1960s List Discussion and Suggestions (Lists Project Vol. 3)

An ongoing project to survey the best films of individual decades, genres, and filmmakers.
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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#476 Post by knives » Tue May 14, 2013 3:36 pm

I took nearly every German rec from this thread so any lack of success is on the foot of those who didn't recommend.

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lubitsch
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2005 4:20 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#477 Post by lubitsch » Tue May 14, 2013 3:44 pm

Tommaso wrote:
lubitsch wrote:Harumph. Did you see at least Kirmes by Wolfgang Staudte?
If you had given us some recommendation for it, I might have...
Guilty. I thought film and director had enough of a reputation. It's really and not only IMHO one of the four, five best films ever made in this country.

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TMDaines
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
Location: Stretford, Manchester

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#478 Post by TMDaines » Tue May 14, 2013 3:52 pm

You told me to watch it too, and I will before the deadline.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#479 Post by zedz » Tue May 14, 2013 4:10 pm

knives wrote:I took nearly every German rec from this thread so any lack of success is on the foot of those who didn't recommend.
In case nobody's mentioned it yet, Signs of Life will be my highest ranking German film. The only other one that made my top 50 was Die Parallelstrasse. Sorely regretted exclusions: Yesterday Girl, Lust for Love, Love Is Colder than Death.

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Tommaso
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 10:09 am

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#480 Post by Tommaso » Tue May 14, 2013 4:26 pm

Okay, so unsurprisingly the one German film that made it onto my list (in case you haven't guessed it yet) is Herzog Blaubarts Burg, made for some regional German TV station and directed by Michael Powell. If you liked "The Tales of Hoffmann", this is an easy recommendation. It's very similar in style and also features similarly marvellous sets by Hein Heckroth and, well, it's simply stunning. Very difficult to find except for a reasonable hard-subbed print floating around in the backchannels, but I hope that after Bartok is dead for 70 years in 2014, CC will finally get around to publish this unknown masterpiece.

Otherwise, German filmmaking will come to the fore on my list with the 70s. But it won't be too much Herzog, Fassbinder, or Wenders for sure.

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TMDaines
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
Location: Stretford, Manchester

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#481 Post by TMDaines » Tue May 14, 2013 4:55 pm

I have a huge amount of German, mainly DEFA, stuff I'm going to get my teeth into next week, but this strikes me as the two countries' weakest decade - maybe the 50s provides some competition though? At the moment Abschied von gestern will certainly make it. Katzelmacher, Es, Brutalität in Stein and Kleiner Mann - was nun? all have a chance to a varying extent too.
Last edited by TMDaines on Tue May 14, 2013 4:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#482 Post by knives » Tue May 14, 2013 4:56 pm

zedz wrote:
knives wrote:I took nearly every German rec from this thread so any lack of success is on the foot of those who didn't recommend.
In case nobody's mentioned it yet, Signs of Life will be my highest ranking German film. The only other one that made my top 50 was Die Parallelstrasse. Sorely regretted exclusions: Yesterday Girl, Lust for Love, Love Is Colder than Death.
I spent about a month searching for a copy no joke, but none of the libraries in the entire county have a copy and the OOP disc is going for $40+. That is (plus The Land of Silence and Darkness) the Herzog I'm hoping Crit rescues. Though looking again it seems the Italian disc does have some english subs which is making me kick my boot.

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TMDaines
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Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#483 Post by TMDaines » Tue May 14, 2013 4:57 pm

You're on the Internet: just download it in that case!

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#484 Post by knives » Tue May 14, 2013 5:01 pm

I'm uncomfortable about watching downloads of things with legit (and legit good) releases. I can easily buy the disc next paycheck.

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TMDaines
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
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Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#485 Post by TMDaines » Tue May 14, 2013 5:19 pm

I'm the same too, even when that said release doesn't have English subtitles. I'm not one to pay silly money for OOP releases though, because it's not as if I'm supporting the filmmakers/owners.

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Mr Sausage
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:02 pm
Location: Canada

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#486 Post by Mr Sausage » Tue May 14, 2013 5:30 pm

knives wrote:I'm uncomfortable about watching downloads of things with legit (and legit good) releases. I can easily buy the disc next paycheck.
Download it now, buy it when you feel like you have enough cash to justify it. It's really only unethical if you plan never to pay for it. In the mean time, you can watch it for the list today if you want, without hassle.

