Day: August 5, 2007

Cinéma la Morte

Film students from the 60’s and 70’s got a real one-two punch recently with the deaths of Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni. The latter directed L’Avventura (1960), a movie that I must confess nearly put me to sleep back in college. If I want to see a boy and a girl on an island, I’ll watch Gilligan and Mary Ann.

A much more interesting Antonioni film is Blowup (1966). It’s notable for a number of things, including some nude scenes that were daring for the time. I won’t be posting those — sorry! — but towards the end the Yardbirds, with Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck in the line-up, make an appearance.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/AUG07/BlowUp.flv 400 300]

Siskel & Ebert At The Movies Again

Movie critic Gene Siskel died in 1999, in the city where I was born — Evanston, Illinois. In recent years Siskel’s cohort, Roger Ebert, has had serious health problems of his own. Some of the movie reviews from the Siskel & Ebert days are now available on the Web site At The Movies TV.

Gene Siskel

A review Siskel & Ebert did of the re-worked version of Return of the Jedi is at this link, and it includes a reference to the good, old Laserdisc format.

Way back in 1983 I taped Siskel and Ebert’s original preview of Jedi. They devoted a show to the Star Wars series, and this video runs a little over 20 minutes. It looks like an old VHS recording, because it is! It was recorded off of a rabbit ear antenna a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away!
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/AUG07/SiskelEbertJedi.flv 400 300]

Youngest Sweetheart Petula Clark

A gigantic thank you goes to my twin sister Jean for spotting this video on YouTube. And thanks to “MrNatashaRostov” for posting it! But having learned the hard way to not depend upon anything staying on YouTube, I’ve grabbed it and will put it on my server.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/AUG07/PetChildStar.flv 400 300]

Seeing this, I think I can now understand why the English were so reluctant to see their little Pet as a grown-up.