THE LIBRARY LOVER: CINEFILES ON RUIZ

Not only has the Pacific Film Archive (PFA) organized "The Library Lover: The Films of Raúl Ruiz", but they have gathered numerous archival materials located within their online depository CineFiles. Per their website, in 1996, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, PFA initiated the CineFiles project to index and digitize materials from its documentation collection and make them freely available, with copyright holders' permissions, on the Internet.

Types of documents available on CineFiles include film reviews, interviews, popular and scholarly articles, publicity materials, program notes, book excerpts, pamphlets, filmmakers' texts and correspondence, and many other rare archival documents dating from the early 1900s to the present. Grant support has enabled the PFA Library to prioritize the indexing and scanning of documents on the films of more than 150 major international directors, materials describing silent Soviet cinema, and PFA's unique collection of exhibitor manuals.

The CineFiles film document image database now holds more than 50,000 documents on film history. In-depth indexing is available on the Web for most documents, and page images or links are freely available for over 90% of them. Page images for all documents can be viewed on site at the PFA Library or e-mailed on request. Contact the PFA Library at cinefiles@berkeley.edu for more information or if you are interested in seeing a title or director not currently represented within CineFiles. If they have any materials related to your interest in their files, they will prioritize the indexing and scanning of those documents.

Sweet, huh? Let's give it a spin with some of the titles in the Ruiz retrospective.

Tres Tristes Tigres (Three Sad Tigers, 1968)

There are 12 entries under this title (some duplicative of previous titles and all in PDF), including:

1) Ian Christie's Rouge essay;

2) Program notes from the Edinburgh Film Festival and the Rotterdam Film Festival (per Ian Christie); and

3) Adrian Martin's Australian Film Institute publication The Cinema of Raúl Ruiz (1993).

The Penal Colony (La colonia penal, 1970)

There are 11 entries under this title (some duplicative of previous titles and all in PDF), including:

1) Ian Christie's Rouge essay; and

2) A program note from the San Francisco Cinematheque and Richard Peña's capsule for PFA.

The Suspended Vocation
(La vocation suspendue, 1978)

There are 11 entries under this title (some duplicative of previous titles and all in PDF), including:

1) Program note from the Edinburgh Film Festival, a PFA note, and Richard Peña and Jordi Torrent's program notes for Exit Art; and

2) Richard Roud's review for Sight and Sound (1988 Winter).

The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting
(L'hypothèse du tableau volé, 1979)

There are 17 entries under this title (all in PDF), including:

1) Thomas Elsaesser's Rouge essay;

2) Program note from the Edinburgh Film Festival and Richard Peña's PFA capsule;

3) Coralie Films International Zanzibar press kit, which includes some of Ruiz's notes excerpted from Camera Je (May 1979), translated from the French, plus an essay by Jean-Paul Sarré;

4) Ian Christie's interview with Ruiz for Monthly Film Bulletin (December 1984), as well as his filmography and article "Snakes and Ladders: Television Games" for Afterimage (Fall 1981);

5) Numerous reviews, some available only on request. Those immediately available include Amy Taubin's review for The Village Voice (November 17, 1987), Dave Kehr's review for The Chicago Reader (April 6, 1984), Gilbert Adair's piece for Sight and Sound (Winter 1981), Gene Moskowitz's review for Variety (March 7, 1979), and Joe Leydon's review for The Houston Post.

A TV Dante (1989)

There are 8 entries under this title (some duplicative of previous titles and all in PDF), including:

1) Adrian Martin's Rouge essay;

2) Reiner Moritz Associates press kit;

3) A shot analysis;

4) Steve Seid's program note for the San Francisco International Film Festival; and

5) An article for the Royal Academy of Arts and La Republica's review.

Three Lives and Only One Death
(Trois vies & une seule mort, 1996)

There are 16 entries under this title (all in PDF), including:

1) Adrian Martin's Rouge essay;

2) Program notes from the Athens International Film and Video Festival, the Vancouver International Film Festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival (per M. Gould), and the Cannes Film Festival;

3) New Yorker Films press kit, which includes an interview with Ruiz, and their publicity flyer;

4) Numerous reviews, some available only on request. Those immediately available include Jonathan Rosenbaum's review for The Chicago Reader (February 28, 1997) and Deborah Young's for Variety (May 27, 1996).

Time Regained (Le Temps retrouvé, 1999)

There are 30 entries under this title (all in PDF), including:

1) Cyril Béghin's Rouge essay;

2) Program notes from the Film Society at Lincoln Center, the Cinematheque Ontario (per James Quandt), the Cannes Film Festival, the San Francisco International Film Festival (per Dave Kehr), the Festival International du Nouveau Cinéma Montréal, and the New York Film Festival;

3) Two press kits, the first of which includes interviews with both Ruiz and Gilles Taurand (plus several 1999 newsclippings) and the second—Kino International's, when they picked up the film's distribution—which includes the essay "The Destruction of a Man and the Construction of a Book" by Jean-Yves Tadie, the aforementioned interview with Ruiz, and several newsclippings. It's also a sweet touch to notice that Karen Larsen and Larsen Associates were the Bay Area's publicist for the film at the time. Also from Kino International are publicity flyers one and two tracking the film's boxoffice numbers, plus distributor materials; and, finally

4) Numerous reviews, some available only on request. Those immediately available include Jonathan Rosenbaum's review for The Chicago Reader (July 21, 2000); Kevin Thomas for The Los Angeles Times (July 14, 2000); Edward E. Crouse for the San Francisco Bay Guardian (July 12, 2000); Keith Reader for Sight and Sound (January 2000); J. Hoberman for The Village Voice (June 20, 2000); Stephen McGill for Time Out New York (June 15, 2000); and David Rooney for Variety (May 24, 1999).

