Author: bernardovillela

Film Discoveries: 2020

Posted on by bernardovillela

Introduction

This is an idea I first saw on Rupert Pupkin Speaks wherein he lists his favorite “new-to-me” titles of the prior year. My viewings were down in general in 2020 overall (rewatching sitcoms and watching sports when they resumed in ghostly stadiums got me through it) but there were things worth noting, even things that were not brand new. Some are rather short and can be viewed in their entirety below. There are few selections that come from varied eras to be found.

During the pandemic years, and a little after that, I neglected to post these. I did one for 2023 and will now make up for the years I missed.

The Prince and the Pauper (1920)

This was an offering from Grapevine Video, as one of the oldest adaptations of a story I’ve seen many versions of this one was a must-see especially considering it was directed by Alexander Korda before he emigrated to Hollywood.

Witches (1990)

This was a film that somehow slipped through the cracks during my childhood. I’d heard of it off and on and eventually it became a title I could not longer avoid. And it proved to be an entertaining and unhinged eighties oddity.

Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016)

I wrote about this film for the 2020 O Canada Blogathon. If you like what you read there Kino Lorber has made the full documentary available on their YouTube channel.

September (1990)

This was a title I picked up as part of Twilight Time’s clearance sale following their announcement that they were ceasing operations. Woody Allen‘s dramatic works are often overlooked and this was one of the ones I had yet to see. When he worked with Mia Farrow the works were a notch better, when there were other regulars like Dianne Weist involved they got even better.

Paganini Horror (1989)

I’d not heard of Paganini Horror before it was released by Severin Films. But the combination of the iconic violinist and composer and giallo was too good to pass up, and the score alone makes this film worth watching.

Film History Friday: The Kuleshov Effect

Posted on by bernardovillela

Following the end credits of the recent film Good Boy a mininature behind-the-scenes featurette serves as the film’s stinger. In it the director, Ben Leonberg, mentioned that the reason Indy’s (the dog’s) performance seems so emotive is due to the Kuleshov effect.

Here’s Hitchcock synopsizing it in one of his interviews with Truffaut:

“Yes, in one of his (Pudvokin’s) books on the art of montage he describes an experiment by his teacher, Kuleshov. You see a close up of the Russian actor Ivan Mosjoukine. This is immediately followed by a shot of a dead baby. Back to Mosjoukine again and you read compassion on his face. Then you take away the dead baby and you show a plate of soup, and now, when you go back to Mosjoukine, he looks hungry. Yet, in both cases they used the same shot of the actor; his face was exactly the same.”

There is also a shot of a woman in which Mosjoukine was interpreted as being in love. Like Hitchcock I’d only read of the experiment that cemented a piece of film theory. But in Good Boy the footage was shown. After having seen it, I looked it up to share here. Enjoy!