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La Ronde of Netflix — 12 Comments

  1. If you do not lose power in what sounds like a terrible blizzard, it would be a good time to watch movies and eat comfort food. A little wine might be nice, good luck and be safe.

  2. The name Max Ophuls rang a bell. I checked the movie data base and found that he had directed one of my favorite movies, The Reckless Moment, a 1949 gem starring James Mason and the beautiful Joan Bennett.

    I hope you can find it on Netflix or somewhere. The cinematography is stunning in some scenes and James Mason shows why he is a much regarded actor.

  3. Schnitzler was sort of rediscovered during the 1960s, largely because his diaries became available then. They were full of information on his sex life, which he described in great detail.

  4. Kubriks last film, Eyes Wide Shut, was based on a Shnitzler novel. However Kubrick missed much of the point by deJudaising the character.

  5. Slightly OT but most new blue ray/dvd players also include a wireless connection. They are only 30-40 bucks now and will give you streaming. IIRC, even the cheapest dvd Netflix plans include streaming.

  6. and the people in it are portrayed as highly cynical about their “love” lives.”

    Knowing nothing more (though I’ve seen several Ophuls movies, Le Plaisir and The Earings Of Madam de…) one would be hard pressed not to conclude — ‘French Cinema’.

    If you’re ever up to it — it’s long (3 hours) — try Les Enfants du Paradis directed by Marcel Carné — a master.
    It has the cache of the incomparable French actress Arletty — one of those fabulous women who, in her case, was of greater fascination than any of the characters she played — even here as Garance, a ‘woman of the world’ cynical about love, but pursued by four disparate men.

    In real life, she’d fallen in love with a German officer – and he with her — in the midst of WW II. And in the midst of making LEDP — a huge movie — the making of which was an off and on operation, depending on Nazi permits being issued for the continuation of production. After the war she was tried for ‘horizontal treason’, was interrogated in Marie Antoinette’s apartments, and served a short sentence. After which, when questioned publicly about where her loyalties were, she answered her heart belonged to France, her arse was international.

    It’s a wonderful movie. There is at the end, the wife of one of the men pursuing her — a mime — it’s France – giving a great speech on the love of a wife vs. the love of the ‘other woman’. The very last scene is heartbreaking. No happy endings in French ‘cinéma-vérité – cinéma cynique.

  7. Schnitzler is an important figure in 20th century German literature. “Reigen” was rescued from obscurity by the Ophuls film, but there are many novellas and short stories of his that are marked by deep insight into human nature and are well worth reading. But Schnitzler is not the only neglected German/Austrian author. With the exception of a few major writers such as Mann, Kafka, and Brecht, much of German literature is a closed book in the English-speaking world. I don’t know why.

  8. I have exactly the same MO in regard to Netflix. Though my taste in movie’s is generally less eclectic. For those perhaps still unaware and to expand a bit on what dbp mentions, anyone with a high speed internet connection can easily stream movie’s off the internet. Besides Netflix’s streaming service, there’s Amazon Prime, VUDU, hulu Plus and CinemaNow among others. All offer a wide selection of movies and TV programs from pay per view to a monthly or yearly fee. Full bore cable and satellite TV is much more expensive than these alternatives and you’re only paying for what you want to watch.

    Plus, if you live within 50-60 miles of your local major media stations you can with a modern TV, receive free over the air HD reception, just like back in the day, all you’ll need is an HDTV antenna. You don’t even have to put up a big outside antenna. Indoor HDTV antennas have become quite powerful and are relatively inexpensive.

  9. I’m surprised you haven’t seen what is probably Signoret’s best known movie, Les Diaboliques, one of the best suspense thrillers ever made, directed by the great Henri-Georges Clouzot.

  10. I have odd taste in movies. I tend to gravitate towards obscure and/or foreign ones, mostly old.

    I recommend you put the 1973 Spanish film, The Spirit of the Beehive, near the front of your queue. I also like obscure films, though not often foreign ones, but this is an all-time favorite.

    Also: funny, quirky and unjustifiably obscure: 1996’s Love Serenade, an Aussie comedy directed by Shirley Barrett.

  11. (I still use that system because my TV is too old for streaming)

    I kind of strongly suggest this:

    LG Electronics BP540 3D Blu-Ray Disc Player with Smart TV and Built-In Wi-Fi

    It provides not just access to blue rays and dvds, but also acts as a smart TV, providing access to Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu, among others…

    Further, if you have videos to watch which are computer-compatible (i.e., MP4s, AVIs, etc) you can connect them via an external hard drive (fairly inexpensive) or flash drive to the USB port, and it will play THOSE as well. So it’s as close as I’ve seen to an all-round media center without going the separate and somewhat “techie-required-for-creation-and-setup” Media Center PC route.

    For 100 bucks (less if you watch for a sale, I got mine for $75) it can’t be beat.

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