THE LIBRARY LOVER: ROUGE ON RUIZ

As detailed at their website, the second issue of the online magazine Rouge devotedly compiled an annotated filmography of the directorial work of Raúl Ruiz, as part of a series of tributes to Ruiz organized by Rouge and the International Film Festival Rotterdam to coincide with their program, "Raúl Ruiz: An Eternal Wanderer" (January 21-February 1, 2004), including the book Raúl Ruiz: Images of Passage (Rouge Press) and the IFFR 2004 catalogue which contains short entries on films screened at the retrospective. The Rouge annotated filmography collected for the first time over 30 years of writings on the films of Raúl Ruiz. I replicate their index for ease of reference:

The Expropriation (La Expropriacíon, Chile, 1971)—Barthélemy Amengual; 2 (2004)

Time Regained (Le Temps retrouvé, France, 1999)—Cyril Béghin; 2 (2004)

Treasure Island (L'île au trésor, France, 1986, released 1991)—Cyril Béghin; 2 (2004)

Le Vertige de la page blanche (Vertigo of the Blank Page, Belgium, 2003)—Marie-Luce Bonfanti; 2 (2004)

La Querelle de jardins (Quarrel of Gardens, short, France, 1982)—Christine Buci-Glucksmann; 2 (2004)

Le Borgne (The One-Eyed Man, 4 episodes, France, 1980)—Christine Buci-Glucksmann; 2 (2004)

Les Divisions de la nature: Un homme, un château, "Chambord" (The Divisions of Nature: A Man, a Castle, "Chambord", short, France, 1978)—Christine Buci-Glucksmann; 2 (2004)

Dans un miroir (In a Mirror, short feature, France, 1984)—Ian Christie; 2 (2004)

The Penal Colony (La Colonia Penal, Chile, 1970)—Ian Christie; 2 (2004)

The Real Presence (La Présence réelle, France, 1983)—Ian Christie; 2 (2004)

Los Tres Tristes Tigres (Three Sad Tigers, Chile, 1968)—Ian Christie; 2 (2004)

Bérénice (France, 1983)—Olivier Curchod; 2 (2004)

Manoel on the Island of Marvels (3 part TV series, France, 1985)—Fergus Daly; 2 (2004)

Wind Water (aka Feng Shui, short, UK, 1996)—Fergus Daly; 2 (2004)

The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (L'Hypothese du tableau volé, France, 1978)—Thomas Elsaesser; 2 (2004)

That Day (Ce jour-là, France, 2003)—Filipe Furtado; 2 (2004)

City of Pirates (La Ville des pirates, France/Portugal, 1983)—Paul Hammond; 2 (2004)

Genealogies of a Crime (Génealogies d’un crime, France, 1997)—Maximilian Le Cain; 2 (2004)

A TV Dante (UK, 1989)—Adrian Martin; 2 (2004)

Dark at Noon or Eyes and Lies (L'œil qui ment, France, 1992)—Adrian Martin; 2 (2004)

Great Events and Ordinary People (Des grands événements et des gens ordinaires: Les Élections, short feature, France, 1979)—Adrian Martin; 2 (2004)

A Place Among the Living (aka A Taste for Murder, Une place parmi les vivants, France/Rumania, 2003)—Adrian Martin; 2 (2004)

Responso: Homage to Huub Baals (video, work-in-progress, 2004)—Adrian Martin; 2 (2004)

The Territory (Portugal/USA, 1981)—Adrian Martin; 2 (2004)

Three Lives and Only One Death (Trois vies et une seule mort, France, 1996)—Adrian Martin; 2 (2004)

Ruiz and the Devils: La recta provincial—Gonzalo Maza; 11 (2007)

Mirror of Tunisia/Tunisia, the Trance and the Stone (Miroir de Tunis/Tunis, la transe et la Pierre, Tunisia/France, 1993)—Abdelwahab Meddeb; 2 (2004)

Miotte vu par Ruiz (Miotte by Ruiz, France, 2001)—Jean Miotte; 2 (2004)

The Blind Owl (La Chouette Aveugle, France/Switzerland, 1987)—Luc Moullet; 2 (2004)

Dialogue of Exiles (Diálogo de exilados, France 1974)—Zuzana Mirjam Pick; 2 (2004)

Three Crowns of the Sailor (Les Trois couronnes du matelot, France, 1982)—Bérénice Reynaud; 2 (2004)

Dogs' Dialogue (Colloque de chiens, short, France, 1977)—Jonathan Rosenbaum; 2 (2004)

Mammame (France, 1985)—Jonathan Rosenbaum; 2 (2004)

The Roof of the Whale aka On Top of the Whale (Hek dak van de Valvis / Le Toit de la baleine, Netherlands/France, 1981)—Jonathan Rosenbaum; 2 (2004)

Snakes and Ladders (Le Jeu de l'Oie: La Cartographie, short, France, 1980)—Jonathan Rosenbaum; 2 (2004)

The Comedy of Shadows (La Comédie des ombres): Fragments of a Screenplay—Raúl Ruiz; 2 (2004)

El Realismo Socialista [Considerádo Commo Una de las Bellas artes] (Socialist Realism [Considered as One of the Fine Arts], Chile, 1973)—Raúl Ruiz; 2 (2004)

The Golden Boat (USA, 1990)—Raúl Ruiz; 2 (2004)

Handbook of French History (Petit manuel d'histoire de France, 2 part TV series, France, 1979)—Raúl Ruiz; 2 (2004)

Palomita Blanca (Little White Dove, Chile, 1973)—Raúl Ruiz; 2 (2004)

Las Soledades (The Solitudes, UK, 1992)—Raúl Ruiz; 2 (2004)

Suspended Vocation (La Vocation suspendue, France, 1977)—Raúl Ruiz; 2 (2004)

Love Torn in Dream (Combat d'amour en songe, France/Portugal/Chile, 2000)—Guy Scarpetta; 2 (2004)

Cofralandes: Chilean Rhapsody (Cofralandes: Rapsodia Chilena, Chile/France, 2002)—Clemente Sobourin; 2 (2004)

Life is a Dream (Mémoire des apparences, France, 1986)—Lesley Stern; 2 (2004)

Letter from a Filmmaker, or The Return of a Library Lover (Lettre d'un cinéaste ou Le Retour d'un amateur de bibliothèques, short, France, 1983)—Charles Tesson; 2 (2004)

Photo of Ruiz courtesy of Gemini Films, via Photofest.

