TCM Classic Movie Fest 2021 HOLLYWOOD HOME MOVIES and MASTERS CHANTEL ACKERMAN

HOLLYWOOD  HOME MOVIES
This is an hour long collection home movies with people talking about them via Zoom. It’s very good for what it is but your reaction is going to depend upon your interest in seeing the home movies. For me it was interesting  for a short bit.

MASTERS CHANTEL ACKERMAN
This is  an 11 minute examination look at the work and films of Chantel Ackerman. While it is a beautiful primer on the subject that is playing with Ackerman’s LE CHAMBRE and NEWS FROM HOME- the film is going to frustrate most fans who are going to want a longer examination of the master director. Being a long time admirer of Ackerman’s films I know there is no way to do justice to her body of work in such a short amount of time, however the piece is a game try. Its worth a look, just be prepared to want more.

TCM Classic Film Festival 2021 Remembering Powell and Pressburger

This short film is a masterpiece. Short sweet and to the point this almost half an hour look at the work of Powell and Pressburger is one of the best films on film I’ve ever seen.

The film is basically Thelma Schoonmaker talking about the work of her husband Michael Powell and his creative partner Emeric Pressburger. Over her words we see clips and photos and over the course of the films brief running time we come to understand the men, their films and their influence on modern cinema. Its direct and to the point and as good as documentary filmmaking gets.

Yes you could quibble that it doesn’t cover everything or that it isn’t detailed, but it wasn’t designed to do that. The film is simply and appreciation and primer by someone who knows the subject intimately. It does what it does and gets off. More to the point it provides an almost constant series of  “ah ha” moments. You may think you know the pair but I’m guessing you don’t know everything. What I love is how Schoonmaker- links things up or highlights something in a passing phrase that makes you suddenly see something you’ve never noticed before.

I can’t recommend this film enough.

Playing with I KNOW WHERE I AM GOING, it is highly recommended for anyone who loves film.

Bill Morrison at TCM Fest 2021

 

LET ME COME IN
Let Me Come in is the latest from Bill Morrison.  Using decaying footage from the film Pawns of Passion with words and music from David Lang  he had fashioned a dreamy love story of aching desire.

While I like the images that Morrison has given us to look at  as well as the idea of dreamy love, the libretto doesn’t work for me.  There is something about the lyrics that doesn’t sit well for my ear.  While it doesn’t kill the film for me, it does make this one of the few Morrison films I am uncertain to return to.

Quibbles a side fans of Morrison should see it when it screens  this weekend at TCM Fest if for nothing else it shows us what it might look like if Morrison could have put a full on opera together.

Morrison's film is running with a half hour look at his films

CINEMA OF DECAY
I am a huge fan of Bill Morrison's films. I fell in love DECASIA and I have been along for the ride ever since. I will go to great lengths to see anything he produces so this look behind the curtain was magical.

While not geared to telling us everything the film explains how Morrison began working with decaying film, how he picks the people he uses to score his films as well as tidbits concerning  some of the films (DECASIA, THE BELLS, THE GREAT FLOOD and DAWSON CITY: FROZEN TIME).  I love how he never knows what he's going to get when he gets a call about some decaying film, as well as his mention that some people think that what he does is done with computers.

If you have ever been amazed by Morrison's work this is a must see.

TCM Classic Film Fest 2021: SF SKETCH FEST PRESENTS PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE TABLE READ ADAPTED BY DANA GOULD

I am not a fan of PLAN 9 FOM OUTER SPACE. It's nowhere near the worst film ever made, its actually pretty okay and I despise how cinema hipsters who have no clue fell all over it until the completely unwatchable THE ROOM took it's place as the worst film. 

Because I dislike the film I had no intention of watching the table read for TCM Fest this year, but things happened and it fell in my lap and decided to take a look because I wasn't committed to it. The result was I was roaring with laughter from start to finish.

