robert bresson, samuel fuller, jean-pierre melville & trains in cinema

train travel in:
-samuel fuller's pickup on south street, 1953 (aka pickpocket)
-robert bresson's pickpocket, 1959
-jean-pierre melville's le samouraï, 1967

(all films comprise a certain criminal activity in the underground)

abstractions from samuel fuller's pick-up on south street, 1953
(dp. joseph macdonald *)

moments from robert bresson's pickpocket, 1959
(dp. léonce-henri burel)

abstractions from jean-pierre melville's le samouraï, 1967
(dp. henri decaë)

images from 3 films, all captured and shown here in an attempt to look at the works closely with a magnifying glass, and highlighting small details not normally visible on a first viewing, or even a thirtieth viewing (particularly le samouraï).
having recently read an article by jonas mekas, in which he said that film criticism/history based on 1-2 viewings of a film was totally worthless and that a writer/historian needed 30 viewings before saying anything, these bresson posts are an attempt to look very closely at the films, not from just reading about the works, but by watching them analytically and repetitively, and attempting to view the films in a way that extends the 24 frames per second to 24 frames per minute, to slow them down with the eye.
after looking at the films frame by frame, a regular viewing becomes completely different, a world of details.


(also, please look at my kurosawa entry on the auteurs film journal)
((more obsessive bresson business here and here))

beauty, chaos and destruction from dassin

more images from brute force, 1947 directed by jules dassin cinematography by william h. daniels.

chaos

beauty; passing light

da vinci, durer, bosch and bruegel

destruction

true chaos

other great prison films:
-the big house 1930 (d. george hill)
-un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou le vent souffle où il veut 1956 (d. robert bresson)
-le trou 1960 (d. jacques becker)
-cool hand luke 1967 (d. stuart rosenberg)
-the sugarland express 1974 (d. steven spielberg)
-escape from alcatraz 1979 (d. don siegel)
-the shawshank redemption 1994 (d. frank darabont)

rain & snow.......daniels & zsigmond

2 cinematographers and their use of water (or weather).

-rain in brute force, 1947 directed by jules dassin, cinematography by william h. daniels.
the beginning of this classic prison break film by jules dassin has various shots of the building in extreme rain, and sets the tone for the rest of the film (turbulent and unpredictable).

-snow in mccabe & mrs. miller, 1971 directed by robert altman, cinematography by vilmos zsigmond.
the ending follows warren beatty around as he is hunted in the snowy landscape, which worsens over the remainder of the film, until the screen is nearly white.
this section of the film was shot during a nine day snow outside of vancouver, and further heightened by double exposing snow over what was already shot.
the photography by vilmos zsigmond reminds me of the snow paintings by pieter bruegel.


rain in brute force:












snow in mccabe & mrs. miller:

the day begins...

clouds and god

bruegel image

bruegel image

pieter bruegel, hunters in the snow 1565

some films:

vilmos zsigmond (1930-):
-mccabe & mrs. miller 1971 (d. robert altman)
-deliverance 1972 (d. john boorman)
-the long goodbye 1973 (d. robert altman)
-the sugarland express 1974 (d. steven spielberg)
-the deer hunter 1978 (d. michael cimino)
-heaven's gate 1980 (d. michael cimino)

william h. daniels (1901-1970):
-foolish wives 1922 (d. erich von stroheim)
-greed 1924 (d. erich von stroheim)
-queen kelly,uncredited 1929 (d. erich von stroheim)
-grand hotel 1932 (d. edmund goulding)
-dinner at eight 1933 (d. george cukor)
-anna karenina 1935 (d. clarence brown)
-ninotchka 1939 (d. ernst lubitsch)
-another thin man 1939 (d. w.s. van dyke)
-the shop around the corner 1940 (d. ernst lubitsch)
-shadow of the thin man 1941 (d. w.s. van dyke)
-brute force 1947 (d. jules dassin)
-lured 1947 (d. douglas sirk)
-the naked city 1948 (d. jules dassin)
-winchester '73 1950 (d. anthony mann)
-harvey 1950 (d. henry koster)
-pat and mike 1952 (d. george cukor)
-the glenn miller story 1953 (d. anthony mann)
-the far country 1954 (d. anthony mann)
-the benny goodman story 1955 (d. valentine davies)
-night passage 1957 (d. james neilson)
-my man godfrey 1957 (d. henry koster)
-cat on a hot tin roof 1958 (d. richard brooks)

look here for more cinematographers.