Taxidermy

One of my favorite things in life is Science Friday on NPR. They repurpose their Friday radio program in podcasts and also produce videos that are available on their website sciencefriday.com.

http://sciencefriday.com/video/12/17/2010/preserving-the-craft-of-taxidermy.html

Flora Lichtman, Sci Fri's Multimedia Producer, has a truly enviable job of producing the media content for the show, mostly video and a blog. She produced the video below, about a subject dear to my heart--taxidermy. Last year, I read the book Still Live: Adventures in Taxidermy by Melissa Milgrom, which includes a great history of the art plus some interesting anecdotes about learning the craft from the best in the business.
Looking at the web page about the video I am reminded that I have to also read Jay Kirk's book Kingdom Under Glass that focuses on the life and work of taxidermist Carl Akeley. A cool film factoid is that Akeley designed and produced a new kind of field motion picture camera that was eventually used in Robert Flaherty's documentary Nanook of the North.

Louise Brooks - Sat Eye Candy

I think this might be the cutest photograph of Miss Louise Brooks ever! I wish I could give her a big hug.

Now I'm off to sew! (and more coffee!!!)

San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Part II

A week has past since the visual/aural film experiences in the dark of the Castro Theatre. I am so thankful to have two amazing festivals here in San Francisco - the SF Silent Film Festival and Noir City. I don't want to get sidetracked though. I want to record my thoughts on Metropolis (Germany, 1927) and Häxan (Denmark/Sweden, 1922).

One more sidetrack, I made a correction just now to the Part I post. I was getting Man with a Movie Camera and Metropolis mixed up. I said MWMC was being re-released on DVD/Blu-Ray, but that's the new, complete version of Metropolis! The DVD of MWMC with the Alloy Orchestra score was released in 2002.

Like many people my first viewing of Metropolis was of the Georgio Moroder version on VHS. Although it pains myself and many a film aficionado to remember this version of the film because of the pop music soundtrack, I understand and applaud his work to introduce modern film audiences to silent film. Audiences, without the experience of watching wordless visuals and music, can benefit from the more obvious emotions of pop song lyrics to engage them and focus their attention. I was definitely in this camp of inexperienced silent viewers until I had more viewing practice. We're so used to the pairing of words and visuals in late 20th century media that it is a new skill to focus on the wordless. I say "wordless," but of course I mean no words heard aloud, as silent films do have silent text in the intertitles.

I venture a guess this title is from Lon Chaney's The Man Who Laughs (1928).

Back in, I believe, 1988, I saw Metropolis for the first time in a theater, at the Castro. While it was a revelation to see the film in a movie palace with live accompaniment, the score was horrific. The music competed with the film's pacing and broke up key sequences. During one key moment, when the main character Freder sees the deadly consequences of the class organization of their society, the orchestra began to tune their instruments for the next phase of their "score." It was terrible; I wished I could have turned them off as complete silence would have been better for the film than the jarring live score.

Fast forward to 2010 and the Alloy Orchestra. I couldn't help feeling an impending cloud over my head as the movie began; that my experience would be flawed, that I'd leave feeling disappointed. The sense of relief and excitement grew as each moment passed and the music was amazing. It so well supported the visuals and the emotions and the pacing. I simply can't gush enough about Alloy.

They worked so closely with the film that I was unable to tear my eyes away from the screen at any point and I was on the edge of my seat for 2 1/2 hours! It was easily one of the best film experiences ever.

It's already so late, and I have to get my day started, so thoughts of Häxan tomorrow. I can't leave without lingering a bit more on the astounding visuals in Metropolis (cinematography by Karl Freund, one noteworthy film he lit and shot is the lush and dark Dracula 1931).

San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Part I

Another weekend of silent film! It was San Francisco Silent Film Festival's 15th year, yay festival!! It's a great time to surround yourself with some of the best aspects of the past: a solid excuse to pull out the 1920-30s outfits from the closet, gorge on movie after movie, and take in the beauty of the Castro Theatre.

