#douglas slocombe

[machetelanding]

The golden fertility idol's eyes were originally meant to move to make it look like they were following Indy no matter what angle he looked at it from. The effect was difficult to achieve and ultimately left out of the finished film.

[screamscenepodcast]

Completing Anglo-Amalgamated Production's "Sadian trilogy," it's CIRCUS OF HORRORS (1960) from director Sidney Hayers! Starring Anton Diffring, Jane Hylton, Kenneth Griffith and Erika Remberg, this film makes your hosts wonder... what's up with circuses?

Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 13:42; Discussion 24:01; Ranking 39:42

[ultrameganicolaokay]

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

[streamondemand]

'It Always Rains on Sunday' – the Brit noir landmark free on Kanopy

Working class realism meets British crime drama in It Always Rains on Sunday (1947), Robert Hamer’s landmark classic. Rose Sandigate (Googie Withers) has resigned herself to a marriage with an older widower (Edward Chapman) with two grown daughters and a schoolboy son when her past comes crashing in. Escaped convict Tommy Swann (John McCallum), once her lover, hides out in her cramped home while…

[esqueletosgays]

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (1973)

Director: Norman Jewison Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

The Fearless Vampire Killers

I first saw Roman Polanski’s THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (1967, TCM) on television in the version producer Martin Ransohoff butchered for U.S. release. At the time, I thought it had intermittent moments of poetry and inspired comedy but felt choppy and uneven. Fortunately, that version has been laid to rest, and TCM now shows the director’s cut. It’s still uneven, but it’s a lot more poetic and inspired.

The film follows 19th century academic Jack MacGowran and his inept assistant (Polanski) as they travel to Transylvania to test MacGowran’s theories about the existence and nature of vampires. When they stay at Alfie Bass’ inn, Polanski becomes smitten with the man’s daughter (Sharon Tate, who would become his wife), only to have her kidnapped by the local vampire (Ferdy Mayne). That sends MacGowran and Polanski off to Mayne’s castle to save Tate and eliminate the bloodsucker.

Polanski intended the film as an affectionate send-up of Hammer horror films, and it certainly toes the line in the prevalence of heaving bosoms. But there’s also a lot of silent slapstick comedy as filtered through the lens of European Absurdism. MacGowran, one of the chief interpreters of Samuel Beckett, is often inspired in his performance. He looks like Albert Einstein, while his pratfalls are pure Mack Sennett. He also brings a manic excitement to the role as he’s constantly sidetracked by each new discovery that confirms his theories. Polanski has moments in which he resembles Buster Keaton with his deadpan consideration of strange events. He’s not always as successful with his line readings, and one bit of verbal confusion between him and MacGowran falls flat. His timing is too slow to make the joke land. But Mayne is masterful as the vampire, sending his lines just enough over the top to underline the absurdity of it all, and Tate is more than just a pretty face. She has a pixilated air that makes her character’s innocence believable and very endearing.

The film is filled with inspired bits that feel almost improvisational — peasants making cabbage liquor, a frozen body rotating as if on a lazy Susan, a gay vampire who cruises Polanski expertly. There are still choppy bits, but there are also extended comic sequences that develop a loopy rhythm of their own. Douglas Slocombe shot the film in vivid colors. Some of the snowscapes are sheer poetry, and at times Polanski just lets the action stop to appreciate their beauty. The film’s main set piece — a courtly dance featuring vampires from various historical eras, including Richard III — is expertly staged and brilliantly scored by Krzysztof Komeda. If you’re old enough to have only seen the mutilated U.S. release, it’s well worth looking up the restored version MGM started circulating to repertory cinemas in the 1980s.

[thewarmestplacetohide]

Dread by the Decade: Dead of Night

👻 You can support me on Ko-fi! ❤️

★★★★

Plot: When a man meets a group of strangers whom he insists he already knows, everyone present realizes they've also experienced something unexplainable.

