Robin Baker
@robinalexbaker.bsky.social
Film. TV. Archaeology. Pottery. Photography. Novels and short stories. Design. India. London. West Dorset 🌻 🍉
Linktree: https://t.co/YEqJmhdXY0
Linktree: https://t.co/YEqJmhdXY0
If the idea of reading a feature about the use of beetles in 17th-19th century Himalayan miniature painting appeals, this comes highly recommended www.metmuseum.org/perspectives...
November 21, 2025 at 5:47 PM
If the idea of reading a feature about the use of beetles in 17th-19th century Himalayan miniature painting appeals, this comes highly recommended www.metmuseum.org/perspectives...
Group photo at the 13th century Konark Sun Temple, Odisha. If you squint you might be able to spot me in the middle of the front row.
I was in Odisha to teach film programming to a group of international students - a fantastic, clever bunch, and a real pleasure to spend time with them.
I was in Odisha to teach film programming to a group of international students - a fantastic, clever bunch, and a real pleasure to spend time with them.
November 20, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Group photo at the 13th century Konark Sun Temple, Odisha. If you squint you might be able to spot me in the middle of the front row.
I was in Odisha to teach film programming to a group of international students - a fantastic, clever bunch, and a real pleasure to spend time with them.
I was in Odisha to teach film programming to a group of international students - a fantastic, clever bunch, and a real pleasure to spend time with them.
Richard Burton was born 100 years ago today.
This is a publicity shot for an early Burton big screen starring role - as a smuggler in the Ealingesque comedy GREEN GROW THE RUSHES (Derek Twist, UK, 1951).
This is a publicity shot for an early Burton big screen starring role - as a smuggler in the Ealingesque comedy GREEN GROW THE RUSHES (Derek Twist, UK, 1951).
November 10, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Richard Burton was born 100 years ago today.
This is a publicity shot for an early Burton big screen starring role - as a smuggler in the Ealingesque comedy GREEN GROW THE RUSHES (Derek Twist, UK, 1951).
This is a publicity shot for an early Burton big screen starring role - as a smuggler in the Ealingesque comedy GREEN GROW THE RUSHES (Derek Twist, UK, 1951).
Reposted by Robin Baker
Catherine Deneuve filming on location for THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (Jacques Demy, France, 1964). The photograph was taken by director and photographer Agnès Varda.
THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG shows on the big screen at BAC on Thu 11 Dec at 7.30pm bridport-arts.com/event/the-um...
THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG shows on the big screen at BAC on Thu 11 Dec at 7.30pm bridport-arts.com/event/the-um...
November 6, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Catherine Deneuve filming on location for THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (Jacques Demy, France, 1964). The photograph was taken by director and photographer Agnès Varda.
THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG shows on the big screen at BAC on Thu 11 Dec at 7.30pm bridport-arts.com/event/the-um...
THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG shows on the big screen at BAC on Thu 11 Dec at 7.30pm bridport-arts.com/event/the-um...
Reposted by Robin Baker
Our film for Halloween is the under-seen folk horror classic, PENDA'S FEN (Alan Clarke, UK, 1974). Think of it as THE WICKER MAN's big brother.
Fri 31 Oct, 7.30pm
bridport-arts.com/event/pendas...
Fri 31 Oct, 7.30pm
bridport-arts.com/event/pendas...
October 31, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Our film for Halloween is the under-seen folk horror classic, PENDA'S FEN (Alan Clarke, UK, 1974). Think of it as THE WICKER MAN's big brother.
Fri 31 Oct, 7.30pm
bridport-arts.com/event/pendas...
Fri 31 Oct, 7.30pm
bridport-arts.com/event/pendas...
1/5. Guru Dutt’s MR AND MRS ’55 (India, 1955) is currently available on Channel 4 Player, which is cause for celebration. If you don’t know Dutt (here as director, producer and lead actor) in light romantic mode, this is a joy. His performance is beautifully tender and understated.
October 26, 2025 at 8:34 AM
1/5. Guru Dutt’s MR AND MRS ’55 (India, 1955) is currently available on Channel 4 Player, which is cause for celebration. If you don’t know Dutt (here as director, producer and lead actor) in light romantic mode, this is a joy. His performance is beautifully tender and understated.
