Verdoux

The Old Dark House (1932)

chaplin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:10:42 +0000

The Old Dark House

Mervyn Douglas / Gloria Stuart / Ernest Thesiger / Eva Moore / Charles Laughton / Raymond Massey / Lillian Bond / Boris Karloff / Elspeth Dudgeon / Brember Wills / Based on the story ‘Benighted’ by J.B. Priestly / Screenplay / Benn W. Levy / Make-up Otto Lederer / Art Dept. Charles D. Hall / Set Design Russell A. Gausman / Editor Clarence Kolster / Producer Carl Laemmle Jr. / Director James Whale

SCENE : RACHAEL’S ROOM

Gloria Stuart as Margaret Waverton / Eva Moore as Rebecca Femm

…………………

Margaret Waverton - ‘It’s a dreadful night..’

Rebecca Femm - I’ll have none of this electric light.. I’ll not have it. My sister Rachael had this room once. She died when she was twenty-one.. she was a wicked one. Handsome, and wild as a hawk.. all the young men used to follow her about..’

Rebecca Femm - ‘..with her red lips.. and her big eyes.. and her white neck.. but that didn’t save her! She fell off of her horse, hunting.. hurt her spine. On this bed she lay.. month after month.. many’s the time I’ve listen to her screaming..’

Margaret Waverton - ‘How dreadful..’

Rebecca Femm - ‘She used to cry out to me.. to kill her.. but I’d tell her to turn to the Lord. But, she didn’t. She was godless to the last..’

Margaret Waverton - ‘Well.. I’d better change my wet things..’

Rebecca Femm - ‘ They were all godless here. They used to bring their women here.. brazen, lolling creatures in silks and satins.. they filled the house with laughter and sin.. LAUGHTER AND SIN! If I ever went down among them, my own father and brothers.. they would tell ‘me’ to go away and pray. They wouldn’t tell Rachael to go away and prey. Ha! And I prayed, and left them with their reddened and lusted white women.’

Rebecca Femm – ‘My father’s still alive.. he’s upstairs. He’s very old..’

Margaret Waverton - ‘Oh, is he?’

Rebecca Femm - ‘He’s a hundred and two.’

Margaret Waverton - ‘That’s very old, isn’t it?’

Rebecca Femm - ‘He’s a wicked blasphemous old man!’

Rebecca Femm - You’re handsome too.. young and wicked. You think of nothing but your long, straight legs, and your white body.. and how to please your man.. you revel in the joys of fleshly love.. don’t you? That’s fine stuff..’

Rebecca Femm - ‘That’s finer stuff, still..’

Rebecca Femm - ‘..but it’ll rot too.. in time.’

Margaret Waverton - ‘Don’t! How dare you!

Rebecca Femm (voice echoes) - ‘..silks and satins.. laughter and sin..’

‘..LAUGHTER AND SIN..’

‘..Lustful..’

‘…RED AND WHITE WOMEN..’

__________________________

STILLS

The Shining (1980)

chaplin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:25:07 +0000

THE SHINING

Jack Nicholson / Shelley Duvall / Danny Lloyd / Scatman Crothers / Philip Stone / Barry Nelson / Joe Turkel / Lia Beldam / Billie Gibson / Lisa Burns / Art Direction Leslie Tomkins / Production Design Roy Walker / Original Soundtrack Wendy Carlos & Rachel Elkind / Editor Ray Lovejoy / Cinematography John Alcott / Producers John Fryer, Jan Harlan, Mary Lee Johnson & Stanley Kubrick / Director Stanley Kubrick

‘Some places are like people.. some shine and some don’t.’

‘..when something happens, it can leave a trace of itself behind. Say like, if someone burns toast. Well, maybe things that happen leave other kinds of traces behind. Not things that anyone can notice, but things that people who “shine” can see. Just like they can see things that haven’t happened yet. Well, sometimes they can see things that happened a long time ago. I think a lot of things happened right here in this particular hotel over the years. And not all of ‘em was good.’

‘Come and play with us, Danny.. forever.. and ever.. and ever.’

‘…The winters can be fantastically cruel. And the basic idea is to cope with the very costly damage and depreciation which can occur. And this consists mainly of running the boiler, heating different parts of the hotel on a daily, rotating basis, repair damage as it occurs, and doing repairs so that the elements can’t get a foothold.’

