As I ended last night, I mentioned that Kim and I were going to check out a couple DVD's as there was nothing on TV last night...
First, it was time to watch the other painful DVD she purchased the other day. As you know by now, we're both gluttons for the bad movies. So when she found a twin pack at Borders (I think) offering King Kong Vs Godzilla and King Kong Escapes, she couldn't resist.
Surprisingly, unlike KKvG, which is unwatchable as a whole, King Kong Escapes is actually pretty watchable, as a MST-type victim. It's effects are less than perfect, the villain is cartoony (does the BBC know Japan has their own Dr. Who?), the heroes (for lack of a more precise description...perhaps 'dullards' would suffice) were bland, but it was a lot of fun making fun of the movie, making bad jokes, bad references to the TARDIS, and more...it was a good way to kill a couple of hours.
After watching this piece of cinematic dreck, Kim decided she didn't want to watch another movie and went online so I dug into my latest Netflix arrivals, and pulled out another movie.
I've been using my Netflix account to get movies I should have seen but never did, things recommended by other people or other sites (about 1/3 of my queue is filled with movies recommended at one time or another by Filmspotting, another podcast I listen to), or movies I've read about somewhere.
Last nights choice was one I remember reading about somewhere, about what a brilliant film it was for it's particular genre...but I'll be DAMNED if I can remember WHERE I read something about it. I THOUGHT it was Kevin Murphy's book, but I couldn't find it in there...so maybe it was from Filmspotting or from one of my other books, but the praise it got for it's technique, well, I thought I'd better take a look at it, to see what all the fuss was about...
So I went from King Kong Escapes straight into the Nazi propaganda film Triumph Of The Will.
Like I said, the double bill from hell.
Made by filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, it was coverage of the 1935 Nuremberg Nazi Party rallies, the one where Adolf Hitler solidified his power as the German Fuhrer. It's supposed to be a masterpiece of propaganda, and it is, I suppose...
I watched it with the commentary track on, from Dr. Anthony Santoro, and it made things make a lot more sense. It is easy to see, watching this film, why Hitler captivated the hearts and minds of the German people.
Just don't ask me to sit through it again. Fascinating as it was, it was rather a disappointment after the buildup that whatever I had read had given it. It plays like a bunch of old-time newsreels, and although well made, and strikingly photographed, it's still Hitler and his Nazis...never a good thing.
Hopefully, I'll be on to brighter and more positive things as the next few days pass...
