Category Archives: Cinema

The Most Beautiful Woman in the World?

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One of the positive things about the current lock-down is that it has enabled me in my stretched out time-span to google the web in search of often neglected classic films. Some sites clearly require a subscription but a surprising majority of movies are freely available for on-line streaming as they are in the public domain.

Should one approach classical Hollywood cinema in terms of its most important directors, its most magnetic stars or its variegated genres?

I’ve chosen all three themes to continue my exploration.

The star system was invented in Hollywood: promising actors and actress groomed to perform at their most characteristic and their loveliest or most handsome. This was certainly the case with Hedy Lamarr, dubbed ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’. Austrian by birth Lamarr achieved notoriety through her Czechoslovak film ‘Extase’ in which she not only appeared nude but also acted out the first female orgasm to appear on the silver screen. This was obviously before the notorious Hays code heavily censored films.

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Later, escaping from Nazi Germany and a power-freak husband Lamarr entered the Hollywood studios where her first film ‘Algeria’ – a precursor of ‘Casablanca’ with its similar theme of the heroine’s craving for a passport to freedom – left the audience gasping at her effulgent beauty. Seeing this film on YouTube the other week I can only agree. Here’s one still I took of heavenly Hedy.

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Having basked in the souks of Algiers under the spell of Hedy’s heady eyes and her gracefully sensuous lips I took in a few more of the star’s films.

‘Lady of the Tropics’, set in Vietnam, ‘I’ll take this Woman’, the story of a kept-man and pre-dating ‘Sunset Boulevard’ , Ziegfield Girl’, a bonanza of a musical also starring a young Judy Garland, fresh from her triumph starring in ‘The Wizard of Oz’, ‘H.M.Pulham’, the tale of a man licked into shape by his unemotional wife but ever haunted by his love for a beauty he almost married – probably the most impressively psychological of Lamarr’s films, ‘White Cargo’, another film again set in an oriental scenario, ‘The Strange Woman’, surely her strangest film too about an ambiguous persona, and the latest one to view, ‘Dishonoured Lady’, a film already full of the mystery and sudden twists of ‘Film Noir’ which increasingly dominated 1940’s cinema.

Incidentally, Hedy Lamarr combined brains with beauty. She was also an inventor and developed the frequency-hopping development we now know as Bluetooth as a way of preventing the Axis powers from jamming Allied communications during World War II,

One of my favourite classic Hollywood actresses, Olivia De Havilland, who played Melanie Hamilton in ‘Gone with the Wind’ (1939) and ‘The Snake Pit’ (1948) where she finds herself in an insane asylum, is still with us at age 103. How amazing!

I adore ‘Film Noir’ ever since my dad persuaded me to watch ‘Double Indemnity’ –starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray – about a siren love destroying an insurance agent. My dad at the time worked as a rep for the Prudential so I do not doubt that this was one of the reasons why he appreciated the film so much. It remains for me ever a masterpiece of its genre. Incidentally, I have also come under the spell of a siren love for most of my life. Fortunately the results have been quite otherwise.

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It’s sad that a work colleague, Robin Buss, who became film critic for the Independent and translator for Penguin French classics, is no longer with us on this planet. Already author of very persuasive books on French and Italian cinema

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he also wrote one on the excitingly tense, hothouse atmosphere and drivingly nail-biting scenarios of ‘film noir.’ Again, I’ve explored on-line sites and enjoyed some great films which have completely transported me away from the present rather unbearable times. Of these I have particularly enjoyed ‘The Maltese Falcon’, ‘Laura’, ‘Sunset Boulevard’ and ‘The Lady from Shanghai’. But you’ll have your own favourites.

Looking at films by way of directors I cannot resist (like most of us) films by that master, Alfred Hitchcock. I’m fortunate in that my wife picked up a few unforgettable titles in charity shops (while they were still open). Among these are ‘Vertigo’ starring Kim Novak (who is still with us!) and ‘The Thirty Nine Steps’ with such a memorable partnership between the great Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll.

I could add so many more films to my list of Hollywood classics: ‘Portrait of Jenny’, for example.

However, it’s going to be up to you to rediscover your favourites and research new finds. A film, whether it be on the silver screen or in opulent technicolour is a truly effective way of forgetting the present ghastly, ineffectual ways a government is attempting to tackle the greatest crisis to hit the UK and the world since a bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. I just hope the number of dead won’t be anything like the same….

