scifirenegade: (rip | kurt & paul)
Very late, but the Danish Silent Film branch of the Danish Film Archive has put out some August Blom dramas. They're all short and seem interesting.

E of Villain by Accident has put out a duology of articles about the two Powell & Pressburger-Hobson & Veidt films. The Spy in Black and Contraband. They are, as always, excellent (and I want to put the Contraband graphic on a notebook cover).

Stummfilmtage in Bonn is coming and alas, as always, I cannot go. They do have an online component (starting today!), but the highlight of the festival is Gösta Berlings saga (with Greta Garbo ;w; ) and that one is not available in non-Germanic countries. Boooooooo! At least Die grosse Sehnsucht will be, if one cares for Ufa Avengers type stuff. Conny Veidt is on there for like 5 minutes and he's a delight. Another film festival, La Giornate del Cinema Mudo, will have a retrospective called "Weimar Uncensored: Taboos and transgression in 1919-20. Not a lot of info as of now.

Cadogan Hall is going to show Metropolis in January next year. Live music with Metropolis, what a dream! And they also have Frankenstein! Similarly, and earlier, is Bristol Megascreen's showing of The Lodger (with live music) and Vertigo.

There's a book called The Silent Film Companion and I desperately need it. It's got Filibus on the cover! It has an essay on Orlacs Hände! If they don't mention the accidental trans metaphor I'm gonna lose it probably, but still! Why is the ebook so expensive, it's not like the writers are getting decent monetary compensation for their work sigh for the writers

Via [community profile] meta_warehouse:


Pic time! )

As for random movies I've randomly found on the webs:


And to end the post, the most important thing (via E): a very mysterious Conrad Veidt retrospective in Berlin, 2027. Where exactly? When exactly? Who knows! What movies are they showing? A mystery! I must know, I need to start budgeting. Also, took Berlin 500 years to finally give the man some bread. Last time a restrospective happened was last year in Paris. Before that was 2018 in Vienna. At that rate, I thought the next retrospective would be in Lisbon or something.

I've been much to tired to do lots of typing, so both my blog here and on Pillowfort have been barren, and I've barely left any comments. I also haven't been drawing. C'est la vie!
scifirenegade: (:) | hardt)
I finished reading The Spy in Black.
I went back to my room in a strange state of exhilaration for a man who had just decided to forgo the thing he had most looked forward to, and run a horrible risk instead. For I felt in my bones that uniform or no uniform I should be shot if I were caught. I put little trust in English justice or clemency. But, as I said before, when I am obstinate, I am very obstinate; and I was firmly resolved that if Wiedermann wanted me back on board to-night, he would have to call a guard and carry me!


Last time we saw Belke, Eileen was convincing him to stay instead of going back to the U-boat. Belke accepted. As he is about to relay intel to his Commander:

"We shall wait for you here," said Tiel in a low voice, "but don't be longer than you can help. Remember my nerves!"
He spoke so cheerily and genially, that for the moment I liked him again. In fact, if it had not been for Eileen, and his love of mystery, there was much that was very attractive in Tiel.


Friends to enemies to enemies-with-benefits when?

Everythings will get a little fragmentary, my apologies.

Belke does not want to go to his room.

"After hours of loneliness! And then leave me lonelier than ever! No, thank you, I shall stay down here."
"In your uniform?" she asked, opening her eyes a little. "No, no, Mr Belke!"
"Well then, get me a suit of mufti!"
She looked at me hard.
"You will really run that risk?"
"It is now worth it," I said with meaning.
[...]
She began to smile.
"Do you propose to wear my clothes?" she inquired.
"Yours!" I exclaimed.
"Otherwise," she continued, "you must persuade Tiel to agree, for it is only he who can provide you with a suit of mufti."


You know, sometimes this book does give some good shit. I can kinda see why Michael Powell thought Eileen was perhaps not the best character to showcase Valerie Hobson's prowess, but she's got some nice dialogue.

"You must surely know one thing. What is your own part in it? Why were you brought into the islands? Such risks are not run for nothing."
"What is a woman's part in such a plan usually?" she asked in a quiet voice.
I was a little taken aback. It was not exactly pleasant to think of—in connection with Eileen.
"I believe they sometimes act as decoys," I said bluntly.
She merely nodded.
"Then that is your rôle?"
"I presume so," she said frankly.
"Who are you going to decoy?" I asked, and I felt that my voice was harsh.
"Ask Herr Tiel," she answered.
"Not that gross brute Ashington surely!"
She shook her head emphatically, and I felt a little relieved.


(It's you, you dummy.)

This man's head is so filled with duty and Eileen he's now wondering if he can marry her.

She must surrender; that is certain, for I have willed it, and what a German wills with all his soul takes place. It must!


Hey, his characterisation is very inline with the time period.

There's this guy I don't think I mentioned in the first part, he wanted a governess for his children, and Eileen was the one who got the job (she was only known to us as Miss Holland). Then she skedaddled, how I have no idea. So guy is looking for her and is now aware she was seen in the house our main characters are in. Amazing.

