There was a car in the ocean off of Suicide Bridge

[sovay]

My poem "Green and Dying" is now online at Ideomancer. It's my first publication there, and possibly the only science fiction poem I've ever written. I have to thank Josephine Tey for the initial inspiration.

There was a total eclipse of the moon tonight, but the overcast was such that I only saw it dimly around seven o'clock, when the earth's shadow was mostly indistinguishable from, well, clouds.

Before the eclipse, rushthatspeaks and nineweaving and I watched A Matter of Life and Death (1946). It was sort of the opposite experience from The Tales of Hoffmann—which I loved rather more than I had expected to, while I liked A Matter of Life and Death somewhat less than I had hoped—but I did love some of the images, like the moving stairs and their ancient statues, where Abraham Lincoln is as weatherbeaten as Plato, and the fact that the plot can be explained in mystical and medical terms simultaneously. I suspect that somewhere among the stars Marius Goring's Conductor 71 and Edward Everett Horton's Messenger 7013 (Here Comes Mr. Jordan, 1941) gloomily compare notes on their respective debacles. And I really cannot hate any movie that reminded me of both Euripides' Alkestis and Stephen Vincent Benét's "The Devil and Dan'l Webster," but it was still weirdly Hollywoodlike for an Archers film. I will have to think more about it.

On the other hand, I really, really liked Breaker Morant (1980), which I taped off TCM yesterday and watched with my family in the evening. Previously I had known Edward Woodward only as the father of Peter Woodward, with whom I was familiar from J. Michael Straczynski's short-lived Babylon 5 sequel Crusade. (They did appear together in one episode. Yes, I'm a geek.) As it turns out, of course, he's immensely cool in his own right. And has a beautiful singing voice.

I need to bake hamantashn.

Comments

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

but it was still weirdly Hollywoodlike for an Archers film.

That squares with what I mostly hear about that movie. It's the Archers movie I've been least eager to see. I still mean to see it eventually, though.

Did you watch The Sorcerer's Apprentice included on the Tales of Hoffmann DVD? I just watched it last night--beautiful sets and costumes, but apparently it was edited down from Powell's original thirty minute cut, and it has a distracting, redundant narration.

[sovay]

It's the Archers movie I've been least eager to see.

I'm not quite sure what happened. Given how deftly the Archers handled folklore and fairy tale in movies like A Canterbury Tale and The Red Shoes and the fantastically weird in The Tales of Hoffmann, I was surprised that elements of A Matter of Life and Death fell as flat as they did—I found much less wonder in its afterlife than a sort of cardboard whimsicality. Part of it might have been the props, stiff white wings, a heavenly bureaucracy, the courts of all the assembled dead that include only those nationalities pertinent to the protagonist's trial, that would have worked better for me in a satire than in a serious film. The other world was too much like this one for me to believe in its awe, whereas the real-world scenes with their odd touches like a naked goatherd on an English beach, the camera obscura with which Roger Livesey's Dr. Reeves watches the town around him, and an amateur rehearsal of A Midsummer Night's Dream, worked beautifully. I don't categorically dislike angels, either; I love Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin). But here, the magic failed.

beautiful sets and costumes, but apparently it was edited down from Powell's original thirty minute cut, and it has a distracting, redundant narration.

I felt about as positively toward that narration as toward Philip Glass' score for Notes on a Scandal, which made me pray that the DVD would come with a "no soundtrack" option. But the costuming for the man made from the broom, the owl and the raven, and the dancers who perform the water that fills up the house, was wonderful.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

Part of it might have been the props, stiff white wings, a heavenly bureaucracy, the courts of all the assembled dead that include only those nationalities pertinent to the protagonist's trial, that would have worked better for me in a satire than in a serious film.

Yeah, sounds like it. Or maybe as a cartoon.

I felt about as positively toward that narration as toward Philip Glass' score for Notes on a Scandal, which made me pray that the DVD would come with a "no soundtrack" option.

I want to see that movie--it's too bad about the score, especially as I'm something of a Philip Glass fan. I frequently listen to his soundtrack for Kundun, even though I haven't watched the movie since it was in theatres.

But the costuming for the man made from the broom, the owl and the raven, and the dancers who perform the water that fills up the house, was wonderful.

Yes indeed. I especially loved the water.

[sovay]

Or maybe as a cartoon.

Yeah. I don't remember that I had the same complaint about Here Comes Mr. Jordan, of which A Matter of Life and Death strongly reminded me—here a pilot overstays his death bailing out of a doomed bomber when the angel responsible loses him in a fog; there an overzealous angel snatches a boxer from the plane crash he was, in fact, scheduled to survive; bureaucratic complications ensue—but it's a sillier film, in which the device of the heavenly screw-up allows for mistaken identities, screwball noir, and Claude Rains as God. (Edward Everett Horton as Messenger 7013 is clearly a Small God of Dithering. I love the man.) The clerical minutiae of the afterlife through which the protagonist boings like a yo-yo are never meant to invoke anything other than smiles or possibly winces, that the paperwork doesn't end when you're dead and newbie nebbishes can still ruin your day. It's a completely different feel.

If you do see A Matter of Life and Death, let me know what you think. I keep seeing it referred to glowingly, which makes me wonder if there's some central point I'm missing.

I want to see that movie--it's too bad about the score, especially as I'm something of a Philip Glass fan.