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(Sandra enjoying her dessert)

Bagni di Lucca’s CineClub

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One of the best ways of learning Italian is to watch Italian dialogue films with the help of English language sub-titles. There has been a long tradition of cinema going in Italy; television didn’t arrive until 1954 but, although the impact on cinema attendance has been considerable, it has been less drastic than in several other Europeans countries. I can still remember once-long queues outside cinemas in south London with scarlet-coated commissioners. Inside the often beautiful but faded art-deco movie theatres one was guided by usherettes with their torches. During the interval between the ‘A’ and ‘B’ movies the usherettes would appear with trays  selling popcorn,  Walls ice cream and Kia ora fruit juices.  The back rows would be left to the domain of snoggers and courting couples while smokers would be positioned on the left side of the seating. All this is but a dim memory although South London’s Cinema museum which we visited last year brings so much of it back…and in the part of London where Charlie Chaplin was brought up. (Do read my post on this evocative museum at https://longoio3.com/2018/08/26/10670/)

In the UK many of these movie houses have regrettably been demolished while others have been converted into religious centres. (Witness the ‘New Wine Church’ on Woolwich, formerly a futuristic thirties Odeon – I still remember seeing ‘Titanic’ for the first time there). In our part of the world there are a handful of cinemas in operation although sadly here too several have been closed down. This is the case with Ghivizzano where we managed to see a Benigni film around 2007.

Cinemas still exist in Barga, Fornaci di Barga and Castelnuovo di Garfagnana but the only way of enjoying the silver screen in Bagni di Lucca is to attend the ‘Cineclub’ in the borough library on Thursdays at 9.15 PM. Bagni may have had a cinema once (I suspect it was in the Teatro Academico) but the Cineclub, now in its eleventh year, is an excellent way of making up for this deficiency.

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Here is this year’s programme which runs until 12th March. In particular, the films celebrate the birth centenary of the great Fellini besides concentrating on current issues like immigration (5th March) and family relationships.

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I leave you to decipher the titles of any English versions of the films. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Zeffirelli’s ‘Inferno’ Re-Created in Florence

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I’ve mentioned Franco Zeffirelli’s foundation and museum in Florence in my post at https://longoio3.com/2018/05/06/an-invitation-from-franco-zeffirelli/

Last October we made a return visit to Florence as we hadn’t yet seen the museum.

Where to start with Franco’s achievements? In operatic scenography (Callas in ‘Tosca’)? In theatrical productions (‘Taming of the Shrew’ with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton)? In films (‘Tea with Mussolini’ with Judi Dench)?

I have my favourites (‘Jesus of Nazareth’, whose film sets we stumbled upon during our Tunisian honeymoon forty years ago),

‘Filumena Marturano’, a West End production with Joan Plowright, Larry Olivier’s widow, and the rehearsals of which we witnessed personally at the Italian Institute with the master himself, my father-in-law’s (the institute’s secretary-general from its inception) good friend, and, particularly, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, which had me transfixed as a teenager.

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There’s an excellent web site for Franco’s museum at

https://www.fondazionefrancozeffirelli.com/en/the-museum/

The immense achievement in theatre, opera and cinema of this genius, who was born in Vinci and is a direct descendant of Leonardo himself, is fully displayed in the fascinating museum which occupies the San Firenze baroque complex formerly occupied by the city’s tribunal. Here is a selection of costumes, photographs and posters showing the breadth of the master’s achievements.

The palazzo’s setting is spectacular and there is a very convivial bar and a cortile to relax in after your visit.

For me the most fascinating section was that dealing with the unfinished 1972 project  of making a film of Dante’s ‘Inferno’. Sandra was involved in typing the scripts and the maestro’s scenic directions. But why was the project abandoned? Zeffirelli needed special effects which, although, today, are common place in any US type blockbuster, were then not yet available. The digital revolution was in its infancy and the master’s imagination could then not be realised in cinematographic form.

These are the preparatory sketches for the imagined masterpiece.

There are so many artists in history whose vision is far ahead of any technology that could achieve it. Zeffirelli is one of them. And this is the astounding re-creation of these sketches in the film which climaxes this very special museum. Of course, you have to see it in its full size in the splendid room which displays it, to fully appreciate the unrealised masterpiece.

