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February 1995, Week 3

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Wed, 15 Feb 1995 19:21:07 CST
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----------------------------Original message----------------------------
 
 
Jajasoon writes:
"Bergman Bergman Bergman - from the early comedies to the mid & late heavy
stuff, it's all Bergman.  I think Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy is virtually
a remake of Smiles on a Summer Night, but don't hold me to that one.
 
Love & Death, besides tons of Bergman references / parodies (Wheat, wheat,
fields of wheat, cream of wheat), obviously draws from the Russian novel
tradition - specifically Tolstoy & Doestoevsky.
 
Play it Again Sam is obviously a direct dialogue with Casablanca & other
Bogart films.
 
I'd imagine that any of his films is rooted at the core to some other
source, literary or filmic.  Often he refers to himself & his previous work
overtly or covertly (see Stardust Memories).  Hope this has been mildly
helpful."
 
You're right about MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT and SMILES (with a nod to Shakespeare,
of course).  STARDUST MEMORIES is almost a blatant parody/homage to/ripoff
of 8 1/2 (and Woody's most underrated film).
 
See also the Odessa Steps sequence from POTEMKIN and the opening of
BANANAS.
 
Here's a more obscure one (I think).  HANNAH AND HER SISTERS sets up
sequences with titles derived from dialogue yet to be spoken and includes
pointed references to e.e. cummings' line, "no one, not even the rain,
has such small hands."  That line served as the epigraph to Tennesee
Williams' THE GLASS MENAGERIE, which in its written version also uses
sequence titles derived from dialogue yet to be spoken (even though I've
never seen a production on stage, film, or tv that actually has *sued*
(sorry, *used*) that device.
 
Allen also often cross-references Bergman with Kafka (angst upon angst, but
occasionally with humor--see ZELIG, in particular (and check out all those
NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS intellectuals he's recruited to comment on the
character).  EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX parodies a lot
of different film conventions, including horror (John Carradine and the
giant breast), doomed love (Gene Wilder and the sheep), and so on.
 
There are also plenty of pop. culture references rooted in the 1930s-1950s,
especially in nostalgia for the days of radio (RADIO DAYS, of course),
the Borscht Belt, and straight theater (BULLETS OVER BROADWAY).
 
In fact, there's enough here that you may want to focus your topic a bit.
 
:-)
 
--Don Larsson, Mankato State U., MN

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