

2. Catherine Martin

Best known for her designs on her husband's Baz Luhrmann's productions, Catherine Martin has designed some of the most beautiful and unashamedly extravagant costumes of recent years. She has a very chic style when called for, and I find her work very reminiscent of 'old style' Hollywood costume design.

3. Alexandra Byrne

Alexandra Byrne trained as an architect before moving into costume design and in the last decade has become one of the most sought after designers. She has designed for Elizabeth, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, The Phantom of the Opera, and more recently, Avengers Assemble. Along with Adrian, she's my favourite costume designer. I love her interpretations of fashion history.

4. Colleen Atwood

After starting out in fine art and fashion, Colleen Atwood has collaborated repeatedly with directors, Tim Burton, Rob Marshall and Jonathan Demme. Her large body of work has made her one of the most well known designers.

5. Cecil Beaton

Renaissance man, Cecil Beaton, designed for several productions for stage and screen including two of the most recognisable film dresses - Audrey Hepburn's Race dress for My Fair Lady, and Leslie Caron's dress in Gigi.

photo credit: altfilmguide

photo credit: dolceculture

Many thanks to costumersguide for many of the photos.

Next 5 designers will be up tomorrow!

King Arthur Costumes

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:03:00 +0000

I nearly fell asleep several times while watching this film. Only the costumes, Ioan Gruffudd and Clive Owen kept me in the cinema. I'm of the old-school of Arthurian legends, and this film wanders off in a different direction. But anyway, the costumes are pretty. They were designed by Penny Rose and I found some new photos of the archer dress and the wedding dress which Keira Knightley wore. Costumersguide have lots of photos from when they were on display at exhibitions and previous sales on prop store.

I also thought you might be interested in the costume maker's website - janelaw.co.uk. Her team have worked on many films and it's well worth looking through their gallery as the skill of the makers there is first class. Their King Arthur gallery is here.

More photos under the cut...

The Archer Dress

There are some nice details such as the eyelets and beads running down the slits in the sleeves, and I love the texture of the fabric. It looks like there was a fair amount of hand sewing details, such as the stitches on the armscye. As a hand sewing nerd, this pleases me muchly.

Prop store have it listed as a "rough pale turquoise cotton". I would have put a fiver on it being wool, but consensus is that it's a homespun cotton. I think that it's been cut on the bias so that it drapes beautifully.

photo credit: costumersguide

Petticoat

The other dress I'm going to picspam is the wedding dress from the end of the film. It's a light, pale green cotton with an interesting pattern. The tucks at the front of the bodice remind me a little of 1850s fashions, and the cut of the back of the bodice reminds me of Regency fashions, so that's odd. The embroidered floral trim is gorgeous and the eggshell colours add a Spring-like, traditional purity.

wedding dress photo credit: costumersguide

screencap credit: ladymason

The Many Wedding Dresses of Elizabeth Taylor

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 15:28:00 +0000

Elizabeth Taylor had her fair share of weddings and I've tried to collect photographs of her 9 (she had 2 ceremonies when she married Mike Todd) wedding dresses along with a brief summary of her 8 marriages. I'll take this opportunity to recommend a fairly new-ish book,"Elizabeth Taylor: Her Life in Style" by Susan Kelly. Her fashion sense was very much hit and miss, and this book gives a good overview. I really think that she was one of the best dressed women in the 50s. But anyway, back to her weddings, all will be revealed under the image-heavy cut.

Elizabeth Taylor and Nicky Hilton

In May 1950, 18 year old Elizabeth married 23 year old Conad 'Nicky' Hilton in an extravagant MGM staged wedding in Beverly Hills. Her dress was designed by Hollywood costume designer, Helen Rose, who also designed the wedding dress she wore in Father of the Bride, and later, Grace Kelly's wedding dress.

Elizabeth later said that the marriage lasted for 2 weeks on their honeymoon before Nicky proved himself to be a violent, abusive alcoholic with drug and gambling habits. Elizabeth filed for divorce in November 1950, citing 'extreme mental cruelty'.

photo credit: defamer

photo credit: chicvintagebrides

Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Wilding

When Elizabeth was 19 years old she met British actor, Michael Wilding, during the filming of Ivanhoe in London. They married on the 21st of February 1952. Michael was 20 years her senior and offered stability for Elizabeth after her unhappy relationship with Nicky. She later blamed the failure of her marriage to Michael on her immaturity. They had 2 sons together, but divorced in 1957.

photo credit: otro_rob

photo credit: chicvintagebrides

photo credit: glamour

Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd

Elizabeth married Broadway and movie producer, Mike Todd, on the 2nd of February 1957 and converted to Judaism for the marriage. The union was very happy and they had a daughter in August of the same year. Mike Todd indulged Elizabeth's love of jewellery, buying some of her most loved and beautiful pieces. After just 13 months together, Mike's private plane, the unfortunately named, 'Lucky Liz', crashed in New Mexico. Elizabeth was supposed to be on the flight with him, but Mike insisted that she stay at home as she was suffering from a cold. Elizabeth was widowed at just 26, and left utterly heartbroken.

L-R: Mr and Mrs Francis Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Mike Todd, Howard Taylor (Liz's brother) and wife,

This photo is from their civil (?) ceremony in Spain.

photo credit: glamour

Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher

After Mike Todd's death, Elizabeth turned to his best friend, Eddie Fisher, for comfort. Eddie Fisher was married to Debbie Reynolds, and when he and Elizabeth fell in love, Taylor was branded as a 'homewrecker' in the ensuing scandal. Debbie and Eddie divorced on the 12th of May 1959, and Eddie married Elizabeth on the same day in Las Vegas. Elizabeth wore a green dress for the ceremony.

photo credit: mydaily

photo credit: everyjew.com

photo credit: Andrew Garth

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton

During the filming of Cleopatra, Elizabeth met her Mark Antony, and the famous affair began. Richard beautifully described the first time he saw her:

"She was so extraordinarily beautiful that I nearly laughed out loud. She (was) famine, fire, destruction and plague... She was unquestionably gorgeous. She was lavish. She was a dark, unyielding largesse. She was, in short, too bloody much. Those huge violet blue eyes... had an odd glint... Aeons passed, civilisations came and went while these cosmic headlights examined my flawed personality."

Since they were both married to other people, their very public affair sparked condemnation from the Vatican, who accused them of 'erotic vagrancy'. Elizabeth and Fisher finalised their divorce in March 1964, and 9 days afterwards, Richard and Elizabeth married in Montreal.

Elizabeth wore a yellow chiffon dress, flowers in her hair, and an emerald brooch which Richard had bought her.

photo credit: Keurslijf Inspiratiebronnen

photo credit: soapchat

photo credit: 2020chrisong

photo credit: keehuachee

photo credit: otro_rob

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (again)

After divorcing in 1974, Elizabeth and Richard remarried on the 10th of October 1975 in Botswana and Elizabeth wore a colourful Gina Fratini wedding dress. The underlying problems which ended their first marriage resumed though, and alcoholism destroyed their second attempt. Richard left Elizabeth for another woman after just 5 months, and they divorced for the final time in July 1976. When asked about why their relationship failed, Elizabeth said, "Perhaps we loved each other too much."

photo credit: chicvintagebrides

photo credit: ibitimes.co.uk

photo credit: keehuachee

Elizabeth Taylor and John Warner

Elizabeth's next husband was John Warner, the Republican senator, and they married in 1976. (I couldn't find a photo from their wedding but I've read that she wore a turban and fur stole with her dress. Let's just settle for the dress in the photo below and imagine a turban.) Though Elizabeth immersed herself in supporting her husband's political campaign, John was a workaholic and Elizabeth's loneliness showed itself in weight gain. They divorced in 1982.

Elizabeth Taylor Larry Fortensky

In 1991 Elizabeth married construction worker and carpenter, Larry Fortensky, at the Neverland ranch, after meeting at the Betty Ford Clinic in 1988. Their commitment to sobriety kept them together, but ultimately Larry's unease with the showbiz life and media interest which followed Elizabeth, strained the marriage, leading them to divorce in 1996.

photo credit: glamour

When asked by an interviewer why she had married so many times, Elizabeth replied, "I don't know, honey. It sure beats the hell out of me."

Costumes from The Last Emperor

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 17:21:00 +0000

Prop store have some costumes from The Last Emperor (1987). I thought I'd post the photos for study before they sell and get taken down. I'll play spot the costume and update this post with some screencaps when I watch the film this week.

The costumes were designed and bought by James Acheson,. Many of these pieces are antique. They are from the private collection that was kept by the producer Jeremy Thomas (who single handedly raised the $25million budget for the movie) after filming. Prop Store sorted and catalogued the incredible inventory under the guidance and in collaboration with Jim Acheson.

"A High Consort's Vintage Navy Blue Informal Robe. This beautifully crafted piece appears to have been worn by one of the Emperor's High Consorts at various points, including when Reginald Johnston (Peter O'Toole) confronts the Lord Chamberlain to allow Pu Yi to wear a set of much needed spectacles, something the High Consorts do not agree with at all. The robe was made during the Qing Dynasty, placing it over one hundred years old. The navy blue silk garment is lined with pale blue silk, and features an extensive gold couched wave border at the bottom, the sleeve bands and collar are finely embroidered with multicoloured flowers and butterflies, and the main body displays elaborate roundels depicting traditional Chinese domestic scenes. It fastens at the front using contemporary metal knot buttons added by the production and remains in superb condition for its age."

More beneath the cut...

"Chen Pao Shen's (Victor Wong) Surcoat. Created from mulberry coloured silk damask with faint floral design lined in pale blue silk, it utilises five small round metal buttons on the centre-opening. Worn by the young Emperor Pu Yi's High Tutor when an argument with brother Pu Chien leads to his shocking discovery of China's President and the realisation he is no longer Emperor of China."

"Chen Pao Shen's (Victor Wong) vintage purple surcoat. The young Emperor's High Tutor appears to have worn this piece when a dramatical rescue of Pu Yi unfolds atop the rooftops after he is prohibited from leaving Forbidden City. The garment is well over one hundred years old having been created during the Qing Dynasty, still in stunning condition for its age. The long purple damask surcoat is lightly quilted with rich blue horseshoe cuffs and lined with blue silk inside, and features roundels of Chinese symbols with a hidden inner pocket and five metal buttons."

"Three sets of beaded Court Necklaces. Many of the members of Pu Yi's Imperial Court can be seen wearing necklaces of these styles throughout the movie. They are made of green polished glass, orange polished glass or red wooden beads with larger wooden spacers and several dangling additions, the main of which also features several polished stones edged with metal filigris. Do to age and storage some of the glass beads have cracked and are no longer present, but are otherwise in sound condition."

More photos: 1 | 2 | 3

"Child's kingfisher headband.This piece was worn by an unknown child but is still a beautiful piece from the film. The mulit-layered brass band is covered in stunning blue kingfisher feathers decorated with metal filigree. It remains in good condition for ita age, with some some small sections of feathers have gone to reveal the brass beneath. Measures 12cm x 7cm (4.75” x 2.75”)."

more photos: 1 | 2 | 3

"A ladies lilac silk scarf worn in the Jeremy Thomas 1987 Oscar-winning drama The Last Emperor. The long length of pink silk has been painstakingly embroidered with colourful flowers dancing their way along the entire length in shades of blue, purple, white, green and red, measuring 109cm (43”). It appears to have been worn by one of the High Consorts, spotted in the procession when PuYi discovers he is no longer Emperor of China and other formal occasions. It is in a well worn but good condition."

A Living Statue's Cummerbund. The stunningly elaborate 'Living Statues' can be seen when the 3 year-old Pu Yi is brought before the Dowager Empress to be pronounced the next “Lord of Ten Thousand Years”, standing amongst the stone statues, and this would have been worn around the waist of one to help give the masses of fabric more shape. Made from red silk, it has been covered in intricate golden embroidery then pressed to look 'crumpled'. Sadly a little of the glossy golden effect to the thread has faded but is still a beautiful piece. There are modern canvass ties at either end that would have fastened at the back, and is generally in great condition.

more photos 1 | 2 | 3

"Mongolian Gentlemen's hats. These would have been worn by onlookers as the grown up Pu Yi (John Lone) is officially crowned as Emperor of Manchukuo in an outdoor ceremony. All four hats have a buckram base, decorated with with printed velveteen trimmed in blue silk, woven Indian cotton trimmed with metal filigris pieces, green, red and blue rayon brocade and green and red woven cotton trimmed in turquiose silk, and finally trimmed with Astrakhan and lambswool. They are all in good condition, but for one missing and one loose knot."

More photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

"A Mongolian Princess waistcoat worn in the 1987 multi Oscar-winning drama The Last Emperor. This formed part of one of the stunning costumes worn by the Princesses when the 15 year-old Pu-Yi (Wu Tao) wed's the 'old' government chosen first wife and Empress, 17-year old Wan Jung. The red rayon brocade waistcoat is overprinted in gold panels with panels of elaborately embroidered flowers, gold mesh piping and burgundy ties at the side. It remains in excellent condition with no size marked."

"A Mongolian Princess costume worn in the 1987 multi Oscar-winning drama The Last Emperor. This stunning costume was worn when the 15 year-old Pu-Yi (Wu Tao) wed's the 'old' government chosen first wife and Empress, 17-year old Wan Jung.

"The multi-layered costume consists of a thick white quilted gown with ties to the front, a red rayon brocade under robe overprinted in gold with panels in mulberry green and gold appliqué, high padded shoulders, tall collars, and cuffs trimmed in grey Astrakhan and Mongolian lambswool, and finally a waistcoat in maroon velvet and green brocade, overprinted in gold trimmed with antique fabric appliqués on the front and back panels. There are no sizes marked on this wonderful costume and it remains in excellent condition."

"A Priests vintage robe. This stunning garment was worn during the death scene of Tzi Chi, the Dowager Empress, when the young Pu Yi is brought to the Forbidden City, and the robe is seen again as Pu Yi is carried off to his wedding. Although it has not been identified from a definitive era, it is thought to have started life as a Chinese theatrical costume which was later acquired for this movie.

The robe features red and cream silk panels with elaborate silk appliquéd ties back and front, adorned with tassel fringing across the yolk and around the back, and a production used cream underrobe has been added to help complete the costume. The already beautiful garment comes with a gold mesh metal ceremonial headdress embellished with precious stones and tassel decorations. It creates a wonderful set from the movie and is in good condition for its age with some loose threads."

"A Princess of the Blood gown and overrobe. These women can be seen on several occasions throughout the movie, when PuYi chooses his secondary consort, and at PuYi's wedding to the Empress. This stunning and elaborate costume consists of a full-length gown of printed red rayon satin, overprinted with dragon robe motif, similarly printed sleeveless overrobe. Also included is a black satin headband with gold filigree buttons (some have been lost over the years) and a string of glass beads and polished stones that hang down the chest, and a cream quilted cotton under robe."

"Pu Chieh's 'Kite Flying' belt worn in the 1987 Jeremy Thomas Oscar-winning drama The Last Emperor. The belt is covered in pale blue silk with a metal dragon emblem in the centre, and two short chopstick or fan holders and four little red pouches with colourful intricate floral embroidery hanging from beaded cords secured with metal hoops. Each item is adorned with small blue tassels, and was made to fasten at the back via a metal ball that would have been pushed through a punched hole in the fabric. It is labelled inside “Pu Chieh 4 Years Kite Flying” and remains in very good production worn condition.Although the younger brother to the child Emperor is never seen at this age it is impeccably labelled "

more photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

"An Imperial Guard Uniform. This elaborate outfit first appeared when a young Pu Yi (Richard Vuu), aged a mere three years old, is taken at night from his mother with only his wet nurse for comfort, and escorted to the secretive Forbidden City to become Emperor, and later at his coronation. The ensemble has multiple layers and would have been a challenge to wear atop a horse during the lengthy hours on set. The imposing uniform consists of a pair of navy rayon trousers, undertunic and skirt, topped with a jacket and three-piece skirt decorated with an Indian print gold metallic mesh trimmed in black satin and adorned with brass pauldrons and metal roundels. In addition to the already comprehensive costume is the traditional metal helmet trimmed with stamp pressed brass reliefs, topped by a rabbit fur and horse hair plume worn over a protective balaclava hood. Completing the costume is a leather belt sash with hard rubber sword and tsuba."

more photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

"A vintage Lama dance costume. This stunning robe was worn by one of the Lamas – a Tibetan Buddhist teacher – in an unknown scene. "The antique garment hails from the Qing Dynasty, making it at least one hundred years old, a breathtaking feat when you look at and appreciate the absolutely intricate detail the creator achieved so long ago. It features a plain blue lining which is where the simplicity stops, the main body is a delightfully rich purple with raspberry and orange panels, all decorated with a gold brocade of traditional flowers and symbols. The sleeves are flared and weighted, which when accompanied by the side pleated skirts allowed for dramatic movement when dancing. It has a single tie at the front and is missing the single button at the neck, and is in outstanding condition for its age."

"A pair of cream cotton under trousers worn in the 1987 multi Oscar-winning drama The Last Emperor. These simple pieces would have been worn beneath their colourful silk trousers as extra layers against the weather, and the wide legs and canvas ties make them a 'one size fits all'. "

"A Men's Dark Blue Surcoat. The blue grosgrain robe is lined with a pale blue silk satin and fastens at the front via five round metal knot buttons. Many of the men in the Forbidden City can be seen wearing such garments, usually with an elaborate Chinese motif across the back, which this shows evidence of having at one point from the remnants of yellow thread on the back. Sadly the label inside that would have identified the wearer has become unglued and lost over the years, but remains in great condition."

My month on Instagram

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 16:57:00 +0000

Maybe not the most exciting of months, but here it is anyway.

1 - 5. Greek themed parade at the Golowan Festival.

6. A friend sent me this Druid spirit animal page about Foxes

7. A friend sent me this postcard and I got some presents wrapped in Chinese paper from another friend

8. Self-help on a business card

9-10. An old Father's Day card which my Dad puts out every year

11. My desk looking a bit studious.

12. A doodle of my desk

13. I was stuck in a traffic jam for 3 hours, but at least I had a nice view

14. Byron

15. Playing a Kenneth Williams record early in the morning

16. A fox pendant given to me by a friend for my birthday (from Penny Masquerade)

17. Dushka doing a Greta Garbo impression

18. Bosigran

19. A weird doodle I did. I'm not sure what possessed me.

20. Birthday card from my best friend

21. An artist painting on the beach at Sennen

22. My first attempt at galaxy nails

23. A moth really loved the forest wallpaper

24. Winged eyeliner is hard!

25. Nail varnish from Urban Outfitters

26. Truro Cathedral

27. Sketches for a new painting

28. Fox ring (gift) and armour ring (Topshop)

29. Sennen

30. This hot dog stand made me laugh

31. My piano

32. A really amazing poster in a shop window

33. Aquilegia

34. Byron. Again.

35. Sketching out my painting on wood

Book Review: Sew Iconic

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 18:31:00 +0000

It's been a while since I reviewed a new book. I did something to my back after moving my piano this week (I'm not Hercules, just terribly stupid) so I was feeling a bit miserable this morning, and then this turned up in the post! I thought I'd give it a bit of airtime since I very nearly didn't buy it after reading some negative reviews. While I think that the criticisms aren't completely unjustified, I really love the book overall.

These are just my opinions, I bought the book with my own money and I'll review it completely unbiasedly. I'll also throw some not-so-brilliant phone camera photos in so you can judge for yourself. I should point out that I'm on painkillers and horizontal, so I'll either ramble or fall asleep.

So, here are the dresses, and as you would expect, they're based on ten famous Hollywood costume designs. The author sounds lovely in the introduction. I love her views about film costumes being very important in aiding our understanding of the characters who wear them. She says that she would have loved to have included more patterns, including one of Vivien Leigh's dresses from Gone With the Wind, but she focused on designs that are timeless and wearable. Now, I made a copy of one of Scarlett O'Hara's dresses a few years ago, and though I love it, no, I never wear it. She's right there.

The patterns are inside a little envelope at the front.

More under the cut!

