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small_fandoms: the February Drabblethon is coming. Putting this here for anyone interested.beatrice_otter's post about crowdsourcing public domain e-books. Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks, Librovox and the Smithsonian mentioned.small_fandoms: the February Drabblethon is coming. Putting this here for anyone interested.
Finished Michael R. Pitts' Thrills Untapped.
Like I said previously, it's a catalogue of lesser-known fantasy, horror, mystery and science-fiction films released in the US (apparently). Being written in the 2000s, when availability was an issue (it still is though), the plot synopsis-es are very detailed; sadly, there aren't enough production tidbits.
Thoughts and things:
Fun film stuff:
Like I said previously, it's a catalogue of lesser-known fantasy, horror, mystery and science-fiction films released in the US (apparently). Being written in the 2000s, when availability was an issue (it still is though), the plot synopsis-es are very detailed; sadly, there aren't enough production tidbits.
Thoughts and things:
- Not only was our boy Connie "too reserved" in FP1 (I have seen the film now, Ellissen is wildin'), he's also "oddly passive, almost spectral like" [sic] in The Passing of the Third Floor Back. Well, he's "spectral like" because he's not exactly human, he's a trancendental being (essentially an angel). And he can't outright take action, he has to steer this broken group towards kindness, they have to make that choice themselves.
- The whole thing needed another round of revision. Sometimes, I feel like some sentences needed one more comma, and I caught a few typos. Just look at the quote below.
- Actresses are assessed by how beautiful they look in the film, rather than their actual performance, most of the time. A dude wrote this, for sure...
- Some of these films didn't even premiere in the US! Others did. Decades later. On TV. Basically, the film choice criteria isn't too great.
- Continuing that bit, some films can't even be classified as mystery, or science fiction, or fantasy, or horror. Looking at The Last Performance, it's more of a love square drama than anything else. And freaking Pandora's Box?? Seriously?? Even the author admits that some of these probably shouldn't have been here:
- I didn't know documentaries could be in a thing in a catalogue about fiction films. For example, Eisenstein's Que Viva Mexico! makes an appearance.
- Got a few films to watch though :D
During the production of The Woman in White sound pictures became a reality and director Herbert Wilcox considered scrapping previously shot footage and making it as a talkie but no sound technicians were available in London so the film was finished as a silent.
Anyone expecting a horror film will be disappointed with Where East Is East, which is really a love story with a subplot of a woman trying to take away her daughter’s fiancé.
Fun film stuff:
- Lots of films about murderous giant manta rays. Except they're also all the same film. The murderous giant manta ray paradox, I call it.
- I Conquer the Sea! (1936) has a Portuguese family... with a Spanish surname!
- Very sad Masks of the Devil (1928) is lost. A bit Dorian Gray-ey, a bit Student of Prague-ey, seemed right up my alley.
(no subject)
12 October 2024 15:26The lovely senmut sent me some Dreamwidth points! Thank you so much!
(Btw I'm so close to finishing Thrills Untapped. Expect some thoughts soon-ish. Next: back to Gay Berlin.)
senmut sent me some Dreamwidth points! Thank you so much!(Btw I'm so close to finishing Thrills Untapped. Expect some thoughts soon-ish. Next: back to Gay Berlin.)
We're B-O-O-K
28 September 2024 10:27Finished Grosses Kino. A nice overview of silent German cinema in my country, although the last chapters are about film theory and I've been traumatised by 19th century art theory to care. Sigh. I do rec though.
Now I want to find Cinéfilo mags.
Started Thrills Untapped, a collection of horror, mystery and science fiction films from the late 20s-early 30s in America. Not all necessarily American (some Soviet, some British, for example). The author says Conrad Veidt in FP1 is too reserved. Sir, that man's is tiggering and very obscene, and I didn't even see the film. Film summaries up the wazoo, because the book was written in the early 2000s. I would like some more production tidbits.
Did get some film recs.
Now I want to find Cinéfilo mags.
Started Thrills Untapped, a collection of horror, mystery and science fiction films from the late 20s-early 30s in America. Not all necessarily American (some Soviet, some British, for example). The author says Conrad Veidt in FP1 is too reserved. Sir, that man's is tiggering and very obscene, and I didn't even see the film. Film summaries up the wazoo, because the book was written in the early 2000s. I would like some more production tidbits.
Did get some film recs.
Couple of months ago, got the hold of a catalogue of a retrospective of George Cukor that Cinemateca Portuguesa did in 1996. All of Cukor's filmography was shown in that retrospective, but only a select few films have texts here.
Behold! (nice kitchen towel and hand)
So, I go straight to the A Woman's Face entry and... it's fine. I think they didn't get Anna's character.
Translation below, if you're interested.
But wait!
Above Suspicion is my favourite Cukor film, indeed...
Behold! (nice kitchen towel and hand)
So, I go straight to the A Woman's Face entry and... it's fine. I think they didn't get Anna's character.
Translation below, if you're interested.
If Cukor suggested Joan Crawford for Susan and God, it was Crawford who wanted Cukor in A Woman's Face. The actress was convinced that, in this difficult phase of her career, only a big dramatic triumph could shed light to her ambitions. As one knows, this dream had to wait until 1945, with Mildred Pierce. And the filmmaker who "turned her career around" wouldn't be Cukor, but Michael Curtiz (but Crawford was loyal and declared that the Oscar she won for Curtiz's film was truly because of A Woman's Face). It's curious to note, however, that it's Cukor who takes a new turn in Crawford's career, just as he's directing Garbo and Norma Shearer's latest films.
