Bogie56

Monday, March 8 10:15 a.m. Return of the Badmen (1948). With Randolph Scott and Robert Ryan.

Sunday, March 7/8 2 a.m. World on a Wire (1973), Rainer Werner Fassbinder film about virtual reality.

The political arc which was, I suppose to be Mank's motivation at getting at Hearst, did not work. But without it you had a guy drying out on a motel bed dictating a movie script. Not much there either.

Saturday, March 6 11:30 p.m. Inner Eye (1972). Documentary short by Satyajit Ray midnight Killer’s Kiss (1955). Interesting early Stanley Kubrick feature.

As McBride's article points out, it is a very cheesy and inaccurate film. Marion Davies never went out to visit Mank when he was writing, for one.

I remember Nicola Pagett from Privates on Parade (1983).

Here is an article on Mank from Wellesnet by Joseph McBride that provides a rebuttal of sorts to David Fincher's father's story which is based on the erroneous Pauline Kael attack on Orson Welles ... https://www.wellesnet.com/mank-welles-mcbride/

Friday, March 5 10 a.m. Revolt In the Big House (1958). Quite the cast in this one: Gene Evans, Robert Blake, Timothy Carey and John Qualen.

Thursday, March 4/5 Letterbox reframed 3:30 a.m. The Four Feathers (1939). Zoltan Korda extravaganza.

1. Woody Allen - Bananas (1971) 2. Roger Corman - The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) 3. Andre De Toth - Play Dirty (1968) 4. Blake Edwards - A Shot In the Dark (1964) 5. David Fincher - The Social Network (2010) 6. Sam Fuller - Pickup on South Street (1953) 7. Mervyn LeRoy - I am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932) 8. Penny Marshall - Big (1988) 9. Norman Z McLeod - Monkey Business (1931) 10. Ronald Neame - The Horse's Mouth (1958)

Wednesday, March 3/4 4 a.m. Sweet Jesus, Preacherman (1972). Roger E. (“T.C.”) Mosley as a hit man who impersonates a Preacher.

My top FF films of the 2010’s has also changed …. 1. Wild Tales (2014) Damian Szifron, Argentina 2. The Salesman (2016) Asghar Farhadi, Iran 3. Everybody Knows (2018) Asghar Farhadi, Spain 4. The Rifleman (2019) Dzintars Dreibergs, Latvia 5. Capernaum (2018) Nadine Labaki, Lebanon 6. 13 Assassins (2010) Takashi Miike, Japan 7. The Hunt (2012) Thomas Vinterberg, Denmark 8. The Handmaiden (2016) Chan-wook Park, South Korea 9. Les Miserables (2019) Ladj Ly, France 10. Amour (2012) Michael Haneke, France