‘Physically, it’s not a very demanding job. The only thing that can get a bit trying up here during the winter is, uh, a tremendous sense of isolation.’

‘God, I’d give anything for a drink. I’d give my god-damned soul for just a glass of beer.’

’Perhaps they need a good talking to, if you don’t mind my saying so. Perhaps a bit more. My girls, sir, they didn’t care for the Overlook at first. One of them actually stole a pack of matches, and tried to burn it down. But I “corrected” them sir. And when my wife tried to prevent me from doing my duty, I “corrected” her.’

‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy..’

THE OVERLOOK HOTEL

‘The exterior of the hotel was filmed at the Timberline Lodge, near Mount Hood, in Oregon. It had a room 217 but no room 237, so the hotel management asked me to change the room number because they were afraid their guests might not want to stay in room 217 after seeing the film. There is, however, a genuinely frightening thing about this hotel which nestles high up on the slopes of Mount Hood. Mount Hood, as it happens, is a dormant volcano, but it has quite recently experienced pre-eruption seismic rumbles similar to the ones that a few months earlier preceded the gigantic eruption of Mount St. Helens, less than sixty miles away. If Mount Hood should ever erupt like Mount St. Helens, then the Timberline Hotel may indeed share the fiery fate of the novel’s Overlook Hotel.’

‘The first step was for Roy to go around America photographing hotels which might be suitable for the story. Then we spent weeks going through his photographs making selections for the different rooms. Using the details in the photographs, our draughtsmen did proper working drawings. From these, small models of all the sets were built. We wanted the hotel to look authentic rather than like a traditionally spooky movie hotel. The hotel’s labyrinthine layout and huge rooms, I believed, would alone provide an eerie enough atmosphere. This realistic approach was also followed in the lighting, and in every aspect of the decor it seemed to me that the perfect guide for this approach could be found in Kafka’s writing style. His stories are fantastic and allegorical, but his writing is simple and straightforward, almost journalistic. On the other hand, all the films that have been made of his work seem to have ignored this completely, making everything look as weird and dreamlike as possible. The final details for the different rooms of the hotel came from a number of different hotels. The red men’s room, for example, where Jack meets Grady, the ghost of the former caretaker, was inspired by a Frank Lloyd Wright men’s room in an hotel in Arizona. The models of the different sets were lit, photographed, tinkered with and revised. This process continued, altering and adding elements to each room, until we were all happy with what we had.’

Stanley Kubrick interview (Michel Ciment)

THE OVERLOOK HOTEL

Exterior - The Timberline Lodge Oregon (Mount Hood)

___________________________________

THE OVERLOOK HOTEL

Interior - The Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite National Park, California (built – 1927)

_______________________________

Ahwahnee reconstructed at the Elstree Studios, England

_______________________________

Ahwahnee – Rug pattern & Corridors

____________________________

Overlook Set

________________________

ELEVATORS - The Ahwahnee .. to Elstree Set

___________________________

SOUNDTRACK

“Rocky Mountains”
Written and Performed by Wendy Carlos & Rachel Elkind

“Lontano”
Written by György Ligeti
Performed by Sinfonie-Orchestra des Sudwestfunk
Conducted by Ernest Bour

“Music For Strings, Percussion and Celesta (movement III)”
Written by Béla Bartók
Performed by Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Conducted by Herbert von Karajan

“The Awakening of Jakob”
Written by Krzysztof Penderecki
Performed by Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki

“Utrenja – Ewangelia”
Written by Krzysztof Penderecki
Performed by Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic, Warsaw
Conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki

“Utrenja – Kanon Paschy”
Written by Krzysztof Penderecki
Performed by Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic, Warsaw
Conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki

“De Natura Sonoris No.1″
Written by Krzysztof Penderecki
Performed by Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki

“De Natura Sonoris No.2″
Written by Krzysztof Penderecki
Performed by Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki

“Polymorphia”
Written by Krzysztof Penderecki
Performed by Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki

“Masquerade”
Performed by Jack Hilton and his Orchestra

“Midnight, the Stars and You”
Written by Jimmy Campbell, Reginald Connelly, Harry M. Woods
Performed by Ray Noble Orchestra with Al Bowlly

“It’s All Forgotten Now”
Performed by Ray Noble Orchestra with Al Bowlly

“Home (When Shadows Fall)”
Performed by Henry Hall & the Gleneagles Hotel Band

“Kanon for 52 string orchestra and tape”
Written by Krzysztof Penderecki

“Midnight, with the stars and you;
Midnight, and a rendezvous.
Your eyes held a message tender,
Saying, “I surrender all my love to you.”