The patterns! Eeek! If you haven't made your own clothes before, don't worry, it's always a bit frightening to see this map of lines which may or may not lead you to the treasure of El Dorado. There are a few separate dress patterns overlapping on one sheet here, but it's not as scary as it looks. In fact, as someone who's used to using patterns from Burda magazine (stupidly confusing at times), these patterns are a joy to behold. Each pattern reference number repeats along the pattern line, which would make it much easier to follow and copy onto drafting paper or large sheets of tracing paper.

Once you copy the pattern, the excellent guides in the book help you adjust the pattern blocks to fit your size and cover all topics very clearly. I won't lie, pattern cutting is an art in itself and it can be infuriating, but it's a useful skill to learn. Standard dress patterns rarely fit everyone perfectly, so learning how to alter and even draft your own patterns, gives you a great sense of achievement when you've actually made something tailored to fit you perfectly.

What's really brilliant is that there is a tumblr with video guides for making some of the dresses at sewiconic.tumblr.com

I really like how straight-forward the instructions are. A lot of books gloss over steps and make things very confusing. The author has obviously worked very hard on the text in making it inclusive for people of all skill levels.

The first pattern is based on one that Julia Roberts wore in Pretty Woman. Not her red light district outfit, don't get excited, it's the Day at the Races dress. It's very 50s looking and I imagine that it would make a lovely day dress. It's also the easiest pattern in the book, so it's a good place to start.

Each dress chapter starts with a brief summary of the actress, the film, the costume designer and the dress, followed by ideas for fabric.

Next is Audrey Hepburn's dress from Breakfast at Tiffany's. It's not the one from the opening scene, something which has disappointed a lot of reviewers. It's a lovely dress all the same, and a lot more wearable for most people. The reason I think the author picked this particular dress is because it's classic, it's relatively easy to make, and it doesn't scream "I WANT TO BE AUDREY HEPBURN!"I mean, most women do want to be Audrey Hepburn, but the most famous dress is so recognisable that I'd feel a little awkward wearing it unless I was at a costume party. This one, on the other hand, is the first dress I'll make from this book, though I'll skip the feathers. There must be some cruelty-free alternative frou frou suitable for the hem.

Jennifer Grey's pink dress from Dirty Dancing.

Marilyn's subway dress from The Seven Year Itch. This is one of the better copies in the book in terms of detailing. I think it would look nice in black and you'd avoid awkward "Why are you wearing Marilyn Monroe's dress?" questions, which is what my friends would ask me if I rolled up in this.

Oh, I die. Keira Knightley's green dress from Atonement! I'm making this. I don't know where I'll go in it, but I don't care!

It's so pretty! The twists at the back of this version reminds me of a Yohji Yamamoto dress which was just one uncut piece of fabric which was twisted into shape. The neckline of the film version was laser cut, and the author recommends sewing on sequins to replicate the effect.

And then Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago. Everyone loves a flapper.

Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief.

I'll be honest and admit that this is my least favourite pattern. Apart from this, I'm full of praise of the patterns and the book in general, but this dress did not translate so well in my opinion, but it's still elegant and Grecian looking. If the author does a follow up book, I hope she chooses some other dresses that Grace wore in her films; the red dress in Dial M for Murder or something from Rear Window would be amazing.

Rita Hayworth in Gilda.

Faye Dunaway in The Thomas Crown Affair is a good copy and a bit of a contemporary take on the cheongsam.

And finally, Kate Winslet in Titanic. You get the general Edwardian effect without you having to strap on a corset. You could also tweak this a little if you wanted an Empire line, Jane Austen-style dress. I think if you found the right embellished fabric or have a have a go at embroidering and beading it yourself, then this would look really lovely.

And that's it! I would very much recommend picking up a copy if you like, or would like to take up dressmaking. This is an unusual book with excellent guides and what appear to be great patterns. I hope this will be the first in a series of Sew Iconic books!

Brighton Rock (1947)

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:41:00 +0000

Brighton Rock is based on Graham Greene's novel and I've somehow got this this point in life without seeing the film.

The film starts with an introduction to Brighton, a lovely British seaside tourist resort about a hour or so out of London. You don't expect a criminal underworld to lurk beneath candyfloss and bunting, but we are told in the titles that it was a hotbed of dodgy goings on until the police got their act together.

'Fred' Hale (Alan Wheatley) is a journalist who arrives in Brighton for a newspaper competition. The competition involves a photo of Hale posing as "Kolly Kibber". The first person to spot him and say the appropriate phase would win a money prize. Hale had written an article about a gambling racket in Brighton which led to the death of a local mobster. The new leader of the gang, the teenage, deranged 'Pinkie' Brown (David Attenborough) and his cronies spot Hale in the paper and seek him out for revenge. Hale tries to run away from the gang but is murdered by Pinkie on a ghost train on the pier. Ida (Hermione Baddeley), an eccentric, good natured woman who had met Hale just before his death, doesn't agree with the inquest findings that Hale died due to a bad heart and eventually suspects that Pinkie drove Hale to suicide. Pinkie marries a dopey but sweet waitress called Rose (Carol Marsh) in an attempt to prevent her from disclosing evidence and destroying his alibi. Ida pursues Pinkie, trying to uncover his crime and protect Rose, despite the danger.

The story is a simple moral tale or right and wrong but with religious introspection. Pinkie and Rose are Catholic but morally bankrupt. Ida's strong belief in justice and morality is completely unrelated to any religious doctrine. Having read a biography about Graham Greene, I seem to remember how this story was a comment on how goodness is inherent in a person and not dependant upon religious affiliation.

This film is pretty much perfect from a personal point of view. I think it helped that Graham Greene was involved in writing the screenplay alongside the brilliant Terrence Rattigan, and they crafted a wonderful script with odd moments of humour. This, combined with the direction by John Boulting, makes it exemplary British film noir. Camera angles, bold lighting and shadows are used to create fear and tension. In the scenes with Pinkie, it emphasises his disturbed, frighting persona. Pinkie is the most interesting character, not being a one dimensional bad 'un but a more rounded, tormented sociopath with absolutely no redeeming features. There are some rather violent scenes but the violence is not glamourised. The coldness and silence in which it is dealt out makes it terrifying. Richard Attenborough's performance is very unnerving. It's interesting seeing his acting in this film, and comparing it with his equally brilliant portrayal of the serial killer, John Christie, in 10 Rillington Place, which was made much later in his career.

Just a few screencaps because I was a bit short on time. I hope these show give you some impression of the cinematography.

And some of my favourite quotes -

Pinkie: Have you ever been in love?
Rose: Oh yes.
Pinkie: “You would have been. You're green. You don't know what it's all about. I've watched it. I know love.”

Pinkie: You're a catholic? I'm one too.
Rose: You believe it don't you? You believe it's true?
Pinkie: Course it's true

Rose: People change.
Ida: I've never changed. It's like those sticks of rock. Bite one all the way down, you'll still read Brighton. That's human nature.

Mother Superior: You or I cannot fathom the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God.

Pinkie: You wanted a recording of my voice, well here it is. What you want me to say is, 'I love you'. Well I don't. I hate you, you little slut...

A few old Hollywood photos

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 08:33:00 +0000

Like a magpie I was drawn to the shiny gold cover of a book called "Are the Stars Out Tonight?" which I found in a charity shop the other day. It's a history of the Ambassador Hotel and Cocoanut Grove, the haunt of Hollywood's finest. It's well out of print, but I've had a look on abebooks and there are still many reasonably priced second-hand copies available if you'd like an interesting addition to your Hollywood bookshelves. It's not a great print, it reminds me of those old film annuals from the forties, but I've scanned in a few photos I thought some of you might like.

Mae Murray and the self styled "Prince" David Mdivani's wedding reception was held at the Ambassador Hotel on the 26th of June 1926. Pola Negri (far left) was the Maid of Honour, and Rudolph Valentino (far right) was the host. He lived at the hotel at the time and died a few months after this photo was taken. David Mdivani later became Mae's manager and his brother, Serge, married Pola Negri in 1927. His other brother, Alexis, married Barbara Hutton, so there are three lads who did well for themselves.

Jean Harlow and Paul Bern's wedding reception. Jean does the honours, flanked by Irving Thalberg and his wife Norma Shearer (who seems to be hogging the photo), while the groom hides behind the cake

Jean Harlow and Howard Hughes on the set of "Hell's Angels".

Marlene Dietrich and her daughter, Maria Riva.

Carole Lombard and Russ Columbo. Columbo was a crooner, violinist and actor and reportedly the love of Carole's life. He was killed when his best friend, Lansing Brown, accidentally shot him in the eye. Ooops. Here's one of his songs set to lovely photos of Carole.

Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier and Olivia de Havilland at the Oscars, during which Vivien won her Best Actress award for her performance in "Gone with the Wind".

David O. Selznick with the portrait of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara.

Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Wilding

Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Wilding and Judy Garland

Sophia Loren out-busted by Jayne Mansfield. This is probably one of my favourite photos ever.

Celebrity columnists, Louella Parsons and archnemesis, Hedda Hopper

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard freezing during a sporting event

Churchyards and Pirates

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 20 May 2012 23:49:00 +0000

I went to Gulval churchyard to find the grave of a pirate with an unfortunate name. I found it, but was even more impressed by the churchyard as a whole. It's very overgrown and beautiful. The poor caretakers must have given up the fight in the older sections.

John 'Eyebrows' Thomas was a pirate and smuggler of Marazion, Cornwall. When he died in 1733, Marazion parish refused to bury him and paid nearby Gulval church to do the honours instead. His grave featured a skull (with eyebrows!) and crossbones.

Around the headstone there was a very odd inscription which I can't figure out. Maybe someone had been at the rum? I'll have to go back to make sure that I've got it right.

Want excel ill you would live be loud and die to well stand to imitate him

The rest reads:

John Thomas of Marazion Who left this life for A Better on Sunday y. 16th day of december 1733 And In y 62. year of his Age

More under the cut

Whatever happened to Maf?

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 23:30:00 +0000

Maf was Marilyn Monroe's dog and companion during her final years. I always found the photos of Maf's toys in the back garden of Marilyn's home on the day of her death to be some of the most poignant, and wondered about what exactly happened to Maf. So I did a bit of research.

More under the cut!

Maf was not Marilyn's first dog, she had several throughout her life. Here are some photos of Marilyn with her chihuahua, reportedly called ChooChoo, and a spaniel called Ruffles. She met Lassie in 1952!

Marilyn with Arthur Miller and Hugo the Basset Hound. Marilyn and Arthur would sometimes spoon-feed Hugo whisky to cheer him up.

Maf was a gift from Frank Sinatra. Maf's origins have been in confusion because Joe DiMaggio, who was increasingly close to Marilyn again after her divorce from Arthur Miller, was very jealous of Marilyn's friendship with Sinatra. To dodge any ill feeling, it seems that Marilyn would tell some people that Maf was a gift from her publicist, Pat Newcomb.

Marilyn with Frank Sinatra in 1962, and Marilyn, Maf and James Haspiel (thanks mmonroemaniac for correcting the information), a Marilyn superfan.

The truth points to Maf being a gift from Sinatra and that the name "Mafia" was a funny reference to Sinatra's mafia links. Maf was a white Maltese terrier, although Marilyn sometimes referred to him as a poodle, and he is described as such on his first license (see below).

It is believed that Sinatra bought Maf from Natalie Woods' mother, Maria, a dog breeder who apparently would make regular trips to the UK and bring dogs back to America. Andrew O'Hagan, the author of The Life And Opinions Of Maf The Dog And Of His Friend Marilyn Monroe interviewed Betsy Blair, the ex-wife of Gene Kelly, who told O'Hagan that Maria bought Maf in Sussex in 1960 and that Maf originally came from a breeder near Aviemore in Scotland. Frank Sinatra gave Maf to Marilyn in 1961 while in New York. Marilyn would let Maf sleep on a white fur coat given to her by Arthur Miller. Maf was sent to Marilyn to live with her in Hollywood once she bought a house in Brentwood and intended to make it her permanent home.

Some people subscribe to the Pat Newcomb story, but Marilyn said herself to George Barris:

"I live here all alone with my snowball, my little white poodle - he was given to me by my dear old friend Frank Sinatra. I call him Maf."

Photos of Maf as a puppy, taken by Marilyn

Because of Marilyn's chronic insomnia, Maf was kept in the guest house on the property at night so Marilyn could attempt to sleep in complete silence. Also, Maf was apparently not very well house trained, which may account from this letter from Pat Newcomb which was sold at auction a few years ago.

Dear "Maf"-

Merry X-mas! Take good care of M.M.!

Love,

Pat

P.S. Don't let the little package hurt your feelings but take the hint!

Maf's licenses

When Marilyn died in August 1962, these photos were taken of the back of her home, showing Maf's toys on the lawn.

After Marilyn's death, Maf was adopted by Sinatra's secretary, Glora Lovell. I was sad to find out that Maf was run over by a car and did not outlive Marilyn for long. A tragic sad end for a sweet little dog and his owner.

Maf being taken from Marilyn's home after her death

Credits to the Everlasting Star forums and Cursum Perficio

More Hollywood in the 60s

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 21:41:00 +0000

William Wyler and his Oscar for Ben Hur.

Pat Crest. Playboy playmate.

Marilyn Monroe's home on the day of her death

Gary Cooper's widow, Sandra Shaw, at his funeral.

Below: Marlene Dietrich at Gary Cooper's funeral.

Audrey Hepburn's dress mannequin

Sue Lyon on the set of Lolita

All photographs by Barry Feinstein.

Hollywood Foto-Rhetoric

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:12:00 +0000

A friend gave me this book recently. It's a look behind the gloss of Hollywood and shows the film industry in decline. The photographs by Barry Feinstein with accompanying poems by Bob Dylan make it a poignant look back at the rusty layers of tinseltown.

from the outside

lookin in

every finger wiggles

the doorway wears long pants

an slouches

no rejection

all's fair

in love and selection

Casting Central | Jayne Mansfield

if even great

almighty death

is such

a long way down

Hedda Hopper saying "Fuck her!" about Louella Parsons.

off my guard

dream's openin

catches fixed

favoured first niters

furs reserved

perfume for the face preserved

important clutterers

ultra exclusive cost included

Stage mothers

age shall guide thee

for a dollar down

youth shall lead thee

to a dollar up

there were some

lights between us

she didn't say a word

Orphans of the Storm (1921)

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 23:53:00 +0000

1001 Films to See Before You Die - no.11. Orphans of the Storm (1921)

This review is obviously just my opinion. I'm sure some people love this film and find merits in it that I can't.

I first saw this years ago when I was in my teens and was on a Lillian Gish craze after seeing her in The Wind (a sad omission from the list) and The Night of the Hunter. I'm not the greatest fan of U.S. silent films because, like this one, I find a lot of the stories dull and the films themselves overlong. Oh, so long.

Orphans of the Storm is a remake of the lost Theda Bara film, The Two Orphans (1915). It's set during the French Revolution so in theory it shouldn't be dull at all. But it is.

The director, D.W. Griffith, uses the film to make a public service announcement of sorts. It's a sort of "Careful now! We don't want to end up like them, do we?" sort of thing. I do feel sorry for the punters of 1921 having to put up with heavy handed history lessons, warnings about the dangers of the class system and a link-up with the recent Russian Revolution when they probably just wanted a bit of escapism for a few hours. There is escapism however, if you can ignore the anvil of social morality bashing you repeatedly in the head.

A woman gives her baby (Louise) away because she's horrified at the indignity of having a baby out of wedlock AND being forced into marriage with a Count. I think. Mercy me. The baby ends up on the steps of Notre Dame in the snow. At the same time, a peasant decides to leave his child (Henriette) to the mercy of the Church as he is too poor for care for her. Finding Louise already half-frozen on the steps, he changes his mind and takes both infants back home with him. With Louise, he finds a locket and a bag containing a great deal of money. Years later, the girls are growing up and another peasant aptly named Jacques Forget-Not, comes to give the Count and Countess a basket of apples. They couldn't give a toss about the apples. Jacques tells them how hard it is for him because he can't pay the taxes or the rent, especially since his father was tortured by the "displeased" Count's father by having boiling lead poured into his veins. The Count and Countess couldn't give a shit about that either - he's making the place look untidy and looks like Bert from Sesame St. He really does.

Years later again and Louise (Dorothy Gish) has been blinded by the plague which also killed off their parents. Henriette (Lillian Gish) looks after her and they set off to Paris to try and find a cure. De Praille, an aristocrat who takes part in the "dissolute orgies" of the upper classes and is generally a very, very bad man, takes a fancy to Henriette and kidnaps her. She is rescued by the dashing and foppish, Chevalier de Vaudrey. Henriette, being eternally optimistic, believes that Louise has accidentally fallen into the river and drowned. In reality, Louise is being held against her will by a nasty old crone who thinks she can make some money out of having the blind girl beg on the streets.

De Vaudrey and Henriette fall in love and he proposes in double quick time. Henriette refuses for some reason, but he doesn't mind. She then cares for an injured revolutionary politician, Georges Danton, gets into a bit of a spat with Robespierre, finds her sister but loses her again when she is arrested and sent to the Bastille. (Insert some silly excuse so Griffith can put his lead character in the centre of the revolution and we can get some battle scenes.)

After being freed from the Bastille, Henriette and de Vaudrey are condemned to be executed by guillotine because de Vaudrey is an aristocrat and Henriette was harbouring him. Swings and roundabouts. They are saved by Danton. Louise's sight is restored and she is reunited with her sister and her biological mother, the Countess (who is also de Vaudrey's aunt. It's confusing). Everyone is happy and rich by the look of it, despite the Revolution. Everything grinds to a conclusion and I am a left unable to retrieve the 3 hours of my life I spent watching this film.

It's not that I hated the film; I just found it slow with a weak story. My copy didn't include a soundtrack which probably didn't help matters. I can find some good points though.

The sets are stunningly beautiful (filmed in Griffith's studio in Mamaroneck, New York), as are the costumes. This film has a plethora of set pieces - it has dances! It has children getting run over by coaches! Big wigs! Monocles! Duels! Heads on sticks! Fainting ladies! Naked ladies in fountains of wine! Oh, to be in France before the Revolution.

Unfortunately Griffith doesn't have the directorial originality of, say, Clarence Brown or Eisenstein (who was later influenced by Griffith, despite the anti-Bolshevik content of this film). The lighting is nice and I think the best parts of the film involved close-ups rather than the epic mob scenes and so on. I'm not a fan of Griffith's films as The Birth of a Nation is one of the most repulsive films I've ever seen, but Orphans of the Storm is ok. It owes a lot to Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, but with all the interesting parts taken out and hammy acting thrown in in its place. Even Henriette's journey to the guillotine was long-winded and held little suspense. I suppose it must be commended for the historic details. Griffiths obviously researched this period of history to death. It's impressive in terms of scale, but it's not half as deep and meaningful as it pretends to be. It's worth watching for the Gish sisters, if you like them as much as I do. Dorothy Gish's role is rather bland and Lillian Gish's isn't much better, but Lillian especially conveys emotion so wonderfully that I could watch her all day.

Screencaptures under the cut.

My Own Private Idaho (1991)

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:17:00 +0000

Films You Must See Before you Die No. 835 - My Own Private Idaho

Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho is a rather Shakespearian take on life on the streets. It follows Mike (River Phoenix), a narcoleptic hustler who is traumatised from being abandoned by his mother. He suffers a narcoleptic fit at times of stress or when he is reminded of his mother and childhood. His sympathetic friend, Scott (Keanu Reeves), is the son of a mayor and a thinly veiled Prince Hal from Shakespeare's Henry IV. He is is disgusted by his father and chooses to be a street hustler and a disappointment until he turns 21 and receives his inheritance, at which point he vows he will change his ways. The Falstaff figure, Bob (William Richert), is a drug addicted vagrant and a nucleus around which a group of hustlers and misfits in Portland revolve . He and Scott share a peculiar relationship in which Scott loves him like a father, while Bob is in love with him. He is banking on Scott helping him and the rest of the group when he inherits his money.

