r/MidnightGrain

I watched Abel Gance's 'Napoleon' (1927) on my home projector in my room. I saw the "grande" cut, that has the runtime of 7hrs 7min 54s. I saw the film with absolutely zero interuption. Made my food and water schedule for 2 days to make sure I dont pee or feel hungry in those 7 hours at night. I messaged 17 guys on reddit, one dude replied and emailed me the film (shout out to eladir) The most commonly available version is the brownlow version that is around 5hrs 30min (this version is free is free watch directly on wikipedia).

Is this worth it? FUVK YEAH IT IS! This is now my favorite movie of all time and I think the greatest there is to exist. I saw this 3 days back, took all night. Took me 3 days to fix my sleepy time.

EDIT: Next time I'll try to find the 'apollo cut' which is 9H 30MINS (mwah-ha-ha). I dont think its there online, unless somebody has it, plz dm me (I want to ruin myself please).

2ND EDIT: I have the link, if anyone wants it, DM me.

(PS my first post in this subbredit and in a long time)

My letterboxd link my fellow movie watchers!

moi letterboxd link

Hello! A couple months back I posted about the idea of making my own book club, and I went ahead and went forward with it! The whole idea, and reason I started this is to become familiar the basis of film noir. Alongside studying something I feel that is a prescient yet understudied, and even a misunderstood topic especially within American literature or even crime fiction as a whole. I am not sure if this allowed by the rules per se, but if you would like to join or talk about noir feel to dm or reach out!

We are active on goodreads, but we mostly use discord. Our book of the month for August is Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep

Our mission statement

Mission Statement:

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Crime Book Club! The goal of this club is really to dig into what composes noir and detective fiction, all under the broader umbrella of crime fiction.

You may have heard of authors like Agatha Christie (And then there were none... or Murder on the Orient Express) or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), but how often have you heard of names like Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler? Despite them making the most lasting iconography of the 20th century throughout with its impact still seen today in films, games, etc. How many stores carry their work or give them the same attention as they do those older authors?

Well we aim to rectify that. Noir alongside being one of the most definitive American genres, being born from WWII and the great depression. Is also the most prescient. Throughout the months we will be going through different authors over different periods of time to come closer to the unvarnished truth of the American Dream and experience Americana through a darker, rawer lens.

Of course we expect to dive through topics that will touch on explicit depictions of racism, violence of all kinds, language, and graphic media. Engage at your own discretion

And preview of our rules

Rules:

1. Though we are touching explicit content, don't bring your own prejudices. Be kind to others. Respect other's opinions. Keep your focus on the media and not the person besides you.

2. ***NO TRUE CRIME. NONE. NOTHING. NONE WHATSOEVER.***

This rule exists because I believe the goals of crime fiction, and true crime are inherently separate. Crime fiction is built into the analysis of the way that law and crime interacts, or intersects. Whilst true crime is built more so on the psychology and events of a specific person/moment. In my opinion beginning with In Cold Blood, exploitation is inherently built into the genre. You may feel free to disagree, but we will be not be focusing on non-fiction.

3. Use common sense for everything else. If you have to be told no, its probably not a good idea.

discord

Like u/Hopeful_Cod6295, I've found myself watching a lot of noir this summer (getting caught up on some blu-ray purchases). Here are all the noir (and noir-ish) movies I've seen since May.

• Favorite: Out of the Past remains my favorite noir, although I haven't seen The Asphalt Jungle in (as the kids say) a minute, and that's a strong contender for the top spot.

• Best re-watch: The Set-Up; a brutal and compelling tale of violence and corruption that doesn't waste a single second of its short runtime. Robert Ryan is brilliant and I spent the entire time thinking "Goddamn, I forgot how good this movie is." Runner-up is Criss Cross, which didn't really grab me the first time I watched it.

• Best new watch: The Postman Always Rings Twice was great (of course), but the movie that really blew me away was Witness in the City (Un témoin dans la ville), directed by the future director of La Cage aux Folles. Like The Set-up, this one starts strong and doesn't slow down for a second, with an added layer of seediness that the Hays Code would have prohibited in the USA. Runner-up: Nightfall. Another brilliant Jacques Tourneur joint featuring a stunning, 24-year-old Anne Bancroft.

• Most disappointing: The Big Combo just didn't grab me. Maybe because I watched it on Youtube and the "print" was not very good quality, but I found the whole thing kind of "meh." Richard Conte was excellent, but Cornel Wilde and Jean Wallace were about as exciting as white bread with mayonnaise.

Still a month and a half to go... further updates as the situation warrants...

I was recently gifted this 8mm projector and bought some film for it. After some troubleshooting I got it working! Unfortunately the bulb blew out shortly after I snapped this photo lol... Alas, I'm glad it works and replacing the bulb will be an easy fix.

Does anyone else here use a home film projector or collect films? Any maintenance tips from projection hobbiests here would also be appreciated!