Taking Tiger Mountain

Taking Tiger Mountain. Tom Huckabee and Kent Smith, 1982.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #282, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 81 minutes.

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

The Vinegar Syndrome release also include the 2018 version of the film (Taking Tiger Mountain Revisited, 76 minutes), as well as Kent Smith’s short film Interviews with Welshmen.

I enjoyed both versions of Taking Tiger Mountain and appreciated the artistic and social changes offered in the new version.

Tales from the Golden Age

Tales from the Golden Age (Amintiri din epoca de aur). Various directors & written by Christian Mingiu, 2009.

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Edition screened: Trinity DVD, released 2009. Romanian language with English subtitles. Cumulative runtime of six shorts, approximately 140 minutes.

Summary: The plot of “The Greedy Policeman” is an ill-fated attempt to discreetly butcher a pig in a small apartment. We do not see the pig killed or badly injured, but he is handled roughly 7:45-10:00, and most of the dialogue and action from that point forward is about a ridiculous method to kill and butcher the gentle pig.

That offense aside, Tales from the Golden Age includes six funny and well-acted short films about life in Romania during the last 15 years of Ceauşescu's regime. Each film is by a different director, with the first five sequenced consecutively and “The Zealous Activist” included as a bonus feature.

“The Legend of the Official Visit” (18:24)

“The Legend of the Party Photographer” (14:34)

“The Legend of the Chicken Driver” (31:14) - excellent!

“The Legend of the Air Sellers” (35:32)

“The Legend of the Greedy Policeman” (22:34)

“The Legend of the Zealous Activist” (17:40)

Tammy and the T-Rex

Tammy and the T-Rex. Stewart Raffill, 1993.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #300, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 90 minutes.

Summary: Implication of shooting animals.

Details:

1) A lion is mauling a man, and a game warden intervenes by shooting the lion, 21:49-21:52.  We do NOT see the lion shot. We see the game warden lift and rifle, then hear gun fire during a cut to the next scene.

2) While searching for the dinosaur in a small barn (hmmm), the evil scientist is startled by a chicken and shoots his tranquilizer gun at the bird, 1:22:02. This is a very confusing scene visually because in the space of half a second we see the flying chicken and what appears to be a splatter of blood against the wall; but the bright red plume actually is the feathered stabilizer of the tranquilizer dart, which did NOT hit the bird.

3) Soon after this the T-Rex is “killed” in a hail of police gun fire. Dialogue immediately afterward comedically explains that this makes no sense, as the dinosaur is mechanical and would not, could not, slowly be brought down and collapse on the floor . . . 

The potential depictions of violence to animals in this film all resolve to be non-issues. But sticking to the objective of this project, could an unexpecting viewer be upset or taken by surprise by the apparently-shot chicken? Yes.

This Vinegar Syndrome release is the first time Tammy and the T-Rex has been available uncut with its substantial violent gory deaths intact. VS also includes the heavily-edited “family” version that was a video store staple in the 1990s.

Them (Hellmaster)

Them (Hellmaster). Douglas Schuylze, 1994.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #284, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Vinegar Syndrome release also includes the 91-minute cut of the film often released on VHS as Hellmaster.

There’s Nothing Out There

There’s Nothing Out There. Rolfe Kanefsky, 1990.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #260, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

A siamese-mix house cat appears for a few quick jokes about cats in horror films, but is not handled badly nor does any harm come to his character.

The Vinegar Syndrome release includes a variety of archival material and commentary, along with Charlie Lyne’s 2015 Copycat which is an unusual documentary about Kanefsky, and three other Kanefsky films:

Murder in Winter (c. 1987)

Just Listen (c. 1989)

Mood Boobs (2006)

These Places We’ve Learned to Call Home

These Places We’ve Learned to Call Home. Joshua Oppenheimer, 1996.

😿 😿

Edition screened: Included on Second Run DVD #102 Joshua Oppenheimer: Early Works, released 2016. English language. Runtime approximately 30 minutes.