Review: Though some segments outshine others, diverse narratives, genuine eeriness, and a fantastically surreal ending make this anthology an absolute standout.

Source Material: "The Bus-Conductor" by E. F. Benson, "The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost" by H. G. Wells Year: 1945 Genre: Anthology, Supernatural Horror, Ghosts, Horror Comedy Country: United Kingdom Language: English Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes

Directors: Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Robert Hamer, Basil Dearden Writers: John Baines, Angus MacPhail Cinematographers: Douglas Slocombe, Jack Parker Editor: Charles Hasse Composer: Georges Auric Cast: Mervyn Johns, Frederick Valk, Anthony Baird, Judy Kelly, Miles Malleson, Sally Ann Howes, Michael Allan, Ralph Michael, Googie Withers, Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, Michael Redgrave, Hartley Power, Roland Culver, Renee Gadd

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Story: 3.5/5 - Though "The Golfer's Story" is weak and "The Christmas Party" is too bare bones, the other tales are unsettling and the framing story's conclusion is outright haunting.

Performances: 4/5 - Everyone is great, but Mervyn Johns, Ralph Michael, and Michael Redgrave give especially tormented performances.

Cinematography: 4/5 - Well shot with interesting angles and lighting. The dizzying camera movements at the end are wonderful.

Editing: 3/5 - Cuts are sometimes a bit abrupt.

Music: 3.5/5 - Lively, though occasionally too dramatic.

Effects & Props: 4/5 - The cursed mirror and ventriloquist dummy are both solid, and the bus crash is effective.

Sets: 4/5

Costumes, Hair, & Make-Up: 4/5

Trigger Warnings:

Very mild violence

Domestic abuse

Suicide

Discussion of child abuse and murder

Casual misogyny

[nine-frames]

"Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these - it might have been."

The Lavender Hill Mob, 1951.

Dir. Charles Crichton | Writ. T.E.B. Clarke | DOP Douglas Slocombe

[goalhofer]

2024 MLB American League All-Stars Roster

Pitchers

#00 Tyler Anderson (Los Angeles Angels/Las Vegas, Nevada)

#19 Mason Miller (Oakland Athletics/Bethel Park, Pennsylvania)

#29 Tarik Skubal (Detroit Tigers/Kingman, Arizona)

#39 Corbin Burnes (Baltimore Orioles/Bakersfield, California)

#45 Garrett Crochet (Chicago White Sox/Ocean Springs, Mississippi)

#48 Emmanuel Clase (Cleveland Guardians/Río San Juan, DR)

#52 Clay Holmes (New York Yankees/Slocomb, Alabama)

#55 Cole Ragans (Kansas City Royals/Tallahassee, Florida)

#67 Jacob Lugo (Kansas City Royals/Bossier City, Louisiana)

#75 Andrés Muñoz (Seattle Mariners/Los Mochis, Mexico)

#89 Tanner Houck (Boston Red Sox/Collinsville, Illinois)

#93 Kirby Yates (Texas Rangers/Kauai County, Hawaii)

Catchers

#13 Salvador Pérez (Kansas City Royals/Valencia, Venezuela)

#35 Adley Rutschman (Baltimore Orioles/Sherwood, Oregon)

Infielders

#2 Gunnar Henderson (Baltimore Orioles/Selma, Alabama)

#5 Corey Seager (Texas Rangers/Kannapolis, North Carolina)

#6 David Fry (Cleveland Guardians/Grapevine, Texas)

#7 Bobby Witt; Jr. (Kansas City Royals/Colleyville, Texas)

#10 Marcus Semien (Texas Rangers/Berkeley, California)

#11 José Ramírez (Cleveland Guardians/Baní, Dominican Republic)

#12 Jordan Westburg (Baltimore Orioles/New Braunfels, Texas)

#17 Isaac Paredes (Tampa Bay Rays/Hermosillo, Mexico)

