Fantasia! (and Uncle Joe...)

So I watched Walt Dizzy’s original 1940 Fantasia the other night—
It was the first time I’d seen the flick since its late-1960s/early-1970s cash-in-on-psychedelia re-release.
And the movie is PRETTY DAMN GOOD STUFF.

I am sure I liked the film more now than when I was a kid: Fantasia wouldn’t have been violent or mayhemic enough for monstrous l’il me, and as an adult I have a greater understanding and appreciation of classical music.



But I couldn’t help but wonder: Did Joseph Stalin ever see Fantasia? He was a known film buff, and if he did see Fantasia, what did he think of it?
I bet Stalin would have liked most of it, especially “The Dance of the Hours.”

But “Night on Bald Mountain”? Not so much, I’d venture. Uncle Joe doesn’t go to the movies to be reminded of his work….

Friday's Triple Feature!!!

Alexander Nevsky (1938)

Alexander Nevsky is a must-see for all fans of war movies.

A rousing anti-German Soviet propaganda film that may be short on story (and the romantic subplot is an absolute snoozer---but probably demanded by that big old softie Uncle Joe) but is long on style, action and gung-ho Rooski patriotism. (It is a Sergei Eisenstein film after all.)

From J. Hoberman’s essay:
A spectacle of skeleton battlefields and devastated cities, Alexander Nevsky is framed as a near-cosmic struggle between good and evil. Scenes emphasize German atrocities against Russian civilians, with the invaders further dehumanized by their sinister, horned helmets.
And the heart of the movie is the 30-minute Battle on the Ice sequence. A triumph for Eisenstein as well as for Nevsky, this strategically undercranked and brilliantly-edited mix of massing soldiers and slashing close combat—alternately horrifying and carnivalesque—would serve as a prototype for the battlefield scenes in Laurence Olivier’s Henry V, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, and Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus.

Meanwhile, film geeks take note:
Alexander Nevsky wound up being a big influence on the costumes for Monty Python and the Holy Grail (go HERE and then go 2:03 into the scene---and tell me Terrys Gilliam or Jones wasn’t influenced by these costumes), and genius-madman Ken Russell swiped Alexander Nevsky’s battle on the ice for the conclusion of his Billion Dollar Brain (also an Ivanlandia fave).

And today’s other film:
Samurai Vendetta (1959)

Lush, violent, richly detailed tale that, if like me, you have no tolerance for overly romantic subplots, is often a snooze.

But the swordplay in Samurai Vendetta is worth the wait, especially one scene set on a bridge at sunset. Worth a look!


Virus (1980)

I expect disaster movies to be poorly acted and poorly written,
and even to have bad special effects,
but I do not expect them to be this BORING!
Wow, is Virus a snooze:
Lots of long speechifying and overacting, and not enough shots of corpses in the streets and total destruction and mayhem.
Avoid. Like the plague.


And some of you may know that 47 is a special number here in Ivanlandia---so welcome to our 47th follower, Ponyorama! Hooray!

(live blogging the Prez’s press conference—happening RIGHT NOW!)

“Mr. President Obama, please let me give you some advice from my little corner of Hell: You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves.”