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Pink Martini: Amado Mio (1997) & Gilda (1946)

Mar
2010

Pink Martini’s superb 1997 rendition of “Amado Mio” overlaid on Rita Hayworth’s star turn as the ultimate femme fatale in 1946’s Gilda. (Ms. Anita Ellis sang the original version which Rita then lip-synced in the film, by the way.)

Foreign Correspondent (1940) theatrical trailer

by Chris Taylor

Mar
2010

This film is remarkable for several reasons, which are best enumerated and illustrated by reading through the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater’s Foreign Correspondent online exhibit. But I’ll endeavour to give you a brief summary here.

Director Alfred Hitchcock was able to spin a gripping and oddly prescient tale of a fictionalised Second World War—which at the time of filming had really only just begun. In fact the Tripartite Pact (establishing the formal alliance of Axis powers Germany, Italy and Japan) was signed a month after principal photography had wrapped. The film opened to U.S. audiences at the commencement of the Battle of Britain, and a scene in which the Germans bomb London was echoed a week later when the Germans actually bombed London for the first time in that conflict.

The art director had to build reproductions of Waterloo Station, the Hotel Europe, two ocean liners, a large flying boat, and a 3-storey windmill.

Locations in Europe had to be re-shot after the ocean liner carrying the original location footage was torpedoed by a U-boat.

A full-scale mock-up of an Imperial Airways Empire flying boat was constructed, at a cost of $47,000. A crash scene involving the mock-up added $250,000 to the film’s eventual $1.48 million price tag.

This film is definitely a priority in the growing list of films I need to see.

John Barry: Out of Africa Original Soundtrack (1985)

by Chris Taylor

Feb
2010

Generally this film sets my teeth on edge; especially Meryl Streep’s faux-Danish accent and Robert Redford’s lack of an English one. But I do love the stunning beauty of Kenya itself paired with John Barry’s terrific soundtrack.

For my money, the best moments in this lengthy clip run from 6:40 to the end, and feature a de Havilland DH.60G Gipsy Moth (G-AAMT). You know this was prior to extensive CGI use, so someone actually took a Gipsy Moth out to Kenya and flew it around in front of the camera. Of special note is the segment from 9:10 to the end, where the Moth buzzes flamingoes along a lakeshore at quite low altitude. According to IMDB, the pilot for this footage was Wing Commander Sir Henry Arthur Dalrymple-White, 2nd Baronet, DFC, a veteran of the Second World War who resided in Kenya and kept flying until his 80th year. Sir Henry passed away in Nairobi on June 30th, 2006.

When You Know (1936)

by Chris Taylor

Feb
2010

Chevrolet funded this 8-minute film, drawing equivalences between safe flying and safe driving.

Theodore Roosevelt in Africa, c. 1909

by Chris Taylor

Feb
2010

Silent film scenes presented by the Library of Congress show the 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt, touring Africa after retirement from public office.

Iron Maiden: The Trooper (1983) & Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)

by Chris Taylor

Feb
2010

Moving from Afghanistan to Crimea now. It’s a fact: cavalry charges are metal.

The passing of the Colours at 2:00-2:12 is sheer epic awesomeness.

The light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long

by Chris Taylor

Jan
2010

I viewed Blade Runner last night, which was probably a mistake. Whenever I see this film, I become congisant of Time as predator, stalking me; like the Star Trek villain Dr. Tolian Soren, I am increasingly aware that sooner or later, Time will hunt me down and make the kill. When I first saw this film, I was sixteen years old, watching a heavily-used VHS tape in a friend’s basement on a tiny television. Today I am more than twice as old as I was then; VHS and non-HD televisions have all but disappeared from the consumer landscape; the edge-of-farmland community I grew up in on north of the city has exploded into highly-developed urban sprawl; and despite the wonders of Facebook and modern social media, I have no idea what became of that particular friend.

