THROUGH THE IPCRESS FILE

As I teach my photo students every year, there are many compositional ways to create a sense of deep space in a scene. Depth-staging forces the viewer to look through a subject placed in extreme foreground to another subject far away. Depending on the elements in the image, results can be dynamic, mysterious, claustrophobic, and can evoke psychological relationships between subjects. Visually, the approach also creates the engaging effect of "frames within frames." One of my all-time favorite examples of the technique is the cult spy film, The Ipcress File (1965), starring Michael Caine. When the core team of James Bond filmmakers adapted Len Deighton's novel, director Sidney Furie and DP Otto Heller famously made over 100 shots in the film that used depth-staging. On the blog VashiVisuals, editor Vashi Nedomansky has posted an analysis of The Ipcress File that includes a 10-minute video of all 100 shots in the movie. A must-read and must-see for Spy Vibers! Link here. See video below. Many members of the James Bond movie franchise contributed to The Ipcress File, including Harry Saltzman, John Barry, Peter Hunt, and Ken Adam. The Deighton Harry Palmer movies starring Michael Caine are often out of print. There is a European Blu-ray edition of The Ipcress File that is apparently all-region. You can currently see the second installment in the series, Funeral in Berlin, streaming on Amazon. Enjoy!

THE IPCRESS FILE - 100 Cinematic Shots from Vashi Nedomansky on Vimeo.

Recent Spy Vibe posts: 007 SOLO cover designs, Batman Valentines cards, Saturday Cartoons: Marine Boy, Mary Quant, Patrick Macnee, Gloria Steinem and Denny O'Neil on MOD Wonder Woman, Win Scott Eckert interview, Siegel and Shuster's SPY, David McCallum: Son of Batman, Jon Gilbert talks Fleming, Barbarella TV series, Meet the Beatles 50th, Wonderwall comes to Blu-ray, Batman Strips, David Bowie at 67, Kevin Dart talks Ringo & Powerpuff Girls, Sherlock Exhibit, Fu Manchu history panel, Andy Warhol box set, Six-Million Dollar Man, Striped Light Nude, Buckminster Fuller, Dylan at Newport, Jane and Serge, The Goldfinger Variations, Mod Tales Interview, David Tennant's Ian Fleming audio books, Atomic Art, Shane Glines Batman.

Recent Ian Fleming posts on Spy Vibe: Ian Fleming Letters, Erno Goldfinger, Ian Fleming Music Series links: Noel Coward, Whispering Jack Smith, Hawaiian Guitar, Joe Fingers Carr, new Ian Fleming Catalog, Jon Gilbert interview, Double 007 Designs, Bond audio book reissues, discovery of one of Ian Fleming's WWII Commandos, James Bond book covers, Ian Fleming's Playboy interview for Kindle, Spy Vibe's discovery of a rare Ian Fleming serialization, rare View to a Kill, Fleming's Royal gold typewriter, Ian Fleming's memorial address, Spy Vibe's Ian Fleming image archive.

CRITERION SALE

There's no way to talk about art and culture during the cold war without mentioning the incredible influence of the international film scene. In the 1950s, directors like Kurosawa, Fellini, and Bergman, came into world-wide acclaim and inspired a generation to view and create film in new and dynamic ways. The Criterion Collection continues to champion outstanding directors and major works from this era and throughout cinema history.


Amazon is currently running a sale on Criterion Blu-ray titles. Highlights include Fritz Lang's M, Fellini's 8 1/2 and Amarcord, Kurosawa's Yojimbo and Sanjuro, Powell's The Red Shoes, Kubrick's Paths of Glory, Melville's Army of Shadows and le Circle Rouge, Bergman's Seventh Seal, Godard's Breathless, Chaplin's Modern Times, and Wenders' Wings of Desire. Stunning works of art in motion. Rediscover them and pass them on to new fans. Full list with links at DVD Beaver here.



My personal fave here is 8 1/2, Fellini's masterpiece from 1963. The cocktail of Mastroianni, Nino Rota score, and cinematography by Gianni Di Venanzo is a stylish feast for the soul. The bonus features include a Nino Rota documentary and an inspired gallery of photographs from the set. Criterion's 8 1/2 page here.

One man largely responsible for bringing these notable directors to the American public was Cyrus Harvey. Harvey's Janus Films formed out of his experience as part-owner of the Brattle Theater in Boston and his love of cinema. Cyrus Harvey died in April at the age of 85. From the New York Times obituary here: "Before they sold the company in 1966, Janus helped introduce American audiences to dozens of films that have since been accepted as masterpieces of world cinema: Antonioni’s “L’Avventura,” Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai,” Fellini’s “La Strada,” and Bergman’s “Seventh Seal” and “Virgin Spring,” which won the Academy Award for best foreign film in 1960, among many others." Janus Films website here.

CINEMATOGRAPHY: SPY VIBERS

Spy Vibers shared some of their favorite cinematography this week and discussed the role of color and black and white imagery in our experiences as viewers. How does a film's patina signify its era? Are there images that remain timeless? And what are the most indelible images in mystery adventure stories? Earlier we posted clips from Jack Cardiff's films, as well as two modern classics, Diva and The Good German. Here are additional color films chosen by our readers: Elio Petri's The 10th Victim (my fave!), Hitchcock's Topaz, Batman, Raising Arizona by the Cohen brothers, American Beauty, and Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood For Love. What are your favorite moments in color?

CINEMATOGRAPHY: DIVA

Spy Vibers shared some of their favorite cinematography this week and discussed the role of color and black and white imagery in our experiences as viewers. How does a film's patina signify its era? Are there images that remain timeless? And what are the most indelible images in mystery adventure stories? I will post a series of clips this weekend from our discussions. Here is the trailer for the brilliant film, Diva (1981). "Every shot seems designed to delight the audience." -Pauline Kael (The New Yorker)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: THE GOOD GERMAN

Spy Vibers shared some great suggestions over the past few days about some of their favorite cinematography. How does color and black and white not only support the story, but also become an element of its era that we savor as viewers? One contemporary film that attempted to capture some essence of vintage black and white imagery was The Good German (2006). I seem to remember seeing Steven Soderbergh in an interview talk about how they hoped to use vintage equipment to match the visual tone of period dramas, and how old-style lighting, cameras, etc would also affect things like composition and scene-blocking. Their effort is apparent in this trailer, though I haven't seen the film recently enough to speak for the whole project. A quick study of clips, however, suggests some inconsistency of success. The still below is quite beautiful and reminds me of those iconic sewer shots of Joesph Cotten and Orson Welles (and Bernard Lee!) in Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949). I'll put together a series of clips from reader suggestions to view over the weekend.