#21 Joshua-Douglas Naylor (Cleveland Guardians/Mississauga, ON)

#27 Vladimir Guerrero; Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays/Santiago, DR)

#50 Willi Castro (Minnesota Twins/San Juan, Puerto Rico)

Outfielders

#16 Jarren Duran (Boston Red Sox/Cypress, California)

#22 Juan Soto; Jr. (New York Yankees/Santo Domingo, DR)

#25 Anthony Santander (Baltimore Orioles/Ciudad Agua Blanca, VZ)

#31 Riley Greene (Detroit Tigers/Oviedo, Florida)

#38 Steven Kwan (Cleveland Guardians/Fremont, California)

#44 Yordan Álvarez (Houston Astros/Ciudad Las Tunas, Cuba)

#99 Aaron Judge (New York Yankees/San Joaquin County, CA)

Manager

Bruce Bochy (Texas Rangers/Melbourne, Florida)

[moviesandmania]

TASTE OF FEAR (1961) Reviews of Hammer classic and now free to watch online

‘The motion picture shocker of the year!’ Taste of Fear is a 1961 British horror thriller film about a wheelchair-bound young woman who returns to her father’s estate after ten years, and although she’s told he’s away, she keeps seeing his dead body. Directed by Seth Holt (Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb) and shot in black-and-white by Douglas Slocombe for Hammer Films. In the US, the movie was…

[kyrasaphira]

screencaps from Circus of Horrors (1960), directed by Sidney Hayers, cinematography by Douglas Slocombe

[byneddiedingo]

Stanley Holloway and Alec Guinness in The Lavender Hill Mob (Charles Crichton, 1951)

Cast: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James, Alfie Bass, Marjorie Fielding, Edie Martin. Screenplay: T.E.B. Clarke. Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe. Art direction: William Kellner. Film editing: Seth Holt. Music: Georges Auric. 

The late 1940s and early 1950s were a golden age for British film comedy, but it wasn't a golden age for Britain in other regards. British filmmakers had to find the funny side of the class system, economic stagnation, and postwar malaise.  Some of the gloom against which British comic writers and performers were fighting is on evidence in The Lavender Hill Mob, but it mostly lingers in the background. As the movie's robbers and cops career around London, we get glimpses of blackened masonry and vacant lots -- spaces created by bombing and still unfilled. The mad pursuit of millions of pounds by Holland (Alec Guinness) and Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway) and their light-fingered employees Lackery (Sidney James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass) seems to have been inspired by the sheer tedium of muddling through the war and returning to the shriveled routine of the status quo afterward. Who can blame Holland for wanting to cash in after 20 years as a bank clerk  supervising the untold wealth in gold from the refinery to the bank? "I was a potential millionaire," he says, "yet I had to be satisfied with eight pounds, fifteen shillings, less deductions." As for Pendlebury, an artist lurks inside the man who spends his time making souvenir statues of the Eiffel Tower for tourists affluent enough to vacation in Paris. "I propagate British cultural depravity," he says with a sigh. Screenwriter T.E.B. Clarke taps into the deep longing of Brits stifled by good manners -- even the thieves Lackery and Shorty are always polite -- and starved by the postwar rationing of the Age of Austerity. Clarke and director Charles Crichton can't do anything so radical as let the Lavender Hill Mob get away with it, but they come right up to the edge of anarchy by portraying the London police as only a little more competent than the Keystone Kops. The film earned Clarke an Oscar, and Guinness got his first nomination. It also allowed the young Audrey Hepburn to catch other filmmakers’ eyes in a bit part. 

[juniorstargazergoke1991]

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cinematographer: Douglas Slocombe

[elbisonodelcine]

🎞️Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) 🎥Norman Jewison 📷Douglas Slocombe

[sesiondemadrugada]

Freud (John Huston, 1962).

[filmaticbby]

“I... I don't know what I'd do without you.”

The Servant (1963) dir. Joseph Losey