contents Issue Twelve.

January/February 2011
Features

06 06 | Spotlight
The Big Society:
INEM Oppression, Uprising
and the Cinema of The
Masses

14 | Art & Film

Luís Melo:
Painting The Movies

24 | Widescreen
Directory of World Cinema: Russia Directory of World Cinema: Little Weddings:
Edited by Birgit Beumers American Independent Tying the Knot
ISBN 9781841503721 | £16, $25 Edited by John Berra Hollywood Style
ISBN 9781841503684 | £16, $25
30 | 1000 Words
Dawn of the Undead:
The Everlasting Influence

directory of
of Night of the Living Dead

world
Regulars
04 | Reel World
Eskimo Roles

cinema
18 | One Sheet
Sudden Impact

28 | Four Frames
‘The evil that men
Invasion of the Bodysnatchers
should turn their
brothers into beasts of 34 | On Location
burden, to be stripped Beijing
of spirit, and hope, and 38 | Screengem
Directory of World Cinema: Directory of World Cinema: Japan
strength - only because The Red Ryder BB Gun
Australia & New Zealand Edited by John Berra
they are of another
Edited by Ben Goldsmith race, another creed. If 42 | Parting Shot
ISBN 9781841503356 | £16, $25
and Geoff Lealand Death From Above
there is a god, he did
ISBN 9781841503738 | £16, $25
not mean this to be so.' 46 | Listings

The Directory of World Cinema aims to play a part in moving intelligent,

cover image the ten commandments ( 1956)
Moses
38 A roundup of this issue's
featured films

scholarly criticism beyond the academy by building a forum for the

study of film that relies on a disciplined theoretical base. Each volume
of the Directory will take the form of a collection of reviews, longer
essays and research resources, accompanied by film stills highlighting
significant films and players. Free downloads available from the website.
The Big Picture ISSN 1759-0922 © 2011 intellect Ltd. Published by Intellect Ltd. The Mill, Parnall Road. Bristol BS16 3JG / www.intellectbooks.com
Editorial office Tel. 0117 9589910 / E: info@thebigpicturemagazine.com Publisher Masoud Yazdani Editor-in-chief & Layout Gabriel Solomons Editor Scott Jordan Harris
Contributors Jez Conolly, Nicholas Page, Nathan Francis, Neil Mitchell, Scott Jordan Harris, Luís Melo, Thomas Clayton, Gabriel Solomons
Special thanks to John Letham, Sara Carlsson and all at Park Circus, Michael Eckhardt, Michael Pierce at Curzon Cinemas and Gabriel Swartland at City Screen
Please send all email enquiries to: info@thebigpicturemagazine.com / www.thebigpicturemagazine.com l The Big Picture magazine is published six times a year
Published by intellect

www . worldcinemadirectory. org January/February 2011 3

 reel world
f i l m b e yo n d t h e b o r d e r s o f t h e s c r e e n
Eskimo
Roles
Film and real life have seldom collided as
memorably, or as controversially, as in Nanook of
the North. neil mi tc h e l l heads out into the cold.
i n t h e age of youtube ,
rolling news channels and
reality TV, ethical concerns
over the representation of
real life and the ‘truth’ being
presented in documentary
films are constantly debated.
But these issues have
surrounded the genre since
its birth. Robert J. Flaherty,
a prospector and explorer
turned film-maker, is credited
with directing the first full-
length documentary, Nanook
of the North (1922) – a still
remarkable film showing
the day-to-day struggle for
survival faced by the Inuit of
the Canadian Arctic region.
Later classified as being
the foremost example of
‘salvage ethnography’ (the
documentation of isolated,
endangered or ‘exotic’
communities), Flaherty's
film also encapsulated the
complexities of filming the
real world.
4 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Flaherty’s
film – seminal,
controversial and
ambitious – drew
the blueprint for
the documentary
as we know it
today
➜
Nanook of the North, like
many films of its kind, has
been criticised for a perceived
distortion of reality, and
for overtly manipulating its
subject matter. Staged scenes
and reconstructions of seal
hunts, trading expeditions
and Igloo building, shot
over the year Flaherty spent
living with the tribe, paint
an evocative, poetic, but
partly constructed portrait
of life for Nanook and
his community. Further
blurring the line between
fact and fiction, ‘Nanook’
was in actuality called
Allakariallak and his ‘wife’
was one of Flaherty's own
two common-law partners.
The reconstruction (and
staging) of events for films
was, however, a common
technique of the era due to
the cumbersome, restrictive
and technologically primitive
nature of early static cameras.
Flaherty’s film – seminal,
controversial and ambitious
– drew the blueprint for the
documentary as we know it
today, and is required viewing
for anyone with a serious
interest in the genre. [tbp]
left a somewhat sensationalized poster used to 'sell' the film / above a documentary of majestic beauty
gofurther [web ] Read ‘First Person: Heather Milland and Iceland: Future of Hope’ exclusively on TheBigPictureMagazine.com
January/February 2011 5
 cover
feature spotlight
Y c i n e m a ' s t h e m at i c s t r a n d s

Making
Moves
Ever since cinema has shown big societies, it has shown
them oppressing smaller societies, leading to inevitable
uprisings headed by defiant heroes. n at h a n f r a n c i s
assesses six standout examples.

