4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, the Shattered Lens celebrates the 136th anniversary of the birth of the great French surrealist Jean Cocteau! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Jean Cocteau Films
The Blood Of A Poet (1930, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Georges Perinal)
Beauty and the Beast (1946, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Henri Alekan)
Orpheus (1950, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Nicolas Hayer)
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, we pay tribute to a classic year in film. It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 1950 Films
Orpheus (1950, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Nicolas Hayer)
Sunset Boulevard (1950, dir by Billy Wilder, DP; John F. Seitz)
All About Eve (1950, dir by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, DP: Milton R. Krassner)
In A Lonely Place (1950, dir by Nicholas Ray, DP: Burnett Guffey)
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, we take a look at a classic cinematic year. It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 1932 Films
The Blood of a Poet (1932, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Georges Piranal)
Shanghai Express (1932, dir by Josef von Sternberg, DP: Lee Garmes and James Wong Howe)
Trouble In Paradise (1932, dir by Ernst Lubitsch, DP: Victor Milner)
Vampyr (1932, dir by Carl Theodor Dreyer, DP: Rudolph Mate)
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, we pay tribute to the year 1946. It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 1946 Films
Beauty and the Beast (1946, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Henri Arinal)
It’s A Wonderful Life (1946, dir by Frank Capra, DP: Joseph Walker and Joseph Biroc)
The Big Sleep (1946, dir by Howard Hawks, DP: Sidney Hickox)
The Stranger (1946, dir by Orson Welles, DP: Russell Metty)
Our regular review of Homicide will not be posted today so that we may bring you this special presentation….
My retro television review will return tomorrow. For now, check out 1966’s The Human Voice. In this 55-minute stage adaptation, Ingrid Bergman plays a woman having a phone conversation with her lover of five years on the night before he’s meant to marry another. Written by Jean Cocteau, this monologue was also filmed by Pedro Almodovar in 2020, with Tilda Swinton giving a performance that cannot hope to compare to Bergman’s.
And now, without further ado, here is The Human Voice!
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, the Shattered Lens celebrates the 135th anniversary of the birth of the great French surrealist Jean Cocteau! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Jean Cocteau Films
The Blood of a Poet (1932, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Georges Perinal)
Beauty and the Beast (1946, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Henri Alekan)
Orpheus (1950, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Nicolas Hayer)
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, the Shattered Lens celebrates the 134th anniversary of the birth of the great French surrealist Jean Cocteau! It’s time for….
4 Shots From 4 Jean Cocteau Films
The Blood of a Poet (1932, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Georges Perinal)
Beauty and the Beast (1946, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Henri Alekan)
Orpheus (1950, dir by Jean Cocteau, DP: Nicolas Hayer)
Tilda Swinton and a dog wait for the arrival of a man who never comes.
Sounds like fun, right?
Well, if anyone can make this work, it’ll be Tilda Swinton and Pedro Almodovar. This is Almodovar’s first English language short film. It’s based on a play by Jean Cocteau, one that was previously filmed by Roberto Rossellini in 1948.
The last couple days I have been watching a particular classic Disney animated film not to mention listening to its accompanying soundtrack almost non-stop since yesterday. The song I’ve picked for my latest “song of the day” is the track, “Beauty and The Beast”, and not the Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson version which ends the film.
Beauty and The Beast ranks as one of my favorite films ever. Not just a favorite animated film but a favorite of the medium of filmmaking in general. I saw it the weekend it was first released in the theaters in 1991. I was just out of high school, just turned 18 and eyes full of hope and promise. This film made a huge impact on me and it’s musical score even more so. The score and the songs were composed by musical virtuosos Alan Menken and Howard Ashman.
The score is what I would call classic orchestral. It fit the film and the story it was to accompany. The ballad which marks the turning point in the growing relationship between Belle and the Beast was one of my favorites in the film and truly captures the essence of the story. While I must say that I also loved the pop version of the song by Celine Dion (before she went all Vegas crazy in laters years) and R&B singer, Peabo Bryson, it would be the song as sung by Angela Lansbury (in the role of Mrs. Potts) which I consider the better version.
It is difficult not to listen to this version and not picture in one’s mind the sweeping motion of the scene as we see the ballroom in all it’s detailed grandeur. It was this song which marked the high point in my life when unbridled hope and optimism still ruled my life. I would say that even as an 18-year old I was still innocent when it came to certain things in life. “Beauty and The Beast” symbolized that part of my life and whenever I listen to it again almost 20 years now I reminisce about that innocent time in my life.
We all have a particular song, film or story which brings back fond memories of better days in our lives and this song from one of the best films ever made does it for me.
Beauty and The Beast
Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly
Just a little change
Small to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared
Beauty and the Beast
Ever just the same
Ever a surprise
Ever as before
And ever just as sure
As the sun will rise
Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong
Certain as the sun
Rising in the east
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast
Through the Shattered Lens 