Word: films
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Pather Panchali, director Satyijit Ray has recorded certain portions of the life of an Indian family over a ten year period, describing the interaction of the five important characters: the mother and father, a daughter, a young son, and an old sick aunt. Shortly after the beginning of the film, Apu, the son, becomes a central figure, the viewer of the action, the mute commentator. The first we see of him is an eye, which his sister opens with her fingers; and his eye follows the action for the rest of the film, peering over stone walls, looking out from...
There is no doubt that Pather Panchali is a remarkable film; there are some spots which have amazing impact, and the photography throughout is magnificent. Certain of the photographic effects tend toward the abstract, such as he delicate designs made of waterlily stalks and water bugs. There are certain very powerful moments, moments when one seems to move closer to the picture than he is at other times. Perhaps the finest scene in Pather Panchali shows the sickness of the daughter during a storm. Windows fly open and the rain blows in; the mother labors at fastening them again. Finally...
...other part of the film is comparable to this one. Many of the fragmented episodes are effective, but many others have little to add to the general effect. The disconnection itself has its purpose, and gives an all-inclusive quality to the film; yet it is also distracting and contributes to the film's great weakness: its general diffuseness, its inability to command sustained attention. For Pather Panchali, remarkable as it may be, is something of a chore to sit through. The viewer receives the impression that he is watching a document, an amazing document to be sure...
...impact of ambitious immigrants has been to force the Old Australians to hump harder. Eager, gifted immigrant children are grabbing top honors in Melbourne and Adelaide high schools. In Queensland, Italians have become a major factor in the sugar-cane industry. Two Dutch immigrants are marketing a new plastic film to seal the bottom of sheep-station ponds and thereby save the precious water in the outback from leaking away. Australia's world-beating teenage swimmers, John and Ilsa Konrads, were born in Latvia...
...disturbing to realize, during scenes like this, that the supposedly sensitive and intelligent men who make films such as The Last Angry Man feel that they must somehow explain to the audience every literate speech or subtle technical effect they use. And when it turns what might have been a thoroughly commendable effort into a slightly better than run-of-the-mill film, this kind of condescension is disastrous...