#Film History

[lizardsfromspace]

So a few more notes on Sunn

They released their films via "four walling". Instead of splitting ticket revenue like normal, instead they would rent the theater, paying the owner a flat fee, and would keep all the box office. So when that Noah's Ark movie made all that money, it presumably all went to the studio, with the theater just getting whatever fee Sunn paid and concessions. There's a whole history here, but it was a rare model by the 1980s, apart from special events. It's since been superseded by other models: such as movies offered to theaters at a more favorable revenue share - typically movies that are given a token theatrical release so they can get to TV faster - and...I don't know what model Christian films are using, but it must be something similar. I don't just mean the crowdfunding thing Angel Studios (The Sound of Freedom people) do, but also I've noticed a ton of smaller Christian films - often conspiratorial - playing on one random screen to nobody. I'm sure they have their reasons

Sunn's films were, by everything I've seen, distributed mainly to theaters in small towns and suburbs; I said that their movies, which made a lot of money, were the only movies some people must've seen in the theaters in the 70s - bc their target demo was explicitly people who see one or two movies a year - but also, a lot of people in major cities may have never known they existed, since they just didn't come out there.

They did make narrative films too: most famously The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, the tenth highest grossing film of 1974, a family adventure movie that turned into a TV series that ran two seasons. After this they started running their extensive marketing research through computers, which told them that paranormal topics were in, and so they pivoted to docs

Sunn's docs covered all the typical content: cryptozoology, UFOs, near death experiences, later on they had a lot of Christian-themed films later on. They did do a JFK conspiracy movie, but it was their last doc, and was given a limited release in 1981 & never seen since. But they also did a Lincoln conspiracy movie. Like, a "did Booth really do it?" doc, that came out in theaters in '77. The only piece of Lincoln conspiracy media of that scale I've ever seen. There are people who saw a John Wilkes Booth trutherism movie in '77 but didn't see Star Wars

Before they became random specials on the History Channel scuzzy ancient astronauts documentaries were released in theaters, which is bizarre to imagine (I think the only film of that type to become A Thing in theaters in the past, like, 30 years was What The Bleep Do We Know?, with others spreading via the internet). Like someone paying money to see Ancient Aliens with other people

A special time where the movie version of Chariots of the Gods not only grossed 25 million dollars but was nominated for the Oscar for best documentary (it lost to Woodstock, and was nominated next to a documentary about Martin Luther King), and a documentary claiming Noah's Ark was real and had been found in Turkey was the ninth biggest film of 1976

[esperderek]

Hbomberguy did a pretty good job pointing out how Somerton has tried to take up the air of modern queer creators, stealing the works they made to little or no money or exposure, and using them to bolster his own fame. It's a truly reprehensible act.

But I feel like it's also important to briefly touch on what he stole from the past.

The Celluloid Closet is a backbone text on queerness and cinema. Like, if you're at all interested in the subject, please read the book, and watch the doc. Yes, the language will be outdated. It was written in 1981 and the doc published in 1995. Language evolves. I was fortunate enough to both read the book and see the documentary in the early 2000s, when I attended university.

It was written by Vito Russo, who held a Masters in film and a desire to fight for queer rights after witnessing the Stonewell riots. The Celluloid Closet was first a live lecture presentation, then a book. He would try to get the book made into a documentary in the early years, and after he died, others picked up that torch to carry on his work and to pay respect to the man.

Vito Russo was also one of the co-founders of GLAAD. He was a co-founder of ACT UP. You may have, if you've watched documentaries or seen news stories about the AIDS crisis, seen parts of his speech, Why We Fight. He protested, advocated, and educated even as people he knew and loved died, and he himself was dying.

As Hbomberguy notes in his doc, he would go on to pass in 1990. This was a man who fought his ass off, even while dying, for a better tomorrow and better representation.

The fact that Somerton stole his work is beyond insulting to the queer history, and queer film history, that he purports to give a shit about.

[lackadaisycal-art]

Puttin on the riiiiiiiitz 🧟‍♂️

[nazrigar]

Dinovember 2024: Children of the Lizard King

For Dinovember, a tribute to the one, and only, Tyrannosaurus rex.

A creature whose impact on pop culture is SO prevalent, it's basically an ambassador species to the field of Paleontology.

