3 Film Biographies by Korda

This month's weekend film festival consisted of three films from the 1930s by Alexander Korda.  Two were pretty darn good, while one was amusing but not great film making.  We started with "The Private Life of Henry VIII," starring Charles Laughton as the King.  He owns the part, and really makes Henry come to life.  He makes the man a 3-dimensional character, showing his strength and weaknesses, and giving a good attempt at making an interesting historical character, well, interesting.  This was a break through film for Korda, and is certainly worth a look.  Costumes and sets are magnificent.

 Charles Laughton is totally amazing in the lead role.  

Next came a "biography," The Private Life of Don Juan, from 1934.  The film follows the exploits of an ageing hero, one whom young women are not longer attracted to.  Part comedy and part drama, the film is watchable, but it is not great cinema.  Douglas Fairbanks plays a Don past his prime, but still trying his best to live it up with women.  Of course, as to be expected, the film and character are pretty dated.  Poor Merle Oberon has to undertake a lengthy, sexy Spanish dance, and cannot pull it off.  The costumes and sets are wonderful to see, especially Leporello's outfit.  Not essential Korda viewing, but probably likable for Fairbanks fans.  He is pretty funny in the role.

Lastly came "Rembrandt," a stunning film by Korda from 1936.  Charles Laughton gives an understated but memorable role as the great painter, sadly misunderstood and under-appreciated in his time.  How Amsterdam loves him today, though.  Especially his rejected and ridiculed painting "The Night Watch."  This is a great film, with many scenes recreating famous paintings by Dutch masters of the day, including De Hooch, Steen, and Rembrandt himself.  Highly recommended as a start of appreciating one of the truly great artists.

 Another very fine performance by Charles Laughton.  

All three films are around 90 minutes in length, and easy to view.

Speaking of films, Deb will soon have some incredible news about her web series being accepted by a notable film festival.  She will announce the news in a few weeks, but has to keep silent about it for now.

I have managed to make my memorization goals for July!  I am happy and impressed with myself.  Of course nothing sticks in there without review, review, and more review.  It gets more and more complicated the more pieces I add to memory.  My August goal is to memorize the incredibly moving 2nd movement of the Haydn Sonata, and the final piece on the program, a Waltz by Brahms.

In Valeria the Vegetarian Vampire news, I have completed writing the first of three sections to the 2nd novel.  My main idea for the 2nd novel transpires in the 2nd section, the only part of the story I really have in my mind.  It should be fun to write, hopefully getting first draft done this month. 

Mapman Mike

Catching Up

Today I enjoyed my first full 2-hr. piano practice since my eye problems last weekend.  The pieces are so large and require so much stretching that I have to go easy again for a few days.  I am still trying to meet my memorization deadline of having four pieces in my head by next Wednesday.  I plan to add two more pieces to memory in August.

It has been 8 weeks since Deb's surgery.  There is still 4X that left to go, and her healing should be well advanced.  About the time my piano program is memorized.  She returns to physio on Thursday.  We both saw doctors last week: I saw my M.D. and Optometrist on Monday, then my Optometrist again on Thursday.  I am taking drops for another five days in the right eye.  Deb had a regular check-in with her new M.D.  We both seem happy with our G.P.s, and I've always liked my optometrist.

I'll try to do a quick film watching catch up here.  We are currently amidst our fourth weekend film festival since signing on to the Criterion Channel.  This time around we are watching a trio of b & w films from the 30s, directed by Alexander Korda.  More on those at the end of the weekend.

Recently seen films include The Garden of Women, directed by Keisuke Kinoshita, a very long movie b & w film from 1954.  It started out as a bit of a soap opera in an all-girls' college dormitory, but it soon evolved into something much better.

 Garden of Women, a Japanese film from 1954. 

The main conflict of the film is between the girls, who want freedom to live.  The school keeps them locked up, their mail is read in-going and out-going, they cannot study after lights out, and having a boyfriend is definitely out.  At times the film is hard to watch, as some faces need serious slapping.  The film ends with a girl's suicide, with each side blaming the other.  In my opinion neither the students nor the staff could really be wholly blamed for her death, as she was quite mad all along.  A good film, and definitely worth a watch, despite the long running time.