Mike and Scott attempt to find Mike's mother and travel to Idaho to meet with Mike's brother. On the way, Mike tells Scott that he loves him. When the trail for Mike's mother leads to Italy, Scott falls in love with a girl called Carmella and they return to Portland, leaving Mike alone in Italy to continue his search. Mike continues to prostitute himself to fund his drug habit although he eventually makes his way back to Portland, having failed to find his mother. Back with his friends on the streets, they spot Scott and Carmella entering a restaurant. Bob rightly assumes that Scott has inherited his money, and approches him. Scott distances himself from him, declaring that he has changed and wants nothing to do with Bob, despite loving him like a father. Later, Bob dies and his noisy pauper's funeral is held in the cemetery a few feet away from where the funeral of Scott's father is also taking place. The film ends with Mike back on "his road" in Idaho. He suffers another narcoleptic fit, during which he is robbed by two people before being picked up by an unknown passing driver.

River Phoenix was a hugely talented actor who seemed incapable of putting in anything other than a brilliant performance. Apart from Stand By Me, My Own Private Idaho is possibly his best film. It's yet another reminder of what a great actor we lost when he died at the age of 23.

A lot of people deride Keanu Reeves, and he does have an awkwardness about him that could be and is interpreted as wooden. Personally, I'm fond of him. I like his film choices (on the whole) and he seems like a nice bloke and he's actually one of the few contemporary film stars who doesn't annoy the bejesus out of me. He also hasn't aged in well over 20 years which is quite a feat. Congratulations on your great genes, Keanu. His reputation as a bad actor is quite unfair, although sometimes I admit that he's been miscast. He stands up well alongside River Phoenix in this film, probably helped by their obvious camaraderie.

This is a brave and a classic cult film. The stand-out moment for me is the campfire scene. It must be one of the most heart wrenching and vulnerable declarations of love, particularly because in the film none of the other hustlers admit that they're gay. According to Gus Van Sant, River Phoenix expanded the scene with his own dialogue.

The direction is unusual. The camera angles used are interesting and sometimes the film is documentary style as some of the cast members (who were actually real-life hustlers) recall stories. Sex scenes are depicted via freeze-frames of the actors holding funny poses. During Mike's narcoleptic episodes, time-lapse landscape and nature shots are used, as well as remembrances of his childhood depicted through old home movie footage. Shakespearian language is scattered throughout the film, as are some peculiar characters such as a client of Mike's who makes Mike clean his house while dressed up as a "little Dutch boy"from a cleaning product. Oh, and Udo Kier as Hans. I love him so much.

Not much more to say except that I think this was a film ahead of its time in a way - not just story-wise, but in terms of film making. It perfectly captures a drifting, passive longing.

Screencaptures and quotes under the cut.

"There's not another road anywhere that looks like this road. I mean, exactly like this road. It's one kind of place. One of a kind. Like someone's face. Like a fucked-up face."

Hans: "You want to be my friend?"

Mike: "No."

Hans: "My name is Hans. I'm from Germany. Now I live in America selling pieces for cars."

Mike: "Mm-hmm."

Hans: "Say, why don't you get in?"

Mike: "No."

" I'm trying to make a living. I like to have a professional attitude."

"There's no reason to know the time. We are timeless."

"When I turn 21, I don't want any more of this life. My mother and father will be surprised at the incredible change. It will impress them more when such a fuckup like me turns good, than if I had been a good son all along. All my bad behaviour I will throw away to pay a debt. I will change when everybody expects it the least."

Scott: "When I left home, the maid asked me where I was off to. I said, 'Wherever, whatever. Have a nice day.'"

Mike: You had a maid? If I had a normal family and a good upbringing then I would have been a well-adjusted person. (...) I'd like to talk with you. I mean, I'd like to really talk with you. We're talking right now, but, you know, I don't know. I don't feel like I can be... I don't feel like I can be close to you. I mean, we're close. Right now we're close, but, I mean, y'know.

Scott: Uh, how close? I mean -

Mike: "I don't know. Whatever.

Scott: "What?"

Mike: "What do I mean to you?"

Scott: "What do you mean to me? Mike, you're my best friend."

Mike: "I know, man. And I - I know - I know I'm your friend. We're good friends. And it's good to be, you know, good friends. That's a good thing. So, I just - That's okay. We can be friends.

Scott: "I only have sex with a guy for money."

Mike: "Yeah, I know."

Scott: "And two guys can't love each other."

Mike: "Yeah. Well, I don't know. I mean, I mean for me, I could love someone even if I, y'know, wasn't paid for it. I love you and you don't pay me."

Scott: "Mike."

Mike: "I really want to kiss you, man. Goodnight, man. I love you though. You know that. I do love you."

"'Rooms, phones, color TV. Wall-to-wall carpeting and efficiently controlled electric heat combination tub and showers. Game table and two reading chairs with some connecting rooms.' It sounds so nice. I wouldn't mind living here."

Hans: "Mike?"

Mike: "What?"

Hans: "I'm extremely excited."

Cop: "You like your bike?"

Hans: "Mm-hmm."

Cop: "Well, I'm still gonna give you a ticket."

Bob: "It's true, we're drawing attention to ourselves, but Scotty will witness that I'm dying to see him and it won't matter how we're dressed. God save you! God save you, my sweet boy. Scotty, my own true friend! I mean you, Scotty. It's me, Bob!"

Scott: "I don't know you, old man. Please leave me alone. When I was young and you were my street tutor - an instigator for my bad behaviour - I was planning a change. There was a time when I had the need to learn from you, my former and psychedelic teacher. And although I love you more dearly than my dead father, I have to turn away. Now that I have, and until I change back, don't come near me.

The Innocents (1961)

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 04:31:00 +0000

"All I want to do is save the children, not destroy them."

This film is a masterclass of suspense and why it's not on the 1001 movies to see before you die list I'll never know. Beverley Hills Cop is on the list, not that it pretends to be suspenseful, it's just the fact that it's there and this one isn't that irritates me. *shrugs*

It's unsettling from the first moment, with birdsong and a child singing "O Willow Waly" over a black screen for nearly a minute. This was so unusual that, according to Wikipedia, projectionists thought that there was something wrong with the film.

The story starts with Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) being interviewed for her first position by wealthy playboy bachelor (Michael Redgrave) who has been "saddled" with two orphans, for whom he has no time for "neither mentally nor emotionally". The children live at his country house, Bly. He tells Miss Giddens that the previous governess died, and so he offers her the position, making it clear that her role would be to take on all responsibility regarding the children and that he should never be contacted or bothered about their upbringing again. First Miss Giddens meets Flora (Pamela Franklin), who tells her that her brother, Miles (Martin Stephens), will be arriving shortly, although he is not expected. Miss Giddens then receives a letter from Miles' school, telling her that he's been expelled but does explain why. Miles arrives and evades all questions about his school by precocious flattery. The new governess begins to see things, such as a man on the tower, and after questioning the housekeeper, Mrs Grose (Megs Jenkins), learns of a valet, Peter Quint (Peter Wyngarde), who died and whose body was discovered by Miles. She is also told more about her predecessor, Miss Jessel (Clytie Jessop). As she learns of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel and their affair, the sightings of the ghosts become more intense. Miss Giddens is convinced that the two children are possessed by the spirits.

For me, apart from The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, The Turn of the Screw is the finest ghost story and it's mostly due to its ambiguity. For this reason, The Innocents is the perfect adaptation, with Truman Capote's added dialogue emphasising the disturbing Freudian psychological elements to the story. We see what Miss Giddens sees, but everything she experiences is preceded by a trigger - the story of Quint and Miss Jessel unfolding slowly through the film via Mrs Grose. It can be seen both as a ghost story, and also as a depiction of paranoia.

The mystery of Miss Jessel and Miles's expulsion play on her insecurities in a situation she is not comfortable with. The children are mysterious and their closeness is something she cannot penetrate. She is disturbed that they are not completely angelic. There is little in the way of adult company, further isolating her, and Mrs Grose encourages her speculation rather than grounding her. Miss Giddens is charmed by her employer, but, on his terms, cannot have contact with him. The story of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel's affair only intensifies her frustration - she sees their abusive, torrid relationship as wicked, but grows increasingly infatuated with it at the same time. She feels nervous but proud of the responsibility her master has given her, but ultimately she is ill-equipped to deal with the children, particularly as her obsession with the "ghosts" grows. As Miles states near the end of the film, perhaps her ghost story is the result of mental illness, or even a strange attempt at distracting herself from her fear of insanity. The master approved of her "imagination", so maybe this is a desperate attempt to make him notice her.

The choice of Deborah Kerr does smack of the token "big" filmstar with the necessary pulling power at the cinema. She is clearly playing a role which is intended for someone much younger; someone naive, nervous and inexperienced - not something you would expect from a woman with forty years of life behind her. However, her portrayal of a woman on the brink is excellent and her expressions of horror are unrivalled. It's easy to believe that she is simply a woman from a sheltered background venturing into employment to make her own way in the world. Anyway, it's Deborah Kerr and you'll never hear me say anything negative about her. It's a small cast, but everyone, especially the children, put in great performances.

The direction, cinematography and lighting is equally wonderful. A good decision was made in shooting it in black and white. The film is incredibly eerie, nightmarish, paced and beautiful. I can't help but think that the key to a ghost film is subtlety and the building of suspense. There are no big shocks in this film, it simply plays on your fears in a strange, mysterious house when the darkness seems darker and every noise is sinister. The first line of the film is, "Do you have a good imagination?" and our imagination plays on our greatest fears with a few visual and aural cues. As it is so rare for a filmaker to understand this (particularly in contemporary cinema), so a film like The Innocents remains a benchmark and one of the finest examples of its genre.

Screencaptures galore under the cut.

"Mrs Grose, what was she like? The other governess. The one who died."

Flora: "Miss Giddens, where will the Lord take my soul to?"

Miss Giddens: "To Heaven."

Flora: "Are you certain?"

Miss Giddens: "Yes, of course, because you're a very, very good girl."

Flora: "But I might not be. And if I weren't, wouldn't the Lord just leave me here to walk around? Isn't that what happens to some people?"

"Well, sometimes one can't help imagining things."

Miss Giddens: "Flora, didn't you say last night that Miles was coming home?"

Flora: "Oh look! A lovely spider and it's eating a butterfly!"

Miss Giddens: "Miles has been dismissed from school. Sent home. Expelled. They say it is impossible to keep him - that he is an injury to others... You have never known him to be bad?"

Mrs Grose: "I wouldn't say that."

Miss Giddens: "You mean you like a boy with spirit? Well so do I, but not to the degree to... contaminate. To corrupt."

Mrs Grose: "Oh, Miss. Are you afraid that he might corrupt you?

Miss Giddens: "Were you happy at school?"

Miles: "May I tell you something? I think you're far too pretty to be a governess."

Miss Giddens: "Miles, dear Miles. Can't you see that I want to help you? Trust me. Oh! The candle's gone out!"

Miles: "Don't be frightened. It was only the wind, my dear. The wind blew it out."

Miss Giddens: "Miles, how long have you been here?"

Miles: "Oh, I don't know. Twenty, thirty minutes."

Miss Giddens: "Then you must have seen him!"

Miles: "I've been quite alone, except for my greedy friends."

Miss Giddens: "Well that can't be true. Not two minutes ago I saw a man standing exactly here."

Miles: "Perhaps it was me."

Miss Giddens: "No, no, it was a man. He was looking at me."

Miles: "I expect you imagined it."

Miss Giddens: "I saw him. Don't tell me I didn't because I did. I saw him staring. The man in the tower."

Mrs Grose: "Would you say he was handsome?"

Miss Giddens: "Oh yes, handsome. Handsome and obscene. Yes I... I know where I've seen him! There's a picture, a picture of him. A miniature in a cracked glass in the attic, I'll show you!"

Mrs Grose: "It can't be."

Miss Giddens: "It can't be?"

Mrs Grose: "Quint. Peter Quint, the master's valet. But you see, Miss, he's dead."

"Flora! Who is it over there?"

"Mrs Grose, there are two of them. Two of those... abominations. I can't pretend to understand what its purpose is, I only know that it is happening. Something secretive and whispery and indecent. Believe me, the children are in dreadful peril. You do believe me? You don't think that I'm imagining it?"

Miss Giddens: "Were Quint and Miss Jessel in love? They were in love, weren't they?"

Mrs Grose: "Love? Oh, I suppose that's what she'd call it but it was more like a sickness, a fever that leaves the body burned out and dry. There was no cruelty she wouldn't suffer. If he struck her, and oh yes, I've seen him knock her to the floor, she'd look at him as if she wanted the weight of his hand. It hurts me to remember. Bad she was but no woman could have suffered more. Oh, Miss, there's things I've seen... I'm ashamed to say. Rooms. Rooms used by daylight as though they were dark woods."

Miss Giddens: "And they didn't care that you saw them? And the children?"

Mrs Grose: "I can't say, Miss. I don't know what the children saw. But they used to follow Quint and Miss Jessel, trailing behind hand in hand, whispering. There was too much whispering in this house, Miss."

Mrs Grose: "Master Miles is a good boy, Miss. There's nothing wicked in him."

Miss Giddens: "Unless he's deceiving us. Unless they're both deceiving us. The innocents."

Mrs Grose: "Sometimes I wondered if they really cared for them, those two, or if they weren't just using them."

Miss Giddens: "Using them? Yes, of course they were. And still are."

"It's a secret."

Mrs Grose: "What will you say to the master?"

Miss Giddens: "Oh yes, I know he'll think I'm insane or that it's some stupid trick to get him to notice me."

"Everything has changed. She was here. She was waiting for me. She spoke. It came to that. Oh, I could feel pity for her, if she herself were not so pitiless. And hungry, hungry for him; for his arms and his lips. But she can only reach him - they can only reach him by entering the souls of the children and possessing them. The children are possessed. They live and know and share this hell."

"Softly, the children are asleep. Kiss me. You're hurting me. The children are watching."

Miles: "I'm not hiding it. I'm keep it warm. I found it this morning. One of my pigeons. I couldn't, could I? Leave it out there alone?"

Miss Giddens: "But Miles, it's neck. It looks as though-"

Miles: "Someone had broken it. Yes, poor thing. I'll bury it tomorrow."

"Kiss me goodnight, Miss Giddens."

Miss Giddens: "And where, my pet, is Miss Jessel? Where is she, Flora? Where is she? You know you can see her. Look, Flora, look! There, you know you can see her!"

Flora: "I can't! I can't!"

Miss Giddens: "Admit it! You know you can see her! But look, she's there. But you know you can see her. You must!"

Flora: "I cant see anything, I've never seen anything! You're cruel! You're wicked! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! You're wicked to frighten me so!"

"To hear such filth from a child's mouth. I never heard her speak like that before, never. Until you came."

"You and Flora will leave tomorrow. I shall send the servants away. It's my decision. He put me in charge, in sole charge, Mrs Grose. Tomorrow I must be alone here with Miles."

Miss Giddens: "Why were you sent home from school? What did you do?"

Miles: "I said things. Sometimes I hurt things and sometimes at night, when everything was dark, they screamed. The masters heard about it. They said I frightened the other boys."

Miss Giddens: "And when did you first see and hear of such things."

Miles: "I made them up."

Miss Giddens: "Who taught them to you? Shall I tell you who taught you? Shall I tell you his name?"

Miles: "You don't fool me, I know why you go on and on. It's because you're afraid. You're afraid you might be mad so you keep on and on trying to make me admit something that isn't true; trying to frightened me the way you frightened Flora. But I'm not Flora, I'm no baby. You think you can get to my Uncle with a lot of lies. But he won't believe you, not when I tell him what you are - a damned hussy. A damned, dirty-minded hag. You never fooled us. We always knew."

"He's gone, Miles. You're safe. You're free. I have you."

So many films to see before you die.

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 16:53:00 +0000

I like making life hard for myself, so I've decided to try and watch and blog about one of the "1001 Films You Must See Before You Die" every week. Based on all editions, including the films which were removed to make way for new films, there are 1089 films on the list.

There is an amazing Blog List you can join and be assigned a film a week, but I've decided to go it alone and work through the films which I already own first.

Here's the master list from filmsquish so I can link them to posts as and when. If you'd like to put this masterlist on your blog, here's a html code which you can cut and paste. Please let me know if you're going to tackle this task of Herculean proportions because I'd love to follow your blog.

