October 2018
Just a short reminder that this Saturday is Film Society – with an interesting double bill.
Our first film is Bombshell, the story of Hedy Lamarr. To the world, she was the Hollywood star of Algiers (1938), Ziegfeld Girl (1941) and Boom Town (1940), though best known as the great seductress of Cecil BDeMille’s biblical blockbuster Samson and Delilah (1949).
She made her name timeless, but the silver screen projected a mere phantom of Lamarr’s true self. Behind closed doors was the second life of inventor, the co-creator of a frequency hopping system which has gone on to become one of the most significant communications developments of the 20th century. Her work later formed the basis for Bluetooth and wi-fi.
The centre of the film is a series of previously unheard tapes from an interview she gave Forbes magazine in 1990. A chance for her to tell her own story.
The second film is The Fencer, based on the life of Endel Nelis a fencer and coach.
As a young man he arrives in Haapsalu, Estonia, in the early 1950s. Having left Leningrad to escape the secret police, he finds work as a teacher and founds a sports club for his students. Endel becomes a father figure to his students and starts teaching them his great passion - fencing, which causes a conflict with the school's principal. Envious, the principal starts investigating Endel's background... Endel learns to love the children and looks after them; most are orphans as a result of the Russian occupation. Fencing becomes a form of self-expression for the children and Endel becomes a role model. The children want to participate in a national fencing tournament in Leningrad, and Endel must make a choice: risk everything to take the children to Leningrad or put his safety first and disappoint them. The Fencer was nominated for the Golden Globe award in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
As usual there will be a half hour interval between the films
See you this Saturday
The Committee
October 2018
Just a short reminder that this Saturday is Film Society – with an interesting double bill.
Our first film is Bombshell, the story of Hedy Lamarr. To the world, she was the Hollywood star of Algiers (1938), Ziegfeld Girl (1941) and Boom Town (1940), though best known as the great seductress of Cecil BDeMille’s biblical blockbuster Samson and Delilah (1949).
She made her name timeless, but the silver screen projected a mere phantom of Lamarr’s true self. Behind closed doors was the second life of inventor, the co-creator of a frequency hopping system which has gone on to become one of the most significant communications developments of the 20th century. Her work later formed the basis for Bluetooth and wi-fi.
The centre of the film is a series of previously unheard tapes from an interview she gave Forbes magazine in 1990. A chance for her to tell her own story.
The second film is The Fencer, based on the life of Endel Nelis a fencer and coach.
As a young man he arrives in Haapsalu, Estonia, in the early 1950s. Having left Leningrad to escape the secret police, he finds work as a teacher and founds a sports club for his students. Endel becomes a father figure to his students and starts teaching them his great passion - fencing, which causes a conflict with the school's principal. Envious, the principal starts investigating Endel's background... Endel learns to love the children and looks after them; most are orphans as a result of the Russian occupation. Fencing becomes a form of self-expression for the children and Endel becomes a role model. The children want to participate in a national fencing tournament in Leningrad, and Endel must make a choice: risk everything to take the children to Leningrad or put his safety first and disappoint them. The Fencer was nominated for the Golden Globe award in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
As usual there will be a half hour interval between the films
See you this Saturday
The Committee