The Ten
Commandments (1956)
Dir. Cecil B. DeMille

Never one for understatement, Cecil B.

DeMille ensured his final film The Ten
Commandments (a partial remake of his
1923 silent version) had the sheer scope
and visual grandeur to out-spectacle
sermons across the globe. The Technicolor
epic chronicles the life of Moses (Charlton
Heston), from his rescue as a baby and his
adoption within Egypt’s imperial family,
to his discovery of his birthright and his
fulfilment of the prophecy as the Hebrew
Deliverer. Moses brings plagues and a
pillar of fire, and parts the Red Sea to
prove His mighty hand to Pharaoh Ramses
II (Yul Brynner) and convince him to let
his people go.
After climbing Mount Sinai to receive the
left
Ten Commandments, Moses descends and
moses (charlton heston) in majestic pose smashes them in rage at the orgy of iniquity
above and demagoguery conducted in his absence
the soon to be destroyed tablets by the faithless, who are then divinely
despatched. DeMille uses Moses’s miracles ➜
to showcase the ingenuity of special effects
technician John Fulton, who won an Oscar.

6 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com January/February 2011 7

Kobal (2)
The battleship
potemkin (1925)
Dir. Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein’s technically
astonishing montage masterpiece
The Battleship Potemkin was
commissioned by the Soviet
Government to mark the twentieth
anniversary of the suppressed 1905
Russian Revolution, and remains
a potent agitprop classic. In five
episodes of heavily symbolic imagery,
Eisenstein depicts the rousing effect
the mutiny of the oppressed sailors
of the Potemkin has on the similarly
oppressed Russian people. When
mutiny leader Vakulinchuk is shot
and his body laid in state at the
harbour, the citizens of Odessa crowd
to mourn their murdered comrade.
Armed Tsarist troops descend, and
the ensuing Odessa Steps Massacre
is one of cinema’s truly imperishable
sequences, influencing everyone from
Francis Bacon to Brian De Palma.
As the mutineers take the Potemkin
back to sea, they face oncoming
warships with cannons aimed at the
ready. Flying the flag of friendship,
which Eisenstein hand-painted red
on original prints, the Potemkin
is allowed to pass by the warships
as the crews celebrate the bond of
brotherhood on their decks.
8 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
spotlight making moves
One Flew Over The
Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Dir. Milos Forman
Milos Forman’s celebrated
adaptation of Ken Kesey’s classic
1960s counter-culture novel, One
The Odessa Steps Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest pits
charismatic anti-establishment
Massacre is one livewire Randle P. McMur-
phy (Jack Nicholson) against
of cinema’s truly authoritarian ice queen Nurse
Ratched (Louise Fletcher) within
imperishable sequences, the restrictive confines of a state
mental hospital. McMurphy
influencing everyone strives to stir his fellow inmates
from Francis Bacon to to break free from the fetters of
the institution and their own self
Brian De Palma. repression. Nurse Ratched sits
sentinel over her subjects while
keeping an iron grip on her strict
regime of quiet obedience and
above calm routine.
a true bond of friendship
top left When the Chief discovers McMurphy’s rebel message gets
through to Chief Bromden (Will
McMurphy has been
the faces of a revolution
Sampson), a Native American
martyred by the system, he who plays deaf and dumb before
breaking silence over shared
gives him final release before Juicy Fruit; and Nurse Ratched
retaliates against McMurphy’s
carrying out one of cinema’s licentiousness and final, violent
insurrection by rendering him
most stirring acts of self- permanently docile. When the
Chief discovers McMurphy has
emancipation. been martyred by the system, he
gives him final release before car-
rying out one of cinema’s most
stirring acts of self-emancipation.
January/February 2011 9
KOBAL (2)
The film encapsulated the
social and moral codes of
sixteenth century Japan,
and gifted awestruck
western directors a new
narrative blueprint and
cinematic grammar.
10 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
seven samurai (1954)
Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s magnificent
Seven Samurai is the original
and best ensemble action epic.
Mixing breathtaking battles, wild
humour and genuine pathos, the
film encapsulated the social and
moral codes of sixteenth century
Japan, and gifted awestruck
western directors a new narrative
blueprint and cinematic grammar.
Fearing a bandit attack, the
members of a poor rural village
hire six samurai to protect them,
with only food to offer for their
services. Led by wily veteran
Kambei (Takashi Shimura),
they are joined by the clowning
Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune),
who wishes to climb castes
from commoner to warrior.
Separated by rigid social
barriers, the samurai are treated
with suspicion by the villagers,
but nevertheless feel bound to
protect them by duty and for
honour alone. The immense
climactic battle sees Kikuchiyo
heroically earn the samurai
honour by slaying the bandit
leader before succumbing to
his wounds. The film ends with
Kambei and the two other
surviving samurai poignantly
contemplating the victory won
for the villagers at the cost of
their fallen friends.
spotlight making moves
the picture was
the first to openly
defy the Hollywood
spartacus (1960)
blacklist by hiring
Dir. stanley kubrick
Dalton Trumbo
to write the
screenplay.
The battles that took place ➜
behind the scenes of Spartacus
were almost as tumultuous as
the epic on-screen Technicolor
skirmishes between the upris-
ing slaves and Roman legions.
Director Stanley Kubrick
wrestled with producer and
lead actor Kirk Douglas; the
egos of Laurence Olivier and
Charles Laughton constantly
collided; and the picture was
the first to openly defy the
Hollywood blacklist by hiring
Dalton Trumbo to write the
screenplay. The fighting spirit
infuses the film.
Leading a slave revolt that
gathers pace from a gladiatorial
school breakout to threaten the
Roman Republic itself, Sparta-
cus (Kirk Douglas) seeks to free
his people from the yoke of op-
pression and wrest his beloved
Varinia (Jean Simmons) from
the clutches of tyrannical Gen-
eral Crassus (Laurence Olivier).
The famous scene in which the
defeated slave soldiers stand up
and claim ‘I’m Spartacus!’ to
protect the true identity of their
leader retains great power. At
the film’s heartrending close,
Varinia shows the crucified
Spartacus his freed newborn
son in his final moments.
above left
toshiro mifune as kikuchiyo
opposite
kirk douglas stands tall
January/February 2011 11
 spotlight
c i n e m a ' s t h e m at i c s t r a n d s

