Figure 1.-- "The 3 Rooms of Melancholia" is a poweful film addressing the continuing Chechen conflict. It is addressed through the prisms of a Russian military boys academy, a war-torn town and a children's refugee camp. |
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You can also slect the movies available on HBC by using this alphabetical movie listing. At this time only a few movies have been analized by HBC for clothing information, but more pages are being added all the time.
The Finnish documentary, "The 3 Rooms of Melancholia", is a poweful, beautifully made, almost poetic film addressing the continuing Chechen conflict. While the film crew is Finnish and other Europeans, the film is about Russia. The film adresses how the dreadful conflict in Chechnya has affected children. The production is notable for its very limited dialog abd a musical score which works with the images rather than overwealming them. I am not sure just who the children are, but their performances are exceptional.
Frustrated by the English education system, a teacher moves to British Colombia where his new pupils prove difficult.
An idealistic young female teacher arrives on a isolated island and is made to feel unwelcome because of her modern ways. Realistic glimpse into children and school in a rural Japanese school before, after, and during World War II.
The '39 Steps' is an early Alfred Hitchcock thriller made in England before World War II (1935). At the time there were also concerns about the Communists. Actually it was based on a World War I novel by the Scottish author John Buchan (1915). The 1935vfilm starred Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. It is a spy thriller. Hitler and the NAZIs were rearming in Germany, but the NAZIs are not specifically identified. A London man is surprised by a counterespionage agent and tries to help him. The spies kill ther agent and the innocent man is accused. He takes off to avoid arrest. The film was remade in color afyer the War (1959). The film begins in a London park where school boys are sailing their boats.
A cabaret owner and his club singer agree to take in a troublesome, but lovable tyke.
"55 Set in Peking" is a historical epic set in China depicting the stand by Western and Japanese emassies in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. The histriocity of the film is reasonably correct. The film stars Charteon Heston who plays an American major, part of a small unit in China to protect the U.S. Embassy. There are a few children in the film. The British ambassador had two children, a boy and a girl. The Ambassador's son is wounded in the conflict, but he recovers. The children are smartly dressed. The girl wears a white dress with white long stockings. This seems reasonably correct for both American and British girls, especiall girls from well-to-do families. The boy wears tight knee pants with tan long stockings. We believe this is incorrect for British boys. Long stockings were becoming less common in Britain and we see boys wearing knee socks more than long stockings. The outfit seems more like something an American boy might wear as long stockings persisted in the United states even ito the 1930s. Also the color cis not correct. We do not begin to see tan lon stockings until well into the 1920s. There is a slightly older Chinese child in the film, a girl who is the child of the American captain killed in the fighting. She plays her part beautifully. She wears Chinese-styled clothing which seems cirrect, althoiugh we do not know much about tradituoinal Chinese clothing.
A street-wise young girl is unjustly sent to reform school.
On the run from the police, a loner seeks refuge in a camp for blind children. He wins the children and camp director over for his gentle ways.
A young boy, deprived of parental affection and peer acceptance turns his alienation toward a life of small crime. Jean-Pierre Leaud and Patrick Auffey.
River Phoenix
Terribly long film with long boring scenes. Shot in English with some well known American actors. Deals extensively with the relationship between a rich boy and a poor boy, both born in 1900. There boyhood comprises a good bit of the beginning. In one scene, the poor boy gets wet working outside and the rich boy has him undress so his clothes can dry. The boy then examines his penis and the two compare their penis and discuss how they work. The rich boy appears in several dressy outfits, all with below the knees pants. The only one of great interest is a lovely white sailor suit worn with a sissy broad brimmed hat. He would have looked so nice in shorts. The poor boy appears in tattered clothes, often with his pants legs rolled up. Later when the two boys are about 25 or so a lovely little boy is pictured at the rich one's wedding. I thought I would just get a fleeting glimpse of him in the wedding party. He wears a lovely velvet suit with frilly lace collar. To my delight he appears a few more times and you finally get to see he is wearing velvet shorts and white knee socks. To my horror, however, the boy is killed by the Fascist bully in the picture. Here I set through this interminably movie, and they kill off in just a minute or two, the only one in the film I was particularly taken with. The movie is mostly a flashback and a boy with a rather mature face gets a gun and arrests the rich boy who has grown up to be a unwilling Fascist collaborator. The boy wears shorts.
Rather depressing remake of this George Orwell novel. A few scenes are enlivened with kids in youth group uniforms, military campaign caps, brown shirts, kerchiefs, black shorts, and black kneesocks.
Columbia Pictures apocalyptic movie "2012" achieved the biggest opening for a non-franchise movie. This is another calamity epic from "Independence Day" director Roland Emmerich. A boy is featured among the prominant actors providing a view of contempory fashions. He plays a key role in the film. TheRe is also an Indian boy. It is interesting to note that the Hollywood movie makers who portray themselves as bravely standing against intolerance and injustice show churches come crashing down--nut no mosques. Apparently they were concerned that they might be attacked by Islamic fanatics if they depicted any harm to Islam. A British reader writes, "Yes I have several issues with the film. Islam was shown and the faithful prayed without let or hindrance. Other religious groups and Christians were not allowed this . They were shown in situations of peril as the Vatican crashed down. The president when quoting the Bible was cut short by a power cut. Queen Elizabeth II was shown getting on board an Ark. Felt quite insulted at that insinuation. She would have stayed as did the President and the Italian Prime Minister. There is president for such an assumption. The Royal family did stay in London during the Blitz. She might have sent someone else instead but she would have remained in London. Anyway nothing much Happened in our part of the world it took place in Asia. Lancashire was Ok as was Blackpool Tower. It is only a daft film but it attacked much of Western culture and traditions."
A very under rated children's fantasy. The film is imaginative and fascinating both ascetically as an inventive work and ideologically as an expression of the period. It proved to be, however, a financial disaster. The screenplay was written by Dr. Seuss. It is a surreal fantasy starring 9-year old Tommy Rettig who hates piano lessons. Some say it was his most memorable role. He is a 10-year old boy who fantasizes about tortures inflicted upon him by his authoritarian and vaguely foreign piano teacher. Has some outrageous dream sequences. Tommy dreams he is made a prisoner of his mad teacher. The teacher holds Tommy and 500 other boys prisoner in an enchanted castle. The teacher forces 500 boys to play a monotonous exercise on a continuous keyboard in his gargantuan palace. The boy's mother is locked in a gilded cage. There is also reportedly a dungeon ballet. The costuming is rather disappointing. A HBC reader tells me that he watched the movie for an hour and while the 500 boys were yet to turn up and Tommy wears jeans. In the one still I have seen, he is indeed wearing jeans.
Centered around a duck which lays golden eggs. The duck is owned by a sweet boy (Kevin Corcoran?), but I don't know of any interesting costumes.
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