850 Something Wild (1961)

[therewillbeblus]

I wouldn't stretch my comprehension to the Harvey film (at least not before plenty of others that fill the bill), but the idea of impractical metaphor coexisting with raw semblances of reality sits very comfortably with me, like a barely distinguishable magical realism that, through its own artistic internal logic, hits a deep truth impossible to convey through pure cinematic realism or fantasy. So in that way I guess I can see where your Carnival of Souls comparison is coming from.

[knives]

The early parts of the film really got me thinking of the Harvey as the performances and the way the social interactions functions hit that so I'm stretching things a bit to fit after that.

[Langestreep]

Jack Garfein's mostly wordless meditation on trauma and its effects on an individual (a crystalline Carroll Baker) is both unsettling and illuminating...

I don't know what else to write. I had something up my sleeve about the parallels between this story and Plato's "Allegory of the cave," with all of its fire and shadows, and the eventual release of the prisoners into light (and then back into the cave again to rescue the remaining prisoners), but I'm not feeling up to donning a mask of pretension. There was also something about the motif of bridges in the film... During a crucial moment of despair, Mary Ann contemplates death over a high bridge, the water below choppy, and towards the end of the film, after her release, we catch her practically skipping over a low bridge, the water beneath calm and serene.. Words hurt right now and grammar cuts.

I will say this: I don't think Mary Ann was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Mike is living among the shadows just as much as she is and although he veers dangerously close to becoming a monster, he does allow Mary Ann her freedom during the most crucial moments: at the beginning of their encounter and at the end. I think he is damaged, lonely, but also protective of Mary Ann, lest we forget he met her as she was about to kill herself.

Anyway, after viewing the film (I had never seen it) - literally minutes after - I sat at my piano and improvised for the first time in a long time. Something just came over me. It's not perfect, but neither am I, nor was Mary Ann. I suppose its Mary Ann's theme just as much as my own.

https://soundcloud.com/user-699559157/s ... ld-6-19-20

[DeprongMori]

Not sure where to put this. I just read a long account of the incredible story of Paul Newman’s first film — On the Harmfulness of Tobacco, which captured Michael Strong’s performance of Chekhov’s short play — and how the only copy of the film ended up in Jack Garfein’s closet.

The film was shown at the Lincoln Center in 2017 and was accompanied by a panel discussion of the film and its history. It was to be followed by a showing of the film on TCM, but Garfein reneged at the eleventh hour, wanting to use the film as leverage to raise money for a documentary on The Actors’ Studio he wished to make.

Jack Garfein apparently never made the documentary, never allowed Newman’s film to be shown again, and died in 2019. I haven’t been able to find out the fate of Newman’s film. As Newman had his name removed from it at some point, and Garfein was not involved at all in its production, the sole copyright stands with the film’s composer David Amram. Garfein merely had possession of the sole copy of the film.

Does anyone know anything about the fate of Newman’s film?

[JMULL222]

The Harvard Film Archive actually quote-posted that same article to say "The HFA holds a 35mm print of this!" So cross your fingers, basically.