"[...] We've two sons at the front, you must know, and one of them's called Bob. Well, I got a letter from him, and suddenly I looked awful grave and cried, 'My God, Bob's been blown up'—you should have seen Mrs Craigie jump—'by his Colonel!' said I, and I tell you she was nearly as put about to find I'd been pulling her leg as if he'd really been blown to smithereens. Women are funny things."


He's sure a prankster, that guy! Seriously, what the fuck were you expecting, you made your wife believe one of her sons was dead!

Prankster guy reveals the whole Eileen situation and this bombshell.

"But," I stammered, before I could think what I was saying, "I thought he did preach last Sunday!"
"Not him! Oh, people are talking a lot about it."
This revelation left me absolutely speechless. Tiel had told me distinctly and deliberately that he had gone through the farce of preaching last Sunday—and now I learned that this was a lie. What was worse, he had assured me that he was causing no comment, and I now was told that people were "talking." Coming straight on top of my discovery of his reckless conduct of Eileen's affair, what was I to think of him?


You would think he would put two and two together to make three, but alas, that would be asking too much of Belke. He does want to confront Tiel but Eileen dissuades him, suggests to tell Tiel the day after.

Everything gets revealed, basically a more complicated version of what happens in the movie. Belke is a prisoner of war now. Blacklock (Tiel) and Eileen go smooch or something.

Ngl it was a brisk read and was amusing. I kinda miss it already. (I'm reading the second Anno Dracula. I've discovered some shocking revelations. Captain Hardt may not actually be in it, so my enthusiam when I first discovered it is so damn low.)
scifirenegade: (sleepy | delgado!master)
Been much too tired for anything. Sorry.

Films Watched

  • The White Rose (1923)

  • Medida Provisória (2020)

  • Ivan the Terrible, Part II (1958)

  • McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) ✨

  • Moulin Rouge! (2001) ✨

  • The Bohemian Girl (1922)

  • Stalag 17 (1953) ✨

  • La Baie des Anges (1963)

  • Pour Don Carlos (1921)

  • Michel Strogoff (1926) ✨



Books being read (for leisure)

  • The Bloody Red Baron by Kim Newman

  • Ivor Novello: Screen Idol by Michael Williams



Finished Arts
Nothing *cries*

Words Written

  • Barbara's Great Wine Search: 0 words

  • Pre-canon AadA fic: 0 words (total 828 words)

  • Three Sentence Ficathon 2026: 0 fics (total 0 words)

  • Miscellaneous short fics: 0 fic, 0 words (total 150 words)


Total: 0 words
scifirenegade: (marquis 2)
It appears bots can create Dreamwidth accounts and spam entries. Just got one (transational_writes) which went on a Russian AI ramble on my review of The White Rose. Caught it immediately because, by sheer luck, I had mobile data on and got the comment email.

Stay alert, folks!
scifirenegade: (pretty | lancelot)
Films Watched

  • Journey's End (1930) ✨

  • Jungfrukällan • The Virgin Spring (1960) ✨

  • The Vampire (1913)

  • Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking (2021)

  • The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920)

  • The Vortex (1928)

  • I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

  • Westfront 1918 (1930)

  • Ivan the Terrible, Part I (1944) ✨

  • Charade (1963)

  • Victor/Victoria (1982) ✨

  • The Volunteer (1944)



Books being read (for leisure)

  • The Bloody Red Baron by Kim Newman

  • Ivor Novello: Screen Idol by Michael Williams



Books Finished

  • Heavenly Bodies by Richard Dyer

  • The Spy in Black by John Storer Clouston



Finished Arts

  • Paul Orlac, our trans icon (pen and coloured pencils on paper, minor collage elements)

  • Marquis processing (pen and coloured pencils on paper, gif version featuring digital elements)

  • No dumb doodles -_-



Words Written

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

  • Pre-canon AadA fic: 66 words (total 828 words), ugh

  • Three Sentence Ficathon 2026: 0 fics (total 0 words)

  • Miscellaneous short fics: 150 fic (total 150 words) - reworking


Total: 216 words
scifirenegade: (angry | ellissen)
The White Rose (1923) ties with the 1934 Wilhelm Tell as "the worst movie I've seen because someone I like is on it."

There are melodramas (because this is one, as much as it wants us to not think so) that are crummy that still had a little something that made me care. Caino (1918) had its visuals, for instance. This has nothing. I never cared for Griffith, I've tried two of his creme-de-la-creme movies and despised them. We're three for three now! I don't even know what the plot is supposed to be, other than to find excuses to shit on black people and poor people, but that's just normal at this point.

Okay, there's one neat thing: these sparkly, dreamy closeups in soft focus. But eh, I wouldn't be ready for them personally (I'm high-fiving my brain for such a "splendid" reference).

Mae Marsh is used to Griffith, so of course she's good (and she ended up being in The Rat <3 ). Ivor Novello is not, because boy, did Americans not get his shtick. He's a rascal, an outsider, a wronged man. Here he's a goody-two-shoes, judgemental prick with a stick up his arse. Novello isn't used to that and doesn't want to become accustomed to it (he despised this movie, calling this character "a sentimental prig with no sense of humour"; I'll drink to that).

