This weekend in Toronto is either a silent film fan’s greatest fantasy or her worst nightmare? Why? There’s not one, but two silent film screenings – on the same day!
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Thanks to The Cinementals, I found this charming little time-lapse video of someone drawing Charlie Chaplin. Really, it brightened my day and hopefully it will brighten yours, too. Now I’m…

Get outta here!

I’m just kidding, of course. But not really. Pretty Clever Films has moved to a new and prettier home! If you found your way here, please go immediately to the all new prettycleverfilms.com.

If you’re reading this because you’re an email subscriber to Pretty Clever Films, I have to ask one teensy favor. Please sign up for email updates at Pretty Clever Films 2.0 and we’ll all be rocking and rolling!

You can subscribe by going to prettycleverfilms.com/subscribe and filling out the form. Then you can have a look around the new PCF and make yourself at home!

Sometimes I watch terrible movies so you don’t have to, and occasionally I even read boring books so you don’t have to. See how good I am to you?

But seriously, Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film 1838-1952 is probably going to be more interesting to silent film fans than anyone else, including 3-D film fans or stereographers. The never ending parade of patent numbers remind be of the “he begat then he begat who begat blah blah blah” section of the Good Book – you know the set up before the action and character development. But still, you can skim the patents and just read the cool parts, of which there are many.

Check out my review over at Toronto Film Scene:

Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film 1838 -1952

3-D film is all the rage these days, not least because the Hollywood superstructure decided to invest heavily in the production and distribution of this technology. “This is it!” they say, “3-D is here to stay this time!” “You’re gonna love it!” But as Ray Zone thoroughly demonstrates in Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film 1838-1952 inventors, technologists, filmmakers, and production studios have been chasing that stereoscopic dragon for a long, long time. CLICK ON TO READ THE REST

(The answer is the second one.)

I rather like the idea of a movie about the making of Psycho. I dig the idea of Helen Mirren as Alma, and Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh – no brainer! Hitch himself, though, that’s a tough one to cast. Sir Anthony Hopkins is certainly a very meticulous actor, and I’m hard pressed the think of an actor more likely to pull it off. But that photo of Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock looks like, well, a photo of Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock. The pose that Hopkins is striking up there is a familiar one to Hitch fans, but that imperious attitude was a role that Hitchcock played, not actual imperiousness. I think.

Therein lies the challenge of the role of Hitch. He directed a lot of fine actors, but he was also a pretty good actor himself. If you don’t believe me, just watch his bits from Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Genius, in their own way. Who exactly will Hopkins be playing? Actor Hitch, Director Hitch, comically fat man Hitch, or actual guy Hitch? Do we know much about actual Hitch, really? It’s all very confusing.

I suppose pawing at Scar-Jo will go a long way to getting in character.

Granted, at times, I feel uncomfortable discussing Canadian politics. Who am I, transplanted New Yorker that I am, to say, right? But I intend to stay, so there… One of the things that I find fascinating about Canada and Canadians is the on-going and very earnest discussion about what it means to be Canadian, and the importance that cultural product gets in the discussion. So yeah, it seems kind of tragic to see deep budget cuts that go right to heart of the production and distribution of distinctly Canadian content.

I’ll just set aside the time-tested foundation of Keynesian economics that the best way to claw out of a recession is to spend out of it, saving cutbacks and belt tightening for flusher economic times. The NFB is a national treasure right? Right?

Losing our national arts treasures? Budget cuts prompt closing of NFB Mediatheque

If you happened to stick your head out of your window on the morning of April 4, 2012 in Toronto, you might have heard a faint groaning sound rolling across the city. That would be the sound of Toronto’s significant filmmaking and passionate film-going communities reacting to the National Film Board’s budget cut announcement. It’s one thing to know theoretically that the NFB was mandated to cut 10% of its operating budget, a real number of $6.68 million over 3 years. It’s another thing entirely to learn that Toronto loses 33 full and part-time jobs and the NFB Mediatheque as a result of those cuts. CLICK TO READ THE REST.

All that said – there is NO WAY I would not scour the interwebs so you, my dear reader, don’t have to. Hopefully by this time next week we’ll be rocking and rolling on the new Pretty Clever Films, but in the meantime I bring you the best the web had to offer this week and I’m going all out – now with 50% more links! Happy reading and happy viewing!

• Some preliminary observations on Hugo from Spectacular Attractions.
• I hope you caught the Muybridge Google doodle. The LA Times recounts the raucous life of the frustrating-t- spell Eadweard J. Muybridge.
• Christopher Nolan rips on 3D. Ok he doesn’t rip exactly, but he says some stuff.
• Dear Old Hollywood runs down the locations in Gun Crazy and shoots them. With a camera, silly.
• “Maybe next year…” (Hint: this post is not about the Maple Leafs.)
• Ya know, sometimes you just wanna see a funny stupid movie. Here’s a list of 100 from the funnily and stupidly named Yahoo.
• Flick Chick ponders the age old question, “Am I a Film Snob?“
• The Cinementals have the brazilliant idea of a DIY Classic Film Fest, for those of us who couldn’t make the TCMFF. Now I have two things to go pout about: I’m not at the fest and I didn’t think of this.
• Only the Cinema looks at one of cinemas best (IMHO), Fritz Lang’s M. Then he looks at the 1951 remake, which prompts me to think, “F*ck you Hollywood, with your remakes.”
• Even thinking about Dali and Disney makes me feel like I need to lie down for a bit.
• The Film School Rejects break down Alfred Hitchcock’s Top 6 Filmmaking Tips.
• It was a tough week for Mary Pickford. First she turned 120 years old, then her studio got demoed, and then her funding got cut. Fortunately, we all love her. A Mythical Monkey reviews Mary Pickford in Stella Maris and sends out an SOS for the Mary Pickford Institute for Film Education. The Cinementals podcast their Praise of Pickford.
• Hey now, tomorrow is the anniversary of the release date for Charlie Chaplin’s A Dog’s Life. Chaplin plus dog equals awww.

• Pretty Clever Films- Film Friday | Weekly Round Up – April 6, 2012
• Pretty Clever Films- Film Friday | Weekly Round Up – March 30, 2012
• Pretty Clever Films- Film Friday | Weekly Round Up – March 23, 2012
• Pretty Clever Films- Film Friday | Weekly Round Up – March 16, 2012
• Pretty Clever Films- Film Friday | Weekly Round Up – March 09, 2012

• I am still loving Frakensteinia. This week it’s Frankenstein themes in silent films.
• KC over at Classic Movies has gone on a little Melies tear. Start with her brief bio and move on to her Classic Links: Melies Edition.
• Trevor Jost gives us the skinny on the TCM Film Fest silent film offerings.
• The Art & Culture of Movies takes a look at D.W. Griffith’s As It is in Life.
• Only the Cinema looks at one of my fav Buster Keaton outings, The Navigator. And um, yeah… all the Buster Keaton movies are one of my favs.
• Both The Matinee and Silent Volume did a much better job of keeping up with reviews of TSFF screenings. Check ‘em out.
• This video, with the straightforward name Rear Window Timelapse, has been floating around the interwebs all week, but it’s worth a look. It’s odd.

• Pretty Clever Films- Film Friday | Weekly Round Up – March 30, 2012
• Pretty Clever Films- Film Friday | Weekly Round Up – March 23, 2012
• Pretty Clever Films- Film Friday | Weekly Round Up – March 16, 2012
• Pretty Clever Films- Film Friday | Weekly Round Up – March 09, 2012
• Pretty Clever Films- Film Friday | Weekly Round Up – March 02, 2012