Midnight brought us sweet romance,
I know all my whole life through
I’ll be remembering you,
Whatever else I do,
Midnight with the stars and you.”

ARTWORK & STILLS

PORTRAITS

Institute Benjamenta (1995)

chaplin — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:23:29 +0000

INSTITUTE BENJAMENTA

or This Dream People Call Human Life

Gottfried John / Alice Krige / Mark Rylance / Daniel Smith / Joseph Alessi / Jonathan Stone / Ceasar Sarachu / Peter Lovstrom / Uri Roodner / Based on the novel ’Jakob von Gunten’ by Robert Walser / Art Direction Alison Riva / Costume Design Nicky Gillbrand / Production Design Jennifer Kernke / Editor Larry Sider / Original Soundtrack Lech Jankowski / Producer Karl Baumgartner / Directors The Quay Brothers

The thing about the Brothers Quay, is that their films can be taken in two quite different, though equally legitimate ways. That is, as deeply profound pieces, with a haunting intensity of perception.. or a collection of disparate moments that ultimately mean sod all.. either way, the result is beautiful and sublime. To be honest, on the whole I’ve never been all that keen on their stop-frame shorts, as blasphemous as that is to admit, given the brothers iconic status in the animation world, but they’re just a little too pretentious for my liking. That brand of Eastern European animation was pretty draining even in it’s original form, let alone in regurgitated homage. You just know the Quay boys collected milk-bottle tops, went into rhapsodies over spinning toys and purposefully broke the keys on the family piano, just to delight in off notes. Institute Benjamenta uses some of the same imagery and stop-frame effects, but manages to work in harmony with the actors, and resonates with a steady rhythm that is quite hypnotic, weaving a dream-like sensation that both embraces and disturbs in equal fashion.

We enter the Institute with Gottfried John, who seeks to learn ‘the divine duty of the servant’, along with a band of oddball potential butlers and waiters. The high point of the film is Alice Krige (yes, ST:TNG’s Borg Queen) as the incredibly sensuous Headmistress, dressed in pure white corset and a quite worrying riding crop that appears to be made from a goat’s hoof. Krige floats about her scenes with a preternatural grace, small traces of ecstatic electricity emerging in flickers across her powerfully emotive features.. or are they almost blank? Odd how those two are so closely realated. There’s a quite direct link to Pabst’s Diary of a Lost Girl, with it’s sado-masachistic-lesbian Fraulein, holding sway over The Home for Lost Girls’. Although Pabst chose the quite terrifying Valeska Gert for the role (probably the single most disturbing performance of the entire Silent period), quite in contrast to the striking Alice Krige. The Brothers Quay clearly reference Pabst, but change the dynamic somewhat by making the pupils male, and somewhat complicit in their subordinacy to this dominatrix.

There’s very little point in overanalysing much more of the plot, other than to say that we journey into the labyrinthine bowels of the Institute, and weave about the increasingly palpable eroticism of Alice Krige’s performance. It’s a prose piece that dwells in a continual dreamstate, the world glimpsed giddily through an eternally smokey filter.. how do the Brothers Quay put it? Oh, yes, through ‘a dusty window pane.’ The lighting really is exquisite, showing a subtlety that Pabst and Josef von Sternberg would have applauded, treating Alice Krige like a flood-lit Louise Brooks, or a stoic Dietrich, whilst stepping into a Victorian box of curiosities.

‘I should never let myself be rescued.. nor shall I ever rescue anybody.’

‘The divine duty of servants..’

‘Sometimes more life dwells in the opening of a door than in a question. Past and future circle about us. Now we know more.. now we know less.’

STILLS

The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968)

chaplin — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:38:44 +0000

THE GIRL ON A MOTORCYCLE

The need for speed..

