plato's cave twenty two (being a film journal)

alexander korda - that hamilton women - 1941

second time seeing this film. stars laurence olivier, vivien leigh, alan mowbray, and sara allgood. in addition to the nuances of these fine actors, i was taken by the cinematography. the film was photography by the respected rudolph maté.

other noteworthy films photographed by rudolph maté :
- carl theodor dreyer - michael - 1924
- carl theodor dreyer - the passion of joan of arc - 1928
- carl theodor dreyer - vampyr - 1932
- fritz lang - liliom - 1934
- rené clair - the last billionaire - 1934
- william wyler - dodsworth - 1936
- leo mccarey - love affair - 1939
- garson kanin - my favorite wife - 1949
- alfred hitchcock - foreign correspondent - 1940
- ernst lubitsch - to be or not to be - 1942
- sam wood - the pride of the yankees - 1942
- zoltan korda - sahara - 1943
- charles vidor - gilda - 1946
- orson welles - the lady from shanghai - 1947, w/ charles lawton jr. & joseph walker

there are many more i have not seen. will check them out further

plato's cave nine (being a film journal)

otto preminger - bunny lake is missing - 1965

a classic british film made by an american (originally austro-hungarian) director, with a mainly british cast (except the two americans keir dullea; later in 2001: a space odyssey, and carol lynley), and shot by the great british cinematographer denys n. coop.

had seen this film once but mainly remembered laurence olivier's wonderful nonsense with the junket. this time was especially struck by the extremes in the black and white photography, and the camera movements. it got me to thinking of how the french new wave (with a few exceptions) never struck me much beyond intellectually understanding the new found freedoms of the camera etc. i am probably more attracted to the 60s british films because the stories and characters strike me as more worth the viewer's time. i wonder if other people feel this way?

one interesting bit of info on the making of the film - the "frogmore end" house at the end of was the novelist daphne du maurier childhood home. gives some extra ambiance to the film!

films shot by denys n. coop

- this sporting life - 1963,  lindsay anderson
- billy liar - 1963, john schlesinger
- bunny lake is missing - 1965, otto preminger
- the birthday party - 1968, william friedkin
- 10 rillington place - 1971,  richard fleischer