Vincent Malloy, a lonely young boy, dreams of becoming horror actor Vincent Price. Instead of just being a good boy, he would so much prefer living with bats, invent horrible zombie dogs, and bury his wife alive. If only his mother did not always get in the way!

“Vincent Malloy is seven years old, / He’s always polite and does what he’s told. / For a boy his age he’s considerate and nice, / But he wants to be just like Vincent Price.”

Vincent is poetically narrated by horror movie actor Vincent Price himself (House of Wax, The Fly, The Raven……), one of Tim Burton’s idols. This short movie alternates almost seemlessly between Vincent’s ordinary life and his fantasized impersonation of Vincent Price’s most horrific cinematic doings. Burton uses black-and-white photography to produce dramatic Expressionist effects through strong contrasts. He also intertwines Vincent’s real life and dreamed existence through a rhyming narration that bridges incessantly between the worlds of normality and of horror.

Unter the darkly benevolent shadow of Edgar Allan Poe, on whose work many of Vincent Price’s movies were based, Vincent is a precursor of Burton’s later movies, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, which used the same stop motion technique of ‘claymation’, and shares the same esthetics as Corpse Bride or Beetlejuice.

Less than 6 minutes long, a shot of Tim Burton’s early genius to drink bottomless!

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Despite accusations of plagiarism from What price Hollywood? (1932), the movie was a box office hit and led to three musically-oriented remakes, in 1954 (with Judy Garland), 1976 (with Barbra Streisand) and 2018 (with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper) – it’s tough not to feeel déjà-vu when watching this version, though it is historically the first one! Gaynor’s acting is a bit weak, but Fredric Marsh’s acting, witty dialogues, and well-played supporting characters more than make up for it.

A tell of innocence and greed, fame or forgetfulness, success and failure, glamour and creepy, private and public life, this one of the first movies by Hollywood about Hollywood, and it paved the way for many other self-introspections into Hollywood’s dream factory. This first portrait of behing-the-scene Hollywood moviemaking sheds a witty light on what it costs to become a celebrity, in opposition to the gloss and glamour of most Hollywood movies of the time. The contrasting destinies of the two main characters give a great basis for a social satire of the movies milieu, and the multiple remakes attest to the strength of this narrative.

Finally, the movie has kept most of its freshness even after 80 years and its small flaws disappear behind the efficient direction and Marsh’s charismatic acting.

The Oscar that lead actress Janet Gaynor receives in A Star Is Born is actually the same that she received in real life as Best Actress at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1928. Two years after playing in A Star Is Born, she turned down the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, as she wanted to retire from acting.

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Chaplin’s second full-length movie (after thirty or so short movies), The Gold Rush doesn’t pretend to the social depth of later movies such as Modern Times or The Dictator, but it strikes just the right balance between poetry and fun, sadness and joy, tragedy and comedy. It features many themes that run through Chaplin’s movies: the contrast of wealth and poverty, of shyness and action, of loneliness and romance; love as a transcending power; an incredible mastering of the body…

The Gold Rush is full of cult scenes, from the potatoe-foot dancing (perhaps the movie’s most famous scene, which you can compare with its Johnny Depp revival) to the cartoon-like cabin teetering on the edge of a cliff, through the shoe-eating segment (which Chaplin had to shoot over 60 times!) and hallucinations of Chaplin as a human-sized chicken. Bear-lovers will also find it worth their time. Many of these scenes have made history and inspired generations of film-makers!

Chaplin’s supporting roles are also great: violent Black Larsen as the bad guy, not very bright Big Jim McKay as Chaplin’s friend, and the beautiful saloon-girl Georgia that toys with him.

It’s actually the first Chaplin movie I’ve watched as a teenager (possibly also the first silent movie); I was quite taken aback! I found it hilarious and I still do when I rewatch it.

If you like it, you can watch The Kid on My Kingdom for a Movie (I’ll upload more Chaplin movies!).

(As a footnote: the version above is the original 1928 version; as a personal view I find it much more enjoyable than the 1942 reissue with an additionnal running narration which kind of spoils the fun; I recommend starting with the original).

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Their (obviously less talented) rivals from Not the Nine O’Clock News went so far as to denounce ‘Monty Python worshipers’, under the holy guidance of Rowan Atkinson, in an episode that you may watch here on YouTube.

