The Shadow of Progress

The Shadow of Progress. Derek Williams, 1970.

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Edition screened: Included in the BFI 4-DVD set Shadows of Progress: Documentary Film in Post-War Britain 1951-1977, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 25 minutes.

Summary: A few brief images of dead birds and fish along the shore.

A warning from our friends at British Petroleum that we all need to share the cost and responsibility of cleaning up the deadly pollution that we all caused. Remember, we all get those seven-digit annual bonuses and enormous retirement packages, right?

Shadows and Fog

Shadows and Fog. Woody Allen, 1991.

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Edition screened: MGM DVD, released 2001. English language. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Shadows of Progress: Documentary Film in Post-War Britain 1951-1977

Shadows of Progress: Documentary Film in Post-War Britain 1951-1977. Various directors, 1951-1977.

Edition screened: BFI DVD set, released 2013. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 828 minutes.

Summary: This excellent collection contains the following films organized onto four DVDs. A few films include scenes of animal deaths. See individual titles for details.

Disc one: The Island

David (Paul Dickson, 1951)

To Be a Woman (Jill Craigie, 1951)

The Island (Peter Pickering, 1952)

The Elephant Will Never Forget (John Krish, 1953)

Sunday by the Sea (Anthony Simmons, 1953)

Henry (Lindsay Anderson, 1955)

Foot and Mouth (Lindsay Anderson, 1955)

Birthright (Sarah Erulkar, 1958)

They Took Us to the Sea (John Krish, 1961)

Faces of Harlow (Derrick Knight, 1964)

Disc two: Return to Life

Thursday’s Children (Lindsay Anderson & Guy Brenton, 1954)

There Was a Door (Derek Williams, 1957)

People Apart (Guy Brenton, 1957)

Return to Life (John Krish, 1960)

Four People (Guy Brenton, 1962)

A Time to Heal (Derrick Knight, 1963)

Time Out of Mind (Eric Marquis, 1968)

Disc three: The Shadow of Progress

Three Installations (Lindsay Anderson, 1952)

The Film That Never Was (Paul Dickson, 1957)

Stone Into Steel (Paul Dickson, 1960)

From First to Last (Anthony Simmons, 1962)

People, Productivity and Change (Peter Bradford, 1963)

Shellarama (Richard Cawston, 1965)

Picture to Post (Sarah Erulkar, 1969)

The Shadow of Progress (Derek Williams, 1970)

Disc four: Today in Britain

Today in Britain (Peter Hopkinson, 1964)

I Think They Call Him John (John Krish, 1964)

Portrait of Queenie (Michael Orrom, 1964)

Education for the Future (Derrick Knight, 1967)

Tomorrow’s Merseysiders (Eric Marquis, 1974)

Time of Terror (Eric Marquis, 1975)

The Shetland Experience (Derek Williams 1977)

Shanty Tramp

Shanty Tramp. Joseph G. Prieto, 1967.

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Edition screened: Alpha Video DVD, released 2008. English language. Runtime approximately 72 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 2/5❤

The Alpha DVD also contains Eric Sayers’ Common Law Wife (1963) and an uncredited little film called Alice from Dallas, both free of animal violence.

She’s the One

She’s the One. Edward Burns, 1996.

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Edition screened: 20th Century Fox DVD, released 2001. English language. Runtime approximately 97 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Sheba, Baby

Sheba, Baby. Willian Girdler, 1975.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Shell

Shell. Scott Graham, 2012.

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Edition screened: Verve Blu-ray, released 2013. Scots English with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.

Summary: Real suffering of a deer.

Details:

1) At 16:55 begins a close view of a deer that has been hit by a car. The deer and its agony obviously are real.

2) Pete slits the deer’s throat, 17:40-17:56.

3) Butchering of the deer, 21:50-25:00

4) Remnant feet from the butchering, 1:04:12-1:04:19.

Shell is an excellent, subtle, intelligent film. Please watch it, skipping the deer killing and butchering if you prefer, but do watch the scene in the car (18:00-21:50) between those events. A smart friend pointed out to me that “Shell would not have been possible without The Turin Horse,” a perfect statement of the relationship between those films. Shell is not a remake of the Béla Tarr masterpiece, but it uses the same relationships and challenges to tell a slightly different story. The Turin Horse might show us the ease with which the world ends. Shell might show us the difficulty with which the world changes slightly.

Shellarama

Shellarama. Richard Cawston, 1965.

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Edition screened: Included in the BFI 4-DVD set Shadows of Progress: Documentary Film in Post-War Britain 1951-1977, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 14 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

This PR film from Shell Oil begins with several scenes showcasing the wonderful improvements oil derricks make on otherwise unspoiled land, and I feared this featurette was going to be as offensive as BP’s Skyhook. But Shellarama shifts gears quickly and becomes a Cinerama-style travel adventure, hence the cutesy name.