From King Kong, to The Land before Time, to Jurassic Park, to Prehistoric Planet, there has been SO many interpretations of the dinosaur, and creatures that took influence FROM Tyrannosaurus rex, I could have filled the entire page with more, but I had to stop at 65 so that the flow and composition of the piece would work.

See if your favorite T.rex or T.rex inspired critter is here!

And of course, a special shout out to @tyrantisterror , whose big green fella up top helped inspire me to continue doing art!

[spirk-trek]

Star Trek Set Tour 12/?: (More) Miscellaneous Corridors

[garlandedspirits]

some rare and gorgeous mugshots photos of Conrad Veidt as Cesare the Somnambulist in the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari which I sadly don't know the original source or context for

[whereserpentswalk]

Just saw a "feminist" video essay (by someone who just happens to only talk about feminism in relation to cishet white able bodied women) say that the Hays Code was good for women because it "prevented them from sexualizing women by preventing onscreen depictions of sex". Never before has a video said something that made me vocalize my disgust of it's takes, but this did it.

I didn't think I would have to say this but if you defend the Hays code you are horrible and not in any way progressive. And if you don't know what it is please look it up because it's probably the most important piece of history when it comes to all media analysis in the western world.

[the-bar-sinister]

One of the scariest parts of the Hays code was its implicit lesson that the law is completely inescapable, and that no criminal is worthy of sympathy, nor will avoid punishment forever.

This is a deliberately terrifying and demoralizing message when there are always going to be laws which are unjust, and doubly so when you are a member of a class of people whose very existence is criminalized. As for instance, queer people were at the time.

It's censorship which denies the possibility of escape, and denies the possibility of unjust authority.

[zeldahime]

Happy public domain day!

Some notable things that entered the public domain in the US today are:

The Jazz Singer, the first “talkie” or movie with sound

The first three Hardy Boys books

The last two Sherlock Holmes stories

The Lodger, Alfred Hitchcock’s first film

And all other works published in 1927 and unpublished works whose authors died in 1952!

[catgirl-kaiju]

okay, so i recently watched a god-awful movie from 1971 called "Horror of the Blood Monsters". while it contained some so-bad-it's good moments, it was mostly unbearable to watch. however, the parts that were the most interesting and entertaining, were colorized clips from a 1956 black-&-white Filipino english language film called "Tagani" (Alternatively called "Kahariang Bato" for the Tagalong release). I mean just look at this!

this looks so fun!

there's elaborate creature costuming that is really fun to see and at times fairly impressive for a low budget Filipino production in the 50s! i mean, just look at these sequences involving humanoid crab and bat creatures!

and there's a surprising amount of body diversity too! there are fat folks and a few actors with dwarfism who don't appear to be playing nonhuman roles!

so, i thought, i should find a copy of Tagani that i can watch since that's what i'd really like to be watching in the first place. but...

i can't fucking find it anywhere.

no uploads, no streaming, no home video releases, not even any indications of film reels being shown of it. what the fuck? where is Tagani??? have i stumbled into lost media?

the only indications of its existence are the footage in Horror of the Blood Monsters, a poster, and a trailer uploaded to youtube. i found links to the film uploaded to youtube when i searched on duckduckgo, but when i clicked on them, the uploads were gone! I was able to find a 1080p copy of HotBM, so in a just world, i would be able to find a 1080p copy of Tagani as well.

if anyone has this magnificent film archived or knows where i can go to find a copy of this, please let me know! i'd love to watch it and help preserve it! if you'd like to watch the Tagani segments in Horror of the Blood Monsters, i recommend skipping most of the portions involving the main cast of white american actors for the best experience. I do not recommend watching the full film as it's SO boring in most scenes. but the Tagani scenes never fail to entertain

[bobbyhasstardust]

often imitated, never surpassed

Original Creator: Laverre on TikTok

[wronghands1]

[north-pole-picture-co]

New (old) Amundsen film just dropped!

I love this so much. The setting, the architecture of the house, Rex the dog, of course—I’ll bet he was a very good boy. Not to mention Roald looks pretty sharp in that suit!

[spirk-trek]

Arlene Martel as T'Pring, S2E1 of Star Trek, 1967

[jstor]

TFW you're just trying to have breakfast with your pals but some ghosts decide to toss your bowler hats around the yard...

Watch the full film by Hans Richter.

