Winter Light
I still have to whip the next Shadowplay Impossible Film Quiz for Autumn into shape, but I will, within the week — meanwhile I am struck by the fact that it’s that time of year again — time for another Late Films Blogathon. November December 1st – 7th I will be writing about late films from favourite filmmakers and actors, and I invite you to do likewise. If you have no blog, I’ll publish here.
I know, I know, it’s just over two weeks away, and some people like more notice than that. But, as Charles Boyer asked Reginald Gardiner as he considered whether to employ an inexperienced female plumber, “Where is the gypsy in you?”
The Late Show: The Late Films Blogathon is a small annual tradition — everybody is welcome — you post at your site, tell me about it, and I link here, and we all hope to get lots of readers and new insights into late films by beloved artists. There’s no pressure.
But the clock is ticking!
shadowplay 
November 18, 2011 at 12:12 pm
I would certainly want more notice, that’s just over two weeks AGO!
“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”
Douglas Adams
November 18, 2011 at 12:42 pm
Oh Cluny Brown is a perfect “late film”, it was the last movie Lubitsch fully directed on his own(he started two movies afterwards that got completed by other hands).
Don’t know what to chip in, but I’ll find something.
November 18, 2011 at 12:43 pm
I have a question, it says Nov. 1-7, don’t you mean December
November 18, 2011 at 1:15 pm
Oops, yes! Coincides with Shadowplay’s debut.
November 18, 2011 at 8:30 pm
As with last year, I’m in! Will figure something out.
And this announcement reminds me just how badly I still need to see Cluny Brown. Someday soon!
November 18, 2011 at 11:08 pm
in the meantime..Natalie Wood rises from the depths with a cowbell ’round her neck in search of Christopher Walken
November 18, 2011 at 11:24 pm
I’d love for somebody to write about Cluny Brown. Maybe I love it too much to do so.
Yeah, am very interested in what’s going to come out this time round in the Wood case.
November 19, 2011 at 12:19 am
I’m new here, but I’ll give it a try. I like a good challenge. We just have to write about the classics, right?
November 19, 2011 at 2:26 am
That’s about it — or non-classics that interest you. The only limit is that it should be a last film or a late film by somebody, actor, writer, director, producer or whatever. Often a filmmakers’ last work is under-appreciated, and we aim to correct that. We also accept pieces on dreadful films explaining why they’re dreadful, but it’s nice to be positive.
November 20, 2011 at 4:38 pm
The key to writing about Cluny Brown is to write a lot about Cluny Brown. Unfortunately, the last thing I had to say about Cluny Brown was “Confidential Agent,” and I said that about a year ago. But I’d love to read what someone else said about it!
November 20, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Me too! It’s a film I like to watch every couple of years, and I don’t want to waste a viewing looking for things to say. It just seems a miraculously relaxed film.
November 21, 2011 at 7:38 pm
It’s cheating a bit since it wasn’t really a late film in the sense of an actor at the tail-end of a career, but I think I’ll write about Bourvil in Melville’s Le Cercle rouge – and perhaps use that as a stepping-stone to Melville’s next, and final, film, Un Flic. To my mind, Bourvil’s appearance marked the beginning, in a way, of a potential new chapter in his career, but a chapter cut short by illness and sadly early death. If there’s time perhaps I’ll go wild and write about Sembène’s final film, Moolaadé, too; I’ve been wanting to re-visit it for a while.
November 21, 2011 at 7:51 pm
Terrific! Don’t forget to mention Melville’s cats, who play Bourvil’s cats. I think their names are on record somewheres… probably in the Rui Nogueira book.
And Moolaade would be great if you manage it.
November 21, 2011 at 9:57 pm
I re-read the chapter on Le Cercle rouge but must trawl the rest of the book for that nugget! Clouzot’s Miquette, with an early Bourvil appearance, plays a few days after the blogathon at the Harvard Film Archive: I’m hoping to get to that as something of a career bookend.
November 21, 2011 at 10:56 pm
Ah, I’m writing something about Clouzot as a result of that event!
Miquette et sa Mere is pretty ropey, although interesting as a bizarre misfire — I should resee it sometime to look very closely for signs of directorial interest: apart from the intertitles (which I’d cheerfully sample) I don’t recall much. But Jouvet always manages to raise a smile.
November 21, 2011 at 10:59 pm
The HFA bulletin is already engaged in an attempt to salvage the film’s reputation, no doubt in order to ensure a creditable Friday-night crowd… I am intrigued to hear what you are plotting related to the retrospective. I really wanted to get to Les Inconnus dans la maison but it looks like I won’t be free.