Baron Dave Romm
Contempt
By Baron Dave Romm
Friend
me on Facebook
Mention Bartcop-E in the Friend
Request
Contempt
It may seem strange reviewing a film made in 1963, but the Netflix queue turns up nuggets in strange places.
Contempt, Le mépris, was called by some critics at the time "the greatest work of art produced in postwar Europe." While it's fairly interesting, especially for a film buff, I don't think it's very good.
The onscreen action of Contempt is fairly straightforward: A producer (Jack Palance, in a nice sleazy role) wants to make a film of Homer's Odyssey and has hired Fritz Lang (playing himself) to do it. Since Schliemann discovered Troy, the producer insists only a German can make it. But, alas, he doesn't like Lang's initial efforts. Reviewing the rushes, the producer has hired a new writer, who has a pretty wife.
Allow me to spoil the theme of the movie: Producers, directors and writers all have different agendas. That doesn't tell you much, but that's most of what you'll take away. I'm with Fritz Lang, the director playing the director in the film, who says (and I'm paraphrasing): "Of course it looks different than the script. It's film, not a book." Further, the film being made has parallels with director Jean-Luc Godard's making of Contempt, including a shot of the cinematographer shooting the picture.
The "contempt" of the film seems to be Godard's contempt for his producer, Carlo Ponti. Maybe that's why film critics like it. The arguments that Paul (Michel Piccoli) and his young and beautiful wife Camille (Brigitte Bardot) get into seem like standard married couple arguments more than Faulknerian knock down hatefests. The film-within-the-film aspect is much harped about, and the parallels between the film and the marriage are considered art. But it didn't work for me. Bickering isn't art, and the travails of two people don't translate very well into the production of a movie.
The film itself is slow. The color palette is muted, except for shocking splashes of color on a car, bathrobe or on some of the Greek statues. There are disconcerting inserts that may be Godard trying to explore the inner psyche but just look out of place. Most of the film is low level bickering between a married couple, both of whom express their love and their contempt at various times. They walk around in long takes, making it visually interesting to watch. Brigitte Bardot is shown naked several times, in long lingering shots from behind, so there is nudity and barely draped dishevelment, but no Naughty Bits. The subtitles are racier than the dubbing, and sometimes they are at odds.
Worse, there's not much Odyssey. Godard makes parallels of the epic heroes to his protaganists, which demean both. If you want to see how similar themes are handled much better, go see Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels, about a filmmaker who wants to make a "commentary on modern conditions, stark realism, the problems that confront the average man" called Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? followed by Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, the Coen brothers movie that Sturges might have made, which is a Depression-Era retelling of the Odysseus legend.
Godard is very conscious of Hollywood movies -- John Wayne references pop up all the time -- and surely knew about Sullivan's Travels. And, for that matter, Citizen Kane, which the first scene with Lang and co. looking at the rushed reminded me of.
Godard is considered an important director. Certainly, he made many films (IMBD lists 91 under the Director heading) of which I've seen two that I can recall: Contempt isn't Alphaville which I like. It's interesting to me as a film buff for Fritz Lang and to see Jack Palance play against type. And Bardot is quite beautiful, though her sexiness is low-level steam. She has the range to straddle the pre-coitus look of a pneumatic Ann-Margaret and the post-coital glow of Marilyn Monroe, but here they take a back seat to her displays of love and contempt.
On the Shockwave Radio Theater scale of 9 to 23, where 23 is tops, I give Contempt about a 17 or 18, two point of which are Fritz Lang. Godard goes out of his way to bend or break all sorts of cinematic conventions. I appreciate the experimentation, but I think, ultimately, they are unsuccessrul.
Digression: The first Brigitte Bardot movie I ever saw was Dear Brigitte, the 1965 Jimmy Stewart/Glynis Johns movie about a precocious kid, pre-Barnes & Barnes Billy Mumy, who desperately wants to meet Brigitte. She doesn't take her clothes off for this one, but she's clearly an Object of Desire, even for an 11-year old... and I'm nearly the same age as Mumy. Dear Brigitte is a bit of fluff which I haven't seen since, but I remember it fondly. Later Beauty-And-The-Geek films such as Real Genius pale by comparison.
Dollhouse
Dollhouse was a Joss Whedon project that didn't seem to have much Joss Whedon in it. An interesting concept was blown apart by Whedon's biggest fault: He's really good at short story arcs but really bad at long story arcs. Dollhouse could have been an interesting take on Charlie's Angels or Sex In The City, or anything in between. Ultimately, in the last episode (a sequel to the unaired final episode from season 1), it became The Terminator, crashed and burned.
A few episodes near the end of the first season showed promise, but Dollhouse never pulled out a decent backstory or did much with the situations it established. The dialog and characterization -- Joss Whedon specialties -- were bland. I'm in the minority of my science fiction friends here, but I won't miss it.
The Superbowl
The way to watch football is to pick a team to root for. However, none of the teams I either like enough to root for or dislike enough to root against are playing. I often watch the game for the commercials, but this year I missed a few. Did they seem more violent than in previous years?
While the Colts were, on paper, the better team, they were banged up. The game was within one point going into the fourth quarter, but a 2 point conversion and an interception gave the Saints a 31-17 win that didn't really reflect the closeness of the contest.
Okay, now I can ignore football for a while. Until Draft Day... and the Brett Favre watch...
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog maintains a Facebook Page, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Steven Clifford: Best Careers Today: Arsonist, Hunter/Gatherer (huffingtonpost.com)
What career should one pursue in these troubled economic times? Traditional career paths offer little promise in this jobless recovery.
Amy Traub: Your Mailman Didn't Make the Economy Collapse (huffingtonpost.com)
Forget about the too-big-to-fail banks: the real economic menace comes from the officer directing traffic downtown. That's the message of yesterday's preposterous Wall Street Journal editorial arguing that public employees - and their unions - "may be the single biggest problem" for the nation's economy.
DAVID SIROTA: Our Addiction to Disaster Porn (inthesetimes.com)
The black t-shirt-so tight, so come-hither. And oh, those safari button-downs-joke-worthy on Eddie Bauer mannequins, but on news correspondents, soŠenticing.
NOAM CHOMSKY: The Corporate Takeover of U.S. Democracy (inthesetimes.com)
Jan. 21, 2010, will go down as a dark day in the history of U.S. democracy, and its decline.
Froma Harrop: The Urban Future Isn't All About Population Booms (creators.com)
Sunbelt-and-sprawl advocate Joel Kotkin wrote two years ago that the future of American urbanism wasn't in the "elite cities," such as New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, but in "younger, more affordable and less self-regarding places." He named (his order) Houston, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Dallas and Riverside, Calif.
Connie Schultz: A Conservative Darling Loses His Charm (creators.com)
Last summer, guerrilla videographer James O'Keefe III donned his version of a pimp costume - think Elton John on a budget - to appear on "Fox & Friends" and complain that America's newspaper of record wasn't taking him seriously.
Scott Timberg: Philip K. Dick finds God and madness at his doorstep (latimes.com)
Those months of 1974 were when Dick either lost his mind completely or was visited, ravishingly, by God.
Mary Ann Gwinn: Newbery winner 'When You Reach Me' is lovely homage to 'A Wrinkle in Time' (The Seattle Times)
If you read a lot of books as a child, chances are good that "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle blew your mind. It did mine - a story of a girl who travels through time and space and who faces down absolute evil, it was unlike anything I had ever read.
PAUL CONSTANT: 'Moregasm: Babeland's Guide to Mind-Blowing Sex': Babeland's Good-Looking Sex Advice (thestranger.com)
Let's be honest here, authors: Unless you've discovered a brand-new gender, you're probably not going to bring anything new to the field of sex-instruction manuals.
Emily Blunt: 'Everyone wants the first bite' (guardian.co.uk)
'Wolfman' star Emily Blunt tells Ryan Gilbey about her date with a blockbuster beast, and why she feels movies are a lot of silliness.
Will Harris: Bullz-Eye meets Bryan Cranston on the "Breaking Bad" set (bullz-eye.com)
When you're an easily-amused TV critic, every day is filled with wonderful surprises which range from the arrival of an advance screener of an episode of one of your favorite shows to the opportunity to interview one of your favorite actors. Once in awhile, though, something arrives via E-mail which blows your mind completelyŠand, in this case, it was a personal letter from Bryan Cranston, who plays Walter White on AMC's "Breaking Bad."
Matea Gold: Stewart trades jabs, discusses policy with O'Reilly (Los Angeles Times)
Jon Stewart showed up alone for his showdown Wednesday afternoon with Bill O'Reilly.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Racing Pelvic Thunder on the Appalachian Trail
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The 'Glow in the Dark' Edition
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is endorsing nuclear energy like never before, trying to win over Republicans and moderate Democrats on climate and energy legislation. Obama singled out nuclear power in his State of the Union address, and his spending plan for the next budget year is expected to include billions of more dollars in federal guarantees for new nuclear reactors... Obama's new climate card: nuclear power - Climate Change- msnbc.com
Do you support the increased use of nuclear power in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
Send your response to
replied:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
New Photos For Sale
Marilyn Monroe
Photographs of Marilyn Monroe appearing relaxed and lounging around a New York apartment nine months before she died were unveiled on Friday after being held in a private archive for more than 45 years.
Photographer Len Steckler shot the black-and-white images of Monroe when she unexpectedly arrived at his apartment in December, 1961, to visit his friend, Pulitzer-prize winning poet Carl Sandburg. Steckler is offering them for a sale as a limited edition series called "Marilyn Monroe: The Visit."
The pictures to be sold -- four single images and two triptychs, or pictures in three parts -- show Monroe wearing pointed, thick-rimmed sunglasses and a short sleeve dress while talking and laughing with Sandburg. Also offered will be 250 prints of each piece.
Steckler, a former commercial fashion and beauty photographer who is now "about 80" and lives in Los Angeles, said on the afternoon Monroe visited, Sandburg had mentioned in a casual manner that they would soon have "a visitor."
Marilyn Monroe
Vetting and Barring Scheme
Ian McKellen
Sir Ian McKellen might not have become an actor if a new Government vetting scheme was in place when he was a child, he said.
He told the BBC's Panorama programme that if he had not been able to perform as a child alongside adults in small voluntary theatres, "the 15-year-old Ian McKellen would be absolutely miserable and wouldn't have grown up to be this person today".
The new Vetting and Barring Scheme will mean that nine million adults will have to be registered with a new agency, the Independent Safeguarding Authority, before they are allowed to work "frequently or intensively" with children or vulnerable adults.
The combined pressure from the scheme and the separate regulations governing the use of children in performances has led some small theatres to reconsider including children in their performances.
Ian McKellen
Sunday, August 29
Emmys
After airing the Golden Globes live coast-to-coast for the first time last month, NBC is considering doing the same for the Emmys.
The network is discussing with affiliates a plan to air the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards live on Sunday August 29.
Tape-delaying certain entertainment programs for the West Coast has been a longtime practice, but with fans increasingly getting their entertainment news on the Internet, Web-savvy Emmy viewers have to go out of the their way to keep from being spoiled during the telecast. (The Oscars are traditionally telecast live).
The tape-delayed Grammys also received a ratings boost this year, though that program emphasizes its music performances over passing out trophies.
Emmys
Kindle Rivals Emerge
US Publishers
US book publishers are smiling again, after years of watching digital versions of their titles sell for below what they thought they were worth.
A host of rivals to the market-dominating Kindle electronic reader has given newfound hope to publishers that they will finally be able to dictate their own terms after being at the mercy of Amazon.
Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. stable includes publisher Harper-Collins, could hardly contain his glee during an earnings call last week.
US Publishers
Iran Detains 7
Radio Farda
Iran has arrested seven people linked to a U.S.-funded Farsi-language radio station for allegedly fomenting unrest, and accused some of the suspects of working for American spy agencies, Iranian state media reported Sunday.
IRNA, the official IRNA news agency quoted the ministry statement as saying "some of them have been officially hired by the U.S. intelligence agencies." State radio said the suspects were trained outside of Iran in sabotage, disturbing public order, spreading rumors and overthrowing a government by soft means.
The arrests may be part of a government effort to discredit the opposition. Iran's hardline rulers frequently accuse its opponents of being "stooges" of the country's enemies and of trying to topple the Islamic system.
The U.S.-sponsored Radio Farda, meaning "Radio Tomorrow," is Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Farsi-language service. The station, which has bases in Prague, Czech Republic, and Washington, D.C., has been broadcasting since 2003.
Radio Farda
Face Tougher Regulations, Fees
Aussie Music Venues
Touring professionals Down Under fear that new alcohol licensing regulations could strangle the vital pub/club scene in Australia's live music capital, Melbourne.
Hefty increases in late-night licensing fees on top of costly security requirements for pubs and clubs rolled out last year have already claimed one high-profile casualty, the 330-capacity Tote Hotel, which shuttered January 18 after 27 years.
The January 1 regulations applied new "risk factors" to determine a venue's 2010 licensing fees. Venues serving alcohol after 1 a.m. now face higher fees, in addition to meeting strict standards for security, closed-circuit television and sound levels, which have been enforced since July 2009.
