BY TODD GARBARINI
The
technology that we all know and use today has become so ingrained in our
everyday lives that it’s virtually impossible to recall how we all survived
without them. Cell phones, portable computers, tablets, realistic-looking video
games, Global Positioning Systems, and access to extensive news media on a
24/7/365 basis were pipe dreams just twenty years ago. The computing power that
we all take for granted now started somewhere,
but most of the present-day users of techno gear weren’t even zygotes when the
home computer revolution was just getting off the ground. Yours truly was there
when my mother’s uncle worked for the federal government. He was the first to
get the really cool gadgets, mostly because he had the disposable income to
spend on them. I recall being in his basement in 1977 and playing Atari’s Pong
and being wowed by it. I was thrilled to watch movies on Wometco Home Theater
(WHT) on his rear-projection TV that he built out of a Heathkit two years later.
My mother’s second cousin had the Tandy/Radio Shack TRS‑80 Model I
in 1978. Santa Claus delivered an Atari 2600 to me in 1981 (one of the most
frustrating aspects of owning one would unquestionably be that the actual 8-bit
games themselves couldn’t live up to the excitement depicted on the cover
artwork). I was given a TRS-80 Coco (Color Computer) II in early 1984 and wrote
programs in BASIC (Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code). In 1989 I
did desktop publishing in Pagemaker on an Apple Macintosh SE. In 1995 I purchased
a 100MHz Pentium Packard Bell IBM-compatible computer. Where did all of these
electronic gadgets come from?
Tomaso
Walliser’s 8-Bit Generation: The Commodore Wars is an entertaining and informative
documentary that attempts to answer that question. However, it really feels
geared towards those like myself who are in the know. I do feel, however, that
anyone who isn’t would not only be
lost but ultimately frustrated by this film as it assumes familiarity with its
subject which it tackles with rapid-fire editing and has an annoying habit of accentuating
the onscreen interviews (depending upon the subject being discussed) with strains
of Edvard Grieg’s In the Hall of the
Mountain King and Richard Strauss’s Also
Sprach Zarathustra overused to the point of annoyance.Those shortcomings
aside, it’s also an insightful look at how modern business is conducted (that
is, cutthroat) and how the dominant factor in just about every business decision
boils down to two syllables: “money†(and sometimes, “revengeâ€).
The
film, which was shot between 2010 and 2012, primarily focuses on Jack Tramiel,
an Auschwitz survivor who saw the darkest side of humanity but was lucky enough
to come out of it. His success as a business man following his liberation from
the camp is a testament to his human spirit, business acumen and tenacity. He
went from selling reconstructed typewriters to calculators to personal
computers. Through interviews with Mr. Tramiel and many colleagues who worked
with him and for him, we learn about the founder of Commodore International, the
company that produced The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic
Transactor), the Commodore VIC-20, and the Commodore 64. I never owned any
of these computers, but the story behind their inception, rousing and
unprecedented success and ultimate failure is very intriguing. In addition to
Mr. Tramiel, we hear from his son Leonard, MOS Tech engineer Chuck Peddle, Nolan Bushnell (the founder of Atari), Commodore engineer Bil Herd (who also
narrates), and a whole slew of others too numerous to list.
The
fact that this film about hi-tech is available only DVD and not Blu-ray is not
lost on me and is quite ironic. DVD is now looked upon by some as a legacy
technology despite being around for 21 years, not unlike the very systems
depicted and discussed in the film itself. If you are interested in seeing it,
you would do well to read this next bit of info very carefully prior to making
a decision. The film is available in three different varieties:
-
Available here on DVD on Amazon.com (which has a 14-minute TEDx Talk Segment with Leonard Tramiel that can also be seen here on Youtube). Kino
Lorber has put together a very professional package for this release.
- Available as a high definition download in a deluxe edition
at this link with many extras not on the DVD.
-
Available as a high definition download in a Jack Tramiel edition at this link which contains everything in the
deluxe edition, plus a one-hour interview with Mr. Tramiel.
