Misfortunes of Imaginary Beings

A blog formerly known as Bookishness / By Charles Matthews

"Dazzled by so many and such marvelous inventions, the people of Macondo ... became indignant over the living images that the prosperous merchant Bruno Crespi projected in the theater with the lion-head ticket windows, for a character who had died and was buried in one film and for whose misfortune tears had been shed would reappear alive and transformed into an Arab in the next one. The audience, who had paid two cents apiece to share the difficulties of the actors, would not tolerate that outlandish fraud and they broke up the seats. The mayor, at the urging of Bruno Crespi, explained in a proclamation that the cinema was a machine of illusions that did not merit the emotional outbursts of the audience. With that discouraging explanation many ... decided not to return to the movies, considering that they already had too many troubles of their own to weep over the acted-out misfortunes of imaginary beings."
--Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

Sunday, May 19, 2019

The Toast of New York (Rowland V. Lee, 1937)

The Toast of New York (Rowland V. Lee, 1937)

Cast: Edward Arnold, Cary Grant, Frances Farmer, Jack Oakie, Donald Meek, Thelma Leeds, Clarence Kolb, Billy Gilbert. Screenplay: Dudley Nichols, John Twist, Joel Sayre, based on a book by Bouck White and a story by Matthew Josephson. Cinematography: J. Peverell Marley. Art direction: Van Nest Polglase, Carroll Clark, Darrell Silvera. Film editing: Samuel E. Beetley, George Hively. Music: Nathaniel Shilkret.

Saturday, May 18, 2019

The Night of the Shooting Stars (Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani, 1982)

The Night of the Shooting Stars (Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani, 1982)

Cast: Omero Antonutti, Margarita Lozano, Claudio Bigagli, Miriam Guidelli, Massimo Bonetti, Enrica Maria Modugno, Sabina Vannucchi, Giorgio Naddi. Screenplay: Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani, Giuliani G. De Negri, Tonino Guerra. Cinematography: Franco Di Giacomo. Production design: Gianni Sbarra. Film editing: Roberto Perpignani. Music: Nicola Piovani.

Friday, May 17, 2019

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (Fritz Lang, 1956)

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (Fritz Lang, 1956)

Cast: Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine, Sidney Blackmer, Barbara Nichols, Arthur Franz, Philip Bourneuf, Edward Binns, Shepperd Strudwick. Screenplay: Douglas Morrow. Cinematography: William E. Snyder. Art direction: Carroll Clark. Music: Herschel Burke Gilbert.

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Tracked (Hideo Gosha, 1985)

Tracked (Hideo Gosha, 1985)

Cast: Ken Ogata, Atsuko Asano, Takuzo Kawatani, Kazuyo Asari, Mariko Fuji, Junko Miyashita, Kon Omura. Screenplay: Motomu Furuta, based on a novel by Bo Nishimura. Cinematography: Fujio Morita. Art direction: Yoshinobu Nishioka. Film editing: Isamu Ichida. Music: Masaru Sato.

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

The Blue Gardenia (Fritz Lang, 1953)

The Blue Gardenia (Fritz Lang, 1953)

Cast: Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern, Raymond Burr, Jeff Donnell, George Reeves, Richard Erdman, Ruth Storey, Ray Walker, Nat "King" Cole. Screenplay: Charles Hoffman, based on a story by Vera Caspary. Cinematography: Nicholas Musuraca. Art direction: Charles D. Hall. Film editing: Edward Mann. Music: Raoul Kraushaar.

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Unrelated (Joanna Hogg, 2007)

Unrelated (Joanna Hogg, 2007)

Cast: Kathryn Worth, Harry Kershaw, Emma Hiddleston, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Tom Hiddleston, Mary Roscoe, Michael Hadley, David Rintoul. Screenplay: Joanna Hogg. Cinematography: Oliver Curtis. Production design: Stéphane Collonge. Film editing: Helle le Fevre.