Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Merrie Melodies Bugs Bunny cartoon, the 1957 What's Opera, Doc?, featuring Elmer Fudd, (considered by many the greatest piece of animation created by Warner Bros), directed by Chuck Jones. The short marks the final appearance of Elmer Fudd in a Chuck Jones cartoon.
Chuck Jones once said of What's Opera, Doc?, "We took the entire 'Ring of the Nibelungen' music and crushed it down to six minutes". In reality the film quotes only one bit from composer Richard Wagner's 19th century operatic Ring Cycle": the Ride of the Valkyries, when Elmer Fudd hunts and shouts "Kill da wabbit!" The rest of the score was adapted by Milt Franklyn from three other Wagner operas, The Flying Dutchman (opening sequence), Rienzi (when Elmer chases Bugs), and Tannhäuser (the ballet and song Return My Love)
Before the start of our feature presentation, ACME Eagle Hand Soap would like to listen to two middle-aged men singing some Beatles covers. -
The songs are available for pre-order on vinyl with proceeds benefiting the work of Doctors Without Borders.
We've picked another entry from the excellent reference book, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die by Steven Jay Schneider. Today's choice is the 1953, The Big Heat - we're back to form with Fritz Lang morally ambiguous landmark film noir crime drama starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Lee Marvin and Jocelyn Brando (the elder sister of Marlon Brando). The film is based from based on a serial by William P. McGivern, which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post and was published as a novel in 1953, it was critically acclaimed and laid the groundwork for the whole sub-genre of “rogue cop” films that began to surface during the Vietnam era. Lang's touch brings a distinctly European existentialism this typical of American films, and in many ways this film is perhaps more about the European experience than the American experience. One of the film's most famous scenes, of Vince Stone throwing boiling coffee into Debby Marsh's face, earned the film a "B" rating from the Legion of Decency. The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour would like you to join us in watching this taut drama, The Big Heat.
One of only a handful of movies made in the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood that hasn't had its original 15 certificate rescinded or lowered by the British Board of Film Classification. This means that the film cannot be viewed legally in the United Kingdom by anyone under the age of 15. Although it may be considered tame by today's standards, the film contains some scenes where extreme violence is graphically described, as well as the disturbing 'coffee pot' scene.
Demand Euphoria!
No comments:
Post a Comment