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Daily Archives: August 25, 2020

Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970)

Posted on August 25, 2020 | Leave a comment

Even Dwarfs Started Small (Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen)
Directed by Werner Herzog
Written by Werner Herzog
1970/West Germany
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime

Hombré: When we behave nobody cares. But when we are bad nobody forgets.

I generally love Werner Herzog’s films. But this sophmore effort was a bridge too far for many reasons.

There is really no plot, per se. The inmates of a correctional institution trap their overseers in a room and proceed to destroy the facility. All these people happen to be dwarfs. They revel in being sadistically bad. Unfortunately, this involves abusing various farm animals and a camel. They also get a kick out of abusing farm machinery, motor vehicles, and each other.

With a team like Herzog, regular cinematographer Thomas Maunch and composer Florian Fricke, you can expect first-rate production values despite a bargain basement budget. But it’s all in the service of watching amateur actors tear things up. Not for me. WARNING: There is graphic cruelty to animals in this movie. Best to avoid if this kind of thing triggers you. I’m serious.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

Posted on August 25, 2020 | 4 comments

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo)
Directed by Dario Argento from a novel by Fredric Brown
Italy/1970
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Inspector Morosini: Right! Bring in the perverts!

Dario Argento’s debut proved to be a key early work in the Giallo movement that would be popular during the 70’s. There’s oodles of style here but watching women dying in terror got old fast.

Sam Dalmas, an American journalist living in Rome, is about to return to the States when he witnesses the stabbing of a young woman. He rescues her. The police question him for a description of the assailant and get nowhere. But Sam is convinced he saw something significant that he simply can’t remember. He begins his own investigation. The would-be assassin now begins stalking him.

In the meantime, we are treated to the brutal murder and terrified screams and whimpers coming from several victims of a serial killer. I will go no further.

This is a classy movie with a score by Ennio Morricone and cinematography by Vittorio Storaro. Argento introduces or perfects many of the basic tropes of the genre. There are several twists in the intricate plot. You would have to like watching female terror a lot more than I do to enjoy it, I think.