ROUGE—The Evening Class Index

Admittedly a continuing work-in-progress, I nonetheless felt that—with the publication of the recent issue of Rouge 12 and its attendant theme on archives—I could share my index with readers of The Evening Class. Though Rouge provides a table of contents for each specific issue, my studies required a more general index, which I've structured primarily to auteurist ends though now and then I've gone topical. This is a completely idiosyncratic organization catering to my own interests and approaches. I haven't included the image issue as of yet (and am not confident I will) and there is still much cross-referentiality to accomplish; but, for now, here's what I've got. I hope it helps others with their research.

Aboriginal Art / Culture & Film

Aboriginal Art and Film: The Politics of Representation—Marcia Langton; 6 (2005)

Beyond Assimilation: Aboriginality, Media History and Public Memory—Meaghan Morris; 3 (2004)

Chantal Akerman

La Chambre Akerman: The Captive as Creator—Ivone Margulies; 10 (2007)

Fatih Akin

Six Characters in Search of the Other: The Edge of Heaven—Yvette Bíró; 12 (2008)

Eddie Albert

The Unquiet American: Eddie Albert—Donald Phelps; 9 (2006)

Robert Altman

Tanner Redux: "Think Brave! Shoot Brave!! Be Brave!!!"—Jean-Pierre Coursodon; 12 (2008)

Mercedes Álvarez

El cielo gira—Miguel Marías; 6 (2005)

"An Affair to Remember"

The Gate of Heaven, The Place of the Other: An Affair to Remember—Carlos Losilla; 7 (2005)

Michelangelo Antonioni

Michelangelo and I—Enrica Antonioni; 4 (2004)

Lo Sguardo di Michelangelo: The Gaze of Antonioni—Jonathan Rosenbaum; 4 (2004)

Arab Cinema (Miscellaneous)

History of Our Present (1): New Arab Film and Video—Jayce Salloum; 1 (2003)

Architecture and Cinema

Los Toquis, or Urban Babel—Nataša Durovicová; 7 (2005)

An Architectural Promenade [Singing in the Rain]—Alain Masson; 7 (2005)

Humbert Balsan

Humbert Balsan 1954-2005—Dave Kehr; 6 (2005)

Raymond Bellour

The Film We Accompany—Raymond Bellour; 3 (2004)

Ingmar Bergman

Saraband: Bergman's Ship Sails On—Yvette Bíró; 6 (2005)

Brazilian Cinema (Miscellaneous)

Cinema: Music of Light—Jairo Ferreira; 9 (2006)

Stan Brakhage

Serious Mothlight: For Stan Brakhage (1933-2003)—Nicole Brenez & Adrian Martin; 1 (2003)

Tod Browning

Freaks Show—Thierry Kuntzel; 7 (2005)

Luis Buñuel

Buñuel Bows Out—Paul Hammond; 3 (2004)

John Cassavettes

Shops of Horror: Notes for a Visual History of the Reification of Emotion in a Capitalist Regime, or (to put it more bluntly) "Fuck the Money"—Nicole Brenez; 11 (2007)

Chinese Bookie: After Cassavetes—James Clayden; 11 (2007)

Nick Cave

From The Proposition—Nick Cave; 7 (2005)

Pierre Clémenti

There's Nothing More International Than a Pack of Pimps: A Conversation between Pierre Clémenti, Miklos Janscó, Glauber Rocha and Jean-Marie Straub convened by Simon Hartog in Rome, February 1970—3 (2004)

Pedro Costa

A Closed Door That Leaves Us Guessing—Pedro Costa; 10 (2007)

Adventure: An Essay on Pedro Costa—Shigehiko Hasumi; 10 (2007)

Serge Daney

Montage Obligatory: The War, the Gulf and the Small Screen—Serge Daney; 8 (2006)

Gilles Deleuze

The Green Garbage Bins of Gilles Deleuze—Luc Moullet; 6 (2005)

Poubelle, ma belle—William D. Routt; 6 (2005)

Manoel de Oliveira

On the Uncertain Nature of Cinema (By Way of the Work of Manoel de Oliveira)—Víctor Erice; 4 (2004)

Stanley Donen

An Architectural Promenade: Singin' in the Rain—Alain Masson; 7 (2005)

Raymond Durgnat

"Culture Always is a Fog": Interview With Raymond Durgnat—Rick Thompson, et al.; 8 (2006)

Letter to Jean-Pierre—Raymond Durgnat; 8 (2006)

Red Psalm—Raymond Durgnat; 8 (2006)

DVD

A Fish in the Aquarium—Thierry Jousse; 9 (2006)

Stephen Dwoskin

Reflections: The Self, the World and Others, and How All These Things Melt Together in Film—Stephen Dwoskin; 3 (2004)

Víctor Erice

Erice-Kiarostami: The Pathways of Creation—Alain Bergala; 9 (2006)

Writing Cinema, Thinking Cinema ...—Víctor Erice; 4 (2004)

On the Uncertain Nature of Cinema (By Way of the Work of Manoel de Oliveira)—Víctor Erice; 4 (2004)

Risks and Revelations: Erice-Kiarostami—Miguel Marías; 9 (2006)

Sergei M. Eisenstein

Eisenstein, the Glass House and the Spherical Book: From the Comedy of the Eye to a Drama of Enlightenment—Oksana Bulgakowa; 7 (2005)

Of Mice and Men: Reflections on Eisenstein and Digital Imagery—Paul Willemen; 8 (2006)

Manny Farber

The Farber Machine—Patrick Amos & Jean-Pierre Gorin; 12 (2008)

Seers for the Sleepless—Manny Farber; 12 (2008)

The Qualities I Like: Impressions of Manny Farber—Adrian Martin; 12 (2008)

Critic Going Everywhere—Donald Phelps; 12 (2008)

My Budd by Manny Farber—Bill Krohn; 12 (2008)