It is not death I fear so much as the unconscious passage of time; we are all being carried along on a current whose swiftness is not always evident, forever leaving behind sights and sounds we do not realise will never be experienced again. Some of the people, places and things we see today we will never see again hereafter; or if we do see them, they too will have been altered irrevocably by the passage of time.

Blade Runner itself is one of these things; it is no longer the film you have seen in theatres or VHS; every iteration since (laserdisc, Director’s Cut, Final Cut) has been subtly altered. Deckard’s voiceover/narration is no longer present, for example; other scenes have been added, and some—present for theatrical release—have been deleted. Ridley Scott’s penultimate work is still, on the whole, a thoroughly engaging and immersive film; visual futurist Syd Mead’s iconic designs are every bit as intriguing and alluring as they once were. But there is something insidious and unsettling about the film itself slowly morphing and changing as the years ago by.

Some of us enjoyed Blade Runner as a detective film that happens to be set in the future; we may have enjoyed the nods to film noir such as Deckard’s mid-movie narration—even if the bolted-on ending was unnecessary. Others might enjoy it as a future movie featuring a detective as a main character, and are happier without the heavy leaning toward noir conventions. My own sense is that the film’s own narrative precludes hasty changes to its themes or characters. Deckard’s boss, Bryant, clearly has memories of working with him in the distant past; yet director Scott’s latest tweaks are meant to make the audience think that perhaps “blade runner” Rick Deckard is himself a replicant. This then raises the question of how Bryant could have memories of working with replicant Deckard, who presumably has a finite four-year life span. Does that make Bryant a replicant, too? Or is he merely lying? What would be the point?

It is worth remembering that Blade Runner rose from forgotten mediocrity to mass popularity in ten years as a video rental—and all of it based on the pacing and story of its theatrical release form. Ridley Scott’s constant tweaking of his creation in later years is a strong clue that perhaps he does not understand what made his film great in the first place. And he is not alone; the same could be said for many directors who have befouled their own creations with unnecessary adjustments. Amadeus, Apocalypse Now, Donnie Darko, The Exorcist, The Last Emperor, and the Star Wars original trilogy are all films that have been cheapened by “Director’s Cut” editions. Perhaps the only director’s cut I have seen that actually improved a film’s story and pacing was the extra 17 minutes in James Cameron’s Aliens—but that is the rare exception.

There is one little touch in Blade Runner that really sold me; when we see Gaff’s spinner ascend (with Deckard aboard), Gaff puts on a helmet and mic, and communicates with local air traffic control. He doesn’t do crazy things like engage in an airborne car chase, or make sudden, erratic movements with other spinners/aircraft in close proximity. It’s all calm, cool and collected; a lot like air traffic control today. Contrast this with the cityscape and speeder/flying car scenes in Attack of the Clones, an inferior realisation by any estimation.

As I mentioned earlier, even with the changes, I still enjoyed Blade Runner. It is one of the most visually compelling and completely realised science fiction worlds to ever grace the silver screen. I just wish directors would quit fussing with their successful products decades after their original release. Logically speaking, it is not the successful films which require tweaking; they already have a winning formula. The ones that don’t do well, on the other hand, are the ones that need to have their stories, editing or pacing re-examined.

Chew, if only you could see what I’ve seen with your eyes!

by Chris Taylor

Jan
2010

A selection of images tagged “Blade Runner” on Flickr.

Blade Runner II, originally uploaded by SBA73.

Blade Runner, originally uploaded by Heaven`s Gate (John).

New York or Blade Runner?, originally uploaded by Joseph Price.

Blade Runner, originally uploaded by cuellar.

Meet Pris, originally uploaded by naeros.

Characters from Blade Runner at Comic-Con, San Diego, California, originally uploaded by congochris.

Blade Runner Press Event – 47, originally uploaded by spencerhooks.

In the last photo: Mad props to Joe Turkel for sporting the tinted, oversized glasses—much like his character Dr. Eldon Tyrell. And that goes double for Sean Young, who did her best to emulate the hairstyle and wardrobe of Rachael. Trying to look like a character you played twenty-eight years ago isn’t easy.