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October 2, 2014:

THURSDAYS AND CYBELE

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, October is flying by, like a gazelle doing yoga whilst en pointe.  I’m happy to say that the handful of folks who’ve listened to And the World Goes Round really seem to like it, and that makes me very happy indeed.  I had a really long and involved day yesterday so let me get right to the point, as they say in Sweet Charity.  I had a rough night of sleep – up at four for about an hour and a half, then finally back to sleep and then up at ten-thirty.  I then got word that one of our upcoming releases, a multi-score CD from one composer had to be postponed, that after I’d done all the work getting the notes written and the track list done.  It turns out that many additional cues have been found for two of the scores, so we’re replacing those two scores with two others and I now have to wait for cue sheets and tracks so I can rewrite that portion of the liner notes.

I then had a nice lunch meeting with the son of the man who created Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch – discussing some things that may or may not come to fruition but which are interesting. I had a chili, cheese and onion omelet and an English muffin.  Then I did some banking, then picked up one little package, after which I came home.  I then buckled down, Winsocki and wrote the liner notes for the master I just got yesterday.  I got it all done and proofed and sent it to the designer.  If we can get it approved, which I’m hopeful of, then we can thankfully announce next week.  But because we are so behind in releases this year, I then buckled down, Winsocki even more and wrote a second set of liner notes, prepared an edit road map and got all that where it needed to go.  By that time I was exhausted and needed to sit on my couch like so much fish.

Last night, I finished watching the new Blu and Ray of Sundays and Cybele from Criterion.  I think I’ve probably written about this film in these here notes more than any other over the years.  I first saw it when it opened in early 1963 in LA at the Beverly Canon Theater – I now have that opening day movie section of the newspaper.  I don’t really know how I came to see it or what made me go there.  Certainly I liked the title and I probably read a review somewhere, but go I did and it was kind of a life changer for me.  It was, most likely, the first foreign film I’d seen, one actually in a different language with subtitles.  I was entering my art house phase and discovering all kinds of wondrous new films, all in 1962 and 1963 – Orson Welles’ The Trial, David and Lisa, the low-budget The Miracle Worker, all that kind of stuff.  But I’d never seen anything like Sundays and Cybele – it was love at first sight and I thought it was one of the most amazing films I’d ever seen.  It was unique, beautiful, poetic, immensely moving, and I loved the lead performances of Hardy Kruger and Patricia Gozzi.  Miss Gozzi, in fact, gives one of the greatest performances by a child in the history of cinema.  There’s not a false moment in her performance – she is heartbreaking, natural, and completely captivating.  She should have been nominated for an Academy Award and so should Hardy Kruger.  The film was a huge hit.  I went over and over, and when it moved to the Lido Theater, which was only three blocks from my house, I went at least twice a week.  I then followed it around the city, but several of the subsequent runs had a dubbed version.  I saw that several times – Mr. Kruger dubbed himself, but the girl who dubbed Miss Gozzi was too precious and not at all like the person she was dubbing.  To this day, the film, for me, is one of the most beautifully photographed films of all time – Henri Decae.  The black-and-white scope imagery is stunning throughout.  And the score by Maurice Jarre is as unique as the rest of the film.  Of course, none of it would be without the brilliant direction of Serge Bourguignon.  The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.  And yet, Mr. Bourguignon had a career that went nowhere.

He came to the United States and made The Reward, which I saw and was disappointed in.  I saw it at a sneak preview, and if it actually had a release it was a brief one.  After that he made a picture with Brigitte Bardot that I’ve never seen, and after that he made the troubled The Picasso Summer with Albert Finney, a film that had many reshoots and Bourguignon is not even credited on the film – that film either got a one-week release or none at all.  And then nothing.  It is shocking that a director of a film like Sundays and Cybele would never again make anything even approaching it.

The good news is the transfer is great – Decae’s photography is beautifully rendered with wonderful contrast – many scenes are gray and wintry and you’ll feel like you’re there.  The extras contain some wonders, too, including a new interview with Miss Gozzi – no, she doesn’t look the same as she did at twelve, but those eyes and that mouth are unmistakable and she has good stories to tell.  Then there’s a new interview with Serge Bourguignon who turns out to be a sly, lovely person.  It’s a wonderful interview and not tarted up by a “director” – just him talking.  And then the shocker for me – a new interview with Hardy Kruger, who I was certain was no longer with us.  He’s charming and energetic and tells wonderful tales of how he came to do the film.  All three interviewees stress the point that the love between the damaged thirty year old amnesiac (due to a war accident in which he kills a young girl accidentally), who is very childlike, and the twelve-year-old girl, herself damaged and neglected by an uncaring father who deposits her in an orphanage with no intention of ever seeing her again – these two beautiful souls come together and their relationship is innocent and magical.  Of course other characters in the film automatically assume that something bad may be going on – all except Kruger’s friend, who knows that it’s all innocent and who is the voice of reason, not that anyone heeds it.  I’m not at all sure how the film would be received if it came out today – today I’m sure all the little politically correct idiots would cry foul and think it was about the wrong things, just like the stupid characters who do in the film.  But for most people, they get it and are captivated by the poetry of the film – it is like no other and I, as always, cannot recommend it highly enough, especially in this beautiful presentation.

Today, I will hopefully arise after a good night’s beauty sleep, and then I will eat something, hopefully pick up some packages and relax until rehearsal.  That will last about three and a half hours, then I will relax again.

Tomorrow I have a lunch meeting, but otherwise I just need to rest my voice, which is suffering due to the sleep issues, so do send some excellent vibes and xylophones as I must get through the Kritzerland show in good voice.  Saturday is our stumble-through and then Sunday is sound check and show.  And then the whole rigmarole begins again for the November show.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, eat, relax, rehearse and relax.  Today’s topic of discussion: What was the very first foreign film you ever saw, one with subtitles?  Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, still thinking about the classic that is Sundays and Cybele.

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