the view from the PFA

Many times I've sat outside the Pacific Film Archive, waiting for the doors to open for the film screening that evening. Each time I wait there on the grounds of the UC Berkeley campus, I contemplate this lovely urn with the slack-jawed lion staring back at me.

He and I will have many more face-offs, now that I will be attending the university in the fall.
I am going to be a film studies student at Berkeley!

I want to become a film archivist. I've been inspired by the preservationist presentations at the San Francisco Silent Film Festivals over the years, and more than inspired by all the great films I've watched. And now, after years of working my way through college, I'm finally on my way.

Whee!

angles

What else would you expect in the most fashionable art deco apartments?



Colleen (1936)
Directed by Alfred Green
cinematography by Byron Haskin
and Sol Polito
art direction by Max Parker

influences on the influence

Ever wonder how Art Deco was configured in other places?
Specifically in areas which contributed mightily to the style itself?
I was so happy to find this film from Egypt in the 1930s. Look:





These shots could be from a Hollywood film, but there's more. Women with permanent waves and fur collars alongside men in muslim dress on bicycles. Signs in French and Arabic and English. Beautiful set design too:



Nice painting over the elevator doors. There weren't any clear shots, but it's a rendition of two figures in twisted perspective. The opening of Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922 inspired designers in the creation of the design elements that signify Art Deco. It's interesting to see those elements here in Egypt at the same time as they were popular elsewhere.

Everything is Fine (1938)
directed by Niazi Mostafa
cinematography by Mohammed Abdel Azeem

I'll have to dig up some silent Egyptian cinema - any suggestions?

joy of spring

Just For You (1952)

Just a little post to share a piece of eye candy.
Sorry to be gone for so long. I caught a lovely early spring flu and am just now catching up.
Just wait 'til you see what I watched while recuperating....