FFW Day 3
Writing this on the train as i was out drinking with Sarah, Andreas Marschall and the last few stragglers so didn't have time before needing to sleep.
Sunday morning started with Red Sonja which was quite as bad as I remembered but still quite bad, especially in the acting department. Some of the mechanical effects like the "fish machine" were actually quite well done. Perfect cheese for a Sunday morning.
Next up was something I had been looking forward to since it had been announced, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm in Cinerama. Not necessarily because of the film but because of the format. The National Media Museum is only one of three venues worldwide (two more in Seattle and Hollywood) who still support this format and it was only the second time this print of Brothers Grimm was shown in the UK. The print consists of three strips that are projected onto a curved screen, giving a certain amount of depth to the picture which, considering when it was conceived is quite remarkable. Probably closest to a 3D film I personally will be able to see, unless they come up with holographic projection in my lifetime.
The film itself is a take on the brothers' life story (until they become famous), interspersed with lesser known fairy tales. These were quite twee and not that exciting, except for the one in which Terry Thomas played a cowardly knight who had his manservant fight a stop-motion dragon with painted cartoon breath and then claimed victory for himself only to have the table turned on him later. The film broke at one point and instead of silence, there was an emergency reel half the size of the central frame of a man talking to the camera, apologising and talking about his travels. Odd but funny and the second best bit of the experience.
Then, another Hammer rarity that hadn't been shown for something like 40 years, dug up from the Universal Studio archives by Robert Simpson (who programmed the Hammer strand this year): Shadow of the Cat. This was brilliant and really funny because five grown adults who had murdered the owner of a big estate were afraid of a simple house cat who was the only witness to the murder. During the course of the film, the cat kills (usually indirectly) all the bad people until only the true heir remains. This was especially funny as the cat was just an ordinary tabby and not some evil looking black cat. Excellent entertainment.
After a quick curry at Omar's, the first evening showing was Masks by Andreas Marschall, a German director who not only worked with J&oml;rg Buttgereit but also directed music videos and designed album covers for a lot of metal bands, especially Kreator with whom he also did a documentary. Masks was a rather excellent hommage to the Giallo genre on a shoestring budget (he mentioned later that he'd had better budgets for his music videos than thsi film), using mainly film and acting students (and teachers) as the cast. This didn't show at all as the acting was brilliant and the production values were also very good indeed, the visuals and themes keeping very much in line with films like Suspiria. The interview with the director afterwards was also very interesting.
The final film was Four Flies on Grey Velvet by Dario Argento, in which a rock band drummer is harrassed/blackmailed by persons unknown. Amusingly, the cast included Bud Spencer in a serious role. i'm not sure how well known he is in the UK but in Europe and especially Germany he's well known for comedy Spaghetti Westerns co-starring Terrence Hill (both are Italian actors) and other action comedies from the 70s and 80s. The film was a bit slow but not bad and I didn't fall asleep which was quite remarkable for a Sunday night.
Sunday morning started with Red Sonja which was quite as bad as I remembered but still quite bad, especially in the acting department. Some of the mechanical effects like the "fish machine" were actually quite well done. Perfect cheese for a Sunday morning.
Next up was something I had been looking forward to since it had been announced, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm in Cinerama. Not necessarily because of the film but because of the format. The National Media Museum is only one of three venues worldwide (two more in Seattle and Hollywood) who still support this format and it was only the second time this print of Brothers Grimm was shown in the UK. The print consists of three strips that are projected onto a curved screen, giving a certain amount of depth to the picture which, considering when it was conceived is quite remarkable. Probably closest to a 3D film I personally will be able to see, unless they come up with holographic projection in my lifetime.
The film itself is a take on the brothers' life story (until they become famous), interspersed with lesser known fairy tales. These were quite twee and not that exciting, except for the one in which Terry Thomas played a cowardly knight who had his manservant fight a stop-motion dragon with painted cartoon breath and then claimed victory for himself only to have the table turned on him later. The film broke at one point and instead of silence, there was an emergency reel half the size of the central frame of a man talking to the camera, apologising and talking about his travels. Odd but funny and the second best bit of the experience.
Then, another Hammer rarity that hadn't been shown for something like 40 years, dug up from the Universal Studio archives by Robert Simpson (who programmed the Hammer strand this year): Shadow of the Cat. This was brilliant and really funny because five grown adults who had murdered the owner of a big estate were afraid of a simple house cat who was the only witness to the murder. During the course of the film, the cat kills (usually indirectly) all the bad people until only the true heir remains. This was especially funny as the cat was just an ordinary tabby and not some evil looking black cat. Excellent entertainment.
After a quick curry at Omar's, the first evening showing was Masks by Andreas Marschall, a German director who not only worked with J&oml;rg Buttgereit but also directed music videos and designed album covers for a lot of metal bands, especially Kreator with whom he also did a documentary. Masks was a rather excellent hommage to the Giallo genre on a shoestring budget (he mentioned later that he'd had better budgets for his music videos than thsi film), using mainly film and acting students (and teachers) as the cast. This didn't show at all as the acting was brilliant and the production values were also very good indeed, the visuals and themes keeping very much in line with films like Suspiria. The interview with the director afterwards was also very interesting.
The final film was Four Flies on Grey Velvet by Dario Argento, in which a rock band drummer is harrassed/blackmailed by persons unknown. Amusingly, the cast included Bud Spencer in a serious role. i'm not sure how well known he is in the UK but in Europe and especially Germany he's well known for comedy Spaghetti Westerns co-starring Terrence Hill (both are Italian actors) and other action comedies from the 70s and 80s. The film was a bit slow but not bad and I didn't fall asleep which was quite remarkable for a Sunday night.