Crazy!, Obsessed . yes I am.

Oh my GOD, I AM, became, obsessed with him, the actor, the writer, and most of all the human being that was Dirk Bogarde.
I need to make a label here for him, Because my posts about him are increasing in a way I didn't expect myself ! and I'm labeling the older posts too. These posts about him seem to be continuing for some more time, I'm still digging and discovering and every thing I find makes me want more, and probably makes me want to write more even if I didn't actually write, for what ever reason.
I even can't work with concentration, I sneak into the web browser and search for the books by him or about him and read what I can. Unfortunately I can't find these books in hard copies and so I have to search for soft copies online. Which is also hard to find easily.
I've been thinking  while I'm searching and reading and watching and listening, why do I do this in this fierce rate?. I have a reason or two that I'll keep to my self, But I think one of the important reasons is that I like mystery and so I try to solve, or imagine to have solved, what is to me is identified as a puzzle, This man.
Second, what he says; most of it is again, as I said before, resonating inside my head and inside my heart in a way that frightened me once or twice :(. I think that's why I' am always feeling the urge to cry when thinking of a something he wrote or said.

I've found these pages about him because I'm searching the web in every possible way for any new line that can shed a light on this super man, even in his faults he was super!.Any way this page contains some quotes from one of his books That I need badly to read, Snakes and Ladders .

Thoughts about and by Bogarde

The Bogarde Mystique

The one that I need to copy and put in here is this one :)

"Isolation, even from choice as in my case, incubates self-centredness like a culture...Living in a tower, however secure it may feel, is hardly a social attribute...It was said of me recently that I suffered from an Obsessional Privacy. I can only suppose it must be true." (from A Postillion Struck by Lightening by Dirk Bogarde).

There are very few people that If it was possible I would have loved to be near them in their life at any era since dawn of history, two of them are Egyptian men lived the peak of their lives in the first half of 20th century, the third man ever that I wished to live near is Dirk. 

The Ofiicail site!

I have no explanation except that as ever his words strikes a nerve in me, and so I found this radio program where Dirk Bogarde was a guest, later in his life and after returning to Britain; And it brought tears into my eyes, made me want to cry at one moment.
I need to use waterproof eyeliner more often :(.

http://dirkbogarde.co.uk/archive/audio/desert-island-discs-1989/


His official site is one of the best sites of celebrities I think.  Thanks to the people who run it.

The Servant 1963

Watched the Servant, 2 days ago. Being a person who prefers subtlety and elegance I like this movie much, acting and cinematography especially.
Bogarde had said many times that the camera can capture what you are thinking, and he proved it in this movie in every shot.
Anyway I can't say much about this movie except that Barrett was the most evil servant I've ever met in movies. He plays any card in his hand to control and then destroy his master whom he hated I think even before being hired, the above shot proves it I believe, that's just before the hiring interview. The expression on his face is certainly not pleasant.

 And this wonderful analysis of the movie is the most accurate to what I think of the movie.

“I’m just the servant, madam”
https://cinemalodica.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/im-just-the-servant-madam-an-analysis-of-joseph-loseys-the-servant/

This next post also is very nice especially the captions used with photos included .

The master waits while the servant baits 

It's not exactly black and white you know

As I'm currently going very strongly through the "Dirk phase" ☺ A few hours ago I just finished watching a very good movie of his, Appointment in London (1952). It's a world war II movie, about RAF pilots based in UK during the war.

And the only thought that came into my mind - apart from  "That's a good air raid sequence" near the end - was, that this movie was made in 1952, and it's about British RAF officers and staff during 1939 to 1945 years. It's about men who wanted to defend their home land,and die trying, against an enemy who is trying to invade it, Those same men at the same mentioned years were considered in my country, Egypt , to be The enemy, Ironically for the exact same reason!, they were soldiers of an enemy who was already occupying my Home land. Many men, Egyptian that is, fought them and formed underground armed resistance against them back then and up until 1956 when all occupying British troops left Egypt. Even my grand mother hated British soldiers in the 1940s because they would walk drunk in the streets of Alexandria and harass girls and women. 