📽️ : Hans Richter. Germany. Vortmittagspuk (“Ghosts Before Breakfast”). 1927. Bucknell University.

[fuckyeahhistorycrushes]

Tamara Wiszniewska (1919-1981) - Polish actress

Tamara Wiszniewska was born on December 19, 1919 in Dubno, Poland (now a region in western Ukraine) on the banks of the Ikva River. It was here that she spent her younger years during which she picked up dancing, which eventually led her to her career in film. In her 1981 obituary in the Democrat & Chronicle, it was reported that Tamara, at age 15, “Was a ballet dancer, when German film director Paul Wegener discovered her and gave her a role in the historical film, August der Starke (August the Strong)” which premiered in 1936. This German/Polish co-production is a biographical look into the life of Augustus II, ruler of Saxony and Poland-Lithuania from 1694-1733. Although Tamara played only a small role it marked her debut and eventual rise to fame within the Polish film industry.

Following her appearance in August der Starke, Tamara appeared in thirteen other films between 1936 and 1939, including Trójka Hultajska (The Trio Hultajska, 1937), Ordynat Michorowski (Ordinate Michorowski, 1937), and Kobiety nad Przepaścią (Women Over the Precipice, 1938). Wladyslaw (Walter) Mikosz, Tamara’s future husband, produced two of these films. In an interview, Tamara and Walter’s daughter, Irene, states that, "The two met because of their film careers, and were married [late that same year] in 1937".

Life for the Mikoszs was happy for a time. Tamara continued to pursue her acting career through 1938 and 1939 and had welcomed a new born daughter into the world alongside her husband, Wladyslaw. Unfortunately, these happy times did not last long as the Mikosz family experienced the rise of Nazi Germany and their occupation of Poland in 1939 during World War II. The following excerpt from an interview with Tamara in a 1974 Times Union tells how drastically their lives were changed:

"I always played a rich spoiled girl who had lovely clothes, and for a short time I lived that kind of life too. It was a short, beautiful life that ended when the Germans took over Poland in 1939. We were wealthy and the toast of the town then. We’d go to Prague and Vienna just to see an opera or to play in the casinos. When the Germans came, my intuition told me I should have something on me to exchange. I sewed my jewelry into my clothes. Later, it bought us passes to freedom and bread so we were never hungry."

The German occupation of Poland during World War II brought then “beautiful” life of the Mikosz family to an end. Gone were their illustrious careers in film and the rewards that such a life had brought to them. In a later interview, Irene mentioned that her mother "was preparing to sign a contract for a film career in Hollywood, but Hitler’s invasion of Poland derailed the plans". Sadly, Tamara’s last appearance on the silver screen was in 1939 prior to the invasion of Hitler’s Germany; she never again starred in any films.

Although her dreams had been crushed, Tamara and her family did not lose hope. They made the best of their current situation, and were able to survive by selling the fruits of their labors that they harvested during their days in the film industry; their lives had been consumed with a fight to survive rather than a dream to thrive. However, not being ones to live quiet lives, the Mikoszs volunteered for the Polish Underground, the exiled Polish government that fought to resist German occupation of Poland during World War II. As civilians with backgrounds in film, Tamara and Walter were most likely engaged in spreading Polish nationalistic and anti-German propaganda. Such efforts of the civilian branch of the Polish Underground was in support of what Jan Kamieński refers to as "small sabotage" in his book, Hidden in the Enemy's Sight: Resisting the Third Reich from Within: "In contrast of major sabotage, the idea of small sabotage was to remind the German occupiers of an enduring Polish presence, to ensure that they felt a constant sense of unease and generally undermine their self-confidence". While attending to these duties within the Underground, the Mikosz family was separated and shipped off to separate countries: Tamara and her daughter, Irene, to Czechoslovakia (where Tamara’s parents had been sent) and Walter to Bavaria. The family was not reunited until 1945, when they were sent to the same refugee camp in Bavaria. The Mikoszs remained in the Bavarian refugee camp until the year 1950, in which they emigrated to the United States of America. Tamara and Walter lived quiet lives in Rochester, NY after arriving from a war-torn Europe, and did so until they passed away.

Although they have long since passed away from this Earth, the stories of the Polish film star, Tamara, and her film-producer husband, Wladyslaw Mikosz, will live on so long as there are people around to tell it.