Flickers in Time

The Magic Flute (Trollflöten)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Written by Ingmar Bergman from the libretto of Emanuel Schikaneder
1975/Sweden
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel

Sarastro: The radiant sun overpowers the night, And darkness surrenders to wisdom and light…

Ingmar Bergman makes one masterpiece out of another.

The story takes place in the land of myths and fairy tales.  Our hero Tamino is on a quest to find the meaning of life and true love.  He fights a dragon and faints while three Ladies-in-Waiting to the Queen of the Night slay the beast.  When they see the comely youth, they know he will be perfect for a mission highly desired by the Queen. Soon we also meet the bird-catcher Papageno, a comic coward whose quest is merely for a wife.

Pamina is the daughter of the Queen of the Night.  The Ladies come back with a locket containing Pamina’s portrait and Tamino knows at once where his quest is leading him. If Tamino can rescue Pamina from Sarastro, who has captured her, she will be his bride. The Queen provides a magic flute to use in case of emergency.  The very reluctant Papageno is ordered to accompany Tamino and is given a set of magic bells.  Finally a hot air balloon arrives bearing three little boys who will give him advice throughout the story.

Papageno finds Pamina before Tamino does and they run off to look for him.  When Tamino meets Sarastro he turns out to be a righteous god-like High Priest who rules in connection with a Brotherhood.  Tamino will need to go through three scary trials of wisdom to prove himself worthy to join the Brotherhood and wed Pamina.

When the Queen gets wind of this, she vents her fury in an unbelievable aria and orders Pamina to kill Sarastro.  Pamina is unwilling.

Papageno is promised a bride if he will accompany Tamino on these trials.  The number one ground rule is particpants must remain silent.  The very frightened Papageno fails at this miserably.  But Tamino passes the first two trials and will go through the third with Pamina.  Will Tamino complete his quest?  How will Papageno ever find a bride?

I can’t think of a better way to enjoy Mozart’s glorious opera. Bergman strikes the perfect balance between the theatrical and the cinematic. It’s a primal hero’s quest story with quite a bit of comedy thrown in. The film was made for Swedish TV and is sung in Swedish by some fantastic singers. Bergman spends the overture with the audience studying faces, including faces of some of his usual players, reacting to the music. Highly recommended to opera lovers, Bergman completists, and anyone looking for something unique and moving.

The Magic Flute was nominated for the Best Costume Design Oscar.

The Queen of the Night orders Pamina to kill Sarastro  – no subtitles

The Man Who Would Be King
Directed by John Huston
Written by John Huston and Gladys Hall from a story by Rudyard Kipling
1972/UK/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime Rental

Daniel Dravot: In any place where they fight, a man who knows how to drill men can always be a King. We shall go to those parts and say to any King we find – “D’you want to vanquish your foes?’ and we will show him how to drill men; for that we know better than anything else. Then we will subvert that King and seize his Throne and establish a Dynasty.

John Huston shows his continued mastery of the craft in this well-acted and written adventure set during the British Raj.

The setting is colonial India.  Scoundrels Daniel Dravnot (Sean Connery) and Peachy Carnahan have finished their service in Her Majesty’s army.  They consider that India is “too small” and decide the pickings will be richer in another country.  And they have one in mind – Kafiristan – an isolated mountainous land which last saw white men when Alexander the Great came to call.

Danny cooks up a scheme to extort the money needed to purchase 20 rifles and smuggle them to Kafiristan. The pair will use these to train a small army of locals to defeat village after village on their way to see the religious leader of the country.

Danny’s schemes get more and more dangerous.  Drunk with power, he makes a few mistakes.  Peachy is loyal to his friend throughout.  With Saeed Jaffrey as an interpreter/side kick and Christopher Plummer as Rudyard Kipling.  The gorgeous Shakira (Mrs. Michael) Caine has a non-speaking part as Sean Connery’s intended bride.

