Old Hollywood
Cinema
1900-1979
Nostalgia is a seductive liar - George Wildman Ball
Haxan/Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922, dir. Benjamin Christensen) (film online here) “Officially banned outside of Sweden for decades due to graphic imagery and an unabashed anti-clerical theme, Häxan has grown into a cinema legend one hears about but rarely, if ever, gets a chance to actually see. Is it true that it displays witches cavorting naked with lusty devils? Is a baby really drained of blood before it’s tossed into a stew pot? What’s this about women lining up to kiss Satan’s bulbous ass? Inquisitional torture? Flying on broomsticks? Hysterical nuns? Sacrilege and perversion? Demonic orgies? Otherworldly monstrosities emerging from between an old crone’s legs? And it’s a documentary? It’s all true.”

Haxan/Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922, dir. Benjamin Christensen) (film online here)

“Officially banned outside of Sweden for decades due to graphic imagery and an unabashed anti-clerical theme, Häxan has grown into a cinema legend one hears about but rarely, if ever, gets a chance to actually see. Is it true that it displays witches cavorting naked with lusty devils? Is a baby really drained of blood before it’s tossed into a stew pot? What’s this about women lining up to kiss Satan’s bulbous ass? Inquisitional torture? Flying on broomsticks? Hysterical nuns? Sacrilege and perversion? Demonic orgies? Otherworldly monstrosities emerging from between an old crone’s legs? And it’s a documentary? It’s all true.”

Martial Solal - New York Herald Tribune (via Breathless: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

“It’s been 40-plus years since that film, and every week I do an interview about this film,” Solal says. “Now, people are starting to like the music. Takes time. They’re deaf. They have big problems,” he jokes, before admitting, “The movie was important without the music.”

Since the two primary characters are so different—one a ruthless criminal, the other a feckless female student—Solal captured their personalities in music by using a very simple technique. “The way the two melodies are done, it’s interesting,” he says. “They are both five notes: one is coming from the low note to the high note; the other is exactly the contrary, using almost the same notes, with different, contrary figures, giving the opposite feeling. One makes you anxious; the other is romantic.”

(via)

Jean Seberg in Breathless (1960, dir. Jean-Luc Godard)

Jean Seberg in Breathless (1960, dir. Jean-Luc Godard)

Fiona Fullerton in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1972, dir. William Sterling)

Fiona Fullerton in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1972, dir. William Sterling)

La source enchantée (1890’s, Georges Méliès) (via)

La source enchantée (1890’s, Georges Méliès)

(via)

Psycho (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

Psycho (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

Bernard Herrmann - Prelude (Psycho: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Alfred Hitchcock & Bernard Herrmann on the set of Psycho (1960) “The Hitchcocks often played host to the Herrmanns, especially in the late 1950s. Recalled the third Mrs. Herrmann, Norma Shepard, “Benny used to wash dishes with Hitch, and they’d talk about what they’d do if they weren’t in the film business. Benny wanted to run an English pub, until somebody told him you actually had to open and close at certain hours. Benny asked Hitch what he would be. There was a silence. Hitchcock then turned to Benny, his apron folded on his head, and said solemnly: ‘A hanging judge‘”. -excerpted from A Heart at Fire’s Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann

Alfred Hitchcock & Bernard Herrmann on the set of Psycho (1960)

“The Hitchcocks often played host to the Herrmanns, especially in the late 1950s. Recalled the third Mrs. Herrmann, Norma Shepard, “Benny used to wash dishes with Hitch, and they’d talk about what they’d do if they weren’t in the film business. Benny wanted to run an English pub, until somebody told him you actually had to open and close at certain hours. Benny asked Hitch what he would be. There was a silence. Hitchcock then turned to Benny, his apron folded on his head, and said solemnly: ‘A hanging judge‘”.

-excerpted from A Heart at Fire’s Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann

Sarah Vaughan - Vanity

Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935, dir. James Whale) (via) Set design by Charles D. Hall.

Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935, dir. James Whale) (via)

Set design by Charles D. Hall.

Liza Minnelli in Cabaret (1972, dir. Bob Fosse) (via)

Liza Minnelli in Cabaret (1972, dir. Bob Fosse) (via)

Duke Ellington - Flirtibird (Anatomy of a Murder: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Around the Clock (1930)

Around the Clock (1930)

Jacques Tati & Billy Kearns in Mon Oncle (1958, dir. Jacques Tati)

Jacques Tati & Billy Kearns in Mon Oncle (1958, dir. Jacques Tati)

Peter Cushing in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969, dir. Terence Fisher) “Who wants to see me as ‘Hamlet’? Very few. But millions want to see me as Frankenstein so that’s the one I do.”

Peter Cushing in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969, dir. Terence Fisher)

“Who wants to see me as ‘Hamlet’? Very few. But millions want to see me as Frankenstein so that’s the one I do.”