1924: The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (Lev Kuleshov) Tony Williams December 2017 100 Years of Soviet Cinema Issue 85 Long recognised as the pioneer of the “Kuleshov effect”, teacher of future cinematic talents such as Sergei Eisenstein (who attended Kuleshov’s Film Workshop for three months during 1922-1923),...
Goupi mains rouges Tony Williams November 2014 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 73 Though lesser known than some of his later films, Goupi mains rouges (1943) was Jacques Becker’s second solo feature and received acclaim at the time of its appearance in Occupied France. It also became the...
Ride the High Country: The Once and Future Sam Tony Williams October 2014 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 72 Popularly viewed as Peckinpah’s first accomplished film following the compromised The Deadly Companions (1961), Ride the High Country (1962) has been mostly seen as the director’s farewell to the...
Le Quai des brumes Tony Williams November 2013 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 69 Le Quai des brumes (Marcel Carné, 1938) opens on a fog-swept, darkened rural road leading to the port of Le Havre. A truck driver narrowly avoids crashing into the hitchhiking figure of colonial Army...
A Touch of Zen Tony Williams September 2013 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 70 Celebrated as the first non-Mainland Chinese film to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival (in 1975), and released during the peak of contemporary Western fascination with the martial arts genre epitomised...
The Big Parade Tony Williams September 2013 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 68 Viewing The Big Parade 88 years after its initial release, and 25 years following its inclusion in my upper-level course on the war film, elicited complex feelings. On the one hand, although the film still...
The Man From Laramie Tony Williams May 2013 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 67 Due to conflict and an eventual breach over the making of Night Passage (James Neilson, 1957), The Man From Laramie (1955) became the final collaboration between Anthony Mann and James Stewart whose...
The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks Tony Williams August 2012 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 64 Long recognised as the pioneer of the “Kuleshov effect”, teacher of future cinematic talents such as Sergei Eisenstein (who attended Kuleshov’s Film Workshop for three months during 1922-1923),...
Le Corbeau Tony Williams November 2011 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 61 As Alan Williams notes, “Le Corbeau is an essential work for world film history, if only because its meanings are still being debated” (1). Filmed during the Occupation by the German controlled Continental...
Dangerous Encounters – First Kind Tony Williams March 2011 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 58 Dai yat lai aau him (Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind/Dangerous Encounters – 1st Kind) was the third film directed by Tsui Hark. Following his stylish first feature, Die bian (The Butterfly Murders,...
Centre Stage Tony Williams October 2010 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 56 Winner of many awards at national and international film festivals and the subject of several articles and one monograph – by Mette Hjort – in Hong Kong University Press’ New Hong Kong Cinema Series,...
Collision and Contradiction: The Steel Helmet Tony Williams September 2009 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 52