Reposted by Robin Baker
"I think all you see is a good-looking set of muscles."
Possibly our favourite quote from Douglas Sirk's ALL THE HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955). Showing at BAC on Sat 29 Nov at 2.30pm as part of the BFI/Film Audience Network season, TOO MUCH: MELODRAMA ON FILM www.bridport-arts.com/event/all-th...
Possibly our favourite quote from Douglas Sirk's ALL THE HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955). Showing at BAC on Sat 29 Nov at 2.30pm as part of the BFI/Film Audience Network season, TOO MUCH: MELODRAMA ON FILM www.bridport-arts.com/event/all-th...
October 18, 2025 at 9:57 AM
"I think all you see is a good-looking set of muscles."
Possibly our favourite quote from Douglas Sirk's ALL THE HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955). Showing at BAC on Sat 29 Nov at 2.30pm as part of the BFI/Film Audience Network season, TOO MUCH: MELODRAMA ON FILM www.bridport-arts.com/event/all-th...
Possibly our favourite quote from Douglas Sirk's ALL THE HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955). Showing at BAC on Sat 29 Nov at 2.30pm as part of the BFI/Film Audience Network season, TOO MUCH: MELODRAMA ON FILM www.bridport-arts.com/event/all-th...
Angela Lansbury would have been 100 today. Which is more than sufficient excuse post this publicity shot by Keith Hamshere, taken to promote Death in the Nile (1978). Lansbury's scenery-chewing performance as Salome Otterbourne is a joy.
October 16, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Angela Lansbury would have been 100 today. Which is more than sufficient excuse post this publicity shot by Keith Hamshere, taken to promote Death in the Nile (1978). Lansbury's scenery-chewing performance as Salome Otterbourne is a joy.
1/2. I watched 'En dirigeable sur les champs de bataille' (1919) for the first time a few years ago. These are just short extracts from the 72 min film, recording the destruction across northern France that took place during WW1. The horror of watching it is overwhelming.
October 13, 2025 at 8:44 AM
1/2. I watched 'En dirigeable sur les champs de bataille' (1919) for the first time a few years ago. These are just short extracts from the 72 min film, recording the destruction across northern France that took place during WW1. The horror of watching it is overwhelming.
The severed faces of ancient statues always make me look longer and harder. For a classically handsome face - usually notable for its symmetry - this chap has a wonderfully skewy nose.
From the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Bodrum, Turkey), c350 BCE. Now in the British Museum.
From the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Bodrum, Turkey), c350 BCE. Now in the British Museum.
October 3, 2025 at 11:16 AM
The severed faces of ancient statues always make me look longer and harder. For a classically handsome face - usually notable for its symmetry - this chap has a wonderfully skewy nose.
From the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Bodrum, Turkey), c350 BCE. Now in the British Museum.
From the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Bodrum, Turkey), c350 BCE. Now in the British Museum.
Reposted by Robin Baker
Last night I watched the marvellous The Cranes are Flying, a 1957 Soviet movie that I wish Vladimir Putin would watch. Here's my Letterboxd review, and a short thread of stills to show how superbly constructed a movie it is. (They won't show how ALIVE it is: it's a film that delights in movement.)
Thanks to those on here who recommended this. An absolute stunner of a film! I can't think of a film that's more comprehensively alive to the possibilities of the frame offered up by the camera/screen. Such movement! Total control, absolute grace, like watching a ballet.
A ★★★★★ review of The Cranes Are Flying (1957)
Watched while recuperating from/with a mild bout of Covid after seeing recommendations from friends on social media. What a fantastic piece of cinema! There's barely a minute of it that isn't thrillin...
boxd.it
September 29, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Last night I watched the marvellous The Cranes are Flying, a 1957 Soviet movie that I wish Vladimir Putin would watch. Here's my Letterboxd review, and a short thread of stills to show how superbly constructed a movie it is. (They won't show how ALIVE it is: it's a film that delights in movement.)
1/3. The Cinema (1920) by William Roberts - on display at Tate Britain. I love this painting, especially some of the details such as the pianist glimpsed through a gap in the curtains. But it posed a couple of questions that maybe silent film friends might be able to help answer.