I’m
still waiting for a documentary on RCA’s Select-A-Vision Capacitance Electronic
Disc (CED) system…
BY TODD GARBARINI
A Summer Story is the unassuming title of a classy
and ultimately emotionally wrenching romantic drama of class differences set in
Great Britain in the early 1900’s. Originally released in the United States in
the summer of 1988 in a small number of theaters, the film is an adaption of John
Galsworthy’s 1916 short story “The Apple Tree†which was also made into two
separate radio programs over forty years earlier: Lady Esther Almanac on CBS in 1942 and Mercury Summer Theatre in 1946. Obviously the source material
proved to be palatable enough to audiences to warrant adaptations in both the
aural and visual spectrums. Director Piers Haggard, known for more sinister
fare such as The Blood on Satan’s Claw
(1971) and Venom (1981), directs from
the late Penelope Mortimer’s adapted screenplay.
Frank
Ashton is played by James Wilby, who was coming off the heels of Maurice (1987) and A Handful of Dust (1988) at the time. Ashton (changed from Ashurst
in the short story) arrives at a farm in the summer of 1922 with his wife who goes
off to look for a view to paint. He approaches a dilapidated fence alone with
hesitation and remembrance in a voiceover that can be best described as perfunctory,
much like Rupert Frazer’s ill-executed explanation to the audience concerning
the secret of his bride in Gordon Hessler’s unfairly under-rated The Girl in a Swing (1989). This is a
great misstep right out of the gate, or wet gate, given the film’s transfer
from what appears to be a near-mint theatrical print. The sequence would have
made the film’s denouement resonate even more than it does if Ashton were given
the gift of conveying his emotions by simply exuding them in a wordless opening
scene. The obvious emotion would have sufficed to have been accentuated by the
lush and poignant strains of Georges Delerue’s violins. It’s so out of place,
in fact, that I have a hard time believing that it could have come out of Ms.
Mortimer’s typewriter rather than a last-minute-urging of a studio executive
following a Q-and-A of a sneak preview, the result of cinematically illiterate audience
members wondering what the opening sequence even means. A slow dissolve takes
us to a period nearly twenty years earlier when Frank and a friend stumble upon
the very same gate and farm. A misstep over the gate leaves Frank with a
twisted ankle and a need to convalesce in the abode of the farm’s owners, under
the caring eye of their farm girl, Megan David (Imogen Stubbs), who is desired
by Joe, the farmhand (Jerome Flynn, Game
of Thrones’s Bronn). Her aunt (Susannah York) puts Frank up in a guest room
for a decent price but it isn’t long before Megan and Frank begin eyeing each
other. Frank meets up with Megan at a sheep-shearing festival. Eventually they
make love, read poetry upon a hilltop, and it isn’t long before Joe and Frank
come to blows. Frank makes a decision in an effort to be together that will
forever change Megan’s life.
The
film benefits enormously from the exceptional acting by all of those involved
as it tells the story of people who behave in an orchestrated and proper
manner, only to have their human emotions boil over when their true wants and
desires are threatened. The set design is quaint and colorful, with Lyncombe
Farm in Exmoor National Park in Dulverton, Somerset, England being where the
bulk of the action takes place.
The
U.S. theatrical exhibition of A Summer
Story committed a faux pas so
egregious in nature I felt it was borderline sacrosanct. The carefully
orchestrated main theme of the film which was supposed to play over the end
credits was instead jettisoned for the Moody Blues’s new song at the time, I Know You’re Out There Somewhere. How audiences
didn’t regurgitate and burn down the Village’s Quad Cinema, I’ll never know.
