#30 - M

If that ain't the shortest movie title ever, I don't know what is :)

We have here a Fritz Lang film - his first with sound - (He had done Metropolis just 4 years earlier, and that was silent as were the ones that he did in between) - it's a masterpiece of German Cinema, and on most top 100 lists of great film watchers.  There are some early strains of film noir here - and I guess it's not that unusual a film for what was called the Weimar era, the Republic that was leading Germany right before the Nazi's came in

So I didn't quite know what we had here - There are virtually no protagonists - just a child murderer on the lam from both the Police and the Criminal Underworld - the plot is simple enough - but one of the great things about this film was Lang's use (or lack thereof) of sound as a painter using it for the first time - it reminds me a bit of how Kurosawa got to use color for the first time in a Samurai film (Kagemusha) - you get a LOT of it

Some scenes are shot without sound - I guess it was partially because sound equipment was expensive, but Lang uses it to great effect (Police sneaking around setting up an ambush for example) - and the work of Peter Lorre, especially in his closing monologue, with the camera lingering on him for extended takes is one of the most famous monologues of cinema.  There is also a musical theme (whistling) designed to lead you to understand when the main character is close even when not on camera

The Blu-Ray extras were fascinating - one included a documentary of the physical history of the film - this film was banned 3 years later in Germany after the Nazi's came to power - and there were French/English versions of the film, that quite frankly, didn't do Peter Lorre's final monologue justice with the extra cuts in it.  No one knows 100% what the initial director's cut was cause it was sliced and diced a few times and when the original negative was found, it was missing a reel

But it's a classic and good to see finally - it was Peter Lorre's breakout role and the one that jumpstarted his career - and he and Lang would both go on to flee Germany and have strong careers here in America for many years.

#29 - Picnic at Hanging Rock

Wow - could the blog finally be updated?   Yes it is - finally -

After 6 weeks of more or less getting moved and getting a house ready to rent, I had two hours tonight to sit in my new living room, and watch this blu-ray on my TV on a new stand several feet above the floor elevated like a real movie screen -

And what a movie it is - a 1975 Australian ...I don't know whether to say Mystery, Thriller, or Horror film - Right off the bat the film tells you - several schoolgirls go missing at a Picnic at Hanging Rock on Valentine's Day 1900 and are never found.   The rest of the film is that day and the weeks that follow, the effect on the townspeople and those who last saw the girls.

The two cast members that  stand out are Miranda, played by Anne Louise Lambert.  I don't (and probably never will) know her for any other roles than this one, but as the teenage angel of the group, her performance, especially the unspoken parts, are entrancing and enchanting.   She is, as one review puts it "Venus coming into being" -

This is in stark contrast to the other main character......the site of Hanging Rock itself - a stark foreboding place (made much more so by the music of Zamfir, the pan flute virtoso in the soundtrack) - This is an outcropping of volcanic rock teeming with dangerous life and wonder, and it is in the maze of volcanic caves and rocks that the women vanish without a trace

The contrast between these Victorian (and virginal) women in white to the stark towers with ancient faces that seem to stare back at you is almost terrifying - suddenly you find yourself having the heebie jeebies in the dark and having to turn on the light to finish the movie :)

Peter Weir directed it - and he also directed three of my other favorite films, two of which I keep in my DVD collection - Dead Poets Society and Master and Commander:The Far Side of the World - (the other film was Witness) - This was one of the masterpieces of his early career, and a masterpiece of Australian cinema, from what I understand.   Def. worth your time.   The Blu-Ray I saw had several special features, and I heard there's even a copy of the novel in one of the most recent releases as it's out of print.

On a side note - this has been remade into a 6 part television series for Australian TV which I understand is going to star Natalie Dormer and will also be released in the United States - THAT will be interesting - there is a small degree of Freudian sexuality that slips out here and there and I suspect the remake will like most films, make the innuendo and sly hints ridiculously overt and explicit but hey, what the hell - Maybe I'll watch it when it comes out

RB