#Film history

[bobbyhasstardust]

Buster Keaton is so incredibly fine it drives me absolutely insane

[kingoftheclaudes]

Happy Anniversary, Casablanca!

Here's to one of the most iconic roles in the film (and in film history!) and a wonderful performance by Claude! While he may not be a rank sentimentalist, Captain Renault scored Claude his second Academy Award nomination with his portrayal of the poor, corrupt official renowed for breaking hearts, witty dialogue, and fixing roulette games.

[efemmera-archive]

The Kiss (1882) by Eadweard Muybridge

Unearthed in 2011, this short video created by cinema pioneer Eadweard Muybridge of a kiss between two women is the first kiss ever in the history of moving image, predating Edison's "The Kiss" by over a decade.

[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 Yes, the language will be outdated.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 🧟‍♂️

[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!

[bobbyhasstardust]

unfortunately i dont think the world would be ready for this

[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

[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!

[wronghands1]

[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.

[spirk-trek]

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