THE CZECH NEW WAVE

there are a lot of opinions concerning the explosion of Czech films in the 60s….when it began???  why it grew and persisted??? and what happened??   basically, the Czech New Wave erupted around 1964 with a meld of gifted artists and a government funded film industry centered in Prague….some of the films were slice-of-life…some historical…some semi-documentary in format…basically non-threatening to an Eastern Bloc country…however, a number of these films were socially barbed…controversial…and quite subversive….IMHO, the CNW began in 1964…flourished for five years…and more or less ended in 1969 after the Soviet invasion of 1968….here are some of the star players!!

MILOS FORMAN… best known in the West for CUCKOO’S NEST and AMADEUS…emigrated early from Czechoslovakia…. LOVES OF A BLONDE (1965) is his signature masterpiece…a bittersweet story of a working girl and a musician…full of humor and pathos….BLACK PETER and THE FIREMAN’S BALL are other notable efforts…

JIRI MENZEL… exploded onto the film scene with his debut feature CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS (1966)… this WWII pararable is full of humor and insight into human foibles, with a distinct Czech viewpoint of life…great performances…Academy Award winner…Menzel made LARKS ON A STRING (1969), which was so anti-communist that it was banned for 20+ years…

VERA CHYTILOVA… a feminist filmmaker from the early 60s…rose to prominence with DAISIES (1967)… basically a plotless film with numerous set pieces involving the two Maries…controversial…subversive…funny…avant-garde…and yes there are Daisies in the film…how this got released is amazing…maybe because it was apolitical??

JAN NEMEC… best known in the West for DIAMONDS OF THE NIGHT (1966)…another well told WWII story…two Jewish boys escape a prison train and struggle to survive alone and with help….very humanely told without being maudlin or mawkish…. REPORT ON THE PARTY AND THE GUESTS is Nemec’s most famous film…intensely critical and anti-establishment….the film was “banned forever” and made Jan a persona non grata..

JAN KADAR… before emigating to Canada, JK made the deeply personal SHOP ON MAIN STREET (1965)… yet another WWII story of a Czech Everyman forced to become the overseer of an elderly Jewish woman’s button shop…a wonderfully told and paced story…another Acadamey Award winner…

FRANTISEK VLACIL… MARKETA LAZAROVA (1968)… a epic 3 hour saga of 13th century Bohemia, concerning the clash between the last remnants of paganism and the Christian majority…a visual delight…long stretches of snow…wolves…forest…mountains…voted the best Czech film of all time…

JIRI WEISS… http://www.allmovie.com/artist/jir%C3%AD-weiss-p116325    “possible” New Wave director…

KAREL KACHNYA… http://www.allmovie.com/artist/karel-kachyna-p96541  am only familiar with UCHO…

IVAN PASSER… http://www.allmovie.com/artist/ivan-passer-p105732  well known in the West…I have heard of INTIMATE LIGHTING!!

BILL MOYERS SPEAKS

http://billmoyers.com/segment/bill-moyers-essay-the-ghost-of-mccarthyism/

a chilling observation of modern politics and McCarthyism!!!