Kobal

antz (1998) z's frustration

Dir. Eric Darnell/Tim Johnson, 1998 with his conformist
totalitarian colony
Rallying a revolt against
transform him
Disney’s stranglehold on into a reluctant
animated feature success, revolutionary hero
Dreamworks’ cerebral CGI who redefines the
parable Antz tells the tale of
a neurotically individualistic
social order.
worker ant named Z (Woody
Allen), whose frustration
within his conformist
totalitarian colony transforms
him into a reluctant
revolutionary hero who
redefines the social order.
Falling feelers over heels
for the similarly rebellious
Princess Bala (Sharon Stone),
Z dares to trade places with a
soldier ant to impress her, an
individual act of transgression
which causes a seismic social
chain reaction. Z is hailed
as both a liberating hero
and radical villain; discovers
the mythic Insectopia; and
thwarts Patton-like General
Mandible’s (Gene Hackman)
fascist plot to seize power,
before marrying his princess
and rallying his fellow ants
to rebuild the colony as a
democratic commune in which
all insects are equal. [tbp]

right
antz in their pants

Go further Read ‘Spartacus: Film and History’, edited by Martin M. Winkler [web ] Look out for part 2 of this feature 'Making Moves: Movies of The Masses' exclusively on TheBigPicturemagazine.com

12 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com January/February 2011 13

 art & film
Luís
visual art inspired by film
Lisbon based artist Luís Melo is no
stranger to the world of fantasy.
His concept art and illustration
work for a variety of clients evoke

Mel�
worlds we can only dream - but
it's his paintings inspired by film
that really stir the imagination.
all images © LUíS MELO

14 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com January/February 2011 15

 art & film
visual art inspired by film
clockwise from opposite
dolemite / buffalo 66 / Singapore Sling

go further... [web] See more work by Luis Melo at www.sketchitos.blogspot.com / www.luismelo.net

16 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com January/February 2011 17

 one sheet
deconstructing film posters

Sudden
Impact
Events that shape our social landscape may be
joyous occasions full of laughter and celebration,
or cold, hellish nightmares that lay an entire
generation to waste. nichol as page takes a look
at posters marking three such enormous events.
Images courtesy of The Reel Poster Gallery, London.

social events that occur The March of Time: Our

on a grand scale are always
going to be an attractive target
for film-makers, whether
those events come in the form
of music concerts or world
wars. One often finds that
with commercial cinema,
and especially in this age of
celebrity and cross-promotion,
that bigger is considered better
– the more epic a premise,
the more chance there is
that it will sell, and the more
money is thrown at it. But
the most effective attempts
to capture big social events
come not with a big budget
but with a big passion for the
subject itself, as the following
examples prove.
America at War! (1943)
Original US One Sheet
Artist unknown
The March of Time, which began
as a radio programme in 1931
but was adapted to be shown
in theatres a few years later,
was a revolutionary newsreel
series in which world events
were dramatised for the nation.
The series, produced by Time
Magazine, was a staple for
the American cinema-going
public for over 15 years, despite
actually losing money (it
remained in production for six
years beyond the cancellation of
the original radio series). This
original US poster, created for
the episode Our America at War!
in 1941, helps to show exactly
how the series was presented
to the public. One is given the
impression that there is a story
behind the images, despite the
film’s non-fictional nature.