Marianne Faithfull / Alain Delon / Marius Goring / Roger Mutton / Catherine Jourdan / Jean Leduc / From the Novel by Andre Pieyre de Mandiarges / Screenplay Ronald Duncan & Jack Cardiff / Art Direction Jean d’Eaubonne & Russell Hagg / Music Les Reed / Editing Peter Musgrave / Cinematography Jack Cardiff & Rene Guissart Jr. / Producer Sasha Kamenka, Ronan O’Rahilly & William Sassoon / Director Jack Cardiff

Shot in just two short weeks, Jack Cardiff managed to take a relatively unknown French erotic novel (at least unknown outside of France), and weave it into a Stream of Conciousness motorcycle diary for the 60’s Beat generation. It’s not the slickest of productions, and much of the supporting dialogue was fairly crudely dubbed over the material shot in Europe, but somehow Cardiff pulled off something quite unique and dream-like. The sexual intensity is palapable in every scene, but quite confounded the British censors, who couldn’t quite see where and what to cut among the giddy solarised dream sequences, and fast paced editing. The American release was a quite different story, the late 60’s censorship drive Stateside had a field day with it’s scissors, and cut scenes left, right and centre. To polish of the hatchet job, some silly sod changed the title to ‘Naked Under Leather’, which I’m sure confused the viewer no end.. a porno movie, with the sex cut out.

‘Skin.. it’s like skin. I’m like an animal..’

‘..not all the dead are buried. Why don’t they rebel? At least the young ones, rebellion’s the only thing that keeps you alive! ‘

‘Timid little mice, caught in traps.. I’m caught, I run round my little cage..’

‘What do you teach, Daniel? Philosophy? Psychology? Anthropology?I know, you’re a tutor in pornography!’

‘..and the bike waiting, almost champing at the bit, no much more virile than a horse, and fast, fast, fast! The first time I passed this vert spot it was already so hot that the handlebars were burning through my gloves. I was doing a hundred and thirty.’

‘Rise quickly.. burn!’

‘So warm.. even this early. Like thousands of fingers.. I’m a bit like a leaf myself. Green.. not in the usual sense, very supple and young, bendable, just out of the bud.. and there the similarity ends.

‘It was a combination suit of black leather, all very shiny and lined with white fur, which closed right up to the neck and fastened there and at the wrists and ankles with straps and buckles. Rebecca had opened it wide (whick made it look like the hide of some huge beast newly flayed), then, legs first, she had climbed into it naked, save for the little codpiece of transparent nylon over the triangle of her short hairs, and pulling upwards on the little tongue of the zip-fastener she had closed this dark sheath over her naturally brown body. ‘Nothing is as soft as that.’ she had said to herself (somewhat naively for it was only rabbit fur and she hadn’t had the chance of feeling either sable or mink) while the blood rose to her head because of the heat and the soft tickling she felt over the enire stretch of her skin. ‘My body is like a violin in a quilted box.’ ..

..making use of the footplate, Rebecca had got astride the Harley-Davidson, she had sat down on the broad saddle whose well-sprung feel between her thighs she contemplated with satisfaction, happy too that there was only room for one on it, for she had obstinately refused to have a pillion fixed on behind. With her right hand she had turned the throttle gently while with her left she retarded the spark slightly and allowing the little advance-retard lever to slip back under her fingers. The heavy motorcycle had started softly into motion..’

THE GIRL ON A MOTORCYCLE

Andre Pieyre de Mandiargues (1963)

STILLS & PRODUCTION

-POST DEDICATED TO THE SAD PASSING OF DIRECTOR JACK CARDIFF (1914-2009)-

Blade Runner (1983)

chaplin — Sun, 17 May 2009 23:32:45 +0000

BLADE RUNNER

Harrison Ford / Rutger Hauer / Sean Young / Edward James Olmos / Daryl Hannah / William Sanderson / M. Emmet Walsh / Brion James / Joe Turkel / Joanna Cassidy / James Hong / Hy Pike / Original Soundtrack Vangelis / Costume Design Michael Kaplan, Charles Knode & Jean Giraud / Art Direction David L. Snyder / Cinematography Jordan Cronenweth / Producers Michael Deeley & Hampton Fancher / Director Ridley Scott

Fiery the angels fell..