Thinking About (Personal) History Lessons: The Movie Paintings of Manny Farber—Jonathan Rosenbaum; 12 (2008)

Harun Farocki

Harun Farocki's Images of the World—Christopher Pavsek; 12 (2008)

Alexei Fedorchenko

First on the Moon: The Totalitarian Echo in New Russian Cinema—Julia Vassilieva; 12 (2008)

Abel Ferrara

Come Into My Sleep: Body Snatchers—Nicole Brenez; 7 (2005)

John Ford

The Searchers: Dismantled—Ross Gibson; 7 (2005)

John Ford, or The Eloquence of Gesture—Shigehiko Hasumi; 7 (2005)

Ford's Depth—Miguel Marías; 7 (2005)

"The Doddering Relics of a Lost Cause": John Ford's The Sun Shines Bright—Jonathan Rosenbaum; 7 (2005)

Péter Forgács

"It's Just a Waste of Time to Walk and Play Tennis": Interview with Péter Forgács—André Habib; 12 (2008)

William Friedkin

Friedkin Out—Bill Krohn; 3 (2004)

French Cinema (Miscellaneous)

For Danièle Huillet (1936-2006) and Jean-Marie Straub (1933-)—Miguel Marías; 10 (2007)

"1750 Percussion Rifles": Work of the Document, Rights and Duties of Cinema—Nicole Brenez & Michael Witt; 9 (2006)

Samuel Fuller

Fuller By Two [I Shot Jesse James / Park Row]—Donald Phelps; 8 (2006)

Philippe Garrel

Philippe Garrel's L'Enfant secret (1982)—Serge Daney; 1 (2003)

German Cinema (Miscellaneous)

Antigone Agonistes: Urban Guerrilla or Guerrilla Urbanism? The Red Army Fraction, Germany in Autumn and Death Game—Thomas Elsaesser; 4 (2004)

Downfall: Almost the Same Old Story—Klaus Neumann; 6 (2005)

Come On, Baby, Be My Tiger: Inventing India on the German Screen in Der Tiger von Eschnapur and Das indische Grabmal—Meenakshi Shedde and Vinzenz Hediger, 7 (2005)

Ritwik Ghatak

Her Mother's Son: Kinship and History in Ritwik Ghatak—Moinak Biswas; 3 (2004)

Ritwik Ghatak: Reinventing the Cinema—Jonathan Rosenbaum; 10 (2007)

Jean-Luc Godard

According to JLG—Dominique Païni; 9 (2006)

Le rouge (1968): A Painting by Gérard Fromanger—Gérard Fromanger; 1 (2003)

Philippe Grandrieux

The Body's Night: An Interview with Philippe Grandrieux—Nicole Brenez; 1 (2003)

"Grbavica"

Plain, Pain: Grbavica—Yvette Bíró; 10 (2007)

José Luis Guerín

Work in Progress—José Luis Guerin; 4 (2004)

In Sylvia's City—Miguel Marías; 11 (2007)

Simon Hartog

There's Nothing More International Than a Pack of Pimps: A Conversation between Pierre Clémenti, Miklós Janscó, Glauber Rocha and Jean-Marie Straub convened by Simon Hartog in Rome, February 1970—3 (2004)

Vinzenz Hediger

Politique des archives: European Cinema and the Invention of Tradition in the Digital Age—Vinzenz Hediger; 12 (2008)

Alfred Hitchcock

Desire Roped In: Notes on the Fetishism of the Long Take in Rope—Jean-Pierre Coursodon; 4 (2004)

When I Made The Paradine Case—Alfred Hitchcock & Mark Rappaport; 4 (2004)

In and Around The Paradine Case: Control, Confession and the Claims of Marriage—Douglas Pye; 4 (2004)

Hou Hsiao-hsien

Café Lumière—Shigehiko Hasumi; 6 (2005)

In Search of New Genres and Directions for Asian Cinema—Hou Hsiao-hsien; 1 (2003)

John Hughes

The Director as Psychoanalyst: An Interview with Jacques Rivette—John Hughes; 4 (2004)

Autodialogue (1978)—John Hughes; 4 (2004)

John Hughes On (and With) Jacques Rivette: Introduction—Jonathan Rosenbaum; 4 (2004)

"I'll Be Your Eyes, You'll Be Mine"

I'll Be Your Eyes, You'll Be Mine—Keja Kramer and Stephen Dwoskin; 9 (2006)

Shohei Imamura

Shohei Imamura: The Insect's Game—Jairo Ferreira; 9 (2006)

Guillermo Cabrera Infante

A Scattered Homage to Guillermo Cabrera Infante (1929-2005)—Victor Fowler Calzada; 7 (2005)

Iranian Cinema (Miscellaneous)

Ebrahim Golestan: Treasure of Pre-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema—Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa; 11 (2007)

"The Ister"

The Ister: An Excerpt, From Novi Sad to Vukovar—David Barison and Daniel Ross; 3 (2004)

Miklós Jancsó

There's Nothing More International Than a Pack of Pimps: A Conversation between Pierre Clémenti, Miklós Janscó, Glauber Rocha and Jean-Marie Straub convened by Simon Hartog in Rome, February 1970—3 (2004)

Red Psalm—Raymond Durgnat; 8 (2006)

Kent Jones

Can Movies Think?—Kent Jones; 12 (2008)

Abbas Kiarostami

Erice-Kiarostami: The Pathways of Creation—Alain Bergala; 9 (2006)

Risks and Revelations: Erice-Kiarostami—Miguel Marías; 9 (2006)

"King Kong"

Magnificent Animal—Adrian Martin; 8 (2006)

Robert Kramer

Robert Kramer and the Jewish-German Question—Hironobu Baba; 9 (2006)

Letter to Bob Dylan—Robert Kramer & Bobby Buechler; 4 (2004)

Robert Kramer Films the Event—Adrian Martin; 9 (2006)

Carole Landis

Homage to Carole Landis—Donald Phelps; 11 (2007)