18 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
one sheet sudden impact

The War Game (1965)

Original British Quad

The example prior and the

one on the following page,
while representing almost
opposite ends of the ‘Big
Social Event’ spectrum, are
films that remain – at least to
a certain extent – faithful to
real life events. Peter Watkins’
The War Game, however,
is entirely fictional, and
depicts life before, during
and after a nuclear attack
upon Britain. Despite being
praised for its mixture of
drama and documentary, and
scooping an Academy Award
in 1966, the film – which
was produced by the BBC
– was initially criticised by
many, and ended up being
withdrawn from transmission
on the grounds it was ‘too
horrifying for the medium
of broadcasting.’ It has since
become something of a cult
film in Britain and beyond.

the film ended up

being withdrawn
from transmission
on the grounds it
was ‘too horrifying
for the medium of
broadcasting.

20 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com January/February 2011 21

one sheet sudden impact

celebrates 45 years of cinema coverage

Monterey Pop (1968)
Original US One Sheet
Art by Tomi Ungerer
The Monterey Pop Festival
was a three-day concert
Published bi-monthly by the internationally
that took place in California
during June 1967. The show, renowned film society of lincoln center,
which featured such artists as
Jefferson Airplane, The Who
and Jimi Hendrix, has since
film comment provides global coverage
come to embody the counter-
culture associated with the in cinema including exclusive interviews,
infamous ‘Summer of Love’,
and inspired a number of
similar events, including the
in-depth reviews, discussions on new releases
Woodstock Festival of 1969.
D.A. Pennebaker’s Monterey and classic films, authoritative profiles on
Pop, which documented the
festival and its performances,
was the work of a number of
different directors, including
the renowned documentarians
’’ !
luminaries in the industry, and developments
in the art of filmmaking.
Richard Leacock and Albert
Maysles. Tomi Ungerer, who

’’
’’
is listed as the artist behind
this rather surreal American
One Sheet, also created the I love every aspect of motion pictures, and I’m committed to it for life.
titles for the film. [tbp]
film comment has that same commitment when it comes to

’’
writing about motion pictures.

’’
— Clint Eastwood film comment connects me to a time when films and filmmakers
actually mattered and were treated as being worthy of serious discussion.
There’s no other cinema magazine remotely like it.

’’
— stEvE n sodErb Ergh

film comment regularly publishes some of the best film writers in the
world, and they probe and parse cinema in a way that deepen our experience of it.
— utn E ind Ep End Ent pr Ess award b E st arts CovE ragE
Tomi Ungerer, who is listed as
the artist behind this rather
surreal American One Sheet, also Fi l m Co m m E n t.Co m s u b sC r i b E :
created the titles for the film. 1.888.313.6085 US 1 yr (6 issues) save 10% of our standard rate
1.973.627.5162 International us $27 /canada&mexico $36 /international
Film Comment PO Box 3000, $63 use code 2 bKFr9 when ordering.
Denville NJ 07834 USA
go further [web ] Look out for ‘Poster Boy: One Sheets of Distinction' on TheBigPictureMagazine.com

22 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
 widescreen
seeing film in a wider context
ss
Little
Weddings
ss
Tying the Knot - Hollywood Style.
interview by gabriel solomons
independent cinemas
have always had to think
more imaginatively and
come up with inventive new
ways of luring your average
cinemagoer away from the
multiplex and into the cosy
environs of their own theatres.
Quiz nights, guest speakers,
themed screenings and mini-
retrospectives all help to fill
up the monthly schedule and
offer an ecclectic range of
events for punters to sink their
avid teeth into.
Contrary to the widely
held belief that the multiplex
would kill off the local 'picture
house', small independent run
cinemas seem to be thriving -
with new venues springing up
weekly all across the country.
It seems that people
are still keen on the more
personally driven, often
quirky and definitely more
varied experience that can
be had when opting to spend
their hard earned cash on a
night out at the movies. Some
people enjoying it so much in
fact that they can think of no
better place or venue more
suitable for the ultimate union
of souls - a wedding.
A handful of cinemas in
the UK have now added
this facility to enable film
buffs and their loved ones to
above
Photograph courtesy www.shelldemar.com
24 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
come together in holy movie
matrimony and to celebrate in
the warm projector glow and
tiered plushness of a mini-plex.
Bath's Little Theatre cinema,
which has been at the centre of
Bath entertainment for over 70
years and boasts atmospheric
1930s architecture, has
recently made available its 2
screens for wedding parties
and appointed a wedding
director to manage the whole
operation - appropriately titled
'Little Weddings'. The Big
Picture recently spoke to its
leading man, Thomas Clayton,
to find out more.
How did the idea for Little
Weddings come about?
The idea for weddings at the
Little came about a couple of
years ago when two patrons
of the little (friends of Martin
Jennings, manager of the Little
Theatre) loved the concept of
a wedding at the Little. So in
exchange for having a wedding
they paid the license fee to
make our venue approved for ➜
solemnisation. After this Little
Weddings was born. I became
the wedding director in early
2010, created a big marketing
drive and we have had
weddings galore ever since.
January/February 2011 25
 below and bottom
widescreen ADVERTISEMENT

Photograph courtesy www.shelldemar.com seeing film in a wider context

What is your background and

how did this sufficiently equip

Your New
you (or not!) to take on the
project?
My background is in
management and projection so

Mobile Cinema
this helps enormously with the
organisation of the staff and the
wedding party on the day.

