Eno on Can

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yErXSlbJseo]

Although once described as not requiring real effort in a Curt (Groovy Age) interview, the practice of choosing Youtube clips requires knowledge and patience. So it is with great pleasure I present you this brilliant clip of musician/artist/theorist Brian Eno on German Krautrock band Can. The source of this clip is as of yet unestablished.

Speaking of Groovy Age, guest editor Jaakko is doing a series of posts on Terror Blu, a previously unknown (to me at least) Italian fumetti series. Jaakko has also what appears to be the largest online collection of fumetti available.

Who is Andrea Maula?

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSo5KAK9Izs]

Disco Magic Theatre – Andrea Maula

Andrea Maula is an Italian film director who contributed a vignette to the 1994 DeGenerazione. There is nothing more I can tell you about the clip above, except that I like it which proves that the horror genre can be exciting outside of the groovy seventies to which it sometimes seems to be confined. Could it be that Maulamaster is the nick for Andrea Maula?

O yes, I found this clip by googling for Alberto Cavallone + Youtube. And I discovered Cavallone via Esotika.

Rare films

If you like the writing of Mike over at Esotika, please help him locate the following films. There’s one film, Hyper Erotic Art: Hayashi, on the list so rare that it’s not even listed at IMDb, I’ve been lucky enough to see it and Hayashi has been one of my top 10 erotomaniacs ever since.

Another item on Mike’s list are the films of Dutch filmmaker Frans Zwartjes, reviewed at this at first site excellent blog hands-tied. More from that blog here. Related to hands-tied are nitrato-lirico and visionary-film.

Les Vampires (1915)

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5Fzy8RVYfU]

As per request of Cliff.

Les Vampires is a 1915 10-part silent film serial. It was written and directed by Louis Feuillade and stars Musidora as “Irma Vep” a femme fatale whose name is a suspicious anagram of “vampire.” The serial is set in Paris, France and contrary to the title, the Les Vampires were not actually about vampires, but about a gang of master criminals cum secret society inspired by the exploits of the real-life Bonnot Gang.

There are 10 episodes, averaging around 40 minutes each; it is about 6 and a half hours total.

The story of the 1996 movie Irma Vep features an attempt to remake Les Vampires.

Le Vampire (1945) – Jean Painlevé

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjNh0uZCCLc]

I’ve mentioned Painlevé (who died 18 years ago today) here. Le Vampire features footage of Murnau’s classic Nosferatu, which eventually leads to discussion about what vampire bats are like, illustrated with a live guinea pig. Unidentified jazz music reminds of the New Orleans voodoo tradition of vampires. A strange mix of fact and fiction.

New Babylon (1929) and the Paris Commune

New Babylon (1929)

Image sourced here

Novyy Vavilon (Eng:New Babylon) (1929), is a film directed Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg. A black and white silent film (120 minutes in its original version and 93 minutes in its 2004 restored version). The propaganda film in the expressionist tradition of the early 20th century deals with the Paris Commune of 1870 and is largely set in a fantastic department store. We follow the encounter and tragic destiny of two lovers separated by the barricades of the Paris Commune. Some interesting IMDb user comments here[2]. Footage from the film was used in Guy Debord‘s The Society of the Spectacle.

New Babylon is also a concept by Dutch philosopher-artist Constant Nieuwenhuys.