The Writers Guild of America has corrected the credits of eight blacklisted writers on 14 films released between 1951 and 1964. The writers had been credited as pseudonyms to subvert McCarthy-era blacklists. – The Age (Melbourne) (AP)
Category: media
FILM AND THE POLITICS OF REPRESSION
“The decade of the 1980s in Argentina was characterized by profound political, economic and social upheavals. Yet the Argentine film industry in this period had retained a remarkable ability to stay afloat and adapt to the radical shifts of the forces in power. This skill was seen not only in production but in the areas of distribution and exhibition as well. The connection between the different governments and the national cinema was more complex than what emerged from the accounts of Argentine and foreign scholars about filmmaking during the 1980s.” – The Idler
STORE THIS HERE
“Think about it – every time you see a web page that’s using a piece of clip art with a dog looking surprised, there are anywhere from six to a thousand other web sites using the exact same image, all stored in different places. This is what my Information Mechanics professor used to call a ‘waste of space’.” That’s why I invented a program for the Library of Congress to erase duplicate information. – *spark-online 08/00
NEVER NEUTRAL
“In 1991, Pauline Kael decided to stop writing movie reviews for The New Yorker, which she had been doing more or less continuously since 1968. Nine years later, everyone still wonders what the most influential movie critic of all time thinks.” – Toronto Star
WHAT MAKES A GREAT FILM?
A new survey purports to explain all. “It found that, unless a film fitted a recognisable genre, the odds would be heavily stacked against it – crime stories, prison dramas, sci-fi and bio-pics figure in many all-time great lists of films. Another asset was a conventional boy-meets-girl love story running through the film. And, though it may seem blindingly obvious, strong plots helped, as did a few big name stars. Keeping the title short, preferably one or two words, did not do any harm either. – The Age (Melbourne)
STRIKE INSURANCE
Hollywood producers are terrified that writers and actors will go on strike next summer when their union contracts are up. So studios are stockpiling films and scripts just in case. – Variety
STAR KIDNAP
One of India’s big movie stars has been kidnapped, and the story sounds like it’s right out of an outlandish movie plot. Nonetheless, “schools are closed, buses have shut down, shops are shuttered and people are frightened to go out as bands of angry, rock-throwing movie fans rampage through the streets. Newspapers dubbed the day after the kidnapping Black Monday.” – Washington Post 08/02/00
IL BEL MARCELLO
A salute to Marcello Mastroianni, on the eve of the UK’s National Film Theatre’s major retrospective of 22 of his movies. “Nowadays, if you want to sum up Italian style, that sinuous Italian charm that is so easy on the ear and eye, then it’s usually Mastroianni who comes to mind.” – The Guardian
WHERE OH WHERE
The Moscow Film Festival is supposedly an “A” festival alongside the likes of Cannes and Venice. But it’s difficult getting the stars to come to Russia. “This year, as in the past, many of the promised celebrities failed to show, leading an English-language newspaper here to dub the event the ‘Moscow Vanity Fair – high on vanity but low on fair value.’ ” – New York Post
SPUD DUD
The possibilities for interactive TV are exciting – shop, learn, book airline tickets, communicate with friends – it’ll all be possible. But in the short term, interactive TV will fail. Why? “Simply put, we like to watch. Period. Over the years, viewers have developed a seductively passive relationship with the small screen. They’re couch potatoes for a reason; they sit, they click, they veg.” – Boston Globe 07/30/00