Identify This Movie

[ccfixx]

That'd be the Australian thriller Fortress.

No way!!! An Australian movie??? Wow, I would have never guessed! Thank you so much, antnield, for the quick reply. I am forever (metaphorically speaking) in your debt. This has plagued me for so long.

EDIT: Just ordered. Now, let's see if childhood nostalgia holds up this time. I'm afraid to revisit some titles like Midnight Madness for that very reason.

[mteller]

That is so freaky. Fortress JUST come up in conversation last night. I've never seen it, but I'm planning to watch it soon.

[tomN245]

Probably an easy one, but I cannot think of it AT ALL.

Old film, black and white (possibly Hollywood), where a young lady has just committed suicide. A bunch of strangers are invited to a room, where it is eventually discovered they are all responsible for her death. It starts off with an old lady (possibly posh with a husband), who complained about her (The suicide girl, here in a job as a waitress) at a restaurant. She gets fired due to the complaint.

Cannot think of any more. May have turned the channel over.

Any help would be appreciated, it's irritating me a lot.

[StevenJ0001]

An Inspector Calls (1954), I believe. Based on a great play by J.B. Priestly.

[rohmerin]

I need locations.
From Miele, what's this amazing place in Rome ?



From To live and die in L.A. Is that a river? I know in Grease it's where Travolta did the driving races? or what's in Rebel without cause ???



If there's Los Angeles people, I know there are, is this map correct?



I am fascinated and horrified by L.A. Is there a post or thread about movies and cities ???

[jindianajonz]

Regarding your second question, that is the L.A. River.

Needless to say, it doesn't get much recreational use.

[rohmerin]

what's this movie? robert walker, gay cruising?

Thanks jindianajonz for the river tip. Quite sad a river with no water.

[Gregory]

Since You Went Away — a very fine film.

[jindianajonz]

Yeah, the LA River is always an eyesore. I first saw it on a train ride with my dad when I was a kid, and when he told me it was a river I thought he was joking. The lack of water isn't unintended, though- the river periodically experiences massive floods, and those huge channels are designed for flood control rather than routine flow.

I always thought the water history of LA is quite fascinating, and not only because I'm currently living in a town that was made arid by the events depicted in Polanksi's Chinatown!

[rohmerin]

I know and love Since you went away. Great Miniver story seen by Selznick. The picture I posted I found it in a gay subjected web site and I was confused.

I know California is exactly the same as Spain, the south pretty dry with the occasional floods you've written about; and the North is pretty green and rainy.

let's remember that a lot, like 1/4 of USA were part of Spain when it was called NEW Spain, but given that there was no gold or silver (Gold Rush was later), it was no interesting for the Crown until very, very late 18 century, when California was "baptized".

Is Baron of Arizona the only Hollywood film talking about the Spanish (from Spain) heritage?

[colinr0380]

Regarding your second question, that is the L.A. River.

Needless to say, it doesn't get much recreational use.

This was strangely one of the few locations that Thom Andersen's Los Angeles Plays Itself film didn't really explore, but it is quite surprisingly recognisable in films from Grease and Terminator 2 to Drive and lots of TV (24, etc). The river does have its uses though: it is where the giant ants from Them! come to nest, discovered because they have eaten a father who took his son there for Saturday fishing(!) And Hilary Swank landed a spacecraft there in The Core!

[domino harvey]

Anyone know what this is from? (Could be a TV show and not a movie)

[antnield]

Ani*Kuri15 - it's the 'A Gathering of Cats' episode from season three.

[domino harvey]

This thread never fails to deliver. Thanks!

[colinr0380]

If you want more cat related animation by Makoto Shinkai, then She and Her Cat (aka Their Standing Points) is also up on YouTube.

[Forrest Taft]

Not a film, but a comedy sketch set in a restaurant in the leaning tower of Pisa. I'm guessing it's British, but don't know for sure. Saw it as a kid, and thought it was hilarious...would love to see it again. Does anyone here know the name of the sketch, and which comedy show it's from?

[martin]

I'm not expecting too much here. In 1990 (plus minus a couple of years) I saw a Swedish director being interviewed live on Swedish television (SVT1 or SVT2). Apparently they had been showing one of his films prior to this interview. This film was some sort of art film in black and white, maybe from the 60's, but I'm not sure about that at all. I remember that this was a really rare event (Swedish TV showing this particular film) - maybe a first showing. I only remember one thing from the interview: The director was really annoyed with the quality of their print or of the equipment used by the Swedish television for the broadcast because he said it didn't really look like a black and white film because of all the chroma noise!

I'd be happy if anyone knows the name of the director or of the film (which I didn't see btw). And it wasn't Bergman.

[tojoed]

Might it have been Bo Widerberg. Just a thought, I don't know for sure.