The Hitch-Hiker is a silly noir film from 1953, directed and co-written by Ida Lupino.  An escaped murder hitch hikes to escape, killing as he goes.  For some reason he kidnaps two able-bodied men, but doesn't kill them.  Instead, he keeps them at gunpoint for several days.  they seem neither able to take advantage of him, nor escape, and it just gets dumber and dumber as the film boils itself away into the desert.

 From 1953 and now showing on Criterion.  This was the only American noir film directed by a woman.  

The locales and cinematography are excellent.  There is a lone Mexican policeman that is tracking the three men, and of course all the way through the film the viewer assumes that he will die in a gunfight at the end.  However, the ending is pretty good, and definitely seems to have a woman's touch and instinct.  The last five minutes are probably the best part of the movie.

Lastly comes a really strange and wonderful film called A Canterbury Tale.  From 1944, it was written, produced, and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

A memorable British film from 1944. 

Sheila Sim is probably the freshest face and most "girl next door" film actress you could ever set your eyes upon.  A stage actress, this was her first film role.  Also giving a quite astounding performance is Sgt. John Sweet, US Army, starring as Bob Johnson, from Oregon.  A small group of people come to know one another during war time in the village of Chillingbourne, along the Pilgrim's Road to nearby Canterbury.  That is the main plot, and it works quite well.  There is a silly sub-plot about the glue man, who pours glue on village women's hair if they are out after dark, in a twisted effort to keep them away from nearby soldiers, who are encamped nearby.  We see rural England at its best, and we do eventually get to Canterbury and the cathedral.

 A still from the film, a key scene featuring Sheila Sim and Eric Portman.

There are a number of short films attached to the Criterion presentation, including long interviews both with Ms Sim and John Sweet.  There is also the amazing documentary called "Listen To Britain," made during the war, showing scenes and presenting sounds from Britain in the 1940s.  Quite remarkable.  The film is definitely worth a view, especially if you are watching the British version.  We got to see parts of the American version, with a different beginning and ending, as well as shorter cuts in some of the scenes.  Skip the American version if possible.

Mapman Mike

Back On-Line

Two things conspired recently to keep me from doing very much blogging.  Firstly, I had a reaction to a new drug I had started taking.  After three doses my right eye decided to give up the ghost, and went walkabout.  I spent all day Sunday lying in bed in a dark room with a makeshift patch over it.  The eye was red, swollen, and very painful.  First thing Monday morning I got right in to see my G.P.  He sent me to my optometrist, who diagnosed a very bad case of iritis.  This can lead to blindness rather swiftly, but my body was already doing a good job of handling the situation.  By Monday afternoon, when I began taking eye drop medicine, things were already improving rapidly.  By Monday night I was able to read a bit once again, though computer screens were still painful to stare at.  Today everything is back to normal, but I have to maintain the drops for 9 more days.

The second thing that happened was the arrival of my brother Steve, my sister-in-law Lynne, and my niece Emma-Lee.  We spent Monday afternoon together, visiting at Randy G.'s house.  Emma Lee was in the pool for hours.  Today we went to Detroit with them, giving them a partial tour of some of the renovated buildings downtown.  And so things are about to return to normal.  Back to piano practice tomorrow, and the grass will finally get cut.

 Lynne, Emma-Lee, Steve, in Randy's backyard.  Photo by Randy G.

 Randy, me (squinting a lot, as my eye was still very sensitive), Deb, and those three other people.  Self-timed photo by Randy. 

I will try to write up our Detroit day soon.  However, it is now astronomy season once again, and clear skies are predicted over the next few days.  I will post when I can.

Mapman Mike

Vaccinations, Panini, and Humidity

Deb went to physio today, and does not need to return for two more weeks.  She will continue to do her exercises at home.  She also got the shingles vaccine, Shingrix, too, with mild symptoms afterwards.  She seems fine now.  She still does not feel ready to drive again, but soon.

