Noir City Film Festival 16

Although I neglected to write about Noir City 15 (what?!), I'm back on the wagon and clear-headed enough to write about this year's Noir City 16!

How else will I keep track of the films I've seen, and haven't? At the after-party, closing night, one conversation topic was the near-impossibility to remember noir film names -- more specifically, to pair the title with the film. A film like "Hugo" is about a boy named Hugo, but what about "Raw Deal"?

This year's Noir City ran Jan 26-Feb 4, 2018. It's nice to have my evenings free and my liver is relieved that I'm taking a break from drinking, but I miss the darkness and the camaraderie!

It was another wonderful 10 days (I attended 8 out of 10): catching up with friends, buying a few books and the latest issue of the Noir City Annual (#9), and best of all, having an excuse to sit in the dark, hour after hour, gorging on film.

I now possess Alan Rode's tome on Michael Curtiz -- "Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film" -- can hardly wait to dig in to its detailed 700+ pages of film history goodness!

Out of the total of 24 films, I saw 16 -- pretty good for me, I must say. This year I've been between jobs so I was able to see all the weekday films without fear of losing sleep -- a big silver lining!

This year's festival had a super fantastic hook -- films in chronological order with an A-film paired with a B-film of the same year, to imitate a period movie experience!

Here's the line-up...

Films I Saw:

1941
A: I Wake Up Screaming
B: Among the Living

1945
A: Conflict
B: Jealousy

1946
A: The Blue Dahila
B: Night Editor

1947
A: The Unsuspected
B: High Tide

1948
A: I Walk Alone
B: Bodyguard

1949
A: The Accused
B: The Threat

1950-51
A: The Man Who Cheated Himself
B: Roadblock

1953
A: The Big Heat
B: Wicked Woman

Films I Missed:

1942
A: This Gun for Hire
B: Quiet Please, Murder

1943
A: Shadow of a Doubt
B: Address Unknown

1944
Destiny
Flesh and Fantasy

1950
Southside 1-1000
The Underworld Story

Films I'd Already Seen:

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950)
Wicked Woman (1953)

So many of these films were new to me. That means I have seven missed films to watch this year -- #resolutions!

The highlights for me this year were Night Editor, The Unsuspected, and The Big Heat.

Noir City Festival 14 - Belated

I wrote a post the week after the Noir City Festival 14, which ran from Jan 22-31, 2016, but got sidetracked, so posting now...better late than never!!

The week following Noir City always feels a little empty. It was a wonderful 10 days (I attended 7 out of 10): catching up with friends, buying a few books and the latest issue of the Noir City Annual (#7), and best of all, having an excuse to sit in the dark, hour after hour, gorging on film.

Out of the total of 25 films, I saw 11. A few of the films I'd seen previously, but there are a bunch that I missed and need to watch on my own. I always struggle to remember the films I saw and films I want to see, so it seemed high time to write a recap for future reference.

Here's the line-up...

Films I Saw at Noir City 14:

Crack-Up (1946)
Los tallos amargos (The Bitter Stems, 1956)
Flicka och hyacinter (Girl with Hyacinths, 1950)
Deception (1946)
Humoresque (1946)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1953)
Specter of the Rose (1946)
Peeping Tom (1960)
Blow-Up (1966)

Films I'd Already Seen:

Rear Window (1954)
The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Screaming Mimi (1958)
Scarlet Street (1945)

Films I Missed:

The Public Eye (1992)
The Dark Corner (1946)
Corridor of Mirrors (1948)
Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
Young Man with a Horn (1950)
Mickey One (1965)
The Big Knife (1955)
The Lodger (1944)
Bluebeard (1944)
The Red Shoes (1948)

I have some movie-watching to do!

The highlight for me this year was Flicka och hyacinter (Girl with Hyacinths, 1950). It such a simple story, so engaging. I can imagine myself launching into an amateur investigation, searching for the reasons behind the tragic actions of my neighbor.

The main character Dagmar Brink, played by Eva Henning, was quietly luminous. And I am pleasantly surprised to discover that she is still with us, at the  age of 95.

Following just behind are two films tied for second place: The Bad and the Beautiful and Specter of the Rose. The Bad and the Beautiful is a fun and drama-filled (and fueled) look at Hollywood. I adore Dick Powell as the professor-turned screenwriter, Gloria Graham is extremely convincing in her role as a sweet and earnest southern bell (not many actresses could pull off that accent), it is interesting to see Lana Turner as a messy drunk, and who doesn't enjoy watching Kirk Douglas lose his cool in a big way, few do hysteria like Douglas!

