6 Off My Head: Visconti's Stunning Menfolk

It's the 115th anniversary of the birth of Luchino Visconti, our problematic king -- the Italian aristocrat turned film director made some of my favorite movies of all-time, from his early Neo-realist masterpieces like La terra treme up through his baroquely crumbling critiques of the aristocratic bullshit he knew so intimately like The Leopard and The Damned. He made less than twenty movies but I have yet to see a single one I haven't found absolutely riveting. But even more importantly -- obviously! -- is the fact that he had one of the greatest eyes for male beauty we've ever been blessed the opportunity to share sight with, and his movies are feasts for those of us who appreciate such things. And so now that I have seen a majority of his movies -- not yet everything, but a majority! -- I feel safe in finally making this list...

The 6 Sexiest Men in Visconti Movies

Massimo Girotti in Ossessione (1943)

(see more here)

Helmut Berger in The Damned (1969)

Farley Granger in Senso (1954)

(see more here)

Antonio Arcidiacono in La terra trema (1948)

(see more here)

Renato Salvatori in Rocco and His Brothers (1960)

Alain Delon in The Leopard (1963)

(And Alain also counts in Rocco too, obviously -- Alain in any movie he ever starred in, ever! -- but Alain with that black bandage over his eye is a personal kink!)

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What are your faves?

Movies Movies Get Your Hot Movies Here

There have been some very cool physical media announcements in the past day or so -- yes, even on top of Bottoms! (I will never get tired of that one.) So here, a quick rundown of the three that feel the most important to me right this second. First Radiance Films (based out of the UK) have announced a blu-ray of Luchino Visconti's first film La Terra Trema (aka The Earth Trembles but I never see it called that). I've briefly posted about this movie a couple of times but mainly just to recognize that its leading man Antonio Arcidiacono (seen above) is one of the most stunning men every put onscreen. He wasn't a trained actor -- Visconti just had eyes. And so he put him in front of a camera and had him stand there. And that's why Visconti remains a legend! In all seriousness (not that I wasn't being serious already) this is a really stunning and meditative film that captures 1940s Sicily in all its neo-realist finery and I can't wait to see an upgrade from the shitty DVD I have of this. (PS when buying Radiance titles I recommend buying from DiabolikDVD or OrbitDVD here in the US -- it takes a little extra time but you save on shipping costs.) 

The other title from Radiance I recommend is Todd Solondz's 2005 movie Palindromes, which has gotten a full 4K upgrade in time for its 20th (!!!) anniversary. We'd figured this physical media release was coming because IFC is premiering this restoration in a couple of weeks here in NYC (and you'd best believe I'm seeing it with Solondz there to talk about the movie on opening weekend!) On that note there's a good chance this will get a U.S. release (maybe from Criterion, who's released most of Solondz's other movies here) so maybe hold off? Personally speaking I'm impatient so I already bought this one -- Radiance does beautiful work so I'm sure I'll be happy with their version.    

The third physical media release I'm recommending is the double-feature set of vintage porn-ster Arthur J. Bressan Jr.’s films Juice and Daddy Dearest from the mid-80s -- you can pre-order this set right here, which is coming to us to the elite queer historians at Altered Innocence. I haven't seen either of these yet but Altered Innocence has yet to steer me wrong, and I've liked what else I've seen of Bresson's work.

Oh and now that I'm thinking about it (it being gay porn) -- I don't think I mentioned here on the site prop-er that Vinegar Syndrome has Bruce La Bruce's two most recent works of art-porn  for sale this month -- click here for his twincest flick Saint-Narcisse (which isn't actually pornographic; just semi-obscene in theory really) and click here to buy his new movie The Visitor, a reowrking of Pasolini (Sidenote: Happy birthday, Pasolini!) that is very very pornographic indeed. Now look at all of this entertainment I have brought you! You won't have to pay attention to the nightmarish real world for literal hours!

5 Off My Head: Siri Says 1948

I'm just gonna say this right off the bat -- I have a terrible batting average with the year that Siri gave me for this week's edition of our "Siri Says" game. Just terrible. I've seen so little! It would make sense if we were talking about the early 1920s here, but today when I asked Siri for a number between 1 and 100 she gave me the number "48" and so we're talking about The Movies of 1948. I have no excuse for seeing so few movies from 1948. I suppose my indifference to Noir, which has come up before, is part of it, as we're in the thick of that genre in 1948. But some of my favorite movie stars are working -- Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck... 

... well okay I've seen both of Stanwyck's films from this year; I'm not a total sociopath. (They both made the "runner-up" list below.) But otherwise it's just a poor, poor showing on my part., so you'll all have to work overtime in the comments to tell me what I should prioritize. (Not that that's unique, exactly.) But first...

My 5 Favorite Movies of 1948

The Red Shoes

(dir. Powell & Pressburger)

-- released on September 6th 1948 --

Rope

(dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

-- released on September 25th 1948 --

Red River

(dir. Howard Hawks)

-- released on September 17th 1948 --

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

(dir. John Huston)

-- released on January 24th 1948 --

Bicycle Thieves

(dir. Vittorio De Sica)

-- released on November 21st 1948 --

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Runners-up: The Big Clock (dir. John Farrow), The Search (dir. Fred Zinnemann), Key Largo (dir. Huston), They Live By Night (dir. Nicholas Ray), BF's Daughter (dir. Robert Z. Leonard), Sorry Wrong Number (dir. Anatole Litvak)

Never seen: The Snake Pit (dir. Litvak), Johnny Belinda (dir. Jean Negulesco), Joan of Arc (dir. Victor Fleming), I Remember Mama (dir. George Stevens), Drunken Angel (dir. Kurosawa), Moonrise (dir. Borzage), Hamlet (dir. Laurence Olivier)...

... La Terra Trema (dir. Visconti), The Naked City (dir. Jules Dassin), The Pirate (dir. Vincente Minnelli), A Foreign Affair (dir. Billy Wilder), Macbeth (dir. Welles), Letter From an Unknown Woman (dir. Max Ophüls), Oliver Twist (dir. David Lean)

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What are your favorites from 1948?