Also, I listened to The Cure while watching this. I don't like listening to songs with lyrics while watching silents, but it was sure one way to keep me awake.

Dump

2 July 2026 17:08
scifirenegade: (space | one)
I'm gonna catch up soon, don't worry.

A new, seemingly definitive restoration of Sunrise premiered on Il Cinema Ritrovato last month. People have joked before its premiere it would look like piss because this specific lab worked on (the guy behind that Bad Restorations site, presumably, but how do you even do that with B&W films?!). I've watched the one copy I have today and I'm pumped. Hopefully the general public gets to experience it in a new way.

Liebe macht blind was also at Il Cinema Ritrovato and I didn't have the money to go there. Come on! E and me could've totally given one heck of a presentation for tickets and roof!

Sony announced they'll no longer make physical copies of games. This happens a few days after they poofed hundreds of movies from users' accounts. The people are no longer allowed to own anything, corporations own everything. I'm about to go full hammer and sickle.

[community profile] trope_of_the_month announced permanent amnesty. Which is a shame, but at least there's a decent backlog.

Lil Nas X is back?? Hopefully he's doing much better.

It's amazing I watched Viktor und Viktoria (1933) first, years ago, and not Victor/Victoria (1982), with Julie Andrews. I love Julie Andrews! This is what happens when your brain is baby-blended by the Mary Poppins movie. Anyway, 1933 movie is still delightful and the 1982 movie does match its predecessor well ('cept maybe for crummy love interest, but Walbrook!Robert wasn't exactly stellar to begin with). I love Vic and Toddy's relationship OMG. Big big besties!

I have a rant about The White Rose (Griffith blah) and the second and last part of The Spy in Black: The Book coming. And the stats.
scifirenegade: (introspective | jackie)
The pianist who got the hands of a murderer grafted is trans ~



In other news: [profile] classicfilmx is having happening this year!
scifirenegade: (marquis 2)
Films Watched

  • Nope (2022)

  • Caino (1918)

  • Afgrunden (1910)

  • Balletdanserinden (1911)

  • L'appel du sang (1919/20)

  • Das Mädchen ohne Vaterland (1912)

  • Die arme Jenny (1912)

  • Im dem großen Augenblick (1911)

  • Cries and Whispers (1972)

  • Death Becomes Her (1992)

  • On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) ✨

  • Sommarlek • Summer Interlude (1951) ✨

  • Gaslight (1940) ✨

  • Frenzy (1972)

  • Gaslight (1944)

  • Sommaren med Monika (1953)

  • Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

  • Roma città aperta (1945) ✨

  • Torn Curtain (1966)

  • The Constant Nymph (1928)

  • Trädgårdsmästaren • The Gardener (1912)

  • Tystnaden • The Silence (1963)

  • Törst (1949)

  • Fängelse • Prison (1949)



(Hope my coping mechanism isn't showing...)

Books being read (for leisure)

  • Heavenly Bodies by Richard Dyer

  • The Spy in Black John Storer Clouston



Finished Arts
Nothing! Absolutely nothing!

Words Written

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

  • Pre-canon AadA fic: 0 words (total 762 words), ugh


Total: 000 words, a
scifirenegade: (one more thing | columbo)
To the flist: I've read your posts <3 Will get to the comments asap




Back in February, the F.W. Murnau Stiftung showed HD restorations of both the German and the English versions of Die letzte Kompagnie.

Me: I don't care for Die letzte Kompagnie.
Me: OMG HD restorations! Gimme!

You can watch what little footage has been released to us-mortals here. Never seen it so clear. They used two international release versions as a basis for the restorations, which had intertitles, as is custom with early talkies. Now I wonder if the lights of heaven that appear in the version making the rounds are the missing frames that would have otherwise be the intertitles.




The Spy in Black: The Book is... an interesting read. It's not bad, but there's a reason why the movie is basically its own thing. There's a lot of characters, some are even introduced halfway through. The writing is simple, but paints a full scene. It also ends up repeating itself a lot. And I don't see why there's a need to go "I said, he said" at every bit of dialogue. I haven't finished it yet btw.

The rest is down here )




Here's a couple of funny dreams:

A new Judex movie which started as a fancy period-piece (very 19th-century-ish), then quickly transitioned into a modern-day setting. Pretty sure the baddies were hiding in my granmother's house. The movie got bored with himself, turning into a Judex vs Yakuza thing (also Yu-Gi-Oh is there). There were also giant pineapples, the size of a person. That's important somehow.


Laserdisc version of The Thief of Bagdad was found, and it had missing scenes. I wonder why I dream of it even if I'm not that into it.





Bristol's Cinema Rediscovered has many things, including two showings of Queen Kelly.

University of Pennsylvania's list of online books :D

Roy Glashan's Library and Global Grey Books are yet some other places to get public domain books
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