[Berzeli]

I'm not expecting too much here. In 1990 (plus minus a couple of years) I saw a Swedish director being interviewed live on Swedish television (SVT1 or SVT2). Apparently they had been showing one of his films prior to this interview. This film was some sort of art film in black and white, maybe from the 60's, but I'm not sure about that at all. I remember that this was a really rare event (Swedish TV showing this particular film) - maybe a first showing. I only remember one thing from the interview: The director was really annoyed with the quality of their print or of the equipment used by the Swedish television for the broadcast because he said it didn't really look like a black and white film because of all the chroma noise!

I'd be happy if anyone knows the name of the director or of the film (which I didn't see btw). And it wasn't Bergman.

Can you remember anything else? Slightly too little for me to go on, you could try and contact SVT tittarservice if you speak Swedish but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

Might it have been Bo Widerberg. Just a thought, I don't know for sure.

Doubt it, even if this fully sounds like a very Widerberg thing to do I can't remember it being mentioned in his biography and I can't find any mention of it online.

[martin]

Sorry for not answering sooner. I was away at a big birthday. I feel a bit stupid actually, because it will be very difficult to verify any suggestions. I really don't remember what the director looked like. Did he wear glasses? I'm not sure.

I guess he was 50-60 years old at the time (give or take 5 or 10 years). I'm pretty sure it wasn't Widerberg because I knew some of his films at the time, and I would probably have remembered if it was him. This was probably a somewhat "lesser" figure in Swedish film. Maybe I'll contact Swedish television. Danish television have often been very kind to help in such matters. I don't know if it's the same with Swedish TV, but it's probably worth a try.

[Berzeli]

Sorry for not answering sooner. I was away at a big birthday. I feel a bit stupid actually, because it will be very difficult to verify any suggestions. I really don't remember what the director looked like. Did he wear glasses? I'm not sure.

I guess he was 50-60 years old at the time (give or take 5 or 10 years). I'm pretty sure it wasn't Widerberg because I knew some of his films at the time, and I would probably have remembered if it was him. This was probably a somewhat "lesser" figure in Swedish film. Maybe I'll contact Swedish television. Danish television have often been very kind to help in such matters. I don't know if it's the same with Swedish TV, but it's probably worth a try.

Hmm, finicky, male, and Swedish unfortunately doesn't really narrow the field down any, since that would describe about 90% of all directors who made a black and white film in this country. I scoured the SVT and SFI open archives and did a search for a bunch of likely candidates but couldn't find the interview you're looking for. Seems to be one of those either you know it or you don't scenarios.

SVT are usually super helpful, but there is a limit to what they can do. You should maybe try tv4 as well, since you mentioned that the TV station screwed up and that pretty much is tv4's MO.

[martin]

Thaks for your efforts. It could have been TV4 but I'm leaning towards SVT. It's probably a longshot but I posted a request on SVT. We'll see. I'll post here again if there's any help.

[JSC]

Could the director have been either Vilgot Sjoman or Claes Eriksson? Although
this happened in 2002, both directors launched some kind of action against
TV4 for showing commercials during the broadcast of their films.

[martin]

It probably could have been Vilgot Sjoman but the incident I'm talking about must have happened at least 10 years before. I went to University in the early 90's, and I was much more aware of films and directors once I began my studies. So this must have been earlier. It wasn't necessarily a big controversy at the time. Maybe something like this happened (I'm deliberately exaggerating):

Interviewer: "What is it like to see your film again?"
Director: "First of all, it looked like crap."

Maybe I turned my TV off, thinking this was going to be too awkward. But it's quite possible that everything went on in a nice and friendly manner anyway. I wasn't aware of those TV4 incidents though. Thanks for bringing that up. I live in Denmark, and lived in Denmark at the time too, so I didn't actually watch Swedish TV that much, and I'm not really aware of TV4's reputation, expect I've always considered TV4 to be very commercial. Besides, the availability of TV4 has changed much over the years depending on where I've lived. But I can't rule out the possibility that it could have been TV4, especially since it has been suggested several times.

[martin]

^
I've not received any answers from SVT but I think I have solved this mystery. I've done some searches (queries) on a database of Swedish TV showings around 1990. It didn't actually lead me anywhere but by chance and nothing else I somehow stumbled across the Swedish film Som i drömmar (1954) directed by Carl Gyllenberg. This film was shown on SVT2 the 3rd of August 1987. I'm absolutely sure that this is the film and director I'm talking about. The film is certainly a bit older than I had suggested, and it had been shown on TV before (in 1975) but it was still a pretty rare event to see this film on TV at the time, and it basically fits my other criterias as I remember them (an experimental art film in black and white). I can't, however, find any confirmation that there was an interview with the director after the film but I'm 100% sure that there was!

I didn't really think this mystery was solvable unless someone had actually seen the same film and interview at the time (and happened to remember it). It seemed like a long shot. But I'm relieved it's solved. And thanks for any help.

And I'd actually like to see this film. It seems interesting.