And I just wondered, if any one from my people back then should have watched that movie or the likes of it, what would he think, would he still hate the British or admire their courage?, and what would he do when he faces them in a battle?. It was armed resistance after all.
I have watched a lot of WWII movies since I was a child but this is the first time I ever think of such a thing really. And once again it was hard to make up my mind on my final decision regarding this matter. When I was a kid and in history lessons I hated the British who occupied my land, and today I loved the British who defended their land. The same story even goes today maybe with different details but the base is the same. Between the two situations you realize that this life is really about grey scale not the black and white.  Maybe that explains why specially in war time leaders from opposite sides were sometimes respecting each other. 

This next article is a good one from a British point of view, but as far as I'm concerned, we were liberating Our Country ☺.

forgotten war fought by a forgotten army

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36985325

Dirk the actor !

So, tonight I'm continuing with Bogarde the actor, I mentioned that I met him first in a light movie of his starts where he was just a pretty boy.  The second movie I watched for him was Sebastian, he was a mature man then, and Sebastian also rang a bell, I found it aching but funny, some how I identified with Sebastian I think, only difference is that I'm in a slightly better condition :D.

from then on I watched Justine, Hunted, Doctor at sea , a part from Doctor in distress, Victim, Cast  a dark shadow, The damned, The night porter, The password is courage, Desperate moment, The angle wore red , Esther Waters and Campbell's kingdom . So you see , I really became obsessed :D :D :D 

most of these  movies were good value, the damned certainly was shocking and repulsive yet I liked how it was made, how really really it showed how ugly Nazism is, it's so powerful that it can turn anyone even a Nazi against Nazism :).

Victim is praised to be the first movie in British cinema to talk frankly about homosexuals and even defending them in a way, and Bogarde was praised for courage to do a role which could have ended his career; and he did it well enough. 

I liked him especially as the priest in angel wore red and in the password is courage, in hunted and cast a dark shadow .

But what really made me want to talk about Dirk the actor is the movie 'The night porter'. I loved this movie. Yes , as simple as that, I Loved it. I have to say that I watched it on YouTube on 11 parts with the 10th missing. I maybe missing a lot of details when watching over YouTube but still , what I have watched , and I watched it for 3 times in one week, was so good to make me believe it's his best movie for me so far. I still want badly to watch the servant , darling and Death in Venice which he himself considers to be his best work.

The first time was a shock and amusement, a shock because of the content as whole and what to make of it; amusement, basically because of Charlotte Rampling, she could look convincing as 14 years old girl  and a 30 years old woman  at the same movie :D also , the way she and Dirk moved near each other especially in his apartment , they moved like cats I thought , in a very natural way that must make you notice and wonder!. I don't think I've ever seen any such movement in any other movie, and I have seen a lot.
What kept me needing to see the movie again and again was Bogarde (as Max) performance in 3 scenes, when he spots her in the hotel for the first time after a long time, when he introduces his *present* to her after her topless dance in the camp, and when he tells the countess about his/their *Biblical* story. he was AMAZING in those 3 scenes .  

Max telling his biblical story ! 

The later 2 scenes told me very clearly that Max is Crazy & in Love, both. I adore seeing his expression when he waits her to open the *present*. The first scene tells me that he is still in love with her, after all these years, He is not afraid as much as he is confused.

Also one of the most important scenes that actually got me so confused the first time watching was the scene  between them both in her room after her husband leaves the hotel. I didn't hear what they were saying clearly,And I was surprised by the dynamics in the scene, they were again two wild cats , really Wild this time, I mean later in his apartment they both were more timid cats, but in that scene they were both very wild , confusing, That particular scene used their bodies and voices not their faces most of the time, and used light and shadow in a super way. At the end of it , Max stands tall and assured in the door way saying one very confident phrase. I love his tone saying that phrase.

"If you want to call Frankfurt, Just pick up the phone!"

