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Deep diving into the obscure career of Alexander Mackendrick

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Alexander Mackendrick is as obscure as it gets in cinema. He has directed some great movies in his career, but he often gets overshadowed. Many cinephiles seem to overlook him only to mainly cover more popular filmmakers. He was able to work with so many legends in the industry but somehow, he remains forgotten among filmmakers. However, other cinephiles, who enjoy studying forgotten filmmakers, see him as someone who deserves to be discovered. After all, some of his movies are considered to be some of the best in their genres. Mackendrick's reputation has grown over time as his movies remain cult favorites. Mackendrick was born in Boston, Massachusetts on September 8, 1912. He was the only child of Francis and Martha Mackendrick. His father Francis died of Influenza due to the Influenza pandemic after World War I. His mother Martha become a dress designer only to send Mackendrick to his grandfather thus never seeing her son again. His grandfather took him to Scotland when Mackendr...
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Looking for mature content that is truthful, contextual and well-executed in cinema

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Let's face it, when it comes to mature content, people tend to automatically dismiss it as immoral. It is unfortunate that it is dismissed as immoral because people tend to forget that not all mature content is like that. In fact, some mature content can actually be helpful to us cinephiles as long as there is truth, context and great storytelling in the process. Plus, we should also be aware of the fact that there is mature content that is glorified and exploitative with no truth and context whatsoever. We as cinephiles should stick with truthful mature content and stay away from exploitative mature content for the sake of being nuanced. The first thing that we as cinephiles should look for in mature content is truth. For instance, if a movie truthfully critiques the dangers of war without glorification, then the movie will succeed for the better. However, if the same subject of war is glorified to where there is no truth only to turn the film into a dishonest war is good story, t...
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Tasting the knowledge of Italian Neorealism

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  Italian Neorealism is truly one of those storytelling movements that many cinephiles hold in high regard. The movies and techniques of Italian Neorealism have definitely influenced so many filmmakers in that its legacy has never faded. It is important to know that Italian Neorealism brought so much change and innovation to cinema as a whole to where it is impossible to scoff at its impact. There are a lot of film movements that come and go but Italian Neorealism will forever remain influential in cinema history.  Italian Cinema was controlled by the censorship of fascism under the rule of Fascist Benito Mussolini. Mussolini's fascist regime had brought so much censorship to cinema that Italian filmmakers were making sanitized Telefoni Bianchi flicks. The Telefoni Bianchi movement was more about representing escapist and Americanized cinema. They had protagonists that were one-dimensional, endings that were happy, quickly resolved problems and lacked the realities of working-...
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Virginia Van Upp: The Successfully Unsung Woman Producer of Hollywood

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  Virginia Van Upp does not always get the respect that she deserves. It is sad to see because many cinephiles do not know her despite her being so successful in the Golden Age. She was able to break boundaries by producing so many great movies by paving the way for women producers. In addition, she worked with many legends in the industry only to enhance their careers in the process. While not as famous as other producers like David O' Selznick along with Stanley Kramer, Van Upp still remains iconic. She has developed a cult following among serious cinephiles who appreciate her setting boundaries for women. Van Upp was born in Chicago, Illinois on Jan 13, 1902, to her parents Harry and Helen Van Upp. Her mother was actually writing and editing for Thomas H. Ince. Ince was a director, screenwriter and producer in the silent era known for working with DW Griffith along with creating the Western genre. Van Upp began her film career as a silent film actress when she was a child and wo...
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Revisiting Martin Scorsese's Well-Meaning but Short-Sighted Views on Marvel and Blockbusters

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  This whole false idea of blockbusters not being cinema has always been supported by the more elitist, overtly artsy cinephiles. They absolutely believe that arthouse films are all there is to cinema. Do not get it twisted, I love and adore Martin Scorsese as a director. However, his views that Marvel movies and blockbusters are not exactly cinema still feel out of touch to this day in the grand scheme of things. We need to understand that there is no one size fits all mentality to anything in life. Variety is the spice of life due to the fact that life itself has plenty of layers. We have to embrace variety for the sake of growing in any area of our lives in the process. Martin Scorsese's views about blockbusters and Marvel movies should always be critiqued in a healthy way without any knee-jerk reactions. In other words, we should critique his views while still understanding where he is coming from at the same time.  For as long as I can remember, Martin Scorsese has always...
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The Beautifully Superlative Importance of Empathy in Cinema

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  As cinephiles, we should always be able to understand that empathy is one of the most important things in our pallets in that it instigates us to express different types of emotions in ways that allow us to be emotionally connected with cinema. No matter what the emotion is, we should constantly express it whenever we watch movies among other forms of storytelling only to really interact to any storytelling form due to empathy. Empathy means to connect to others in a relatable way by putting yourself in other people's shoes as a way to go through what someone else is going through in the process. Empathy is something that should never be taken for granted in cinema and storytelling in general considering that it makes us embrace our humanity without coming across as submissive along with overtly feel-goody whatsoever. Being a cinephile along with having empathy go hand in hand and us as cinephiles should never take it for granted at all. By the time that I began to start developi...
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Diabolique Review 5/5

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  Coming off of films like The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (1942) (his Directorial Debut), Le Corbeau (1943), Quai des Orfevres (1947), Manon (1949) along with the Wages of Fear (1953) (one of my favorite films ever), Henri-Georges Clouzot was growing in reputation only to gain critical and commercial acclaim in the process. He was considered to be one of France's greatest directors at the time due to those string of successes in France. Clouzot originally started off as a screenwriter in the 1930s and by the time he transitioned to be a director in the 1940s, he still continued to write screenplays for his films. He directed and made his first short film called La Terreur des Batignolles from a screenplay from Jacques de Baroncelli, who started off directing silent films in France from the 1910s to the 1930s and transitioned to directing films in America and Italy in the 1940s. The short film was considered by some people to be a real introduction to Clouzot's style of express...
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