Now
available from the fine folks at Kino Lorber, this new Blu-ray release
mercifully reinstates the late Mr. Delerue’s glorious theme over the end
credits, righting the wrong enacted upon this lovely film thirty years ago. The
soundtrack album from 1988, long out of print, is now available again in a
significantly expanded edition from Music Box Records that can be ordered here from Screen Archives. The Blu-ray image
is touted as a “brand new 2017 scan of the original vault elementsâ€. As there
is no mention of a 2K restoration, I’m assuming that this is 1080P, and the
result is the best that the film has looked since its theatrical exhibition,
easily besting all previous home video incarnations (the VHS version retained
the inharmonious Moody Blues tune). The Blu-ray’s sole extra is a section of no
less than seven trailers for the following films: Conduct Unbecoming (1975), Etoile
(1989), The Salamander (1981), Trouble Bound (1993), The Last Seduction (1994), Aloha,
Bobby and Rose (1975), and Steaming
(1985). Curiously, the trailer for A
Summer Story is not included. However, it can be seen here on Youtube.
The
long-gone Carnegie Hall Cinema in New York showed A Summer Story, and even featured a classy diorama in one of the
windows, depicting a scene from the film. Beautiful. Moviegoing in New York is
a lost art, a thing of the past…
CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON
BY TODD GARBARINI
Laura
Gemser is an actress known to very few moviegoers in the States nowadays. In
the 1970s and 1980s, however, she was well-known for her Emanuelle series, which followed the better-known Silvia Kristel Emmanuelle variety, the difference
between both women being the exclusion of one “m†in the title. Emmanuelle and the Deadly Black Cobra is
a 1976 effort by Joe D’Amato, the man responsible for many other entertaining
European trash films (I use that as a term of endearment). Unlike Ms. Gemser’s
past Emanuelle films, this one is a
curiosity as it inexplicably has two “m’s†and is really just an excuse to dangle
the director’s lithe leading lady in front of the camera in various stages of
undress. The plot, if you can even call it such, is really rather silly.
Ms.
Gemser stars as Eva, an exotic nightclub dancer in Hong Kong whose seductive
and topless moves with a Python catch the eye of Judas Carmichael (Jack
Palance) who is with his brother and businessman
Julius (Gabriele Tinti, Ms. Gemser’s real-life husband). Judas is a significantly older gentleman (by forty-four
years) who is captivated by Eva’s Indonesian beauty. He attempts to intrigue her
by introducing her to his love of reptiles, specifically snakes (Fellini
jump-cut anyone?). Following a brief lunch the next day, Judas invites Eva to
his home to see his snake collection, which she initially refuses to do. It
isn’t long before the oogling ophiophilist’s charms work on Eva and she agrees
to live with him following his desire to lavish her with money and presents. Eva
likes ladies, too, and she meets Candy (Ziggy Zanger). Another woman, Gerri (Michele
Starck), takes her to a club frequented by lesbians. Meanwhile, Julius is up to
no good. He becomes jealous of the women and puts a nasty plot in motion to
teach “them a lessonâ€.
Like
many other exploitation films of the era, Emmanuelle
and the Deadly Black Cobra has been released under various other titles: Eva Nera (Black Eva) and Black Cobra
Woman. Don’t be confused, these titles are one in the same film. In typical
exploitation fashion, the film is replete with bad dubbing and stilted
performances but let’s face it, we’re not watching Edward Albee here. The
target audience of this flick is young men and the women on display are a sight
to behold despite their unorthodox stage names: “Ziggy Zanger†and “Michele
Starck†are strange monikers to be sure and they only really serve as eye
candy, the former’s character’s namesake a deliberate tongue-in-cheek maneuver.
The character of Julius is a curiosity as we never really know what his deal
is. He meets a terrible end (and I do mean “end†which, mercifully, takes place
off camera). The late-great Mr. Palance is sufficient as the playboy/rich man
who is visibly taken with Eva. She, in turn, is pursued by an Asian man who is
shattered when his attempts to possess her ultimately fail.
Piero Umiliani provides a musical score that
is pleasant to the action onscreen, especially in the dance-with-the-snake and
girl-on-girl sequences that passed for high eroticism over forty years ago. The
interiors were shot in the old Elios Studios in Rome and exteriors were shot in
Hong Kong and the city is featured prominently, roughly twenty years before the
British government would transfer the sovereignty of Hong Kong over to China in
1997.
