A bit of nostalgia Part 1

The strange distant world of my early childhood

How "strange" and distant seems to me the world in the late 1950's, when I lived in downtown Zagreb and when the  rock&roll was still young. I was eagerly waiting for Sundays to watch the new westerns at some of the numerous movie theatres. My father had three rather demanding tasks on Sunday mornings: to buy groceries at the farmers market, to buy a rye bread with seeds at the best bakery in town and to get the thickets for the film. If it was a new western and in colour, the chances were slim of getting the good seats, or even of getting them at all. Town's punks usually bought the vast number of the good seats and were scalping them before the show. Of course, my father had to make it back home in time for my mother to prepare a Sunday lunch for the family.
 Those happy times are long gone, but still not forgotten.

Zagreb, Croatia in 1958. My home town for decades. It was still a part of the now ex Yugoslavia. A photograph (above) was taken from the roof of the Main railway station (built at the turn of the century). In the Autumn of 1958, we moved from our small apartment near the town's centre to the house we bought. The house was near the river Sava and was actually in a suburbia at the time. No need to mention, the house has "virtually moved" since then and has been in the middle of the town for a few decades now.

Another view from the station:

The new part of town. You can see the modern Le Corbusier style buildings and the broad avenue, but the traffic is ridiculously scarce for today's standards.

Below is the raft at the Sava river where I spent many happy days with my parents. Unfortunately, the river became a cloaca in the next few years that followed, due to the rapid urban and industrial development. The various species of fish vanished from the dirty waters.

A statue near the city zoo and the stadium. I don't know what is this Bactrian camel doing here and why it is admiring the statue?

 Park Maksimir (where do zoological garden still is) entrance (1960)

The main square in Zagreb (below). Initially it was  called Jelachic Platz after the mid 19th century Croatian Governor and a victorious general. Under the communist regime, his statue was brought down and the square renamed (Trg Republike- The Republic square). After the deconstruction of Yugoslavia, the monument was resembled, mounted and the square got his old name back.

The main square in 1957.

One of the busiest and longest streets: Ilica

The main theme of the film the Bridge on the River Kwai was very catchy and was frequented on the radio stations. Everybody was whistling it. At the time, I didn't know I'll be visiting Thailand. However, I didn't go north were the river flows and the movie was in fact shot in Burma. Our Thai guide Charlie was convinced the main role has been played by Gregory Peck. He couldn't be argued to change his wrong idea.

I loved Peck's role in Moby Dick, but nowadays I don't want to see even the fake whales killed.

The movie scores from these two films: Johnny Guitar and The 3rd Man" were also immensely popular.

 Other films showing at the time:

 

Of course, I loved animated films. Disney's Peter Pan was among my favourites:

Short Disney's funnies were also a treat.

Not a bad western, but not great either:

 

Brando was a rising star.

A very good war-antiwar movie

The Tom and Jerry and Disney's cartoons were often showing on the main square in the evening.

The books I loved (this one is by Rachew):

At first, this style was too weird for me, but I've learnt to appreciate it:

The Beaver Valley was the first TV show I saw in 1957. It was at the neighbour's apartment. My family bought our first TV set sometime in 1965 or 1966, a year of two after the great flood.

A cartoon

Yet another snail cartoon from my stock:

Good old horror movies (Part 2) : Vampire vs. Bathing Beauty

This is not just the only vampire movie I really liked. In fact, "The Fearless Vampire Killers" is also firmly on my top list of the best 20 movies I've ever seen (although, I am still working on the list :-) In the ex-Yugoslavia the film was distributed under the title "Bal vampira" ("The Ball of the Vampires"). By my opinion, the best Polanski's movie, although not the scariest. For me, his scariest movie is "The Tenant".
The film is a beautiful mixture of a fairy tale, horror, excellent cinematography, clever screenplay, supreme directing and editing and a nice film score. Humour and satire are an extra asset.
Believe it or not, but this little cartoon character scared me at the very beginning of the movie when he had suddenly replaced the roaring lion.

 "The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck (shortened to The Fearless Vampire Killers; originally titled Dance of the Vampires) is a 1967 comedy horror film directed by Roman Polanski, written by Gérard Brach and Polanski, produced by Gene Gutowski and co-starring Polanski with future wife Sharon Tate. It has been produced as a musical named Dance of the Vampires." (Wiki)

The odd couple of vampire killers (before the Buffy):

This one is.... The Count:

The Italian distribution movie poster. Of course, the poster scene is just a symbolic expression and wasn't part of the film.

Obviously an European release movie poster (UK?). Of course, there wasn't such a scene in the movie.

The local naive beauty (Sharon Tate) who enjoys long baths in the antique bath tub, each and every evening. However, there wasn't any nudity in the film.

At the Ball...

I prefer painted movie posters, which unfortunately went extinct in the recent decade. They were much more expressive and informative and served as a sort of a quick teaser. Quite often, especially in the 60's and 70's the posters themselves were much better then the movies they represented and quite often they featured some scenes that were not included in the movie or were cut out by the censors.

One of the places were you can watch the movie on line.

The creepiest film by Polanski: "The Tenant"

Good old horror movies Part 1

One of the scariest movies I've seen as a kid back in the early 60's was certainly," The Pit and the Pendulum". The screenplay was based on an Edgar Allan Poe's short story. Read the story here.

 

Edgar Allan Poe (born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic. He was considered a member of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe was one of the earliest American authors who wrote  the short stories, which were especially convenient for the newspapers. He is also considered as the inventor of the detective fiction genre and a developer of the  science fiction.

Director: Roger Corman. Writers: Richard Matheson (screenplay). Stars: Vincent Price, Barbara Steele and John Kerr. An unforgettable performance by Vincent Price.

You can watch the whole movie on line here.

Paleo diet: T. rex table manners

Here is my new paleo cartoon, not to be confused for a paleo diet. It's dealing strictly with Tyrannosaurus rex feeding habits. If you want the paleo diet recipes, please, go elsewhere.

A Foxxy strip

Here is yet another of my comic strip projects from the past:

A cartoon for today

Old cartoon

The golden age of "American generic westerns" Part 2

 John Wayne the king of American generic westerns (AGW)

You either love his acting or hate it. Basically, he was always the same type of character in whatever film he played. Here he is in the overrated Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo.

Angie Dickinson as Feathers, Dean Martin as Dude , Ricky Nelson as Colorado Ryan, John Wayne as Sheriff John T. Chance from Rio Bravo.

 Angie Dickinson as Feathers in: what seems to be elastic nylon Pantyhose (?), which was in fact, invented some 50-60 years later; the very 1960's looking body and in high heels of the same style.

 The real New York vaudeville dancer from the end of the 19th century, in white tights and a very uncomfortable looking corset. By the modern standards for dancers, she would have been considered slightly overweight.
 

An "AGW" that shifted the bar: "The man who shot Liberty Valance"

Unlike the"Rio Bravo" movie for which I don't care too much, "The man who shot Liberty Valance" has so many qualities I consider it a true gem of the trade. A brilliant play of all the main characters. Probably the best was Lee Marvin as an unscrupulous, tough villain aiming for a career in politics.

A dandy cowboy villain Lee Marvin as Liberty Valance, with a Colt revolver in his right hand and a whip in his left one.
The Colt Single Action Army — also known as the Single Action Army, SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, M1873, and Colt .45 , or known as "The Gun That Won the West". It certainly won most of the AGW fights.

John Wayne in his typical outfit, practically a good guy's uniform for any AGW.

Some of the best moments in the film was taking the same shot from the two angles. Featuring the view of different witnesses of the same gunfight.

Tarantino cleverly reused the trick in his "Pulp fiction", the only one of his movies I really cared for.