You might like it; I'm not familiar with Philip Glass as a composer, so it's possible that this is a characteristically excellent example of his work and I just don't happen to like his music. The film itself is awesome.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

but it's a sillier film, in which the device of the heavenly screw-up allows for mistaken identities, screwball noir,

Heh. Sounds like something I'd like to see.

Claude Rains as God.

I'm pretty sure he is God, actually.

Edward Everett Horton as Messenger 7013 is clearly a Small God of Dithering. I love the man.

I like him, too. I only know him from the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movies and Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trouble_in_Paradise).

I keep seeing it referred to glowingly, which makes me wonder if there's some central point I'm missing.

I bet it's probably just that it seemed more palatable to mainstream Hollywood, and consequently got shown more through the years.

I'm not familiar with Philip Glass as a composer, so it's possible that this is a characteristically excellent example of his work and I just don't happen to like his music.

Here're a few tracks;

From an alternate soundtrack he did for the Bela Legosi Dracula (http://www.sendspace.com/file/fzjzqv).

From Kundun (http://www.sendspace.com/file/xxidnk).

From a violin concerto (http://www.sendspace.com/file/90hs5b).

If you have the Criterion edition of Cocteau's La Belle et la Bete, it includes an opera he composed for the film, which you can switch on like a commentary track.

He's also composed a couple ballets based on David Bowie albums. What did you think of Outside, by the way?

[sovay]

Sounds like something I'd like to see.

I'm not sure it's one of the classic films of the 1940's, but I saw it late in high school and can still remember ridiculous details about the plot, so I take this as a good sign.

I'm pretty sure he is God, actually.

Yeah, okay.

and Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise.

I didn't realize he was in that. Now I really have to see it.

He's a prissy paleontologist in Lost Horizon (1937) and the anxious director of a sanatorium in Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). Both of which are worth seeing for many reasons in addition to Edward Everett Horton.

If you have the Criterion edition of Cocteau's La Belle et la Bete

I wish . . .

What did you think of Outside, by the way?

I have unfortunately not yet had a chance to listen to it, but I perused the lyrics and am expecting to love it.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize he was in that. Now I really have to see it.

It's a great movie, too. My favourite Ernst Lubitsch movie.

Both of which are worth seeing for many reasons in addition to Edward Everett Horton.

I've actually seen Arsenic and Old Lace--I loved it. I guess I just forgot he was in it. It was a while ago--I mainly remember Cary Grant, Peter Lorre, and a guy who everyone said looked like Boris Karloff.

I haven't seen Lost Horizon, but I do have it on tape. I'll watch it to-night if I can find tape 165 . . .

[sovay]

My favourite Ernst Lubitsch movie.

I've only seen To Be Or Not To Be (1942). But that was wonderful.

It was a while ago--I mainly remember Cary Grant, Peter Lorre, and a guy who everyone said looked like Boris Karloff.

Raymond Massey; Boris Karloff had played the role onstage, which made the joke much funnier, but due to the play's run continuing into filming, he wasn't available to reprise his role. I love Dr. Einstein, though. It has been pointed out by several of my friends that when the character played by Peter Lorre is the sanest person onscreen, there's something very wrong.

I haven't seen Lost Horizon, but I do have it on tape. I'll watch it to-night if I can find tape 165 . . .

Be warned that it's one of those films from which portions have almost certainly been irretrievably lost, since scenes were edited out for the Production Code and the original negatives later deteriorated past the point where they could have been reintegrated. For reasons I don't understand, however, the soundtrack was undamaged, so some newer versions of the film will basically play the complete soundtrack with stills superimposed so the viewer has some idea of the lost scenes. (The tape I own is like this; it's a little jarring the first time you see it, but I'd rather have at least sketches for the missing sequences than nothing at all.) Sadly, one of what sounds like Edward Everett Horton's funnier scenes went this way. Still, there's Ronald Colman.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

I've only seen To Be Or Not To Be (1942). But that was wonderful.

I haven't seen that one myself.

(The tape I own is like this; it's a little jarring the first time you see it, but I'd rather have at least sketches for the missing sequences than nothing at all.)

I agree.

I'm still holding out hope that someone will find the original The Magnificent Ambersons stashed somewhere.

[sovay]

I haven't seen that one myself.

It's brilliant; it was Carole Lombard's last role and the film that introduced me to Jack ". . . I'm thinking it over!" Benny. Especially considering when it was made; unlike in the 1983 Mel Brooks remake, there was no guarantee that the wider threat of Nazism could be neutralized as easily (and as hilariously) as the particular Nazis that the theatrical company of Josef and Maria Tura, husband-and-wife Shakespeareans and upstagers extraordinaire, here take on.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

it was Carole Lombard's last role and the film that introduced me to Jack ". . . I'm thinking it over!" Benny.

I'd like to see it--I've only seen one movie with Carole Lombard, and my only Jack Benny experience has been some of his radio show--a bonus feature on the Criterion Trouble in Paradise, actually.

[sovay]

What did you think of Outside, by the way?

It's a great album. It reminds me slightly of the industrial fiction of Simon Logan, not necessarily in sound, but in image. I have now contrived to get "Thru These Architect's Eyes" stuck in my head.

[setsuled.livejournal.com]

It reminds me slightly of the industrial fiction of Simon Logan, not necessarily in sound, but in image.

I can see the resemblance in the couple of excerpts I read on the website. Seems interesting.

I'm glad you liked the album.