Peter Falk, 1927-2011

Though the grind of the traditional continuous streak of summer midterms demands the bulk of my time and attention, I'm compelled to offer a brief appreciation in memory of Peter Falk, who died yesterday at the age of 83. He's best remembered, of course, as Columbo, a the titular character of a show carried exclusively by Falk's inimitable capacity to play an unremarkable-looking man who was nonetheless believable as an infallable detective. He also brought a grandfatherly charm to The Princess Bride that made him the only castmember to compare with the otherworldly lovability of Andre the Giant. The greatest role of his career was a small but indelible turn in Wings of Desire, where he played himself, Peter Falk - an angel who'd surrendered immortality for a chance to live among the mortals he'd only been able to watch from afar, and never regretted it. It was precisely that strength of character, as manifested in real life, that made Peter Falk a hero to me: one who overcame half-blindness (also in his right eye), certainly to great success and acclaim, but more importantly, with the humor and fortitude that endeared each of his characters to so many. It feels most appropriate to end with a baseball story of his: "I remember once in high school the umpire called me out at third base when I was sure I was safe. I got so mad I took out my glass eye, handed it to him and said, 'Try this.' I got such a laugh you wouldn't believe."

In Memoriam

Out of Print Gems: "Chimes at Midnight"

Past posts have dealt with Orson Welles, and they, like most stories about him, have concerned a decline in luck and resources that, unusually for Hollywood, was not precipitated or accompanied by a decline in talent. They've also noted that by a combination of curious disinterest and copyright disputes, many of his films have been released on home video only on VHS - or in some cases, never at all.

Chimes at Midnight (also called Falstaff) falls somewhere in between. The film has been sporadically released by different companies, often at a dearth of expense that (intentionally or not) mirrors the making of the film itself. "Official" DVD copies are available in Spain, and nowhere else. Unsurprisingly, the prints of Chimes that do circulate are often pretty shoddy, further complicating the already muddy original audio, recorded four and a half decades ago on substandard equipment. Yet the film is truly outstanding. Welles' enormous familiarity with Shakespeare allowed him to condense five Shakespeare plays - Henry IV Pts. 1 & 2, Henry V, Richard II, and The Merry Wives of Windsor - into a perfectly coherent narrative with minimal added dialogue. His enormous corpus make him an even better Falstaff than he was an Othello; his naturally resonant laugh rings true to the larger-than-life lovability of the character, and his formidable acting chops really bring out a usually underemphasized sadness that makes his hard breaks all the more touching. Direction is carried out with the flair you can almost come to take for granted in his work: deep focus as characters listen in on what would otherwise have been soliloquies; seemingly cavernous palatial sets that given the budget, in reality, couldn't have been; and a similarly miraculously choreographed battle scene, making the Battle of Shrewsbury out of a handful of extras and expertly contrasting the hilarious sight of a walrus-sized man crammed into a suit of armor with shots that suggest how awful the battle must really have been. Greed and inertia may see to it that Chimes at Midnight never sees the release it deserves, but thanks to the glory of the internet, at least can never be lost. Interested parties can download the film here.

[EDIT 8/30/2016: Against nearly impossible odds, the best case scenario has played out, and the Criterion Collection has been granted access to the best of all existing elements and allowed to remaster the film to their peerless standard. Chimes at Midnight was at long last released today for the first time on American home video (and the download link consequently disabled). It's a landmark day for film.]

Gnarls Barkley - "Live from the Astoria 2"

Gnarls Barkley played a show at London's Astoria 2 on June 8, 2008 that was filmed, purportedly for release on DVD. As with many other events in the lifespan of the casual collaboration between Cee Lo Green and Danger Mouse, the DVD news quietly receded from circulation as the two artists turned their attention to different things. The show did, however, get aired as part of a series of live concerts hosted by internet has-been corporation MSN, and subsequently made the rounds on Youtube. Over the course of the show Gnarls runs through highlights from both studio albums. St. Elsewhere's "Just a Thought" receives an unbelievably intense rendition (see first video, below), while "Transformer" is performed in the wonderful acoustic version first widely heard in 2006 on Live from Abbey Road. Though the concert was sparing in terms of the usual, eclectic selection of covers, the group does run through an excellent performance of Radiohead's "Reckoner" (off of the then-recent album In Rainbows; second video below), which went on to be one of the Gnarls's most popular videos on Youtube other than its hit. An mp3 version of the set - excellent other than a few lamentably (and poorly) bleeped obsceneties from the original online broadcast - is available here.