Strambo side

Sveglia alle ore 8, colazione e di corsa all'uni con i Clash a palla nelle orecchie (il lavandino ancora pieno di pentole tazze e schifi vari di ieri sera), faceva freddo.

Alle 9 e un quarto sono iniziate le presentazioni delle specifiche di loa, ed io con i postumi della serata di ieri, sono dovuto andare davanti a 50 persone circa e dire la mia fortuna con me c'era san Ugo che ci sa fare... Il gaggio pisano ha qualche forma di menomazione cerebrale. Il Cisterna non ci ha detto niente di male, e gli altri non ci hanno infamato o smerdato.

Dopo le presentaziono di loa ho studiato tsd con nino e sono andato a mensa(dopo le uova verdi non credo che rimetterò mano ai fornelli presto)ed ho seguito compilatori che ha fatto un'esercitazine credo abbastanza utile. sono tornato a casa, con i clash di london calling a palla nelle orecchie, e mi sono rilassato un pò prima di andare ad arrampicata, anche perchè ero davvero esausto, alle 18 e 15 sono partito, ed ho iniziato la lezione, come già sapevo mi sono divertito molto e staseraho fatto un pò troppo lo sborone con la mia scioltezza, davvero troppo, dato che la gente che era li lo ha notato(non che facevo lo sborone, ma la scioltezza),ed io ero un pò imbarazzato... cmq mi sono arrampicato bene, e anche stavolta sono riuscito ad arrivare ad un Top o goal di uno dei percorsi... siamo tornati io Nino e Giacomo, e abbiamo cenato a casapiddu con un ottimo Piatto di Kebab(kebab kick the ass!) dopodiche abbiamo visto il film cult Due sperpiedi quasi piatti, io ho mandato qualche messaggio. Quando i due se ne sono andati io mi sono messo dentro al letto ed ho scritto il post di ieri e questo, ed ora sono veramente stanco, e sono di nuovo solo in casapiddu, come l'anno scorso, però sono più dell'anno scorso, come sono più di ieri, e meno di domani, ma si sa che domani è attaccato ad oggi, quindi... fate le vostre considerazioni...

Chissà Il mangi che avra fatto oggi? Di sicuro ha lavato le pentole, grazie Stè!

My old chum Christopher Weedman just reminded me about Joseph Losey's remake of Fritz Lang's "M", a film maudit (cursed film) if there ever was one. Since we all love a film maudit here at Shadowplay, I have to say I'd be fascinated to see it sometime.

It's easy to see why the film's reputation is not high -- right-thinking people were aghast at the idea of Hollywood tampering with a classic film. Also, Lang himself denounced the remake as theft -- he claimed papers had been lost which proved that the original film was still in copyright, so that an unauthorized version should be illegal. In addition, David Wayne, a perfectly good actor, seems in principle an inadequate substitute for the truly extraordinary Peter Lorre. But Joe Losey was a major talent, whose reputation had not yet risen to the level of his abilities, and I think there's a strong chance that if one could lay aside all comparisons, the Losey film might stand up as an interesting work in its own right. The IDEA of a remake was cheesy, but the film itself need not be.

Lang actually had quite a lot to do with remakes -- two of his Hollywood flicks, SCARLET STREET and HUMAN DESIRE, derive from Renoir originals, LA CHIENNE and LA BETE HUMAINE. In addition to the "M" retread, several of Lang's German classics have been remade, and Lang himself directed a sound-and-colour version of the two-part INDIAN TOMB epic which he had originally hoped to direct in the '20s before Joe May took over the project.

During this second German period at the end of Lang's career, producer Arthur Brauner mooted remakes of METROPOLIS and DER MUDE TOD, the latter as a musical (!) but Lang resisted.

But after Lang resurrected the Dr. Mabuse franchise with THE THOUSAND EYES OF DR. MABUSE in 1960, his second Mabuse, THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE was remade by Brauner, using Lang's cast from 1000 EYES. These Mabuse sequels and remakes have an enjoyable pop-art B-movie zing to them, but totally lose out on the darker, allegorical and political aspects of Lang's crime-conspiracy-espionage sagas.

Also proposed to Lang at this time was a remake of DIE NIBELUNGEN. But the director saw insurmountable difficulties with such a project -- the money wasn't available to make the film as gigantic as the silent version, and then there was the issue of TALK.

"The first difficulty was: How to make the Nibelungs speak? You can't say, 'Hello, Kriemhild.' Neither can you say, 'O, noble knight,'" complained the maestro.

It's very much the same objection as Howard Hawks' famous, "I don't know how a Pharaoh speaks." Writers tend to struggle to find an idiom which can be neutral enough to work in an ancient period, without becoming completely colourless and flat.

Nevertheless, DIE NIBELUNGEN was remade by Brauner, with Harald Reinl directing. Reinl had already helmed several Mabuse sequels, and had shown himself to be pacy and able, though hardly a Fritz. The remakes sound rather intriguing: future spaghetti western hero Mario Girotti/Terence Hill turns up, as does Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich ze Schluderpacheru (Herbert Lom to you) as Attila the Hun, and Reinl's wife, Bond girl Karin Dor, adds fresh sexiness to the role of Brunhild. Hanna Ralph in the original is impressively feisty, but she doesn't have Dor's exotic glamour.*

I'm sure Reinl's NIBELUNGEN films are ludicrous (the DVD packaging suggests as much) but I bet they're fun. Probably best to see the Langs first... those hover right on the brink of ludicrosity, but if you can keep your sense of humour in check, they're a toboggan-ride into the abyss, which is quite a thing to experience.

This period of German cinema is only just starting to get some attention. Popular in their day with German audiences, the remakes of old German classics and the Edgar Wallace-adapted krimi films have long been dismissed as kitsch und klatsch, and the New German Cinema auteurs presented themselves as the first filmmakers since pre-war days to make authentic films with meaning and a connection to the world.

Which is a sort-of justifiable claim. I wouldn't hold up Harald Reinl as being equal to the best of Fassbinder or Wenders or Herzog or whoever. His work is in a different register altogether. But I don't think it's without value.

*Gee, maybe Reinl shouldn't have divorced K.D. His next wife SHOT HIM DEAD.