Easter Parade; My Brother the Devil; Room 237; Full Metal Jacket; Barry Lyndon and Avery Fisher Hall Choral Concert at Monday Morning Diary (April 1)

Judges for ‘Crazy Hat Contest’ at Film Forum after holiday screening of 1948 musical classic “Easter Parade” flank Jeremy Juliano, who won second-place prize – a blu-ray of the film. To Jeremy’s immediate left is famed director Jerry Schatzberg, 85, who helmed “Panic in Needle Park” and “Scarecrow” with Al Pacino. The other two judges are fashion designers.

by Sam Juliano

Father Winter seems to have finally lost his grip, but he’s not going down without a fight.  The milder weather still requires a light jacket, and April remains an unpredictable month.  Easter Sunday in the metropolitan area was pleasant, and an opportunity to spend quality time with the family.  Once again I must thank our dear friend Dee Dee for posting the holiday greetings and reference point on the sidebar.

I want to thank WitD readers for responding with so much enthusiasm for the British Desert Island post of mid-week, which was only intended as an amusing diversion.  After sifting through the comment thread I can report that Carol Reed’s 1949 masterpiece The Third Man easily received the most reservations with 14 readers (including Yours Truly) promising to bring a DVD of the film on the Falklands trip.  The runner-up was Stanley Kubrick’s 1975 Barry Lyndon with 12 reservations.  The Third Man was actually named on all but one of the 16 lots posted.

The Tribeca Film Festival will be underway on April 17th, and the full schedule of features and shorts are now posted on-line.  Lucille and I (and Broadway Bob for some) are gearing up for ten weeks of marathon involvement in a fest that has steadily risen in reputation since it was founded a decade ago by Robert DeNiro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff.  The film event’s last day will be featuring a gloriously restored print of Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, which was recently named the Best Film of 1983 by WitD voters.

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14. 1984

 

by Allan Fish

the next in the series of small screen masterworks

(UK 1954 107m) not on DVD

Aka. Nineteen Eighty-Four

This has been a Ministry of Truth broadcast

p/d  Rudolph Cartier  w  Nigel Kneale  novel  George Orwell  m  John Hotchkis  art  Barry Learoyd

Peter Cushing (Winston Smith), André Morell (O’Brien), Yvonne Mitchell (Julia Dixon), Donald Pleasence (Syme), Arnold Diamond (Emmanuel Goldstein), Campbell Gray (Parsons), Hilda Fenemore (Mrs Parsons), Pamela Grant, Keith Davis, Wilfrid Brambell, Leonard Sachs, Nigel Kneale (voice from telescreen), Richard Williams (narrator),

Ask anyone who saw Michael Radford’s perfectly passable version of George Orwell’s dystopian nightmare whether it was the first version to be made, and a few dissenters might have recalled Michael Anderson’s inferior 1955 film version, but very few – and certainly next to none outside of the UK – would have remembered this 1954 telecast.  Yet it is one of the milestones of British television drama.  It was originally shown as one of the BBC Sunday Night Theatre dramas, but was so successful – it was said that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh most enjoyed it – they had to repeat it, but this meant actually doing a fresh live performance and it was in this guise it was repeated and was a massive success.  It was adapted by none other than Nigel Kneale, the man behind Quatermass, which was then still in its prime; the auspices, it has to be said were good.  There is therefore a truly bitter irony in the fact that the film went unseen for years due to the rights being bought out for the film of 1984 in the self same year.  It was as if, come the year 1984, even this piece of art would be obsolete.  Or, as Philip Purser observed, “in Orwellian speak, one of TV’s great landmarks now unexisted.”

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15. Blackadder

 

by Allan Fish

Another effort to move Field Marshal Haig’s drinks cabinet six inches closer to Berlin.

