82 Il grido

[Tommaso]

I am one of these people who gets unduly bothered by music in films; noise on the soundtrack when there shouldn’t be any is probably my biggest cinematic pet hate.

This reminds me of another litte bit of nitpicking I have to do: almost throughout the film there are occasional instances of pops from the optical soundtrack which I found irritatingly intrusive. It doesn't sound like the usual background crackle that is on many older films, but rather like individual pops which come over rather distinctly and also sound somewhat unnatural to me, probably because the whole of the soundtrack has been digitally tweaked and perhaps cleaned-up for the most part. It's not a big deal, but it somehow fits in with other MoC releases like "Kwaidan" or "The Idiot", both of which also have this phenomenon, whereas their CC counterparts don't, to the expense of a less clear (read: less treble boosted) sound overall on the CC's.

This approach could have made the story seem artificially symbolic and inhuman (as it does, I think, in Contempt, where the implied reasons for the break-up seem rather facile and, to adapt your phrase Tommaso, ‘inconsequent’)

Sure, though I never regarded the love problem in "Contempt" as very central to the film (and it is indeed probably used there only as a symbol for the general falling-apart of the film-making world). But I'm certainly not the best commentator on JLG: the more I see from him, the more I get the feeling that Godard just isn't for me. And my main reason why I actually like "Contempt" has little do with the film itself, but mostly with the fact of being able to see Fritz Lang do some directing and musing about film. But to put it this way is the equivalent of saying that the main attraction of "Sunset Boulevard" lies in seeing Erich von Stroheim directing Swanson's final act....

[Sloper]

I didn't notice the pops on the soundtrack you mention (this kind of thing tends not to bother me), although coming out of the crappy little speaker on my TV, Aldo's mother's voice was distorted and grating. Good actress, but I'm glad she only had one scene.

The only Godard I've really enjoyed so far is Vivre Sa Vie, mainly because the reference to Joan of Arc seemed to contribute to an interesting commentary on the use of sound and music in films, with the repetition of the classical theme actually serving a point, rather than just making me want to shoot myself (as in Contempt). I suspect that liking JLG for the film references is something he would approve of!

[Florinaldo]

This one came in today. The booklet seems another strong contribution to MoC's apparent systematic campaign to demonstrate that worthwhile extras need not be disc-based, although they did not go as far with this one as they did with Une Femme Mariée in cereating a small objet d'art.

And I like their practice of showing the correct aspect ratio of the film in the booklet through capture examples. Useful to make sure one's player and TV set cominbation does not give inaccurate results on automatic settings (for my part, I have experienced it with only one disc, but others have told that it is more frequent on their system).

So thanks again to MoC for bringing an essential film in such a beautiful edition. The only thing left now is to watch the whole movie; I am especially looking forward to seeing Alida Valli at her strongest.

[Tommaso]

Which brings us back to the deserved bitching about CC's announcements vs their release schedule....

[Yojimbo]

. IL GRIDO returns to Antonioni's beloved Po Valley (where he shot his first short, the documentary GENTE DEL PO, at the same time as Visconti was also shooting OSSESSIONE in the same location, ostensibly the first neo-realist film), while Antonioni's early feature career from 1950 on was almost exclusively focussed on the middle classes, and basically moves in a completely different direction to neo-realism... IL GRIDO represented a rare focus on a working class protagonist, also unusually a male, facing an existential crisis...

I was struck, early on, by how much the whole look of the film, especially the 'road trip' aspects, reminded me of that early Visconti Masterpiece.
In fact its interesting that not only did Antonioni return to dealing with the travails of the bored middle classes after making this film, but Visconti went one better, with his production designer intensive films focussing overmuch on upper-class opulence.

And I wonder what impact this theme had on Italian male-dom's machismo?
It seems to have been a subject, and perspective, decades ahead of his time

[Yojimbo]

. NETTEZZA URBANA & SETTE CANNE, UN VESTITO (1949) can be found as extras on the French DVD of LA SIGNORA SENZA CAMELIE in Carlotta's 3 film COFFRET ANTONIONI... ...

Great news!
I must dig out my Carlotta set
(having gorged on an Antonioni triple-bill last night, I find I'm still far from sated!)

[ellipsis7]

Just looking at this Spanish IL GRIDO/EL GRITO BR & wondering if it is a genuine HD transfer & if so whether MoC might consider an UK/IRL BR upgrade from the same master...

[Pepsi]

If the sleeve is correct, it's a BD-Recordable disc 25Gb and in PAL (1080i). If you upscale your Eureka DVD disc, you probably get the same image, or better.

[ellipsis7]

Caught some lovely high res footage of rushes of IL GRIDO at the current wonderful LA DOLCE VITTI exhibition in Rome, maybe there's now a great opportunity at this juncture for MoC to explore an upgrade of this title to a much needed BluRay?...

That show, well worth visiting...