Have to admit .. I haven't actually seen Justine yet! It's one of the ones I'm really looking forward to watching (co-starring Anna Karina! yay!) though. I've just been trying to save some of his films and not watch them all at once. Nevertheless, I couldn't pass on these photos when I saw them on ebay! They're fantastic!
I'll be adding them to the photograph section next week -- until then, if you'd like to download the large scan, just click on the photo and it should open in a new window :)
I made a new video tribute today... actually, I made it this month. It's taken me forever to prepare, since I had to rip all of Dirk Bogarde's movies to my hard drive. Yup, this one includes EVERY one of his movies, and in chronological order, no less! The only exceptions are Blackmailed, Upon This Rock & We Joined the Navy since they're being stubbornly elusive.
The video is set to "As Time Goes By" sung by Bryan Ferry. It starts with Dirk Bogarde's first starring role in Esther Waters (1948) and ends with his last performance in Daddy Nostalgia (1990). Here is the full list of films, in order:
Esther Waters (1948), Quartet (1948), Once a Jolly Swagman (1949), Dear Mr. Prohack (1949), Boys in Brown (1950), The Blue Lamp (1950), So long at the Fair (1950), The Woman in Question (1950), Hunted (1952), Penny Princess (1952), The Gentle Gunman (1952), Desperate Moment (1953), Appointment in London (1953), They Who Dare (1954), Doctor in the House (1954), The Sleeping Tiger (1954), For Better For Worse (1954), The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954), Simba (1955), Doctor at Sea (1955), Cast a Dark Shadow (1955), The Spanish Gardener (1956), Ill Met By Moonlight (1957), Doctor at Large (1957), Campbell's Kingdom (1957), A Tale of Two Cities (1958), The Wind Cannot Read (1958), The Doctor's Dilemma (1958), Libel (1959), The Angel Wore Red (1960), Song Without End (1960), The Singer Not the Song (1961), Victim (1961), HMS Defiant (1962), The Password is Courage (1962), The Mind Benders (1963), I Could Go On Singing (1963), Doctor in Distress (1963), The Servant (1963), Hot Enough for June (1964), King and Country (1964), The High Bright Sun (1964), Little Moon of Alban (1964), Darling (1965), Modesty Blaise (1966), Blithe Spirit (1966), Accident (1967), Our Mother's House (1967), Sebastian (1968), The Fixer (1968), Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Justine (1969), The Damned (1969), Death in Venice (1971), Night Flight From Moscow (1973), The Night Porter (1974), Permission to Kill (1975), Providence (1977), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Despair (1978), May We Borrow Your Husband? (1986), The Vision (1988), Daddy Nostalgia (1990)
Later this week I'm planning on screen-capping the video and captioning the photos with which film they came from, so that if a specific clip looks intriguing you'll know which movie to watch :)
Three early Dirk Bogarde movies are finally being released on DVD in January! They're being released in the UK, so they're in PAL format but most computers can play region 2 discs with VLC player, and multi-region DVD players can read them as well.
The lucky movies are Once a Jolly Swagman, Esther Waters and The Spanish Gardener. Hopefully the fact that the powers-that-be are finally releasing some early DB Rank films is a sign that Blackmailed (a movie that doesn't seem to be available anywhere, and I mean anywhere) will finally see the light of day!
I try really hard to keep the gushing here to a minimum, and to keep the blog more proper than "omg I love him!!" fangirly. But, my goodness, do you see these screen shots?! It's hard to keep your composure whilst looking at them, let alone write a post that's any more formal than "drooling......"
I took a LOT of shots, and these 12 are my favorite. You can see the rest here.
Sorry for the obnoxious gif, but I had to make one when I saw this scene. It's just so perfect!