Done via Zoom, with Lorraine Newman reading the scenes descriptions, this is a whole bunch of people having fun. One part homage and one part send up it is a screamingly funny little exercise that is infinitely better than the original. If I was watching this at the fest I probably would either bail early into the original or not watch it when it plays after this gem ends.

I can't recommend this enough.

TCM Classic Film Fest 2021: The Streets of New York

As part of this years virtual TCM Fest the festival is running numerous New York City centric films and to help make things more enjoyable they are also running several several films relating to the making of the films

 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SPEEDY
Excellent look at the making f the Harold Lloyd comedy SPEEDY. The film was legendarily shot on location in New York for a good portion of the shoot. However a terrible accident forced the company to reconsider continued shooting. The film examines the shoot both in NYC and on a backlot where portions of the city were reconstructed because the area in Greenwich Village they wanted to shoot in had been changed. This is an excellent film

THE STREETS OF NEW YORK
Short look at the making of THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1,2,3 and how it is one of the most accurate portraits f the NYC subway on film (it points out that one of the two errors in the film is the result of the city refusing to help make the film if they showed graffiti in the subway car.) This is a great piece that is much too short.

UNCOVERED NAKED CITY
An excellent look at the shooting of NAKED CITY and how it was the first big film in a long time to actually shoot on location on the city. This is another masterpiece that gives us an excellent idea of what it took to make the film as well as letting us know what has changes since the film was shot.

TCM Classic Film Fest: JET JOCKEY'S IN LOVE THE MAKING OF CHAINED LIGHTNING WITH BEN BURTT AND CRAIG BARRON

This look at the making of CHAIN LIGHTNING is playing as the introduction to the film on HBO Max as part of the TCM Classic Film Fest. 

Focusing primarily on the visual effects for the film the film charts the making of the film and it's rush to be the first film about jet planes in theaters. Its a breezy look at the film that touches on a variety of subjects such as Bogart being too old for the role, Michael Curtiz (who did not direct the film), the wrong design of the plane (it isn't really a jet), marketing and how in the face of TV the studios were trying to make films as cheaply as possible. Its a great little primer on CHAIN LIGHTNING itself, and when it was done I wanted to wade into the film proper.

This is an amusing little film that I'm guessing is going to end up on TCM as the intro for the film from here on out.

CHAIN LIGHTNING can be seen on HBO Max as part of the TCM Classic Film Festival

THE HORROR FILMS OF MICHAEL CURTIZ TCM Classic Film Fest 2021

Six minute look at  the three horror films made by director Michael Curtiz: DR X, MYSTERY F THE WAX MUSEUM, and WALKING DEAD. The short film explores the three films which were influential in their way, especially with Curtiz's work with early Technicolor revealing to many what could be done with the film.

Its a super little film that I suspect is going to have a long life well beyond the festival

TCM Classic Film Fest 2021 Curtain Raiser

 

Just a couple of quick notes about Unseen Films’ coverage of TCM Classic Film Fest which starts in earnest later today.

First up we are not going to be reviewing any of the feature films that they are running. While there are some new restorations screening I was not given access to any of them and since part of the thrill this year is going to be seeing those prints I’m going to pass putting up something connected to them until I an actually see the them. Additionally odds are you will already know the films they are running so there is no reason to run a review.

I was given access to the hour long compilation of Avery shorts from MGM and they are wonderful. Avery is someone I love -I still have the laser disc, from when those were a thing, just because its Avery. However since I've written on them elsewhere I'm not going to do so again. Take the time and watch the films and the documentary.

I will be running short pieces on a bunch of the new docs and films they are running. I have a piece on all of the NYC docs.  Another piece will be on the new Bill Morrison film and doc. I will be talking about the soon to be classic short doc REMEMBERING POWELL AND PRESSBURGER. And I will briefly be talking about the fall down funny table read of the PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.

If you want to know what’s good it all is. Just watch something on TCM or HBO Max.