Fritz Lang

Machinations of an Incoherent, Malevolent Universe: Fritz Lang's Spione—Adrian Martin; 7 (2005)

Mitchell Leisen

Mitchell Leisen—Mark Rappaport; 12 (2008)

Val Lewton

Fear Itself: Val Lewton's The Ghost Ship—Donald Phelps; 8 (2006)

David Lynch

The Author is on Fire—Yvette Bíró; 11 (2007)

Terrence Malick

Things to Look Into: Terrence Malick—Adrian Martin; 10 (2007)

E.J. Marey

The Marey Project: A Work in Progress—James Clayden; 4 (2004)

Chris Marker

Markeriana: A Scarcely Critical Description of the Work of Chris Marker—Roger Tailleur; 11 (2007)

Jonas Mekas

"I'm an Outsider. I'm a Monk. I'm Somewhere Else": Interview with Jonas Mekas—Stefan Grissemann; 12 (2008)

Tsai Ming-Liang

The 400 Blow Jobs: The Wayward Cloud—Helen Bandis, Adrian Martin, & Grant McDonald; 7 (2005)

Perhaps the Flood ...—Yvette Biro; 1 (2003)

Minimalism

The Fullness of Minimalism—Yvette Bíró; 9 (2006)

Miscellaneous

How Violence Made a Real Mother-of-a-Mother of Me—Kathleen Mary Fallon; 6 (2005)

Moments of Choice—V.F. Perkins; 9 (2006)

Ukiyo-e/Hollywood—Penny Webb; 7 (2005)

The Zoom in Popular Cinema: A Question of Performance—Paul Willemen

Robert Montgomery

The Rich Boy: The Reticent Artistry of Robert Montgomery—Donald Phelps; 1 (2003)

Michael Moore

The Rhetoric of Fahrenheit 9/11—Gilberto Perez; 12 (2008)

Luc Moullet

Gags, Nonsense, Seeing, Imagination: Luc Moullet and Parpaillon's Pataphysical Theatre—Fabien Boully; 6 (2005)

The Green Garbage Bins of Gilles Deleuze—Luc Moullet; 6 (2005)

Poubelle, ma belle—William D. Routt; 6 (2005)

Guido Mutis

Dear Guido ...—Juan Pablo Miranda; 12 (2008)

Mikio Naruse

Kimiko in New York—Kiyoaki Okubo; 10 (2007)

"Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy"

Beyond Assimilation: Aboriginality, Media History and Public Memory—Meaghan Morris; 3 (2004)

Nyinkka Nyunyu

The Bush TVs of Nyinkka Nyunyu—Alison Alder; 6 (2005)

Yasujirô Ozu

Ozu's Angry Women—Shigehiko Hasumi; 4 (2004)

Maurice Pialat

Maurice Pialat: A Cinema of Surrender—Fergus Daly; 1 (2003)

Roman Polanski

Double Chinatown—Ross Macleay; 11 (2007)

Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley, Last New York Concert—Jonas Mekas; 6 (2005)

Jacques Rancière

A Thwarted Fable—Jacques Rancière; 8 (2006)

Carol Reed

Wrong Geometries in The Third Man—Richard Misek; 7 (2005)

Edgar Reitz

Heimat 3: Signing Off On The German Century—Roger Hillman; 6 (2005)

Alain Resnais

Marcel in Marienbad—Mark Rappaport; 1 (2003)

Jacques Rivette

The Director as Psychoanalyst: An Interview with Jacques Rivette—John Hughes; 4 (2004)

Autodialogue (1978)—John Hughes; 4 (2004)

John Hughes On (and With) Jacques Rivette: Introduction—Jonathan Rosenbaum; 4 (2004)

Glauber Rocha

There's Nothing More International Than a Pack of Pimps: A Conversation between Pierre Clémenti, Miklós Janscó, Glauber Rocha and Jean-Marie Straub convened by Simon Hartog in Rome, February 1970—3 (2004)

George Romero

Land of the Dead—Tony Williams; 7 (2005)

Marie-Claire Ropars

A Cinematic Language—Marie-Claire Ropars; 11 (2007)

Reading with Marie-Claire—Tom Conley; 11 (2007)

On Filmic Rewriting: Contamination of the Arts or Destruction of Art's Identity?—Marie-Claire Ropars; 11 (2007)

Jean Rouch

Jean Rouch 1917-2004: A Valediction—Michael Eaton; 3 (2004)

A Tribute to Jean Rouch—Paul Stoller; 3 (2004)

Raúl Ruiz

The Expropriation (La Expropriacíon, Chile, 1971)—Barthélemy Amengual; 2 (2004)

Time Regained (Le Temps retrouvé, France, 1999)—Cyril Béghin; 2 (2004)

Treasure Island (L'île au trésor, France, 1986, released 1991)—Cyril Béghin; 2 (2004)

Le Vertige de la page blanche (Vertigo of the Blank Page, Belgium, 2003)—Marie-Luce Bonfanti; 2 (2004)

La Querelle de jardins (Quarrel of Gardens, short, France, 1982)—Christine Buci-Glucksmann; 2 (2004)

Le Borgne (The One-Eyed Man, 4 episodes, France, 1980)—Christine Buci-Glucksmann; 2 (2004)

Les Divisions de la nature: Un homme, un château, "Chambord" (The Divisions of Nature: A Man, a Castle, "Chambord", short, France, 1978)—Christine Buci-Glucksmann; 2 (2004)

Dans un miroir (In a Mirror, short feature, France, 1984)—Ian Christie; 2 (2004)

The Penal Colony (La Colonia Penal, Chile, 1970)—Ian Christie; 2 (2004)

The Real Presence (La Présence réelle, France, 1983)—Ian Christie; 2 (2004)

Los Tres Tristes Tigres (Three Sad Tigers, Chile, 1968)—Ian Christie; 2 (2004)

Bérénice (France, 1983)—Olivier Curchod; 2 (2004)

Manoel on the Island of Marvels (3 part TV series, France, 1985)—Fergus Daly; 2 (2004)

