Greetings gentle readers and welcome to another installment of the Sunday Morning Movie. Today it’s more Svankmajer goodness: Faust:
and next week’s movie, Fire and Ice:
Reviews of Faust:
BFI says:
Faust is Jan Švankmajer’s first feature-length film and his most ambitious work since his adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in 1988. Its action moves between puppets, animated models and ‘real’ actors to create a brilliant mix out of the traditional marionette theatre of Eastern Europe and life in post-communist Prague. Rather than making of Faust a Romantic, Goethian hero, Švankmajer seems to suggest that the Faustian universe exists for all of us within the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
The Renaissance Collection says:
His work isn’t for the faint of heart, but there’s a slow-burning charm in the visible stitches that pull everything together. Each juddering movement of the life-size puppets and moulded pools of clay harken back to the director’s theatrical origins; his knowledge of what it means to construct a performance stretches out beyond the screen, and may unsettle the viewer far more than any of Švankmajer’s hellish creatures.
My take: This is one trip of a film. It can get a bit longish towards the end but it’s worth the ride. The scenes in the alchemy lab are unforgettable. Another Svankmajer masterpiece: ⭐⭐⭐.
Director: Jan Svankmajer
Writer: Jan Svankmajer
Plot (Spoilers!):
The movie starts in Prague. An unnamed man is walking home. He encounters two strange men who hand him a map.
He gets home to find a black rooster in his living room. He shoes it out and sits down to eat. He cuts some bread to find an egg inside it. Weird stuff.
It gets weirder when he sees the two men looking up at his window. He looks at the map they had handed him. He heads towards the location that’s marked.
When he arrives at his destination, he finds himself in a dressing room. He dresses himself up as a magician and calls himself Faust. He dedicates himself to black magic.
Then a bunch of bizarre adventures befall him, from alchemical laboratories to meeting Mephistopheles to wearing a puppet’s body. Then his luck runs out. He encounters Lucifer and runs from the building, only to be run down by a driverless red car.
***
Bonuses:
Mike Leigh Has Spent 50 Years Refusing to Compromise. He’s Not Starting Now.
https://variety.com/2026/film/features/mike-leigh-tender-loving-care-final-film-harvey-weinstein-oscars-1236841786/
Rusalochka (1968)
AKA The Little Mermaid
This exquisite Soviet animated adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale tells the story of a water-dwelling maiden, Rusalochka, who trades her voice for legs after falling in love with a human prince. The story transitions between the black and white human world of Copenhagen, where tourists believe in love but not in mermaids, and the gorgeously vibrant visuals of the underwater mermaid kingdom, accompanied by Aleksandr Lokshin’s haunting music.
Rusalochka (1968)
Zolushka (1979)
AKA Cinderella
A poor working girl goes to a ball and falls in love with the prince. Based on the famous European folk tale as told by Charles Perrault, with Russian verse by Genrikh Sapgir.
Zolushka (1979)
RUCKUS Jamaican Ska & Rocksteady
Terry Riley – Persian Surgery Dervishes – Full Album
Persian Surgery Dervishes is a recording of two live solo electric organ concerts, the first held in Los Angeles on 18 April 1971 and the second in Paris on 24 May 1972, by avant-garde minimalist composer Terry Riley, following his A Rainbow in Curved Air and In C. The two very different performances of the same composition “Persian Surgery Dervishes” are meant to show the importance of improvisation in Riley’s music. Riley plays a modified Yamaha electric organ tuned in just intonation.
JIMMY ROGERS / TAT’S ALL RIGHT(full album)
1,SLOPPY DRUNK 0:00
2,GOLD TAILED BIRD 5:38
3,WALKING BY MYSELF 9:28
4,THAT’S ALLRIGHT 12:13
5,LUDELLA 15:52
6,I LOST 19:15
7,YOU ARE SO SWEET 24:17
8,THE LAST TIME 27:31
9,SHELBY COUNTRY 31:24
10,TRICKY WOMA 34:28
BERNARD PARMEGIANI Espèces d’espaces
Composed in 2002.
Premiered at Studio 104, Maison de la Radio, October 14, 2002 (Paris, France).
Released in 2008 as part of the collection L’Œuvre Musicale En 12 CD, issued by INA-GRM, France.
