To calm down my boiling blood, I'm watching Dr. Mabuse (der spieler) (the first part). It's been literal ages and boy, is this HD copy contrasted to hell and back. Sometimes I can barely tell people's facial features!

Which leads us to Bad Film Restoration, which is exactly what it says. TLDR, less is more. Don't go crazy on the cloning and noise reduction tool.

Conrad Veidt, ein magier der Leinwand disappeared from YouTube after many years of it being up. The channel was terminated. It was full of German movie documentaries you can't find anywhere else. Copyright is, indeed, against art preservation.

The documentary is on the Internet Archive for anyone's viewing pleasure. No subs though.

Throughout November, I tried drawing as many traditional pieces as possible. I made it to five!

Of course, most of it is Veidt-related, but look! Judex and Filibus, there's variety!

Films Watched

• The Ocean Waif (1916)


• After Death (1915)


• Dernier amour (1916)


• Le Mystère des roches de Kador (1912)


• Crimson Peak (2015)

Books being read (for leisure)

• Anno Dracula by Kim Newman


• The Speed of Sound by Scott Eyman

Books on hold

• Terrarium by João Barreiros and Luís Filipe Silva

Arts

• 7 finished pieces (Judex, Hardt, Rosing, JJ, Andersen, Filibus, Cesare)


• No dumb doodles :(

Words Written

• Barbara's Great Wine Search: 0 words, ugh


• Pre-canon AadA fic: 0 words (total 599 words), ugh


• Else & Paul bonding moment: 92 words (total 653 words)


• Miscellaneous short fics: one fics (total 100 words)

Total: 192 words

Wasn't expecting to get into René Cresté's filmography (of Judex and Tih Minh [1]), let alone actually finding things that feature him, and then bam! Two Feuillade movies on the Internet Archive, this one by Léonce Perret [2] and one Perret comedy short that I thought was lost but it was sitting on YouTube for months. Cresté looks so young and so tense in front of the camera (one of his first film roles) that he felt like a completely different person!

Back to Dernier amour, it's the age-old story of a retired actress falling in love with a younger man.

It's clear Ninon (Valentine Petit, Mrs. Perret) didn't retire because she wanted to, in the first minutes of the movie she reminisces about her career, looking at old pictures of her former glory and does a little song and dance routine. She clearly yearns to perform again. She also has two buddies who butt heads over who gets to marry her and she thinks it's hilarious. So far, it looks like a romcom.



And then Roger (René "Judex" Cresté) happens. He's a film director, and makes Ninon the request to shoot his historical drama in her large, beautiful gardens. And she's smitten. He's charming and artistically-inclined (and hot). He's also engaged to this girl and that girl knows where this is going. Ninon doesn't know this.




A romance blossoms, Roger breaks his engagement, moves to Ninon's villa. They're cute and playful (seriously, maybe it's because Cresté and Reine Dessort, the fiancé, have little screen time together, but he and Petit have great chemistry).




It's a lie. It's clear Ninon lives him, but Roger just wants to have the comfortable life of a wealthy man.



The ex-fiancé is dying of grief and Roger is urged to go back to her. The truth comes out. Ninon lets him go. She goes back to her old life, and will never forget (their "love"? his deceit?), and he gets a happy ending, since the ex-fiancé-now-fiancé-again gets better. Honestly, good for that girl, but he's no good lol

(For all of Judex's brooding, the man's heart is buttery soft and is ultimately in the right place. Roger is one heck of a charmer, all smiles and pretty words, and he sucks. No wonder audiences liked Cresté so much, even before Judex, even before he made movies. Dude just slips into roles live gloves. Except that one short, but again, baby's first time onscreen.)

(Also, Valentine Petit is no joke. Singer, dancer and film actress for over 10 years! She was a joy! And then broke my heart.)

I love the way this movie uses mirrors. Ninon sits in front of it, watches her face, stretches the skin around her eyes. Her age was what forced her to retire. Isn't show business great? Another scene with Roger, as he waxes poetry to Ninon over the phone, and his fiancé looks on, unseen by him, but seen by us because of the mirror. I'm easily amused.



Shots are framed by foreground elements (mostly plants) like a book illustration. Characters move from foreground to background effortlessly.



And it's a movie that features movies as an important... thing. I would've loved more of it. The shooting of the historical drama is delightful (great arm flailing, very director). And the scene at the studio. The camera doesn't move at all except in this scene, a pan over the Gaumont studio (they gotta pimp themselves), where they're filming a drama, a comedy and an historical epic at the same time! It's all staged ofc, but it's still fun. It is what made Die grosse Sehnsucht for me.