Being Tuesday morning, my post-festival depression has lifted a bit and I can, with a clear head, contemplate all the fabulousness of the weekend.

Three films where the highlight of my weekend: Metropolis, Haxan, and Man with a Movie Camera. The music was a big part of the success of these films, so kudos to the evocative and drop-dead beautiful music for Haxan by the Matti Bye Ensemble from Sweden and the amazing, spectacular, dead-on, and sometimes overwhelming music for Metropolis and Man with a Movie Camera by the Alloy Orchestra.

The tireless and always smiling Margarita Landazuri, festival writer and program editor, said about Man with a Movie Camera, "It's like I'd never seen it before!" I felt the exactly same way. Dziga Vertov's documentary about a day in the life of a Russian city (actually shot in three cities: Moscow, Odessa, and Kiev) contained visuals that are engaging for what they show of little daily details of life in 1929: waking up in a typical apartment, getting ready in the morning, at the beauty salon, inner city transportation, leisure time, at work, lots and lots of visual information plus shots of the cinematographer at work. Then add the Alloy Orchestra to bring a sense of urgency and movement to all the shots of people doing and going and you have an experience that is simply amazing.

I loved the shots of the cameraman on a motorbike.

The topper - the film with the Alloy score is out on DVD! CORRECTION! I just realized that the version of the film seen at the festival is the brand new, full-length version with a slightly revised score to cover the additional footage. I understand this new version with the Alloy Orchestra is due out on DVD and Blu-Ray November 2010. Ack! What am I saying! I've confused Man with a Movie Camera with Metropolis!! It is Metropolis that is getting the new version released with the extra, complete footage!!

This DVD of the old version (not complete)

San Francisco Silent Film Festival

A glorious weekend of silent film presented at the beautiful Castro with great music and engaging and educational pre-show slideshow presentations. Metropolis (Germany, 1927) is already sold out! My slideshow is on Shanghai for the film A Spray of Plum Blossoms (China, 1931), although that program is 2pm on Friday, but I'll be there!

Although Louise Brooks is always breathtaking... oh Louise...

...I've already seen Diary of a Lost Girl (Germany, 1929) a couple times at the Castro, and so I have to admit though, I am really looking forward to seeing Haxan [English title: The Witches] at the Castro.

Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (Denmark/Sweden, 1922)

I watched it for the second time recently with friends and it is as interesting, serious, and totally bat-shit nutso as I remembered. It will be beyond, beyond to see it on the big screen with music by the Matti Bye Ensemble. It is a huge deal as the Ensemble is coming all the way from Sweden to play for this program!

A series of three amazing blog posts on The Obscure Hollow about this amazing film can be found here, here, and here with TONS and TONS of great photos.

Be still my beating heart!

Exorcist Distraction

I stepped into a neighborhood used bookstore looking for books to use for my SF Silent Film Fest research project. Although I didn't find the books I was hoping for, as usual, I found other stuff - bookstores are so dangerous. I would drown in a mountain of books if I let myself go. I can't be a "cat-lady" with my allergies, but I could be a "book-lady."

Walking up the stairs I noticed the arresting photo of Lee J. Cobb. Upon inspection, the photo was taken by Richard Avedon. I really have to get to the show at the MOMA before it closes - note to self!

Lee J. Cobb made me think of The Exorcist. This film has obsessed me for years; the idea of someone, a priest, who agonizes over the loss of his faith only to have it restored when confronted by what he comes to believe to be real evil.

While going through the film books, I was surprised to find a book I didn't know existed, The Story Behind the Exorcist by Peter Travers and Stephanie Reiff (1974).

I've read William Peter Blatty on the Exorcist: From Novel to Film (1972), which gives a lot of insight into the book and film development and background from the writer's perspective. The Story Behind... gives a lot more general background and tidbits like the four month search for a child actor up to the task of playing the possessed girl and the controversy that almost lead to the dreaded 'X' rating.

