There are a bunch of large-scale British pictures of the late silent era, like E.A. Dupont's Moulin Rouge and Piccadilly, and they all have dazzling surfaces but don't quite captivate as melodrama. It can seem as if the popular conception that British silent cinema consisted of Hitchcock standing alone and portly in a cultural wasteland is kind of true. But Anthony Asquith's A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929), which channels German expressionist lighting, composition and intensity, is an honorable exception: it's actually more Germanic than any of Hitchcock's films (even including The Pleasure Garden, which he shot in Germany).
Underground (1928), which was Asquith's very first feature, is not quite as good as that, but I'd wanted to see it for ages and was very glad I did: it's available, beautifully restored, from the BFI.
The movie wears its Germanic aspects more lightly than Cottage, with some giddy-making angles and sharp...
Underground (1928), which was Asquith's very first feature, is not quite as good as that, but I'd wanted to see it for ages and was very glad I did: it's available, beautifully restored, from the BFI.
The movie wears its Germanic aspects more lightly than Cottage, with some giddy-making angles and sharp...
- 8/22/2013
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
New York -- James Broughton's mantra was "follow your own weird." Years before Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, or William S. Burroughs were starting the Beat Movement, artists like Broughton were already pushing the boundaries of art and literature during the postwar San Francisco Renaissance. In Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton, co-directors Stephen Silha, Eric Slade, and Dawn Logsdon take a celebratory approach towards the exploration of Broughton's life and work, which include such influential films as The Pleasure Garden (1953) and The Bed (1968). Through rare, archival footage and interviews with Broughton's friends and family members, including his last partner Joel Singer, his ex-wife Suzanna
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- 4/28/2013
- by Joshua Stecker
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Iconic artist, filmmaker, and poet, James Broughton
It is more than appropriate that the Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton made its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival considering the documentary's subject, James Broughton can very well be considered a Godfather of independent film. More than that, he can be considered a pioneer of bizarre and expressive art that indirectly effects today's artists.
James Broughton is one of those names that, if you know it, marks you as a connoisseur of the obscure and cool. Broughton was a gay poet, filmmaker, and a shining example of West Coast weird. He embodied the life of the California bohemian and was a influential figure during the San Francisco Renaissance. In addition to that he influenced the Beat generation, and was considered a groundbreaking voice in the sexual revolution during the '60s and '70s.
Co-directed by journalist Stephen Siha and documentarian Eric Slade,...
It is more than appropriate that the Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton made its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival considering the documentary's subject, James Broughton can very well be considered a Godfather of independent film. More than that, he can be considered a pioneer of bizarre and expressive art that indirectly effects today's artists.
James Broughton is one of those names that, if you know it, marks you as a connoisseur of the obscure and cool. Broughton was a gay poet, filmmaker, and a shining example of West Coast weird. He embodied the life of the California bohemian and was a influential figure during the San Francisco Renaissance. In addition to that he influenced the Beat generation, and was considered a groundbreaking voice in the sexual revolution during the '60s and '70s.
Co-directed by journalist Stephen Siha and documentarian Eric Slade,...
- 3/27/2013
- by Dino-Ray
- The Backlot
Nine of the 10 films Hitchcock directed in the 1920s are getting a full restoration. Henry K Miller enters the dusty world of the archivists and learns about the race to save the silents
The audience at the Capitol cinema in London during the middle week of April 1926 witnessed an unusually bold declaration of authorship. The opening moments of The Pleasure Garden, touted in the fan magazines as the debut of "the youngest director in the world", contained, under the "directed by" credit, the slanted and underlined signature of the 26-year-old Alfred J Hitchcock. What followed was also – as it would become clear over the decades – signature Hitchcock film-making. The film's first scene gives us a voyeur's-eye-view of a dancer's legs; and then makes us share the voyeur's unease as the look is returned. The Spectator's influential critic Iris Barry scented the "new blood" desperately needed by the ailing British film industry,...
The audience at the Capitol cinema in London during the middle week of April 1926 witnessed an unusually bold declaration of authorship. The opening moments of The Pleasure Garden, touted in the fan magazines as the debut of "the youngest director in the world", contained, under the "directed by" credit, the slanted and underlined signature of the 26-year-old Alfred J Hitchcock. What followed was also – as it would become clear over the decades – signature Hitchcock film-making. The film's first scene gives us a voyeur's-eye-view of a dancer's legs; and then makes us share the voyeur's unease as the look is returned. The Spectator's influential critic Iris Barry scented the "new blood" desperately needed by the ailing British film industry,...
- 8/18/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Cinematographer who brought a sensuous style to 12 of Ingmar Bergman's films
The Swedish cinematographer Gunnar Fischer, who has died aged 100, could be said to have created the "look" of Ingmar Bergman's films, crystallised in three of the director's masterpieces: Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries (both 1957). From Port of Call (1948) to The Devil's Eye (1960), 12 films in all, Fischer was able to make visible Bergman's visions.
He was born in Ljungby, in southern Sweden. After spending three years in the Swedish navy as a chef, he attended the Royal Academy of Art in Stockholm, where he studied with the celebrated decorative artist Otte Sköld. He had an apprenticeship in cinematography at Svensk Filmindustri (Sf), the country's leading production company. His mentor there was the cinematographer Julius Jaenzon, who worked with the two great masters of Swedish silent cinema, Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller. This...
The Swedish cinematographer Gunnar Fischer, who has died aged 100, could be said to have created the "look" of Ingmar Bergman's films, crystallised in three of the director's masterpieces: Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries (both 1957). From Port of Call (1948) to The Devil's Eye (1960), 12 films in all, Fischer was able to make visible Bergman's visions.
He was born in Ljungby, in southern Sweden. After spending three years in the Swedish navy as a chef, he attended the Royal Academy of Art in Stockholm, where he studied with the celebrated decorative artist Otte Sköld. He had an apprenticeship in cinematography at Svensk Filmindustri (Sf), the country's leading production company. His mentor there was the cinematographer Julius Jaenzon, who worked with the two great masters of Swedish silent cinema, Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller. This...
- 6/14/2011
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
First the history, then the list:
In 1969, Jerome Hill, P. Adams Sitney, Peter Kubelka, Stan Brakhage, and Jonas Mekas decided to open the world’s first museum devoted to film. Of course, a typical museum hangs its collections of artwork on the wall for visitors to walk up to and study. However, a film museum needs special considerations on how — and what, of course — to present its collection to the public.
Thus, for this film museum, first a film selection committee was formed that included James Broughton, Ken Kelman, Peter Kubelka, Jonas Mekas and P. Adams Sitney, plus, for a time, Stan Brakhage. This committee met over the course of several months to decide exactly what films would be collected and how they would be shown. The final selection of films would come to be called the The Essential Cinema Repertory.
The Essential Cinema Collection that the committee came up with consisted of about 330 films.
In 1969, Jerome Hill, P. Adams Sitney, Peter Kubelka, Stan Brakhage, and Jonas Mekas decided to open the world’s first museum devoted to film. Of course, a typical museum hangs its collections of artwork on the wall for visitors to walk up to and study. However, a film museum needs special considerations on how — and what, of course — to present its collection to the public.
Thus, for this film museum, first a film selection committee was formed that included James Broughton, Ken Kelman, Peter Kubelka, Jonas Mekas and P. Adams Sitney, plus, for a time, Stan Brakhage. This committee met over the course of several months to decide exactly what films would be collected and how they would be shown. The final selection of films would come to be called the The Essential Cinema Repertory.
The Essential Cinema Collection that the committee came up with consisted of about 330 films.
- 5/3/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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