Cinema60

Like the rest of Europe, Czechoslovakia was busy making its own cinematic waves in the 1960s. Arguably, the Czechoslovak New Wave was one of the broadest and most formidable, stretching from extremely abstract art films to slice-of-life kitchen sink dramas. These filmmakers went in search of truth – indulging in a mix of dark humor, social satire and pure absurdism – and they would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for that dang ol’ Soviet Union eventually putting the smack down on them.

At the forefront of this movement was a special foreman – Miloš Forman, that is. By his side was Ivan Passer, Jaroslav Papoušek and Václav Šašek, all of whom graduated from FAMU and went on to work together closely as filmmakers. In our latest episode, Bart and Jenna take a plunge into the Czechoslovak New Wave and start with the Miloš Forman School of collaborators. Get ready for some killer Czech rock’n’roll, a whole bunch of brass bands, a lot of low-key existential crises and some super judgmental looks!

The following films are discussed:

• Audition/Talent Competition (1964)
Konkurs
Directed by Miloš Forman
Starring Vera Kresadlová, Jan Vostrcil, Vladimír Pucholt

• Black Peter (1964)
Černý Petr
Directed by Miloš Forman
Starring Ladislav Jakim, Jan Vostrcil, Vladimír Pucholt

• Intimate Lighting (1965)
Intimní osvetlení
Directed by Ivan Passer
Starring Vera Kresadlová, Jan Vostrcil, Zdenek Bezusek

• Loves of a Blonde (1965)
Lásky jedné plavovlásky
Directed by Miloš Forman
Starring Hana Brejchová, Jan Vostrcil, Vladimír Pucholt

• The Firemen’s Ball (1967)
Hoří, má panenko
Directed by Miloš Forman
Starring Jan Vostrcil, Josef Sebánek, Jan Stöckl

• The Most Beautiful Age (1969)
Nejkrásnější věk
Directed by Jaroslav Papousek
Starring Hana Brejchová, Vera Kresadlová, Ladislav Jakim

Once upon a time, in a magical red world behind an iron curtain, there existed a very special man named Aleksandr Rou. Born to two foreign-born parents, Rou worked his way up from the stage to become one of Russia’s most celebrated film directors. But Rou wasn’t any ol’ director; he focused primarily on fantasy and fairy tale films for children – building up worlds of magical witches, talking animals, underwater kingdoms, gilded palaces, silken costumes, wicked warlocks and proletariat heroes.

Leaning heavily on traditional folktales at a time where being regionally unique was frowned upon, Rou’s career brilliantly walked the line between old and new to appease both nostalgia and social revolution. His popularity throughout the land was immense and he became an influence to a host of contemporary directors. And he lived happily ever after…. until one day, not so far into the 1970s, he died. The end.

In this episode, Bart and Jenna just soak it all in. This is the decade of Rou in his prime – from the fantastical tales with some questionable lessons for children, to the brilliantly designed technicolor madness of these costumes and sets. Yeah okay, sometimes some baffling culture shock too, but just enjoy!

The following films are discussed:

• Maria the Wonderful Weaver (1960)
Марья-искусница
Directed by Aleksandr Rou
Starring Ninel Myshkova, Viktor Perevalov, Anatoliy Kubatskiy

• Cinderella (1961)
Хрустальный башмачок
Directed by Aleksandr Rou & Rostislav Zakharov
Starring Raisa Struchkova, Gennadi Ledyakh, Elena Vanke

• Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka (1961)
Вечера на хуторе близ Диканьки
Directed by Aleksandr Rou
Starring Aleksandr Khvylya, L. Myznikova, Yuri Tavrov

• Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors (1963)
Королевство Кривых Зеркал
Directed by Aleksandr Rou
Starring Olga Yukina, Tatyana Yukina, Tatyana Barysheva

• Jack Frost (1964)
Морозко
Directed by Aleksandr Rou
Starring Aleksandr Khvylya, Natalya Sedykh, Eduard Izotov

• Through Fire, Water, and… Brass Pipes (1968)
Огонь, вода и… медные трубы
Directed by Aleksandr Rou
Starring Natalya Sedykh, Aleksei Katyshev, Georgiy Millyar

• Barbara the Fair With the Silken Hair (1970)
Варвара-краса, длинная коса
Directed by Aleksandr Rou
Starring Mikhail Pugovkin, Georgiy Millyar, Anatoliy Kubatskiy

If you were a teenager in the 1960s chances are you loved three things: The Beatles, Yo-Yos and The Man From UNCLE. Okay, likely you enjoyed a variety of other things, but the adventures of Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin sure captured the hearts and minds of the many during their four year television run. But this is cinema60 so we’re exploring the eight Man From UNCLE movies that were released (not to be confused with the surprisingly charming Guy Ritchie movie) largely for foreign audiences and cash-ins for spy-fever (aka UNCLEitis mania, scientifically).