Why do you think slightly

more alternative wedding
venues such as cinemas
are becoming increasingly
popular with the public?
Alternative weddings are
becoming more attractive even
to those who are thinking of
having a "traditional wedding".
I think from the Little's point
of view we offer so much
flexibility in what we provide for
the 'clients', we don't have any
set ideas or plans for couples
at the start and we start each
wedding as a blank canvas. We
have the ability to tailor the
ceremony to their needs and
so have managed to do quite a
broad range of events - things
like 1930s Hollywood themed
weddings and Japanese Geisha
weddings. We allow full use of
the cinema screen and sound,
so mixed with clever lighting
and set designs we can create
quite special events. This makes
my job more interesting as each
wedding I've done has been
different.

Were there any particular

legal loopholes you had to go
through to make the Little
suitable for tying the knot?
There weren't any legal loop
holes to go through but I do
think it took a while for the
registrars to get used to the low
lit atmospheric lighting! [tbp]

Little Weddings at The Little Theatre

www.littleweddings.co.uk 'We don't have any
The Big Picture App
set ideas or plans for
couples at the start and Now Available on The iPad
we start each wedding www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
as a blank canvas.'

go further... [web] Find out more about Little Weddings at www.littleweddings.co.uk

26 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com

The Look of Terror In
28 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
four frames
t h e a r t o f a b b r e v i at e d s t o r y t e l l i n g
i n va s i o n o f t h e b o d y s n at c h e r s Dir. Don Siegel, 1956
1 2 Four versions of Invasion
of the Body Snatchers
have terrified film-goers.
Jez Conolly hides behind
the sofa to examine four
shots from the original.
the paranoid terror
that unfolds in Don Siegel’s anti-
totalitarian Invasion of the Body Snatchers
(1956) is illustrated most effectively
through the frequent close-ups of actor
Kevin McCarthy’s face. McCarthy plays
Dr. Miles Bennell, pillar of the ordinary
small town community of Santa Mira,
California. We see his shock at witnessing
the mass deployment of seed pods to
the townsfolk; his moment of sickening
realisation that his old flame, Becky
Driscoll (Dana Wynter), has just been
‘transformed’; his wide-eyed disbelief
at the sight of a truckload of seed pods
headed for the major cities; and his total
3 4 panic as he warns the passing motorists on
the highway, ‘They’re here already! You’re
next, you’re next…’
This final close-up was how Siegel
originally wanted to end his picture – to
send film-goers back out into the real
world with the chilling thought that their
neighbours might just have something
unusual growing in their vegetable patch
– but he was forced by the studio to
insert bookend scenes designed to soften
the blow. Maybe Allied Artists Pictures
Corporation executives all had giant seed
pods under the stairs… [tbp]
Read More f o u r f r a m e s online at
www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Screengrabs © 1956 Walter Wanger Productions
January/February 2011 29