September 28, 2025 at 7:38 AM
1/3. The Cinema (1920) by William Roberts - on display at Tate Britain. I love this painting, especially some of the details such as the pianist glimpsed through a gap in the curtains. But it posed a couple of questions that maybe silent film friends might be able to help answer.
1/2. Swiss Roll by Humphrey Jennings, 1939.
The man who gave us some of the most potent and poetic wartime propaganda films also gave us a sponge cake juxtaposed by the Matterhorn.
The man who gave us some of the most potent and poetic wartime propaganda films also gave us a sponge cake juxtaposed by the Matterhorn.
September 27, 2025 at 7:11 PM
1/2. Swiss Roll by Humphrey Jennings, 1939.
The man who gave us some of the most potent and poetic wartime propaganda films also gave us a sponge cake juxtaposed by the Matterhorn.
The man who gave us some of the most potent and poetic wartime propaganda films also gave us a sponge cake juxtaposed by the Matterhorn.
I loved ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2025), but spent the second half wishing that the film was the potential masterpiece I thought it might be during the first half.
September 27, 2025 at 8:07 AM
I loved ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2025), but spent the second half wishing that the film was the potential masterpiece I thought it might be during the first half.
1/3. Figures in a landscape - LETTER NEVER SENT (Mikhail Kalatozov, USSR, 1960). My second Kalatozov of the week. It's a 'survival' film - 4 young geologists battling the elements in a remote part of Siberia - driven as much by a sense of impending terror as by the dangerous beauty of the landscape.
September 27, 2025 at 7:43 AM
1/3. Figures in a landscape - LETTER NEVER SENT (Mikhail Kalatozov, USSR, 1960). My second Kalatozov of the week. It's a 'survival' film - 4 young geologists battling the elements in a remote part of Siberia - driven as much by a sense of impending terror as by the dangerous beauty of the landscape.
1/2. THE CRANES ARE FLYING (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957) comes highly recommended. It has the energy of nouvelle vague with the poetry of Jean Vigo. This is one of many sequences that show the brilliance of Kalatozov, cinematographer Sergey Urusevsky, editor Mariya Timofeyeva and star Tatiana Samoilova.
September 25, 2025 at 9:28 AM
1/2. THE CRANES ARE FLYING (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957) comes highly recommended. It has the energy of nouvelle vague with the poetry of Jean Vigo. This is one of many sequences that show the brilliance of Kalatozov, cinematographer Sergey Urusevsky, editor Mariya Timofeyeva and star Tatiana Samoilova.
The line-up for 2025's Channel 4 South Asian Film Season has just been announced. Highlights include Guru Dutt's MR AND MRS '55 (1955) and JOYLAND (Saim Sadiq, 2022). Nasreen Munni Kabir has been programming the season since the 80s. It's a remarkable achievement www.channel4.com/4viewers/blo...
September 23, 2025 at 2:23 PM
The line-up for 2025's Channel 4 South Asian Film Season has just been announced. Highlights include Guru Dutt's MR AND MRS '55 (1955) and JOYLAND (Saim Sadiq, 2022). Nasreen Munni Kabir has been programming the season since the 80s. It's a remarkable achievement www.channel4.com/4viewers/blo...
Reposted by Robin Baker
We love this poster by @sparklymouse.bsky.social designed for Rainer Werner Fassbinder's classic melodrama, THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT (West Germany, 1972).
The film shows at BAC on Sat 1 Nov, 7.30pm bridport-arts.com/event/the-bi...
The film shows at BAC on Sat 1 Nov, 7.30pm bridport-arts.com/event/the-bi...
September 23, 2025 at 6:18 AM
We love this poster by @sparklymouse.bsky.social designed for Rainer Werner Fassbinder's classic melodrama, THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT (West Germany, 1972).
The film shows at BAC on Sat 1 Nov, 7.30pm bridport-arts.com/event/the-bi...
The film shows at BAC on Sat 1 Nov, 7.30pm bridport-arts.com/event/the-bi...
Erich von Stroheim was born 140 years ago today, which is more than sufficient excuse to post this publicity still of him taken to promote FOOLISH WIVES (1922).