We are getting walloped with humidity, and Friday and Saturday we get our first extreme heat of the year.  We have been at and near 90 for several weeks now, but the high 90s are coming, with high humidity.  It will feel tropical.  I did some weeding today, one large bag full.  About 7 large bags of the stuff are still awaiting.  Hoping to do a bag a day until Sunday.  We have also began our basic 28-day walking program once again, to get into some kind of physical condition.  It's difficult for me to be motivated if I do not have a major walking trip coming up.  Nothing on the horizon except Cincinnati in late August, though a trip to California for late autumn is still on the back burner.

I am going to show the fourth and final Panini painting from the DIA's amazing collection of Italian baroque art, one of their strongest holdings.

Interior of St. Peter's, Rome, Giovanni Paolo Panini, 1750.  Detroit Institute of Arts.

Oil on canvas, 133 cm x 146 cm. 

The painting is large enough, and detailed enough, to take ones breath away.  It is as close as most people, including me, will get to the real thing.  And it's not a half bad substitute!  Panini not only excelled at landscape and architectural art, but he also skillfully painted all of his own figures, too.  This painting has a lot of them, and they provide nearly as much interest to the viewer as the interior itself.

Detail of above.  I love the perspective.

 Detail of the right foreground.

 Detail showing St. Peter's chair.  The DIA has the only surviving sculptural sketch for the chair!

Bernini's surviving model of St. Peter's chair, 1658, made for the Basilica shown in

Panini's painting.  Scenes from the life of the saint are shown.  Detroit Institute of Arts.

 Also in Detroit is this study for the "cattedra," from 1658, from the workshop of Bernini.

51 x 34 cm.  Pen, brown ink, wash heightened with white, over black chalk.

 Detail of the main ceiling.

Detail of upper right ceiling.

 Detail of figures in the church, all painted by the artist. 

One may not be able to easily get to Rome, but living across the river from Detroit is sometimes the next best thing!  Next time we move away from Panini, but remain a while longer in Italy, as we resume our peek at outdoor landscape art in the collection of the DIA.

Mapman Mike

Art, A Film, and an M.D. Appt.

The DIA has 4 wonderful paintings by Panini.  I have already showed two of them in some detail, and I will now show a third landscape.  The 4th painting they own shows the interior of St. Peter's, Rome, but does not fit my outdoor landscape theme.  It is such a great painting, though, that I may decide to show it anyway.  Tune in next time to find out.

 Ruins of A Triumphal Arch In The Roman Campagna, Giovanni Paolo Panini,

painted 1717-1719.  Oil of canvas, 29" x 24", unframed.  Detroit Institute of Arts. 

  Panini and his patrons were obsessed by classical ruins, and I am very happy for that, as so am I.  My most significant encounter with such ruins was in Spain, especially in Barcelona and along the coast nearby.  These paintings are wonderful fancies to look upon, and to project oneself into the picture.  See me there with my dog?

Detail of the central foreground.

 Detail of the left foreground.

 Detail of right side.

 Detail above the arch.  

This is the earliest of the four DIA Panini paintings, and was one of the first paintings to enter the museum's collection, in 1889.  While I would be happy to have any of the four hanging in my living room, I would prefer if I had them all.  Wonderful stuff!

My choice for a Criterion movie this week was called "Dragon Inn," a martial arts film from Taiwan and made back in 1967.  It has recently been fully restored.  It was the first of the great, extremely weird Chinese movies where ninja-like warriors can fly up onto roofs and into trees, and fight for hours against an opponent who is their equal.  This wide-screen, colour movie is worth the price of admission just to sit and gasp at the incredible scenery and locations.  the fighting is just something you have to put up with.  The movie has much of the American "western" genre about it, with much of the movie set in a lonely, extremely isolated Inn near Dragon Pass.  The tension and the dialogue, especially in the movie's first half, is incredible.  Everyone is so polite, while wanting to destroy one another!  Things bog down a bit near the end when it becomes a silly, non-stop ninja-like battle, but for most people this is probably the highlight.  As usual, we got to watch it in a perfect print.  Recommended.  There are still some extras yet to watch.