<ol>
<li> A Trip to the Moon (1902)</li>
<li>The Great Train Robbery (1903)</li>
<li>The Birth of a Nation (1915)</li>
<li>Les Vampires (1915)</li>
<li>Intolerance (1916)</li>
<li>Broken Blossoms (1919)</li>
<li>The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)</li>
<li>Way Down East (1920)</li>
<li>Within Our Gates (1920)</li>
<li>The Phantom Carriage (1921)</li>
<li>Orphans of the Storm (1921)</li>
<li>La Souriante Madame Beudet (1922)</li>
<li>Dr. Mabuse Parts 1 and 2 (1922)</li>
<li>Nanook of the North (1922)</li>
<li>Nosferatu (1922)</li>
<li>Haxan (1923)</li>
<li>Foolish Wives (1922)</li>
<li>Our Hospitality (1923)</li>
<li>The Wheel (1923)</li>
<li>The Thief of Bagdad (1924)</li>
<li>Strike (1924)</li>
<li>Greed (1924)</li>
<li>Sherlock, Jr. (1924)</li>
<li>The Last Laugh (1924)</li>
<li>Seven Chances (1925)</li>
<li>The Phantom of the Opera (1925)</li>
<li>Battleship Potemkin (1925)</li>
<li>The Gold Rush (1925)</li>
<li>The Big Parade (1925)</li>
<li>Metropolis (1927)</li>
<li>Sunrise (1927)</li>
<li>The General (1927)</li>
<li>The Unknown (1927)</li>
<li>October (1927)</li>
<li>The Jazz Singer (1927)</li>
<li>Napoleon (1927)</li>
<li>The Kid Brother (1927)</li>
<li>The Crowd (1928)</li>
<li>The Docks of New York (1928)</li>
<li>An Andalusian Dog (1928)</li>
<li>The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)</li>
<li>Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)</li>
<li>Storm over Asia (1928)</li>
<li>Blackmail (1929)</li>
<li>The Man with the Movie Camera (1929)</li>
<li>Pandora's Box (1929)</li>
<li>The Blue Angel (1930)</li>
<li>L'Age D'Or (1930)</li>
<li>Earth (1930)</li>
<li>Little Caesar (1930)</li>
<li>All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)</li>
<li>À Nous la Liberté (1931)</li>
<li>Le Million (1931)</li>
<li>Tabu (1931)</li>
<li>Dracula (1931)</li>
<li>Frankenstein (1931)</li>
<li>City Lights (1931)</li>
<li>The Public Enemy (1931)</li>
<li>M (1931)</li>
<li>La Chienne (1931)</li>
<li>Vampyr (1932)</li>
<li>Love Me Tonight (1932)</li>
<li>Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)</li>
<li>I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)</li>
<li>Trouble in Paradise (1932)</li>
<li>Scarface (1932)</li>
<li>Shanghai Express (1932)</li>
<li>Freaks (1932)</li>
<li>Me and My Gal (1932)</li>
<li>Zero for Conduct (1933)</li>
<li>42nd Street (1933)</li>
<li>Footlight Parade (1933)</li>
<li>Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)</li>
<li>She Done Him Wrong (1933)</li>
<li>Duck Soup (1933)</li>
<li>Queen Christina (1933)</li>
<li>Las Hurdes (1933)</li>
<li>King Kong (1933)</li>
<li>The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)</li>
<li>Sons of the Desert (1933)</li>
<li>It's a Gift (1934)</li>
<li>Triumph of the Will (1934)</li>
<li>L'Atalante (1934)</li>
<li>The Black Cat (1934)</li>
<li>Judge Priest (1934)</li>
<li>It Happened One Night (1934)</li>
<li>The Thin Man (1934)</li>
<li>Captain Blood (1935)</li>
<li>Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)</li>
<li>A Night at the Opera (1935)</li>
<li>The 39 Steps (1935)</li>
<li>Bride of Frankenstein (1935)</li>
<li>Top Hat (1935)</li>
<li>A Day in the Country (1936)</li>
<li>Modern Times (1936)</li>
<li>Swing Time (1936)</li>
<li>My Man Godfrey (1936)</li>
<li>Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)</li>
<li>Camille (1936)</li>
<li>Sabotage (1936)</li>
<li>Dodsworth (1936)</li>
<li>Things to Come (1936)</li>
<li>The Story of a Cheat (1936)</li>
<li>Captains Courageous (1937)</li>
<li>Song At Midnight (1937)</li>
<li>Grand Illusion (1937)</li>
<li>Stella Dallas (1937)</li>
<li>The Life of Emile Zola (1937)</li>
<li>Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)</li>
<li>Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)</li>
<li>The Awful Truth (1937)</li>
<li>Pepe Le Moko (1937)</li>
<li>Jezebel (1938)</li>
<li>The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)</li>
<li>Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)</li>
<li>Olympia (1938)</li>
<li>The Baker's Wife (1938)</li>
<li>Bringing Up Baby (1938)</li>
<li>Stagecoach (1939)</li>
<li>The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939)</li>
<li>Babes in Arms (1939)</li>
<li>Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)</li>
<li>The Wizard of Oz (1939)</li>
<li>Destry Rides Again (1939)</li>
<li>Only Angels Have Wings (1939)</li>
<li>Gone With the Wind (1939)</li>
<li>Daybreak (1939)</li>
<li>Gunga Din (1939)</li>
<li>Ninotchka (1939)</li>
<li>The Rules of the Game (1939)</li>
<li>Wuthering Heights (1939)</li>
<li>His Girl Friday (1940)</li>
<li>Rebecca (1940)</li>
<li>Fantasia (1940)</li>
<li>The Philadelphia Story (1940)</li>
<li>The Grapes of Wrath (1940)</li>
<li>Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)</li>
<li>Pinocchio (1940)</li>
<li>The Mortal Storm (1940)</li>
<li>The Bank Dick (1940)</li>
<li>Citizen Kane (1941)</li>
<li>The Lady Eve (1941)</li>
<li>The Wolf Man (1941)</li>
<li>The Maltese Falcon (1941)</li>
<li>Sergeant York (1941)</li>
<li>Dumbo (1941)</li>
<li>High Sierra (1941)</li>
<li>Sullivan's Travels (1941)</li>
<li>How Green Was My Valley (1941)</li>
<li>The Palm Beach Story (1942)</li>
<li>Now, Voyager (1942)</li>
<li>Casablanca (1942)</li>
<li>To Be or Not to Be (1942)</li>
<li>Cat People (1942)</li>
<li>The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)</li>
<li>Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)</li>
<li>Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)</li>
<li>Fires Were Started (1943)</li>
<li>The Man in Grey (1943)</li>
<li>The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)</li>
<li>I Walked with a Zombie (1943)</li>
<li>The Seventh Victim (1943)</li>
<li>The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)</li>
<li>Shadow of a Doubt (1943) </li>
<li>Ossessione (1943) </li>
<li>Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) </li>
<li>To Have and Have Not (1944) </li>
<li>Laura (1944) </li>
<li>Gaslight (1944) </li>
<li>Henry V (1944) </li>
<li>Ivan the Terrible (1944) Parts 1 and 2 </li>
<li>Double Indemnity (1944) </li>
<li>Murder, My Sweet (1944) </li>
<li>The Battle of San Pietro (1945) </li>
<li>Spellbound (1945) </li>
<li>Mildred Pierce (1945) </li>
<li>Children of Paradise (1945) </li>
<li>Open City (1945) </li>
<li>The Lost Weekend (1945) </li>
<li>Detour (1945) </li>
<li>I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)</li>
<li>The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) </li>
<li>Brief Encounter (1946) </li>
<li>Paisan (1946) </li>
<li>The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) </li>
<li>My Darling Clementine (1946)</li>
<li>The Stranger (1946) </li>
<li>Beauty and the Beast (1946) </li>
<li>The Big Sleep (1946)</li>
<li>The Killers (1946) </li>
<li>A Matter of Life and Death (1946) </li>
<li>Great Expectations (1946) </li>
<li>Notorious (1946) </li>
<li>Black Narcissus (1946) </li>
<li>It's a Wonderful Life (1946) </li>
<li>Gilda (1946) </li>
<li>Monsieur Verdoux (1947) </li>
<li>Out of the Past (1947) </li>
<li>The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) </li>
<li>Odd Man Out (1947) </li>
<li>The Bicycle Thief (1948) </li>
<li>Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) </li>
<li>Secret Beyond the Door (1948) </li>
<li>Force of Evil (1948) </li>
<li>Spring in a Small Town (1948)</li>
<li>Red River (1948) </li>
<li>Rope (1948) </li>
<li>The Snake Pit (1948)</li>
<li>The Lady from Shanghai (1948)</li>
<li> Paleface (1948) </li>
<li>The Red Shoes (1948)</li>
<li>The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) </li>
<li>Louisiana Story (1948) </li>
<li>The Heiress (1949) </li>
<li>Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)</li>
<li>Gun Crazy (1949) </li>
<li>Adam's Rib (1949) </li>
<li>Whiskey Galore! (1949) </li>
<li>White Heat (1949) </li>
<li>The Reckless Moment (1949) </li>
<li>The Third Man (1949) </li>
<li>On the Town (1949) </li>
<li>Orpheus (1949) </li>
<li>The Asphalt Jungle (1950) </li>
<li>Rashomon (1950) </li>
<li>Winchester '73 (1950) </li>
<li>Rio Grande (1950) </li>
<li>All About Eve (1950) </li>
<li>Sunset Blvd. (1950) </li>
<li>Los Olvidados (1950) </li>
<li>In a Lonely Place (1950) </li>
<li>The Big Carnival (1951) </li>
<li>A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) </li>
<li>Strangers on a Train (1951) </li>
<li>The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) </li>
<li>Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) </li>
<li>The African Queen (1951)</li>
<li> Diary of a Country Priest (1951) </li>
<li>An American in Paris (1951) </li>
<li>A Place in the Sun (1951) </li>
<li>The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) </li>
<li>The Quiet Man (1952) </li>
<li>Forbidden Games (1952) </li>
<li>Angel Face (1952) </li>
<li>Singin' in the Rain (1952) </li>
<li>Ikiru (1952) </li>
<li>Europa '51 (1952)</li>
<li>The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)</li>
<li>The Big Sky (1952)</li>
<li>High Noon (1952) </li>
<li>Umberto D (1952) </li>
<li>The Golden Coach (1952) </li>
<li>The Bigamist (1953)</li>
<li>The Band Wagon (1953) </li>
<li>Madame De… (1953) </li>
<li>From Here to Eternity (1953)</li>
<li>Tokyo Story (1953) </li>
<li>Roman Holiday (1953)</li>
<li>The Wages of Fear (1953) </li>
<li>The Naked Spur (1953) </li>
<li>Pickup on South Street (1953) </li>
<li>Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) </li>
<li>The Big Heat (1953) </li>
<li>M. Hulot's Holiday (1953) </li>
<li>Voyage in Italy (1953) </li>
<li>Ugetsu (1953) </li>
<li>Shane (1953) </li>
<li>Beat the Devil (1953) </li>
<li>Johnny Guitar (1954) </li>
<li>On the Waterfront (1954) </li>
<li>Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)</li>
<li>Les Diaboliques (1954) </li>
<li>Animal Farm (1954) </li>
<li>Rear Window (1954) </li>
<li>A Star Is Born (1954) </li>
<li>The Barefoot Contessa (1954) </li>
<li>La Strada (1954) </li>
<li>Seven Samurai (1954) </li>
<li>Senso (1954) </li>
<li>Silver Lode (1954) </li>
<li>Carmen Jones (1954) </li>
<li>Sansho the Bailiff (1954) </li>
<li>Salt of the Earth (1954) </li>
<li>Artists and Models (1955) </li>
<li>Guys and Dolls (1955) </li>
<li>Pather Panchali (1955) </li>
<li>Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) </li>
<li>The Mad Masters (1955)</li>
<li>Hill 24 Doesn't Answer (1955) </li>
<li>The Ladykillers (1955) </li>
<li>Marty (1955) </li>
<li>Ordet (1955) </li>
<li>Bob Le Flambeur (1955) </li>
<li>Kiss Me Deadly (1955) </li>
<li>The Man from Laramie (1955)</li>
<li>Rebel without a Cause (1955) </li>
<li>The Phenix City Story (1955) </li>
<li>Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) </li>
<li>Night and Fog (1955) </li>
<li>The Night of the Hunter (1955) </li>
<li>Lola Montes (1955) </li>
<li>Forbidden Planet (1956) </li>
<li>The Burmese Harp (1956) </li>
<li>The Searchers (1956) </li>
<li>A Man Escaped (1956)</li>
<li>Written on the Wind (1956) </li>
<li>The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) </li>
<li>Giant (1956) </li>
<li>All That Heaven Allows (1956)</li>
<li>Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)</li>
<li>The Wrong Man (1956)</li>
<li>Bigger Than Life (1956) </li>
<li>High Society (1956) </li>
<li>The Ten Commandments (1956) </li>
<li>12 Angry Men (1957)</li>
<li>The Seventh Seal (1957)</li>
<li>An Affair to Remember (1957) </li>
<li>Wild Strawberries (1957) </li>
<li>The Nights of Cabiria (1957) </li>
<li>Throne of Blood (1957)</li>
<li>The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) </li>
<li>Aparajito (1957) </li>
<li>Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)</li>
<li>The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)</li>
<li>Mother India (1957) </li>
<li>The Cranes Are Flying (1957) </li>
<li>Paths of Glory (1957) </li>
<li>Sweet Smell of Success (1957) </li>
<li>Man of the West (1958) </li>
<li>Touch of Evil (1958) </li>
<li>Cairo Station (1958) </li>
<li>Gigi (1958) </li>
<li>The Defiant Ones (1958) </li>
<li>Vertigo (1958) </li>
<li>Ashes and Diamonds (1958) </li>
<li>Horror of Dracula (1958) </li>
<li>Mon Oncle (1958) </li>
<li>The Music Room (1958) </li>
<li>The 400 Blows (1959) </li>
<li>North by Northwest (1959)</li>
<li>Some Like It Hot (1959) </li>
<li>Anatomy of a Murder (1959)</li>
<li>Eyes without a Face (1959) </li>
<li>Ride Lonesome (1959) </li>
<li>Black Orpheus (1959) </li>
<li>Shadows (1959) </li>
<li>The World of Apu (1959)</li>
<li> Breathless (1959)</li>
<li>Ben-Hur (1959) </li>
<li>Pickpocket (1959)</li>
<li>Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) </li>
<li>Rio Bravo (1959) </li>
<li>The Hole (1959) </li>
<li>Floating Weeds (1959) </li>
<li>Rocco and His Brothers (1960)</li>
<li>La Dolce Vita (1960)</li>
<li>Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) </li>
<li>Shoot the Piano Player (1960) </li>
<li>L'Avventura (1960) </li>
<li>La Joven (1960) </li>
<li>The Cloud-Capped Star (1960) </li>
<li>The Housemaid (1960) </li>
<li>Psycho (1960) </li>
<li>Black Sunday (1960) </li>
<li>Peeping Tom (1960) </li>
<li>The Apartment (1960) </li>
<li>Spartacus (1960) </li>
<li>Splendor in the Grass (1961) </li>
<li>Last Year at Marienbad (1961) </li>
<li>La Jetee (1961) </li>
<li>One-Eyed Jacks (1961) </li>
<li>Lola (1961) </li>
<li>Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) </li>
<li>La Notte (1961) </li>
<li>Jules and Jim (1961) </li>
<li>Viridiana (1961) </li>
<li>The Ladies Man (1961) </li>
<li>Through a Glass Darkly (1961) </li>
<li>Chronicle of a Summer (1961) </li>
<li>The Hustler (1961) </li>
<li>West Side Story (1961) </li>
<li>Mondo Cane (1962) </li>
<li>Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)</li>
<li>Dog Star Man (1962) </li>
<li>An Autumn Afternoon (1962) </li>
<li>L'Eclisse (1962) </li>
<li>Lawrence of Arabia (1962) </li>
<li>To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) </li>
<li>The Manchurian Candidate (1962) </li>
<li>Lolita (1962) </li>
<li>Keeper of Promises (1962) </li>
<li>The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) </li>
<li>What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) </li>
<li>My Life to Live (1962) </li>
<li>Heaven and Earth Magic (1962) </li>
<li>The Birds (1963) </li>
<li>The Nutty Professor (1963) </li>
<li>Blonde Cobra (1963) </li>
<li>The Cool World (1963) </li>
<li>8 1/2 (1963) </li>
<li>Passenger (1963) </li>
<li>Contempt (1963)</li>
<li>Hud (1963) </li>
<li>Winter Light (1963) </li>
<li>Flaming Creatures (1963) </li>
<li>The Great Escape (1963) </li>
<li>Shock Corridor (1963) </li>
<li>The Leopard (1963) </li>
<li>Barren Lives (1963) </li>
<li>Mediteranee (1963) </li>
<li>The House is Black (1963) </li>
<li>The Haunting (1963) </li>
<li>An Actor's Revenge (1963)</li>
<li>The Servant (1963)</li>
<li>Goldfinger (1964) </li>
<li>Scorpio Rising (1964) </li>
<li>The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) </li>
<li>Marnie (1964) </li>
<li>My Fair Lady (1964) </li>
<li>Woman in the Dunes (1964)</li>
<li>Dr. Strangelove (1964) </li>
<li>A Hard Day's Night (1964) </li>
<li>The Red Desert (1964) </li>
<li>Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964) </li>
<li>The Masque of the Red Death (1964) </li>
<li>Before the Revolution (1964) </li>
<li>Gertrud (1964) </li>
<li>The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964) </li>
<li>Black God, White Devil (1964) </li>
<li>The Demon (1964) </li>
<li>Vinyl (1965) </li>
<li>The Shop on Main Street (1965) </li>
<li>Doctor Zhivago (1965)</li>
<li>The War Game (1965) </li>
<li>Tokyo Olympiad (1965) </li>
<li>The Battle of Algiers (1965)</li>
<li>The Sound of Music (1965) </li>
<li>The Sargossa Manuscript (1965) </li>
<li>Alphaville (1965) </li>
<li>Chimes at Midnight (1965) </li>
<li>Repulsion (1965) </li>
<li>Juliet of the Spirits (1965) </li>
<li>Pierrot Le Fou (1965) </li>
<li>Faster, Pussy Cat! Kill! Kill! (1965) </li>
<li>Golden River (1965) </li>
<li>The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short (1965) </li>
<li>Hold Me While I'm Naked (1966) </li>
<li>Blow-Up (1966)</li>
<li>The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) </li>
<li>Daisies (1966) </li>
<li>Come Drink with Me (1966) </li>
<li>Seconds (1966) </li>
<li>Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) </li>
<li>Persona (1966) </li>
<li>Masculin-Feminin (1966) </li>
<li>Au Hazard Balthazar (1966) </li>
<li>In the Heat of the Night (1967) </li>
<li>Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967) </li>
<li>The Graduate (1967) </li>
<li>Playtime (1967) </li>
<li>Report (1967) </li>
<li>Hombre (1967) </li>
<li>Belle de Jour (1967) </li>
<li>The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) </li>
<li>Week End (1967) </li>
<li>The Godson (1967) </li>
<li>Cool Hand Luke (1967) </li>
<li>Point Blank (1967) </li>
<li>Wavelength (1967) </li>
<li>Bonnie and Clyde (1967) </li>
<li>The Red and the White (1967) </li>
<li>Marketta Lazarova (1967) </li>
<li>The Jungle Book (1967) </li>
<li>The Fireman's Ball (1967) </li>
<li>Earth Entranced (1967) </li>
<li>Closely Watched Trains (1967) </li>
<li>Vij (1967) </li>
<li>The Cow (1968) </li>
<li>Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)</li>
<li>Planet of the Apes (1968)</li>
<li>Faces (1968) </li>
<li>Rosemary's Baby (1968)</li>
<li>If... (1968) </li>
<li>Memories of Underdevelopment (1968) </li>
<li>The Producers (1968) </li>
<li>David Holzman's Diary (1968) </li>
<li>Shame (1968) </li>
<li>2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) </li>
<li>Hour of the Wolf (1968) </li>
<li>Targets (1968) </li>
<li>Night of the Living Dead (1968) </li>
<li>My Night at Maud's (1969)</li>
<li>Lucia (1969) </li>
<li>A Touch of Zen (1969) </li>
<li>Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) </li>
<li>Midnight Cowboy (1969) </li>
<li>Satyricon (1969)</li>
<li>Z (1969) </li>
<li>The Conformist (1969) </li>
<li>Easy Rider (1969)</li>
<li>High School (1969) </li>
<li>In the Year of the Pig (1969) </li>
<li>The Wild Bunch (1969) </li>
<li>Andrei Rublev (1969)</li>
<li>Le Boucher (1969) </li>
<li>The Color of Pomegranates (1969) </li>
<li>Kes (1969) </li>
<li>Tristana (1970) </li>
<li>Five Easy Pieces (1970) </li>
<li>El Topo (1970) </li>
<li>Woodstock (1970) </li>
<li>Deep End (1970) </li>
<li>The Spider's Stratagem (1970) </li>
<li>Little Big Man (1970) </li>
<li>The Ear (1970) </li>
<li>Patton (1970) </li>
<li>M*A*S*H (1970) </li>
<li>Performance (1970) </li>
<li>Gimme Shelter (1970) </li>
<li>Zabriskie Point (1970) </li>
<li>The Bird with The Crystal Plumage (1970) </li>
<li>The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970) </li>
<li>Wanda (1971) </li>
<li>W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971)</li>
<li>A Clockwork Orange (1971) </li>
<li>The Sorrow and the Pity (1971) </li>
<li>Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) </li>
<li>McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) </li>
<li>Walkabout (1971) </li>
<li>Klute (1971) </li>
<li>Harold and Maude (1971) </li>
<li>Red Psalm (1971)</li>
<li>Get Carter (1971) </li>
<li>The French Connection (1971) </li>
<li>Shaft (1971) </li>
<li>Dirty Harry (1971) </li>
<li>Murmur of the Heart (1971) </li>
<li>Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song (1971) </li>
<li>The Last Picture Show (1971) </li>
<li>Straw Dogs (1971) </li>
<li>Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)</li>
<li>The Heartbreak Kid (1972) </li>
<li>Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) </li>
<li>Cabaret (1972) </li>