The film has recently made its way to Blu-ray
via of Code Red and Kino Lorber and the results are spectacular. Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and
given a 1080p transfer, Emmanuelle and the Deadly Black Cobra looks
light years ahead of any past dark VHS bootlegs that circulated through the
mail and in video stores back in the 1980s.
Mirek Lipinski, the film’s writer, provides
an interesting feature-length commentary which discusses both the onscreen
action as well as interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits involving the nature of
the film business at the time and the relationships among the performers in the
film.
If you’re a Laura Gemser fan, this Blu-ray is
a must-have.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON
BY TODD GARBARINI
Laemmle’s
Royal Theatre in Los Angeles will be presenting a 45th anniversary
screening of Francois Truffaut’s 1973 film Day
for Night. The 115-minute film,
which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and known in its
native France as La Nuit américaine (The American Night), stars Jacqueline
Bisset, Valentina Cortese, Dani, Alexandra Stewart, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Jean
Champion, Jean-Pierre Léaud and François Truffaut and has been referred to as the most beloved film ever made about
filmmaking. It will be screened on Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 7:30
pm.
PLEASE NOTE: At press time, Actress Jacqueline
Bisset is scheduled to appear in person for a discussion about the film
following the screening.
From
the press release:
Part of our Anniversary Classics series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
DAY FOR NIGHT
Part of our Anniversary Classics
series. For details, visit: laemmle.com/ac.
DAY FOR NIGHT (1973)
45th Anniversary Screening
Thursday, May 10, at 7:30
PM at the Royal Theatre
Q&A follows with
Actress Jacqueline Bisset
Laemmle Theatres and the
Anniversary Classics Series present a 45th anniversary screening of Francois
Truffaut’s valentine to moviemaking, 'Day for Night,' which won the Academy
Award for best foreign language film of 1973. The following year, the picture was
nominated for three additional Oscars—best director for Truffaut, best original
screenplay by Truffaut, Jean-Louis Richard, and Suzanne Schiffman, and best
supporting actress Valentina Cortese. The film won awards in those three
categories from the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of
Film Critics.
David Sterritt of TCM praised the picture as “the most beloved film ever made
about filmmaking,†and few would disagree with that assessment. Truffaut
himself plays a beleaguered director trying to complete his latest film in the
south of France while he wrestles with budget and insurance problems,
temperamental star behavior, sexual shenanigans, and even an unexpected
accident. Jacqueline Bisset stars as the British actress hired to play the
leading role in “Meet Pamela.†Jean-Pierre Leaud, who had starred in Truffaut’s
very first feature, 'The 400 Blows,' and in several of his other films, plays
the insecure leading man. Jean-Pierre Aumont, Alexandra Stewart, Dani, and
Nathalie Baye round out the cast. Acclaimed novelist Graham Greene has a cameo
role as an insurance agent.
Cortese has perhaps the
most memorable role as an aging actress who has trouble remembering her lines.
At the 1974 Oscar ceremony, the best supporting actress winner, Ingrid Bergman,
spent most of her acceptance speech praising the performance of Cortese for
creating a character that all actors could recognize. In addition to hailing
the performances, Roger Ebert said 'Day for Night' was “not only the best movie
ever made about the movies but… also a great entertainment.†Truffaut’s
favorite composer, Georges Delerue, provided the lushly romantic score.
Our special guest
Jacqueline Bisset has brightened movies and television for many years. Her
earlier films include 'Two for the Road,' 'Bullitt,' 'Airport,' 'Murder on the
Orient Express,' 'The Deep,' 'Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?,' John
Huston’s 'Under the Volcano,' George Cukor’s 'Rich and Famous' (which she also
produced), and Claude Chabrol’s 'La Ceremonie.' Bisset won a Golden Globe for
her performance in the TV miniseries 'Dancing on the Edge' in 2014.
The Royal Theatre is located at 11523 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
90025. The phone number is (310) 478 – 0401.
Click here
for tickets.