BEFORE SCROLLING TO THE WEB PAGE BELOW ABOUT TINTO BRASS, PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT THESE NEWS ITEMS, WHICH ARE FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING I’VE EVER HAD TO SAY:

AMY GOODMAN:     A little-noticed story surfaced a couple of weeks ago in the Army Times newspaper about the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team. “Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months,” reported Army Times staff writer Gina Cavallaro, “the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.” Disturbingly, she writes that “they may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control” as well. The force will be called the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive Consequence Management Response Force. Its acronym, CCMRF, is pronounced “sea-smurf.” These “sea-smurfs,” Cavallaro reports, have “spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle,” in a combat zone, and now will spend their 20-month “dwell time” — time troops are required to spend to “reset and regenerate after a deployment” — armed and ready to hit the U.S. streets....

FOR THE FULL STORY, CLICK HERE.

It gets worse:

NAOMI WOLF:     On October 1, 2008, President Bush deployed a brigade — which means three to four thousand warriors — somewhere in America. We do not know where they are deployed though citizens have informally reported to me having seen military vehicles and troops in Georgia and Alabama. We do know that their official mandate according to the first report is “crowd control” as well as action in the event of a mass civilian catastrophe. Initial reports described their technology “module package” as involving Tasers and rubber bullets.... The First Brigade is Bush’s force: they are not answerable to Congress or to the Governors of states: they are answerable to the Commander in Chief. In an Alternet posting, I interviewed Air Force Colonel (retired) David Antoon who noted that the troops must obey the president, even if he asks them to arrest Congress or fire on civilians or attack media outlets. If they do not obey orders, he notes, they face five years in prison.... Antoon himself calls the deployment “ominous.” Troops on our streets makes us something less than a democracy: one definition of a police state is when a leader sends his own military units into civilian streets. Meanwhile the civilian policing of citizens is becoming more brutal. Hundreds of preemptive arrests took place in St Paul, dozens of journalists were arrested.... In St. Paul, funds were sent in advance to pay off the lawsuits against police forces that were guaranteed to arise from the planned abuse of citizens. This sort of thing is happening across the country. The tactic has established a closed circle that has turned citizens’ law enforcement agencies into contractors of a state that is directing acts of increasing severity against US citizens. Now a military brigade is being deployed....

FOR THE FULL STORY, CLICK HERE.

Click here to see an interview with Naomi Wolf conducted in early October 2008.

For the past five years or so I hve been hearing rumors that Halliburton has been building (and has now finished building) 800 prisons throughout the USA, not yet functioning, but just waiting for the right crisis. I have not found reliable evidence for the specific quantity, readiness, functionality, locations, or details, but you might be interested in taking a look at page 5 of this Halliburton press release dated 26 January 2006: KBR has been awarded a contract announced by the Department of Homeland Security’s United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) component. The Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contingency contract is to support ICE facilities and has a maximum total value of $385 million over a five-year term. The contract provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the United States, or to support the rapid development of new programs.... Now, really, what are the chances of “an emergency influx of immigrants into the United States”? And what are the “new programs” that could come under “rapid development”?

FOR THE FULL PRESS RELEASE, CLICK HERE.

NOW, BACK TO THE MAIN PART OF THE WEB PAGE:

Did you happen to record Monty Python’s Flying Circus when it was shown on PBS back in the 1970s?
Do you still have the tapes?
Is there a TIME-LIFE logo at the end?
If so, please write to me. Thank you!

THE WORKS OF TINTO BRASS

Appeasing Producers—Continued

La mia signora

(My Lady, 1964)

A true gem! Upon completion of Il disco volante, producer Dino De Laurentiis hired Brass to direct the two shortest episodes of this wonderful anthology film starring Mrs De Laurentiis, Silvana Mangano. This is a great example of writing and storytelling—punchy, tight, imaginative, and humorous. (Why can’t anyone write like this anymore?) And Alberto Sordi is in top form in these five rôles. Americans don’t seem to know Alberto Sordi. Well, suffice it to say that he was easily equivalent to Peter Sellers, but perhaps more physical (and not a real-life lunatic). He was discovered when he was still a kid, at an Oliver Hardy-impersonation contest, and later gained fame as Hardy’s voice in the Italian dubs—and anyone who truly likes Laurel and Hardy can’t be all bad, you know.

