A NOUS LA LIBERTE

SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA.ORG

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1931 - France (Film Sonores Tobis)

DIRECTOR: René Clair
SCRIPT:  René Clair
PHOTOGRAPHY: Georges Périnal
MUSIC: Georges Auric

     My word, I was so ready to hate this film I should probably hang my head in shame and think about what I've (nearly) done. In my defence though I'd like to say that all I had to start with was the year, 'freedom' in the title and a glimpse of a review (I avoid reading about films before watching them so that I don't get my opinion influenced too much) from which my eye fished out words like 'left-wing', 'socialist' and 'propaganda'. My heart sank and was not far from knocking out a sizeable hole in the bottom of the Mariana Trench but then I have spotted another word that made me stop recoiling from the anticipated terror. A 'comedy' it said. And with that single word a tiny flicker lit up at the end of the tunnel. Thankfully it wasn't a train either.

PROJECT A, PART II ('A' GAI WAK JUP JAP)

SOURCE: IMDB.COM

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1987 - Hong Kong (Golden Way Films Ltd, Paragon Films Ltd)


DIRECTOR: Jackie Chan
SCRIPT: Jackie Chan, Edward Tang
PHOTOGRAPHY: Yiu-Tsou Cheung
MUSIC: Siu-Tin Lai

     As soon as you realise that this is a Jackie Chan film, you start asking yourself 'why?'. I mean, we all know Jackie, don't we? Affable, with a smile so child-friendly to make a puppy Labradors start calling their union reps to organise an industrial action, and with a tendency to shower us with characters, who, while lovable, are not always up there with the Daniel Day Lewises of the acting Pantheon. Also, the reader's vigilant eye will no doubt locate the all-worrying 'PART TWO' in the title prompting the inquisitive mind to ponder, what the hell happened to the PART ONE and was it just insignificant, or to put it simply, a pile of manure? The reader, indeed, would be totally excused to wonder, ponder, ask questions and doubt. I know I did. And the answers are...

8 1/2

SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA

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1963 - France/Italy (Cineriz, Francinex)

DIRECTOR: Federico Fellini

SCRIPT: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Brunello Rondi  

PHOTOGRAPHY: Gianni Di Venanzo

MUSIC: Nino Rota

     Ah, Maestro! It's been a long time! A very long time, in fact. It's been so long, Maestro, that I fear I just grew accustomed to the fact that we love you, signore Fellini, without remembering why we love you and what for. I was scared that over the years I have taken you for granted myself, that getting to know you as a child I have never tried to confirm the foundations of my devotion to your talent. I have done, what I criticise in others - I was so sure of your greatness I didn't try to question it, to verify it. So now we meet again. Me, more than twenty years older, grown up, far more saturated with life, than when we first met. And you, still dead, I'm afraid. But that should not be a problem, I'll just do all the talking.

THE 42nd STREET

SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA

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1933 - USA (Warner Brothers Pictures)

DIRECTOR: Lloyd Bacon
SCRIPT: Rian James, James Seymour, Whitney Bolton (uncredited)
PHOTOGRAPHY: Sol Polito
MUSIC: Harry Warren

     Now, where was I...

Busy, is the answer. It is not a witty answer, nor especially exiting but at least it's honest and the best one I've got. Also, it's not really worth wasting any more time on, so let's just get started. There's a film's carcass on the operating table awaiting to be dissected. I better try and stop myself from the urge to lick the scalpel.