Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 14h

Indeed. Didn't you watch Secret Ceremony recently? Incredible work, a big fave of mine

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 15h

Yeah I noticed that in the credits. Fellini is another shameful gap in my knowledge so I don't know how it compares to his own work

1 1

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 15h

Year Zero is up soon, really looking forward to it. I'm glad you gave me the nudge to watch these, that DVD of Open City had been gathering dust for years!

1 1

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 15h

This has been on my list for a while; I didn't realise it was actually Italian! I love that period of Liz Taylor's work, she made so many interesting choices

2 2

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 15h

Ah, I've been fighting a bit shy of Antonioni because I haven't really liked his English language films. But I haven't seen his Italian ones and I will definitely give that trilogy a go!

2 3

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 19h

Thanks Chris, some tasty looking ones there. Think I will do three Pasolini, three Visconti and take it from there #manwithaplan

2 4

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 20h

The last episode featuring OSS men and partisans who live and die by the water is just extraordinary. It was the hardest to watch; there are scenes of abject horror. Then the final voiceover: “This happened in the winter of 1944. By early spring the war was over.”

Soldiers and partisans on small wooden boats on a river. They carry long poles and oars and are looking grimly at something in the distance

3

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 20h

I laughed out loud at this bravura drunken comic monologue from Dots Johnson. Incredible scene.

And this exchange among partisans rescuing downed allied airmen:
- They’re English, not American
- Better than nothing

A Black GI sits on a pile of rubble calling out drunkenly. A young Italian boy in rags sits next to him laughing joyfully

1 3

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 20h

There’s a lot of death and grief in this, but never any doubt of its fundamental optimism, as each episode begins with newsreel footage of the fascists being pushed back further and further. Hope too in the way young Americans and Italians understand each other without a shared language

1 2

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 20h

Paisan (1946). Enjoyed this in a way you could never really ‘enjoy’ Rome Open City, great though it is. These 6 beautifully crafted short stories have it all: tragedy, laughs, romance, action, reflection. Classic storytelling, but shot with guerilla immediacy. You can smell the dust of the bombsites

Poster for Paisan, showing images of soldiers and civilians in war

3 1 9

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 20h

This is great. I'm very poor on Italian cinema, feel like there's a whole world to discover

2 4

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 23h

I saw this at the pictures when it came out and it was great. But it seems to have then immediately disappeared. I never saw it come up on TV, and no one seems to write or talk about it. Inexplicable

1

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 23h

One more for the list! I don't think I've seen anything by Visconti, which is *terrible* by me

1 3

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 23h

Yes, it's really raw. I felt quite a sense of loss. She was just here, how can she be dead?

1

Reposted by Paul C. Dobbs

✍️ 🐦 ⚾️ 🌪️ @5dogwooddrive.bsky.social · 1d

Noir City DC 2025 thread.

Movie no. 1, “Raw Deal” (1948)

B movie masterpiece. Alton’s photography is so *mesmerizing* — you could watch this movie on mute and have a good time. Claire Trevor is all-time great, Dennis O’Keefe is pitch perfect in this, and Raymond Burr is sinister. Top ten for me!

Movie poster for 1948’s Raw Deal featuring Dennis O’Keefe, Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt.

2 1 8

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 1d

Run For Cover is really good. I really like the exasperated decent Cagney trying to keep the lid on that insane town

2

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 1d

This is so corny

NANCY COMICS BY ERNIE BUSHMILLER @nancycomics.bsky.social · 1d

Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller
October 10,1947

NANCY BY ERNIE BUSHMILLER
P1-NANCY: I'M ENJOYING THIS LONG
HIKE
SLUGGO: OW... MY CORN IS STARTIN' TO HOIT

P2-SLUGGO: oww--
DIS CORN IS MOIDER

NANCY: WE'LL FIX IT UP WHEN WE GET HOME

NANCY HELPS SLUGGO HOME

P3- NANCY: I'LL SEE IF I CAN FIND SOMETHING FOR IT

SLUGGO HAS TAKEN HIS SHOE AND SOCK OFF

P4- NANCY COMES BACK AND POURS SOMETHING ON SLUGGO’S FOOT
THE LABEL ON THE CAN READS…CORN SYRUP

2

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 1d

I have just watched the first three 'episodes' of Paisan. It's REALLY great. Bedtime here now, but more tomorrow

1 1

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 1d

Jack Carter and the thin glass! Now I'll have the image of that gadgie with six fingers in my head all night

1

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, very special. I must try and catch more of her. @darrellclem.bsky.social has just now recommended me Mamma Roma, which looks great

2 3

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, there are quite a few scenes that I don't think I'll ever forget, but that scene, and the scene where Luigi scorns Marina, are the ones I keep thinking about.

I will line up Mamma Roma too, haven't seen enough Pasolini

1

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 1d

There's a Liverpool suburb called Fazakerly, which sounds a bit like 'exactly'. I was in town once with my Bristol then-girlfriend, asked her what this bus was coming, she said Faza-curly

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 3d

What’s the word where you’re from that, when pronounced exactly as it looks, identifies a tourist immediately?

1 5

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 1d

Anna Magnani too, a magnificent, haunting, tragic performance. Scenes like this, alarmingly immediate, run right through the film. Rome, Open City is unpolished, often looks rushed, and there is a compelling sense of urgency, like THIS has to be done NOW!

A woman, Anna Magnani, runs down a street towards camera, German soldiers in the background

2 1 13

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 1d

I liked the parts with the kids, who were absolutely one with the streets, and who seemed to be running their own parallel resistance. It is a great moment when they reappear at the end. Maria Michi shines too as Marina, the linchpin of the story, a tragic call for solidarity that did not come

A beautiful young woman, Maria Michi, looking fiery. Subtitle reads, "Life is filthy and brutal."

1 7

Paul C. Dobbs @steadytiger.bsky.social · 1d

Rome, Open City (1945) had more melodrama than I was expecting; it was almost soapy in parts, and all that sat very well with the wider anti-fash story. This film understands that the political is always personal. Surprisingly sentimental, but also grim as death

Poster for Rome, Open City showing the Italian title, Roma città aperta

2 3 25