CALIBER 9 (Di Leo, 1972)

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(watched: sat/20230107 via Criterion Channel; written and directed by Fernando Di Leo and starring Gastone Moschin, Barbara Buchet, Mario Adorf, Frank Wolff, Luigi Pistilli, and Lionel Stander. Released 15 February 1972)

Spaghetti western nut but this was my first experience with 1970s Italian poliziotteschi films (thanks to Criterion Channel's Fernando Di Leo (who, I learned, did uncredited work on Leone's FISTFUL OF DOLLARS and FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (still my favorite of the DOLLARS trilogy)) collection) and it won't be my last: a propulsive crime narrative of stolen money unafraid to slam on the brakes for weird little asides (while the crossword scene is a favorite, the political confrontations between old favorites Frank Wolff (in a posthumous release, Wolff having committed suicide a year earlier) and Luigi Pistilli as the Chief and his Deputy are (more than) a bit clunky but hey). Fantastic lead performances from Gastone Moschin and Mario Adorf as Ugo and Rocco, respectively. Major crime: you get Lionel Stander and you don't use his voice? Either way, a small gripe: will definitely partake in all of the films in the Di Leo collection.

THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (Dreyer, 1928)

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(Watched: thu/20230105 via the Criterion Channel. Directed by Carl Th. Dreyer from a screenplay by Joseph Delteil and Dreyer; starring Renée Jeanne Falconetti, Eugène Silvain, André Berley, and Maurice Schutz. Released April, 1928.)

While a lifelong devotee of Dreyer's VAMPYR, I hadn't seen THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC but within a few seconds, I understood why it's been hailed as one of the greatest films of all time since it came out: with a simple, sparse language of action/reaction and closeups punctuated by the occasional cinematic flourish, Dreyer’s telling of Joan's (Maria Falconetti, in one of the finest performances ever - I can't add anything to the nearly hundred years of praise other than Wow) martyrdom at the hands of the theocratic inquisition and its ignoble sycophants is nothing short of a triumph of brutal and uncompromising depth. This one's going to stick with me for awhile.