It's a shame that more actor/directors don't don silk shirt, knickerbockers, girdle, stockings and suspenders for the camera.
It's a shame that more actor/directors don't don silk shirt, knickerbockers, girdle, stockings and suspenders for the camera.
September 22, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Erich von Stroheim was born 140 years ago today, which is more than sufficient excuse to post this publicity still of him taken to promote FOOLISH WIVES (1922).
It's a shame that more actor/directors don't don silk shirt, knickerbockers, girdle, stockings and suspenders for the camera.
It's a shame that more actor/directors don't don silk shirt, knickerbockers, girdle, stockings and suspenders for the camera.
Reposted by Robin Baker
Maria's dance performed by Brigitte Helm in METROPOLIS (Fritz Lang, 1927) - music by Palooka 5. Few films are packed with so many extraordinary, iconic moments.
Palooka 5 will be accompanying METROPOLIS live at BAC on Fri 10 Oct, 7.30pm bridport-arts.com/event/metrop...
Palooka 5 will be accompanying METROPOLIS live at BAC on Fri 10 Oct, 7.30pm bridport-arts.com/event/metrop...
September 20, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Maria's dance performed by Brigitte Helm in METROPOLIS (Fritz Lang, 1927) - music by Palooka 5. Few films are packed with so many extraordinary, iconic moments.
Palooka 5 will be accompanying METROPOLIS live at BAC on Fri 10 Oct, 7.30pm bridport-arts.com/event/metrop...
Palooka 5 will be accompanying METROPOLIS live at BAC on Fri 10 Oct, 7.30pm bridport-arts.com/event/metrop...
Delighted to be participating in the Film Heritage Foundation's Film Preservation & Restoration Workshop. I'll be teaching the sessions on programming archive film.
12–19 Nov, Bhubaneswar, India
Applications close on Sep 26
filmheritagefoundation.co.in/film-preserv...
12–19 Nov, Bhubaneswar, India
Applications close on Sep 26
filmheritagefoundation.co.in/film-preserv...
September 19, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Delighted to be participating in the Film Heritage Foundation's Film Preservation & Restoration Workshop. I'll be teaching the sessions on programming archive film.
12–19 Nov, Bhubaneswar, India
Applications close on Sep 26
filmheritagefoundation.co.in/film-preserv...
12–19 Nov, Bhubaneswar, India
Applications close on Sep 26
filmheritagefoundation.co.in/film-preserv...
Robert Redford enjoys a pint under Waterloo Bridge, London, 1973.
September 16, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Robert Redford enjoys a pint under Waterloo Bridge, London, 1973.
It's Comb-Over Night on BBC Four. Robert Robinson in an edition of CALL MY BLUFF from 1982 and Joseph Cooper presenting FACE THE MUSIC in 1975.
September 15, 2025 at 8:44 PM
It's Comb-Over Night on BBC Four. Robert Robinson in an edition of CALL MY BLUFF from 1982 and Joseph Cooper presenting FACE THE MUSIC in 1975.
Faces and noir lighting in THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (Fritz Lang, 1944) - shot by Milton Krasner. I watched the film back-to-back with Lang's SCARLET STREET (see previous post) - a very rewarding experience. You can watch THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW here www.youtube.com/watch?v=URMX...
September 15, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Faces and noir lighting in THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (Fritz Lang, 1944) - shot by Milton Krasner. I watched the film back-to-back with Lang's SCARLET STREET (see previous post) - a very rewarding experience. You can watch THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW here www.youtube.com/watch?v=URMX...
1/2. In SCARLET STREET (Fritz Lang, 1945) Edward G Robinson plays an amateur artist. His paintings were created for the film by John Decker. I wonder what happened to his striking portrait of Joan Bennett?
You can watch the film here www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjwz...
You can watch the film here www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjwz...
September 15, 2025 at 4:49 PM
1/2. In SCARLET STREET (Fritz Lang, 1945) Edward G Robinson plays an amateur artist. His paintings were created for the film by John Decker. I wonder what happened to his striking portrait of Joan Bennett?
You can watch the film here www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjwz...
You can watch the film here www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjwz...