Fashion In Film Festival returns for a second year

Returning for a second year is the Fashion In Film Festival, mixing talks, exhibitions, newly-commissioned film works, but best of all, some rarely-seen cinema classics that show how fashion of the day was just as important as a good plot and scenery.

Some superb films on show this year too, with highlights (for me) including the visually stunning (see image above) 10th Victim (La Decima Vittima) from 1965 and Get Carter (1970) at the ICA, Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace (1964) at the Horse Hospital, as well as a double bill of delinquency curated by fashion designer and former mod Roger K. Burton (The Violent Years from 1956 and The Boys from '62), Dario Argento's The Bird With Crystal Plumage (1970) at the BFI plus Plein Soleil (1960) and Fata Morgana (1965) Ciné lumiére.

Much more besides, including some rare silent flicks and classic US film noir. Check out the full programme at the website - the event runs from 10th - 31st May 2008.

Fashion In Film Festival website

DVD Review: Der Letzte Mann (1924)

F.W. Murnau's Der Letzte Mann ("The Last Man", also known as The Last Laugh) represented a major technical breakthrough for silent cinema.  Inspired by Nikolai Gogol's story "The Coat", it concerns an elderly hotel doorman (silent cinema giant: Emil Jannings) who, because of his age, is cruelly demoted to bathroom attendant.  Reduced to towelling hands and polishing sinks, he tries to conceal the truth from friends and family, but to his shame is discovered.  Neighbours believe he's lied all along about his prestigious job and taunt him mercilessly, while his niece (Maly Delschaft), her new husband (Max Hiller) and his aunt (Emilie Kurz) reject him out of embarrassment. 

Grief-stricken, the old man retreats to the hotel bathroom, where a kindly night watchman (Georg John) covers him with his coat while he sleeps.  A title card concedes the story should end here since "in real life the old man has little left but death".  However "the author took pity on him and provided an improbable epilogue."  At the end, the old man inherits a fortune and dines happily at the hotel where he once worked. 

Coming soon: Alfred Hitchcock: The British Years

You might be an expert on Alfred Hitchcock's later work, but are you familiar with the great man's earlier output? If not, you can soon get hold of it all in one convenient package - Alfred Hitchcock: The British Years.

Commercial successes at the time of release, Hitchcock's British output of the 1920s and 30s has been largely forgotten by all but hardened fans. But now the pick of that work is back, specifically The Pleasure Garden The Lodger, Downhill, The Man who Knew Too Much; The Thirty-Nine Steps; Secret Agent, Sabotage, Young & Innocent, The Lady Vanishes and Jamaica Inn.

Special features include digitally restored versions of The Lodger, Sabotage, Young and Innocent and Jamaica Inn, Cinema: Alfred Hitchcock (Mike Scott interviewing Hitchcock about his life and career, Aquarius (featuring Hitchcock on the set of Frenzy), analysis of the movies, location reports, trailers and booklets.

The box is available from 25th February 2008, with a recommended retail price of £59.99.

DVD Review: The Phantom Carriage (1921)

The silent film that motivated Ingmar Bergman to work in cinema has been given new life in Tartan’s re-release, which matches an artfully tinted, restored print to a new ambient soundtrack by Stephen O’Malley of SunnO))) and Peter Rehberg.

Victor Sjöström’s evocative morality tale, based on the novel by Selma Lagerlöf, exhibits a narrative and emotional sophistication astonishing for its time, as well as groundbreaking special effects. While the density of plotting sometimes works against the piece’s pedagogical aspirations, and the uniformly ominous score risks constraining the tonal variety of the story, the whole is nevertheless an intriguing and genuinely unnerving proposition.

On New Year’s Eve, dissipated, consumptive drunkard David Holm (played by Sjöström himself) is passing the time with his gravedigger colleagues. They discuss an old legend wherein the soul of whoever dies on the stroke of midnight is compelled to be the Grim Reaper for the next year.

Cult Clip: Frau Im Mond (1929)

Hopefully you read our review of the newly-restored version of Fritz Lang's Frau Im Mond. But just to give you a visual idea of the movie, check out the short clip of part of the rocket's launch below. Note that this clip isn't the restored version - if you want that, you might need to go out and buy Eureka's latest release.