Then there is Specter of the Rose. What a crazy film with its best/worst dialog--"hold me with your eyes!" And the modern dance sequence--perfection! The dancers earnestly present their depiction of a city scape in dance accompanied by avant guard music by George Antheil (of Ballet Mecanique and Heddy-Lamarr-frequency-hopping fame). Despite their passion, they are casually ignored during their audition with one character going as far as crossing right through their performance, gingerly stepping over them on his way across the room.

The main character, dancer Andre Sanine, was a modern "bro" dropped in the middle of a 1940s film in which everyone spoke with the expected Hollywood accent, except for actor Ivan Kirov's flat Midwestern accent that stood out as so strangely...casual. He was not a seasoned actor, or a dancer at all for that matter--self-taught it turns out, but boy he can portray an unbalanced mind with the best of them!

I've seen The Picture of Dorian Gray before, but I find Oscar Wilde's story so fascinating, I had to see it again. I can't get the Little Yellow Bird song out of my head. A young Angela Lansbury is absolutely adorable.

I'm not sure which of the missed films I'll see first. My plan is to schedule a Post-Noir City program calendar for me and my significant other over the next few months. If that's successful, we'll go through last year's list and repeat the process--a great film plan for 2016! I've been watching too much TV anyway.

Research and Obsessions

Despite many thoughts rattling around in my head, it's a struggle to get a post out each week. But I am more organized this week than ever, so one step closer to carving out time.

I did discover a great resource last week. A work friend, a certified smarty-pants (aka PhD), told me about the public computers at UCSF. I had found an abstract of two articles from The Lancet, from 1917 and 1926, but I don't have a subscription to these journals of course. But UCSF does! I was able to access the articles and email them to myself - yippe! More resources to feed my obsessions!

The articles are part of my research into the production of artist Anna Coleman Ladd and the tin masks of WWI. These masks are an interesting example of the intersection of art and science - a favorite subject. Using this same resource I also found articles from art journals on Ladd, with a focus on her sculpture (actually not mentioning the mask production). Tonight I'll check out an NPR "All Things Considered" episode on her. Then to start work on a blog post about it all.

Image from YouTube video.

 Image from the San Diego History Center website.

Vincent Price, Art Expert

I came across the Facebook page for the website VincentPriceExhibit.com and it reminded me of two videos I'd found on online archives. I was only able to find one (embedded below), although now, like having a song stuck in your head, I have Vincent Price in my thoughts...

Vincent Price is one of my very favorite actors.


Vincent Price and Gene Tierney in "Dragonwyck" (1946)

I admire him for his acting skills as well as his varied interests and his enthusiasm for acting despite being typecast in horror roles in the later half of his career.


Price with Roger Corman on the set of "House of Usher" (1960)

His career began far from the b-films for which he's best known. He started in the theater, notably acting with Orson Welles' Mercury Theater in two productions and got his big break in film acting in Otto Preminger's Laura (1944).


Tierney and Price together for the first time in "Laura" (1944)

Reading the biography Vincent Price Unmasked: A Biography by James Robert Parrish and Steven Whitney (Drake Publishers Inc, New York, 1974) I learned of Price's passion for food and cooking (writing three cookbooks), for his dog Joe, as demonstrated in his book The Book of Joe: About a Dog and His Man (Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1962), and for art (writing four books on the subject).



He didn't just love art, but was interested in bringing art awareness to the general public. In addition to starting an art gallery, Little Gallery, open from 1943 to 1945, he lectured on art. In 1962 he created an art program for Sears, Roebuck and Co. Below is a 17 min video intended to educate Sears employees.


The Vincent Price Collection of Fine Art: An Informational Program Production (1960), film hosted at Internet Archive

I hesitate from reading Hollywood biographies as I rarely find them inspiring and are usually so sad and tragic. Vincent Price on the other hand seemed to be such a great sport, jumping into any project with zest and consequently lived an varied and fascinating life.


Image borrowed from Henson.com

Trip to Central Europe! Prague, Vienna, Budapest, oh my!

Well it's official, next month I'll be on my way to Prague, Vienna, and Budapest! Picture me doing my best Kermit the Frog impression - my arms flapping wildly around my head while I scream!!

My lovely traveling companion is intent on sampling the historic deserts and coffee of these three cities to refuel her passion for cooking and I'm excited about the natural history and medical museums, like the Naturhistorisches Museum and the Josephinum Medical Museum.


Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna

I think we both agree on our excitement to see antique stores, lots of art, and beautiful architecture!!!

In addition to learning a few words of Czech, German, and Hungarian, I've been doing a bit of reading. I read Rick Rodgers' wonderful and exhaustive book on the deserts and coffeehouses of central Europe: "Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafes of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague." The top three on my list are in Vienna: Café Sacher, Demel (bakery and coffeehouse), and Café Central.


Café Sacher, photo from website blog.hotelclub.com


Demel Bakery, photo from website www.chocolate-fish.net


Photo from Christian Brandstatter's book Vienna 1900: Art, Life, & Culture.


Lithograph by Gustav Kalhammer "View of the Hofoperntheatre form Cafe Heinrichhof," 1912, from Christian Brandstatter's book Vienna 1900: Art, Life, & Culture.

I'm now reading Christian Brandstatter's book "Vienna 1900: Art, Life, & Culture." It's a great overview of Viennese culture: music, fashion, art, architecture, politics.

Some visual highlights from that book...


Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze, 1902 - click image for larger version


Advertising postcard for the Secession building, 1898


Egon Schiele before his painting Begegnung (Encounter), 1914

I am so excited to visit the Secession building and see Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze. I saw a beautiful reproduction of it at the Neue Gallerie's Klimt exhibition in 2008, in NYC. I was also able to see the Egon Schiele 2006 Neue Gallerie exhibition and now I will be able to see their work in their hometown!


Emilie Flöge in "Concert Dress" designed by Gustav Klimt, 1906

Emilie Flöge was the longtime companion of Gustav Klimt. She was a fashion designer and part owner of the Flöge Sisters salon, an important part of the Viennese fashion industry. The neck line of the dress above is so amazing. I'd love to sew some sort of collar thing as an homage. Hum...


Wiener Werkstatte, stairs leading to fabric dept. salesroom

I'm also looking forward to see the Wiener Werkstatte Museum. From 1903 to 1932, the Wiener Werkstatte was a workshop and a collection of craftsmen and artists working in almost every medium. The Architonic website says this:

At the turn of the century around the year 1900 the city of Vienna was, next to Paris, one of Europe’s leading cultural centres. This was due to the rise of the middle classes, who were in the process of emancipating themselves from the model provided by the aristocracy and were searching for ways in which they could express themselves individually in art, architecture and music. Against this background the members of the artists’ association ‘Secession’ and Vienna’s Kunstgewerbeschule, the college of arts and crafts, founded the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop) in 1903. This became a brand in itself and developed into a company which marketed not just furniture and small articles of everyday use made of glass, ceramics, silver and metal, but also jewellery and clothing – in line with the spirit of art as a holistic concept.

And in Vienna we plan on seeing the opera. Faust or Tosca are the operas being performed when we're there. I'm leaning toward Faust.


Watercolor painting by Rudolf von Alt, "Grand Staircase of the Vienna Hofoper," 1873


Hofopern Theatre (Vienna State Opera House) from website www.thetravelen.com.


Interior of Hofopern Theatre (Vienna State Opera House) from website www.thetravelen.com.

So much to think about and research before I leave...oh and packing! My next step is to learn more about Budapest.

Visual Creativity - Mariana Palova

A bit of beautiful for Friday morning. Such a hard time getting started...is a second cup of coffee needed?...yawn!


[title not found], Mariana Palova, 2008

A piece from Mariana Palova's work appeared a couple days ago on my iGoogle home page and much of her work I adore...rich backgrounds, lovely intricate black lines depicting swirling hair or bare tree branches, dramatic costumes, what's not to love!

Mariana hails from Mexico and her biography says, "Mariana surrounds herself with an aura showing special devotion to the nature elements, analogies, the substitution, human monsters and the astrologic environment....[her work is] based on the beauty of human metamorphosis and the allure of imagination..."

She is incredibly prolific. In her scant 21 years, she's created a large body of work, 20 exhibitions, and about the same number of appearances in publications. I find anyone with an obvious passion and drive to wake up in the morning and create and create and create, so inspiring. I have no argument with our consumer culture, if there is a strong creative culture to counter-balance it. Who wants to go through life with the label "consumer"? How much better "creator" sounds. (Although not to forget another one of my favorites, "conservator," or "archivist.")


Surreal Mind, Mariana Palova, 2008

1938 WTF!

Supply exceeds demand...hum....

Click on pic for slightly larger, easier to read version