Post by Merc on Mar 21, 2014 3:22:35 GMT -5
..a national treasure.
Watching Howard Hawks's "Hell's Angels" from 1930, about aerial combat in WWI. Unbelieveably great and dynamic footage of air warfare when it was brand new. Crazy shit, visually compelling. Those early planes were so vulnerable, on both sides. paper planes, with guns, and absolutely no protection against weather or air pressure. Astonishing stuff, a kind of compelling film.
(Modern footnote: about ten years ago I met a man named René von Richthofen. At Buckley's, an Irish bar in Southampton. Older man, said he was a descendant of the Red Baron (von Richthofen), but he was illegitamate. that the Red Baron was his grandfather, but his mother was a maid, or something. He was upfront about it! And he was a charming person to talk to, Anglo-german accent and all. What he really wanted to know from me was: that he knew his thirtysomething son was gay, and in denial, and he only asked me this after I said I was gay. I gave him my best advice, which was to let his son come to terms with this on his own timetable. To not make a big deal of it. Let him say it. And this older man René, he understood. And was one of the greatest conversationalists I've ever met. he just wanted the matter settled , and to let his son know he'd love him. He kust didn't know how to go about it. A very nice gentleman. And it was me who brought up the Red Baron when he said , "von Richthofen". He wasn't scamming, he was honest. I've washed windows for Italian countesses and almost princesses (Sorry Candy, we turned Lee Radziwill down. Bianca Jagger, too. We just knew they'd be pain -in -the-ass clients.). So it wasn't that far-fetched that this René was related to the Red Baron. Even if he was a lying grifter, I wouldn't give a shit- we had a good conversation.
And again, TCM is a national treasure. It is basically the American 20th century, told through film and artifice. We Americans are good at that. I mean this in a positive way.
Watching Howard Hawks's "Hell's Angels" from 1930, about aerial combat in WWI. Unbelieveably great and dynamic footage of air warfare when it was brand new. Crazy shit, visually compelling. Those early planes were so vulnerable, on both sides. paper planes, with guns, and absolutely no protection against weather or air pressure. Astonishing stuff, a kind of compelling film.
(Modern footnote: about ten years ago I met a man named René von Richthofen. At Buckley's, an Irish bar in Southampton. Older man, said he was a descendant of the Red Baron (von Richthofen), but he was illegitamate. that the Red Baron was his grandfather, but his mother was a maid, or something. He was upfront about it! And he was a charming person to talk to, Anglo-german accent and all. What he really wanted to know from me was: that he knew his thirtysomething son was gay, and in denial, and he only asked me this after I said I was gay. I gave him my best advice, which was to let his son come to terms with this on his own timetable. To not make a big deal of it. Let him say it. And this older man René, he understood. And was one of the greatest conversationalists I've ever met. he just wanted the matter settled , and to let his son know he'd love him. He kust didn't know how to go about it. A very nice gentleman. And it was me who brought up the Red Baron when he said , "von Richthofen". He wasn't scamming, he was honest. I've washed windows for Italian countesses and almost princesses (Sorry Candy, we turned Lee Radziwill down. Bianca Jagger, too. We just knew they'd be pain -in -the-ass clients.). So it wasn't that far-fetched that this René was related to the Red Baron. Even if he was a lying grifter, I wouldn't give a shit- we had a good conversation.
And again, TCM is a national treasure. It is basically the American 20th century, told through film and artifice. We Americans are good at that. I mean this in a positive way.
