{"id":320,"date":"2004-12-04T23:26:00","date_gmt":"2004-12-04T23:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=320"},"modified":"2004-12-04T23:26:00","modified_gmt":"2004-12-04T23:26:00","slug":"320","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=320","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

A Fistfight at the Poets’ Caf\u00e9<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was about 15, I saw Jean Cocteau’s<\/a> Orf\u00e9e<\/em><\/a>, a film based on the Greek legend of Orpheus the poet, his wife, Eurydice, and their journeys into Hades.<\/p>\n

Most of it went right by me. I was not prepared for its intensity nor its shamanic overtones. All I really remembered were Death’s outriders on their motorcycles.<\/p>\n

I watched it again last night and was amazed. Made in 1949, it is still a compelling film. This film has the imperious logic of a dream: you don’t know exactly why things are happening as they do, but they are “right” all the same. Surrealist poetry coming from the radio of a Rolls-Royce? Of course.<\/p>\n

All of this is done in black-and-white with a minimum of special effects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Fistfight at the Poets’ Caf\u00e9 When I was about 15, I saw Jean Cocteau’s Orf\u00e9e, a film based on the Greek legend of Orpheus the poet, his wife, Eurydice, and their journeys into Hades. Most of it went right by me. I was not prepared for its intensity nor its shamanic overtones. All I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6xQTg-320","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12885,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12885","url_meta":{"origin":320,"position":0},"title":"Talking about Robert Eggers’ “The Northman”","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"In the spring of 2018, M. and I were preparing for a week in Salem, Mass., so we watched several movies about Salem, witch trials, etc. One of them was The Witch, directed by Robert Eggers. At the time, I had more to say about Three Sovereigns for Sarah, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Denmark\"","block_context":{"text":"Denmark","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=denmark"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Screenshot-2022-04-27-at-21-01-55-The-Northman-2022.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Screenshot-2022-04-27-at-21-01-55-The-Northman-2022.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Screenshot-2022-04-27-at-21-01-55-The-Northman-2022.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1152,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1152","url_meta":{"origin":320,"position":1},"title":"Gallimaufry with Confusion","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2022 The latest weird search query to bring a visitor to this blog: \"Is New Mexico a polytheistic, monotheistic, or animistic religion?\" Hello? New Mexico is a state. No wonder that for years New Mexico Magazine has had a standing column on geographical confusion called \"One of Our 50 is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Gnosticism\"","block_context":{"text":"Gnosticism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=gnosticism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chascli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0934223955","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":916,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=916","url_meta":{"origin":320,"position":2},"title":"The Dark is Rising . . . on Film","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In the heart of the English Fen County, Pluvialis is spitting . . . . . . chips and blood. I am crackling with furious static. Any minute now, small pieces of paper, coins and pens are going to drag themselves across the tabletop, bent and pulled towards me by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"movies\"","block_context":{"text":"movies","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=movies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2366,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2366","url_meta":{"origin":320,"position":3},"title":"The Anatomy of Diesel Punk","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"For when you are tired of the fussiness of steam punk\u2014diesel punk explained: Generally, dieselpunk can take inspiration from '20s German Expressionist films, film noir, 1930s pulp magazines and radio dramas, crime and wartime comics, period propaganda films and newsreels, wartime pinups, and other entertainment of the early 20th century.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"culture\"","block_context":{"text":"culture","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=culture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mediatropes.info\/pmwiki\/pub\/external_link.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8553,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8553","url_meta":{"origin":320,"position":4},"title":"“The Love Witch” \u2014\u00a0“Twin Peaks” Meets “Bell, Book and Candle”","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Last November, Peg Aloi of The Media Witches reviewed The Love Witch under the deadline, \"Why Real Witches Are Going to Love (or Maybe Hate) the Love Witch.\" A pagan friend I watched the film with was shocked and called it \u201cirresponsible and potentially damaging.\u201d His concern is not unreasonable;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"movies\"","block_context":{"text":"movies","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=movies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/witch17-300x217.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/witch17-300x217.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/witch17-300x217.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":267,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=267","url_meta":{"origin":320,"position":5},"title":"H\u00e4xan Continuing our sporadic investigation\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 20, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"H\u00e4xan Continuing our sporadic investigation of cinematic paganism, M. and I watched H\u00e4xan (\"Witches\"), a 1922 silent Swedish film that is available subtitled in English as Witchcraft through the Ages. Released just before Margaret Murray swayed English-speaking readers with her \"survival of the Old Religion despite persecution\" theory, this film\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}