Wind Water (aka Feng Shui, short, UK, 1996)—Fergus Daly; 2 (2004)

The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (L'Hypothese du tableau volé, France, 1978)—Thomas Elsaesser; 2 (2004)

That Day (Ce jour-là, France, 2003)—Filipe Furtado; 2 (2004)

City of Pirates (La Ville des pirates, France/Portugal, 1983)—Paul Hammond; 2 (2004)

Genealogies of a Crime (Génealogies d’un crime, France, 1997)—Maximilian Le Cain; 2 (2004)

A TV Dante (UK, 1989)—Adrian Martin; 2 (2004)

Dark at Noon or Eyes and Lies (L'œil qui ment, France, 1992)—Adrian Martin; 2 (2004)

Great Events and Ordinary People (Des grands événements et des gens ordinaires: Les Élections, short feature, France, 1979)—Adrian Martin; 2 (2004)

A Place Among the Living (aka A Taste for Murder, Une place parmi les vivants, France/Rumania, 2003)—Adrian Martin; 2 (2004)

Responso: Homage to Huub Baals (video, work-in-progress, 2004)—Adrian Martin; 2 (2004)

The Territory (Portugal/USA, 1981)—Adrian Martin; 2 (2004)

Three Lives and Only One Death (Trois vies et une seule mort, France, 1996)—Adrian Martin; 2 (2004)

Ruiz and the Devils: La recta provincial—Gonzalo Maza; 11 (2007)

Mirror of Tunisia/Tunisia, the Trance and the Stone (Miroir de Tunis/Tunis, la transe et la Pierre, Tunisia/France, 1993)—Abdelwahab Meddeb; 2 (2004)

Miotte vu par Ruiz (Miotte by Ruiz, France, 2001)—Jean Miotte; 2 (2004)

The Blind Owl (La Chouette Aveugle, France/Switzerland, 1987)—Luc Moullet; 2 (2004)

Dialogue of Exiles (Diálogo de exilados, France 1974)—Zuzana Mirjam Pick; 2 (2004)

Three Crowns of the Sailor (Les Trois couronnes du matelot, France, 1982)—Bérénice Reynaud; 2 (2004)

Dogs' Dialogue (Colloque de chiens, short, France, 1977)—Jonathan Rosenbaum; 2 (2004)

Mammame (France, 1985)—Jonathan Rosenbaum; 2 (2004)

The Roof of the Whale aka On Top of the Whale (Hek dak van de Valvis / Le Toit de la baleine, Netherlands/France, 1981)—Jonathan Rosenbaum; 2 (2004)

Snakes and Ladders (Le Jeu de l'Oie: La Cartographie, short, France, 1980)—Jonathan Rosenbaum; 2 (2004)

The Comedy of Shadows (La Comédie des ombres): Fragments of a Screenplay—Raúl Ruiz; 2 (2004)

El Realismo Socialista [Considerádo Commo Una de las Bellas artes] (Socialist Realism [Considered as One of the Fine Arts], Chile, 1973)—Raúl Ruiz; 2 (2004)

The Golden Boat (USA, 1990)—Raúl Ruiz; 2 (2004)

Handbook of French History (Petit manuel d'histoire de France, 2 part TV series, France, 1979)—Raúl Ruiz; 2 (2004)

Palomita Blanca (Little White Dove, Chile, 1973)—Raúl Ruiz; 2 (2004)

Las Soledades (The Solitudes, UK, 1992)—Raúl Ruiz; 2 (2004)

Suspended Vocation (La Vocation suspendue, France, 1977)—Raúl Ruiz; 2 (2004)

Love Torn in Dream (Combat d'amour en songe, France/Portugal/Chile, 2000)—Guy Scarpetta; 2 (2004)

Cofralandes: Chilean Rhapsody (Cofralandes: Rapsodia Chilena, Chile/France, 2002)—Clemente Sobourin; 2 (2004)

Life is a Dream (Mémoire des apparences, France, 1986)—Lesley Stern; 2 (2004)

Letter from a Filmmaker, or The Return of a Library Lover (Lettre d'un cinéaste ou Le Retour d'un amateur de bibliothèques, short, France, 1983)—Charles Tesson; 2 (2004)

Ken Russell

Ken Russell's Portraits of Elgar, Delius and Mahler—Donald Phelps; 8 (2006)

Russian Postmodernism

Life Times 4, or: Postmodernism à la Russe—Julia Vassilieva

Paul Schrader

Pretending that Life has no Meaning: Interview with Paul Schrader—George Kouvaros; 11 (2007)

Jean-Jacques Schuhl

from Ingrid Caven: A Novel—Jean-Jacques Schuhl; 4 (2004)

Louis Skorecki

Louis Louie—Adrian Martin and Guillaume Ollendorff; 10 (2007)

Henri Storck

Subjects and Details Which Have Caused Fear Among Children—Henri Storck; 6 (2005)

Jean-Marie Straub

There's Nothing More International Than a Pack of Pimps: A Conversation between Pierre Clémenti, Miklós Janscó, Glauber Rocha and Jean-Marie Straub convened by Simon Hartog in Rome, February 1970—3 (2004)

Mitch Torres

Whispering In Our Hearts—Adrian Martin; 6 (2005)

Paolo Cherchi Usai

Passio: An Interview With Paolo Cherchi Usai—Grant McDonald; 10 (2007)

Agnès Varda

Agnès Varda's Open Harbour—Yvette Bíró; 9 (2006)

Dziga Vertov

Dziga Vertov: Storyboard—Roland Fischer-Briand; 9 (2006)

Order—Barbara Wurm; 9 (2006)

Entuzijazm: Symfonija Donbasu; Ukranian Film Poster for Enthusiasm—Dziga Vertov; 9 (2006)

Jean Vigo

À propos de Nice and the Extremely Necessary, Permanent Invention of the Cinematic Pamphlet—Nicole Brenez; 7 (2005)

Amos Vogel

The Vogel Call—Nicole Brenez; 3 (2004)

Bill Viola

The Arc of Passions: Bill Viola's New Works—Yvette Bíró; 6 (2005)