This movie is great fun.  There’s plenty of exciting action, the dialogue crackles, and no expense was spared on production values.  Sean Connery is particularly good.  Recommended.

The Man Who Would Be King was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Writing, Screenplay Adapted From Other Material; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration; Best Costume Design; and Best Film Editing.

The California Reich
Directed by Keith Critchlow and Walter F. Parkes
1975/US
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube

 

 

 

Fred Surber: Well, the understanding I have on the six million is that… like a lot of people believe is like the Nazis in Germany murdered six million people… and according to the war records I’ve been able to find, pertaining to World War Two, there was something like nearly five million Jews involved, but as far as killing them, they weren’t. Most of them were… I don’t recall exactly what the term is, to concentration camps.
Interviewer: What if it were true? What if the stories were true?
Fred Surber: I’ll tell you the truth, I really wish they were. I’m one of these old fashioned people. I’d really like to go back to the places in Auschwitz and places like that and just roll in the dirt. I really would.

Forget Bergman, this was the most depressing and enraging film experience I have had in years.

There is no narration. The film lets the members of American Nazi Party show us how vile they are out of their own mouths.  If you passed any of these folks on the street, you would never know the darkness within.  Amazing people can stand to live with that much hate, resentment and entitlement inside them. And to teach little children to be the same!

The focal point of the film is the clash between the ANP and anti-fascist protestors at San Francisco State University in 1975 but most of the film is set in calmer surroundings.

Well 55 minutes was all could take of this stuff.  If I want to be depressed and furious I can turn on the TV news.

The California Reich was nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar.

Grey Gardens
Directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Ellen Hovde and Muffy Myer
1975/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel

Edith ‘Little Edie’ Bouvier Beale: But you see in dealing with me, the relatives didn’t know that they were dealing with a staunch character and I tell you if there’s anything worse than dealing with a staunch woman… S-T-A-U-N-C-H. There’s nothing worse, I’m telling you. They don’t weaken, no matter what.

This quirky documentary only seems to get better with time.

Edith “Big Edie” Bouvier Beale (age 78) is the aunt of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis and Edith “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale (age 52) is “Big Edie’s” daughter and Jackie O’s cousin.  They both look to have lived like American aristocracy in their youth, then … something … (we are not told what) happened.  Things seemed to go way downhill when Little Edie’s father left the scene.

For the past 25 years, the two have been reduced to living in their decaying mansion “Grey Gardens” in the Hamptons.  The place is full of trash, feral cats, and a major raccoon infestation.  Neither of the occupants seems to mind.  The authorities have tried to condemn the place once already but the Beales were bailed out by relatives.

Neither appears to be living in the real world though Big Edie is more grounded than her daughter.  Little Edie blames her mother for every setback in her life, mom loves to needle her daughter, and the two squabble constantly but always make up.   Little Edie believes that if she could only move to New York City she could make her dreams come true.

Little Edie has a … unique … flair for fashion and changes costumes several times a day.  She also fancies herself a dancer and we are treated to a couple of her performances.

This makes at least the third time I have seen this and it always delights me.  But it also leaves me with so many unanswered questions!  What was wrong with Little Edie’s hair?  Is she on any kind of meds?  And how did the mighty fall so far?  The subjects of this documentary have no inhibitions in front of the camera and they say the most amazing things.  At the same time, we leave not only having laughed a little but maybe with a tear in the eye.  Warmly recommended,

Parade
Directed by Jacques Tati
Written by Jacques Tati
1974/France
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Keep the circus going inside you, keep it going, don’t take anything too seriously, it’ll all work out in the end. — David Niven

Jacques Tati kept the world laughing through his final film.

Made for French TV, Tati serves as ring master to a small circus that encourages audience participation.  As usual with Tati, the humor is mostly physical with accompanying sound effects.  We also get a fair amount of acrobatic clowns and a mule-taming act.

This made me laugh out loud several times, which earns it a recommendation from me.