I could not gif the sweep for the life of me D:

It isn't amazing, but I was pleasantly surprised [3]. Worth a watch if one's curious about what Judex was doing before he donned the cape.

[1] Is it any good? I'm a little on the fence on watching it.
[2] Now on the Internet Archive :D
[3] Also surprised by how long this is o_o

Because everyone's doing the alphabet meme.

Rules: How many letters of the alphabet have you used for starting a fic title? One fic per line, ‘A’ and 'The’ do not count for 'a’ and ’t’. Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count.

A - Always Misunderstood - F.P.1, Droste/Ellissen, pre-canon, drabble

B - Birthday - Anders als die Andern, Kurt(/Paul), post-canon, drabble and a half

C - Close your eyes and I'll kiss you - Ich und die Kaiserin, Juliette/Marquis, post-canon, drabble

D - Dance With Me - Ich und die Kaiserin, Didier/Juliette, pre-canon, quintuple drabble

E - nothing to see here

F - Frills - Ich und die Kaiserin, Juliette/Marquis, post-canon, ficlet (in-universe diary)

G - Give Chase - The Blue Parrot, Bob, post-canon, drabble and a half

H - Helmet - The Adventures of Sir Lancelot, Lancelot/Lynette, post-Sir Crustabread, three sentence fic

I - The Inevitable - Anders als die Andern, Paul(/Kurt), during canon, drabble

J - Just a Parrot - The Blue Parrot, Bob and Maureen, post-canon, drabble

K - nothing to see here

L - Leave All but the Memories - Anders als die Andern, Kurt, post-canon, drabble

M - Meow? What About Me? - The Adventures of Sir Lancelot, Brian, three sentence fic

N - Naamio - A Woman's Face, Torsten, half-drabble

O - Overwhelming - Ich und die Kaiserin, Juliette/Marquis, post-canon, drabble

P - Philately - Nazi Agent, Otto, pre-canon, drabble

Q - nothing to see here

R - The Rose is Red, the Violet is Blue - Ich und die Kaiserin, Juliette/Marquis, post-canon, microfic (in-universe poetry)

S - The sin was mine - Sex in Chains, Alfred, pre-canon, drabble

T - Triangle - Ich und die Kaiserin, Didier/Juliette/Marquis, post-canon, triple drabble

U - Unrequited - The Last Performance, Julie, canon divergence, drabble

V - Valse - Ich und die Kaiserin, Juliette/Marquis, post-canon, three sentence fic

W - The Walk - Doctor Who, Barbara/Ian, drabble

X - nothing to see here

Y - Yearning - The Adventures of Hal 5, The Vicar/Original Character, drabble

Z - nothing to see here

Which makes it 21/26. And turns out I have over 100 fics o_O

And now for some hot koffie another installement of the fanperson meme.

Who is your favorite character or member within your fandom, and why?
Ace. Came for the cool, stayed for some increbible character development.

What is your favorite installment, episode, or album from your fandom?
Ghost Light is the best DW story.

Do you have a favorite quote, lyric, or saying from your fandom?
I love the "There are worlds out there where the sky is burning" speech. Poetic, represents Doctor Who perfectly. The nicest way to end an era.

What’s your favorite fan-created content (art, music, video, story) related to your fandom?
Hard to decide. Maybe the whole work of one of the first people I followed here on Dreamwidth, who hasn't written for Doctor Who in years but I'm glad she's still going!

Who is your favorite pair or group within the fandom in terms of chemistry or dynamics?
The seventh Doctor and Ace :D

Do you have a preferred genre when it comes to fan fiction or fan works in your fandom?
I like to think I'm open to anything.

What’s your favorite piece of lore or backstory within your fandom’s universe?
I like the life cataloguer who hated evolution *is a Ghost Light enjoyer*

Is there a particular scene, moment, or episode that always makes you emotional or excited?
It has been almost 15 years but That Scene in The Curse of Fenric. It fucks me up every time.

What’s your preferred platform for engaging with fellow fans and content (forums, social media, etc.)?
Tumblr for Doctor Who (mostly rebligs), Dreamwidth for everything (even Icm not good at talking). Pillowfort is to have part-constructive, part-squeeful interactions with one cool person.

Can you name a favorite moment when the community came together to support the fandom or a cause?
There was a Barbara/Ian zine that raised money for breast cancer. Smaller than most zines I usually see, but it's still nice.

What’s your favorite way to show your fandom pride (cosplay, apparel, tattoos, etc.)?
I have three Van Gogh pins, so I guess that (one broke a few weeks ago, sad).

Who’s your favorite content creator, artist, or writer within the fandom, and what do you love about their work?
See the fan-created content question.

Note: I do not like the use of the word "content" when associtaed with fan-produced media, but that's a rant for another time.