Andy Warhol

The '60s Without Compromise: Watching Warhol's Films—Thom Andersen; 8 (2006)

Chelsea Girls—Omar Diop; 8 (2006)

Orson Welles

Wrong Geometries in The Third Man—Richard Misek; 11 (2007)

Peter Whitehead

Peter Whitehead: The Exigency of Joy—Nicole Brenez; 10 (2007)

Billy Wilder

Norma and Delilah [Sunset Boulevard]—Mark Rappaport; 10 (2007)

Shelley Winters

Shelley Winters Top and Bottom—Georgia Lea; 8 (2006)

Alan Wright

Scuppered: Of Fish and Film—Alan Wright; 12 (2008)

Updated: 11/05/08

INDEX—RAÚL RUIZ

PFA Program Notes (by Jason Sanders)

Jonathan Rosenbaum on Ruiz

Rouge on Ruiz

MUBI on Ruiz

Cinefiles on Ruiz

Adrian Martin on Ruiz

Quintín on Mysteries of Lisbon (2010)

NOIR CITY 8—CLEO MOORE, "QUEEN OF THE B-MOVIE BAD GIRLS"

"You know, just because you're a blonde type doesn't mean you can't suddenly do serious parts."—Cleo Moore.

Noir City knows that bad girls drive San Franciscans wild! Doesn't matter if you're straight, gay, male or female, or anywhere inbetween, above or below: we love our women blonde, buxom, breathtaking and baaaaad! So to satisfy our (ahem!) peninsular obsessions, this year's edition of Noir City revives their immensely popular "Bad Girls of Film Noir" with a double-bill highlighting Cleo Moore: One Girl's Confession (1953) and Women's Prison (1955).

Noir City caught my attention immediately by describing Moore as a curvaceous vixen "who carved a niche for herself as the Poor Man's Marilyn Monroe in a series of tawdry (but oh so enjoyable) sex-driven potboilers." Hal Erickson concurs at All Movie Guide: "Bleach-blonde leading lady Cleo Moore can be described as Marilyn Monroe without the class. Though very likely a nice person in real life, Moore specialized in playing vulgar, conniving trollops; one could practically smell the cheap perfume whenever she swiveled onscreen. After an uncharacteristic film debut as a serial heroine in 1948's Congo Bill, Moore became the favorite leading lady of actor/director Hugo Haas, who churned out picture after picture in which he played an older man ruined by Moore's seductive charms. Retiring from filmmaking in 1957, Cleo Moore entered politics, making an unsuccessful bid for the governor's chair in her home state of Louisiana."

"Cleo" was born Cleouna Moore on Halloween 1928 in Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana and raised by her contractor father Murphy Moore in nearby Gonzales, Louisiana, where she graduated from high school in 1941. In 1944 at the age of 15 she eloped with Palmer Long, the youngest son of the assassinated Governor of Louisiana, Huey Pierce Long. Their marriage only lasted six weeks but later provided her ample publicity fodder for her tongue-in-cheek gubernatorial bid for the state of Louisiana.

In 1946 she moved with her family to Southern California and began a successful building construction enterprise with her father. In May 1949 she was heralded as "Miss Plastic Art", posing in a costume made entirely of plastic, from the orchid in her hair down to the tips of her gloves, illustrating the variety of plastic arts to be displayed at the California Hobby Show, held at Shrine Convention Hall, May 27.

An ardent boxing fan, Moore was allegedly "discovered" in 1950 by an RKO talent scout while attending a fight at the Hollywood Legion Stadium. She began attracting press through pin-up and modeling work: severing a tire chain to open up a new Pep Boys store in Van Nuys, California and posing in the sensuous "Riviera Peasant Blouse". Her nights on the town with various men began to provide copy for Hollywood columnists.

Her actual film debut, however, was in the double role of Ruth Carver and Queen Lureen, the white ruler of a forbidden valley in Africa, in the 15-chapter 1948 movie serial Congo Bill produced by Columbia's Sam Katzman. She then worked for Warner Bros. in 1950 and for RKO Radio Pictures in 1950–52 before signing with Columbia Pictures in 1952. She first gained attention as the doomed gun moll Myrna Bowers in Nicholas Ray's film noir On Dangerous Ground (1951).

Moore began starring in films in 1952. Her films include One Girl's Confession (1953), Women's Prison (1955), Hold Back Tomorrow (1955), Over-Exposed (1956) and Hit and Run (1957). She often starred in films directed by actor/director Hugo Haas and appeared opposite John Agar, Richard Crenna, Vince Edwards, and Robert Ryan among other actors.

During this period Moore was one of several buxom blondes to achieve notability following Marilyn Monroe's major breakthrough, the others including Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren, Diana Dors, Sheree North, and Barbara Nichols. In the mid 1950s Columbia considered starring Moore in a film biography on Jean Harlow's life but the project never got off the ground. There's no doubt she would have been perfectly suited for the role as her screen persona—like Harlow's—was that of an ambitious and predatory blonde out to get everything she can out of life and out of a man. One magazine article defined her film noir bad girl persona as "ruthless" and "amoral" and wryly quipped that in such movies the bad girl "usually ended up dead or in jail, or worse, reformed."

Moore made headlines with several publicity stunts, notably a scandalous five minute kiss with Jack Eigen on live Chicago television in February 1954. Eigen was a well-known radio disc jockey and TV veteran for ABC affiliate WBKB. Moore was on his show to promote her latest film Bait (1954) and the topic of movie censorship and the imposed limits on film kisses surfaced. He suggested that they "go for the record" on live TV as an alleged experiment to test the reaction of his TV audience. Though they sat in separate chairs and the kiss was mild, Eigen was fired after protests from hundreds of women viewers charged him with "vulgarity, coarseness, and bad taste." Eigen said at the time: "I have no guilty conscience. I have been happily married for 18 years, and my wife knew what I planned for the program. If she had thought there was anything unladylike or rude about it, she would have told me." Moore added that the kiss "certainly was not intended to be offensive. I am sorry that this all came about because I wouldn't want anyone to lose his job." Notwithstanding, Moore milked the incident for publicity until gossip columnist Louella Parsons declared "enough already" in her Modern Screen column, gently chiding Moore by stating she was "too pretty, too talented, and too smart" to allow her publicists to continually push the Jack Eigan kissing scandal. But perhaps not. In 1955 she and a New Orleans newspaper reporter repeated the stunt, claiming a new record with a 6.5 minute kiss.