In August of 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that obscene content was not protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution and went on to define obscenity. The Wikipedia article "Miller v. California" states the three points in the definition:

* the average person, applying contemporary community standards (not national standards, as some prior tests required), must find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest
* the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions specifically defined by applicable state law
* and the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value

This ruling gave states more power to bring cases against what the community felt was "obscene." After the film's release in Dec. of 1973, a case was brought against film distributors in Boston siting the new obscenity ruling; the case sought to ban The Exorcist in Boston. Although the judge's ruling stated that "it does not meet the guidelines of obscenity as laid down by the United States Supreme Court" and the case was dismissed, the field was open for additional lawsuits. Soon after, the Division of Film and Broadcasting for the U.S. Catholic Conference rated the film A-IV, morally objectionable. They condemned the MPAA for giving the film a 'R' rating.

Finally, in Washington DC, community action achieved a success. On New Year's Day of 1974, the U.S. District Attorney's Office ruled to ban the film's ticket sales to anyone under 17 and warned theaters that arrests would be made for any violations of this ban.

Luckily for the film, produced by the author William Blatty, the 'R' rating stuck and The Exorcist became one of most talked-about films and biggest money maker in film history.

Okay now, enough distraction!!! I'm off to the library to do research for my festival project. I'm so easily sidetracked! And I want to sew too! My blouse project is languishing!!

SF Silent Film Fest & Thoughts of Film

This last weekend the San Francisco Silent Film Festival was at the Castro Theatre. I've written program essays and pre-show slide presentations for the festival in a committee for about seven years. I took last year off to give myself time to learn to sew. For this year's festival, I just wrote and produced images for the pre-show presentation for the Chinese film "The Wild Rose" (1932). I am excited this year that the festival has begun to post the program essays on their website. The last essay I wrote for them is up: www.silentfilm.org/archive.html under Title, click on "Maciste" (Italy, 1915).

This year, my favorite film was "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1928). Silent film does surreal and fantastic better than any other genre of film. The film was accompanied by the incredibly impressive Stephen Horne. If you hear his name, see the film regardless. He is truly amazing: piano one hand, flute in the other, sound loops and odd noises, choral clips all woven into a perfect audio experience that supported and enhanced the film.

Also today I learned something that made me ponder film for the rest of the day. I hear from a work-friend that her nephew, now eight years old, has never once seen a movie. His parents have strong ideas on child rearing and want him to grow up without the influence of media.

My first thought was shock. How, what, eh? My second thought was how much fun, someday, someone will have sharing his first movie experience - start from the beginning with the Lumiere Bros. or something like The Matrix? It's true that children for hundred, nay, thousands of years lived without movies...

As I walked to my train after work I thought a lot about what you could gain from clearing your childhood schedule of movies and television; but also what you would lose. Stream of consciousness and the warm Summer weather brought to mind two wonderful summers of movie-watching. I must have been 10 and 11 and the year would have been approx. 1978-1979 (yeow, when did I get so old, ack!). I walked with friends or caught a ride to the San Carlos Theatre with a Summer movie pass in my hand. I can't say how much it cost, but I do remember it got you into the daily, afternoon double-feature including I think the entire catalog of Disney live-action kid movies like The Computer Who Wore Tennis Shoes, Escape to Witch Mountain, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones , The Shaggy D.A., The Parent Trap, plus classic adventure films like Jason and the Argonauts with effects and animation by the great Ray Harryhausen.

Jason fights the skeletons from "Jason and the Argonauts,"

creature animation by the legendary Harryhausen

Haley Mills and Hayley Mills in "The Parent Trap" (1961)

I remember sitting in the cool, dark theater in the height of a hot California Summer with my smuggled candy. Those afternoons in the dark shaped my obsessions and passions for fantastic stories (politicians who turn into dogs, skeletons fighting you at every turn, Kurt Russell becoming the smartest teenager in the world, child-witches who were really aliens from space driving around in a motor home) and well, sitting in the dark: the anticipation, the ritual of the curtains opening -- hearing the mechanical click and whirr in the hush of the dark silence, the rustle of popcorn bags. Despite all the benefits, I can't imagine losing out on this experience.