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Hi! I'm ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
themis, and I'm your host for this week. I'm coming in a bit late because when I said "sure, the week of the 31st should be fine!" I didn't remember that this was also the week I would take the GRE. So, a lot of good decision making there. Anyway, I'm here now, and I thought I'd start a discussion on tracking down harder to find films/people.
I'm a completist with a short attention span. When I see someone I like, I try to track them down to other films, but I do get distracted. Almost inevitably, the actor's worked either primarily in silents or in foreign film. Has Gunnar Bjornstrand been in movies by people other than Ingmar Bergman? Probably. Have I managed to see any of these movies? Ah, well - no. (Luckily, Bjornstrand's in a whole bunch of Bergman movies.)
It's a lot easier to track down movies starring Anna May Wong than it was even three or four years ago. It's a lot easier to find information on her generally, too, which is great.
But then, of course, there's a really good reason many of these movies have been lost, or haven't transferred over to the US. That reason is, naturally, that they are terrible. (And a lot of the surviving ones are too, of course.)
Watching the terrible movies is always sort of a weird contradictory experience. On the one hand, you're thrilled you've managed to locate this new movie, that shows you another facet of whomever it is - Anton Walbrook, Sessue Hayakawa - and on the other hand, it's not really enjoyable at all. But I don't think I've ever been willing to give this process up, however many disappointments there are.
So, who are you willing to sacrifice hours of enjoyment for? Do you drag other people along with you?
themis, and I'm your host for this week. I'm coming in a bit late because when I said "sure, the week of the 31st should be fine!" I didn't remember that this was also the week I would take the GRE. So, a lot of good decision making there. Anyway, I'm here now, and I thought I'd start a discussion on tracking down harder to find films/people.I'm a completist with a short attention span. When I see someone I like, I try to track them down to other films, but I do get distracted. Almost inevitably, the actor's worked either primarily in silents or in foreign film. Has Gunnar Bjornstrand been in movies by people other than Ingmar Bergman? Probably. Have I managed to see any of these movies? Ah, well - no. (Luckily, Bjornstrand's in a whole bunch of Bergman movies.)
It's a lot easier to track down movies starring Anna May Wong than it was even three or four years ago. It's a lot easier to find information on her generally, too, which is great.
But then, of course, there's a really good reason many of these movies have been lost, or haven't transferred over to the US. That reason is, naturally, that they are terrible. (And a lot of the surviving ones are too, of course.)
Watching the terrible movies is always sort of a weird contradictory experience. On the one hand, you're thrilled you've managed to locate this new movie, that shows you another facet of whomever it is - Anton Walbrook, Sessue Hayakawa - and on the other hand, it's not really enjoyable at all. But I don't think I've ever been willing to give this process up, however many disappointments there are.
So, who are you willing to sacrifice hours of enjoyment for? Do you drag other people along with you?