And now for something completely different aimed at introducing the Monty Python to an American audience through some of the funniest sketches of their BBC legendary show ‘the Monty Python’s Flying Circus’. Though it achieved mixed success West of the Atlantic – it’s less a movie than a succession of sketches and requires a sense of humour – , it remains an absolute reference for married couples in search of guidance and lumberjacks with a taste for singing.

From the ‘Dead Parrot’ to the ‘Funniest Joke in the World’, from the ‘Upper Class Twit of the year’ to the ‘Hell’s Grannies’, you will discover / recognise some of their most famous sketches of their first two series of the ‘Flying Circus’.

And now for something completely different:

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From the musical debuts of four guys as ‘Smile’ to Queen’s impressive list of hits, this great documentary takes you through the full artistic story of a legendary band. As their relationship with the press was notoriously shaky, there are relatively few archive videos of Queen, and Queen: Days of our Lives is a small gem: two hours of music, anecdotes, May and Taylor interviews, and archive videos.

Priceless!

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You could say it’s like being the highest peak below 2000 meters in the French Alps. You could also say that it’s a very good movie if not an outstanding one. As for myself, I prefer to see my glass of Champagne half full.

So you’ll have to grant a suspension of disbelief (for the many Coleridge fans out there) or accept a few inconsistencies in the scenario: spies everywhere, an ever-escaping hero, etc.

If that’s not too much to ask, you’ll be rewarded with a thrilling, palpitating, entertaining spy movie, especially if you’re into one of the following items:

• Innocent men on the run (usually because they know too much);
• Woman spies who get stabbed in your bedroom;
• Being handcuffed to someone else while trying to escape from killers or the police;
• Impromptu political speeches;
• Trains and Scottish landscapes;
• Hitchcock cameo spotting (twice in this movie).

Any subsequent need to rebalance the quintessential image of the ‘Hitchcock blonde’ with something less patriarchal can be fulfilled by watching the excellent His Girl Friday.

If you’re planning on escaping from something in the near future, watch that movie.

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One of the French masters of suspense (The Wages of Fear, Le Corbeau…), Clouzot signs here one of his best psychological thrillers. Served by outstanding actors (a determined Simone SIgnoret, a sensitive Véro Clouzot and a sullen Paul Meurisse) and a perfect sense of photography and tempo, Les Diaboliques is on par with the best Hitchcock movies.

As Hitchcock himself was asked “Sir, After seeing ‘Les Diaboliques’, my daughter was afraid to take a bath. Now she has seen your ‘Psycho’ and is afraid to take a shower. What should I do with her?”, he reportedly replied: “Send her to the dry cleaners.”

Halfway between a thriller, a film noir, and a horror film, Les Diaboliques will scare you to death.

I haven’t been able to find subtitles for English; the above video is in French with Spanish subtitles; if you find a version with English subtitles let me know!

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Photography, as always with Tarkovsky, is perfect – if you can enjoy a slow-paced movie, you will be taken by its esthetics and formal beauty.

A reflexion on death and grief, on nature and human mind, Solaris is a hypnotic reflexion, a poetic psychological drama that happens to be set in space.

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The libretto was written by Lorenzo da Ponte, whose later collaboration with Mozart gave us Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte: it’s full of wit, of surprises, of hidden husbans, lovers and parents, and (in this case) ends for the better.

As for music, Mozart is at his best, with a dozen of great arias, including “Voi che sapete…”, “So vuol ballar…” and so many others!

Recorded in the 2021 Aix en Provence Festival, this performance features soprano Julie Fuchs (Susanna), baritone Andrè Schuen (Figaro) and mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre (Cherubino) among other great singers.

Subtitles are available in the following langages: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, and Polish.

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Most last around 25 minutes and, though many of them involve a murder, they all have a deeper common point: perfect structure of the storytelling, attention to detail, and a taste for the unexpected, for reversals of situations, for the inattendu.

They deal with revenge, psychology, murder, suicide, accidents, women, men, death insurance, cheating, guns, social classes, alibis, young chicks, old bores, love, hate, surprise, and so much more.

If you like Hemingway novels, it’s like reading Hemingway’s short stories. Well, if you like Hitchcock movies your know what to do.

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