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lubitsch
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2005 4:20 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#487 Post by lubitsch » Tue May 14, 2013 5:33 pm

TMDaines wrote:I have a huge amount of German, mainly DEFA, stuff I'm going to get my teeth into next week, but this strikes me as the two countries' weakest decade - maybe the 50s provides some competition though?
Weakest? Absolutely no. The decade model is somehow ill fitting since 1965 is the year which totally changes German film, far more so than 1933, 1945 or 1990. In the West it's the year of the first success of the Young German Film, there's very few young cinema in the years before and very few old one after, it's like a razor cut. In the East it's the famous purge and ban of much of the year's output.
The West German films 1965-69 feature lots of young filmmakers who later got forgotten and pushed aside by the household big names and the films themselves are sometimes not easy to come by. Not my cup of tea though Sabine Sinjen in Es is one of the knockout performances of the 60s even though Schamoni cuts the film into pieces. But 1960-64 is a pretty interesting affair because in the collapsing industry some old professionals get the green light for unusual projects which are an intriguing blend between classicism and modernism. Tremper's Die endlose Nacht was just released on DVD, Käutner did intriguing stuff in Schwarzer Kies and Die Rote, but Kirmes is the one must-see.
In the east the years 1960-65 are arguably the best of the whole DEFA output. Frank Beyer had one of the best runs in German film history and Der geteilte Himmel by Konrad Wolf is also stunning. Some not so secret tips are Der Fall Gleiwitz by Gerhard Klein and Das zweite Gleis by Joachim Kunert and most of the forbidden 1965 films.
Again the great charme of these films is their merging of modernist tendencies and classical filmmaking.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#488 Post by zedz » Tue May 14, 2013 5:51 pm

knives wrote:
zedz wrote:
knives wrote:I took nearly every German rec from this thread so any lack of success is on the foot of those who didn't recommend.
In case nobody's mentioned it yet, Signs of Life will be my highest ranking German film. The only other one that made my top 50 was Die Parallelstrasse. Sorely regretted exclusions: Yesterday Girl, Lust for Love, Love Is Colder than Death.
I spent about a month searching for a copy no joke, but none of the libraries in the entire county have a copy and the OOP disc is going for $40+. That is (plus The Land of Silence and Darkness) the Herzog I'm hoping Crit rescues. Though looking again it seems the Italian disc does have some english subs which is making me kick my boot.
I've got the Raro (Italian) disc, and it's fully Englished, plus it includes a bonus disc of his early shorts, if you haven't got those. (Last Words would probably have made my list if it ran to 100.)

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swo17
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Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#489 Post by swo17 » Tue May 14, 2013 5:57 pm

The transfer on the Raro is an improvement over the New Yorker as well. Also, my city library has a copy of the New Yorker available.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#490 Post by knives » Tue May 14, 2013 6:04 pm

swo17 wrote:The transfer on the Raro is an improvement over the New Yorker as well. Also, my city library has a copy of the New Yorker available.
Now I just need to move east.

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TMDaines
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
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Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#491 Post by TMDaines » Tue May 14, 2013 6:08 pm

zedz wrote:I've got the Raro (Italian) disc, and it's fully Englished, plus it includes a bonus disc of his early shorts, if you haven't got those. (Last Words would probably have made my list if it ran to 100.)
Shit... I bought the German Arthouse disc a few months back and, from looking at the Raro online now, the German disc has two less shorts and no subtitles at all. It does have a German-language commentary though. I see the Raro also has a booklet and an interview.

Edit: I forgot that the Raro was OOP and RHV now have the rights in Italy. They released it without English subtitles and with only two shorts. Pity.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#492 Post by zedz » Tue May 14, 2013 7:19 pm

In that case, this film really does need to be rescued by Criterion. I'd love to see it in HD.

bamwc2
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:54 am

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#493 Post by bamwc2 » Tue May 14, 2013 8:16 pm

Since everyone else is doing it, here's the breakdown of films by country from my list:

USA- 15
France- 10
Italy- 5
Japan-5
UK-5
USSR-3
Czechoslovakia- 2
Cuba-2
Hungary, Spain, Sweden- 1 each

I probably have the most US centric list of any so far, which is a little odd since my highest ranking American film clocks in at 7.

Oh, and if I were counting co-producing countries, then my first two films would both put Algeria on the list. One of them is probably easy to guess, while the other one would be a bit more difficult.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#494 Post by zedz » Tue May 14, 2013 8:28 pm

Well, since we're doing a whole breakdown, mine goes like this:
France, Japan - 9
USA - 6
Czechoslovakia - 5
USSR - 4
Italy - 3
Germany, Hungary - 2
Austria, Brazil, Canada, India, Iran, Mexico, Poland, Spain, UAR, UK - 1

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domino harvey
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#495 Post by domino harvey » Tue May 14, 2013 8:38 pm

Is my math off or is that only 48?

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#496 Post by knives » Tue May 14, 2013 8:52 pm

That is a square 50.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#497 Post by knives » Tue May 14, 2013 9:13 pm

Also because I have no originality and surrender to peer pressure easily
USA-----------------------------11
UK-------------------------------10
Italy, Japan, France----------------7
Brazil, Czechoslovakia--------------2
Canada, Cuba, Yugoslavia, Spain----1

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#498 Post by zedz » Tue May 14, 2013 9:26 pm

Well, I'm picking that our Spanish titles are the same, knives.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#499 Post by knives » Tue May 14, 2013 9:35 pm

I'd assume, though by our luck it's same director different film (in fact I seriously considered a second).

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domino harvey
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Re: 1960s List Discussion and Suggestions

#500 Post by domino harvey » Tue May 14, 2013 9:53 pm

knives wrote:That is a square 50.
Missed Germany and Hungary sharing "2"

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