<li>Last Tango in Paris (1972) </li>
<li>High Plains Drifter (1972) </li>
<li>Sleuth (1972) </li>
<li>Deliverance (1972) </li>
<li>Solaris (1972) </li>
<li>The Godfather (1972) </li>
<li>Cries and Whispers (1972)</li>
<li>Fat City (1972)</li>
<li>The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) </li>
<li>The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (1972) </li>
<li>Frenzy (1972) </li>
<li>Pink Flamingos (1972) </li>
<li>Superfly (1972) </li>
<li>The Sting (1973) </li>
<li>The Mother an the Whore (1973)</li>
<li>Badlands (1973) </li>
<li>American Graffiti (1973) </li>
<li>Papillon (1973) </li>
<li>Enter the Dragon (1973) </li>
<li>Mean Streets (1973) </li>
<li>The Long Goodbye (1973) </li>
<li>The Wicker Man (1973)</li>
<li>Day for Night (1973)</li>
<li>Don't Look Now (1973) </li>
<li>Sleeper (1973) </li>
<li>Serpico (1973) </li>
<li>The Exorcist (1973)</li>
<li>Turkish Delight (1973) </li>
<li>The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) </li>
<li>Fantastic Planet (1973) </li>
<li>Amarcord (1973) </li>
<li>The Harder They Come (1973) </li>
<li>Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (1973) </li>
<li>Dersu Uzala (1974) </li>
<li>The Conversation (1974)</li>
<li>The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) </li>
<li>Mirror (1974) </li>
<li>A Woman under the Influence (1974) </li>
<li>Young Frankenstein (1974) </li>
<li>Chinatown (1974)</li>
<li>Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974)</li>
<li>Blazing Saddles (1974) </li>
<li>The Godfather Part II (1974)</li>
<li>Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) </li>
<li>Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)</li>
<li>Dog Day Afternoon (1975)</li>
<li>One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)</li>
<li>Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) </li>
<li>The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)</li>
<li>The Wall (1975)</li>
<li>Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)</li>
<li>Barry Lyndon (1975)</li>
<li>Fox and His Friends (1975) </li>
<li>India Song (1975)</li>
<li>Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)</li>
<li>Manila in the Claws of Brightness (1975) </li>
<li>Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) </li>
<li>Nashville (1975) </li>
<li>Cria! (1975) </li>
<li>The Traveling Players (1975) </li>
<li>Jaws (1975) </li>
<li>The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) </li>
<li>Carrie (1976) </li>
<li>The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) </li>
<li>All the President's Men (1976) </li>
<li>Rocky (1976)</li>
<li>Taxi Driver (1976) </li>
<li>Network (1976) </li>
<li>Ascent (1976) </li>
<li>In the Realm of the Senses (1976) </li>
<li>1900 (1976) </li>
<li>The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) </li>
<li>Star Wars (1977) </li>
<li>Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) </li>
<li>The Last Wave (1977) </li>
<li>Annie Hall (1977)</li>
<li>Last Chants for a Slow Dance (1977) </li>
<li>Storszek (1977) </li>
<li>Man of Marble (1977) </li>
<li>Saturday Night Fever (1977)</li>
<li>Killer of Sheep (1977) </li>
<li>Eraserhead (1977) </li>
<li>Ceddo (1977) </li>
<li>The American Friend (1977) </li>
<li>The Hills Have Eyes (1977) </li>
<li>Soldier of Orange (1977) </li>
<li>Suspiria (1977) </li>
<li>The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978) </li>
<li>Five Deadly Venoms (1978) </li>
<li>The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978) </li>
<li>The Deer Hunter (1978) </li>
<li>Grease (1978) </li>
<li>Days of Heaven (1978) </li>
<li>Dawn of the Dead (1978) </li>
<li>Shaolin Master Killer (1978) </li>
<li>Up in Smoke (1978) </li>
<li>Halloween (1978) </li>
<li>The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979) </li>
<li>Real Life (1979) </li>
<li>My Brilliant Career (1979) </li>
<li>Stalker (1979) </li>
<li>Alien (1979) </li>
<li>Breaking Away (1979)</li>
<li>The Tin Drum (1979) </li>
<li>All That Jazz (1979)</li>
<li>Being There (1979) </li>
<li>Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) </li>
<li>Life of Brian (1979) </li>
<li>Apocalypse Now (1979) </li>
<li>The Jerk (1979) </li>
<li>The Muppet Movie (1979)</li>
<li>Manhattan (1979) </li>
<li>Mad Max (1979) </li>
<li>Nosferatu The Vampyre (1979) </li>
<li>Ordinary People (1980) </li>
<li>Atlantic City (1980) </li>
<li>The Last Metro (1980) </li>
<li>The Shining (1980) </li>
<li>The Empire Strikes Back (1980)</li>
<li>The Elephant Man (1980) </li>
<li>The Big Red One (1980) </li>
<li>Loulou (1980) </li>
<li>Airplane! (1980) </li>
<li>Raging Bull (1980) </li>
<li>Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) </li>
<li>Das Boot (1981) </li>
<li>Gallipoli (1981) </li>
<li>Chariots of Fire (1981) </li>
<li>Body Heat (1981) </li>
<li>Reds (1981) </li>
<li>An American Werewolf in London (1981) </li>
<li>Three Brothers (1981) </li>
<li>Man of Iron (1981) </li>
<li>Too Early, Too Late (1981) </li>
<li>Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1981) </li>
<li>E.T. The Extra-Terestrial (1982) </li>
<li>The Thing (1982)</li>
<li>Poltergeist (1982) </li>
<li>Blade Runner (1982) </li>
<li>The Evil Dead (1982)</li>
<li>Tootsie (1982) </li>
<li>Yol (1982) </li>
<li>Diner (1982) </li>
<li>Fitzcarraldo (1982) </li>
<li>Gandhi (1982) </li>
<li>The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982)</li>
<li>A Question of Silence (1982) </li>
<li>Fanny and Alexander (1982) </li>
<li>A Christmas Story (1983) </li>
<li>El Norte (1983) </li>
<li>Videodrome (1983) </li>
<li>Return of the Jedi (1983) </li>
<li>The Big Chill (1983) </li>
<li>Sans Soleil (1983) </li>
<li>The Last Battle (1983)</li>
<li>L'Argent (1983) </li>
<li>Utu (1983) </li>
<li>Terms of Endearment (1983) </li>
<li>The Fourth Man (1983) </li>
<li>The King of Comedy (1983) </li>
<li>The Right Stuff (1983) </li>
<li>Koyaanisqatsi (1983) </li>
<li>Once Upon a Time in America (1983) </li>
<li>Scarface (1983) </li>
<li>The Battle of Narayama (1983) </li>
<li>Amadeus (1984)</li>
<li>The Terminator (1984) </li>
<li>Paris, Texas (1984) </li>
<li>A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) </li>
<li>This Is Spinal Tap (1984) </li>
<li>Beverly Hills Cop (1984) </li>
<li>Ghostbusters (1984) </li>
<li>A Passage to India (1984) </li>
<li>Stranger Than Paradise (1984)</li>
<li>The Killing Fields (1984) </li>
<li>The Natural (1984) </li>
<li>The Breakfast Club (1985) </li>
<li>Ran (1985)</li>
<li>Come and See (1985) </li>
<li>The Official Story (1985) </li>
<li>Out of Africa (1985) </li>
<li>The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)</li>
<li>Back to the Future (1985)</li>
<li>The Time to Live and the Time to Die (1985) </li>
<li>Brazil (1985) </li>
<li>Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) </li>
<li>The Quiet Earth (1985) </li>
<li>Mishima (1985) </li>
<li>Prizzi's Honor (1985) </li>
<li>Vagabond (1985) </li>
<li>Shoah (1985)</li>
<li>The Color Purple (1985) </li>
<li>Manhunter (1986)</li>
<li>Stand By Me (1986) </li>
<li>Blue Velvet (1986) </li>
<li>Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) </li>
<li>She's Gotta Have It (1986) </li>
<li>The Decline of the American Empire (1986) </li>
<li>The Fly (1986) </li>
<li>Aliens (1986) </li>
<li>Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) </li>
<li>Down by Law (1986) </li>
<li>A Room with a View (1986) </li>
<li>Children Of A Lesser God (1986) </li>
<li>Platoon (1986) </li>
<li>Caravaggio (1986) </li>
<li>Tampopo (1986)</li>
<li>Peking Opera Blues (1986) </li>
<li>Salvador (1986) </li>
<li>Top Gun (1986) </li>
<li>Sherman's March (1986) </li>
<li>The Horse Thief (1986)</li>
<li>Yeelen (1987) </li>
<li>Wings of Desire (1987) </li>
<li>Project A, Part II (1987) </li>
<li>Babette's Feast (1987) </li>
<li>Raising Arizona (1987)</li>
<li>Full Metal Jacket (1987) </li>
<li>Withnail and I (1987) </li>
<li>Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) </li>
<li>Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987) </li>
<li>Broadcast News (1987) </li>
<li>Housekeeping (1987) </li>
<li>The Princess Bride (1987) </li>
<li>Moonstruck (1987)</li>
<li>The Untouchables (1987) </li>
<li>Red Sorghum (1987) </li>
<li>The Dead (1987) </li>
<li>Fatal Attraction (1987) </li>
<li>A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) </li>
<li>Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) </li>
<li>The Vanishing (1988) </li>
<li>Bull Durham (1988) </li>
<li>Ariel (1988) </li>
<li>The Thin Blue Line (1988) </li>
<li>Akira (1988)</li>
<li>Cinema Paradiso (1988) </li>
<li>Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie (1988) </li>
<li>A Fish Called Wanda (1988) </li>
<li>The Naked Gun (1988) </li>
<li>Big (1988) </li>
<li>Dangerous Liaisons (1988) </li>
<li>Grave of the Fireflies (1988) </li>
<li>Landscape in the Mist (1988) </li>
<li>The Decalogue (1988)</li>
<li>Die Hard (1988) </li>
<li>A Tale of the Wind (1988) </li>
<li>Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) </li>
<li>Rain Man (1988) </li>
<li>The Story of Women (1988) </li>
<li>The Accidental Tourist (1988)† </li>
<li>Alice (1988) </li>
<li>Drowning by Numbers (1988) </li>
<li>Batman (1989) </li>
<li>When Harry Met Sally... (1989) </li>
<li>Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) </li>
<li>The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989)</li>
<li>Drugstore Cowboy (1989) </li>
<li>My Left Foot (1989) </li>
<li>The Killer (1989) </li>
<li>Do the Right Thing (1989) </li>
<li>Roger & Me (1989) </li>
<li>Glory (1989) </li>
<li>The Asthenic Syndrome (1989) </li>
<li>Sex, Lies & Videotape (1989)</li>
<li>Say Anything... (1989)</li>
<li>The Unbelievable Truth (1989) </li>
<li>A City of Sadness (1989)</li>
<li>No Fear, No Die (1990) </li>
<li>Reversal of Fortune (1990) </li>
<li>Goodfellas (1990)</li>
<li>Jacob's Ladder (1990) </li>
<li>King of New York (1990) </li>
<li>Dances with Wolves (1990) </li>
<li>Europa Europa (1990) </li>
<li>Pretty Woman (1990) </li>
<li>Archangel (1990) </li>
<li>Trust (1990) </li>
<li>Close-Up (1990) </li>
<li>Edward Scissorhands (1990) </li>
<li>Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990) </li>
<li>Total Recall (1990) </li>
<li>Once Upon a Time in China (1991)</li>
<li>Boyz 'n the Hood (1991) </li>
<li>Raise the Red Lantern (1991) </li>
<li>Delicatessen (1991) </li>
<li>A Brighter Summer Day (1991) </li>
<li>Naked Lunch (1991) </li>
<li>La Belle Noiseuse (1991) </li>
<li>The Rapture (1991) </li>
<li>My Own Private Idaho (1991) </li>
<li>Thelma & Louise (1991)</li>
<li>Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) </li>
<li>The Silence of the Lambs (1991)</li>
<li>JFK (1991) </li>
<li>Slacker (1991) </li>
<li>Tongues Untied (1991) </li>
<li>Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) </li>
<li>The Double Life of Veronique (1991) </li>
<li>Strictly Ballroom (1992) </li>
<li>The Player (1992) </li>
<li>Reservoir Dogs (1992) </li>
<li>Romper Stomper (1992) </li>
<li>Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)</li>
<li>Unforgiven (1992) </li>
<li>Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)† </li>
<li>Candy Man (1992)† </li>
<li>A Tale of Winter (1992) </li>
<li>Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992)</li>
<li>The Crying Game (1992) </li>
<li>Man Bites Dog (1992) </li>
<li>The Actress (1992) </li>
<li>Farewell My Concubine (1993) </li>
<li>Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993) </li>
<li>Groundhog Day (1993) </li>
<li>Short Cuts (1993) </li>
<li>Philadelphia (1993) </li>
<li>Jurassic Park (1993) </li>
<li>The Age of Innocence (1993)†</li>
<li>The Puppetmaster (1993) </li>
<li>Schindler's List (1993) </li>
<li>Blue (1993) </li>
<li>The Piano (1993) </li>
<li>The Blue Kite (1993)</li>
<li>The Wedding Banquet (1993) </li>
<li>Red (1994) </li>
<li>Hoop Dreams (1994) </li>
<li>Forrest Gump (1994) </li>
<li>Clerks (1994) </li>
<li>Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) </li>
<li>The Lion King (1994) </li>
<li>Satantango (1994) </li>
<li>Natural Born Killers (1994) </li>
<li>The Last Seduction (1994) </li>
<li>Pulp Fiction (1994) </li>
<li>The Shawshank Redemption (1994) </li>
<li>The Wild Reeds (1994) </li>
<li>Chungking Express (1994) </li>
<li>Crumb (1994) </li>
<li>Heavenly Creatures (1994) </li>
<li>Through the Olive Trees (1994) </li>
<li>Riget (1994) </li>
<li>Dear Diary (1994) </li>
<li>Muriel's Wedding (1994) </li>
<li>The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) </li>
<li>Casino (1995) </li>
<li>Deseret (1995) </li>
<li>Babe (1995) </li>
<li>Toy Story (1995) </li>
<li>Strange Days (1995)† </li>
<li>Braveheart (1995) </li>
<li>Safe (1995) </li>
<li>Clueless (1995) </li>
<li>Heat (1995) </li>
<li>Zero Kelvin (1995) </li>
<li>Seven (1995) </li>
<li>Smoke (1995) </li>
<li>The White Balloon (1995) </li>
<li>Xixch Lo (1995) </li>
<li>Underground (1995) </li>
<li>The Brave Heart Will Take the Bride (1995) </li>
<li>Dead Man (1995) </li>
<li>The Usual Suspects (1995)</li>
<li>The Pillow Book (1996)† </li>
<li>Three Lives and Only One Death (1996) </li>
<li>Fargo (1996) </li>
<li>Independence Day (1996) </li>
<li>Secrets and Lies (1996) </li>
<li>Breaking the Waves (1996)</li>
<li>The English Patient (1996) </li>
<li>Gabbeh (1996) </li>
<li>Lone Star (1996) </li>
<li>Trainspotting (1996) </li>
<li>Scream (1996) </li>
<li>Shine (1996) </li>
<li>Deconstructing Harry (1997)††</li>
<li>L.A. Confidential (1997) </li>
<li>Happy Together (1997)††† </li>
<li>Princess Mononoke (1997)††† </li>
<li>Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (1997)‡ </li>
<li>The Butcher Boy (1997)††† </li>
<li>The Ice Storm (1997) </li>
<li>Boogie Nights (1997)††† </li>
<li>Kundun (1997)†</li>
<li>The Sweet Hereafter (1997)</li>
<li>Funny Games (1997) </li>
<li>Taste of Cherry (1997) </li>
<li>Open Your Eyes (1997) </li>
<li>Mother and Son (1997)†† </li>
<li>Titanic (1997) </li>
<li>Tetsuo (1998)‡</li>
<li>The Celebration (1998) </li>
<li>Saving Private Ryan (1998) </li>
<li>Buffalo 66 (1998) </li>
<li>Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)† </li>
<li>Run Lola Run (1998) </li>
<li>Rushmore (1998) </li>
<li>Pi (1998) </li>
<li>Happiness (1998) </li>
<li>The Thin Red Line (1998) </li>
<li>The Idiots (1998)†† </li>
<li>Sombre (1998)††</li>
<li>Ringu (1998) </li>
<li>There's Something About Mary (1998)††† </li>
<li>The Big Lebowski (1998)†† </li>
<li>Magnolia (1999) </li>
<li>Beau Travail (1999) </li>
<li>The Blair Witch Project (1999)</li>
<li>Taboo (1999)†† </li>
<li>Rosetta (1999)†† </li>
<li>All About My Mother (1999) </li>
<li>Three Kings (1999) </li>
<li>The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)**</li>
<li>Audition (1999)† </li>
<li>Time Regained (1999)†† </li>
<li>Fight Club (1999) </li>
<li>Being John Malkovich (1999) </li>
<li>American Beauty (1999) </li>
<li>Attack the Gas Station (1999)† </li>
<li>Eyes Wide Shut (1999)† </li>
<li>The Sixth Sense (1999)</li>
<li>The Matrix (1999) </li>
<li>Nine Queens (2000)** </li>
<li>The Captive (2000)**</li>
<li>In the Mood for Love (2000) </li>
<li>Ali Zaoua, Prince of the Streets (2000)**</li>
<li>Gladiator (2000) </li>
<li>Kippur (2000) </li>
<li>Yi Yi (2000) </li>
<li>Requiem for a Dream (2000) </li>
<li>Amores Perros (2000) </li>
<li>Meet the Parents (2000)‡‡ </li>
<li>Signs & Wonders (2000)**</li>
<li>Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) </li>
<li>Traffic (2000)††† </li>
<li>The Gleaners and I (2000) </li>
<li>Memento (2000)</li>
<li>Dancer in the Dark (2000) </li>
<li>O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)† </li>
<li>Amélie (2001)*** </li>
<li>What Time Is It There? (2001)** </li>
<li>Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)** </li>
<li>Kandahar (2001) </li>
<li>Spirited Away (2001) </li>
<li>The Piano Teacher (2001)††</li>
<li>The Son's Room (2001)** </li>
<li>No Man's Land (2001) </li>
<li>Moulin Rouge! (2001)††† </li>
<li>Monsoon Wedding (2001)** </li>
<li>Fat Girl (2001)** </li>
<li>Mulholland Drive (2001)** </li>
<li>The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)‡‡ </li>
<li>The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)</li>
<li>Lantana (2001)‡‡ </li>
<li>A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)† </li>
<li>Gangs of New York (2002)‡ </li>
<li>The Pianist (2002)</li>
<li>Talk to Her (2002)** </li>
<li>City of God (2002)‡ </li>
<li>Russian Ark (2002)‡</li>
<li>Far From Heaven (2002)* </li>
<li>Adaptation. (2002)* </li>
<li>Chicago (2002)† </li>
<li>Hero (2002)‡ </li>
<li>The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) </li>
<li>Uzak (2002)</li>
<li>Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)‡‡ </li>
<li>Irreversible (2002)†††</li>
<li>Bus 174 (2002) †† </li>
<li>The Barbarian Invasions (2003)‡ </li>
<li>Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)‡ </li>
<li>Oldboy (2003) </li>
<li>Good Bye Lenin! (2003)</li>
<li>The Lord of the Rings: The Return Of The King (2003) </li>
<li>The Best of Youth (2003) </li>
<li>Lost In Translation (2003)†† </li>
<li>Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)††† </li>
<li>The Passion Of The Christ (2004)‡, ‡‡</li>
<li>Collateral (2004)‡</li>
<li>The Aviator (2004)‡ </li>
<li>Million Dollar Baby (2004)‡ </li>
<li>Head-On (2004) </li>
<li>3-Iron (2004)‡‡ </li>
<li>Crash (2004)*** </li>
<li>Downfall (2004) </li>
<li>Sideways (2004)*** </li>
<li>A Very Long Engagement (2004)** </li>
<li>Go, See, and Become (2005)‡‡ </li>
<li>Paradise Now (2005) </li>
<li>Brokeback Mountain (2005) </li>
<li>Tsotsi (2005) </li>
<li>Caché (2005)**</li>
<li>The Constant Gardner (2005)†† </li>
<li>Little Miss Sunshine (2006) </li>
<li>Apocalypto (2006)‡‡ </li>
<li>The Departed (2006) </li>
<li>Pan's Labyrinth (2006) </li>
<li>Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan (2006)</li>
<li>The Lives of Others (2006)* </li>
<li>Once (2006) </li>
<li>The Queen (2006)‡‡ </li>
<li>The Host (2006)***</li>
<li>The Prestige (2006)†† </li>
<li>Children of Men (2006)†† </li>
<li>United 93 (2006)†† </li>
<li>The Last King Of Scotland (2006)†† </li>
<li>Babel (2006)†† </li>
<li>Volver (2006)†† </li>
<li>The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)</li>
<li>La Vie En Rose (2007) </li>
<li>No Country For Old Men (2007) </li>
<li>Into the Wild (2007)‡‡ </li>
<li>There Will Be Blood (2007) </li>
<li>Atonement (2007)*** </li>
<li>Surfwise (2007)*** </li>
<li>The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)*** </li>
<li>Paranormal Activity (2007) </li>
<li>Wall-E (2008)*** </li>
<li>The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008) </li>
<li>The Dark Knight (2008) </li>
<li>The Wrestler (2008)††† </li>
<li>The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)*** </li>
<li>Gomorra (2008) </li>
<li>The Class (2008)*** </li>
<li>Slumdog Millionaire (2008) </li>
<li>Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2008)</li>
<li>Let The Right One In (2008)</li>
<li>The Hurt Locker (2009) </li>
<li>An Education (2009)††† </li>
<li>Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (2009)††† </li>
<li>Avatar (2009) </li>
<li>District 9 (2009) </li>
<li>The Hangover (2009) </li>
<li>In the Loop (2009) </li>
<li>The White Ribbon (2009) </li>
<li>Inglourious Basterds (2009) </li>
<li>Fish Tank (2009) </li>
<li>Monsters (2010) </li>
<li>Of Gods and Men (2010) </li>
<li>Black Swan (2010) </li>
<li>Four Lions (2010)</li>
<li>The Social Network (2010) </li>
<li>Inception (2010) </li>
<li>The King's Speech (2010) </li>
<li>True Grit (2010)</li>

Cut for massive list reasons.

A Trip to the Moon (1902)*
The Great Train Robbery (1903)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)*
Les Vampires (1915)*
Intolerance (1916)
Broken Blossoms (1919)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)*
Way Down East (1920)
Within Our Gates (1920)
The Phantom Carriage (1921)
Orphans of the Storm (1921)*
La Souriante Madame Beudet (1922)
Dr. Mabuse Parts 1 and 2 (1922)
Nanook of the North (1922)
Nosferatu (1922)*
Haxan (1923)
Foolish Wives (1922)
Our Hospitality (1923)
The Wheel (1923)
The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
Strike (1924)
Greed (1924)
Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
The Last Laugh (1924)
Seven Chances (1925)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)*
Battleship Potemkin (1925)*
The Gold Rush (1925)*
The Big Parade (1925)
Metropolis (1927)*
Sunrise (1927)
The General (1927)
The Unknown (1927)
October (1927)
The Jazz Singer (1927)
Napoleon (1927)
The Kid Brother (1927)
The Crowd (1928)
The Docks of New York (1928)
An Andalusian Dog (1928)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
Storm over Asia (1928)
Blackmail (1929)
The Man with the Movie Camera (1929)
Pandora's Box (1929)*
The Blue Angel (1930)*
L'Age D'Or (1930)
Earth (1930)
Little Caesar (1930)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
À Nous la Liberté (1931)
Le Million (1931)
Tabu (1931)
Dracula (1931)*
Frankenstein (1931)
City Lights (1931)
The Public Enemy (1931)*
M (1931)*
La Chienne (1931)
Vampyr (1932)*
Love Me Tonight (1932)
Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Scarface (1932)
Shanghai Express (1932)*
Freaks (1932)*
Me and My Gal (1932)
Zero for Conduct (1933)
42nd Street (1933)*
Footlight Parade (1933)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Duck Soup (1933)*
Queen Christina (1933)*
Las Hurdes (1933)
King Kong (1933)*
The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
Sons of the Desert (1933)
It's a Gift (1934)
Triumph of the Will (1934)
L'Atalante (1934)
The Black Cat (1934)
Judge Priest (1934)
It Happened One Night (1934)*
The Thin Man (1934)*
Captain Blood (1935)*
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)*
A Night at the Opera (1935)*
The 39 Steps (1935)*
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Top Hat (1935)*
A Day in the Country (1936)
Modern Times (1936)*
Swing Time (1936)*
My Man Godfrey (1936)*
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Camille (1936)*
Sabotage (1936)
Dodsworth (1936)
Things to Come (1936)
The Story of a Cheat (1936)
Captains Courageous (1937)
Song At Midnight (1937)
Grand Illusion (1937)
Stella Dallas (1937)*
The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)*
The Awful Truth (1937)
Pepe Le Moko (1937)
Jezebel (1938)*
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)*
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)*
Olympia (1938)
The Baker's Wife (1938)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)*
Stagecoach (1939)*
The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939)
Babes in Arms (1939)*
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)*
The Wizard of Oz (1939)*
Destry Rides Again (1939)*
Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
Gone With the Wind (1939)*
Daybreak (1939)
Gunga Din (1939)
Ninotchka (1939)*
The Rules of the Game (1939)
Wuthering Heights (1939)*
His Girl Friday (1940)*
Rebecca (1940)*
Fantasia (1940)*
The Philadelphia Story (1940)*
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
Pinocchio (1940)*
The Mortal Storm (1940)
The Bank Dick (1940)
Citizen Kane (1941)*
The Lady Eve (1941)*
The Wolf Man (1941)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)*
Sergeant York (1941)
Dumbo (1941)*
High Sierra (1941)
Sullivan's Travels (1941)*
How Green Was My Valley (1941)*
The Palm Beach Story (1942)
Now, Voyager (1942)*
Casablanca (1942)*
To Be or Not to Be (1942)*
Cat People (1942)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)*
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)*
Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
Fires Were Started (1943)
The Man in Grey (1943)*
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)*
I Walked with a Zombie (1943)*
The Seventh Victim (1943)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)*
Ossessione (1943)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)*
To Have and Have Not (1944*)
Laura (1944)*
Gaslight (1944)*
Henry V (1944)*
Ivan the Terrible (1944) Parts 1 and 2*
Double Indemnity (1944)*
Murder, My Sweet (1944)*
The Battle of San Pietro (1945)
Spellbound (1945)*
Mildred Pierce (1945)*
Children of Paradise (1945)
Open City (1945)
The Lost Weekend (1945)
Detour (1945)
I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)*
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Brief Encounter (1946)*
Paisan (1946)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)*
My Darling Clementine (1946)
The Stranger (1946)
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
The Big Sleep (1946)*
The Killers (1946)*
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)*
Great Expectations (1946)*
Notorious (1946)*
Black Narcissus (1946)*
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)*
Gilda (1946)*
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Out of the Past (1947)*
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)*
Odd Man Out (1947)
The Bicycle Thief (1948)*
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
Secret Beyond the Door (1948)
Force of Evil (1948)
Spring in a Small Town (1948)
Red River (1948)*
Rope (1948)*
The Snake Pit (1948)*
The Lady from Shanghai (1948)*
Paleface (1948)
The Red Shoes (1948)*
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Louisiana Story (1948)
The Heiress (1949)*
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)*
Gun Crazy (1949)
Adam's Rib (1949)*
Whiskey Galore! (1949)*
White Heat (1949)
The Reckless Moment (1949)
The Third Man (1949)*
On the Town (1949)*
Orpheus (1949)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)*
Rashomon (1950)*
Winchester '73 (1950)
Rio Grande (1950)*
All About Eve (1950)*
Sunset Blvd. (1950)*
Los Olvidados (1950)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
The Big Carnival (1951)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)*
Strangers on a Train (1951)*
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)*
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)*
The African Queen (1951)*
Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
An American in Paris (1951)*
A Place in the Sun (1951)*
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)*
The Quiet Man (1952)
Forbidden Games (1952)
Angel Face (1952)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)*
Ikiru (1952)
Europa '51 (1952)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)*
The Big Sky (1952)*
High Noon (1952)*
Umberto D (1952)
The Golden Coach (1952)
The Bigamist (1953)
The Band Wagon (1953)
Madame De… (1953)
From Here to Eternity (1953)
Tokyo Story (1953)*
Roman Holiday (1953)*
The Wages of Fear (1953)
The Naked Spur (1953)*
Pickup on South Street (1953)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)*
The Big Heat (1953)
M. Hulot's Holiday (1953)
Voyage in Italy (1953)
Ugetsu (1953)
Shane (1953)*
Beat the Devil (1953)
Johnny Guitar (1954)*
On the Waterfront (1954)*
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)*
Les Diaboliques (1954)
Animal Farm (1954)*
Rear Window (1954)*
A Star Is Born (1954)*
The Barefoot Contessa (1954)*
La Strada (1954)
Seven Samurai (1954)*
Senso (1954)
Silver Lode (1954)
Carmen Jones (1954)*
Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
Salt of the Earth (1954)
Artists and Models (1955)
Guys and Dolls (1955)*
Pather Panchali (1955)
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)*
The Mad Masters (1955)
Hill 24 Doesn't Answer (1955)
The Ladykillers (1955)*
Marty (1955)
Ordet (1955)*
Bob Le Flambeur (1955)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)*
The Man from Laramie (1955)
Rebel without a Cause (1955)*
The Phenix City Story (1955)
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
Night and Fog (1955)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)*
Lola Montes (1955)
Forbidden Planet (1956)*
The Burmese Harp (1956)
The Searchers (1956)*
A Man Escaped (1956)
Written on the Wind (1956)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)*
Giant (1956)*
All That Heaven Allows (1956)*
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)*
The Wrong Man (1956)*
Bigger Than Life (1956)
High Society (1956)*
The Ten Commandments (1956)*
12 Angry Men (1957)*
The Seventh Seal (1957)*
An Affair to Remember (1957)*
Wild Strawberries (1957)*
The Nights of Cabiria (1957)
Throne of Blood (1957)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
Aparajito (1957)
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)*
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)*
Mother India (1957)
The Cranes Are Flying (1957)
Paths of Glory (1957)*
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)*
Man of the West (1958)
Touch of Evil (1958)*
Cairo Station (1958)
Gigi (1958)*
The Defiant Ones (1958)
Vertigo (1958)*
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Horror of Dracula (1958)
Mon Oncle (1958)
The Music Room (1958)
The 400 Blows (1959)*
North by Northwest (1959)*
Some Like It Hot (1959)*
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Eyes without a Face (1959)
Ride Lonesome (1959)
Black Orpheus (1959)
Shadows (1959)
The World of Apu (1959)
Breathless (1959)*
Ben-Hur (1959)*
Pickpocket (1959)
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
Rio Bravo (1959)*
The Hole (1959)
Floating Weeds (1959)
Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
La Dolce Vita (1960)
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)*
Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
L'Avventura (1960)
La Joven (1960)
The Cloud-Capped Star (1960)
The Housemaid (1960)
Psycho (1960)*
Black Sunday (1960)
Peeping Tom (1960)*
The Apartment (1960)*
Spartacus (1960)*
Splendor in the Grass (1961)*
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
La Jetee (1961)
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
Lola (1961)
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)*
La Notte (1961)
Jules and Jim (1961)*
Viridiana (1961)
The Ladies Man (1961)
Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
Chronicle of a Summer (1961)
The Hustler (1961)
West Side Story (1961)*
Mondo Cane (1962)
Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Dog Star Man (1962)
An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
L'Eclisse (1962)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)*
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)*
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)*
Lolita (1962)*
Keeper of Promises (1962)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)*
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)*
My Life to Live (1962)
Heaven and Earth Magic (1962)
The Birds (1963)*
The Nutty Professor (1963)
Blonde Cobra (1963)
The Cool World (1963)
8 1/2 (1963)
Passenger (1963)
Contempt (1963)
Hud (1963)
Winter Light (1963)
Flaming Creatures (1963)
The Great Escape (1963)*
Shock Corridor (1963)
The Leopard (1963)
Barren Lives (1963)
Mediteranee (1963)
The House is Black (1963)
The Haunting (1963)*
An Actor's Revenge (1963)
The Servant (1963)
Goldfinger (1964)*
Scorpio Rising (1964)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
Marnie (1964)*
My Fair Lady (1964)*
Woman in the Dunes (1964)*
Dr. Strangelove (1964)*
A Hard Day's Night (1964)*
The Red Desert (1964)
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964)
The Masque of the Red Death (1964)*
Before the Revolution (1964)
Gertrud (1964)
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
Black God, White Devil (1964)
The Demon (1964)
Vinyl (1965)
The Shop on Main Street (1965)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)*
The War Game (1965)
Tokyo Olympiad (1965)
The Battle of Algiers (1965)
The Sound of Music (1965)*
The Sargossa Manuscript (1965)
Alphaville (1965)
Chimes at Midnight (1965)
Repulsion (1965)*
Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
Pierrot Le Fou (1965)
Faster, Pussy Cat! Kill! Kill! (1965)
Golden River (1965)
The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short (1965)
Hold Me While I'm Naked (1966)
Blow-Up (1966)*
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)*
Daisies (1966)
Come Drink with Me (1966)
Seconds (1966)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)*
Persona (1966)
Masculin-Feminin (1966)
Au Hazard Balthazar (1966)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1967)
The Graduate (1967)*
Playtime (1967)
Report (1967)
Hombre (1967)
Belle de Jour (1967)
The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)
Week End (1967)
The Godson (1967)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)*
Point Blank (1967)*
Wavelength (1967)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)*
The Red and the White (1967)
Marketta Lazarova (1967)
The Jungle Book (1967)*
The Fireman's Ball (1967)
Earth Entranced (1967)
Closely Watched Trains (1967)
Vij (1967)
The Cow (1968)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)*
Planet of the Apes (1968)*
Faces (1968)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)*
If... (1968)
Memories of Underdevelopment (1968)
The Producers (1968)*
David Holzman's Diary (1968)
Shame (1968)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)*
Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Targets (1968)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)*
My Night at Maud's (1969)
Lucia (1969)
A Touch of Zen (1969)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)*
Midnight Cowboy (1969)*
Satyricon (1969)
Z (1969)
The Conformist (1969)
Easy Rider (1969)*
High School (1969)
In the Year of the Pig (1969)
The Wild Bunch (1969)*
Andrei Rublev (1969)*
Le Boucher (1969)*
The Color of Pomegranates (1969)
Kes (1969)*
Tristana (1970)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
El Topo (1970)
Woodstock (1970)
Deep End (1970)
The Spider's Stratagem (1970)
Little Big Man (1970)
The Ear (1970)
Patton (1970)
M*A*S*H (1970)
Performance (1970)
Gimme Shelter (1970)
Zabriskie Point (1970)
The Bird with The Crystal Plumage (1970)
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970)
Wanda (1971)
W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)*
The Sorrow and the Pity (1971)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)*
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)*
Walkabout (1971)
Klute (1971)
Harold and Maude (1971)
Red Psalm (1971)
Get Carter (1971)*
The French Connection (1971)*
Shaft (1971)*
Dirty Harry (1971)*
Murmur of the Heart (1971)
Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song (1971)
The Last Picture Show (1971)*
Straw Dogs (1971)*
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)*
Cabaret (1972)*
Last Tango in Paris (1972)*
High Plains Drifter (1972)*
Sleuth (1972)*
Deliverance (1972)*
Solaris (1972)*
The Godfather (1972)*
Cries and Whispers (1972)
Fat City (1972)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (1972)
Frenzy (1972)*
Pink Flamingos (1972)
Superfly (1972)
The Sting (1973)*
The Mother and the Whore (1973)
Badlands (1973)*
American Graffiti (1973)
Papillon (1973)
Enter the Dragon (1973)*
Mean Streets (1973)
The Long Goodbye (1973)*
The Wicker Man (1973)*
Day for Night (1973)
Don't Look Now (1973)*
Sleeper (1973)
Serpico (1973)
The Exorcist (1973)*
Turkish Delight (1973)
The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
Fantastic Planet (1973)
Amarcord (1973)
The Harder They Come (1973)
Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (1973)*
Dersu Uzala (1974)
The Conversation (1974)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)*
Mirror (1974)*
A Woman under the Influence (1974)
Young Frankenstein (1974)*
Chinatown (1974)*
Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974)
Blazing Saddles (1974)*
The Godfather Part II (1974)*
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)*
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)*
The Wall (1975)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)*
Barry Lyndon (1975)*
Fox and His Friends (1975)
India Song (1975)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)*
Manila in the Claws of Brightness (1975)
Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Nashville (1975)
Cria! (1975)
The Traveling Players (1975)
Jaws (1975)*
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Carrie (1976)*
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)*
All the President's Men (1976)*
Rocky (1976)*
Taxi Driver (1976)*
Network (1976)*
Ascent (1976)
In the Realm of the Senses (1976)
1900 (1976)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)*
Star Wars (1977)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)*
The Last Wave (1977)
Annie Hall (1977)*
Last Chants for a Slow Dance (1977)
Storszek (1977)*
Man of Marble (1977)
Saturday Night Fever (1977)*
Killer of Sheep (1977)
Eraserhead (1977)*
Ceddo (1977)
The American Friend (1977)
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)*
Soldier of Orange (1977)
Suspiria (1977)*
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)
Five Deadly Venoms (1978)
The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
The Deer Hunter (1978)*
Grease (1978)*
Days of Heaven (1978)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)*
Shaolin Master Killer (1978)
Up in Smoke (1978)
Halloween (1978)*
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
Real Life (1979)
My Brilliant Career (1979)
Stalker (1979)
Alien (1979)*
Breaking Away (1979)
The Tin Drum (1979)
All That Jazz (1979)
Being There (1979)
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)*
Life of Brian (1979)*
Apocalypse Now (1979)*
The Jerk (1979)
The Muppet Movie (1979)*
Manhattan (1979)*
Mad Max (1979)*
Nosferatu The Vampyre (1979)*
Ordinary People (1980)
Atlantic City (1980)
The Last Metro (1980)
The Shining (1980)*
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Elephant Man (1980)*
The Big Red One (1980)
Loulou (1980)
Airplane! (1980)*
Raging Bull (1980)*
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)*
Das Boot (1981)*
Gallipoli (1981)*
Chariots of Fire (1981)*
Body Heat (1981)
Reds (1981)
An American Werewolf in London (1981)*
Three Brothers (1981)
Man of Iron (1981)
Too Early, Too Late (1981)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1981)
E.T. The Extra-Terestrial (1982)*
The Thing (1982)*
Poltergeist (1982)*
Blade Runner (1982)*
The Evil Dead (1982)*
Tootsie (1982)*
Yol (1982)
Diner (1982)
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
Gandhi (1982)*
The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982)
A Question of Silence (1982)
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
A Christmas Story (1983)
El Norte (1983)
Videodrome (1983)
Return of the Jedi (1983)
The Big Chill (1983)
Sans Soleil (1983)
The Last Battle (1983)
L'Argent (1983)
Utu (1983)
Terms of Endearment (1983)*
The Fourth Man (1983)
The King of Comedy (1983)
The Right Stuff (1983)
Koyaanisqatsi (1983)
Once Upon a Time in America (1983)*
Scarface (1983)*
The Battle of Narayama (1983)
Amadeus (1984)*
The Terminator (1984)*
Paris, Texas (1984)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)*
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)*
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)*
Ghostbusters (1984)*
A Passage to India (1984)*
Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
The Killing Fields (1984)*
The Natural (1984)
The Breakfast Club (1985)*
Ran (1985)
Come and See (1985)
The Official Story (1985)
Out of Africa (1985)*
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Back to the Future (1985)*
The Time to Live and the Time to Die (1985)
Brazil (1985)*
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
The Quiet Earth (1985)*
Mishima (1985)
Prizzi's Honor (1985)
Vagabond (1985)
Shoah (1985)
The Color Purple (1985)*
Manhunter (1986)*
Stand By Me (1986)*
Blue Velvet (1986)*
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
She's Gotta Have It (1986)
The Decline of the American Empire (1986)
The Fly (1986)*
Aliens (1986)*
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)*
Down by Law (1986)
A Room with a View (1986)*
Children Of A Lesser God (1986)
Platoon (1986)*
Caravaggio (1986)
Tampopo (1986)
Peking Opera Blues (1986)
Salvador (1986)
Top Gun (1986)*
Sherman's March (1986)
The Horse Thief (1986)
Yeelen (1987)
Wings of Desire (1987)*
Project A, Part II (1987)
Babette's Feast (1987)
Raising Arizona (1987)*
Full Metal Jacket (1987)*
Withnail and I (1987)*
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)*
Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)*
Broadcast News (1987)
Housekeeping (1987)
The Princess Bride (1987)*
Moonstruck (1987)*
The Untouchables (1987)*
Red Sorghum (1987)
The Dead (1987)
Fatal Attraction (1987)*
A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
The Vanishing (1988)*
Bull Durham (1988)
Ariel (1988)
The Thin Blue Line (1988)*
Akira (1988)*
Cinema Paradiso (1988)*
Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie (1988)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)*
The Naked Gun (1988)*
Big (1988)*
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)*
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)*
Landscape in the Mist (1988)
The Decalogue (1988)
Die Hard (1988)*
A Tale of the Wind (1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)*
Rain Man (1988)*
The Story of Women (1988)
The Accidental Tourist (1988)
Alice (1988)
Drowning by Numbers (1988)
Batman (1989)*
When Harry Met Sally... (1989)*
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989)*
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)*
My Left Foot (1989)*
The Killer (1989)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Roger & Me (1989)
Glory (1989)*
The Asthenic Syndrome (1989)
Sex, Lies & Videotape (1989)*
Say Anything... (1989)
The Unbelievable Truth (1989)
A City of Sadness (1989)
No Fear, No Die (1990)
Reversal of Fortune (1990)
Goodfellas (1990)*
Jacob's Ladder (1990)*
King of New York (1990)
Dances with Wolves (1990)*
Europa Europa (1990)
Pretty Woman (1990)*
Archangel (1990)
Trust (1990)
Close-Up (1990)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)*
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990)
Total Recall (1990)*
Once Upon a Time in China (1991)
Boyz 'n the Hood (1991)*
Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
Delicatessen (1991)*
A Brighter Summer Day (1991)
Naked Lunch (1991)*
La Belle Noiseuse (1991)
The Rapture (1991)
My Own Private Idaho (1991)*
Thelma & Louise (1991)*
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)*
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)*
JFK (1991)*
Slacker (1991)
Tongues Untied (1991)
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
The Double Life of Veronique (1991)
Strictly Ballroom (1992)*
The Player (1992)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)*
Romper Stomper (1992)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Unforgiven (1992)*
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)*
Candy Man (1992)*
A Tale of Winter (1992)
Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992)*
The Crying Game (1992)*
Man Bites Dog (1992)
The Actress (1992)
Farewell My Concubine (1993)*
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993)
Groundhog Day (1993)*
Short Cuts (1993)*
Philadelphia (1993)*
Jurassic Park (1993)*
The Age of Innocence (1993)*
The Puppetmaster (1993)
Schindler's List (1993)*
Blue (1993)*
The Piano (1993)*
The Blue Kite (1993)
The Wedding Banquet (1993)
Red (1994)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Forrest Gump (1994)*
Clerks (1994)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)*
The Lion King (1994)*
Satantango (1994)
Natural Born Killers (1994)*
The Last Seduction (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)*
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)*
The Wild Reeds (1994)
Chungking Express (1994)*
Crumb (1994)
Heavenly Creatures (1994)*
Through the Olive Trees (1994)
Riget (1994)
Dear Diary (1994)
Muriel's Wedding (1994)*
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)*
Casino (1995)*
Deseret (1995)
Babe (1995)*
Toy Story (1995)*
Strange Days (1995)*
Braveheart (1995)*
Safe (1995)
Clueless (1995)*
Heat (1995)*
Zero Kelvin (1995)
Seven (1995)*
Smoke (1995)
The White Balloon (1995)
Xixch Lo (1995)
Underground (1995)
The Brave Heart Will Take the Bride (1995)
Dead Man (1995)
The Usual Suspects (1995)*
The Pillow Book (1996)
Three Lives and Only One Death (1996)
Fargo (1996)*
Independence Day (1996)*
Secrets and Lies (1996)*
Breaking the Waves (1996)
The English Patient (1996)*
Gabbeh (1996)
Lone Star (1996)
Trainspotting (1996)*
Scream (1996)*
Shine (1996)*
Deconstructing Harry (1997)*
L.A. Confidential (1997)*
Happy Together (1997)*
Princess Mononoke (1997)*
Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (1997)
The Butcher Boy (1997)
The Ice Storm (1997)
Boogie Nights (1997)*
Kundun (1997)
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Funny Games (1997)
Taste of Cherry (1997)
Open Your Eyes (1997)*
Mother and Son (1997)
Titanic (1997)*
Tetsuo (1998)
The Celebration (1998)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)*
Buffalo 66 (1998)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)*
Run Lola Run (1998)*
Rushmore (1998)
Pi (1998)
Happiness (1998)
The Thin Red Line (1998)*
The Idiots (1998)
Sombre (1998)
Ringu (1998)*
There's Something About Mary (1998)*
The Big Lebowski (1998)*
Magnolia (1999)*
Beau Travail (1999)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)*
Taboo (1999)
Rosetta (1999)
All About My Mother (1999)
Three Kings (1999)
The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)
Audition (1999)*
Time Regained (1999)
Fight Club (1999)*
Being John Malkovich (1999)*
American Beauty (1999)*
Attack the Gas Station (1999)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)*
The Sixth Sense (1999)*
The Matrix (1999)*
Nine Queens (2000)
The Captive (2000)
In the Mood for Love (2000)*
Ali Zaoua, Prince of the Streets (2000)
Gladiator (2000)*
Kippur (2000)
Yi Yi (2000)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)*
Amores Perros (2000)
Meet the Parents (2000)*
Signs & Wonders (2000)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)*
Traffic (2000)*
The Gleaners and I (2000)
Memento (2000)*
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)*
Amélie (2001)*
What Time Is It There? (2001)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)
Kandahar (2001)
Spirited Away (2001)*
The Piano Teacher (2001)*
The Son's Room (2001)
No Man's Land (2001)
Moulin Rouge! (2001)*
Monsoon Wedding (2001)*
Fat Girl (2001)
Mulholland Drive (2001)*
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)*
Lantana (2001)
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)*
Gangs of New York (2002)*
The Pianist (2002)*
Talk to Her (2002)*
City of God (2002)*
Russian Ark (2002)
Far From Heaven (2002)
Adaptation. (2002)
Chicago (2002)*
Hero (2002)*
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)*
Uzak (2002)
Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
Irreversible (2002)
Bus 174 (2002)
The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)*
Oldboy (2003)*
Good Bye Lenin! (2003)*
The Lord of the Rings: The Return Of The King (2003)*
The Best of Youth (2003)
Lost In Translation (2003)*
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)*
The Passion Of The Christ (2004)*
Collateral (2004)*
The Aviator (2004)*
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Head-On (2004)
3-Iron (2004)
Crash (2004)*
Downfall (2004)*
Sideways (2004)
A Very Long Engagement (2004)*
Go, See, and Become (2005)
Paradise Now (2005)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)*
Tsotsi (2005)
Caché (2005)
The Constant Gardner (2005)*
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)*
Apocalypto (2006)
The Departed (2006)*
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)*
Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan(2006)*
The Lives of Others (2006)*
Once (2006)
The Queen (2006)
The Host (2006)*
The Prestige (2006)*
Children of Men (2006)*
United 93 (2006)*
The Last King Of Scotland (2006)*
Babel (2006)*
Volver (2006)*
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)*
La Vie En Rose (2007)*
No Country For Old Men (2007)*
Into the Wild (2007)*
There Will Be Blood (2007)*
Atonement (2007)*
Surfwise (2007)
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)*
Paranormal Activity (2007)*
Wall-E (2008)*
The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008)
The Dark Knight (2008)*
The Wrestler (2008)*
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Gomorra (2008)*
The Class (2008)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2008)
Let The Right One In (2008)*
The Hurt Locker (2009)*
An Education (2009)
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (2009)
Avatar (2009)
District 9 (2009)*
The Hangover (2009)
In the Loop (2009)
The White Ribbon (2009)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)*
Fish Tank (2009)
Monsters (2010)
Of Gods and Men (2010)
Black Swan (2010)*
Four Lions (2010)*
The Social Network (2010)
Inception (2010)*
The King's Speech (2010)
True Grit (2010)