I was a very bad Dirk Bogarde fan when I watched this film. I was quite tired and I only vaguely understood the plot (not that it was that complicated, I was just that tired) but from what I understand, this is how it went -- Dirk Bogarde plays a flight officer who has already flown more missions than most people do in their entire careers. He's working towards 90 bombing missions, even if everyone thinks that it's pushing his luck to even do 88 or 89.
I have a very hard time watching war movies.. I can't help myself! All of the talk about missions and bombing raids and radar went flying through my left ear and soaring out the right. Like most post-war British war films, however, it did have several really heartfelt, saddening scenes that emphasized what war does to the women on the homefront. One pilot was sending coded messages to his wife so that Dirk Bogarde (who didn't approve of his officers having their minds on their women, so preferred that they either didn't have women at home or didn't communicate with them) wouldn't find him out. Bogarde's love interest in the film, played by Dinah Sheridan, is a war widow who is still referred to throughout the movie as "Mrs." Those moments were poignant and deeply sad.
It puzzles me why Dirk Bogarde was cast in so many war films at the peak of his popularity with young girls. Why screaming bobbysoxers would be interested in violent movies seemingly aimed at male audiences eludes me, but I guess I'm living proof that if he was in it, the adoring fans would watch it.
A gigantic "thank you" to my good friend Roe from the Dirk Bogarde facebook group for sending me some wonderful photos in the mail last week! First there's this fantastic photo above from the National Gallery in London. I usually prefer his younger photos but this one is just so captivating! I also love the mixed patterns: the checkered pants, striped shirt and what appears to be an insect-print tie?!
I also received this batch of amazing stills from Hot Enough for June! They really capture the feel of the movie, how it is delightfully fun and romantic, but still exceptionally suspenseful! You can see larger versions of all of these photos by clicking the thumbnails in the photo section of my website, here! Thank you Roe!! :)
The Angel Wore Red will be playing on TCM at 12:30AM EST on November 19th. TCM's site describes the plot as follows, "A priest and a prostitute fall in love during the Spanish Civil War." It's a bit more complicated than that, and, to be honest, not my favorite Dirk Bogarde film, but definitely good and worth giving a watch! :)
There's a documentary on Dirk Bogarde called "The Private Dirk Bogarde" in which they play a good deal of clips from his own home videos. But they're interspersed throughout the 2+ hour long movie, and usually used as background for someone talking over them. So I thought it would be neat to compile all of the home video clips without the documentary audio! There ended up being almost 30 minutes worth of footage, so I divided the clips up into three separate youtube uploads. The accompanying music is Liszt's Consolation No. 2 in E Major performed by Vladimir Horowitz. If you're interested in viewing the entire documentary, it's available on youtube here.
I was perusing the Dirk Bogarde documentary "The Private Dirk Bogarde" tonight, looking for clips from home videos when I came across this one that I had to single out & share. Isn't it just the cutest thing ever?! I love that they documented so much of their life on film.. I'd complain that not enough segments are available, but then I realize how lucky we are to even have these!
This one is a little more crazy than my last one, but I had so much fun making it, and I think it's really fun to watch too! I tried not to include any of the same clips I did in my first video, but a few snuck in because they fit so well.. only 3 or 4 at the most, though :)
Clips in the video are from: Song Without End, By Myself, Hot Enough for June, Hunted, Sebastian, Despair, The Singer Not the Song, Darling, Archival footage from dirkbogarde.co.uk, Night Porter, The Mind Benders, The Blue Lamp, Modesty Blaise, The Wind Cannot Read, The High Bright Sun, The Servant, Accident, Doctor in Distress, King and Country, Providence and Death in Venice.
A huge thank you to Tom from Motion Picture Gems for this amazing "Desperate Moment" still. I've never even seen this picture before, isn't it great?!
And Kendra from Days in Mayfair and Viv & Larry took this snapshot of a wonderful Dirk Bogarde photo on display at the National Portrait Gallery in England!
You can see larger versions of the first 2 photos here in the photographs section. Just click to view the scans full-size.