PRODUCTION STILLS

Queen Christina (1933)

chaplin — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:25:48 +0000

QUEEN CHRISTINA

Greta Garbo / John Gilbert / Ian Keith / Lewis Stone / Elizabeth Young / C.Aubrey Smith / Reginald Owen / David Torrence / Gustav von Seyffertitz / Art Direction Alexander Toluboff / Costume Design Adrian / Cinematography William H. Daniels / Editing Blanche Sewell / Producer Walter Wanger / Director Rouben Mamoulian

Garbo & Gilbert, briefly reunited on screen once more in Queen Christina. Her own project, green lighted by a less than happy MGM, Garbo had insisted on having Gilbert for co-star, no matter what studio lion Mayer (harbouring a deep grudge after being socked on the nose by an heroic Gilbert, after uttering crude words about Greta in an MGM bathroom) had to say on the subject. Gilbert gave up the booze on and off of set as best he could, and the old magic shone once more, though with a decidedly sad air of reflection. Their scenes hold a real sense of emotional nostalgia for the rapidly fading memories of Silent Cinema, and in this scene it is most palpable. The setting, Garbo’s bedroom, with it’s rawing fireplace, lavish fourposter, chiaroscuro lighting and underlying eroticism (those grapes are a character in themselves) transport us back to the heady days of ‘Flesh and the Devil’, and ‘The Temptress’. The real strength of the scene lies with Garbo’s incredibly restrained expressions. Those subtle, masterly glimpses of emotion that flare from a small fluctuation of the eyes, or a fraction of an upturned corner of mouth, ignite tantalising fires in the audience, before fading just as quickly. Although physically changed by his alcoholism and various other addictions that would ultimately end his life in just three years time, Gilbert is actually remarkably unaltered in spirit from those Silent years. That curious duality lends even more resonance to the emotions at play. Despite the best efforts of Garbo and another ex-lover, Marlene Dietrich, John Gilbert sank back into the shadows, and died (with something of a party filled bang) at the age of thirty-six.

They warm and ripen in the spanish sun. My Hacienda is overrun with them.

In the season of the grape harvest the air smells purple.

Purple grapes..

Ah.. to have found anyone in this wilderness would have been miracle enough..

..but to have found you.. this is too improbable.

don’t believe in you. You’re an illusion.. you’ll vanish before my eyes.

I don’t believe in you. You’re an illusion.. you’ll vanish before my eyes.

STILLS & PROMOTIONAL SHOOTS

Brazil (1985)

chaplin — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:59:00 +0000

BRAZIL

It’s only a state of mind..

Jonathan Pryce, Robert DeNiro, Kim Griest, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Ian Richardson, Peter Vaughan, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Jim Broadbent / Screenplay by Tom Stoppard, Terry Gilliam & Charles McKeown / Art Direction John Beard & Keith Paine / Soundtrack Michael Kamen / Cinematography Roger Pratt / Produced by Patrick Cassavetti & Arnon Milchan / Director Terry Gilliam

Bad sportsmans. A ruthless minority of these people have forgotten good old-fashioned virtues. They just can’t stand seeing the other fellow win. If these people would just play the game.

‘Er.. I said.. has anybody seen Sam Lowry?’

‘Sam…’

This is your dream girl, is it?

I love you! I mean.. in my dreams I love you!

You must want something? You must have hopes? Wishes? Dreams?

No, nothing! Not even dreams!

I did not get the wrong man, I got the right man. The wrong man was delivered to me as the right man! I accepted him, on trust, as the right man. Was i wrong? Anyway, to add to the confusion, he died on us. which had he been the right man, he wouldn’t have done.

What do you think.. is it me?

So, there you are. All I can say is, don’t fall at the last fence. The finishing post’s in sight. See you in the paddock. Good luck. Keep your eye on the ball. Got to go.. Can’t keep the orphans waiting.

SAM: Help me, Jack! I’m frightened!

JACK: How do you think I feel? You shit! Shut up! This is a professional relationship!

I don’t dream anymore.

He’s got away from us Jack.

Then, tomorrow was another day

The morning found me miles away

With still a million things to say

Now, when twilight dims the sky above

Recalling thrills of our love

There’s one thing I’m certain of

Return I will to old brazil..

____________________________

ART, PRODUCTION & STILLS

________________________

CATCH-22 (1970)

chaplin — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:55:37 +0000

CATCH-22

Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Art Garfunkel, Jack Gifford, Anthony Perkins, Jon Voight, Orson Welles, Bob Newhart, Charles Grodin, Martin Sheen, Olimpia Carlisi, Susanne Benton, Marcel Dalio / From the Novel by Joseph Heller / Screenplay Buck Henry / Art Direction Harold Michelson / Editor Sam O’Steen / Cinematography David Watkin / Producers John Calley & David Ransohoff / Director Mike Nichols

-Let me see if I got this straight. In order to be grounded, I’ve got to be crazy, and I must be crazy to keep flying. But, if I ask to be grounded.. that means I’m not crazy any more and I have to keep flying.