 

 

 

Charlot a Londra

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Quando il grande Charlot (o, come gli inglesi lo riconoscono, ‘Charlie Chaplin’), ritornò a visitare i suoi luoghi natali a Walworth nella Londra del sud, vicino alla zona chiamata ‘Elephant and Castle’, non volle visitare un certo edificio. Era l’ospizio di mendicità, il ‘Lambeth Workhouse’, un posto temuto per le sue degradanti umiliazioni e dove la famiglia di Charlot fu intrattenuta per ben due volte prima che il bambino avesse nove anni di vita.
Il padre alcolico era quasi sempre assente da casa e, quando Charlot compì quattordici anni, la sua mamma fu ammessa nel manicomio di Cane Hill, (un luogo conosciuto da noi quando si visitava forse l’allievo più educato della nostra classe di scuola media, e dove morì a causa di una medicina datagli in errore.)

Intanto, il padre di Charlot morì di cirrosi del fegato poco dopo l’entrata della mamma in manicomio.

 

 

Tali furono le memorie traumatiche per il sommo artista di questo luogo triste.

Entrando nel mondo del teatro di varietà Charlot divenne membro della compagnia di Fred Karno, assieme a Stan Laurel (che poi si mise assieme con Oliver Hardy come ‘Stanlio e Olio’.)

La compagnia andò a far un tour in America e, già nel 1918, Chaplin era diventato il più famoso attore, direttore e regista comico del mondo.

Ora l’ospizio infame ospita il museo del cinema, fondato da due appassionati, Ronald Grant e Martin Humphries, nel 1986.

La collezione si concentra sul fenomeno sociale del cinema. Mi ricordo le lunghe file per vedere l’ultimo film, le collezioni di cartoline di famosi attori, i sedili ‘a due’ nell’ultima fila per i fidanzatini, le mascherine in elegante divisa che mostravano i nostri posti con le lampadine tascabili color rosso, i portaceneri con lo smog delle cigarette che imbruniva le mura della sala, i venditori di gelati e bibite con il vassoio appeso sul loro collo, il concessionario in splendido uniforme, e il club per ragazzi del cinema con spettacoli il sabato mattina (la scuola in Inghilterra è solo dal lunedì al venerdì).

 

 

Più di tutto mi ricordo del passato splendore dei cinema. Costruiti in festoso stile art deco mostravano un altro mondo fantasioso, pieno di bellezze soltanto sognate. Purtroppo così tanti cinema sono stati demoliti. Però ne esistono a Londra certi capolavori come questo di Tooting.

 

 

In Italia, a Firenze, l’Odeon vicino al Palazzo Strozzi dona una bellissima idea del cinema di una volta.

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Tutto questo magico mondo di ‘cinema paradiso’ scomparve rapidamente con l’entrata del televisore nelle case degli inglesi. Nel mio caso, il babbo si è abbassato ad accettare una televisione (a noleggio) nel nostro salotto ma, allarmato dalla nostra fissazione sul piccolo schermo, dopo qualche settimana la restitui’ alla ditta di noleggio (Radio Rentals). Rispondendo, però, ai nostri piagnucoli, disse, ‘per ricompensa vi porterò al cinema ogni settimana’.

Più tardi ritornò l’infame televisore a casa, ma mi ricorderò sempre di quell’epoca d’oro di famiglia quando si usciva tutti insieme a vedere film come ‘The Sundowners’, ‘Cry for Happy’ e ‘The Greengage Summer’.

La collezione del museo è vasta e si può solo vedere una parte alla volta. Un portiere in splendida livrea ci ha accolto con una divertente introduzione e poi abbiamo visitato il museo.

Nella vecchia cappella del ‘workhouse’ abbiamo goduto un thè e biscotti.

 

 

La visita è finita quasi cinque ore dopo con un bel montage di film vecchi.

Insomma, per quelle ore eravamo incantati dalla magia del cinema come non ci è successo da molto tempo.

Sono sempre più dell’opinione che, vedendo il mondo com’è, la televisione danneggia la salute. Frequentero’ il cinema di più col suo grande inimitabile schermo e ritornerò a diventare bambino di nuovo!