tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post4647656995275137317..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Curzio Malaparte: Naked MenUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-48592625922669200302010-05-21T17:22:02.281-07:002010-05-21T17:22:02.281-07:00Oh my God. That's really something.Oh my God. That's really something.Curtis Robertsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-70254724335652775462010-05-21T06:26:02.663-07:002010-05-21T06:26:02.663-07:00Okay, so Sarah Bernhardt was over the top. (The gh...Okay, so Sarah Bernhardt was over the top. (The ghost of Klaus forced me to say that.)<br /><br />Ursula Andress however the bonafide truth according to KK. And the list of course was endless.<br /><br />This site has a clip from <a href="http://moviemorlocks.com/2008/08/23/klaus-kinski-actor-director-and-fruitcake-with-extra-nuts/" rel="nofollow">Paganini</a>.<br /><br />It is a film that beggars description.<br /><br />(This is perhaps the only catastrophic project I have ever had the good sense, upon invitation, to decline involvement with.)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-65101891576881842262010-05-21T05:41:34.476-07:002010-05-21T05:41:34.476-07:00Yes, Klaus was bent on being Céline. The fact, fo...Yes, Klaus was bent on being Céline. The fact, for example, that the story was to be set in a frigid Baltic clime did not deter his imaginings of a lead actress (as chosen from "the book") who would be playing the part of the somewhat austere Lucette (Céline's dancer wife) without much on.<br /><br />His conception of the role of Céline naturally was completely over the top. <br /><br />Once the project fizzled -- the ultimate blow was Reagan's witless adorning with wreath the grave of a Waffen SS at Bitburg, an event that created many cold feet, re. related historical matter, on the part of those who would have had to provide funds for the project in Europe -- he turned his attentions to developing his own screenplay for the life of Paganini.<br /><br />The script was astonishing.<br /><br />Paganini plays a transcendent passage.<br /><br />Cut to woman in audience in transports of joy.<br /><br />Paganini fiddles on furiously, achieving new heights.<br /><br />Cut to woman in audience, in a terminal lather of excitement.<br /><br />Paganini bows up a storm of further brilliance.<br /><br />Cut to woman in audience having orgasm.<br /><br />Really it's wonderful, every movie to him was a B-movie, it was Venom all over again, time after time.<br /><br />KK was born to show business, had been to bed with Ursula Andress and played onstage with Sarah Bernhardt, it was all always going to be larger than life with him.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-10286902474932318142010-05-20T17:56:05.633-07:002010-05-20T17:56:05.633-07:00The final Klaus Kinski observation, after years of...The final Klaus Kinski observation, after years of thinking about Kinski and general "Kinsky awareness", put it all very very naturalistic showbiz perspective for me.Curtis Robertsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-28048762201859243492010-05-18T07:16:26.853-07:002010-05-18T07:16:26.853-07:00Tom,
Yes, "the Iditarod of poetry"! It...Tom,<br /><br />Yes, "the Iditarod of poetry"! It went on and on (and on), until the end — 8:17 or so, almost right on ‘schedule’ (sunset at 8:14 yesterday according to the Tidelog — but no one saw the sun in that cold-as-Lapland building!). As one of the people who witnessed the whole thing wrote me yesterday, “this piece really addressed everything I've come to know, and perhaps importantly pretended to know, about ephemeral art, time-based art, literary art, durational and conceptual work. It was at once monumental and at every instant... instant, ready, a discrete moment, or the moment or so it took to read that particular poem. Then: x 1,000.” . . . .STEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-53692888315272117172010-05-17T10:22:13.724-07:002010-05-17T10:22:13.724-07:00Curtis,
Alas, from me the horror has not lifted. ...Curtis,<br /><br />Alas, from me the horror has not lifted. The horror of the physical, like the word "hippopotamus", is at times almost impossible to keep out of one's mind for the next five seconds.<br /><br />About Scott Glenn: dunno, but it seems to have been the magic wrong word.<br /><br />I am put in mind of another mega-scalar waste of spec time on a long movie leash, following the proposal of Klaus Kinski to play Céline in exile. That curious development was followed in turn by an infusion into the hypothetical "project" of Avant Euro/art "talent"; before all of which, in assembly, I auditioned my filmscore choice: Aarvo Pärt, the most Rovaniemiesque of composers.<br /><br />Well, the story was supposed to be set in Denmark in winter, after all.<br /><br />Long faces all round, nobody saying a word until after about five minutes of bleak flatline Arctic Circle minimalism, the producer mercifully got up and stopped the music.<br /><br />At that point Klaus resumed poring over "the book".<br /><br />(I had not known there is a casting book of all high-end European actresses in "artistic" topless shots, but I suppose that's again just a basic lack of grasp of Old World sophistication.)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-35850405186816970692010-05-17T09:59:05.593-07:002010-05-17T09:59:05.593-07:00Donald Pleasance as Himmler WORKS. (I know there ...Donald Pleasance as Himmler WORKS. (I know there are perceived impediments due to his current apparent absence from the scene, but small thinking is for small people.) What on earth would be the problem with Scott Glenn? I guess you never go wrong these days suggesting Johnny Depp or Leonardo di Caprio for anything (for a couple of years, the phrase "Johnny Depp IS Julian Maclaren-Ross in.......", has been going through my mind when I think about the JM-R biography that should be made), but there are often more interesting and appropriate choices. This has been enjoyable. I feel the horror of Curzio Malaparte: Naked Men lifting from me, but I am reconfirmed in my intention to go on a diet after reading those descriptions.Curtis Robertsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-15058839439586750922010-05-17T09:20:38.237-07:002010-05-17T09:20:38.237-07:00Curtis,