dead
30 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
1000 words
m o m e n t s t h at c h a n g e d c i n e m a f o r e v e r
After George A. Romero set hoards
of staggering flesh-eaters against the
inhabitants of a Pennsylvania farmhouse,
cinema changed irreversibly. s c o t t
j o r da n h a r r i s tries not to get bitten.
men
The Everlasting
walking
S
ome films
change cinema
in such a way
that a straight
line can be
drawn from
them through
an entire
sub-genre
Influence of or style of
movie-making. Some films, like
Night Of The director George A. Romero’s
1968 debut Night of the Living
Living Dead Dead, change cinema in so
many ways that a hundred
straight lines and a thousand
meandering off-shoots can
be traced from them through
a dozen areas of film. The
original zombie apocalypse
picture changed horror films;
it changed independent films;
it changed business models; it
changed language; it changed
the tone of American films
(removing from them much
of the security audiences
expected); and it issued a
challenge for casting directors
to throw open their minds to
which few have risen in the
decades since.
In the beginning, there
was the word: ‘zombie’. Just
as The Godfather popularised
and altered our concept of
the term ‘mafia’ without once
using the word, so Night of
the Living Dead both changed
and popularised the prevailing
definition of ‘zombie’, despite
it never being heard in the
film. Zombies had existed
both in the English language
and in movies prior to Living
Dead, but those zombies were
the enchanted catatonics of
films like Jacques Tourneur’s I
Walked with a Zombie (1943),
not the lumbering, flesh-
chewing, un-dead shotgun
fodder to which we are now
accustomed. (The closest
character to an I Walked with-
style zombie in Romero’s film is
Barbra, played by Judith O’Dea,
who reacts so badly to the
first zombie attack she spends
much of the remainder of the
movie sitting unresponsive, in
a state of shock).
Ask anyone to list ten
characteristics of zombies
and, I’d wager, at least eight
of their suggestions will have
been established by Night
of the Living Dead. Living
corpses – the reasons for their
reanimation never perhaps
specified, possessed of that
relentless slowness that
illogically allows so many
classic movie monsters to catch
their quarry no matter how
quickly it can run (or drive
or fly) – have, because of this
film, taken up space in our
imaginations in the same way
as vampires, werewolves or
dragons. In the innumerable
remakes, re-imaginings,
rip-offs, sequels, prequels,
parodies and works of homage
the film has inspired, Romero’s
brand of zombies have become
some of cinema’s most horrific, ➜
comic and, ironically, given the
ease with which they can be
outwitted, outmanoeuvred and
immolated, enduring villains.
To simply list the films in
which Living Dead-inspired
zombies have appeared would
take an article considerably
January/February 2011 31
1000 words dead men walking
longer than 1000 words.
Romero’s film sits with John
Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
and James Whales’s Frankenstein
Romero’s film sits with John
(1931) in having established the
template for a type of horror
Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) and
movie monster that has been
copied so frequently, and so
James Whales’s Frankenstein (1931)
totally, it seems now to be an in having established the template
archetype that has been always
around us. for a type of horror movie monster
The horror the zombies
inflict in the film also proved that has been copied so frequently.
influential. Both the explicitness
of the film’s carnage (zombies
are seen chewing the severed
limbs and eating the organs of
their victims – victims who were,
moments earlier, characters we
cared about) and the kind of
people who turn evil and carry
it out (attractive young women;
otherwise benign-looking old
men; and, most famously, an
angelic young girl who rises
from death to murder her
mother and feast on her father)
changed violence on film. Those
who like to watch, or to make,
The ending was perfect for an chosen as a leading man simply
because he was the best actor
films dripping with gore owe
much to George Romero.
America struggling through the to audition for the film, and
because the ethnicity of the
The film’s ending is almost
as influential as the look, and
Vietnam War and the unrest inspired main character actually didn’t
matter (as it so often doesn’t).
actions, of its monsters. Easy
Rider (1969) and Chinatown
by the Civil Rights movement. After Night of the Living Dead,
casting could never be quite so
(1974) are often credited with unconsciously racist again.
introducing to popular US The film’s astonishing
movies endings so downbeat above such a surprising and un- success – it was made for a
and unpredictable that, from ben (duane jones) fights a losing battle compromising work. Here is little over $100,000 by a group
the early Seventies onwards, opposite a horror film that behaves as, of unknowns, who set up a
james whales's iconic monster
audiences no longer knew, even perhaps, a horror film should: production company specifically
in a film’s closing seconds, if the it scares it audience and, when for the project, and has grossed
hero they had watched struggle it has the opportunity to soothe tens of millions – was a turning
through mysteries and ordeals, them, it scares them again. It’s point too. It provided a model
overcoming danger and side- also an ending that was perfect that independent film-makers,
stepping death, would actually for an America struggling particularly those making
win out. Night of the Living Dead through the Vietnam War and horror movies, essentially still
predates both. the unrest inspired by the Civil follow. Most obviously, its style,
Throughout, we watch Ben Rights movement. its methods and, of course, its
(Duane Jones) battle for his Extending the ties with the content are responsible for much
survival as those he tries to themes of the Civil Rights in the ‘splatter’ and ‘slasher’
help are killed by marauding movement, the choice as leading sub-genres that followed. Less
monsters. Through bravery, man of Duane Jones, a dark- obviously, its themes, tone and
ingenuity, ruthlessness and luck skinned black man who plays the profit margins are responsible
he is there in the morning as the film’s only non-white character, for much that followed in too
ghouls are leaving and the good was perhaps the first (and is many sub-genres to list.
guys arriving. As Ben moves to a still very likely one of the only) Most films that change cinema
window, probably to call for help instances of truly colour blind do so in ways you can only see if
from the approaching posse, one casting in American movies. Black you know exactly where to look.
of its members mistakes him characters had been written, and Night of the Living Dead changed
for a monster and shoots him black actors had played them, for cinema in ways it is almost
dead. The end credits play over decades – but those characters impossible to miss. Nothing,
images of his body as it is about were scripted to be black, and except of course a zombie
to be burned. cast to bring attention to that apocalypse, could possibly erase
It’s an ending perfect for blackness. Here was a performer its influence. [tbp]

go further... [read] ‘Brilliant Failures: The Prowler’ exclusively on TheBigPictureMagazine.com