-You’ve got it! That’s Catch-22.

-That’s some Catch, that Catch-22.

- It’s the best there is!

LT.MINDERBENDER – We’re gonna come out of this war rich!

YOSSARIAN – You’re gonna come out of this war rich. We’re gonna come out dead.

GENERAL DREEDLE - I said take him out and shoot him. Take Major Danby out and shoot him!

I think you’d better wait a minute, Dad. I don’t think you can shoot him.

GENERAL DREEDLE – Why the hell can’t I? Why not? You mean I can’t shoot whoever I want to? Is that a fact?

Lt.COLONEL MOODUS - I’m afraid it is Dad.

GENERAL DREEDLE – You think you’re pretty smart don’t you? Just because my daughter married you for God knows what bizarre reason…

Lt.COL KORN – All you have to do is be our pal.

COLONEL CATHCART – Say nice things about us.

Lt.COL KORN – Tell the folks at home what a good job we’re doing. Take our offer Yossarian.

COLONEL CATHCART – Either that or a court-martial for desertion.

Lt.MINDBINDER – You don’t make any sense. You’ve got a persecution complex.

YOSSARIAN – Damn right.

Lt.MINDBINDER – You admit it!

YOSSARIAN – I admit I’m being persecuted.. by them!

Lt.MINDBINDER – Who specifically is ‘them’?

YOSSARIAN – All of them! Who do you think?

Lt.MINDBINDER – I have no idea.

YOSSARIAN – Then how do you know thay aren’t?

CAPT. AARDVARK – That’s sheer.. what-do-you-call-it– Sophistry.

YOSSARIAN – Like hell it is. Those bastards are trying to kill me.

Lt.MINDBINDER – No one is trying to kill you sweetheart. Now eat your dessert like a good boy.

YOSSARIAN – Oh yeah, then why are they shooting at me Milo?

Lt.MINDBINDER – They’re shooting at everyone Yossarian

YOSSARIAN – And what difference does that make?

Lt.MINDBINDER – Look Yossarian, suppose, I mean just suppose, everyone thought the same way you do.

YOSSARIAN - Then I’d be a damned fool to thing anything different.

OLD MAN – You all crazy!

CAPT.NATLEY – Why are we crazy?

OLD MAN – Because you don’t know how to stay alive.. and that’s the secret of life.

CAPT.NATLEY – But we have a war to win.

OLD MAN – Italy will win it.

CAPT.NATLEY – America’s the strongest nation on earth. The American fighting man is the best trained, the equpped, the best fed..

OLD MAN – Italy on the other hand is one of the weakest nations on earth, and the Italian fighting man is hardly equipped at all. That’s why my country is doing so well, while yours is doing so poorly.

CAPT.NATLEY – That’s silly! First Italy was occupied by Germans and now by us. You call that doing well?

OLD MAN – Of course I do. The Germans are being driven out, and we are still here. In a few years you’ll be gone and we will still be here. Italy is a very poor, weak country, yet that is what makes us so strong. Strong enough to survive this war and still be in existence, lonh after your country has been destroyed.

CAPT.NATLEY – What are you talking about? America’s not going to be destroyed.

OLD MAN – Never?

CAPT.NATLEY – Well..

OLD MAN – Rome was destroyed. Greece was destroyed. Persia was destroyed. Spain was destroyed. All great countries are destroyed. Why not yours? How much longer do you think your country will last? Forever?

CAPT.NATLEY – Forever is a long time, I guess.

OLD MAN – Very long.

CAPT.NATLEY - Don’t you have any principals?

OLD MAN - Of course not!

CAPT.NATLEY - No morality?

OLD MAN - I’m a very moral man, and Italy is a very moral country. That is why we will certainly come out on top again, if we succeed in being defeated.

CAPT.NATLEY - You talk like a madman.

OLD MAN - But I live like a sane one. I was a facist when Mussolini was on top. Now that he has been deposed, I am anti-facist. When the Germans were here, I was fanatically pro-German. Now I’m fanatically pro-American,. You’ll find no more loyal partisan in all of Italy than myself.