I was very hesitant to watch The Night Porter, since I'm a bit of a movie prude and don't like my films overflowing with sex and nudity -- and I was under the impression that NP was just a porn film in disguise. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I finally caved in and watched it last month! It wasn't nearly as explicit as I expected, and the film was shot so beautifully that you hardly notice when it is. It's a sad, uncomfortable but beautiful story about a Nazi and a concentration camp prisoner who have a doomed, deep, twisted love for one another.
I made this video last night as a tribute to the movie -- it's set to "I'm a Fool to Want You" sung by Billie Holiday.
I made this one yesterday.. I've had the idea floating around in my head for the longest time, and finally got around to it last night. This one is more of a tribute to the entire film, so it's not concentrating on Dirk Bogarde as much as my other videos have. Sarah Miles & James Fox take up a sizable chunk of space here. You might notice Wendy Craig is virtually absent, though, but that's just because I didn't like her character.. I'm being ornery :)
I might do another one in the future that's a tribute to Dirk's performance in the film, like I did with Modesty Blaise... but that is another video for another day..
I just added 30 new scans to the dirk-bogarde.com photography section! All of the photos added today were taken by Roddy McDowall. You can check out all 30 on flickr. These five are my favorites :)
Modesty Blaise is a hilarious, random, psychedelic, awfully fun film that you do NOT want to miss when it airs on FOX Movie Channel this afternoon at 2pm EST. Dirk Bogarde is outlandishly over the top as a white-wigged villain and Modesty Blaise's arch nemesis. If you miss the whole film, here's a quick little peek at the awesomeness that is Dirk Bogarde in this movie. The genius is in the details.. subtle glances and movements.. taking on a spot-on American accent for a Patton-style speech.. the rhythm of a phrase. And pay special attention to his pronunciation of the word "torture"... it kills me.
There will be more on Modesty Blaise here in the near future... I just had to post a programming alert, but so enjoyed this film that I couldn't bring myself to mention it without going into a little more detail :) I also took about eight gazillion screen-caps from the movie (okay, more like 140, but still..) so I'll share some of those in my next post about MB as well.
I scanned and uploaded about 60 new photos tonight! You can view all of them here! My personal favorite is the one at the top of the post, a promotional photo from The Gentle Gunman.
I think these words from the moody torch song "Angel Eyes" fit the film Accident to a T. This one scene in particular. I wrote about it here last year, and I think it bears repeating... this scene is so seminal to the film and exemplifies the feeling of discomfort that permeates the entire movie.
Dirk Bogarde's character, middle-aged and married, has a small uncomfortable crush on one of his students, played by Jacqueline Sassard. When he's asked to join her & another student on a little boat trip he reluctantly agrees. The ensuing trip is a combination of lovely cinematography, soft jazz and palpable awkwardness.
Pay special attention to the part when Dirk realizes the proximity of his hand to her thigh and clumsily repositions, tucking his hands under his armpits. The juxtaposition of his discomfort with the beauty and ease of everything going on around him is like gawky poetry.
I put together this little video with scenes from Accident set to Nancy Wilson's Angel Eyes. Hope you enjoy it :)
There's been this thing going around on tumblr where you pick your top ten favorite photos of one particular star. I already posted these on my Dirk Bogarde tumblr, but they're so wonderful I thought I'd share them here too! So, without further ado, my picks for the top ten Dirk Bogarde photos:
For some insane reason, I was laboring under the delusion that he was an American actor from the 1950's specializing in B-Crime movies. You know the ones, where the actors are exceedingly sweaty and wear shoulder pads that double the width of their frame. Imagine my surprise when I turned on TCM one day and found that Dirk Bogarde was actually a dashing, debonair, talented Brit.
This blog chronicles my discovery of Dirk Bogarde as I plow my way through his filmography, books, artwork and recordings. He has quickly become my favorite actor, and I have a feeling that I'll be discovering Dirk Bogarde for many years to come.
