While bigger isn't always better, sometimes it is just what the tech doctor ordered. We left our 40" TV behind and went for a 55" one. I wanted a 50" since we watch in a fairly small room, but the larger one was considerably cheaper. In addition to a better picture and a considerably enlarged one, Deb has hooked two good speakers into it for movie quality sound. I've moved my chair back a wee bit and so far I am loving the new TV. What have we been watching? Movies, some smaller series, and we have added a new channel. Through Amazon's early Black Friday sale we have subscribed to Apple TV for 6 months, giving access to a number of shows we have an interest in. We just started with that channel today, so give me some time to report on it. One of the many series I am interested in is a version of Asimov's Foundation SF novel series. More to come.
Our "new" computer is still at the factory getting repaired. It's been away nearly twice as long as we have had it at home, with no end in sight. They had to wipe all our data as the OS was corrupt, in addition to a number of other problems not of our doing. This was a very expensive computer that was to be better to play PC games on. So far we haven't got much for our money. In movie news there are several to report.
Most recently was a horror film with John Carradine called Blood Legacy from 1971. The actor starred in 47 films in the 1970s alone, many of them low budget horror movies. This one is featured on one of my DVD collections, which I have been ignoring until recently. Before things like Prime Video, Mubi and Criterion streaming channels arrived, people used to watch DVDs with movies on them. For real. I bought several collections of 50-movie packs back in the day, but we stopped watching them when we got Roku etc. The print is terrible, as is the sound. But it's a somewhat fun look at the usual murder plot--an insane family of four siblings have to remain in their house overnight before they get their just rewards from their just-deceased father. The just rewards include death by axe, electrocution, bee stings and piranhas in an aquarium. Out of about a dozen characters in the film only one survives. To see the film once is plenty enough for us.
Robert Altman's 1990 film Vincent and Theo has some very fine photography that recreates rooms and landscapes where the artist Van Gogh painted. Tim Roth as Van Gogh is quite something else, reminding me as much of Shane McGowan than of Vincent. Theo is played by Paul Rhys. The actors seem to lack chemistry, and many of their scenes together just become too flat, despite all the shouting and histrionics that occur. Both brothers seem quite mad, and they died not too far apart in time. The film is overlong and seems to waste time confusing viewers with chronologies and overlapping dialogue. Many people who watch the film would have no idea of dates when certain events were happening, or of how Vincent's paintings changed so dramatically in his final two or three years. The final shot of the two grave markers side by side (Theo had syphilus) gives us end dates, but nothing else is dated. Gaughin, who briefly befriended Vincent comes in and out of the picture at different times. Despite an honest effort I was not terribly impressed with the movie. It looked pretty nice on our new TV, though.
Two films from Mubi finish up this part of the blog. First came a restored version of a b & w trashy film from 1967. Shanty Tramp, directed by Joseph G. Prieto is the cautionary tale of something or other, so beware. There are lessons to be learned, I'm almost certain. A sleazy dark-haired bimbo has a bit of a rep around her small town, as does her drunkard Pa. In fact, all the girls seem rather slimy in this town, and that's not even beginning to talk about the guys. Watching the lead actress "dance" at a cafe is truly something to behold. Nothing so undancey has ever before appeared on camera. It's heartbreaking to see a girl try to dance for a camera who just can't move in any coordinated fashion whatsoever. It's also painful to watch her seduce a young black man, then turn on him when Pa catches them lying naked together (a shocking scene for 1967, especially in the American south). He ends up dead, like a lot of other characters in the film. What is most shocking is that there were three remaining prints of the film that survived the ages and enabled it to be restored. I can't imagine being the guy who proposed the restoration of this film in the first place. A one of a kind film, with a very loud preacher and too much "Saints Go Marching In" music.
Intimate Confession of a Chinese Courtesan (1971) makes an interesting pairing with the above film. Not that the quality of the films can be compared, but both feature women of questionable character as leads, but understandably so. This film is stylish and beautifully filmed, and might be one of the first female revenge films, a genre that still lives on happily today. A young woman is kidnapped and forcibly brought to a brothel. It takes some taming, but once she sees there is no escape she switches tactics and goes along with the game. She is raped by four piggish and powerful men (no way!), and silently swears revenge. She makes a (male) friend within the brothel and together they make a failed attempt at escape. When he is killed she is determined to exact justice on the entire brothel. Filled with lavish sets and beautiful costumes, there is also a lot of swordplay and kung fu action scenes. Definitely worth checking out. Nothing like this will ever come out of China again, and no doubt it is banned there as well. Nudity, violence, lesbian kissing and rape scenes (tastefully edited, of course). Of course it stars Lily Ho. Go figure.
Mapman Mike
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