Almost all the reviews I read about this movie see it as the Nazi officer criminal / concentration camp victim tale, condemning what he did to her and seeing her submission to him as a result for their SM relationship. But from my first viewing I dare say I saw a love story , twisted and sick maybe, but still a love story between them both, and to my enjoyment, skimming YouTube for any interviews about this movie I found one where Charlotte Ramling herself said they did - she and Bogarde - saw the story as a love story and that's how they both and the director decided to present it.
The Poster tells me I'm right :) the yin-yang in it , Max is yin and Lucia is yang or vice versa , Max himself has a yin-yang feelings and actions ,and so is Lucia.
The yin yang symbol by definition says it is "a circle divided by an S-shaped line into a dark and a light segment, representing respectively yin and yang, each containing a 'seed' of the other".And that's, I believe, is a huge part of what this movie wanted to say, not defending a Nazi soldier, Just putting some light on examples of tormented souls. and leaves us to make sense of what they are. as every good movie, leaves us audience thinking a lot about the why and why not, a good satisfying interpretation for what we just saw. I'll never believe that Dirk Bogarde was ever to make any movie defending Nazis any way.

Now , on September 7th I add this to the post :)

First , a photo of a long scene I referred to above, I got it from Sir Dirk Bogarde Facebook page. The scene where they both acted like wild cats, to the left is the start of the scene, and to the right is the end of it :).Mark the way he stands to the left and then to the right :) It is why I love that scene really.

Actually I couldn't find any other photo for this part of the scene and to me these 2 parts of the long scene are as important as the rest of it.

I'm continuing to talk about the movie because basically I was too tired yesterday to collect all my thoughts or what I want to say about the movie .

The most important to say first that I think the heading quote I use in this blog - the one by Tawfiq Al-Hakim - could have been used as a perfect start for this movie .
" Within man lies a deep wondrous spot, to which neither virtue nor vice can reach. Upon which the sun of reason and will never rise. In which the mouth of logic never speaks "

I mean lots tried to find a reason for why Lucia had left her husband for Max, may be a Stockholm syndrome could satisfy some people as an explanation, but frankly it didn't satisfy me.

Also, I need to say that one of the most powerful scenes to me was the scene where all the new prisoners in the camp are naked and being asked their info. as simple and calm as it was, It shocked me to the bone and the one thought that came into my mind was Dante Alighieri's Inferno. I think the director did a very good job with such simple but powerful scenes. The carousel shots is another example. I liked most of what she decided to do in that movie :)

I Think that's all I want to say about this movie, and right now I'm fighting the urge to swatch it for the fourth time in 10 days or so :D 

When Harry Met Sally - 1989

LOOOOOVE That movie :) :) :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzi2G68CMiE

And one messed up relationship doesn't mean it's all relationships are messed up.

Before Sunset 2004

One of my most favorite movies ever :)

Celine: The concept is absurd. The idea that we can only be complete with another person is evil! Right?

Celine ,



Jesse ,

Taming of a die-hard Shrew

More than a month late !.
Still valid as ever , hard as hard can be .

Taming of the Shrew , 1967. one of my favorite movies because of its colors and motion.

Inside the Actors studio

One new hobby of mine now is to watch videos of a american TV program that I don't know if it's still airing or not ( just hit me this thought that I haven't googled the program ) . The program is called Inside the actors studio and it basically is an interview between the presenter James Lipton and a distinguished actor in front of the members of the Actors Studio program's students in which the actor talks freely about his life and career  and finally answers some questions asked by some of the students .
Personally I like to read bios and to learn from people's experiences and being a fan of cinema too it was normal I think to fall in love with the program . I've watched several episodes of it  on YouTube but one episode made me want to write about my experience with the program. Martin Scorsese , probably because he was the only non-actor in the group of episodes that I've listened to,  and so he came as a complete surprise. a delightful surprise in fact as my favorite director has turned out to be a great great person who amused me through out his episode.

