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writers gone wild!
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Bright Lights Film Journal
Issue 38 | November 2002
from the editor
Simplicity, Thy Name Is Bright Lights!
Yes, we've finally gone ahead and embraced this dubious, mostly leisure-class movement of stripping away all the things that keep us separated from our elusive Self and that screaming, bitter inner child. In short, this issue of Bright Lights is a little smaller than the previous one, and thus more manageable. Apologies to those writers whose articles we've had to bump to next February. It was a clear choice: publish your article or maintain our shreds of sanity. It may not be entirely evident, but we did choose the latter.
Despite our slightly slimmer size, there's a "pleasing variety" to the selections (as Bride of Frankenstein's Dr. Praetorius once said, describing something quite different) that we think you readers will warm to. Alan Vanneman hits us with two pithy pieces: one on Broadway Melody of 1940, another a DVD review of Nothing Sacred. BL regular Bob Castle weighs in on Fritz Lang, work, globalization, and other horrors. Newbie David Begor passionately defends Lucas's latest entry in the creaking Star Wars series. Also new here is Tanfer Emin, who merrily leads us down the strange detours on the Road to Wellville. Another new writer, Constantine Verevis, cleverly spoofs that counterculture classic Candy. Yet another fresh face here is Ben Dickenson, who helps us make sense of Clinton, Hollywood, liberalism, and other distressing phenomena.
Andrew Grossman again challenges readers with a fascinating commentary and long interview on the legendary Otto Mühl, of the Austrian "Aktionist" group fame. A peek into the palace of the perverts yields several choice items: Melissa Sky's take on sleazy exploitation flick Chained Girls, Steve Stewart's welcome look-see at "drag kids"; and yours truly prattling to the heavens about cinematic girl gangs, Andy Milligan trashsploitation, and the always dicey subject of adult/youth relationships in the movies. On a more respectable note are enticing reviews of the Chicago Film Festival by Bob Keser and the New York Film Festival by Megan Ratner. Recent films get the nod from the redoubtable Scott Thill (Spirited Away) and Shammi Nanda, who explores the censorship mess in India.
Video reviews are slim this time — we're sick of looking at movies and it shows! Well, there's the aforementioned Vanneman piece on Nothing Sacred, and Matt Kennedy appreciating two Preston Sturges movies on disc. Matt also wrote two of the book reviews this time: the allegedly essential bio of Joan Crawford and David Thomson's New Dictionary of Film. Robert von Dassanowsky's review of Sabine Hake's German National Cinema book is also a leisurely mini-history of that period.
But enough of such things. Now it's back to the lab to check on the condition of that inner child, paddles ready!
Gary Morris
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Visit the archives for hundreds of other articles, dear.
articles foyer
Fred Goes Over the Top with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 — The semi-sweet smell of excess
Black and White Breakfast: Race, Class, Sexuality, and Corn Flakes in Alan Parker's The Road to Wellville — Parker's "ode to bathroom humor" plumbs surprising depths
Defense of the Clones — Lucas's latest: cheap thrills or sophisticated filmmaking? A close reading points to the latter.
Fritz Lang's Assumption Factory — Social agreements and schisms in Fury, Modern Times, and A Clockwork Orange
Candy, or Libertinism — "I'll do anything . . . ANYTHING" to save Daddy!
Goodbye Warren, Hello Tim — How Clinton demobilized liberalism and anti-capitalism came into Hollywood
feature
An Actionist Begins to Sing: An Interview with Otto Muhl — "I have been making art for 50 years and have never allowed myself to be corrupted. Quite the opposite, I was locked up." (Otto Muhl)
palace of the perverts
Of Horny Hunchbacks and Stitch Bitches: Le Cinema Milligan — If you thought his films were bad, wait till you see his life
Being a Kid Is a Drag — Onscreen — There are drag queens and then there are drag princesses
Boys on the Side: A Survey of Adult/Youth Relationships in Movies and TV — Surprise — it could be worse
secret alcove of the twilight women
Molls with Claws: Three Classic Girl Gang Movies — These "dolls" paved the way for the riot grrls of the '80s — but were too busy kicking ass to notice
Chained Girls: A Twilight Tale of the Third Sex — Who is that comely, vicious gal plotting mayhem from the shadows? Why, the dyke of 1960s pop culture, of course
recent film roundabout
The Wizard of Awe: Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away — The creator of Princess Mononoke brings his sleek Boschian vision to America, courtesy of Disney
Censorship and Indian Cinema: The Case of War and Peace — Cutting-edge films continue to be cut — or suppressed entirely — by India's clueless Censor Board
film festival fruit cellar
38th Chicago International Film Festival — "The Scandals of 2002"
40th New York Film Festival, 2002 — "No reassurance and little escapism — just right for the current state of uncertainty"
temple of video
Fredric March and Carole Lombard Find Nothing Sacred in the Big Apple — "There she is, in all her beads and ribbons!"
Two by Sturges: Sullivan's Travels and The Lady Eve on DVD — Criterion serves up two more deep-dish DVDs from yesteryear
book reviews boudoir
German National Cinema, by Sabine Hake
The New Dictionary of Film, by David Thomson
Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography, by Lawrence J. Quirk and William Schoell
