During the course of a conversation in the crime drama Quai des Orfèvres (1947) between the photographer Dora Monier (Simone Renant) and the investigator Antoine (Louis Jouvet), he discourses upon how the demarcation between the law and the lawless often becomes altogether tenuous. Antoine remarks that during his career he has learned certain practical skills [...]
here
David Sanjek
Subscribe to David Sanjek RSS Feed 
David Sanjek was appointed Professor of Music and Director of the Centre for Popular Music at the University of Salford, U.K. in October 2007. His piece “Fans’ Notes” was reprinted in the Cult Film Reader (Open University Press, 2007), and he is readying two books for publication: Always On My Mind: Music, Memory and Money and Stories We Could Tell: Putting Words to American Popular Music.
Articles by David Sanjek:
Does it come at all as a surprise that the first image in the often-hallucinatory Johnny Guitar features an explosion, and one whose cause is not immediately apparent? Or that the next sequence draws attention to a seemingly unpremeditated stagecoach robbery? Or again that when the subsequent shot situates us in something at least affiliated [...]
While William Powell’s eponymous butler in My Man Godfrey is characterised as the “forgotten man”, perhaps the film’s director, Gregory La Cava (1892-1952) might more appropriately merit this title. For someone attached to two films thought by many to epitomise the screwball comedy genre – My Man Godfrey and Stage Door (1937) – he has [...]
How do you solve a problem like Richard Lester? Typically, analysts have taken one or another extreme position: either to extol the American-born, long-term English resident as an overlooked, underestimated purveyor of elegantly articulated, visually dense narratives, or to excoriate him as an oxymoronically sophisticated yet superficial addict of sensory overkill, all flash and no [...]
The Cineteca del Comune di Bologna is located in a residential portion of the city, down a side street and then within a lovely, small piazza. The facility incorporates the organisation’s administrative offices, restoration facilities, two theatres (named after Martin Scorsese and Marcello Mastroiaonni), library and an outdoor bar and eatery located just off the [...]
The first of five novels Patricia Highsmith published about her murderous protagonist Tom Ripley, The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955) begins with the eponymous central character fearful of his presumed pursuit by an older man and concludes with his self-assured dismissal of some Cretan policemen and confident conversation in Italian with a native cab driver. That [...]
A hot topic in literary circles of late has been whether the memoir has successfully superseded forms of fiction as the pre-eminent formal expression of contemporary life. Certainly the sales and critical approval of such American practitioners of the genre as David Sedaris, Augusten Burroughs and Mary Karr give credence to this notion. At the [...]
Le Feu follet/The Fire Within (1963 France 103 mins) Prod Co: Nouvelles Éditions de Films Dir: Louis Malle Scr: Louis Malle, from the novella by Drieu la Rochelle Phot: Ghislain Gloquet Ed: Monique Nana Art Dir: Bernard Evein Mus: Extracts from “Gymnopédies” and “Gnossiennes” by Erik Satie Cast: Maurice Ronet, Jeanne Moreau, Léna Skerla, Yvonne [...]
The Shop Around The Corner (1940 USA 99 mins) Prod Co: MGM Prod, Dir: Ernst Lubitsch Scr: Samson Raphaelson, from the play Parfumerie by Nikolaus Laszlo Phot: William Daniels Ed: Gene Ruggiero Mus: Werner Heymann Cast: Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Frank Morgan, Felix Bressart, Joseph Schildkraut, William Tracy Initially, the ambience in which you find [...]
Medium Cool (1969 USA 110 mins) Prod Co: Paramount Prod: Tully Friedman, Haskell Wexler, Jerrold Wexler Dir, Scr, Phot: Haskell Wexler Ed: Verna Fields Art Dir: Leon Erickson Mus: Mike Bloomfield Cast: Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz, Marianna Hill, Harold Blankenship, Charles Geary “Why are we fighting?” The conundrum that Mick Jagger addressed from [...]