CAPT.NATLEY – You’re a shameful opportunist! What you don’t understand is that it’s better to die on your feet, than to live on your knees.

OLD MAN - You have it backwards – It’s better to live on your feet, than to die on your knees. I know.

CAPT.NATLEY - How do you know?

OLD MAN - Because I am 107 years old. How old are you?

CAPT.NATLEY - I’ll be 20 in January.

OLD MAN - If you live.

DANBY – Yossarian!

YOSSARIAN – I can do it, Danby!

TAPPMAN – They’ll catch you! They’ll bring you back!

YOSSARIAN – I can do it!

DANBY – This is insane!

YOSSARIAN – I can do it!

TAPPMAN - What about your clothes?

YOSSARIAN – They’ll never recognize me without my uniform!

DANBY - You’ll be on the run with no friends! You’ll live in constant danger of betrayal!

YOSSARIAN - I live that way now.

DANBY - Yossarian, for God’s sake, hurry up!

Bell, Book & Candle (1958)

chaplin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:49:10 +0000

BELL, BOOK & CANDLE

James Stewart / Kim Novak / Jack Lemmon / Elsa Lanchester / Hermione Gingold / The Brothers Candolini / Ernie Kovacs / Philippe Clay / Bek Nelson / Janice Rule / From the Play by John Van Druten / Screenplay Daniel Taradash / Art Direction Cary Odell / Costume Jean Louis / Soundtrack George Duning / Cinematography James Wong Howe / Producer Julian Blaustein / Director Richard Quine

I sit in the subway sometimes, on buses, or the movies, and I look at the people next to me and I think…”What would you say if I told you I was a witch?”

KIM NOVAK (1958)

-ELIOT ELISOFON PHOTOSHOOT-

KIM NOVAK (1958)

-RALPH CRANE PHOTOSHOOT-

Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)

chaplin — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:23:56 +0000

CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA

Claude Rains / Vivien Leigh / Stewart Granger / Flora Robson / Francis S. Sullivan / Basil Sydney / Cecil Parker / From the play by George Bernard Shaw / Costume Design Oliver Messel / Art Design John Bryan & Oliver Messel / Cinematography Jack Cardiff, Jack Hildyard, Robert Krasker & Freddie Young / Producer & Director Gabriel Pascal

CAESAR - ‘Hail, Sphinx: salutation from Julius Caesar! I have wandered in many lands, seeking the lost regions from which my birth into this world exiled me, and the company of creatures such as I myself. I have found flocks and pastures, men and cities, but no other Caesar, no air native to me, no man kindred to me, none who can do my day’s deed, and think my night’s thought. In the little world yonder, Sphinx, my place is as high as yours in this great desert; only I wander, and you sit still; I conquer, and you endure; I work and wonder, you watch and wait; I look up and am dazzled, look down and am darkened, look round and am puzzled, whilst your eyes never turn from looking out–out of the world–to the lost region–the home from which we have strayed.

..Sphinx, you and I, strangers to the race of men, are no strangers to one another: have I not been conscious of you and of this place since I was born? Rome is a madman’s dream: this is my Reality. These starry lamps of yours I have seen from afar in Gaul, in Britain, in Spain, in Thessaly, signalling great secrets to some eternal sentinel below, whose post I never could find. And here at last is their sentinel–an image of the constant and immortal part of my life, silent, full of thoughts, alone in the silver desert.

Sphinx, Sphinx: I have climbed mountains at night to hear in the distance the stealthy footfall of the winds that chase your sands in forbidden play–our invisible children, O Sphinx, laughing in whispers. My way hither was the way of destiny; for I am he of whose genius you are the symbol: part brute, part woman, and part God–nothing of man in me at all. Have I read your riddle, Sphinx?’

THE GIRL - Old gentleman?

CAESAR - Immortal gods!

THE GIRL - Old gentleman: don’t run away.

CAESAR - “Old gentleman: don’t run away!!!” This! To Julius Caesar!

THE GIRL - Old gentleman.

CAESAR - Sphinx: you presume on your centuries. I am younger than you, though your voice is but a girl’s voice as yet.

THE GIRL - Climb up here, quickly; or the Romans will come and eat you.

CAESAR - A child at its breast! A divine child!