DANIEL ELLSBERG SPEAKS

Richard Nixon, if he were alive today, might take bittersweet satisfaction to know that he was not the last smart president to prolong unjustifiably a senseless, unwinnable war, at great cost in human life. (And his aide Henry Kissinger was not the last American official to win an undeserved Nobel Peace Prize.) He would probably also feel vindicated (and envious) that ALL the crimes he committed against me–which forced his resignation facing impeachment–are now legal. That includes burglarizing my former psychoanalyst's office (for material to blackmail me into silence), warrantless wiretapping, using the CIA against an American citizen in the US, and authorizing a White House hit squad to "incapacitate me totally" (on the steps of the Capitol on May 3, 1971). All the above were to prevent me from exposing guilty secrets of his own administration that went beyond the Pentagon Papers. But under George W. Bush and Barack Obama,with the PATRIOT Act, the FISA Amendment Act, and (for the hit squad) President Obama's executive orders. they have all become legal. There is no further need for present or future presidents to commit obstructions of justice (like Nixon's bribes to potential witnesses) to conceal such acts. Under the new laws, Nixon would have stayed in office, and the Vietnam War would have continued at least several more years. Likewise, where Nixon was the first president in history to use the 54-year-old Espionage Act to indict an American (me) for unauthorized disclosures to the American people (it had previously been used, as intended, exclusively against spies), he would be impressed to see that President Obama has now brought five such indictments against leaks, almost twice as many as all previous presidents put together (three). He could only admire Obama's boldness in using the same Espionage Act provisions used against me–almost surely unconstitutional used against disclosures to the American press and public in my day, less surely under the current Supreme Court–to indict Thomas Drake, a classic whistleblower who exposed illegality and waste in the NSA. Drake's trial begins on June 13, the 40th anniversary of the publication of the Pentagon Papers. If Nixon were alive, he might well choose to attend.

from a recent CNN interview...

ZOLTAN...THE OTHER KORDA BROTHER

Link from film reference.com…I will let this guy do the blah…blah…blah…
http://www.filmreference.com/Directors-Jo-Ku/Korda-Zoltan.html
ZOLTAN KORDA was involved in almost all aspects of film making…from assisting his older brother ALEXANDER (the “founder of the British film industry) to art/set direction…production and direction…these films are all 3 stars or better!!!


#1.  ELEPHANT BOY (1937)…a semi-documentary… co-directed with ROBERT FLAHERTY…features SABU (film debut) as a native youth who leads explorers/hunters to  hidden elephant grounds…a very clever film

#2.  DRUMS (1938)…SABU again with RAYMOND MASSEY & ROGER LIVESEY in a tale of a British Cavalry unit in 19th century India…fairly good actioner..good to great cast!!

#3.  THE FOUR FEATHERS (1939)…the best version of the oft filmed A.E.W. MASON story of a young man (John Clement) searching for meaning/direction/fulfillment in life, while serving in the British military in The Sudan…excellent supporting cast with RALPH RICHARDSON & C. AUBREY SMITH…wonderful MIKLOS ROZSA score…definitely a must see!!!

#4.  THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD (1940)…KORDA is sometimes listed as unaccredited director on this wonderful film…I am not really sure who did what as the archival reports are conflicted…

#5. THE JUNGLE BOOK (1942)… not the DISNEY cartoon, but based on the RUDYARD KIPLING story of a boy raised by wolves…featuring the omnipresent SABU…Joseph Calleia…Frank Puglia…and a Rosemary de Camp sighting…won oscars for photography..art design…set design…

#6.  SAHARA (1943)…NO….not that recent MATTHEW McC  piece of crap, but a retelling of a 1937 Russian film (THE THIRTEEN)…with BOGIE…NAZIS…and DANGER…great support from J. Carroll Naish and Rex Ingram…remade and rehashed many times…a must see!

#7.  A WOMAN’S VENGEANCE (1947)…cheating cad Charles Boyer gets his when his wife is found “dead” and he is hauled off to trial…with ANN BLYTH…JESSICA TANDY…SIR CEDRIC HARDWICKE…script by ALDOUS HUXLEY…no more spoilers…

#8.  THE MACOMBER AFFAIR (1947)…criticism is mixed on this film from the HEMINGWAY short story THE SHORT HAPPY LIFE OF FRANCIS MACOMBER…I really like it…much better than SNOWS…GREGORY PECK leads husband and wife (Joan Bennett and Robert Preston) on an African Safari…excellent tension and dialogue…

#9.  CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY (1951)…from the celebrated novel of Alan Paton…the story of a minister searching for his lost son.in the Johannesburg slums…brilliant cast headed by SIDNEY POITIER & CANADA LEE…ten times better than the 1995 remake…another must see…if you don’t, at least read the book!!!

LITERARY CRITICISM

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/books/review/LitCritBackPage-t.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3  GEE!!!  this article does not suck...insightful..readable and enjoyable!!