The measures are "definitely a threat" to Australia's music industry, says Tim Northeast, owner of the 850-capacity Corner Hotel and 300-capacity Northcote Social Club, both located in Melbourne. He suggests many of the city's 50-odd venues are already "considering whether hosting live music is worth the financial risk."
Aussie Music Venues
Launches 'Floating Island'
Seoul
A giant steel float that will be part of a "floating island" in Seoul boasting off-shore entertainment facilities began a snails-paced trip towards the city's Han River Saturday.
The football-field-sized structure, resembling the hull of a cargo ship, moved at a barely noticeable speed over rows of giant rubber airbags from a riverside assembly site to the water just 60 metres (198 feet) away.
The three-metre high float, 85 metres long and 49 metres wide, will be part of Viva, one of three artificial islets to be built near the southern end of Banpo Bridge.
Along with two other artificial islets, Vista and Tera, to be launched by the end of April, the cluster of man-made floating islets will be used for conventions, water sports, restaurants, performances and exhibitions.
Seoul
Thousands Uncovered In China
Dinosaur Footprints
Archaeologists in China have uncovered more than 3,000 dinosaur footprints, state media reported, in an area said to be the world's largest grouping of fossilised bones belonging to the ancient animals.
The footprints, believed to be more than 100 million years old, were discovered after a three-month excavation at a gully in Zhucheng in the eastern province of Shandong, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The prints range from 10 to 80 centimetres (four to 32 inches) in length, and belonged to at least six different kinds of dinosaurs, including tyrannosaurs, the report said Saturday.
Wang Haijun, a senior engineer at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the prints faced the same direction, Xinhua said.
Dinosaur Footprints
Weekend Box Office
'Dear John'
A sci-fi love story has given way to an earthbound romance at the box office, livening up typically slow times at theaters over Super Bowl weekend.
Released by Sony's Screen Gems banner, "Dear John" debuted as the No. 1 movie with $32.4 million, knocking off "Avatar" after seven weekends in first place, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"Avatar" slipped to No. 2 with $23.6 million, raising its domestic total to $630.1 million. Directed by James Cameron, 20th Century Fox's "Avatar" surpassed his own "Titanic," which had held the domestic revenue record at $600.8 million.
The weekend's other new wide release, Lionsgate's spy story "From Paris With Love," opened at No. 3 with $8.1 million. The movie stars John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as CIA men trying to crack a terrorist plot.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Dear John," $32.4 million.
2. "Avatar," $23.6 million.
3. "From Paris With Love," $8.1 million.
4. "Edge of Darkness," $7 million.
5. "The Tooth Fairy," $6.5 million.
6. "When in Rome," $5.5 million.
7. "The Book of Eli," $4.8 million.
8. "Crazy Heart," $3.7 million.
9. "Legion," $3.4 million.
10. "Sherlock Holmes," $2.6 million.
'Dear John'
In Memory
Sir John Dankworth
Sir John Dankworth, the British jazz composer, saxophonist and band leader, has died. He was 82.
Jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine - who married Dankworth in 1958 after meeting during an audition for a spot with his band - announced her husband's death before the finale of an anniversary concert at The Stables, the theater they founded together.
Monica Ferguson, the theater's chief executive officer, said Sunday that Laine believed Dankworth would have wanted the evening to go ahead.
Born in Woodford, Essex in 1927, Dankworth began his musical career by playing a clarinet bought by his mother.
After starting out as a fan of Benny Goodman, Dankworth switched to the saxophone after hearing Charlie Parker play. In the early 1950s, Dankworth was auditioning singers to front his ensemble when he met Laine. They married and had a son, Alec, and daughter Jacqui - both jazz musicians who played the anniversary concert on Saturday evening.
Laine was made a dame in 1997, and Dankworth was knighted in 2006 by Queen Elizabeth II for services to music.
Along with performing and composing - his film score credits include"Darling," "Modesty Blaise" and the theme of television's "The Avengers" - Dankworth worked as musical director for jazz greats, including Oscar Peterson, Nat "King" Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, according to The Stables Web site.
Together, Dankworth and Laine founded The Wavendon Allmusic Plan, a musical education charity, and established a theater in 1969 in the old stable block on their property in Wavendon, Buckinghamshire, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of London.
A second charity, the Wavendon Foundation, was established in 1999 to help young artists and organizations needing financial aid.
Sir John Dankworth
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
