A PLACE FOR SIDEWAYS TRAINS OF THOUGHT
Recently, I came across an article published in 1945 in the New Yorker entitled “Return to Place Pigalle”, where Joseph Wechsberg, originally from Czechoslovakia, describes returning to Paris as a US soldier and meeting the musicians he used to play with there in the 1920’s. The musicians describe the experience of playing in Nazi-occupied Paris and leds to... Continue Reading →
When I was a child, my family used to travel from Britain to Italy most summers to stay with my Italian grand-parents. Every time we crossed the Channel I was sick. I was given all kinds of advice, sometimes from other passengers, and I tried hard to apply their methods. I remember "stare at the... Continue Reading →
I am not sure that there has ever been a book about film quite like François Truffaut's interviews with Alfred Hitchcock. Two masters discuss the craft of cinema. Truffaut listens carefully and gets Hitchcock to provide full disclosure of what he thinks is needed to make a film tick. I have had the book for... Continue Reading →
Since this place is a station, perhaps there should be some trains every now and then, so here is the brilliant opening sequence of La Bête Humaine with Jean Gabin steaming into Le Havre.
Mexican bus ride was the US title given to a Buñuel film called Subida al cielo (Ascent to Heaven). What follows is about a Mexican bus ride of my own and has nothing to do with the film, I just liked the poster and it is always worthwhile mentioning Buñuel, but you can see an excerpt here.... Continue Reading →