- The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
One of the current programs at the University of Chicago’s Doc Films is “Behind the Convent Walls: Bad Habits and Naughty Nuns,” a pretty self-explanatory series that collects subversive films about nuns falling prey to temptations of the flesh. Programmer Daniel Frankel has selected some trashy “nunsploitation” fare, including Jess Franco’s Les Démons as well as some comedies (Sister Act, Nasty Habits). Among the more prestigious selections are Jacques Rivette’s New Wave feature The Nun and the Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger joint Black Narcissus, one of the lauded British filmmaking duo’s most lush Technicolor marvels.
- A Matter of Life and Death (1946) A great rumination on humanism and mortality, this was initially designed to improve Anglo-American relations following WWII, but any propagandist element has been twisted to better fit the filmmakers’ fantastical vision. The bright and dynamic imagery here still astounds, a Technicolor feat that stands as some of the most inspired and bravura filmmaking in the Archers’ canon.