I've seen enough new films from 2019 since our last poll of that year to change my top ten significantly. The top two films are new. 2019 My top FF films of 2019 of the 20 that I have seen are …. 1. The Rifleman (2019) Dzintars Dreibergs, Latvia The true story of a Latvian teenager who enlists to fight the Germans in WWI. I thought this was one of the best new films about that war. 2. Les Miserables (2019) Ladj Ly, France Multi-award winning thriller about a police unit that, through fault of their own becomes embroiled with ethnic gangs. Really well done. 3. The Cave (2019) Feras Fayyad, Syria 4. Parasite (2019) Joon-ho Bong, South Korea 5. Bacurau (2019) Kleber Mendonca Filho, Juliano Dornelles, Brazil 6. The Endless Trench (2019) Altor Arregi, Jon Garano, Jose Mari Goenaga It is 1936, Spain and the fascists are shooting villagers suspected of being Republicans. One escapes and his wife hides him in a small compartment behind a wall. As we know the fascists won the civil war and it was a very long time before Franco left power. Antonio de la Torre and Belen Cuesta are excellent as the couple. Recommended. 7. The Traitor (2019) Marco Bellocchio, Italy This film won the Best Picture, Actor and Supporting Actor awards in Italy. It is the story of Tommaso Buscetta who turned state’s evidence against the Costa Nostra in Siciily. It is appropriately brutal and very well done. My only complaint was it was difficult to keep track of the many characters because more often than not, they had very little set-up. The music score is fabulous. 8. Collective (2019) Alexander Nanau, Romania A documentary that unwinds the deep systemic corruption in the entire Romanian health system. Recommended 9. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019) Chiwetel Eijofor, UK [the majority of this is in Malawian with subtitles] 10. So Long, My Son (2019) Xiaoshuai Wang, China Pain and Glory (2019) Pedro Almodovar, Spain Song Without a Name (2019) Melina Leon, Peru A young native Peruvian gives birth at a clinic then when she recovers her baby and the entire clinic have disappeared. La Llorona (2019) Jayro Bustamante, Guatemala Decent film about an aged war criminal and his family as they endure house arrest. I won’t give away any more. There are a couple of really well done set pieces including one where the General is being transported in an ambulance. The Farewell (2019) Lulu Wang, USA The Best Years of a Life (2019) Claude Lelouch, France Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) Celine Sciamma, France System Crasher (2019) Nora Fingscheidt, Germany There is nothing wrong with this film but it is a difficult watch. It is about a young girl who is prone to severe tantrums and bouts of mean violence. Her mother cannot handle her and she is too young to be segregated and committed. It practically swept the German Film Awards. I’m No Longer Here (2019) Fernando Frias, Mexico and I’ve also seen … About Endlessness (2019) Roy Anderson, Sweden Though I didn’t care for it much I did find it very interesting and enjoyed the art direction and the bits of humour. And it wasn’t endless running at just an hour and a quarter. I Lost My Body (2019) Jeremy Clapin, France Family Romance, LLC (2019) Werner Herzog, Japan Ishii Yuichi runs a company where its employees can be hired to impersonate other people. He begins to question its morality when he is hired to impersonate the missing father of a young girl and she becomes attached to him. Sounds Interesting. Believe me, it is not. The way that it is all handled makes it seem too preposterous and IMO this takes the cake as Werner Herzog’s worst film.

Tuesday, March 2 Doris Day SOTM 7 a.m. Storm Warning (1951). Day, Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan and the Klan.

Patricia Clarkson

Monique Gerard Joan Sims

Monday, March 1 David Niven’s birthday 6 a.m. The Dawn Patrol (1938). With Niven, Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone.

Sunday, February 28 Two Agnes Varda short subjects: 2 a.m. Uncle Yanco (1967) 2:20 a.m. Black Panthers (1968)

Saturday, February 27 2 a.m. The Wind and the Lion (1975). With my favourite Arab Sheik, Seen Canary. That was how his name was pronounced on the recording by some jokester at the box office at my local Bijou when the film was playing. He mangled Can-dice Burrjen's name as well.

Friday, February 26 2:15 p.m. Fingers at the Window (1942). With Basil Rathbone.

Thursday, February 25/26 4:30 a.m. Camille (1937). One of Garbo’s best performances.

1975 Daguerreotypes (1975) Agnes Varda, France Varda’s film about the shops and old people who live on her street named after the photographic pioneer Louis Daguerre. For me this was probablys even more interesting today than it would have been when the film was originally released as these type of shops and people are now long gone. But it runs out of steam toward the end and the sequences about the magician seem to belong in another short film.

1. Robert Aldrich - The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) 2. William Castle - Mysterious Intruder (1946) 3. Ida Lupino - The Hitch-Hiker (1953) 4. Walter Hill - Streets of Fire (1984) 5. Lewis Milestone - All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) 6. Mike Nichols - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) 7. Alexander Payne - Sideways (2004) 8. Vincent Sherman - Old Acquaintance (1943) 9. George Sidney - Anchors Aweigh (1945) 10. Don Siegel - The Shootist (1976)

Wednesday, February 24 10 p.m. A Soldier’s Story (1984). Really fine performance in this Norman Jewison film, especially by Adolph Caesar.

Tuesday, February 23 Dirk Bogarde day. 11:45 a.m. Victim (1961). Bogarde and Sylvia Syms.