Daily Archives: December 8, 2016

Le Chant du Styrene 
Directed by Alain Resnais
Written by Raymond Queneau
1959/France
Les Films de la Pleiade/Pechiney
First viewing/FilmStruck

Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics. – The Graduate

Resnais brings poetry to a documentary short about the production of plastics.

This follows the production process for polystyrene and a number of articles made from the material.  Part of the process is observed in reverse order.

Resnais makes the quotidian beautiful.  The narrative is fairly straight-forward this time, lacking the resonance of his documentary shorts Night and Fog and Toute la memoire du monde.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNzs6sn2QW0

Images from the film set to music from Blade Runner

All the Boys Are Called Patrick (Charlotte et Véronique, ou Tous les garçons s’appellent Patrick)
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Written by Eric Rohmer
1959/France
Les Films de Peliade
First viewing/FilmStruck

[box] Charlotte: We went to that cafe by the bus stop. I gave him a hard time. You have to be mean to men. Keeps ’em on their toes.[/box]

Screenwriter Erich Rohmer brings his characteristic charm to this early Godard short.

Close friends Charlotte and Veronique plan to meet at the park between two and three in the afternoon. Veronique arrives after Charlotte leaves.  Thus both are available to be chatted up by a persistent young ladies’ man, Patrick (Jean-Claude Brialy).  When the women finally meet up, each sings her man’s praises to the other.

This is slight and sweet.  I’m not a huge Godard fan but I do love Rohmer and his take on relationships.  There are some nice early New Wave images as well.

The complete 21-minute film is currently available on YouTube.

The Giant Behemoth (AKA Behemoth the Sea Monster)
Directed by Douglas Hickox and Eugene Lourie
Written by Eugene Lourie and Daniel James; story by Robert Abel and Allen Adler
1959/UK/USA
Artistes Alliance Ltd./Diamond Pictures Corp.
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Dr. Sampson, the Paleontologist: Oh, it’s heading for the Thames. They always made for the freshwater rivers to die. [/box]

Neither good enough nor bad enough to float my boat.  Meh.

Marine biologist Steve Karnes (Gene Evans) has discovered that the fallout from atomic testing in the Pacific results in unequal distribution of radioactivity.  In particular, the intensity of the radioactivity increases as it travels up the food chain.  In the way of these things, the top of the food chain turns out to be a prehistoric sea dinosaur.  To make matters worse, the monster is also electric, like an eel.  And it’s on its way to devour London.

It takes a long time for this film to get to the monster action and when it does it is nothing really special, despite Willis O’Brien’s handiwork.

Trailer