esrosedotblog

A NOUS LA LIBERTÉ (1931)

(FOR US, LIBERTY) Today's NYTimes1000Best movie: Rene Clair satire of the industrial revolution; a semi-silent picture; a buddy picture; rags to riches to rags; an actual musical. It was made with records to accompany it and has a limited speech track. Most of the comedy is in mime. There are chases, broad gestures, and all the accoutrements of the silents but the sensibility is very modern. There are some very funny bits. The whole thing adds up to an enjoyable period piece.

Clair is considered an 'immortal' of the French cinema arts. I thought that we would have another film in the NYT1000 but I guess not. Here is a: Rene Clair Biography and Filmography I have seen a few of these and remember AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (a take on Agatha Christy Ten Little Indians) with Barry Fitzgerald and a group of other top actors of the time--a vehicle. That is a dismissal.

There were a lot of political films at this time that showed disenchantment with the consumer society. Some claim that Chaplin got a lot of his ideas from Clair. Rage on fans.

I don't know. I am glad that I saw it but a lot of the time I felt 'apart'. Well hell, it is French and 73 years old; six more than me. Nevertheless, I will give it a Netflix 3 out of 5.

MARRIAGE

Well, it is a good thing that John and I didn't have our bags packed to go to San Francisco to get married. The California Supremes put a sock on it. We could go to Massachusetts though. As I get it, even though they are about to sanctify hetero-marriage and give the civil crumbs to gays, it will not take effect for a long time and in the interim a whole bunch of dykes and faggots can defy god, nature, and the republican party--and quite a few democrats too.

One might reflect disappointment over today's double-dip turn of events, but I do not. I am amazed that we have gotten this far and believe that, try as 'they' may, they cannot shut the door on the inevitable. Incidentally civil unions are NOT the same as marriage either spiritually, psychologically, or in the tax code to say nothing of other social and federal benefits.

As I have often pointed out, California has and will have the very best civil union law; and it is a good thing. Just not a complete thing. Did I show you our certificate?