* whole film seen before

Al's Tattoo

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:02:00 +0000

My artwork now is posted on another blog, just so I can keep this one tidy, but I can't resist posting this here too. Al has been really kind in sending me this photo of his tattoo, fresh from the needle. The design is is partly based on my illustration of Florence + The Machine. The tattoo artist has brought some wonderful scrollwork into it and the colours are stunning! I'm just amazed by it and humbled that Al chose my illustration as a basis for his tattoo.

Thanks to Al for the photo and Rich Hunter from A New Dimension Tattoo in Lake Worth, Florida for such beautiful work. Definitely the place to go if you're getting a tattoo!

March in photographs

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:34:00 +0000

I'm taking some screencaps of The Innocents as my next post. I think it's probably the best ghost film I've seen, disregarding The Grudge since Asian horror cinema pretty much has that genre covered now. Really, Hollywood has a lot to learn from Asian cinema about suspense and that CGI isn't as necessary as they seem to think. The best horror films I've seen have been those made on a small budget. Please comment if you have a favourite ghost film. I'd love some recommendations!

Anyway, as screencapping may take some time, I thought I'd share some photos I took last month as an in-between post. :) It's so lovely now that summer is here. The house photos are of my friend's house. It's like something out of "Country Living". Beautiful home. I love the idea of putting old photographs in little jars.

Sew Retro

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:53:00 +0000

Here follows a bit of a girly post about *drumroll* sewing!

As a refresh course in dressmaking, I signed up for a Craftsy online course with Gretchen Hirsch of Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing, a blog I've loved for years. Gertie is a girl after my own heart with her love of details, couture techniques and vintage style. On the course, she teaches you how to make a "bombshell" dress. A list of materials is included, as is the pattern, which you print out. It's a brilliant course so far. There are in-depth videos to cover every stage of the make, and a platform to ask questions if you need to. This course is an absolute bargain. I've learned more about dressmaking during this than I did during the whole first year studying fashion design at university. Plus, it's a damn sight cheaper.

The House That Dripped Blood (1970)

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 23:51:00 +0000

Just because Jon Pertwee's vampire face deserves an award and so does Ingrid Pitt, for being Ingrid Pitt.

Also, fantastic poster.

The Archers Blogathon - "Gone to Earth" Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 03:07:00 +0000

Gone to Earth is a 1950 film by Powell and Pressburger, based on the novel by Mary Webb. It stars Jennifer Jones, David Farrar, Cyril Cusack, Sybil Thorndyke and Esmond Knight. It's a story akin to Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles; that of a innocent child of nature at the turn of the century, who is desired by two men - hunted sexually by one, revered spiritually by the other. A brief summary would read as a rural melodrama, but the symbolism and allegorical poetry of the book is translated beautifully in this film adaptation. There is probably no other filmmakers apart from Powell and Pressburger who could do the book justice; handling it with such tenderness that it is a true masterpiece in the tradition of a Greek tragedy.

I'm going to discuss the whole film in an indepth way with lots of photos - just a warning incase you haven't seen the film and don't wish to have it spoiled. I'm also going to try and replicate the dialect when quoting if appropriate. I hope I don't offend any Shropshire readers.

The credits include a shot of a fox running into a den, followed by a huntsman, his face obscured, shouting the cry which alerts the hunt that a fox has gone to ground, "Gone to earth!"

The film begins with the protagonist, Hazel Woodus (Jennifer Jones), searching for her pet fox, Foxy, who has wandered off in the hills of the Welsh and Shropshire border. Once she find her, she runs back home when she hears what sounds like a hunt approaching. Her fleeing is interspersed with shots of animals running from the sound, which seems to carry atmospherically on the wind through the shadowed trees like an evil spirit.

Hazels shares a cottage with her eccentric father, Abel Woodus, a beekeeper, coffin-builder and harpist, Foxy, an old rabbit, a blind bird and a one-eyed cat. Hazel returns to the house, her entrance has her framed by a coffin. This is one of the many obvious instances of symbolistic foreshadowing in the film. From the outset, it is a tragedy and makes no attempt to hide it. Hazel's pet fox represents Hazel herself, as she says to the fox "If you'm alost, I'm alost." She uses Foxy to speak about herself in the third person, for example, "Foxy says I should get a new dress." Powell has gone to lengths to photograph Jones in an foxy-like way throughout the film to emphasise the symbolism of Hazel as being a hunted wild creature.

Hazel consults her book of spells and charms which she inherited from her gypsy mother, believing that the sounds she heard in the hills was "the Death Pack". Her father dimisses the poem as nonsense and tries to burn Hazel's book. Their relationship is not shown to be loving and they seem to live begrudgingly together.

The next day, Hazel goes into Much Wenlock and buys herself a new dress. She meets her cousin, Albert. Hazel has dinner with Albert and his mother, who chastises Hazel for her "disgrace(ful)" dress, saying that she "quite draw(s) men's eyes". She talks about Hazel's "un-Christian" mother but Hazel says that she was more Christian than most people and that she'd be proud to take after her mother. Hazel's aunt tells Hazel that she can't stay the night and must set off home. The whole scene really illustrates Hazel's naivety and the opinions of society towards her. She is akin to nature and in her innocence, either misconstrues or recoils at any suggestion of a future relationship with a man .

Aunt Prowde: "If you go on the way you're going, you'll get picked up, my girl."
Hazel: "I'd like to see anyone pick me up. I'd kick!"
Aunt Prowde: "I don't mean it like that."

And later, when Albert suggests that Hazel share his mother's room that night rather than walk home in the dark.

Aunt Proud: "Little I thought when your dear father went, that before three years had passed you'd be so forgetful of my comfort as to suggest such a thing. As long as I live my room's mine. When I'm gone, the sooner the better for you, no doubt, you can put her in my room, and yourself too!"
Hazel: (Horrified) "That he never will! I keep myself to myself." (storms out)

Hazel seems from the start a kind of innocent flirt. Infact, I wouldn't even call her a flirt, she just appreciates male attention but she does not respond. It is interesting to point out that no women in the film are friendly or particularly kind to Hazel.

As Hazel walks home on a rainy night, she imagines seeing eyes in the trees and hears the sound of hooves. Frightened, she begins to run. She narrowly avoids getting run over by the local squire, Jack Reddin, in his horse drawn buggy. Hazel refuses to give him her full name and complains about how her foot is "blistered into a balloon and there's blood on my new dress", and explains that her Aunt wouldn't let her stay the night. Reddin offers her a lift. Hazel compares him pulling her into the buggy as being like "the Sunday School tale of Jesus Christ and Peter on the wild sea. Me being Peter".

Reddin takes her back to his house, Undern, and is met by his servant, Vessons. Hazel encounters Reddin's hound dog, who growls at her.

Hazel: "I cannae bear hound dogs. Nasty, snabbing things."
Reddin: (To dog) "What's the matter with you? Go and lie down, you fool, you've seen a girl before."
Hazel: (To dog) "You wants poor foxes."
Reddin: "So he ought. Vermin." (laughs)
Hazel: (To Reddin) "You looks like hound dog when you laugh. (To dog) And you, you keep away from our Foxy."

She is intrigued by a portrait of a woman in an 1860s evening gown. Reddin opens a chest and pulls out lots of dresses, including the one from the portrait. He throws it at Hazel and tells her to put it on. He goes outside and spies on Hazel through the window as she gets changed, saying to himself, "She'll do."

Vessons catches him and says he will protect Hazel. The two men then find Hazel in the kitchen where she begins to sing. Reddin tells Vessons to go to the stable and stay there. Hazel anxiously asks if Vessons could stay in the house. He again asks Hazel to put on the dress, but she is very uncomfortable being alone with him and refuses. Reddin chases her around the kitchen, catching her on top of the table and kisses her while she struggles. She pushes him away and calls out for Vessons, who jokingly says "What? After the old 'un now?" but hides her in his room to sleep while he keeps watch, saying that he will take her back home in the morning.

Vessons is one of the funny characters in the film with his brusque manner.

Hazel: "Where will you sleep, Mr Vessons?"
Vessons: "Never you mind! No woman shall ever tell Andrew Vessons where to sleep. I'll wake you at daybreak with a mug o' beer. I brewed it meself."
Hazel: "If you dunnae mind, I'd rather tea."
Vessons: "Tea? Lord, how furiously do the women rage over tea. Tea it shall be."

At daybreak, Hazel waits in the garden, first looking at a sundial before gazing up at Reddin's bedroom window while she waits for Vessons to take care of the horses. Hazel and Vessons set off in a cart and Hazel makes him promise not to tell Reddin where she lives "Unless he asks it of you and cannae rest."

Some time later, Hazel and her father are on their way to perform at a village fair hosted by the new minister, Edward Marston (Cyril Cusack). In her haste, Hazel nearly falls into an old mine shaft. Her father tells her that before she was born a cow and calf fell in there.

Hazel: "Did they save them?"
Abel: "Lord, no. They were all a jelly."
Hazel: "Oh! I cannae bear it. It's a fearsome place."
Abel: "Lord, nows what's the matter with the girl?"
Hazel: "Naught. Only it came on me that I'll die as well as others."
Abel: "Only just found that out? What a queen of fools you be!"
Hazel: "Seems the world's a big spring trap and us in it."

With endearing childishness, Hazel's mood quickly changes when she takes note of the brass band playing at the fair, running off again as if her near accident never happened. Her father says that she's too "nesh", which in this case is slang for being foolish, feeble, squeamish and delicate.

Someone points Hazel out to Reverend Edward Marston who seems troubled by some inner turmoil he feels when he sees her. Hazel sings "Harps in Heaven" accompanied by her father on the harp and captivates her audience including Edward.

Meanwhile, it is shown that Reddin is searching for Hazel, riding around the countryside and asking around locally.

Edward introduces himself to Hazel, telling her that she sang beautifully and then asks her to supper. Hazel accepts. Edward tells his mother that he's invited Hazel to their home to which she says, "She's not of your class, Edward" and that any "silly flirtation" will only bring harm to his reputation.

When Edward leads the congregation into saying Grace, a grumpy man says, "I have not received tartlets. I am not grateful."

A few days later, Hazel is helping her father deliver a coffin when he realises that Foxy has got into the chicken coop. Furious, he threatens to wring her neck. Hazel says that Foxy's lonely and says she's taking her with them. Abel tells her to put her in the coffin. On the way, Abel tells Hazel that it's time she was married and coerces Hazel into swearing that she'll marry the first who asks her.

When Hazel and her father have a drink in the pub, Reddin draws up at the door but does not come inside. Hazel overhears him as he searches for her, but he mistakenly believes that Hazel's father plays the fiddle. Hazel's father rushes out and offers his services as a harpist while Hazel recoils in the shadows. She's half terrified and half hopeful that she'll be discovered. She tells Foxy "He has the blood of little foxes on him".

Hazel tells Edward that she has sworn to marry the first man who asks but no one has. Edward asks her if she'd like to marry, to which Hazel replies that her mother didn't like it and said that "tears and torment was a married lot".

Hazel: "And she said, keep yourself to yourself. You weren't made for marrying any more than me. Eat in company but sleep alone."

It is clear that Edward's mother does not approve of Hazel and is very condescending.

Mrs Marston: "You speak if the animal were a relation, dear."
Hazel: "So as animals be my brothers and sisters."
Mrs Marston: "I know, dear, quite right. All animals in coversation should be so, but any single animal in reality is only an animal and animals have no souls.
Hazel: "Yes they have then. If they have na, you have na."

When there's a knock at the door, Hazel believes that she heard a horse. In her mind she hears Reddin asking for "a fiddler chap with a pretty daughter" and takes fright. Edward notices her distress.

Later, Edward walks Hazel back to her house and asks her to marry him. Hazel seems alarmed and points out that he's only just met her. She introduces him to Foxy and lets him hold her.

Edward: "Will you marry me Hazel? I can give you a good home and I'll try to be a good husband. And I love you."
Hazel: "Do you love me as much as I love Foxy?"
Edward: "Far more."

Edward takes the opportunity to tell Abel that he wants to marry Hazel, which Abel can't believe and laughs. When he realises that Edward is serious, he says, "Well, I suppose 'er a woman grown. You can 'av 'er. When you wan' 'er?" Edward asks Hazel when she'll marry him and suggests August. Hazel agrees. As Edward kisses Hazel, she seems preoccupied. A hunter's horn sounds faintly on the soundtrack, indicating that she is thinking of Reddin.

On his way back home, Edward speaks to God, saying that what he wants is not for himself, he wants to protect and cherish Hazel "like a flower. And this I promise, that I shall ask nothing of her. Nothing. Until she wants to be wife to me".

At the fair in August the day before her wedding, Hazel is spotted by Reddin, who chases her through the fair on horseback. "Well, you've given my long enough chase!", he says.

Hazel tells Reddin that she's going to marry Edward. Reddin furiously blackmails her into meeting him or he will tell Edward that she has stayed the night with him. Hazel leaves a dance to meet with Reddin
who tells her that he's in love with her. Hazel is obviously flattered but asks him why he can't leave her alone. He then tells her father that he wants to marry her.

