42nd Street Forever

 

Let's take a break from works of art, and explore the other side of cinema. The trashy, campy, downright insane films. The ones that provide entertainment or shock to the general public and the ones that are forgotten only a few days later. These films are not works of art, nor do they have redeeming value; but what they lack in class they make up for in kicking ass.

The 42nd Street Forever series is the brain child behind the ladies and gentlemen of The Alamo Drafthouse and Synapse Films. This series aims to take old exploitation movie trailers who haven't seen the light of day seen they were made, and release them into the general public. The results are hilarious, historical, and very interesting. The 5 volumes pack a range of trailers from every exploitation genre you can think of. From Charleton Heston talking about the MPAA ratings to Pinnochio's Birthday Party. The genius of this series is to show the amount of freedom many filmmakers had at the time, and just how far they were willing to go(or not go) to execute them. No matter how bad they were. Through this ride you discover just how many movies have never really seen the light of day, and some that have the same premises of films today. Some of the trailers are entertaining and actually look good, which you must give many directors credit for. They take an idea and execute it on a limited budget. No matter how bad it may look, it deserves respect.

The Title says it all.

Overall, if you like exploitation cinema, if you are a film history buff, or you just want to have a good time. This series is highly recommended. 42nd Street Forever provides us with a rare & interesting viewpoint of the possibilities of filmmaking at that time. As well as bringing unseen films to a new audience.

L.A Noire

 
  The latest creation from Rockstar Games and Team Bondi Studios out in Australia provides us with a fully recreated 8 by 8 square mile historically accurate version of 1947 Los Angeles. Rockstar and Team Bondi have set out to create a rich noir crime story and succeeded spectacularly. But Jake, you say. This is not a game blog, so why are you reviewing video games? Well i'll tell you. L.A Noire is not your typical mystery game, L.A Noire has something special about it, something no other video game has attempted before. Using a new technology called MotionScan (developed by Depth Analysis), Rockstar and Team Bondi have pushed the envelope of human qualities in a game. Every glance, twitch, nod is captured and transfered to an animated character to be used in the game, you will see no blank faces or any static characters, for all the acting and facial movements in this game are done by real actors.

Aaron Stanton reciting lines. ((Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times)

  Aaron Stanton from Mad Men plays a lead role, as he sits in a chair in his orange jumpsuit plastered with tiny balls in front of 32 cameras, he is made to recite lines just as he normally would on a hollywood set; but instead there are no co-stars or props, only his face. And only a few days later his image is recreated into his character in the game. Thanks to MotionScan technology, video games can now be given cinematic elements that are desperately missing, this opens up a new door in the world of interactive entertainment and L.A Noire is at the Frontline.

(Property of Rockstar Games/ Team Bondi)

L.A Noire is out right now, and is the only video game to be featured at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Shogun Assassin

Shogun Assassin, the bloody, over the top romp through feudal Japan satisfies audiences with over the top maiming, bloodletting, and adventure. Shogun Assassin is a mash up compilation of "The Lone Wolf and Cub" series from Japan, only to be brought over to America and be cut and dubbed for western audiences. It was released in 1980 when the Samurai craze was just starting off in America, and it became a hit in major city grindhouses and drive ins.

  The story surrounds a lone samurai, a ronin, who travels around with his son in a cradle, only to be constantly attacked by warriors enlisted by a shogun who wishes him to be dead. This lone samurai is known as Lone Wolf and is one of the most skilled samurai who has ever lived of course. His demon blade easily kills almost any one he crosses, and the cradle his son travels in also functions as a weapons storage. Over his travels for revenge he meets many people (whom he soon kills) and most famous, the 3 masters of death. Which set the movie up for a great ending fight scene.

  The violence is over the top but highly stylized, with swords entering at interesting angles, and blood spurting out of bodies like garden hoses. The body count is impossible. But throughout the whole movie you do not get the campy b movie that you expected, what you do get it a serious meticulously re-edited, re-scored, re-dubbed version of a manga story in feudal Japan. The energy never dies down and The Shogun Assassin (Tomisaburo Wakayama) plays his role beautifully.

  The electronic music score is done by Mark Lindsay (a member of the 60s rock band Paul Revere and The Raiders) since the original films had little music, it gives the film the extra boost it needed to satisfy Western audiences; and gives fight scenes much more meaning. 

   Overall, this film is highly entertaining and a good reconstruction of feudal Japan. While the English    dubbing is always annoying in any movie, it manages to fit well here without taking away from the  original films. The highly stylized shots of Robert Houston combined with the editing of Lee Percy and Toshio Taniguchi and the cinematography of Chishi Makiura all come together to make a truly beautiful picture of blood and revenge that differ from your average hack and slash samurai movie. Since its release, Shogun Assassin has become a cult classic; and further more it helped confirm the Asian influence in Western society by setting the way for many other samurai, kung fu, and chopsocky films to come. If you are in for a good time and want to see over the top samurai action presented intensely and beautifully, then Shogun Assassin is the film for you.