Now showing on the Criterion Channel. 

I had a meeting with my M.D. today.  I am officially getting old.  My blood pressure was great, but my cholesterol was a bit high.  I am starting a low dose of meds for that.  Also some meds for an enlarged prostate, not unusual in a guy my age.  And I also got a prescription for a shingles vaccine.  Deb and I are both getting one, as we did have chicken pox as children.  Apparently these vaccines are 95% effective, though not fun to get.  Deb gets hers Thursday.  If she lives, I get mine on Monday.

Mapman Mike

Movie Musings

Late June and the first half of July have brought summer weather full force into our area.  After a bitterly cold winter, and a depressingly cold and wet spring, the weather has been non-stop blue skies and hot temps.  More of the same is predicted for the rest of July.  Though we have not had any extreme temps, it will turn out to be one of the hottest Julys on record, and that is saying something.

Work in the basement proceeds apace, with some new flooring added and many books reshelved.  Even my old Edgar Rice Burroughs collection, with fabulous cover art by Frazetta and Krenkel, are back out on shelves.  Mostly art books still to unpack, but I need another shelf and more bookends. 

It has now been six weeks since Deb's surgery, and 10 days since beginning some basic at home physio exercises without her arm sling (it is officially retired).  This week she returns to the physio room, to ramp things up a bit more.  I have a routine medical check up on Tuesday.

In film news, Deb's work has been accepted once again at the major film festival in Cincinnati, Cindependent.  She sent in three short films, hoping that one would be accepted.  It was, but so were the other two!  We will be heading south the last weekend in August, hopefully with a complimentary room downtown once again.... 

My choice of film for last week was a silly British comedy starring Alec Guinness.   He plays the captain of a passenger/cargo boat that travels regularly between Gibraltar and North Africa.  He has a wife in each port, and lives very different lives with them.  In Africa he is married to Yvonne De Carlo, and they eat out and go dancing and drinking every night.  He brings her flowers each time, and they drink champagne.  In Gibraltar he is married to Celia Johnson.  He is in bed every night at 10 pm, doesn't go out for dinner, and buys his wife domestic presents like a vacuum cleaner and sewing machine.  The movie becomes funnier when De Carlo wants to become more domestic, and his British wife wants to start living life a lot more.  A very sexist film that likely could not be easily watched by a younger generation, but it has some fine moments of true comedy.  Nicholas Phipps is wonderful as the first officer.  The film is on the Criterion Channel.

 The Crown Prince is a three hour drama showing on Prime, detailing the short life of Rudolf, crown prince of the the Austria-Hungarian Empire.  If you want to see some stunning locations, costumes, and some decent historical drama, this makes a nice change from all of the British history lessons we get.  Though it focuses more on the Prince's love life than his ill-fated political career, he was so hampered that he could not have done anything much anyway.  The three hours or so goes by very quickly.

Deb's Criterion choice for last week was a film noir neither of us had seen.  From 1951, Robert Ryan plays a city cop that is getting too rough with the scum he has to deal with every night.  He is warned by his colleagues and his superior, but continues on his mean streak until the captain sends out of town to help solve a murder.  The movie, which has so far been gritty and urban, shifts to the snowy mountains, where the local sheriff and a posse are hunting down someone who murdered a young girl coming home from school.  Soon the chase is on.  It is an unusual noir in that the movie completely changes gear halfway through, and the ending, though not perfect, is more satisfying than most noir films.  Directed by Nicholas Ray, he became ill during filming and Ida Lupino, who plays the blind sister to the murderer, helped direct some of the final scenes.  Definitely worth a look.

I am halfway through July, where I am trying to memorize four of my piano pieces.  I seem to be on track, and have really been putting in the hours, so I should make it.  I will report back at the end of the month, but so far so good.

