Episode Thirty Three - 2014 Review

The year is coming to an end so it must mean wrap up show time, this year we are joined by Craig Skinner to have a look back at Masters of Cinema in 2014. Enjoy!

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Episode Thirty Two - The Passion of Joan of Arc

We return with a look at a Carl Th. Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc and who better to join us than a podcasting titan in the form of Joe Johnson one half of the brilliant husband and wife team that produced the Watching the Directors podcast.

Enjoy!

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Episode Thirty One - Le Beau Serge and Les Cousins

Its Tom and David Blakeslee today with a double bill of Claude Charbol's Le Beau Serge and Les Cousins.

From Masters of Cinema:

'Gérard Blain and Jean-Claude Brialy star in the first of their collaborations with the great Claude Chabrol. The director’s masterful feature debut — ironic, funny, unsparing — is a revelation: another of that rare breed of film where the dusty formula might be used in full sincerity: Le Beau Serge marks the beginning of “the Chabrol touch.”

In this first feature film of the French New Wave, one year before Truffaut’s The Four Hundred Blows, the dandyish François (Brialy, of Godard’s A Woman Is a Woman, Rohmer’s Claire’s Knee, and countless other cornerstones of 20th-century French cinema) takes a holiday from the city to his home village of Sardent, where he reconnects with his old chum Serge (Blain), now a besotted and hopeless alcoholic, and sly duplicitous carnal Marie (Bernadette Lafont). A grave triangle forms, and a tragic slide ensues.

Made barely a year after Claude Chabrol’s debut Le Beau Serge, Les Cousins featured the earlier film’s same starring pair of Jean-Claude Brialy and Gérard Blain, here reversing the good-guy/bad-guy roles of the previous picture. The result is a simmering, venomous study in human temperament that not only won the Golden Bear at the 1959 Berlin Film Festival, but also drew audiences in droves, and effectively launched Chabrol’s incredible fifty-year-long career.

In Les Cousins, Blain’s character journeys from the country to Paris to crash at the luxurious flat of his worldly and decadent cousin, portrayed by Brialy, during the study period for an upcoming law exam which both have set out to undertake. It becomes clear soon enough that only one of the cousins is terribly committed to his work; as sexual promises and alcohol intervene, the set-up becomes untenable for the provincial, — and a tragic slide ensues.

A gripping and urbane examination of city and country, ambition and ease, Les Cousins continues to captivate and shock audiences with its brilliant scenario, the performances of Brialy and Blain, and the assuredness of Chabrol’s precocious directorial hand.'

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Episode Thirty - Nosferatu

This week its just Joakim and Tom discussing a classic and possibly suggesting the ending might not actually be that great....

From Masters of Cinema:

An iconic film of the German expressionist cinema, and one of the most famous of all silent movies, F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu. Eine Symphonie des Grauens. [Nosferatu. A Symphony of Horror.] continues to haunt — and, indeed, terrify — modern audiences with the unshakable power of its images. By teasing a host of occult atmospherics out of dilapidated set-pieces and innocuous real-world locations alike, Murnau captured on celluloid the deeply-rooted elements of a waking nightmare, and launched the signature “Murnau-style” that would change cinema history forever.

In this first-ever screen adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a simple real-estate transaction leads an intrepid businessman deep into the superstitious heart of Transylvania. There he encounters the otherworldly Count Orlok — portrayed by the legendary Max Schreck, in a performance the very backstory of which has spawned its own mythology — who soon after embarks upon a cross-continental voyage to take up residence in a distant new land… and establish his ambiguous dominion. As to whether the count’s campaign against the plague-wracked populace erupts from satanic decree, erotic compulsion, or the simple impulse of survival — that remains, perhaps, the greatest mystery of all in this film that’s like a blackout…

Remade by Werner Herzog in 1979 (and inspiring films as diverse as Abel Ferrara’s King of New York and The Addiction, and E. Elias Merhige’s Shadow of the Vampire), F. W. Murnau’s surreal 1922 cine-fable remains the original and landmark entry in the entire global tradition of “the horror film”. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present, newly restored on 1080p Blu-ray at long last, Nosferatu. A Symphony of Horror. in its definitive restoration, complete with original intertitles and accompanied by the score that played with the film at the time of its initial release.

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Episode Twenty Nine - Island of Lost Souls

We return with a look at Erle C. Kentons Island of Lost Souls with special guest James Marsh.

From Masters of Cinema:

''Originally rejected by the BBFC on its initial release for being “against nature”, this first and best screen adaptation of H. G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau is a taboo-flaunting, blood-curdling spectacular, and one of Hollywood’s wildest, most notorious, pre-Code pictures.

Shipwrecked and adrift, Edward Parker finds himself a guest on Dr. Moreau’s isolated South Seas island, but quickly discovers the horrifying nature of the doctor’s work and the origin of the strange forms inhabiting the isle: a colony of wild animals reworked into humanoid form via sadistic surgical experiments. Furthermore, Parker quickly begins to fear his own part in the doctor’s plans to take the unholy enterprise to a next level.

Featuring a peerlessly erudite and sinister performance by Charles Laughton as the diabolical doctor, a sterling appearance by Bela Lugosi as the half-beast-half-man “Sayer of the Law”, and sensationally atmospheric cinematography by the great Karl Struss (Murnau’s Sunrise, Mamoulian’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), Island of Lost Souls now returns to claim a central position among the most imaginative and nightmarish fantasies from Hollywood’s golden age of horror. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Kenton’s film on Blu-ray and DVD for the first time in the UK, a celebration of the film’s 80th anniversary.''

