Well folks, it's that time of the week again when you can inundate your ears and grey matter with our floundering filmic shenanigans.
A lesson in the black arts from The Priest as we polish our pentacles for Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1968 version), then we're left on a gurney to be satirically probed in Britannia Hospital before we round off with a trip to 70s Harlem where Uncle Remus meets Mario Puzo in Coonskin.
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"Movies are so rarely great art that if we cannot appreciate great trash we have very little reason to be interested in them." - Pauline Kael
Guys, really enjoyed MV 7 (I know, I'm way behind) - another great eclectic mix of films under review... I agree with your point about Witchcraft Through the Ages being a little bit eccentric, but I think the film made better sense back in 1968, when there was a renewed interest in occultism and personalities like Aleister Crowley. Also, I think during this era there was a greater sense of cross-pollination within the arts, like the inclusion of the jazz score, but for me it fits somehow. And yeah, the Burroughs narration is a little ramshackle - I'm assuming he got the job through his association with Anthony Balch, with whom Burroughs made the short Towers Open Fire in London in 1962 - if I'm remembering rightly, it was Balch who recut Haxen as Witchcraft Through the Ages. Balch is mostly known nowadays as the director of Horror Hospital but back in the 60's he was a very savvy distributor of exploitation and edgy World Cinema.
ReplyDeleteReally liked the discussion of Britania Hospital - it's been years since I saw a TV screening of the film, and I remember almost nothing about. Both UK and US DVDs are pretty hard to come by these days...
Coonskin.... I gotta say I was a little bit disappointed with the film when I first saw it - I didn't think the film was anywhere as contentious as I was led to believe, but after hearing you guys discuss the film, I'm gonna go back and revisit it with fresh eyes. I agree about the animation having a hallucinatory quality, it's pretty wild at times. It's interesting that the film pokes fun at the Italian American Mafia stereotype considering the film was put out in the US by infamous distributor Bryanston who allegedly had connections with the Mob. I think one of the major US indie labels (I can't remember who it was at the moment) was meant to put the film out on DVD last year, but the project seemingly stalled at the last minute (even artwork for the release had been prepped). That the film has been largely suppressed in the US gives it an even greater connection with Disney's 1946 film Song of the South, a film with features Uncle Remus and the adventures of Br'er Rabbit - a film Disney has long kept out of circulation for its so-called unpolitical correctness...
Cheers for taking time out to comment Wes, it's much appreciated and no worries about playing catch, it ain't no race.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm glad that you're enjoying our rambles about the films mentioned and thanks even more for the insights to Haxan; the Balch connection.
I totally agree with you that the film would have been better received upon it's release. One of the difficulties with it these days I guess is probably down to the cineastes and elitists who view the original as a kind of milestone in cinema. And poor ol' Witchcraft Through The Ages is viewed with some disdain like a naive teenager's version of a guide to the occult, but it's those 'qualities' that endear it to me.
I'd love to hear what you make of Coonskin if you do get round to giving it a watch again. It's probably my fave Bakshi, although I haven't seen all of his output, but I think it's a fascinating and keenly observed film that has been shamefully sidelined. And that animation style is fantastic and unique, something that is sorely lacking in a great deal of animation these days.