Mapman Mike

Bad Movie; Very Good Painting

Handmade Films produced some of the truest cinematic gems ever created.  However, Five Corners (1987) is not one of them.  With a fantastic cast that includes Jodie Foster, John Turturro, and Tim Robbins, the script is a real stinko.  Foster is totally wasted in her role, and I have no idea why Turturro would even accept such a role.  He plays a pyschopathic rapist just released from prison, eager to rape again.  He beats a small penguin to death to prove a point, as if it needed proving.  The film is a take-off on "Cape Fear," another manipulative and trashy film.  However, this one tries to mix in humour!  It doesn't work.  At all.  This was Deb's pick for the weekend.  She did not even finish watching it.  The movie gets stupider and stupider, and tries to end on a comic note.  Absolute trash.  The film did exceedingly poorly upon release.  No kidding.

 

A film to avoid, at all costs. 

In happier news, it was clear last night.  Despite a 5-day old moon, I headed out to do some galaxy hunting, and came home with nine of them in the bag.  I also enjoyed a look at the moon and Jupiter, and finished up late with some showpiece objects in a dark, pristine sky.

And now on to the DIA, and a second landscape painting by Panini, the companion to the one in my last entry.  These two paintings were some fo the first art that really helped me learn to appreciate art, when we first began visiting the DIA back in the late 1970s.

View of the Roman Forum, Panini.  Italian, 1735.  Detroit Institute of Arts.

29" x 53", unframed.

 Detail of left side.

 Detail of center.

 A closer central detail.  One could go on and on breaking this work into smaller pictures, much like some works by Bruegel.

 Detail of the right side.

 Closer detail of the right side.  This man could paint!  What a palette of browns!

Tomorrow is Detroit day!  An Ace Double awaits me at our mailbox.  A new place for coffee, and a fine brewpub also await.  I'll be bringing a camera.

Mapman Mike

Memorizing Music, and a DIA Painting

July is music memorization month around here, at least for me.  My goal is to have the 1st movement of the Haydn sonata in my head, along with the Couperin piece, the Debussy Prelude, and the massive Bartok Allegro Barbaro.  I will report back in 26 days to see how I'm doing.  I would like to have all pieces memorized for the next recital, excepting the Schubert, which is too long, and the Bach fugue, which is too complex.  We shall see.

Deb is officially free of her arm sling, after nearly five weeks.  She also has started her Physiotherapy, though the next two weeks involve just a few easy steps to do at home.  She returns to her center in two weeks to up the program a bit.  So far so good, though some pain is involved.  At least 6 months to go.  Today has been five weeks since her surgery.

I am now commencing an all-painting unit for my DIA exploration portion of this blog.  We begin with a Panini painting.  Take your seats, please.

 View of the Colosseum, G. P. Panini.  Italian, 1735.

29" x 53".  Detroit Institute of Arts.  

One of four paintings by the master in Detroit, Panini's paintings of Rome were popular with tourists of the day.  I remember discovering Panini on our earliest visits to the DIA, back in 1978.  His pictures opened up the world of landscape painting to me, and I have never looked back.  His works mix fantasy with reality, and we get a somewhat romanticized view of Rome at the time.  Everything in the picture is authentic, just not necessarily actually placed where it is. These large pictures are fun to look at, and the more you look the more you see.  Panini is good at mixing ancient ruins with those of more recent Christian edifices.

Detail of left side.

Detail of left half, which seems to make a complete painting in itself.

 A closer detail of the lower left, again seeming to make a complete painting.

 Right half of the picture.

 Further detail of right side.  Who wouldn't want to spend a lazy day exploring the area?  

More Panini next time, showing the companion picture to this one.

Mapman Mike

June Reading

Last night was my 2nd clear night in three nights.  My sleeping schedule is considerably off, but I had another good night at my secluded, secret observing site.  I am getting along with the huge windmill next to me, who likes to show off when a slight breeze comes up now and again.  The blades sound like a giant samurai sword in motion.  As today was new moon, and clouds and storms are forecast all week, I'm thinking that's it for this session.  I am still far behind on my notes.