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Episode Twenty Eight - Q4 2014 Roundup

It Q4 new release roundup time along with a few off the cuff discussions about some random topics. Enjoy!

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Episode Twenty Seven - For all Mankind

We return with special guest Marilyn Ferdinand to discuss Al Reinert's For All Mankind.

From Masters of Cinema:

''During the Apollo lunar missions from 1968 to 1972, those onboard were given 16mm cameras and told to film anything and everything they could, in space, in orbit, and on the surface of the moon itself. Two decades later, filmmaker Al Reinert went into the NASA vaults to create this extraordinary compendium of their journeys and experiences.

Assembled from hundreds of hours of the astronauts’ own footage, with a soundtrack made up of their memories and a specially composed score by Brian Eno, the film takes the form of one journey to the moon and back again, building with elegant simplicity and exquisite construction to create an overpowering vision of human endeavour and miraculous experience.

At once intimate and awe-inspiring, For All Mankind is a genuinely mesmerising first-hand document of one of the high points of the 20th century. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present this beautiful high-definition restoration of the film for its UK home viewing première in a comprehensive, director-approved special edition.''

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Episode Twenty Six - Simon Killer

On Episode 26 of the Masters of Cinema Cast Joakim and Tom discuss Antonio Campos's 2012 film Simon Killer.

From Masters of Cinema:

'A deeply disturbing character study of a handsome and sociopathic American in Paris, writer-director Antonio Campos’s Simon Killer hones further the psychological perceptiveness and keen filmmaking craft exhibited in Campos’s acclaimed feature debut Afterschool. Brady Corbet (Melancholia, Thirteen, Martha Marcy May Marlene) plays Simon, a recent college graduate full of promise and potential, who goes to Paris to begin a trip around Europe following a break-up with a long-time girlfriend.

An outsider adrift upon a profound sense of loss, Simon takes solace in the company of Victoria (Mati Diop of35 Shots of Rum), a beautiful, young, and mysterious prostitute — and their fateful journey begins…Emotionally compelling and visually stunning, Simon Killer is an examination of casual brutality, profane sexuality, alienation, and desperation, all cut to a killer soundtrack that underscores the borderline psychotic fervor of Simon’s descent. '

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Episode Twenty Five - F for Fake

Its fair to say that Orson Welles didn't have a great deal of luck when it came to Hollywood. If his films weren't being reedited without his permission they were being shelved and cancelled all around him. Eventually moving to Europe Welles could have spent the rest of his life sulking; only he had better things to do, make more films.

F  for Fake is something of an oddity even by Welles' standards. A kind of film within a film, F for Fake is an exploration of art and film itself and before anyone says anything no it is not pretentious.

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Episode Twenty Four - Q3 2014 Roundup

We return with a look at the Quarter Three 2014 releases and a brief duscussion as to why booing at Cannes is really, really annoying.

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Episode Twenty Three - Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse

We return with the second of Fritz Lang's Mabuse trilogy with a look at Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse. As ever we have enlisted some help to help us sound more intelligent and it is with great pleasure that Jaime Christley joins us to discuss the film and to drop the bombshell that Ministry of Fear is actually a good film!

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Epiosde Twenty Two - Fear and Desire

Everyone has to star somewhere including the greatest filmmakers of all time like Stanley Kubrick. Fear and Desire was buried by Kubrick and bar the odd bootleg it remained unseen for years. After his death Fear and Desire has found its way onto Blu Ray and along with the question should it have been released in the first place, the most important thing is - is it actually any good?

In this episode we enlist the help of The Hollywood Gauntlets John Jansen to discuss Fear and Desire and some other stuff including Star Wars and whether or not Dr Stangelove is actually funny or not. Enjoy.

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Episode Twenty One - Accattone

The Masters of Cinema Cast returns with one of the collections stalwarts Pier Paolo Pasolini with his debut feature Accattone.

In this episode Joakim is joined by filmmaker and journalist Bilge Ebiri to discuss what was once described as the beginning of the 'second wave' of Italian neo realism.

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Episode Twenty - Quarter Two 2014 releases

A new show in which have a chat about stuff and nonsense and a look at upcoming Masters of Cinema releases.

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Episode Nineteen - Rumble Fish

When it was announced Masters of Cinema were going to be including a Francis Ford Coppola film our initial hopes were of course Jack would be making appearance. Instead, we were graced with one of Coppola's lesser known and discussed work Rumble Fish.

Made in a period when Coppola's stock in Hollywood was low, Rumble Fish is one of the directors more personal stories. In this episode Joakim is joined by Scott Nye to share his thoughts on what Coppola himself has stated is one of his personal favorites.

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Episode Eighteen - Will Success Ruin Rock Hunter?

The show returns! Joakim doesn't quite solo enlisting the help of blogger and all round film guru Peter Labuza. Their choice of Masters of Cinema release; Will Success Ruin Spoil Rock Hunter? Its a film that pokes fun at fame, Hollywood and popular culture and unlike Meet the Spartans actually does so in a way that is both funny and thought provoking.

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Episode Seventeen - Silent Running

The Masters of Cinema Cast returns with special guests Hunter Duesing and David Blakeslee for a look at Silent Running a film that for some reason or other promoted the pod to discuss everything from what makes a true American to should mountains be demolished if they stand in the way of natural resources. And sometimes Silent Running.

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