Big Update on My Hard to Find Films

After my November month-end status where I updated my list of hard to find movies to remove the half dozen that had been located, I was contacted by a very generous Santa Claus who wishes to remain anonymous.  This person literally helped me locate every single one of the films I had remaining that I had been unable to find – all 13 of them – as well as passed along the English subtitles for Amor de Perdicao that were on a website I was unable to access.  I can’t thank this person enough for what they did, but I will pay forward their generosity to others, and maybe, just maybe, you can help me help this person.

There is one film that this person has been unable to locate.  It is The Art of Vision by Stan Brakhage.  This four hour, ten minute long 1965 “film” is the same footage from the various pieces of Brakhage’s Dog Star Man, but joined in different combinations and sequences.  It is on the They Shoot Pictures Don’t They list.  Since it was impossible for me to find, and since it was the same footage I had already seen in Dog Star Man just presented differently, I checked it off as being done.  Technically, though, I did not see it and this Good Samaritan who helped me is not comfortable cutting the same corner I did for this entry.  If you know of any place to either see or obtain a copy of The Art of Vision I would be able to pay this person back at least in part for all their generosity to me, and by extension to all of you.

Here are the films I had not been able to find:

101 Genre Films:

City Streets (1931) – a gangster film with Gary Cooper, directed by Rouben Mamoulian

The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960) – a gangster film directed by Fritz Lang.

Sight & Sound Critics Top 250:

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2003) – a nine hour documentary on the falling industry in a region of China from director Bing Wang.

They Shoot Pictures Don’t They:

Empire (1964) – Andy Warhol’s experiment to see if he could do anything and still get film critics to fawn over him.  It worked.  This is an 8 hour static shot of the Empire State Building from dusk to 3:00 AM.

Anatahan aka Ana-ta-han (1953) – a Japanese film from Josef von Sternberg

Minamata aka Minamata: The Victims and Their World aka Minamata: Kanja-san to sono sekai (1971) – a Japanese documentary on industrial chemical poisoning.

Liebelei (1933) – an early Max Ophuls film

Doomed Love aka Ill-Fated Love aka Amor de perdicao (1979) – a six episode Portuguese TV mini-series from Manoel de Oliveira retelling Romeo and Juliet.  I needed English subtitles to go with the video I had found.

Dust in the Wind aka Lian lian feng chen (1987) – a period film from director Hsiao-hsien Hou. 

Under the Bridges aka Unter den Brucken (1946) – a film from Helmut Kautner

Variety aka Variete aka Jealousy (1925) – a film from E.A. Dupont

The Italian Straw Hat aka The Horse Ate the Hat aka Un chapeau de paille d’Italie (1928) – a film from Rene Clair.

Roger Ebert’s Great Films:

A Woman’s Tale (1991) – a film from Paul Cox

Top British Films:

Gallivant (1997) – a sort-of documentary/travelogue where director Andrew Kotting drives around England with his 90 year old grandmother and 9 year old daughter.

If you are looking for any of these films, but have not been able to find them, please let me know.  While the way that I received them will no longer work for you, I can pay it forward and make one or more available for you to see.  Note: this will not be streaming, but rather saving it to your computer and then watching it.