THE GIRL - Come up quickly. You must get up at its side and creep round.

CAESAR - Who are you?

THE GIRL - Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.

CAESAR - Queen of the Gypsies, you mean.

CLEOPATRA - You must not be disrespectful to me, or the Sphinx will let the Romans eat you. Come up. It is quite cosy here.

CAESAR (to himself) - What a dream! What a magnificent dream! Only let me not wake, and I will conquer ten continents to pay for dreaming it out to the end.

CLEOPATRA - Take care. That’s right. Now sit down: you may have its other paw. It is very powerful and will protect us; but it would not take any notice of me or keep me company. I am glad you have come: I was very lonely. Did you happen to see a white cat anywhere?

CAESAR - Have you lost one?

CLEOPATRA - Yes: the sacred white cat: is it not dreadful? I brought him here to sacrifice him to the Sphinx; but when we got a little way from the city a black cat called him, and he jumped out of my arms and ran away to it. Do you think that the black cat can have been my great-great-great-grandmother?

CAESAR - Your great-great-great-grandmother! Well, why not? Nothing would surprise me on this night of nights.

CLEOPATRA - I think it must have been. My great-grandmother’s great-grandmother was a black kitten of the sacred white cat; and the river Nile made her his seventh wife. That is why my hair is so wavy. And I always want to be let do as I like, no matter whether it is the will of the gods or not: that is because my blood is made with Nile water.

CAESAR - What are you doing here at this time of night? Do you live here?

CLEOPATRA - Of course not: I am the Queen; and I shall live in the palace at Alexandria when I have killed my brother, who drove me out of it. When I am old enough I shall do just what I like. I shall be able to poison the slaves and see them wriggle, and pretend to Ftatateeta that she is going to be put into the fiery furnace.

CAESAR - Hm! Meanwhile why are you not at home and in bed?

CLEOPATRA - Because the Romans are coming to eat us all. YOU are not at home and in bed either.

CAESAR - Yes I am. I live in a tent; and I am now in that tent, fast asleep and dreaming. Do you suppose that I believe you are real, you impossible little dream witch?

CLEOPATRA - You are a funny old gentleman. I like you.

CAESAR - Ah, that spoils the dream. Why don’t you dream that I am young?

CLEOPATRA - I wish you were; only I think I should be more afraid of you. I like men, especially young men with round strong arms; but I am afraid of them. You are old and rather thin and stringy; but you have a nice voice; and I like to have somebody to talk to, though I think you are a little mad. It is the moon that makes you talk to yourself in that silly way.

CAESAR - What! you heard that, did you? I was saying my prayers to the great Sphinx.

CLEOPATRA - But this isn’t the great Sphinx.

CAESAR - What!

CLEOPATRA - This is only a dear little kitten of the Sphinx. Why, the great Sphinx is so big that it has a temple between its paws. This is my pet Sphinx. Tell me: do you think the Romans have any sorcerers who could take us away from the Sphinx by magic?

CAESAR - Why? Are you afraid of the Romans?

CLEOPATRA - Oh, they would eat us if they caught us. They are barbarians. Their chief is called Julius Caesar. His father was a tiger and his mother a burning mountain; and his nose is like an elephant’s trunk. They all have long noses, and ivory tusks, and little tails, and seven arms with a hundred arrows in each; and they live on human flesh.

CAESAR - Would you like me to show you a real Roman?

CLEOPATRA - No. You are frightening me.

CAESAR - No matter: this is only a dream..

CLEOPATRA - It is not a dream: it is not a dream. See, see. (She plucks a pin from her hair and jabs it repeatedly into his arm.)

CAESAR - Ffff–Stop! How dare you?

CLEOPATRA - You said you were dreaming. I only wanted to show you..

CAESAR - Come, come: don’t cry. A queen mustn’t cry. Am I awake? Yes, I.. no: impossible: madness, madness! Back to camp–to camp.

CLEOPATRA - No: you shan’t leave me. No, no, no: don’t go. I’m afraid–afraid of the Romans.

CAESAR - Cleopatra: can you see my face well?

CLEOPATRA - Yes. It is so white in the moonlight.

CAESAR - Are you sure it is the moonlight that makes me look whiter than an Egyptian? Do you notice that I have a rather long nose?

CLEOPATRA - Oh!

CAESAR - It is a Roman nose, Cleopatra.

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