Alte Musik mit Posaunen und Zinken
Laeta dies,
In me transierunt,
Multarum hic resonat,
D. Martini Lutheri Symbolum,
Da pacem,
Missues est Gabriel,
Haec est dies,
Fuga septimi toni,
Kanon über “Christe, der du bist Tag und Licht”,
Bicinium,
Ricercar,
Canzona septimi toni,
performed by Josquin Ensemble Wien, Musica Antiqua Wien
3 HOURS of LATE 60s/EARLY 70s PSYCHEDELIC ROCK/BLUES ROCK/MUSIC TO GET STONED TO, ENJOY
Atom Heart Mother
[LP] Roumanian Folk Songs and Dances Volume No. 1 (Artia, 1959)
00:00 Ca la Breaza; Călușul oltenesc*
03:01 Ion Păturică (cobză) – Hora de la Clejani
04:41 Geamparalele (la 4 țambale)
06:04 Boiță Gănescu (nai) – Foaie verde ca lipanul; Sârba (de Fănică Luca)
08:22 Maria Lătărețu – Hora păcii
11:36 Hodoroaga; Cârligele
FAȚA B
15:06 Nicu Stănescu (vioară) – Călușarii, Ciocârlia*
18:04 Fănică Luca (nai) – Doina Oltului; Horă
21:11 Maria Lătărețu – Sanie cu zurgălăi
24:02 Ionel Budișteanu (vioară) – Munte, munte, brad frumos; Sârba lui Buică
27:18 Mugur, mugurel; Hora Șapte scări*
Orchestra Institutului de Folklor („Barbu Lăutaru”), dirijori: Nicu Stănescu (piesele marcate cu *), Ionel Budișteanu (restul)
THE FANTASY ILLUSTRATIONS OF THEODOR KITTELSEN HD 1080p
In making this video I used a fairly wide range of sources, which were frequently at odds with each other, so I’m even less sure than usual about some of the dates given. In many cases there is no date at all so guesswork has been somewhat forced on me. And it didn’t help that quite a lot of the information had to be translated from Norwegian, an apparently more than usually flexible language. Nevertheless I hope the quality and volume of the pictures shown will make up for these shortcomings.
James Joyce Reads From Finnegans Wake (includes text) Anna Livia Plurabelle
A stunningly clear recording of James Joyce reading from the Anna Livia Plurabelle section of his 1939 modernist masterpiece “Finnegans Wake” with accompanying text
Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell (1927)
Bertrand Russell first delivered this lecture on March 6, 1927 to the National Secular Society, South London Branch, at Battersea Town Hall.
See below for a section breakdown:
What Is a Christian? :05
The Existence of God 2:58
The First-cause Argument 4:05
The Natural-law Argument 6:16
The Argument from Design 10:30
The Moral Arguments for Deity 13:32
The Argument for the Remedying of Injustice 16:13
The Character of Christ 18:23
Defects in Christ’s Teaching 21:10
The Moral Problem 23:24
The Emotional Factor 28:15
How the Churches Have Retarded Progress 31:10
Fear, the Foundation of Religion 32:59
What We Must Do 34:24
Logic: The Structure of Reason
As a tool for characterizing rational thought, logic cuts across many philosophical disciplines and lies at the core of mathematics and computer science. Drawing on Aristotle’s Organon, Russell’s Principia Mathematica, and other central works, this program tracks the evolution of logic, beginning with the basic syllogism. A sampling of subsequent topics includes propositional and predicate logic, Bayesian theory, Boolean logic, Frege’s use of variables and quantifiers, Gödel’s work with meta-mathematics, the Vienna Circle’s logical positivism, and the Turing machine. Commentary by Hilary Putnam, of Harvard University; NYU’s Kit Fine; and Colin McGinn, of Rutgers University, is featured.
What Is Probability? Difficulties Understanding Probability
Professor David Wallace discusses the nature of probability and some of the philosophical puzzles that arise regarding how to understand and make sense of probability. He begins by distinguishing between subjective probabilities (which are about our beliefs) and objective probabilities (which are about the world itself). He then goes on to discuss various interpretations of probability and some of the difficulties that arise for each. This comes from a talk given in a series on the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics back in 2015 at Oxford.
00:00 Concepts of Probability
01:04 Subjective Probability
02:14 More-Objective Probabilities
03:49 Very Objective Probabilities
05:52 Two Questions about Objective Probability
08:40 Frequentism
13:52 Probability from Symmetry
16:59 Probability as Primitive
18:10 The “Why” Question
20:10 The Principal Principle
24:43 A Dearth of Solutions to the Why Question
What Are Numbers? Philosophy of Mathematics (Elucidations)
What is mathematics about and how do we acquire mathematical knowledge? Mathematics seems to be about numbers, but what exactly are numbers? Are numbers and other mathematical objects something discovered or invented? Daniel Sutherland discusses some of these issues in the philosophy of mathematics, explaining some of the basic difficulties involved in trying to say what numbers are and how we come to know them. Are numbers mere mental constructs, something invented by us? If so, then why does mathematics work so well and seem to describe the world? On the other hand, if numbers are “out there” in some sense waiting to be discovered, then what is their status and how do we get knowledge of them? After all, you can’t see or touch numbers and other mathematical objects. And unlike ordinary empirical truths, mathematical truths seem to have a quite different and special status: they are a priori, necessary, eternal, universal, and absolutely certain. (My Description)
The History of Logic: The Logic of Aristotle
A few clips of Gabriele Giannantoni explaining Aristotelian logic, the logic of Aristotle. These clips come from the Multimedia Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences.
Philosophy of Mathematics & Frege – Michael Dummett (1994)
Audio recording of a 1994 lecture by Michael Dummett on Frege and the philosophy of mathematics at the LSE on the occasion of his Lakatos Award for an outstanding contribution to the philosophy of science.
Squirrel dropkicks groundhog
Squirrel lunges at a juvenile groundhog while a crow watches on.
Little gorillas fixate on a chameleon
What are these youngsters from the Kwitonda group so intrigued by? 🤔 If you look carefully, you’ll spot a little chameleon moving on the ground! 🦎
The poor chameleon probably felt terrified, but the gorillas were incredibly gentle and simply curious. They watched it closely without harming it, and eventually it wandered away safe and sound. 🤗 💛
📸 Alliance Umwizerwa
By