Abel: "First the parson, now the squire. It'll be the king on his throne next!"

Abel tells Reddin that Hazel's spoken for, whereupon Reddin offer him £50 if he'll let her leave with him. Abel thinks it over but ultimately decides that "a bargain's a bargain" and he has already promised her to Edward, even though he can't stop her from doing whatever she wants.

Reddin: "Say you don't like hurting things, Hazel. You're hurting me."
Hazel: "It ain't na my fault. I'm always hurting things. Ed'ard will look after me and Foxy and the others. And you... you've got blood on you, Mr Reddin."
Reddin: "But I'll even chuck the hunting if you chuck the parson, I promise."
Hazel: "You wouldna keep it. Seems I've got to go agin you or Ed'ard. And I cannae go agin Ed'ard. He's set store by me. And I swore by the mountain."
Reddin: "What?"
Hazel: "And if I broke that oath, me cold soul would wander about the mountain finding never a bed o' rest."
Reddin: "What was it you swore?"
Hazel: "To marry the first that asked. And it were na you, Mr Reddin. It were na you." (runs away in tears)

The next day the church bell sounds for the marriage of Hazel and Edward. After the reception, Hazel goes to shut the curtains and sees Reddin standing outside between the gravestones. She and Edward go to bed and seems shocked when Edward goes to his separate room instead of spending their wedding night with her. Edward is fascinated by Hazel and wishes to protect her, but with mistaken altruism he denies his own physical passion and does not consummate the marriage. But Hazel's sexual instinct has already been aroused by Reddin, who continues to pursue her relentlessly.

A few weeks later, Edward baptises Hazel with Reddin watching from the hill. Afterwards, Reddin calls and asks to see the minister. Alone in the parlour, he senses Hazel on the stairs and calls to her. She comes down and he kisses her, asking her to meet him the next day at the spinney. He makes her promise but she is reluctant to. She is drawn to Edward but obsessed by Reddin and her inner struggle continues, torn between the conflicting needs of her awakened spiritual self and sexual self.

That night, Edward finds Hazel reading a charm to grant a dearest wish from her book. He asks her what her dearest wish is.

Hazel: "If I was caught in a trap, Ed'ard, who'd help me out?"
Edward: "God would."
Hazel: "He dunnae let the others out."

Edward asks her if she misses anything and if she's happy. She replies, "Father? You're my father now, and mother both!" and kisses him. He starts and leaves the room, halting in the hallway and is about to go back inside her room to find the door locked. Inside, Hazel picks up her spell book and takes off her wedding ring. Edward goes to his own room and Hazel leaves the house with Foxy and goes to perform the spell on God's Little Mountain. "If I be to go to the spinney, if I be to go, let me hear the fairy music", she asks. She hears music, but the viewer is shown that it's actually her father playing the harp at the bottom of the mountain.

The following morning, Hazel leaves to meet Reddin in the spinney (wearing her altered wedding dress) but she seems unsure, constantly looking back to her home with Edward. As Reddin approaches her, his shadow covers her. We see the Hazel has dropped some red flowers she was carrying. Reddin lifts her into his arms and treads on the flowers as he seduces her.

Afterwards, Hazel leaves with Reddin to become his mistress at Undern. Later that night, Edward and some villagers are searching for her. Back at the house, Edward's mother notices a letter being pushed under the door. It's a note for Edward from Hazel telling him that she's a "bad girl" and asking him not to come after her, and to please look after Foxy for her.

Hazel is shown in the portrait dress at Undern. She sees Vessors who does not approve of what she'd done and she laughs at him, leading him to shoot some crows. Hazel runs inside and begs Reddin to stop him, but Vessors ignore Reddin. Hazel says that he'd rather shoot her that the birds and that it's like she's killed them for being there. Reddin tries to soothe her and Hazel holds him like a baby, reminiscing about the time Reddin cried after they first slept together in the spinney.

Reddin: "Oh, Hazel. You do want to stay? You did want to come with me, didn't you"
Hazel: "Not until you made me. But maybe you could na help it. Maybe you was drove to it."
Reddin: "What by?"
Hazel: "Something strong. As drives us all."
Reddin: "Hazel if... if I told that I -"
Hazel: "No, dunna say aught. You cannae run the words comfortable over your tongue like Ed'ard can. I wish I had Foxy here.
Reddin: "I'll go and get her in the morning."
Hazel: "No, let her bide. She's safe at Ed'ard's."

Edward has an argument with his mother, after he realises that she knows where Hazel is and hasn't told him. When he finds out she's with Reddin, he goes to Undern to find Hazel playing on a piano. He tells her that he's come to take her home. At first she seems pleased but then ashamed.

Hazel tells Edward that she didn't want to go with Reddin, but the "signs" told her to go. Edward says that she's his wife and that he was a fool. He kisses her passionately. She is shocked by Edward acting like who she expects Reddin to act. Reddin returns with Foxy in a sack. Edward challenges him to a fight but Reddin says that Hazel was never his wife and that she needs a man to hold her, not preach. He kicks the bag with Foxy in and urges his hound dog to attack the it. Edward tries to save Foxy. Hazel realises that her sexual bond with Reddin is insufficient to hold her and she is appalled by his callousness to defenseless creatures. She tells Reddin she wants to return to Edward but Reddin tells her that she doesn't know what she wants and tries to kiss her. Hazel tells him she doesn't want to see him ever again. She tells him, "You're a cruel beast and you've got blood on you." Reddin tells her to go then and that Edward can have her, but when he wants her she'll come running back. Hazel takes Foxy from the bag and stops Edward from fighting Reddin.

Hazel: (To Edward) "Come, my soul."
Edward: (to Reddin) "Has she ever called you that?"

Edward and Hazel leave. Vessors comes in and asks Reddin if it'll be three for dinner or just one. Edward's mother is horrified that Edward is taking Hazel back and tells him that if he does then she will have nothing more to do with him, urging him to put her first. Edward refuses and his mother and servant leave the house, saying that they will not live in a house "given over to sin".

The next morning Hazel make breakfast for herself and Edward, and they embrace, their relationship strengthened by a love which is now both spiritual and physical. Some deacons arrive to speak to Edward, asking that "That young woman should absent herself" from the room. Edward asks Hazel if she would rather go or stay, to which she replies that she would rather stay with Edward. The senior deacon then tells Edward that they speak for the Lord, and that the adulteress must go. Edward tells the deacons that they're leaving and he's giving up the ministry. The deacons try to talk him out of it. Most of the deacons don't want him to go, go the senoir deacons accuses him of siphoning money from the church fund. Hazel chastises them for saying such things about Edward, wherupon she's told that she's no person to talk as she is a sinner. Edward stands up to them and tells them that what happened wasn't Hazel's fault, it was his, calling the smug, pot-bellied gods who wish to rule the world. He asks them to leave.

Hazel notices that Foxy is missing and goes outside to search for her. A hunt led by Reddin is riding over the hills and catches scent of Foxy and pursues her. Hazel find Foxy, and runs fro the hunt with Foxy in her arms back towards her the house and Edward.

"They're after us, Foxy."

The hunt realises that the dogs are chasing a woman and try to call them off without success. They then try to get Hazel to drop Foxy or the dogs will "tear" her down. Edward hears the hunt and runs outside, he sees Hazel, pursued by the hunt and they run towards each other. Not looking where she's going, Hazel and Foxy fall down the mineshaft she'd seen months before with her father. A view of the hounddogs staring into the pit, a shot of the sun over the Shropshire hills while a hunter shouts "Gone to Earth!" Hazel dies attempting to save Foxy from the pursuing hounds just when she seems to have found true love and happiness with Edward.

In Gladys Mary Coles' biography of Mary Webb, The Flower of Light, she wrote that Gone to Earth was written in response to Mary Webb's despondency to the senseless slaughter of millions of young men in WWI. The urgency with which Mary Webb wrote is felt is reflected in the relentless inevitability of the tragedy, and we're constantly reminded of this in the film adaptation as well. The story's underlying significance and meaning is beyond the immediate context of the story in a remote rural district of Shropshire. It allegorises a pessimistic interpretation of life and human destiny. The film holds a sense of doom and anguish which is often caused by the war, and a criticism of civilised society, Church and convention is also felt. Hazel is the elemental incarnation of the spirit of the countryside; she has been moulded by her surroundings. From the start, it is intimated that Hazel is a pawn of fate. Hazel is symbolic of "all things hunted, snared and destroyed", while the hunt are symbolic of universal cruelty. The book and film is a statement about barbarism in society, breeding violence and war.

In terms of symbolism, Hazel's wedding bouquet is a funeral wreath of lilies which was made by her father. Reddin waits for her in a cemetery. Vessor's swan at Undern is clipped from a yew tree (a tree of death) and shoots the birds, prefiguring the human sacrifice of Hazel in the ritual frenzy of the hunt. At the end of the film, Hazel runs from the Hunt, who are the Death Pack in the poem, and Reddin is the Black Huntsman.

The tragedy for Hazel is that she is divided - "body and soul has been put in oppostion by belonging to different men". There is no love marriage of spirit and flesh in Gone to Earth. Hazel and Foxy fulful the myths of the story by falling to earth; a fox's refuge, the grave.

The story is a search for meaning. Hazel is brought to death like all the countless victims of violence.

The film conveys both the tragic story along with evoking the landscape which is so important. Although it is unashamedly melodramatic at times, there are lovely character portraits and humour on a Dickensian level which relieve and heighten the tragedy of the story. The photography is stunning. At a time when it was usual practice to do the majority of filming in a studio, Powell and Pressburger filmed most of Gone to Earth on location and it is as beautiful as a travelogue. This is an atmospheric film on a par with Black Narcissus and although the intense melodrama of the story will not appeal to everyone, in my opinion the direction, production and acting is flawless and special dues must be given to Cyril Cusak's magnificently understated performance, Esmond Knight as Abel, and Brian Easedale's score.

The making of the film is very interesting in itself, so I've written a blog post about it in Part 2.

The Archers Blogathon - "Gone to Earth" Part 2 - The Making Of

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 03:05:00 +0000

The filming of Gone to Earth took place in 1949 in and around Shropshire. The film is particularly fascinating because of the controversy surrounding it. The film was a co-production between British Lion and Selznik Productions. David O'Selznick, the producer of the Oscar winning Gone with the Wind (1939) and Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940), was infamous for his controlling, bordering on obsessional involvement with his productions. Selznick had recently signed a deal with Alexander Korda to make several films in England, including Gone To Earth. Korda had previously signed a five film deal in 1948 with Powell and Pressburger, who saw him as kindred spirit who allowed them to make the films they wanted, how they wanted. Although Korda was hugely respcted in the industry and had been involved with many popular films, he was in financial difficulties at this time. He had bought the literary rights for Mary Webb's Gone to Earth years before and saw a chance to sell it on to Selznick and turn over a good deal of business at the same time with a powerful alliance.

Clockwise: Alexander Korda, David O. Selznick, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

Selznick was a passionate producer who had found enormous success with his films in Hollywood, such as "Gone with the Wind". His reason for wanting to be involved in the British film industry was partly because of how Powell and Pressburger had impressed people around the world with The Red Shoes and A Matter of Life and Death and their unique visual poetry. As this was also an important period of Italian realist cinema, Selznick saw an opportunity to be involved in what was a more gritty, new cinema. He was also looking for a vehicle for his new obsession, Jennifer Jones, and wanted something which would show her acting ability and earthiness at its best. As he later stated in a letter, Jennifer Jones' involvement in the film made him doubly concerned about the production.

Jennifer Jones and David O. Selznick {via a certaincinema}

The deal went through The Archers to Korda and then to Selznick, so The Archers were contracted to work with Selznick under an agreed script. Selnick was very involved with the filming; visiting the set and seeing some rushes. He also bombarded Powell and Pressburger with memos up to ten pages long which were for the most part (politely!) ignored. Powell and Pressburger were very much their own men and were used to a great deal of artistic freedom. Powell later said, "We decided to go ahead with David O. (Selznick) the way hedgehogs make love: very carefully!"

Selznik was ultimately unhappy with the finished film of Gone to Earth. Firstly, he didn't think there were enough close-ups of Jennifer Jones, and felt the story was unclear and did not live up the potential he thought the film had. He outlined what he believed were P&P's two "tremendous faults" in a letter to Ben Hecht:

The first is an excessively English resistance to portrayal of emotions, which I am hoping to cure with retakes and additional scenes following completion of the job of re-editing the film. And the second is a fantastic obsession against making things clear.

He (quite cheerfully apparently) told Powell and Pressburger that he was going to take them to court for not shooting the agreed script. Powell and Pressburger argued that they had, and ultimately, when the case did go to court in April 1950, the judge agreed and the film could be released in the UK. Even though he lost the case, Selznick exercised his right under the contract (as he had all of the film rights in the Western hemisphere) to make an alternate version. In Hollywood, he hired director Rouben Mamoulian (who had directed Blood and Sand) to reshoot parts of the film and re-edit it for its American release in 1952 as The Wild Heart.

David Farrar as Jack Reddin

Mamoulian cut many scenes, in fact he took over 30 minutes of the films running time from 110 minutes, to 82 minutes. Powell claimed that only 35 minutes of the original film remained. New outdoor scenes were reshot in California (though it's amazingly hard to tell those scenes apart from those filmed in Shropshire), and shot some more melodramatic interior scenes between Hazel and Reddin. Selznick also hired Joseph Cotten to do a voiceover for the film and included more close-ups of Jennifer Jones. In some reshot scenes, Jennifer Jones can be seen carrying what is obviously a toy fox.

Selznick's changes and cuts more or less eradicated the subtle symbolism of the original film as well as the incidental details which made Powell and Pressburger's work so atmospheric and evocative of the English countryside. Many of the scenes he cut because he found them too slow, were essential to the plot, making the final film quite confusing to watch compared to the original for some viewers.

Jennifer Jones as Hazel Woodus

In his later years, Michael Powell found it increasingly difficult to get his ideas finiancially backed, though, paradoxically, his reputation grew. As a result of this renewed interest in Powell and Pressburger's work, particularly from the 1970s, many of their "forgotten" films were restored and reissued, including Gone to Earth which was restored by The National Film Archive in 1985. This allowed people to see the film again for the first time in decades.

For his part, Michael Powell later dismissed the film as a "disaster" apart from Jennifer Jones' performance.

Jennifer Jones and Esmond Knight as Hazel and Abel Woodus

A New Statesman review claimed the restored film to be "One of the great British regional films" and, according to Powell's cinematographer, Christopher Challis, "one of the most beautiful films ever to be shot of the English countryside". It was extremely unusual for a film of Gone to Earth's scale to be shot on location at the time. Though The Wild Heart is not an awful film by any means, it's just a very different film and I was spoiled by seeing The Archers' film first. Gone to Earth is very much a story about the countryside, and that evocative nature of the film was mostly removed in The Wild Heart.

I've included a "making of" film in three parts which consists of Michael Powell's private films while making Gone to Earth.

P&P employed the residents of Much Wenlock to act as extras in several scenes, such as the Condover Brass Band and the choir from the local Methodist Chapel. Apparently when he heard them singing, director Michael Powell said they were too good and he wanted them to sound "more ragged, like a choir of country folk," only to be told, "But we are country folk, Mr Powell".

Much Wenlock residents as extras on the set of Gone to Earth

The score was composed by Brian Easdale, a long time collaborator with Powell and Pressburger. Here is the suite from Gone to Earth and I very much recommend the album The Music of Brian Easdale which includes his scores for the Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, Battle of the River Plate, Gone to Earth and other works.

To round up this LONG double post, I thought I'd post a video of Kate Bush's song, "Hounds of Love", which has been edited to include scenes from Gone to Earth. Although Kate Bush has stated the song was inspired by the excellent British horror The Night of the Demon, obviously I'm not alone in thinking that it owes something to Gone to Earth. It certainly sums up Hazel's predicament in the film. Kate Bush has said that the song is about being frightened of falling in love and compares the feeling to being pursued by dogs.

Thank you for reading and many thanks to The Archers Blogathon for letting me take part and write for ages about one of my favourite films for a good reason.

The DVD of Gone to Earth seems to be now out of print (in the UK at least). I'm sure you can still pick up a secondhand copy online somewhere. It's well worth the effort.

Credits:
Worcester Sauce | Powell-Pressburger.org | Esmondknight.org.uk | A documentary on the GtE DVD

Platinum Blonde, 1931

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 19:58:00 +0000

Platinum Blonde is named after Jean Harlow, like Bombshell (1933), and the title is not really indicative of the plot of the film. It just shows how powerful the draw of big stars like Jean Harlow was in the 30s.

It's about a wise-cracking, salt of the earth journalist, "Stew" Smith (Robert Williams), who is called upon to investigate a scandal involving a rich family. Stew meets Anne Schuyler (Jean Harlow) and the rest of her family, refuses a bribe by the Schuyler's lawyer (Reginald Owen) and Anne's flirtatious pleas to drop the story, making himself an enemy of the family. He visits again later to return a book he took from the Schuyler's library, and letters which were going to be used by the injured party in the scandal to further extort the family for money. Anne offers Stew a 5,000 cheque, which he refuses. Anne and Stew start to become quite friendly and Anne invites him to a party. They quickly fall in love and secretly marry.

When news of their marriage breaks it leaves Stew's friend, Gallagher (Loretta Young), who is in love with him, devastated, but she puts on a brave face and wishes Stew well. The film then chronicles Stew's difficulties with moving into the Schuyler mansion, fitting in with his in-laws, failing to fight off Anne's attempts to make him a gentleman, and his hurt pride at being dubbed "Cinderella man" or "Mr Anne Schuyler".

When Stew invites Gallagher and a few friends for drinks at the Schuyler mansion, about twenty other journalists gatecrash, turning an intended small get-together into a raging party. Stew and Gallagher retire to a quiet room to work on an idea Stew has for a play, basing it on his marriage and life with the Schuylers. When Anne and her mother return, Anne is furious at Stew for disrespecting her home and for his close relationship with Gallagher. She makes a point that it's not his house, it's her house, implying that he has no right to invite friends around.

Stew and Anne fight, ending with Stew leaving the Schuyler mansion with Gallagher and returning to his old apartment where they continue to work on the play. Grayson stops by to say Anne has offered to pay him alimony in a divorce, which Stew refuses, punching him before throwing him out of his apartment. Stew tells Gallagher the play could end with the main character divorcing his rich wife and marrying the woman he realised that he has always loved. The film ends with Gallagher and Stew embracing.

I suppose the message of the film is about the value of independence, being true to yourself, and, sadly, something about the class system. If this film had the Jean Harlow and Robert Williams roles reversed in a The Bride Wore Red (1937) kind of way then I think it would have been more interesting and innovative, personally speaking. Viewing it from a modern standpoint it just smacks of the imagined horror of emasculation, which had, even by 1931, been done to death. But bearing in mind the time the film was made, it's quite a witty comedy with some classic 30s lines and characterisations (Some quotes here on imdb.). I still think that some men today would have problems being a "Cinderella Man", and Anne really doesn't treat Stew with much respect, so it's still relevant. She wants to mould him into someone who is more acceptable to her and her class.

A sad bit of trivia is that Robert Williams died a few days after the premiere. He was great in this, his first leading role and it's easy to imagine how his career could have grown from this point. He has excellent comic timing in this film and a no-frills, likeable persona.

Now, just a quick note to say that I'm really honoured to be taking part in The Archers Blogathon at the end of the month. I'll be covering Gone to Earth on the 26th March, which I'm thrilled about as it's one of my favourite Powell and Pressburger's films. I think there are still (at this moment of posting) film spots left if you want to take part. I hope someone blogs about A Canterbury Tale! Click on the button below to see the post at the Classic Film & TV Cafe and apply.

Here are a few other costume screencaps from Platinum Blonde which I've placed under a cut to save killling computers with all these image heavy posts. There are some gorgeous bias-cut dresses and I think the costumes in this film gives a really good overview of clothes in the early 30s.