I'm embedding the link of Scorsese's episode here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFlTozyvrng

And then there is the thoughts that had me when I watched each episode of the program , Oh my God , they are in the core the same people like me and you, we are all Human ... America, British,  man, woman , young, old, white, black, or mixed race.....  Angelina Jolie the little rebel rich & famous american girl who thought that she had a miserable life until the moment she met real misery in Vietnam and then turned to be a much much better person, The poor young Italian american Al Pacino who had to leave school because he had to work because he and his mother needed money, and the young american "Jim Cary" who's life collapsed when his father was fired at fifty and they had to move and live in a caravan ! who tried and tried and tried until finally he mad it to Hollywood, and years of training made him one of the world's funniest men. There is Liza Minneli who is sure that her mother didn't commit suicide and Jane Fonda who at last made her father proud of her On a Golden Pond. There is Val Kilmer who is down to earth and also has like ALL the genes from all the continents on earth  !! and Robert Redford who never betrays his image that he reflects on screen , the integrated American guy at his best. There is Betty White who believes that her beloved husband will meet her on the pearly gates of Heaven and Michelle Pfeifer who is actually not very comfortable doing love scenes . All I can say is that it was a good experience to watch some episodes of this program really :).

The Lion in winter - 1968

Regis regum rectissimi
prope est dies domini
dies irae et vindictae,

tenebrarum et nebulae,
diesque mirabilium
tonitruorum fortium,
dies quoque angustiae
maeroris ac tristitiae
=
Near is the day of the lord, most righteous king of kings. The day of wrath and vengeance, of gloom and darkness.
And the day of extraordinary, powerful thunder. Also the day of distress, lamentation and sorrow.


...........................
Henry II: My life, when it is written, will read better than it lived. Henry Fitz-Empress, first Plantagenet, a king at twenty-one, the ablest soldier of an able time. He led men well, he cared for justice when he could and ruled, for thirty years, a state as great as Charlemagne's. He married out of love, a woman out of legend. Not in Alexandria, or Rome, or Camelot has there been such a queen. She bore him many children. But no sons. King Henry had no sons. He had three whiskered things but he disowned them 

Henry II: [to his sons] You're not mine! We're not connected! I deny you! None of you will get my crown, I leave you nothing and I wish you plague! May all your children breach and die! 

Henry II: [storms out the corridor, turns and looks back] My Boys are gone 

Henry II: [he starts unsteadily down the corridor] I've lost my boys 

Henry II: [he stops, glares towards the Deity] You dare to damn me, do You? Well, I damn you back 

Henry II: [like a biblical figure, shaking his fist to the sky] GODDAMN YOU! 

Henry II: [moving blindly down the corridor again] My boys are gone. I've lost my boys. Oh, Jesus, all my boys... 

[collapses, weeping on the stairs] 

Aimez-vous ....Brahms?

Silent !

Really, who ever made people talk in moives, made a major crime to the art of Cinema!
The movie that made this clear to me is a movie that was made when my grandfather was 10, when Saad Zaghloul passed away and when Tawfiq Al-Hakim was still studying in Paris.
Thanks to an old friend who loved movies and collected famous classics, I was introduced to it like 4 years ago. Yet I never thought it could be this fantastic, after all it was the 1920s! Fashion-wise I hate the 20s, so, a mental image prevented me from seeing it. But, I've been seeing it for the past few days ... et voila ...
Metropolis, a German movie directed by Fritz Lang on 1927, It must be the father of science fiction and drama, the father of visuality,Lihgt, Effects, and MUSIC. I never felt the power of a musical score in a movie before like I felt in this one, and they were a few times when I felt the power of an idea in a movie, accented very heavily by light, music, sets and even makeup..even the human body movement. The idea of man in the age of machine, upper class and lower class, masters and slaves in the same universe yet few of each side realize the existence of the other side. What struck me was that these ideas were common in literature at the time between the two great wars and the oldest movie that I've seen till this one discussing the main theme was also a silent movie...Chaplin's Modern Times! Was it a very pressing idea at the time or what ? I need to know more about that.
Anyway, The eyes of the heroine are the most magneficent I have ever seen, and surely that was intended for Maria, the "Good" in the movie. And as I said, the movie is german, a language that I don't know, imagine if it was a talkie ! I never would have seen it probably!