"Whatever she lacked in acting talent, she made up for with her talent for outlandish publicity stunts, ala Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren" claims Java's Bachelor Pad who—along with the Eigen scandal—emphasized Moore's famous feud with fellow (and more famous) pin-up and movie star Anita Ekberg. "The Swedish Ekberg made the comment that American women were immature and childish," Java writes, so "Moore went on a media crusade (mostly to help her own career) to prove that American women could measure up, in every sense." Java's Bachelor Bad has replicated a rather amazing article "The Great Glamazon Gambit" published in the August 1961 issue of Modern Man (Vol. 11, No. 12). This "curves 'n quotes contest" is a must-read!

One of my favorite quotes by Cleo: "I made a number of pictures, strictly C-pictures that were done on small budgets with a crackerjack director and actor who's now dead, Hugo Haas. Anything I learned about the fine art of acting I learned from Hugo. We made one film called Thy Neighbor's Wife [1953] in which I got flogged at the public whipping post for adultery. I did my best acting in that film, I guess." True to form, when asked who were the most interesting men they knew, Moore responded, "Brando, Holden, and newspaper reporters who want to interview me." Ekberg: "Any man with a by-line, magazine or newspaper."

Moore was named the honorary city siren of Tarzana, California in 1954 and crowned "Miss Billboard" in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1955. Admittedly, these were the various worthless beauty titles starlets received to obtain publicity. "I've found that before you become a star you have to spend a few years being Miss Ping Pong," she once commented.

The positive side of being consigned to bit parts in low-budget films was that Moore had plenty of time to pursue personal interests. As reported in Films of the Golden Age: "She began a successful building construction enterprise with her father Murphy Moore and developed her skills as an artist. A portrait she did of Jack Benny was unveiled when the comedian was inaugurated as Abot of the Friars Club in 1954 and she also reportedly did incidental art for the poster of one of her films, Thy Neighbor's Wife."

In the Summer of 1955 she went on a 60-city tour to ballyhoo Women's Prison. In Houston, the red-blooded Texans nearly tore her clothes off when a dozen boys, aged 16 or 17, wanted to be kissed by her and pulled a ruffle off her blouse as a souvenir. Of related interest, Moore noted this had become a problem when she traveled. "Ever since that Jack Eigen kiss incident, people don't ask me for my autograph any more. They want a lip print for their autograph books. I'm a sport; I go along. So I end up using about ten tubes of lipstick a day. I've even had to buy a darker kind than I prefer to wear in order to make a better print."

In 1960, Moore announced her intention to run for governor of Louisiana. "I was married to Huey Long's son for six weeks," she explained, "and while that doesn't make me an authority on politics, I know a lot about Louisiana. Matter of fact, I'm related to 50 per cent of the people down there. I'm sure I stand a good chance of getting elected." Elsewhere, she stated that she wanted to become "a political Florence Nightingale" and that any great politician had to be a great actor. If elected, she promised more rights for women, but asserted that all her right-hand men would be men. Although this was a mere publicity stunt, and Moore never actually ran for governor, it became so firmly implanted in her press copy that the New York Times stated it as fact in her obituary, as does Hal Erickson at All Movie Guide.

Moore had three sisters: Mari, Voni, and Jonnie. Mari followed in her footsteps and briefly pursued acting under the name of Mara Lea. She had a bit part in One Girl's Confession and a minor role alongside her sister Cleo in Hit and Run.

Moore found success as a businesswoman and real estate developer after her screen career ended in the late 1950s. She embarked on a million-dollar sports center in the San Fernando Valley and ran a profitable petticoat factory. "They have 100 machines going and can't fill the orders," she boasted to reporters. In 1961 she married real estate mogul Herbert Heftler, who she met while making an industrial film (her last professional work as an actress), giving birth to a daughter two years later. In October 1973, at the early age of 48, Cleo Moore died as Cleouna M. Heftler from a heart attack in Inglewood, California.

There are a few notable online fan sites for Moore. One of the most enjoyable is an entry at Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen where a narrative timeline has been assembled from gossip pieces published in various Hollywood screen magazines, which I acknowledge as the source for most of the above biography. Angel Fire likewise has several pages devoted to Moore, including a publicity profile written by Al Hortwits, Director of Publicity at Columbia Studios, wherein he describes her as "a canary blonde." There's also a condensed version of an article on Moore that appeared in Films of the Golden Age, which valiantly defended her against accusations of being a "Marilyn Monroe wannabe." The article asserts: "This is an unfair characterization particularly in Cleo's case as she entered films the same year as Marilyn and even beat the more famous blonde into the pages of LIFE magazine by almost a year. She never mimicked Marilyn in any of her films, never copied any of her cheesecake poses or wore similar dresses." The article adds: "Unlike many of her contemporaries, Cleo felt no hostility toward Marilyn. In fact, she once named Marilyn one of her three favorite movie stars, along with Marlon Brando and Joan Crawford." Angel Fire has also replicated Moore's wire service obituary.

Brian's Drive-in Theatre (one of my all-time favorite sites) fills in the gaps in her early RKO career: "By 1950, she had become a starlet at RKO Studios, which installed her in several film noir classics, such as This Side of the Law and Gambling House. She also appeared in two 1950 short-feature westerns with Tim Holt: Dynamite Pass and Rio Grande Patrol."

In coming weeks The Evening Class will be offering several photo galleries of Cleo Moore, but, until then, Brian's Drive-in Theatre, Java's Bachelor Pad and Fanpix have substantial offerings.




Of related interest: Noir City Index.

Cross-published on Twitch.