32 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
 on location below
pu yi faces his future
bottom right
t h e p l a c e s t h at m a k e t h e m o v i e s
two wheeled friends
As the big society at the heart of the
Beijing
biggest society on Earth, Beijing is an
irresistible setting for film-makers.
j e z c o n o l ly travels to China’s capital.
the last emperor
(1987)
Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
Italy/UK, 163 minutes
Starring John Lone, Joan
Chen and Peter O'Toole
Bernardo Bertolucci’s epic saga
of the life of Pu Yi, China's last
emperor, was the first western
production allowed to film
in Beijing’s Forbidden City,
the traditional capital of the
Chinese emperors. The city is
a huge medieval construction
encompassing 250 acres and
9,999 rooms – only Heaven,
its makers believed, possessed
10,000 rooms. Permission
was granted to film inside
the complex on the basis
that Bertolucci had been a
registered member of the Italian
Communist Party until 1978,
and the Chinese authorities
further assisted the production
by providing thousands of
soldiers to act as extras. Their
efforts resulted in a film that
was nominated for nine Oscars
– and won them all.
34 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Beijing Bicycle
(2001)
Dir. Wang Xiaoshuai
China, 113 minutes
Starring Lin Cui, Xun Zhou
and Bin Li
Wang Xiaoshuai’s film is
often compared to Vittorio De
Sica’s neorealist masterpiece
Bicycle Thieves (1948). Both
films tell the story of a young,
working class man who, in
searching through the city for
his stolen bicycle, confronts
the reality of the society
he inhabits. According to
Wang, ‘the bicycle may be
only a material symbol, but
it is also a symbol of China.’
This is seen in the shots of
contemporary Beijing streets,
where the bicycle is still the
most commonplace mode of
transport. Bicycle ownership
in Beijing is a rite of passage.
It continues to be a means,
and a metaphor, for getting
through everyday life.
➜
January/February 2011 35
 on location left
t h e p l a c e s t h at m a k e t h e m o v i e s richard gere pleads innocent
below
making a song and dance of it

red corner (1997)

Dir. John Avnet
USA, 122 minutes
Starring Richard Gere, Ling
Bai and Bradley Whitford

American lawyer Jack

Moore (Richard Gere) is
accused of murder during a
visit to Beijing to negotiate
a TV satellite deal in a
drama that plays out in the
space between China’s old
communist ways and its
new economic openness.
Director Jon Avnet learned to
speak enough Mandarin to
communicate with his actors.
Researching the Chinese
judicial system for over a
year, he met with lawyers,
judges and journalists during
his trips to China. In order
to heighten the film’s reality,
Avnet, actress Ling Bai, and
co-producer Martin Huberty
travelled to Beijing for a week
of ‘guerrilla’ filming without Peking Opera Blues is a peking opera blues
(1986)
the knowledge or permission
of the Chinese government. breathless screwball comedy Dir. Tsui Hark
Hong Kong, 104 minutes
with a painted face, a firecracker Starring Brigitte Lin, Cherie
Chung and Sally Yeh
exploding on the stage of Tsui Hark’s Peking Opera Blues,
traditional Chinese theatre. a landmark film in Hong Kong
cinema, is set in 1913 amid
the chaos between the fall of
the imperial dynasty and the
establishment of the republic.
The film boasts three ambitious
heroines: the daughter of a
Peking warlord; an aspiring
performer desperate to break
into the all-male world of the
Peking Opera; and a greedy,
opportunistic servant. As we
follow their exploits in and
around the opera house,
the city, at times, resembles
a giant maze. Peking Opera
Blues is a breathless screwball
comedy with a painted face, a
firecracker exploding on the
stage of traditional Chinese
go further... [web ] Read ‘A Long Way From Home: An Interview With Author / Director Xiaolu Guo’ exclusively on TheBigPictureMagazine.com theatre. [tbp]

36 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com January/February 2011 37

 screengem
e vo c at i v e o b j e c t s o n s c r e e n

The
red
ryder
BB Gun

A Christmas Story (1983)

Some of the most evocative objects in film are toys,
and none means more than Ralphie’s Red Ryder rifle.
s c o t t j o r da n h a r r i s tries not to shoot his eye out.

w r i t i n g a b o u t Winchester ’73 for The Big Picture’s website, I said,
‘few objects in film are as fetishised, celebrated and sought after as
James Stewart’s “gun that won the West”.’ While this is true, any
suggestion that the eponymous Winchester ’73 is the most sought
after rifle in cinema would be an outright lie. That rifle, of course,
belongs to little Ralphie Parker. Or, at least, Ralphie wishes it does.
Although A Christmas Story adapts several stories from Jean Shep-
herd’s semi-autobiographical writings, its main plot focuses sim-
ply on a little boy’s desire to receive a BB gun for Christmas. And,
as Gene Siskel noted, the film has ‘just as much tension’ as any
movie about ‘people trying to do great things […] fly to another
planet [or] save the world.’
The chief reason for this is the symbolism of the BB gun, which
represents everything that is best (and, in its overt commercial-
ism, a little of what is worst) about being a child. Ralphie desires
it with an innocent lust that charms us immediately. Owning it
is essential to his imagination – and, through him, we remember
when our imaginations were the most important landscapes in our
lives. When, at last, he holds the toy, he knows that, in a sense, his
life has peaked. Never could he feel such satisfaction again. [tbp]

go further Read ‘Screengem: The Winchester ‘73’ exclusively on TheBigPictureMagazine.com and visit AChristmasStoryHouse.com