The Third Wave( Not Cinema But Very Interesting)

"Listen closely, I have something important to tell you." "Sit down." "There is no leader! There is no such thing as a national youth movement called the Third Wave. You have been used. Manipulated. Shoved by your own desires into the place you now find yourself. You are no better or worse than the German Nazis we have been studying."

When my teacher introduced me to the article by Ron Jones, I thought it was a simple read through. Little did I know that this essay by a high school English teacher would be a powerful account of brainwashing and fascism.

It was 1967, Jones and his class were studying Nazi Germany when he was interrupted by a question. How could the German populace claim ignorance of the slaughter of the Jewish people? How could the townspeople, railroad conductors, teachers, doctors, claim they knew nothing about concentration camps and human carnage? How can people who were neighbors and maybe even friends of the Jewish citizen say they weren't there when it happened? It was a good question and Jones did not know how to answer. So he decided to take a week in class exploring it. So for a week Jones lectured the class with V for Vendettaesque sayings, like Strength through Discipline, Strength through Action, Strength through Unity. Now surely, in our free world of democracy the students would not commit to such a fascist cause with such loyalty and discipline; and Jones figured the project would fall flat on its face. To Jones's surprise, he found students following everything he said, even teachers were getting involved on the "movement." The experiment took on a life of it's own. By the third day Jones's class size increased from 30 to 43 and showed dramatic improvement in academic skills and motivation. Each student was assigned a job like making a flag, or recruiting people. By the fourth day, the experiment was getting out of control. Students who broke the rules of the organization would get reported immediately. The students commitment to the organization were incredible, like they had been brainwashed. It was this day that Jones decided to end the experiment. He announced to the participants that this movement is a part of a nationwide movement and that on the next day a presidential candidate of the movement would publicly announce existence of the movement. Jones ordered students to attend a noon rally on Friday to witness the announcement. Instead of a televised address of their leader, the students were presented with an empty channel. After a few minutes of waiting, Jones announced that they have been a part of an experiment in fascism and that they all willingly created a sense of superiority that German citizens had in the period of Nazi Germany. He then played them a film about the Nazi regime.

  That was the end of the experiment. As the students went to exit the auditorium, their devastated faces told the story. Some cried openly and some wiped their tears away as they exited. To this day they all share a deep dark secret, that if it wasn't for Jones himself writing the original article, none of us would have probably never known.

  Referring back to the original question asked to Jones. How could the German populace claim ignorance of the slaughter of the Jewish people? How could the townspeople, railroad conductors, teachers, doctors, claim they knew nothing about concentration camps and human carnage? How can people who were neighbors and maybe even friends of the Jewish citizen say they weren't there when it happened? Was it because they know that they have gone to far? To answer this question, I would like to quote Jones from his original article from 1972:

 "Through the experience of the past week we have all tasted what it was like to live and act in Nazi Germany. We learned what it felt like to create a disciplined social environment. To build a special society. Pledge allegiance to that society. Replace reason with rules. Yes, we would all have made good Germans. We would have put on the uniform. Turned our head as friends and neighbors were cursed and then persecuted. Pulled the locks shut. Worked in the "defense" plants. Burned ideas. Yes, we know in a small way what it feels like to find a hero. To grab quick solution. Feel strong and in control of destiny. We know the fear of being left out. The pleasure of doing something right and being rewarded. To be number one. To be right. Taken to an extreme we have seen and perhaps felt what these actions will lead to. we each have witnessed something over the past week. We have seen that fascism is not just something those other people did. No. it's right here. In this room. In our own personal habits and way of life. Scratch the surface and it appears. Something in all of us. We carry it like a disease. The belief that human beings are basically evil and therefore unable to act well toward each other. A belief that demands a strong leader and discipline to preserve social order. And there is something else. The act of apology. 

    "If our enactment of the Fascist mentality is complete not one of you will ever admit to being at this final Third Wave rally. Like the Germans, you will have trouble admitting to yourself that you come this far. You will not allow your friends and parents to know that you were willing to give up individual freedom and power for the dictates of order and unseen leaders. You can't admit to being manipulated. Being a follower. To accepting the Third Wave as a way of life. You won't admit to participating in this madness. You will keep this day and this rally a secret. It's a secret I shall share with you." 

It was because of our psychological need to belong, that the students committed to the organization, the reward of feeling apart of a cause bigger than yourself, to be a hero to your comrades even for one second is worth more than doing something for yourself. The Third Wave made people belong, who were left out before. It made people equal, who were discriminated before. The 5 pillars of The Third Wave: "Strength through Discipline, Strength through Community, Strength through Action, Strength through Pride, and Strength through Understanding." Provide a simple yet effective way of living and outline a way to live a successful life, just as the fascist regimes of Nazi Germany and Italy have before. This study of fascism and power has received a lot of attention from psychologists and even filmmakers who seek to understand the power of unity; and what many will do to achieve to be apart of something.






The original article can be found at : http://libcom.org/history/the-third-wave-1967-account-ron-jones