Introduction from my book ‘The Untouchables’

  by Allan Fish As you know, and I have made clear in recent months, the pieces for my countdowns are taken from a book written over the last 6 years encompassing every aspect of screen history.  Following the heated discussions yesterday for my number 1 choice, which I fully expected from all parties, as [...]

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Screen Savour’s “T.S.” Poses Intriguing Question About Cinema For High Schoolers

                                                                                   “Lord of the Flies” (1962)           T.S. of ‘Screen Savour’ who teaches in a University, is one of the net’s most gifted film writers, having penned comprehensive examinations of the work of Hitchcock, Chaplin, Griffith and Lang.  His series on Buster Keaton will soon debut at his site.  T.S. conversed with me [...]

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1970′s Poll Voting Concludes on Wednesday Aug. 5th at 11:00 P.M.

by Sam Juliano      The hugely-successful 1970′s polling, which has run for nearly two months, will end on Wednesday, August 5th at 11:00 P.M. EST.  Voting Tabulator Extraordinaire Angelo A. D’Arminio Jr. has been monitoring the returns, and will no doubt, have a full tabulation ready for the following weekend after the cut-off date.  While [...]

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Duelle (no 1)

by Allan Fish (France 1976 121m) not on DVD Aka. Duelle – une quarantaine The Fairy Godmother p  Stéphane Tchalgadjieff  d  Jacques Rivette  w  Eduardo de Gregorio, Marilu Parolini  ph  William Lubtchansky  ed  Nicole Lubtchansky  m  none  art  Eric Simon Bulle Ogier (Viva), Juliet Berto (Leni), Jean Babilée (Pierrot), Hermine Karagheuz (Lucie), Nicole Garcia (Jeanne/Elsa), [...]

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Stalker (no 2)

by Allan Fish (USSR 1979 161m) DVD1/2 Welcome to The Zone d  Andrei Tarkovsky  w  Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky  novel  “Roadside Picnic” by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky   ph  Aleksandr Kynazhinsky  ed  Ludmila Feganova  m  Eduard Artemyev  art  Andrei Tarkovsky, R.Safiullin Aleksandr Kaidanovsky (stalker), Anatoli Solonitsin (writer), Nikolai Grinko (professor), Alissa Freindlikh (stalker’s wife), Natasha Abramova [...]

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Forsaken 70′s Cinema: Richard Attenborough’s ‘Young Winston’

by Sam Juliano      Despite its distinguished cast and reverent subject, Richard Attenborough’s Young Winston fared poorly at the box-office, while dividing the critics, and it quickly disappeared after a brief run in USA theatres.   The film did win a most prestigious honor though, and that was the Best Picture prize from the London Film Critics [...]

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Hitler – a Film from Germany (no 3)

by Allan Fish (West Germany 1977 429m) DVD1/2 (Germany only) Aka. Hitler, ein Film aus Deutschland You are the executioner of the western world p  Hans-Jurgen Syberberg  d/w  Hans-Jurgen Syberberg  ph  Dietrich Lohmann  ed  Jutta Brandstaedter  m  Gustav Mahler, W.A.Mozart, L.Van Beethoven, Richard Wagner, Joseph Haydn  art  Hans Gailling Heinz Schübert, Andre Heller, Helmut Lange, [...]

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Monday Morning Diary (July 27)

by Sam Juliano      As the summer races by, with the dog days of August nearly upon us, the movie theatres are undergoing their typical meltdown until September rolls around.  Here at Wonders in the Dark the comments keep coming, as Allan’s fantastic countdown moved toward its Thursday conclusion.  This past week, the “hottest” discussion [...]

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Barry Lyndon (no 4)

by Allan Fish (UK 1975 187m) DVD1/2 Saraband for Embalmed Lovers p  Stanley Kubrick, Bernard Williams  d/w  Stanley Kubrick  novel  “The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon” by William M.Thackeray  ph  John Alcott  ed  Tony Lawson  md  Leonard Rosenman  m  Franz Schubert, W.A.Mozart, George F.Handel, J.S.Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Giovanni Paisiello, Frederick the Great, Irish folk music  art  [...]

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Review of Sam Peckinpah’s ‘The Wild Bunch’

The Wild Bunch, 1969, directed by Sam Peckinpah Story: After being set up in a bank heist, the dwindling and aging Wild Bunch (a band of outlaws operating in the American frontier of the early 20th century) crosses into Mexico. Pursued by bounty hunters led by one of their former members, the Bunch agree to [...]

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