A Woman's Face is a film that, simbolically, has something to tell us about the two personalities that participate in it, Cukor and Crawford: the first, the ethical value of beauty, that is, beauty as a criteria for moral measurement. It's curious Cukor directed this film, a man so profoundly concious about his uglyness, who searched relentlessly for beauty in others. Anna, in the film, was bad because she was ugly, it's in the horrible scar that disgures her that lives the origin and the cause of her evil. After the surgery, the face that appears can only be good. Cukor said, a bit ironically, that, in the first half of A Woman's Face, there was the work of an actress giving it her all: in his half, however, there was only Joan Crawford's face. In Crawford's part we have, let's say, the opposite situation: tired of being "pretty" in numerous MGM productions in which she did little more than showcasimg Adrian's models from one side of the screen to the other, she wanted now to prove that it wasn't only her face that mattered, but her acting talent. A Woman's Face appears at a time in which Crawford wants to destroy her own image (and note the film was done against Mayer, who believed it to be unthinkable to make Crawford "ugly") that would culminate in Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar (1954). Moreover, the intense suffering and to fill a film eith this suffering would be Crawford's hallmark from now on. The love affair with the camera still persists (perhaps to a lesser degree), but the way of sweeping the public away was different.
But wait!
Above Suspicion is my favourite Cukor film, indeed...
(no subject)
26 June 2024 14:12Gay Berlin is still on pause. Will it ever be back on? Yes. When life lets me. Still rereading Emma. Started Grosses Kino: O Cinema Mudo Alemão em Portugal. I really need a digital hemeroteca for all the magazines the author is citing.
Finished Gods and Monsters, by Soister. If you want a very opionated look at Universal's science fiction, mystery and horror films, this is the book. I was looking for something that had less plot descriptions and more production notes, but hey. The author at least makes sure you know what you're getting into. It's alright, I got some new films to watch.
Finished Gods and Monsters, by Soister. If you want a very opionated look at Universal's science fiction, mystery and horror films, this is the book. I was looking for something that had less plot descriptions and more production notes, but hey. The author at least makes sure you know what you're getting into. It's alright, I got some new films to watch.
Life's still busy, Gay Berlin is still on pause. Occasionally, I check Soister's Gods and Monsters (almost finished). Austen's Emma is still being reread.
Finished Jerry's shitty Veidt bio. Done, eindelijk! I won't have to look at it, again.
We really need a good biography on Conrad Veidt, written by a film historian, who can be unbiased and cite sources.
Not mentioning the homophobia, because yikes.
Finished Jerry's shitty Veidt bio. Done, eindelijk! I won't have to look at it, again.
We really need a good biography on Conrad Veidt, written by a film historian, who can be unbiased and cite sources.
Not mentioning the homophobia, because yikes.
No, the book saga still has no epilogue.
Life's been busy, so Gay Berlin is officialy on pause. Occasionally, I read one or two chapters of Jerry's shitty Conrad Veidt bio (I'm so close to finishing it) or Soister's Gods and Monsters (not big on it, since it's a more opinion-based book). There's also Austen's Emma, but that's a reread.
Life's been busy, so Gay Berlin is officialy on pause. Occasionally, I read one or two chapters of Jerry's shitty Conrad Veidt bio (I'm so close to finishing it) or Soister's Gods and Monsters (not big on it, since it's a more opinion-based book). There's also Austen's Emma, but that's a reread.
Upy-Dateys
13 March 2024 12:21Hi. It's been a while.
I was going to complain about politics, my shitty master's colleagues, no mojo for drawing and uni work being stressful.
But I need some happy, here's a book report.
Finished Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas. Yep, book's crazy. And so was Tessa Dare's Any Duchess Will Do. Are they great pieces or literature? No, but I had a time. Sometimes you need a slapstick comedy in a vaguely historical setting when life throws you rocks.
Still going on Gay Berlin, just put it on pause for the moment. Priorities, and my uni work surely needs to be the number 1. Although, I do read one chapter of the godawful Conrad Veidt biography. It's godawful. I need to get that one out asap. No seriously, I had to rant about it in my Velha Estante. Sigh.
In regards to the Lux Radio version of A Woman's Face (which isn't a book), it's much better than the other radio version, but not as good as the film (as it is to be expected). Nobody felt like they were falling asleep! Connie was normal (for the most part, we'll talk about it), and it was closer to the film too.
And then the attic scene. It's not very good, but Connie is all over the top again, screaming "POWER! POWER! POWER!" (endearing) and I lost it. Now that's the radio!Torsten I know :D
It all goes downhill from there, but again, much better than the other version.
I was going to complain about politics, my shitty master's colleagues, no mojo for drawing and uni work being stressful.
But I need some happy, here's a book report.
Finished Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas. Yep, book's crazy. And so was Tessa Dare's Any Duchess Will Do. Are they great pieces or literature? No, but I had a time. Sometimes you need a slapstick comedy in a vaguely historical setting when life throws you rocks.
Still going on Gay Berlin, just put it on pause for the moment. Priorities, and my uni work surely needs to be the number 1. Although, I do read one chapter of the godawful Conrad Veidt biography. It's godawful. I need to get that one out asap. No seriously, I had to rant about it in my Velha Estante. Sigh.
In regards to the Lux Radio version of A Woman's Face (which isn't a book), it's much better than the other radio version, but not as good as the film (as it is to be expected). Nobody felt like they were falling asleep! Connie was normal (for the most part, we'll talk about it), and it was closer to the film too.
And then the attic scene. It's not very good, but Connie is all over the top again, screaming "POWER! POWER! POWER!" (endearing) and I lost it. Now that's the radio!Torsten I know :D
It all goes downhill from there, but again, much better than the other version.
