Action Speaks Louder Than Words: Anthony Mann Interview

Recently, while struck with the flu, I watched a bunch of Anthony Mann movies. I was revisiting films I was already familiar with and still really enjoying them, especially the westerns he made with James Stewart including Winchester '73 (the best of them) and The Naked Spur (my favorite). Came across this vintage British documentary about him, featuring a long-ish interview with Mann, above.

Watching a quadruple-feature of 50's westerns was odd and refreshing. It's interesting to note that all the celebrated Mann/Stewart films had mostly different teams making them, and were not all made at the same studio. They can be pretty different stylistically. And they're all really different from what I'm in the habit of watching these days, which is definitely not 50's westerns. I read somewhere that Kelly Reichardt's recent Night Moves was influenced by these films, it'll be interesting to see that one.

Soundtrack Covers

I can always find good soundtracks in Milwaukee. In Seattle, there's good record shops but its more of a rock and jazz selection, mostly rock. But every time I visit back in MKE I come back with an armful of good soundtracks. Above, some scans of records I found on a recent trip.

They Caught The Ferry (1948) by Carl Theodor Dreyer

In between holidays it can be nice to relax and watch tragic motorcycling PSA's by canonized auteurs. You might be surprised that gothic, sparse film director Carl Theodor Dreyer did an educational short in 1948 if you're familiar with his career. I'd like to know more about the circumstances of the making of "They Caught the Ferry", but in the meantime I love it, its a true badass bike movie that also feels like classic Scandinavian art house filmmaking. And it will make you drive safer.

What is a Watching Patch?

I was going through some old books today and found the passage from John Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer that inspired the name of this blog in 2009, and eventually my production company name. In this part of the book a young girl, Ellen, is wandering through Central Park and sees a man wearing an eye patch, and Dos Passos writes this stream-of-conscious passage...

The man on the bench has a patch over his eye. A watching black patch. A black watching patch. The kidnapper of the Black Watch, among the rustling shrubs kidnappers keep their Black Watch.

Johnny in Salt Lake

I'm in Salt Lake City right now. It's the birthday and one-year anniversary of  the death of dear friend and collaborator David Fetzer. A foundation was started in his name, The Davey Foundation and there was a sold-out screening last night for the kickoff. 

This photo is of John showing me around Salt Lake, where he used to live.

(((SPEED((OF))SOUND))) Trailer

(((SPEED((OF))SOUND))) Trailer from Brian Perkins on Vimeo.

Here it is! The trailer for the so-close-to-being-done-it-feels-done film I've been working on all this year, SPEED OF SOUND. There's some effects shots still being worked on while I'm traveling, and a few things to do when I get back. But from pre-production through post the whole movie was made in 2013, which was the plan, but still kind of surprising it worked out that way for my first feature. It's already getting submitted to festivals, more news on that and its availability here in the future. Stay tuned!

Technicolor for your ears Part 8

Hey everybody. This one starts with the "Downtown 81" soundtrack and then gets all crazy with Charlie Brown, Cher, Lindsay Anderson, Nilsson, Fassbinder, Le samouraï, Truffaut, Bollywood and more...

1.  "So Far So Real" by Gray

2.  "Peppermint Patty" by Vince Guaraldi

3.  "Motel I" by Sonny Bono

4.  "O Lucky Man!" by Alan Price

5.  "Bali Street" by Gianni Marchetti

6.  "Poli High" by Harry Nilsson

7. "Edwige In Dodici Ottavi" by Nora Orlandi

8.  "Ecstasy" by John Barry

9.  "The Lost Man (Main Title)" by Quincy Jones

10.  "Loin" by François de Roubaix

11. "Busy Bodies" by Carlo Rustichelli

12.  "Police Disco" by Edgar Froese

13.  "Murdersville (Section B)" by Laurie Johnson

14.  "You've Got More Things Going for You Than Teeth, Baby" by John Barry

15.  "Sarah in Bath" by Krzystof Komeda

16.  "Homeless Bones" by Stanley Myers

17.  "Bagliori" by Lesiman

18.  "Pelle Di Luna" by Piero Umiliani

19.  "Jeff et Jeanne" by François de Roubaix

20.  "Charlie" by Georges Delerue

21.  "In the Labyrinth Theme" by Sidney Sager

22. "Meri Jawani" by Asha Bhosle

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