A man in a blue jacket and dark face mask, with a blue decoration on his lapel, stands in a hall with a wide staircase.

Cinema · Observations · People

The author agrees with Vladimir Ivanovich in his assessment of the gift

Film director Vladimir Khotinenko on receiving the Order of Honour: “It is such a wonderful New Year’s present; to my mind, not a bad present at all”. Well, what can one say? I agree with you entirely, Vladimir Ivanovich: an excellent present

NB! · The East · Art · Cinema · People · Pop Culture

Christmas cards in the style of a Persian miniature by Eyvind Earle, one of the artists of Disney's 1959 "Sleeping Beauty"

Pixel-art image of a man in a bowler hat on the corner of a pink building wall beside a wrought-iron street lamp.

NB! · Art · Cinema · Paris

Pixel portrait of Charlot as played by Charlie Chaplin on rue Charlot in Paris

Street art on Rue Charlot in the Jewish quarter of Paris. A greeting from the tramp Charlot, as played by Charlie Chaplin

Architecture · Cinema · Paris · People

France5tv recently screened the cult documentary "1974, une partie de campagne" (a nod to the story by Guy de Maupassant) by Raymond Depardon, about the presidential campaign of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who died on 2 December at the age of 94

France5tv recently screened the cult documentary "1974, une partie de campagne" (a nod to the story by Guy de Maupassant) by Raymond Depardon, about the presidential campaign of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who died on 2 December at the age of 94. The film is of interest

Art · Cinema · Observations · Nature

When I see the work of the British naturalist artist Charles Tunnicliffe (1901-1979), who spent most of his life on the island of Anglesey at peace with the world around him, drawing scenes from the lives of birds and animals, I am invariably reminded of

When I see the work of the British naturalist artist Charles Tunnicliffe (1901-1979), who spent most of his life on the island of Anglesey at peace with the world around him, drawing scenes from the lives of birds and animals, I am invariably reminded of the Soviet cartoon of

Cinema · Observations · Humour

In episode 6 of «TASS Is Authorised to Announce» there is a very interesting scene in a fashionable European psychiatric hospital, where the wealthy Emma Schanz, played by Olga Volkova (you will surely remember her as the waitress Violetta from «Station f

In Emma's private ward we learn of the Nazi past of her father and husband, along with other compromising particulars. To judge by Mrs Schanz's account, her husband got her hooked on drugs and shut her away in the madhouse, hoping to conceal the truth she

Aristocracy · Cinema · Monarchies · Mores · People

Three versions of how Queen Fabiola met King Baudouin of Belgium

The role of Queen Fabiola on screen could quite well have been played by Dame Angela Lansbury, who, incidentally, is three years older than Fabiola and is alive and well even now, at 95. As for how Fabiola and Baudouin met, there are three most popular versions of their encounter.

Cinema · Observations · Humour

Costumes from Mankiewicz’s “Cleopatra” bought for the making of “Carry On Cleo”

Many of the costumes from Joseph Mankiewicz's "Cleopatra" were bought for the filming of "Carry On Cleo". So Mark Antony swaggers about in the very same outfits in both films. Who wore them better, Richard Burton or Sid James, may be judged from these

Cinema · Observations · Humour

For everyone who loves Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra of 1963, I recommend comparing her with Amanda Barrie's Cleo in the 1964 comic film "Carry On Cleo", from the long-running Carry On series, made in the wake of the film classic

For everyone who loves Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra of 1963, I recommend comparing her with Amanda Barrie's Cleo in the 1964 comic film "Carry On Cleo", from the long-running Carry On series, made in the wake of the film classic. It must be said

Art · Cinema · Books · Observations

If you can afford the luxury of four hours of very beautiful film, watch the screen version, or rather variation, of Balzac's exquisite novella "The Unknown Masterpiece", about the painter Nicolas Poussin

If you can afford the luxury of four hours of very beautiful film, watch the screen version, or rather variation, of Balzac's exquisite novella "The Unknown Masterpiece", about the painter Nicolas Poussin. In the leading male role of Jacques Rivette's "La Belle Noiseuse&

Cinema · Observations · Society

The plot of the 1947 film "New Home" is built around a disputed plot of land, Zarechnye Dubki, which a former partisan, chairwoman of the "Young Guard" collective farm, wants to sow, while an old partisan, chairman of the "Forward" collective farm, wants

The plot of the 1947 film "New Home" is built around a disputed plot of land, Zarechnye Dubki, which a former partisan, chairwoman of the "Young Guard" collective farm, wants to sow, while an old partisan, chairman of the "Forward" collective farm, wants to

Cinema · Books · Pop Culture · Humour

The 1975 film “Miniatures” and the fates of Zhvanetsky, Kartsev and Ilchenko

The first film made from a script by Zhvanetsky is the 1975 Miniatures with Roman Kartsev and Viktor Ilchenko. It turns out that all three are now dead: Ilchenko was the first to go, at 55, having been tipped for great success on the variety stage. Kartsev died 2 years