38 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com January/February 2011 39

 Intellect
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i m i tat i o n i s t h e s i n c e r e s t f o r m o f f l at t e r y
there is something

death
powerful, and
indelible, in the
image of lone
characters facing
the full force of a
from
clockwise from left
throne of blood
300
hero
hail of arrows.

above
t h e r e a r e f e w m o r e visually
arresting deaths in film than
those brought about by a hail of
arrows. This ancient weapon’s
deadly power is aesthetically
and symbolically richer than
contemporary weapons of war.
When a character is subjected
to an assault from the heavens
it is often heavily weighted with
themes of fate, sacrifice and
vengeance, and wrath of God
implications.
Akira Kurosawa's transposition
of Macbeth to feudal Japan in
Throne of Blood (1957), gave us
one of cinema's most dramatic
and iconic death scenes. Toshiro
Mifune's ruthlessly ambitious lord
is turned upon by his archers,
who bombarding him until an
arrow to the neck kills him. The
sequence was filmed with real
arrows, shot by choreographed
archers, and has inspired several
similar scenes. With the aid of
CGI, Zhang Yimou's 2002 martial
arts epic Hero brought the hail
of arrows into the 21st Century
in spectacular fashion. Jet Li's
nameless character is executed
at the behest of the King of Qin
when thousands of deadly missiles
rain down from an army of
archers. It’s a grandiose death in
keeping with the film's ambitious
scale. Zack Snyder's 300 (2007)
features a hail of arrows so
immense they fill the sky, blocking
out the sun, as King Leonidas
waits open-armed for the
inevitable, unbowed and defiant
Since an unforgettable scene in Throne of Blood, death by to the end.
a rain of arrows has become a frequent sight onscreen. With cinema overrun with bullet
n e i l mitchell looks nervously toward the sky. time shootouts, preposterous ex-
plosions, Saw-inspired contrap-
tions and escalating body counts
there is something powerful, and
indelible, in the image of lone
characters facing the full force of
a hail of arrows. [tbp]

go further... [read ] ‘Spotlight: Emotionless Assassins’ exclusively on the BP blog

42 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com January/February 2011 43

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 Backpages

Film Index intellect

So you’ve read about the films, now go watch them! Plublishers of this here magazine...

Nanook of the North (1922) Frankenstein (1931) Each issue of The Big Picture is produced
Dir. Robert J. Flaherty
g see page 4/5
Dir. James Whale
g see page 33
by Bristol based publisher, intellect.
The Ten Commandments (1956) The Last Emperor (1987)
Dir. Cecil B. Demille Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
g see page 6/7 g see page 34

Battleship Potemkin (1925) Beijing Bicycle (2001) publish original thinking

Dir. Sergei M. Eisenstein Dir. Xiaoshuai Wang
g see page 8 g see page 35

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest Red Corner (1997)

***
(1975) Dir. John Avnet
Dir. Milos Forman Intellect is an independent academic publisher
DIALOGUE
g see page 36

Better
g see page 9
Peking Opera Blues (1986)
in the fields of creative practice and popular
AROUND
Seven Samurai (1956) Dir. Hark Tsui culture, publishing scholarly books and journals
G
Dir. Akira Kurosawa

THE MOVIN
g see page 10
g see page 37
that exemplify their mission as publishers of
A Christmas Story (1983)
original thinking. Theyaim to provide a vital
IMAGE

late than
Spartacus (1960) Dir. Bob Clark
Dir. Stanley Kubrick g see page 38/39 space for widening critical debate in new and
***
g see page 11
emerging subjects, and in this way they differ

Antz (1998) Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Dirs. Eric Darnell / Tim Johnson
g see page 12/13
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
(1956) g see page 43
Dir. Don Siegel
g see page 28/29
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Dir. George A. Romero
g see page 30/31
never?
Throne of Blood (1957)
g see page 42
from other publishers by campaigning for the
Hero (2002)
author rather than producing a book or journal
Dir. Yimou Zhang to fill a gap in the market.
300 (2006) Intellect publish in four distinct subject areas:
Dir. Zack Snyder
visual arts, film studies, cultural and media
g see page 43 The Role of Policy in the Turkish Cinematic Revival
studies, and performing arts. These categories
host Intellect’s ever-expanding topics of enquiry,
which include photography, drawing, curation,

The Big Picture Issue 13

community music, gaming and scenography.
Intellect titles are often multidisciplinary,
Film international.
Available 15 March 2011 presenting scholarly work at the cross section of
Published as a bi-monthly, full colour
arts, media and creative practice.
journal, Film International covers all
For further information about the company and aspects of film culture in a visually
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46 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com iSSUe aVailaBle. 8 WWW.Filmint.nU