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Post by london777 on Jun 8, 2017 20:25:57 GMT
The city where I live and many other cities in Sweden, those who are elected decided over our heads that electric streetcars belonged to the past, and was to be replaced by buses, telling us that it will save millions because petrol is cheap. All electric streetcars where gone by 1972 and replaced by buses. In 1973 came the first oil crises and nothing became cheap at all and buses polluted the air (a fact that took all those politicians by surprise). Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Robert Zemeckis is loosely based on the alleged Cloverleaf scandal whereby functioning tram companies were bought up by the oil and automotive industries then deliberately run down and wound up in the mid 1930s. Cloverleaf scandal
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jun 8, 2017 23:13:55 GMT
The episode "Main Street U.S.A." (telecast: 23 January 1967) of "The Lucy Show" comes to mind. Developers wanting to tear down a beautiful main street to make way for "modern" soulless development. Probably the closest Lucille Ball ever got to dealing with a political issue.... I forget the name of the film, but there's a public domain 1940s film about a man trying to save a Confederate-era building (either town hall or courthouse, I forget which) from being torn down. EDIT: the above film is Colonel Effingham's Raid (it took about 10 minutes of searching to find the name). Not sure how eligible it is for this thread, been years since I saw it.... That's an interesting find and addition Mr D... Colonel Effingham's Raid Just recently down there in the South somewhere a story unfolded where a Confederate statue was officially removed in the middle of the night for fear of violent reprisals. I think it has caused great controversy for some of the passionate Southerners, our American friends may be able to elaborate...
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jun 8, 2017 23:33:21 GMT
As two of my most revered and revisited films, the inclusions of both Chinatown and Wild River, each of which I consider to be among the finest their respective decades offer, prompts comparisons of the two, and the ways in which common dramatic catalysts - water, its control and distribution through massive, publicly-funded projects and the displacement of those such efforts bring about - result in entirely different films despite numerous similarities. Not intending to subvert the thread topic, it always seems to me the solicitation of titles sharing a common theme provides opportunities to look at any of them in greater depth, and to explore the ways in which they employ that theme. Thanks so much Doghouse6 ... Greatly appreciate your valuable and the thoughtful contribution that you have shared with us all here, Expanding the topic relevance of the films mentioned with such insightful and informative viewpoints greatly stimulates our interest and broadens our perspective...
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jun 9, 2017 0:53:19 GMT
Thanks so much Doghouse6 ... Greatly appreciate your valuable and the thoughtful contribution that you have shared with us all here, Expanding the topic relevance of the films mentioned with such insightful and informative viewpoints greatly stimulates our interest and broadens our perspective... Very kind of you to say, mfpx, and encouraging to hear. Thanks (and I hope you don't mind my abbreviating your username; less chance of the typos to which I'm prone). I happened to catch some of your namesake/avatar the other night on a TCM Edgar G. Ulmer evening, but regrettably, only the last ten minutes or so. Been a good 50 years at least since I've seen it in its entirety, but I hope to do so again when I can.
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Post by politicidal on Jun 9, 2017 1:04:23 GMT
Earlier this year TCM aired Wind Across the Everglades (1958) starring Burl Ives and Christopher Plummer. Plummer played a game warden trying to enforce conservation laws in 1900s Florida to protect the bird population but faces opposition from poachers (led by Ives) and shady businessmen. Pretty good.
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jun 9, 2017 4:10:21 GMT
Daigo Fukuryū Maru , Lucky Dragon No. 5 (1959) Kaneto Shindo. A devastating true story of the reckless polluting and abuse of our natural environment. Based on a real life incident the compelling film tells the tale of the radioactive exposure and subsequent sickness encountered by a Japanese fishing crew of 23 men aboard the vessel Daigo Fukuryū Maru The crew were contaminated by nuclear fallout from the United States Castle Bravo thermonuclear weapon test at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954. The ship's navigator sees a flash, and the crew come up to watch. They realize and are obviously spooked that it is an atomic explosion, they take the time to clear their fishing gear, a short time later grey ash starts to fall on the ship. By the time the ship returns to port, the Daigo Fukuryū Maru crew have been burned brown...
The Daigo Fukuryū Maru had been catching fish outside a declared danger zone However, the test was more than twice as powerful than predicted , weather patterns that day blew nuclear fallout, in the form of a fine ash, well outside the declared danger zone.
Between 1946 and 1958, 23 nuclear devices were detonated at Bikini Atoll by the United States at seven test sites located on the reef, inside the atoll, in the air, or underwater...