In this episode Bart complains about this being another Bootleg Bond episode and Jenna gushes about how much she likes Man From UNCLE but not so much these movies. Which isn’t to say they’re bad movies since they’re basically overlong television episodes but well… that’s kind of the issue. Either way, watching Vaughn and McCallum run around California national parks, midcentury dream offices and indoor rocket launch pads is anything but boring*.

*Bart disagrees with this statement.

The following films are discussed:

• To Trap A Spy (1964)
Directed by Don Medford
Starring Robert Vaughn, Luciana Paluzzi, Pat Crowley

• The Spy With My Face (1965)
Directed by John Newland
Starring David McCallum, Senta Berger, Leo G. Carroll

• One Spy Too Many (1966)
Directed by Joseph Sargent
Starring Rip Torn, Dorothy Provine, Yvonne Craig

• One of Our Spies is Missing (1966)
Directed by E. Darrell Hallenbeck
Starring Vera Miles, Ann Elder, Bernard Fox

• The Spy in the Green Hat (1967)
Directed by Joseph Sargent
Starring Jack Palance, Janet Leigh, Letícia Román

• The Karate Killers (1967)
Directed by Barry Shear
Starring Kim Darby, Herbert Lom, Joan Crawford

• The Helicopter Spies (1968)
Directed by Boris Sagal
Starring Carol Lynley, Bradford Dillman, Lola Albright

• How To Steal the World (1968)
Directed by Sutton Roley
Starring Barry Sullivan, Eleanor Parker, Leslie Nielsen

• “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” (1964-1968)

Bart & Jenna play Kiss Marry Kill with the year 1966. The following films are discussed:

• Once Before I Die (1966) Directed by John Derek Starring Ursula Andress, John Derek, Richard Jaeckel

• The Round-Up (1966) Szegénylegények Directed by Miklós Jancsó Starring János Görbe, Zoltán Latinovits, Tibor Molnár

• How to Steal a Million (1966) Directed by William Wyler Starring Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole, Eli Wallach

• Death of a Bureaucrat (1966) La muerte de un burócrata Directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea Starring Salvador Wood, Silvia Planas, Manuel Estanillo

• The Swinger (1966) Directed by George Sidney Starring Ann-Margret, Anthony Franciosa, Robert Coote

• Trans-Europ-Express (1966) Directed by Alain Robbe-Grillet Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Marie-France Pisier, Catherine Robbe-Grillet

Bart and Jenna dust off a 1962 article by critic Stanley Kauffmann on Truffaut’s Jules and Jim to use as a sounding board for how and why ‘60s filmgoers showed up for and reacted so favorably to challenging “art” films. They also discuss love in its various states, from the idealized to the understated love of a perfect friendship.

In 1960, Nancy Kwan burst onto the screen in glorious color as the titular Suzie Wong. The film was a major hit that both launched her career and gained her lasting name recognition in the industry. After a memorable stint in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s celebrated Flower Drum Song, she went on to a bizarre mix of smaller films and bit roles but never seemed to find her place. How could this happen to such an attractive and charming leading lady?
Oh.
Right.

In this episode, Bart and Jenna take a look at Kwan’s career beginnings, the social context of the decade and the pitfalls of being a Chinese actor in the dominantly white world of Hollywood. They do their best to investigate the roots of how racist stereotypes get started, from orientalism to cinematic archetypes, and encourage you to turn to better sources than them for the full truth of the matter.

The following films are discussed:

• The World of Suzie Wong (1960)
Directed by Richard Quine
Starring Nancy Kwan, William Holden, Sylvia Syms

• Flower Drum Song (1961)
Directed by Henry Koster
Starring Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta, Miyoshi Umeki

• The Main Attraction (1962)
Directed by Daniel Petrie
Starring Nancy Kwan, Pat Boone, Mai Zetterling

• Tamahine (1963)
Directed by Philip Leacock
Starring Nancy Kwan, John Fraser, Dennis Price

• The Wild Affair (1965)
Directed by John Krish
Starring Nancy Kwan, Terry-Thomas, Victor Spinetti

• Nobody’s Perfect (1968)
Directed by Alan Rafkin
Starring Nancy Kwan, Doug McClure, James Shigeta

Resources:

• The Other Question…, Screen, 1983
Written by Homi K Bhabha

• The Hypersexuality of Race: Performing Asian/American Women on Screen and Scene
Written by Arthur Dong

• Asian American Actors: Oral Histories from Stage, Screen, and Television
Written by Arthur Dong

• Hollywood Chinese (2007)
Directed by Arthur Dong

• Slaying the Dragon (1988)
Directed by Deborah Gee

There’s an argument to be made for the idea that Haskell Wexler was one of the founding fathers of modern cinema. With his emphasis on handheld cameras, naturalistic on-location shooting and dramatic lighting, Wexler stands out as one of the few true auteur cinematographers. Between his iconic visuals and his clear interest in and emphasis on political themes and social justice, his body of work acts as both a mirror for the decade and loudspeaker to progressive values.

Wexler remains a major influence to cinematographers to this very day – so who better to focus on for Cinema60’s first cinematographer-themed episode? Starting with his black and white beginnings, Cinema60 traces his narrative and documentary films through the decade, eventually culminating in Medium Cool – a proto-New Hollywood hybrid film that incorporates most every theme and camera trick he learned throughout the decade.

In this episode, Bart and Jenna take on the roles of George and Martha as they play “hump the cinematographer” while trying to slowly tear each other apart through psychological torture.

(Side note: We had horrible technical problems during this episode so apologies if it sounds rougher than usual, but also… tough.)

The following films are discussed:• The Hoodlum Priest (1961) Directed by Irvin Kershner Starring Don Murray, Keir Dullea, Cindi Wood

• America America (1963) Directed by Elia Kazan Starring Stathis Giallelis, Frank Wolff, Linda Marsh

• The Best Man (1964) Directed by Franklin Schaffner Starring Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Ann Sothern

• The Bus (1965) Directed by Haskell Wexler Hour-long documentary

• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) Directed by Mike Nichols Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal

• In the Heat of the Night (1967) Directed by Delbert Mann Starring Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Lee Grant

• Medium Cool (1969) Directed by Haskell Wexler Starring Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz

Briefly mentioned:

• The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) Directed by Norman Jewison Starring Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, Paul Burke

Guest Ann Kibbie, English Literature professor at Bowdoin College, joins Cinema60 to discuss Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick's Days of Wine and Roses – a film she classifies as firmly in the horror genre.

As part of our mission statement, Cinema60 boldly claims that modern cinema was born in the 1960s. However you want to look at that assertion, there’s no denying that cinema before the ‘60s was (well, at least since the mid-1930s) safe family-friendly entertainment with bits of adult content creeping in around the edges little by little–to a greater or lesser degree depending on where in the world you lived. But by the end of the ‘60s, adults in a majority of cinema-producing countries could legally see on a movie screen just about any kind of bloody violence or lewd sex act they could possibly imagine.

In this episode, Bart and Jenna discuss one of their favorite New Waves of the decade, Japan’s ヌーベルバーグ (Nuberu Bagu). They pick up the story at the extreme end of the decade, when there were very few boundaries left for what could be shown in a movie. The films discussed certainly make this our most “not suitable for children” episode yet, but also just happen to be some of the greatest cinematic jewels produced, not only in the Japanese New Wave, but in the entire history of Japanese film. So pop in your earbuds or send your obaasan to bed, ‘cos anybody who listens to tonight’s episode is gonna need a shower afterwards.

The following films are discussed:

• Boy (1969)
Shônen
Directed by Nagisa Ôshima
Starring Fumio Watanabe, Akiko Koyama, Toshi Amatsu

• Double Suicide (1969)
Shinjû: Ten no Amijima
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda
Starring Kichiemon Nakamura, Shima Iwashita, Shizue Kawarazaki

• Eros + Massacre (1969)
Erosu purasu gyakusatsu
Directed by Yoshishige Yoshida
Starring Mariko Okada, Toshiyuki Hosokawa, Yûko Kusunoki

• Blind Beast (1969)
Môjû
Directed by Yasuzô Masumura
Starring Eiji Funakoshi, Mako Midori, Noriko Sengoku

• Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)
Bara no sôretsu
Directed by Toshio Matsumoto
Starring Pîtâ, Osamu Ogasawara, Yoshimi Jô

• Go, Go, Second Time Virgin (1969)
Yuke yuke nidome no shojo
Directed by Kôji Wakamatsu
Starring Mimi Kozakura, Michio Akiyama, Yôko Yamamoto

Guest Paul Bishop of the Six Gun Justice podcast joins us to discuss The Professionals (1966). From talk of truth and morality, sexism and racism, as well as some memorably badass women warriors, they’ve got quite a bit on their plate.