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

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Blithe Spirit (David Lean, 1945)

Blithe Spirit (David Lean, 1945)

Cast: Rex Harrison, Kay Hammond, Constance Cummings, Margaret Rutherford, Hugh Wakefield, Joyce Carey, Jacqueline Clarke. Screenplay: David Lean, Ronald Neame, Anthony Havelock-Allan, based on a play by Noël Coward. Cinematography: Ronald Neame. Art direction: C.P. Norman. Film editing: Jack Harris. Music: Richard Addinsell.

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Last Hurrah for Chivalry (John Woo, 1979)

Last Hurrah for Chivalry (John Woo, 1979)

Cast: Pai Wei, Damian Lau, Kong Lau, Chiu-Hua Wei, Hark-On Fung, Hoi Sang Lee. Screenplay: John Woo. Cinematography: Yiu-Tsou Cheung, Tsin Yu. Film editing: Peter Cheung. Music: Frankie Chan.

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

The Outsiders (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983)

The Outsiders (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983)

Cast: C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Diane Lane, Glenn Withrow, Leif Garrett, Darren Dalton, Michelle Meyrink, Tom Waits. Screenplay: Kathleen Rowell, based on a novel by S.E. Hinton. Cinematography: Stephen H. Burum. Production design: Dean Tavoularis. Film editing: Anne Goursaud. Music: Carmine Coppola.

Monday, April 22, 2019

Black Moon (Louis Malle, 1975)

Black Moon (Louis Malle, 1975)

Cast: Cathryn Harrison, Therese Giehse, Alexandra Stewart, Joe Dallesandro. Screenplay: Louis Malle, Joyce Buñuel. Cinematography: Sven Nykvist. Art direction: Ghislain Uhry. Film editing: Suzanne Baron.

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Our Town (Sam Wood, 1940)

Our Town (Sam Wood, 1940)

Cast: William Holden, Martha Scott, Frank Craven, Thomas Mitchell, Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi, Guy Kibbee, Stuart Erwin, Doro Merande, Philip Wood. Screenplay: Thornton Wilder, Frank Craven, Harry Chandlee, based on a play by Thornton Wilder. Cinematography: Bert Glennon. Production design: William Cameron Menzies. Film editing: Sherman Todd. Music: Aaron Copland.

Saturday, April 20, 2019

I Knew Her Well (Antonio Pietrangeli, 1965)

I Knew Her Well (Antonio Pietrangeli, 1965)

Cast: Stefania Sandrelli, Mario Adorf, Jean-Claude Brialy, Joachim Fuchsberger, Nino Manfredi, Enrico Maria Salerno, Ugo Tognazzi, Karin Dor, Franco Fabrizi, Franco Nero, Robert Hoffmann. Screenplay: Antonio Pietrangeli, Ruggiero Maccari, Ettore Scola. Cinematography: Armando Nannuzzi. Production design: Maurizio Chiari. Film editing: Franco Fraticelli. Music: Piero Piccioni, Benedetto Ghilia.