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Jun 9, 2017 8:04:57 GMT
Man About the House (1974) is a UK feature film based on the TV sitcom of the same name. In the film, the main characters try to save their Edwardian terrace house from being torn down to make way for offices.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jun 9, 2017 13:59:54 GMT
As two of my most revered and revisited films, the inclusions of both Chinatown and Wild River, each of which I consider to be among the finest their respective decades offer. . . Beautiful, beautiful comments, Doghouse. I hadn't read yours before I made my comments about Wild River. Mine, while generally in alignment with yours, pale in comparison. I love this film for so many reasons - one of the most beautiful Kazan films, I think. So glad to see another fan, especially one who can articulate its virtues so profoundly. I think Kazan would be pleased to read your words. (Btw, he'd wanted to make a film about that era and that subject since he directed the WPA short documentary, The People of the Cumberland in 1937.)
Thanks for your wonderful analysis of both it and Chinatown. You're always so good to me (and I'm always grateful), but it's worth noting that you pretty much said in one concise paragraph what it took me several to say. Brevity's my "impossible dream," so it's a quality I admire in others. And when I find us on the same page, I know I'm in excellent company.
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Post by teleadm on Jun 9, 2017 14:46:36 GMT
Äppelkriget , The Apple War (1971). This hilarious film from Sweden tells an all too familiar tale. A rich German businessman comes to the peaceful rural setting of Österlen in the south of Sweden with grand plans to build Deutschneyland, a gigantic amusement park for German tourists. The opening scene sees him and his associates envisaging the destruction of the beautifully green and natural environment with images of their extensive development plans for parking lots air strips and the conversion of historical sites.. It took me by surprice that this satire could work outside the Scandinavian countries, but looking it up on old Imdb, I see it has titles in English, Polish, German and Russian (Soviet Era). Thinking about it, with a dubbing and a little editing it could have been used as anti-commercialism propaganda in the east block Europa.
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Jun 10, 2017 14:23:52 GMT
Wild River (1960) Elia Kazan A small community is displaced because of rising water levels caused by the Tennessee Valley Authority project in the 1930s. you beat me to it man. that film is almost like an elegy to the old ways. i just remembered SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION, a film which is not really true to the book.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jun 10, 2017 16:30:26 GMT
You're always so good to me (and I'm always grateful), but it's worth noting that you pretty much said in one concise paragraph what it took me several to say. Brevity's my "impossible dream," so it's a quality I admire in others. And when I find us on the same page, I know I'm in excellent company. I appreciate your kind comments, but I still say that your evaluation of the two films was wonderful, and I was thrilled to read it. Sometimes it takes several paragraphs to dig down to the heart of a thing. Anyway, I certainly agree with your last sentence here. In that case, I'll accept your gracious compliment with no further bashfulness. Honestly, I could talk about Chinatown for pages, let alone paragraphs. But until they came up together here, it had never occurred to me to look at the two in conjunction, which provides new ways in which to consider each. That's one of the things about forums like this that makes them so useful: something as simple as a thread context can open previously unexplored avenues of thought.
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Post by bravomailer on Jun 10, 2017 17:42:32 GMT
In Deliverance, a small town is being evacuated prior to construction of a dam which will soon inundate it.
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jun 11, 2017 5:46:19 GMT
Thanks pimpinainteasy SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION, our first logging themed film addition, a very personal and passionate interest of mine. While the films focus is more on the social and family dramas of a the backwoods community, the dramatic visuals leave plenty of room for thought. The screenplay doesn't plug any particular ecological pitch, however the film does show what over logging is doing to the countryside, as the loggers must drive through miles of previously cut timber to get to fresh stands of trees. It pictures a wasteland of ruined and fragmented natural environment. Personal note...Throughout the 90s down here in OZ, I was a member on the frontlines of the anti logging crusade , at stake were our precious remnant virgin Old Growth Forests, rich with incredible bio-diversity. Under the canopy of these ancient untouched forests an indescribable, intangible life-force permeates ones being, enriches ones soul. Happy to say that all the campaigns were successful, securing these environments for posterity....
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Post by pimpinainteasy on Jun 11, 2017 6:14:28 GMT
Thanks pimpinainteasy SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION, our first logging themed film addition, a very personal and passionate interest of mine. While the films focus is more on the social and family dramas of a the backwoods community, the dramatic visuals leave plenty of room for thought. The screenplay doesn't plug any particular ecological pitch, however the film does show what over logging is doing to the countryside, as the loggers must drive through miles of previously cut timber to get to fresh stands of trees. It pictures a wasteland of ruined and fragmented natural environment. Personal note...Throughout the 90s down here in OZ, I was a member on the frontlines of the anti logging crusade , at stake were our precious remnant virgin Old Growth Forests, rich with incredible bio-diversity. Under the canopy of these ancient untouched forests an indescribable, intangible life-force permeates ones being, enriches ones soul. Happy to say that all the campaigns were successful, securing these environments for posterity.... i guess it could be argued that it is not a corporation or the government which is doing the damage in this film. but a family that simply refused to give in to anyone or anything.
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