(UK 1983-1989 815m) DVD1/2

I have a cunning plan

p  John Lloyd  d  Martin Sharlow, Mandie Fletcher  w  Richard Curtis, Rowan Atkinson, Ben Elton  m  Howard Goodall

Rowan Atkinson (Generations of Edmund Blackadder), Tony Robinson (Generations of Baldrick), Tim McInnerny (Percy/Captain Darling), Stephen Fry (Lord Melchett/ General Melchett), Miranda Richardson (Elizabeth I), Brian Blessed (Richard IV), Elspet Gray, Patsy Byrne, Robert East, Frank Finlay, Miriam Margolyes, Jim Broadbent,

For a series that began life on BBC2 to only lukewarm original praise, the change of co-writer to Ben Elton and move to BBC1 paid unprecedented dividends.  Even those who do not rate the efforts of Curtis and Elton elsewhere have to bite their tongue when ‘the Adder‘ is mentioned, because without them it wouldn’t have existed at all.  Here’s a comedy that lasted four series (and three varying specials) simply because on each occasion it literally reinvented itself by moving forward in time.  The first series, set during the Wars of the Roses, was undoubtedly the weakest, but had numerous cherishable moments.  Then its star took time off from writing duties, a new director was found, and Elton entered the fray.  The second series had been intended to run in autumn 1985, but was held back for release in the new year, and even now I have misty recollections of watching that first episode as a twelve year old schoolboy.  This truly is the all-time peak of British TV comedy in terms of writing and ensemble playing. 

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The Sapphires, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange and Young Frankenstein on Monday Morning Diary (March 25)

Screen cap from Australian charmer “The Sapphires” about Down Under soul-singing quartet

by Sam Juliano

March of last year boasted some lovely Spring weather, as 19 of the first 22 days of the month yielded to temperatures of 60 degrees and higher in the metropolitan area.  This year the number of days that have gone 60 degrees or higher is zero.  With snow, and numbers in the low 30′s we’ve seen a raw extension of the Winter season, and can only hope that April will finally reverse the dogged course.  A late weather report today is revealing that we will have several inches of snow today, starting in the morning.

The 2013 Tribeca Film Festival will be launching in Manhattan on Thursday April 18th, and will run until Sunday April 28th.  If everything goes as expected I will be attending quite a few films with Lucille during the ten day period on passes that are likely to be sent my way.  As was the case like last year, I will be exhaustively covering the festival at WitD.

The U.S. congress has once again showed it’s cowardice, bowing to the powerful NRA gun lobby by killing the assault weapon ban that has been so vigorously proposed after the Newtown tragedy back in December.  When anyone looks at the terrible events that defined that incomparable calamity, it’s clear that mental health issues are to be considered as strongly as the matter of gun control.  But regardless, weapons of war have no place on the streets, and congress have proven themselves unwitting enablers of future disasters.

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Francesca da Rimini on Met Opera HD, Beyond the Hills and big screen Frank Capras on Monday Morning Diary (March 18)

Marcello Giordani and Eva-Maria Westbroek in Zandonai’s opera ‘Francesca da Rimimi’ performed at the Met and broadcast Saturday on HD in movie theatres worldwide

Screen cap from Christian Mongiu’s austere and powerful Romanian film “Beyond the Hills”

by Sam Juliano

A day late, but a Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all!  Those still with the Irish fever, can pick from among many movies with Irish settings, themes, or characters for a mini festival that is unique, featuring unusual diversity.  Some suggestions: The Dead, Darby O’Gill and the Little People, Once, The Quiet Man, The Informer, The Field, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, The Butcher Boy, The Secret of Roan Inish, The Magdalene Sisters, In Bruges, My Left Foot, Waking Ned Devine, The Field, Into the West, Angels with Dirty Faces, Odd Man Out, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Michael Collins, In the Name of the Father,  Ryan’s Daughter, In America, Snapper, The Commitments, The General (Boorman), The Crying Game, Bloody Sunday, Hunger, Da, Borstal Boy, Cal, Adam & Paul, I See a Dark Stranger, An Everlasting Piece, Breakfast on Pluto, The Secret of Kells, The Long Good Friday.  Admittedly the list is extensive, and it may take until St. Patrick’s Day of 2014 to complete it!  Lucille’s maternal grandmother (nee Hughes) was half Irish and half English, so my own children are only 7/8 Italian descent.  Yet there you have it, they are distinctly part Irish and wore some green yesterday.