Sherlick Holmes

Sherlick Holmes. Victor Milt (as Tim McCoy), 1975.

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Edition screened: Included on Vinegar Syndrome DVD #161 Peekarama: Sherlick Holmes/Reunion, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 75 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 4/5❤

The Shetland Experience

The Shetland Experience. Derek Williams, 1977.

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Edition screened: Included in the BFI 4-DVD set Shadows of Progress: Documentary Film in Post-War Britain 1951-1977, released 2013. English language. Runtime approximately 27 minutes.

Summary: Comparatively tame images of fish cleaning and commercial processing scattered throughout. 

Shine a Light

Shine a Light. Martin Scorsese, 2008.

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Edition screened: Paramount DVD, released 2008. English language. Runtime approximately 121 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A very good Stones concert. Tastefully filmed.

Shinjuku Triad Society

Shinjuku Triad Society (Shinjuku kuroshakai: Chaina mafia sensô). Takashi Miike, 1995.

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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray set The Black Society Trilogy, released 2017. Japanese and other languages with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 100 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A Ship to India

A Ship to India (A Ship Bound for India / Skepp till Indialand). Ingmar Bergman, 1947.

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Edition screened: Included in Artificial Eye Blu-ray box set Classic Bergman, released 2012; also included in Criterion Blu-ray set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018. Swedish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 95 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A Ship to India is on disc #2 of 30 in Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema (part of ‘Opening Night’).

Shoah and 4 Films after Shoah

Shoah and 4 Films after Shoah. Claude Lanzmann, 1985-2013.

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Edition screened: Eureka! Masters of Cinema Blu-ray box set #100-104, released 2015. Various languages with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 976 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Masters of Cinema box set includes Shoah and four important follow-up films by Lanzmann:

Shoah (1985)

A Visitor from the Living (1997)

Sobibór, October 14, 1943, 4 PM (2001)

The Karski Report (2010)

The Last of the Unjust (2013)

Shogun Assassin

Shogun Assassin. Robert Houston, 1980.

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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray box set #841, Lone Wolf and Cub, released 2016. Japanese language with over-dubbed English narration. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Shogun Assassin is an edited and combined version of Misumi’s first two Lone Wolf and Cub films with an English narration.

Shooting Stars

Shooting Stars. Anthony Asquith & A.V. Bramble, 1928.

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Edition screened: BFI Blu-ray, released 2016. English intertitle cards, scored, no dialogue track. Runtime approximately 101 minutes.

Summary: A dove is handled inconsiderately, but no harm or injury comes to the bird.

The BFI release of this wonderful film also includes the following early publicity featurettes by various studios, all free of animal violence:

Pathé’s Screen Beauty Competition (1920, 2 minutes)

Around the Town: British Film Stars and Studios (1921, 2 minutes)

The Lovely Hundred (1922, 1 minute)

Secrets of World Industry: The Making of Cinematograph Film (1922, 8 minutes)

Meet Jackie Coogan (1924, 11 minutes)

Starlings of the Screen (1925, 15 minutes)

Opening of British Instructional Film Studio (1928, 4 minutes)

Short Cuts

Short Cuts. Robert Altman, 1993.

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Edition screened: Criterion DVD #265, released 2004. English language. Runtime approximately 187 minutes.

Summary: Mild fishing violence.

Details: The second fishing scene contains a mild 7-second depiction of a fish being cleaned at 1:25:35. The scene is not graphic but comes unexpectedly, cued by Lily Tomlin saying “Earl tells me to go on a diet. That’s all he could think of to say.”

Short Cuts is not P.T. Anderson’s 1999 film Magnolia. Short Cuts stars Tim Robbins as a family-man cop rather than John C. Reilly as a lonely-heart cop, and cellist Lori Singer is poisoned by carbon monoxide in the garage rather than heiress Julianne Moore, although Julianne Moore is in both films, as is Tom Waits who slightly resembles a skinny John C. Reilly. Other actors also are in both films playing confusingly similar but different characters.

A Short Film About Killing

A Short Film About Killing (Krótki film o zabijaniu). Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1988.

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Edition screened: Included in the Kino DVD box set The Krzysztof Kieślowski Collection, released 2005. Polish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 81 minutes.

Summary: Images of dead animals.

Details:

1) The first minute of the film is comprised of three prolonged shots, first of dead cockroaches on discarded plate, then of a dead rat in a puddle, and finally of a black cat hanged from a pole.

