caesar novus Posted November 18, 2012 Report Share Posted November 18, 2012 (edited) I was channel surfing by a 1965 movie "von ryans express" with no particular interest... except it depicted ww2 pows escaping thru all sorts of roman ruins! Darn, it wasnt broadcast in hi def, but my decoder let me back up and review the various site backgrounds in their state almost half a century ago. This could be a type of thing to look for if there are other classic movies like that. It reminded me of the quite different italy i first saw almost 30 years ago. Pokey trains, dysfunctional queues, but sweeter in different ways. Just slightly off the beaten track you could get lost in magnificent unguarded ruins. Part of the movie seems to be among the palentine palaces that are down near the racetrack. Now off limits i think, but i accidentally stumbled among them long ago, not seeing any person or forbidden sign. I remember the most fancy tiled floor i can imagine (all wavey and fragile looking), and felt terrible walking on it but could see no other way to exit. Well, they may have included caraculan baths and tivoli. You could see that bakers monument by the wall from the train... surely that and other views must be obscured by buildings now? Things seemed in better preservation although casually unkempt... still worth it to freeze frame on details even if you recently saw it live. And i noticed the light upon marble used to have exactly that warm yellow quality they showed around rome. That sounds silly, but i think it is the type of pollution from high sulfur fuels of that era, and you could see an ugly yellow haze near the horizon. But looking at marble, it acted like amber shooting glasses and enhanced detail (due to blocking blue, which is less focusable), and even gives that happy feeling like candlelight vs flourescent. Now we seem to have a bright white slight haze type of pollution, which can wash out detail (clear days still common then and now). I cant vouch for that long movie being worth it in normal entertainment terms, but did notice the female star (who gets killed by frank sinatra) should be known by those of uswho saw the viral youtube video posted in this forum.. Raffaella Carra is the blonde dancer in the video with nonsense lyrics meant to sound like english to non english speakers, and here is the dance sequence alone without some of the cute color interruptions done in the viral remix job: http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMoK0focAFE Edited September 26, 2013 by caesar novus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caesar novus Posted August 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2013 I am watching Sophia Lorens - boy on a dolphin - which has time capsule views of Greek ruins, some of which must have been from roman occupation times. The differences a half a century made is sort of an uncluttered look... Like manicured by a hundred sweepers and rakers, surely not just for the movie? And very uncrowded, but it probably was off limits during filming. I think things were in better shape in the movie (Athens, epvidaurus, some islands) but less excavated than now. Next may try Sophia in north African ruins in an awful john Wayne movie. Well, she takes herself too seriously as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caesar novus Posted September 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 (edited) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSk6pc8ZouQ Edited September 26, 2013 by caesar novus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guy Posted September 26, 2013 Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 The Mario Lanza clip is phenomenal. The Dutch subtitles are cool, also. guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caesar novus Posted September 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2013 On 9/26/2013 at 4:23 PM, guy said: The Mario Lanza clip is phenomenal. Worth seeing it on Turner Classic Movie channel although resolution isn't much better and they rarely repeat it. I hope that movie is released in higher def... it is amazing to see their clips of Roman sites from 60 years ago when things were a bit different. With the old vs new views of the same thing I feel I can triangulate to better see the essence of Roman things. The ancient architecture has a different look then with less built up areas and less ant-like mobs of tourists. Of course it is better now that the opera theater is gone from Caracalla's baths; you can see it made a mess of it in the helicopter clip. Such a movie made me wonder why there wasn't more followup with similar ones, or more exposure of those stars. You might enjoy another clip in the Pz Novanna (that somehow looks more like its Roman racetrack origin) where Lanza sings a charming duet with a child busker. A glance to the internet tells that that was a real street urchin that Mario insisted was written in (where is she now?). Anyway Mario Lanza WAS preparing for a followup of that film, but was killed by a Rome fat farm! He apparently was a binge eater/drinker who submitted to a radical local program where they gave almost coma inducing drugs to stop the eating. The female star also seemed like lost potential. Although in this movie she was somewhat subdued, you can see her sizzling in earlier Italian movies and poised to challenge the other international bombshells of the day. But soon after this movie she retired into a royal wedding, and her children perhaps are first in line if Italy's monarchy was revived. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispina Posted October 2, 2013 Report Share Posted October 2, 2013 The Mario Lanza clip is phenomenal. The Dutch subtitles are cool, also. guy I agree! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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