My Habemus Papam post on Thursday pretty much covered the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires (Pope Francis) so I will now move on the same way I departed from past MMD coverage of President Obama’s re-election, the Olympics, the passing of former NYC Mayor Ed Koch, unspeakable tragedies, the Oscars, family trips and excursions, and various festival and awards competitions that periodically mark a weekly column that always attempts to expand cinematic horizons with a full consideration of the world around us.  As such discussion is always encouraged on any or all, of the subjects I broach or offer capsule commentary on.  Alas, I am an incurable competition junkie when various contests are part of the equation.

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Habemus Papam: Argentinian, Jorge Mario Bergoglio surprise choice as new Pope Francis I

by Sam Juliano

While the deck was basically stacked for the prospects of yet another unyielding conservative papal selection, it must at least be said that today’s shock announcement from the Vatican has at least some people excited about their faith.  The completely off-the-radar selection of Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio did more to raise eyebrows, not the least reason of course being that the 76 year-old is the first pope chosen from outside Italy in 1,300 years.  Few will even remember that Bergolio was the main opposition to Benedict in 2005, purportedly drawing 40 votes at one point in the four-ballot election of the German cardinal.  But insiders have revealed that Bergoglio begged his fellow cardinals not to choose him, hence eight years later at an advanced age few saw this incredible surprise looming.  After choosing the 78 year-old Ratzinger, and then watching his resign, there weren’t many willing to predict the follow-up choice of a 76 year-old.

Bergoglio is said to have lived his life simply, attending to the poor, cooking his own meals and moving up the religious ladder as a Jesuit.  The new pope is widely considered one of the most moderate choices in the college, even if his views on abortion, homosexuality and the ordination of women remain totally unacceptable.  Yet there seems to be a slim ray of light, when one considers he is basically a humble man, who it can be said has had only limited connection to the Vatican and the much-maligned Roman curia.

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Oz the Great and Powerful, Jason and the Argonauts, papal conclave and Movie Projector’s James Cagney blogothon on Monday Morning Diary (March 11)

Screen cap from Sam Raimi’s “Os the Great and Powerful”

by Sam Juliano

I’d like first off to express my deepest appreciation to my dear friends and some WitD readers who sent me supportive e mails and placed comments on multiple threads regarding my wife Lucille’s present condition.  As I stated in updates answering some, she  will be having the laparoscopic procedure in a few weeks to remove the gall bladder as a result of stones moving towards the bile duct.  A number of readers informed me that their husbands, wives, brothers, sisters and friends have had the same procedure over the years, and that despite the fear associated with any kind of a hospital stay (one day in and out with this one) I am confident all will be well, and Lucille will feel much better as a result.  I can’t thank everyone enough for the exceedingly kind words.

Our very good friend Richard R.D. Finch is nearing a final schedule for the April James Cagney blogothon he has organized for his blogsite The Movie Projector.  Many will certainly recall the spectacularly-successful William Wyler blogothon Finch chaired months ago, a venture that received an appreciative seal of approval by none other than members of the celebrated director’s own family.  A banner will soon be posted on the sidebar, and yours truly will be contributing an essay, much like a number of good WitD friends.

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Stepping back for a while

by Sam Juliano

You know the phrase high maintenance.  Well I have found this fact of life very daunting in recent weeks, both domestically- when there has been a family health scare – and as applicable to the stewarding of the site and related blogging activities.  While I am certain all will be well with Lucille, I feel I need to focus on that situation and to spend less time on-line.  There have been some rather serious personality issues at the site as of late, but these are not matters I wish to discuss, especially as this is a place that has always had it’s share of  diverging opinions and strategy differences.  During this hiatus I will still get a Monday Morning Diary post up, and will attend to setting some reviews from other writers to word press.  I will also do what I can to respond to any comments that are placed at the MMD.  In addition I will  cast my weekly ballot at the annual Sunday voting thread.   There are a few other sites proctored by very good friends that I will pay visits to during the online opportunities.