This is the official trailer of the restored version of the movie, after more that 80 years.

Salute..

A not so nice time, a not so nice memory, a not so nice feeling!.

Propably it's always been like that, looking backwards into any given time slot would seem as if, It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
*To quote Dickens*

Letters From Iwo Jima Soundtrack. Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens

8 1/2 (1963)

Guido: My Dears... Happiness consists of being able to tell the truth without hurting anyone.

***

Guido: I thought my ideas were so clear. I wanted to make an honest film. No lies whatsoever. I thought I had something so simple to say. Something useful to everybody. A film that could help bury forever all those dead things we carry within ourselves. Instead, I'm the one without the courage to bury anything at all. When did I go wrong? I really have nothing to say, but I want to say it all the same.

***

Guido: The truth is: I do not know... I seek... I have not yet found. Only with this in mind can I feel alive and look at you without shame.

***

Guido: Could you walk out on everything and start all over again? Could you choose one single thing, and be faithful to it? Could you make it the one thing that gives your life meaning... just because you believe in it? Could you do that?"
Claudia: I don't know... could you?"
Guido: No, the character I'm thinking of couldn't. He wants to possess and devour everything. He can't pass anything up. He's afraid he'll miss something. He's drained.
Claudia: That's how the film ends?
Guido: No, that's how it begins. Then he meets a girl at the springs. She gives him water to heal him. She's beautiful... young, yet ancient... child, yet already a woman... authentic, complete. It's obvious that she could be his salvation.

***

Guido: Accept me as I am. Only then can we discover each other.

***

Claudia: I don't understand. He meets a girl that can give him a new life and he pushes her away?
Guido: Because he no longer believes in it.
Claudia: Because he doesn't know how to love.
Guido: Because it isn't true that a woman can change a man.
Claudia: Because he doesn't know how to love.
Guido: And above all because I don't feel like telling another pile of lies.
Claudia: Because he doesn't know how to love.

***

Guido: All the confusion of my life... has been a reflection of myself! Myself as I am, not as I'd like to be.

..............

Sgt. Barnes: Shut up! Shut up and take the pain! Take the pain!

Monsieur Verdoux (1947)

Meet my new .......well, obsession , Charlie Chaplin.
Monsieur Verdoux was his second talking film, and the one before the last movie he starred (plus wrote, produced, composed music for and directed ... and maybe more I don't know).
I discovered him a while ago, I would say discovered not re-discovered because I never really knew Charlie Chaplin as should be. Most of us the 30 some here in Egypt know the the little tramp through bits of his silent movies that were played on TV as comic segments in children programs, but almost never a complete movie. So, somehow he looked like a clown to us not a serious actor. But a while ago and I don't remember why exactly I decided to watch his Modern Times, and , Here comes one of the greatest on reel I think.
Simply he was extraoridnaire.

Dr. Strangelove

Meshmesha , here's what I was talking about :)

Smile :-)

Typically, the Modern Times :)

Pandora, and the flying Dutchman

Well , apart from feeling furious or stressed or sad for the past couple of days, I had a treat for the eyes. I've watched the movie starring Ava Gardner and James Mason :)))))))))) Yes , and I was just thinking, what was all that beauty on earth !!!!! and without any plastic surgeries too ;)

Ava Gardner, well, once called the world's most beautiful animal !!. I think enough is said, this title can never fit anyone else I think. she wasn't exactly the fineest actress here but was delighteful to see. especially with her very elegant gowns. superb :D:D :D

as Per James Mason, well, He is the sum of it all in one man. Always a happy event for me to see him in a movie, sharp & gentle, cold as ice & passionate, sarcastic & discreet, evil & kind. and one more charactaristic that characterized all the leading men in the 40s-50s , not a single wrinkle in the suit :D :D. I mean what kind of fabrics they used to have back then ? :D :D
anyway that wasn't his best performance too.
Still I loved to see them both on screen :)