Tag: film introduction
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Metal brains and melancholia: Jean Epstein’s The Fall of the House of Usher
This was the introduction I gave for a screening of Epstein’s 1928 film at the Dukes cinema in Lancaster on 1/11/25, with live accompaniment by Neil Brand. This film is an adaptation of the short story The Fall of the House of Usher by American writer Edgar Allan Poe that was published in 1839. There have been…
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Magic cameras and maniacs: Michael Powell’s ‘Peeping Tom’
Helen (Anna Massey) and Mark (Carl Boehm) in Peeping Tom An introduction to the screening of the film at the Dukes cinema, Lancaster, 4/2/24: Peeping Tom is a late film by Michael Powell, one of the major British directors of the 20th century. He first began making films in the early 1930s, when British studios were…
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Another way of seeing, another way of being: Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
Introduction to Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) Bruce Bennett (Lancaster University) Dukes Cinema 5th Jan, 2015. (This is the introductory public talk I gave for a screening of this film as part of the current season of SF films distributed by the BFI, ‘Days of Fear and Wonder’). The Man Who Fell…
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Deserting the human race: Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et La Bête
Dukes cinema, 27th Jan, 2014 This was the introduction I gave for the screening of a new digital restoration of this film, which was screened within a series of ‘Gothic’ films La Belle et La Bête (Beauty and the Beast) is the second of the six extant films that were directed by the prolific French…
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Irrational beauty: Park’s I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK
Introduction to I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK (Park, 2006) – Dukes cinema, Lancaster, 7th July 2008 This is the introductory public talk I gave for a screening of a print of this film Park Chan-wook is undoubtedly the most famous Korean film director, both inside and outside South Korea although his status within South Korea is rather…
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Extreme metaphors: Cronenberg’s Crash
Introduction to Crash (Cronenberg, 1996) – Dukes cinema, Lancaster, 26/11/07 This is the introductory public talk I gave for the screening of this film in connection with a Lancaster University seminar series, ‘New Sciences of Protection: Designing Safe Living’ Crash is the 1996 film adaptation of a 1973 novel by British writer JG Ballard. It was directed…
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Our business was surrealism: The Red Shoes
Introduction to The Red Shoes (Powell, 1948) – Dukes cinema, Lancaster, 11/12/11 This was the introductory public talk I gave for the screening of Powell’s film during a short series of world classics The Red Shoes is one of the most celebrated films of world cinema and it is a striking measure of the esteem the…
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Seeing reality through unreliable eyes: Hitchcock’s Vertigo
Introduction to Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958) – Dukes cinema, 7/10/12 This was the introductory public talk I gave for the screening of Hitchcock’s film at the Dukes cinema in Lancaster Tonight’s screening is of Vertigo, the 1958 film by British director, Alfred Hitchcock, who was described by French critic and film-maker Francois Truffaut as one of…
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Watching with a detached gaze: Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood
Introduction to Throne of Blood (Kurosawa, 1957) – Dukes cinema, 12/3/12 This was the introductory public talk I gave for the screening of Kurosawa’s film at the Dukes cinema in Lancaster This film is by the most famous Japanese film-maker, Akira Kurosawa, and stars Toshiro Mifune, his regular collaborator and by far the most famous Japanese actor.…
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A non-verbal experience: Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey
Introduction to 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968) – Dukes cinema, Lancaster, May 9th, 2012 This was the introductory public talk I gave for this rare screening of Kubrick’s film at the Dukes cinema in Lancaster, the screening of which was actually approved by the Kubrick estate only because it was accompanied by an introductory lecture 2001: A…
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A democracy of sound and image – Jacques Tati’s Playtime
Introduction to Playtime (Tati, 1967) – Dukes cinema, Lancaster 19/9/13 This was the introductory public talk I gave for a rare screening of Tati’s film at the Dukes cinema in Lancaster In a famous essay[i] from 1954 the film critic (and later director) Francois Truffaut complained that French cinema was dominated by quality cinema that…
Bruce Bennett 