The fauna of the megalopolis, the jungle of the supermarket, the bedlam of brothels and bars, the effect of the bars in the fog, the swaying ears of corn, the swaying of men hanging from the gallows, the ripple of water – seen by the eye of the animator in harmony and conflict and accompanied by the satirical, mocking, but sometimes pure lyrical music of Erik Satie.
Tag: 1970s
A freewheeling cinematic experience, this film is the work of two filmmakers who relate their perceptions of each other through their respective animation techniques. Images and words are paired in startling associations. Each does a visual portrait of the other, based on characteristic gestures and impressions. A combination of techniques and materials produces a film of rich visual texture shaped by the hands and heads of two very different people.
Produced in the 1970s, and at the time dubbed “The greatest wildlife film ever” by the BBC, this dramatic film records the struggle in Kenya’s Tsavo National Park to protect elephants from bow and arrow hunters supplying a rampant international ivory trade…. The film follows Tsavo’s warden, the late David Sheldrick, and his ranger force in their daily fight against armed poachers intent on wiping out Tsavo’s magnificent elephant herds and its dwindling population of Black Rhinos. We also follow the story of the baby elephants, rhino and other animals that have been orphaned due to poaching, and watch them as they are hand-reared and eventually return to the wild.
The lyric passage of a Monarch butterfly, beginning with its birth, through its delicate metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly and on its journey from country to city. From the first frame, the audience experiences the tension of this perilous flight as numerous adversaries, threaten the butterfly’s freedom.
Peter Boyle plays a social worker who deals with “special needs” children. Most of Boyle’s energies are devoted to communicating with an emotionally disturbed teen (Scott Jacoby). The difficulty of the job is doubled by the fact that the boy is alienated from his anguished parents, who may unknowingly be part of the problem. Filmed in semi-documentary fashion, The Man Who Could Talk to Kids transcends its “disease of the week” earmarks to become a TV movie of lasting value. The film also helped Peter Boyle shake his bullheaded Joe screen image.
A young, white teacher is assigned to an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina populated mostly by poor black families. He finds that the basically illiterate, neglected children there know so little of the world outside their island that they have virtually developed their own language (“Conrack” is their way of saying his name, Conroy) and, in fact, don’t have much interest in learning about anything outside the island. He has to find a way to get through to these kids and teach them what they need to know and also to keep on the good side of the school superintendent, who doesn’t want him there.
A thoughtful discussion between German film director Marcel Ophuls and CBS News producer Perry Wolff about political and historical documentaries with special emphasis on Ophuls’ masterful four-and-a-half-hour film about the fall of France in World War II, “The Sorrow and the Pity,”. Clips from the award-winning documentary are shown.
Film director Alfred Hitchcock discusses his life and career in long talks with Pia Lindstrom (newscaster and daughter of Hitchcock star Ingrid Berman) and with film historian William Everson. Excerpts from several films illustrate these interviews. Discussion topics include: what is fear?, method acting vs. film acting, the difference between the usual “Who Done It” mystery and what he considers to be real suspense. His choice of leading ladies and why (Bergman, Baxter, Kelly, Marie Saint, Leigh, etc.).