The fourth episode, “Luciana,” by Rodolfo Sonego and directed by Mauro Bolognini, concerns Alberto Sordi and Silvana Mangano who meet at an airport after their spouses depart on a flight that immediately has trouble and needs to return, but only after using up all its fuel. While the plane spends the remainder of the day making circles in the sky, Alberto and Mangano start to comiserate but soon begin to fall in love, only to return to their unhappy marriages once the plane lands again. It’s quite a touching 40-minute story. The third episode, “I miei cari” (“My Dear Ones”), inspired by a novella, is a blistering nine-minute story of a hospital visit, with a wife and mother-in-law nagging at Alberto for his shortcomings, rather than offering support. Perhaps my favorite episode was the second, “Eritrea,” written by Luigi Comencini and Marcello Fondati. It’s a wonderful 40-minute screwball comedy, with an onslaught of plot twists that will have your head spinning. But when it comes to sheer direction, as opposed to writing, I give the first honors to the two short Brass-directed episodes. (Or am I just being prejudiced?) The opening act, “L’uccellino” (“The Little Bird”), has Alberto Sordi as a madly jealous husband—jealous of his wife’s pet birds. The writing alone isn’t funny. The acting alone isn’t funny. Alberto’s facial expressions alone aren’t funny. The music by itself isn’t all that funny. But with all the elements put together, this seven-minute sketch is a scream. The closing act, “L’automobile” (“The Car”), is an eight-minute sketch about a husband and wife filing a report with the police about their missing Jaguar. The delivery by the two leads makes an already funny script funnier. Apparently realizing that nothing could improve upon the original, Brass blimped the cameras and used the actual sound recorded on the set in the final film. (The usual practice at the time, of course, was to re-record all the sound later.)

QUESTION NUMBER ONE: “Eritrea” uses a popular “twist” song that was also excerpted in Chi lavora è perduto. If you know what that song is, please tell me. I’m dying of curiosity. ANSWER: “Amore twist”! Thanks to Banca Dati del Cinema Mondiale for answering my question! QUESTION NUMBER TWO: Who dubbed Silvana Mangano’s voice in “L’uccellino”?

PERSONAL NOTE: The early 1960s were truly a different world. I have only the vaguest recollections of those times (I was four when this film was made), but this film, just like Fellini’s La dolce vita, drives me crazy because it really seems that I was there, but that I can’t completely remember exactly when or where or how. These two movies capture the period perfectly.

TECHNICAL NOTE FOR THE FEW WHO MAY BE INTERESTED: A few shots seem to have been masked in the camera, but the rest were masked in the lab at 1.85:1.

WARNING! The bootlegs available from Italian shops in Canada—and at least some of the bootlegs available through eBay—are incomplete! They cut “Luciana” down from 40 minutes to 20! Beware!

SOME FORM OF THIS MOVIE APPEARS TO BE AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET BY SOME FORM OF SUBSCRIPTION:
mininova: La mia signora [DivX-Italian]TNTILLAGE.ORG.

INFORMATION ON THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK LP IS AT:
Soundtrack Collector.

It was issued on video a few different times, many moons ago. But it ain’t easy to find — unless, maybe, you happen to be on the prowl in Italy’s video shops.

Originally released on Thursday, 29 October 1964

EPISODE 1: L’uccellino (The Little Bird)

EPISODE 2: Eritrea

EPISODE 3: I miei cari (My Dear Ones)

EPISODE 4: Luciana

EPISODE 5: L’automobile (The Car)

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