We did get storms today, and (so far) 1/2" of rain.  it has been very warm and humid, and that will continue unabated, except during storms.  There were very dramatic clouds in the sky tonight.  I am hearing thunder once again just now.  I may not get to write about my June books just now.

 Dramatic clouds passing south of us.

 Close-up of above photo.

 Evening sky tonight.   

This was Deb's final full day in her sling.  It comes off tomorrow, and a small celebration is planned.  We also continue to watch the many extra features associated with recent films we have viewed.  We are finally done with the three Wenders films, and are finishing up 3 docs on the Pomegranate film.  In other viewing news, we continue to watch "Mr. Robot," now in its third season; "Electric Dreams," the series of films adapted from the short stories by P. K. Dick, and the newest Neil Gaiman series, based on Terry Pratchett's "Good Omens."

June was a good reading month, with definite highlights.  I have yet to grow tired of my 3+ years project of reading the works of the Avon/Equinox authors.  As I only read one book by each author at a time, this keeps things varied and interesting.  Always a different author when the present book is completed.  I read 11 related books last month, not all of them worth mentioning.  "The Wrecks of Time" by Michael Moorcock was a pretty decent read, but even better was the flip side of this Ace Double, featuring a novel by Emil Petaja, a SF based on the Finnish epic The Kalevala.  This turned out to be Book 4 in a 4-book series, but I now have Book 1 ready to go.  Usually, once I have read a book by each author I am following, I will choose a non-related work to read before starting over again.  Besides the Petaja book, I also read a children's story by W H. Hudson, called "A Little Boy Lost."

I read "Crash," by Ballard, and was so intrigued by this story that I followed up by watching the movie by David Cronenberg.  One cannot speak of "enjoying" such books and movies, but they certainly get your attention!  I found the book too long and often repetitive, but that was part of the point Ballard was trying to make.  The movie, on the other hand, was nearly a perfect length, and did justice to the book.  I recommend at least trying the book first; I don't see how the movie can make much sense otherwise.

"Universe Day" by Barry Malzberg really helped me solidify my own thoughts on space travel, and even travel here on Earth.  Our most important journeys are always going to be inward, not outward, and this was nicely reinforced by the three Wender movies watched this past weekend.  Malzberg is not a fan of space travel, and he has valid reasons.  The main reason, and also one that Spinrad deals well with, is that nothing can prepare us for the void.  We emphasize training our bodies to prepare for such journeys, but the mind is equally important.  Even on such short journeys as to the Moon and back, many of the astronauts who accomplished the journey cracked up afterwards.  Imagine four months in a tin can going to Mars, and getting there and finding the most hostile environment ever conceived.  One technological glitch and the ball game is over.  The more we have to depend on technology to stay alive, the less amount of time we should be spending there.  Now imagine a journey to Alpha Centauri.  There is simply no way.  Ever.  Anyway, I liked Malzberg's book a lot, which is a group of short stories on a theme.

Ward Moore's "Cloud By Day" was an astonishing work, set in a tiny, imaginary California highway settlement, on the day a very bad wild fire comes to town.  An exceptionally good writer, this is one of his earliest books, and a real find.  I will treasure it.

James Blish's "A Case of Conscience" was written as two novellas.  The first one is one of the best SF stories ever written (a lot of Blish is like that).  By comparison, the 2nd half is a bit of a letdown, though it is still much better than most SF stories I have read.  Part of his series called "After Such Knowledge," I have one more book to read in this group.

Mapman Mike

Wim Wenders Weekend

The basement is slowly beginning to get back into shape.  Books shelves are in position, and boxes are ready to unpack.  I enjoyed a clear night on Saturday, which made my Sunday more or less useless.  I haven't even finished my notes yet from the successful observing night.  I did not choose Hallam, but went to a site 7 miles east.  The skies were much better, and I got things done there that I could not do at Hallam.  It's sad, but the observatory site there is no longer very good, due to light pollution from Detroit/Windsor, and especially from the nearby greenhouses in the south.  Northwest, west, and south skies are now poor.  My new site is isolated, though stray light is a problem when there are no crops in the ground, as now.  I park near a giant windmill, which can also be problematic.  Still, it is the best I have.  The drive is longer, but the results are worth it, for now.