2) At 25:40, the cabdriver thinks it funny to blow his horn at a man walking two dogs, frightening the animals so that one breaks free and runs away.

A Short Film About Killing is an expansion of Episode V in The Decalogue. The Kino DVD also includes the short film From a Night Porter’s Point of View (1977).

A Short Film About Love

A Short Film About Love (Krótki film o milosci). Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1988.

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Edition screened: Included in the Kino DVD box set The Krzysztof Kieślowski Collection, released 2005. Polish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 83 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A Short Film About Love is an expansion of Episode VI in The Decalogue. The Kino DVD also includes the even shorter film Tramway (1966).

The Short Films of David Lynch

The Short Films of David Lynch. David Lynch, 1966-1995.

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Edition screened: Subversive Cinema DVD, released 2005. English language. Cumulative runtime of six titles without director introductions approximately 76 minutes.

The Subversive DVD includes the following titles, each prefaced by an explanatory introduction by Lynch:

Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times) (1966)

The Alphabet (1968)

The Grandmother (1970)

The Amputee (1974)

The Cowboy and the Frenchman (1988)

Lumière: Premonition Following an Evil Deed (1995)

Summary: Shooting of a rattlesnake; rodeo violence

Details:

1) The Cowboy and the Frenchman includes a 2-second image of a rattlesnake being shot, beginning at 7:42.

2) The Cowboy and the Frenchman shows a calf lying in distress after being bulldogged, 9:37-9:50.

The Shout

The Shout. Jerzy Skolimowski, 1978.

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Edition screened: Network Blu-ray, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 86 minutes.

Summary: A smashed bee and animal victims of Alan Bates’ killer shout.

Details:

1) Alan Bates squashes a bee against a window pane, 27:47-27:49.

2) A shepherd and his flock fall over dead after hearing Bates’s shout.

3) Bates finds and picks up a seagull that suffered the same fate, 51:08-51:16.

This intelligent, literary movie is a treat for the patient viewer tolerant of films made during a more sophisticated era. The common comparison to Don’t Look Now is fitting, as they share similar textures and tension. In a brief interview included on the Network BD, The Shout’s producer discloses that Nicolas Roeg was in fact first choice for director of The Shout.

The Shrine

The Shrine. Jon Knautz, 2010.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 81 minutes.

Summary: Pig butchering.

Details: We see a large pig hanging inverted in an open barn, in the process of being butchered 17:50-18:14. The carcass is apparent and there is some blood, but the scene is not intentionally graphic in the way that many similar scenes are.

Sidewalks of New York

Sidewalks of New York. Edward Burns, 2001.

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Edition screened: Paramount DVD, released 2002. English language. Runtime approximately 108 minutes.

Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Sightseers

Sightseers. Ben Wheatley, 2012.

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Edition screened: StudioCanal Blu-ray, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 88 minutes.

Summary: Simulated killing of a dog and a chicken.

Details:

1) Depiction of a terrier accidentally impaled as he jumps on knitting needles.

2) Depiction of a chicken sacrificed during a shamanistic ritual.

The Sixth Side of the Pentagon

The Sixth Side of the Pentagon (La sixième face du pentagone). Chris Marker, 1968.

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Edition screened: Included in Soda Blu-ray/DVD set Chris Marker Collection, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 28 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Sign of Leo

The Sign of Leo (Le signe du lion). Éric Rohmer, 1959.

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Edition screened: Blu-ray included in Potemkine box set Coffret Éric Rohmer, l’intégrale, released 2013. French language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 103 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs. Jonathan Demme, 1991.
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Edition screened: MGM Blu-ray, released 2008. English language. Runtime approximately 118 minutes.

Summary: Threats and depicted injury to a poodle.

Details: In an attempt to negotiate her release, an imprisoned woman squeezes her captor’s poodle and threatens “She’s in a lot of pain” and “I’m gonna kill it!”, 1:38:25-1:39:14.

Silent House

Silent House. Chris Kentis and Laura Lau, 2011.

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Edition screened: Universal Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 86 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Silent Light

Silent Light (Stellet licht). Carlos Reygadas, 2007.

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Edition screened: Tartan DVD, released 2008. Plautdietsch language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 136 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Silk, Satin, & Sex/Turn on with Kelly Nichols

Silk, Satin, & Sex/Turn On with Kelly Nichols. Lawrence Talbot, 1983-1984.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome DVD #145 Peekarama: Silk, Satin & Sex/Turn on with Kelly Nichols, released 2016. English language. Cumulative runtime approximately 160 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals in either feature.

Silk, Satin, & Sex, 1983, approximately 81 minutes. 2/5❤

Turn On with Kelly Nichols, 1984, approximately 79 minutes. 1/5❤

About as appealing as the two images on the cover.