The inhouse scenarist says that once upon...Curtis,<br /><br />The inhouse scenarist says that once upon a time she could have seen Donald Pleasance as Himmler.<br /><br />(I ceased with the casting suggestions myself after being asked by Peter Bogdanovich for a "Damon Runyon" casting suggestion to pitch to Michael Douglas: I suggested Scott Glenn, and from the chilly response it felt as though I'd proposed dropping a neutron bomb on Hollywood.)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-1679190416555573212010-05-17T08:49:57.369-07:002010-05-17T08:49:57.369-07:00Tom and Steve: Sorry it's so cold there. It&#...Tom and Steve: Sorry it's so cold there. It's cold again in Philadelphia also after the balmiest weekend. Jack Palance as Malaparte sounds very cool. Based on what I've read, I suspect someone will get around to making the movie. It sounds irresistible for a number of reasons. I wonder who they'll cast?Curtis Robertsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-80020708505083092402010-05-17T08:18:26.374-07:002010-05-17T08:18:26.374-07:00Curtis,
Malaparte -- amazing life, amazing work. ...Curtis,<br /><br />Malaparte -- amazing life, amazing work. And yes, amazing house.<br /><br />Pretty great place to be interned under house arrest, when you think of it.<br /><br />As you probably know, Godard's "Contempt" was filmed there.<br /><br />(For that matter, Jack Palance might have made an interesting Malaparte).<br /><br />By the way, Malaparte wrote and directed a film called "The Prohibited Christ". It's a bit melodramatic, but serious on Italian politics, and VERY Malaparte (a bit over the top).<br /><br />This passage about the generals in the sauna, and Himmler being flogged, is of course a fantasia upon history, informed by observation, yet also very much a fictional creation. (Nabokov's remarks in the post below titled "Crying Wolf" would be apropos here.)<br /><br />And yes, Curtis, I believe Santa Claus DOES dwell in Rovaniemi. <br /><br /><br />Steve,<br /><br />All through yesterday we imagined your marathon -- the Iditarod of poetry readings!<br /><br />And today: speaking of weather, could it possibly be any colder in Lapland right now than it is here this morning?<br /> <br />waiting<br />doorway, next to that<br /><br />grey-white of fogTChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-14528463031121375442010-05-17T06:45:40.672-07:002010-05-17T06:45:40.672-07:00Tom,
Wow, didn't see this yesterday -- left i...Tom,<br /><br />Wow, didn't see this yesterday -- left in the dark to drive to Marin Headlands to do a reading of complete Remarks on Color / Sound (1,000 pages, 6AM - 8PM [sunrise to sunset]) in the old gymnasium, a building as COLD in the fog as that Finnish sauna was cooking. Something about those Nazis running out door that seems coincidentally to connect w/ something here ---<br /><br />5.16<br /><br />grey blackness of fog against invisible<br />ridge, motionless black leaves in right<br />foreground, no sound of wave in channel<br /><br /> those such as to assimilate <br /> past, original nature<br /><br /> still, interiors in waiting<br /> doorway, next to that<br /><br />grey-white of fog reflected in channel,<br />line of pelicans flapping toward pointSTEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-51635972692598366792010-05-17T05:27:04.983-07:002010-05-17T05:27:04.983-07:00In the final paragraph of my post, I obviously mea...In the final paragraph of my post, I obviously meant to say "the most unusual triptych". I also think that the final image of Rovaniemi after its destruction brings this part of the story to its logical conclusion. It was interesting to learn this morning about what goes on in Rovaniemi now, its claim to be Santa Claus's residence and that it's home to the northernmost McDonald's outpost in the world.Curtis Robertsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-23374768383856606312010-05-17T03:39:14.248-07:002010-05-17T03:39:14.248-07:00I knew nothing about Malaparte before yesterday, a...I knew nothing about Malaparte before yesterday, although I was aware of, and occasionally haunted by (who isn’t who has seen it?), that incredible house in Capri.<br /><br />The excerpt from Kaputt unfolds as the most horrible, frightening movie scene. The images (Finland sauna bracketing famous Nazi actors/protagonists) add a lot, but Malaparte’s words would be tragically sufficient for any day.<br /><br />Paired with the two other poems and their images, these make the most usual triptych and remind me of an alterpiece with detachable wings. If they somehow got separated, as often happens, they would wander through history telling their own individual stories. Then when an intrepid historian reunited them, they’d be seen differently and people would say, “Oh, I get it”.Curtis Robertsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-88294891163866556362010-05-16T07:08:57.960-07:002010-05-16T07:08:57.960-07:00For those who are interested in Malaparte, there&#...For those who are interested in Malaparte, there's a bit of background to be found <a href="http://vanitasmagazine.blogspot.com/2009/02/tc-writing-dangerous1-curzio-malaparte.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.com