cinema

One Way Passage and the Pre-Code Hollywood

I see design from many different angles and one of them is how different mediums deal with constraints. Since I feel mastering constraints is the most important (and most liberating) task for the designer. One of my fascinations with the cinema is the effect censorship had on Hollywood, especially examining the pre-code films, which seemed to have more freedom of expression than films today have. Then, seeing how the code closed in on Hollywood and filmmakers adjusted to both comply and rebel against the code, To illustrate this point I am going to write some reviews of some of the pre-code and post code films in America and abroad, starting with the 1932 One Way Passage with with William Powell and Kay Francis. Here's the review: What a splendid film and an unlikely but deserved member of the elite Masterpieces of the cinema. Disarmingly straight forward, it's a great character study, a great plot--and of course necessary for a true masterpiece: a top to bottom great cast and excellent straightforward direction by Tay Garnett. The plot is inegenious with Powell playing a condemned man to hang, who escaped prison and meets up with Kay Francis on a cruise from Hong Kong to San Francisco. She has a terminal illness and they form a romantic duo each not knowing the other's secret. This ingenious plot is enriched by the side plots of those whose lives they intersect: Powell's gang of thieves and Francis's social life and morose doctor, who wants her to take it easy while she wants to live to the fullest what little life is left to her. The film has a humanity and compassion that post code films will be deprived of, As becoming a pre-code film, the gang of thieves are a sympathetic group and ultimately find their own forms of happiness, while the law is ridiculed and eventually capitulating to the rogues. I say I rewatched it, as indeed I had seen it once when a teenager. But my only memory of the film is the last scene--a very touching and memorable moment that someone spoke deeply to my teenage sentiment and spiritual desire.

Unsung Political Hero: Harriet Arnowitz, Four Decades of Grassroots Political Work

The great thing about the internet is that you can find things that people take to make a difference. My mother was a dedicated political activist for most of her life. Sadly this almost all predates the internet as my mother passed away in 1993. This article attempts to correct that problem.

Piedmontese Wines: Part 1 - The Grapes

The more I explore Italian wines the more I realize how little I know. Here I try to get a grip on Piedmontese Wines in 3 posts, the first post is the varieties of grapes in Piedmont. The other posts will cover the appellations and the wineries.

Piemontese Foods: Tuma del Fen

My first review of the cheese of Piemonte: Today I tried this amazing Piemontese cheese called Tuma del Fen and it was a lovely cheese. I had the more aged variety which made it similar to a St. Marcellin but a but more milky-like in flavor and a more fluid texture.

"New ArnoLand" is here

Welcome to the ArnoLand Soft Sciences, a brand new site by the world famous in Oak Park author, Jonathan Arnowitz-Taylor.

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Unsung Political Hero: Harriet Arnowitz, Four Decades of Grassroots Political Work

Piedmontese Wines: Part 1 - The Grapes

Piemontese Foods: Tuma del Fen

"New ArnoLand" is here