The Godless Girl (1929 US 113 mins) Prod Co: C.B. DeMille Prod, Dir: Cecil B. DeMille Scr: Jeanie Macpherson Phot: J. Peverell Marley Ed: Anne Bauchens Prod Des: Mitchell Leisen Cast: Lina Basquette, Marie Prevost, George Duryea [Tom Keene], Noah Beery, Eddie Quillan One of the many ironies of Cecil B. DeMille’s career remains the [...]
The Professionals (1966 USA 123 mins) Prod Co: Columbia Dir: Richard Brooks Scr: Richard Brooks, based on the novel A Mule for the Marquesa by Frank O’Rourke Phot: Conrad Hall Ed: Peter Zinner Art Dir: Edward S. Haworth Mus: Maurice Jarre Cast: Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Claudia Cardinale, Jack Palance, Woody Strode, Ralph [...]
Exiled/Fongchuk (2006 Hong Kong 100 mins) Prod Co: Milkyway Image Production Prod, Dir: Johnnie To Scr: Szeto Kam-yuen, Yip Tin-shing, Milkyway Creative Team Phot: Cheng Siu-keung Ed: David M. Richardson Prod Des: Tony Yu Mus: Guy Zerafa Cast: Anthony Wong, Francis Ng, Nick Cheung, Simon Yam, Josie Ho, Roy Cheung, Lam Suet, Richie Jen [Exiled] [...]
Bitter Victory (1957 France/USA 102 mins) Prod Co: Columbia Pictures Corporation/Productions – Robert Laffont/Transcontinental Films Prod: Paul Graetz Dir: Nicholas Ray Scr: Rene Hardy, Gavin Lambert, Nicholas Ray, Paul Gallico Phot: Michel Kelber Ed: Leonide Azar Prod Des: Jean d’Eaubonne Mus: Maurice Le Roux Cast: Richard Burton, Curt Jürgens, Ruth Roman, Raymond Pellegrin, Anthony Bushell, [...]
Running out of Time (1999 Hong Kong 93 mins) Prod Co: Milky Way Image Dir: Johnnie To Scr: Julien Carbon, Laurent Courtiaud, Nai-Hoi Yau Phot: Siu-keung Cheng Ed: Chi Wai Chan Prod Des: Jerome Fong Mus: Raymond Wong Cast: Andy Lau, Lau Ching-Wan, Shiu Hung Hui, Yo Yo Mung, Waise Lee Where am I going [...]
Summer Storm (1944 USA 105 mins) Source: NFVLS Prod Co: United Artists/Angelus Prod: Seymour Nebenzal Dir: Douglas Sirk Scr: Douglas Sirk, Rowland Leigh, Robert Thoeren (additional dialogue), based on Anton Chekhov’s play The Shooting Party Phot: Archie Stout, Eugene Shuftan (Eugen Schüfftan – uncredited but actually shot the film) Ed: Gregg G. Tallas Art Dir: Rudi Feld [...]
Abroad with Two Yanks (1944 USA 85 mins) Source: The Library of Congress Prod Co: United Artists-Small Productions Prod: Edward Small Dir: Allan Dwan Scr: Charles Rogers, Wilkie Mahoney, Ted Sills, form a story by Fred Guiol, adapted by Edward Seabrook Phot: Charles Lawton, Jr. Ed: Richard Heermance Art Dir: Joseph Sternad Mus: Lud Gluskin [...]
Hands Up! (1926 USA 56 mins) Source: NFVLS Prod Co: Paramount Prod: B. P. Schulberg Dir: Clarence Badger Scr: Monte Brice, Lloyd Corrigan Phot: H. Kinley Martin Cast: Raymond Griffith, Marian Nixon, Virginia Lee Corbin, Mack Swain, Montagu Love If one can imagine a figure that combines the sartorial savoir faire of Max Linder with [...]
In favour of Losey’s genre work, Sanjek puts forward The Damned as a crazed, rich highlight.