Deb has two more days to wear her sling!  She has had just about enough of it.  Luckily, she only had one shoulder done.  Imagine if the other one was going to be repaired.

The heat has been on us now for nearly a week.  Nothing extreme yet, just the usual for us at this time; highs just above 30, with humidity of course making it feel worth.  Still, early mornings and evenings are nice times to be outside.  The basement is very cool in summer, so it is a good place to work.

We watched three great films by Wim Wenders from the mid-70s this weekend, his three so-called "road movies."  From 1974 comes "Alice In the Cities,"which turned out to be the best of the three.  Though the plot is absurd by today's puritan standards, watching the film is pure delight.  The same actor (Rudiger Vogler) plays the lead in all three movies, but he gives his best performance here alongside 9 year old Yella Rottlander, who turns in an amazing performance.  Lisa Kreuzer is also in the three films,and plays the part of Alice's mother here.  One of the best things about watching Criterion versions of these films is that they have all been recently completely restored.  The prints are absolutely jaw-dropping in their clarity, and the sound is excellent.  Two of the three films are in b & w, which makes them even more enjoyable to us.  Even better, there are several short features that accompany each main event.  Contemporary interviews with the main actors are amazing, and their memories of making this film are happy ones.  Alice (Yella) is now a physician specializing in internal medicine, but her memories of making the film are joyous ones.

 This is the best of Wenders' three road movies.  

The 2nd film is from 1975, and is called "Wrong Move".  Though it is the least successful of the three, it is still a really, really good film.  Very loosely based on a story by Goethe, it focuses on a rag tag group of people who end up travelling around together and having discussions about poetry, politics, and the search for oneself.  New actors include a very beautiful Hanna Schygulla, a very young Nastassya Kinski (who played her nude scene as considerably underage at the time), Marianne Hoppe, and Hans Christian Blech.  Vogler, who plays the lead, admits in the interview that he did not do justice to his part, and it might be the reason why the film doesn't soar. Also, some of the dialogue is a bit heavy and pretentious, but the acting by the others is so good that it hardly detracts.  It's difficult to make a film about someone in search of something, but they do not know what it is.  This is a really good attempt, and I did like it a lot, and would watch it again.

 Though the least successful of the three road films, it is still quite a good film.

The third and final film of our weekend, "Kings of the Road," is nearly three hours in length, yet I wish it had been longer.  It is an excellent film about a man (Vogler) doing his rounds as a film projector repairman.  He visits small towns that still have cinemas, and the movie takes place close to the border with East Germany.  The movie has a lot to say about the disappearance of town cinemas.  Those that are still around are usually showing porn films, or special kiddies matinees.  It is a grim scene wherever he goes, and Wenders makes parts of Germany look very abandoned and shabby.

Joined by Hanns Zischler, after he runs his VW bug into the river, the two men travel together for what seems like an eternity, their lives empty.  But the road beckons, and they are constantly moving on.  They sleep in Vogler's truck by the roadside at night, and even those nights lead to adventures and misadventures.  The film eventually arrives at its inevitable climax, and both men separate and move with their lives.  This is a very seductive film to watch, as it just draws you in so easily and holds you spellbound throughout.  Well worth a 2nd look.

 Three hours long, but worth every minute.

Tonight (Canada Day!) we will continue to watch the many short features related to these movies, about a dozen in all.  And I still have a few more to watch from our Pomegranate film from last week.  Hopefully, basement books will get unpacked, and astronomy notes written up. 

I read 11 books in June related to authors from the Avon/Equinox series, plus two not related.  I will try to fit that discussion into my next post.

Mapman Mike