I appreciate your understanding at this time.

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Stoker, The Gatekeepers, Jack the Giant Slayer, King Kong and Fay Wray Scream-alike contest on Monday Morning Diary (March 4)

Jeremy Juliano at Film Forum for screening of “King Kong” and participation in ‘Fay Wray screamalike contest” wearing tee-shirt he won in raffle drawing.

by Sam Juliano

What ever happened to the years when March came in like a lamb?  Winter seems more and more reluctant to relinquish it’s icy grip in the weeks leading up to spring, and as a result heat bills are staying the course.  But I am speaking here of the weather in the Northeast.  The midwest has had it even worse, and still others can actually boast of very favorable conditions.  But what of weather in general?  It’s really nothing more than a convenient way for me to start these weekly threads.

Lucille and I took the three boys to a Fay Wray Scream-alike contest on Sunday morning at 11:00 A.M. that was staged after the regularly-scheduled “Film Forum Jr.” screening of the 1933 King Kong.  Any child under the age of 12 was eligible to participate in their own rendition of the terrified young heroine of the monster adventure classic in her famed voice rantings.  Our youngest child Jeremy was third in line to do his thing, but it was clear that ‘screaming’ was never a favorite pastime of the 10 year old fifth grader.  He didn’t finish among the six finalists (the grand prize was four free tickets to the Empire State Building Tour) but got lucky in the ensuing raffle, and managed to win a King Kong tee-shirt.  The ‘Film Forum Jr.’ series has been a smash success, selling out week after week, and necessitating advance purchases for those wishing to attend.  The past three weeks also included a second screening on another of the theater’s three screens of the film at 11:10 A.M., though that overflow addition on Sunday of course did not include the wonderful festivities that have made the series such a weekend essential for NYC youngsters.  The upcoming screenings include Jason and the Argonauts, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T., Young Frankenstein and Easter Parade, with the Garland/Astaire featuring a ‘Crazy Hat contest.’  Program Director Bruce Goldstein announced on Sunday that due to the wild success of the series, thirteen weeks have been added.  Some of those additions include The School of Rock with a guitar contest and Chaplin’s The Kid with a Charlie Chaplin look-alike competition.

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Is ‘Crash’ the worst Oscar winner ever?

2005′s ‘Crash’ may well be worst Oscar Best Picture winner ever

by Sam Juliano

One of the most popular ongoing Oscar games is to identify the absolute worst choices ever made for Best Picture over the 86 year history of the awards.  Some takers will always choose to name what they feel are the worst films to win, while others prefer to cite the films that won over far more deserving winners.  On the latter front a popular choice will always be 1941′s How Green Was My Valley, a John Ford masterwork that had the temerity to top the film that many consider the greatest of all-time: Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane.  Yet, How Green Was My Valley would be a legitimate winner practically any other year, so the strong indignation for 1941 seems misguided.  It would be safe to contend that roughly half of the films named Best Picture over eight decades plus are unworthy of the ultimate designation for either of the two reasons, or a combination of both.  Of the remaining half we could discount another 50% or so that are acceptable, but uninspired.  That leaves us with maybe one-quarter of the actual selections that can be regarded as valid and worthy of the Oscar.  Needless to say, the Academy Awards, by their very make-up rarely show the proper attention for foreign-language cinema, so even in the minority instance where they did get it right there is a significant asterisk next to the choices.  Ironically enough the last time the Academy got it right was just a year ago, when the critically-venerated The Artist earned the top prize after nearly every critics’ organization worldwide made the same call.  There are a number of other instances over the years where movie lover are nearly unanimous in their belief that justice was served: Lawrence of Arabia, All Quiet on the Western Front, No Country For Old Men, The Return of the King, West Side Story, Midnight Cowboy, The Godfather, The Godfather Part 2 among them.

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