Summary: Animal experimentation.

Details:

1) A dog, fitted with a helmet and air hoses, is shown forced to run on a laboratory treadmill. He collapses in exhaustion when the machine is shut off. 4:54-5:33.

2) A dead bird is on the ground at 12:41 and ignited 12:50-13:10.

Thicker Than Water

Thicker Than Water (Tjockare än vatten). Various directors, 2014.

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Edition screened: Arrow 4-DVD box set, released 2016. Swedish language with English subtitles. Total runtime of all 10 episodes, approximately 580 minutes.

Summary: The last episode includes a typical depiction of fish cleaning, an example of relatively normal domestic meat and fish prep that is not alarming to this project.

Thirst (Bergman)

Thirst (Törst). Ingmar Bergman, 1949.

😿😿

Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018, and also in Criterion’s Eclipse 1: Early Bergman DVD set released 2007. Swedish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.

Summary: Unprovoked abuse to a snake.

Details: A seemingly harmless snake is picked up by the tail at 8:01 and dropped on a large active ant hill at 8:11. The snake is engulfed by ants and reacts in pain to the many bites it receives before managing to crawl off at 8:18. 

Thirst and Port of Call share disc# 23 of 30 (part of ‘Centerpiece 3’) in the Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema set.

Thirst (Park Chan-Wook)

Thirst (Bakjwi). Park Chan-Wook, 2009.

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Edition screened: Tartan Blu-ray, released 2010. Korean language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 133 minutes.

Summary: Near the end of the film, disarray of a domestic interior after a fight includes what appears to be a dead snake or eel lying on the floor; unclear.

Thriller: A Cruel Picture

Thriller: A Cruel Picture (Thriller - en grym film). Bo Arne Vibenius, 1974.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome 4K UHD, released 2022. Original Swedish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 108 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.  3/5❤

The Vinegar Syndrome 3-disc set includes many special features and They Call Her One Eye, the 90-minute English-dubbed and censored version of Thriller, also free of animal violence.

Tinseltown

Tinseltown. Carter Stevens, 1980.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray #266, released 2019. English language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.

Summary: No animals or references to animals in the film. 1/5❤

To Joy

To Joy (Till glädje). Ingmar Bergman, 1949.

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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018; also included in Criterion box set Eclipse 1: Early Bergman, released 2007. Swedish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 99 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

To Joy is on disc #4 of 30 in Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema (part of ‘Opening Night’).

Tokyo Knights

Tokyo Knights (Tokyo naito). Seijun Suzuki, 1961.

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Edition screened: Included in Arrow Blu-ray box set Seijun Suzuki: The Early Years Vol. 2: Border Crossings: The Crime and Action Movies, released 2018. Japanese language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 82 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Touch

The Touch (Beröringen). Ingmar Bergman, 1971.

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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 115 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

The Touch and The Serpent’s Egg share disc #21 of 30 in Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema (part of ‘Centerpiece 2’). The Touch is accompanied by Stig Björkman’s 1971 documentary Ingmar Bergman, recorded on location during the making of The Touch.

Toys Are Not for Children

Toys Are Not for Children. Stanley H. Brassloff, 1972.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 85 minutes.

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

The Train

The Train. John Frankenheimer & Arthur Penn, 1964.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2015. English language. Runtime approximately 133 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

After a slightly slow and pedantic setup, this The Train quickly escalates into  a gripping account of deception and sabotage. Burt Lancaster is awesome in this movie and we get to watch him do cool things like cast and install a bearing for a locomotive side rod, wire plastic explosives to a detonator, and dismantle retaining plates on railroad tracks.

Trapped Alive

Trapped Alive. Leszek Burzynski, 1993.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2019. English language. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Trilogy of Terror

Trilogy of Terror. Dan Curtis, 1975.

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Edition screened: Kino/Lorber Blu-ray, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 72 minutes.

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

Karen Black stars in all three segments of this famous made-for-TV anthology of short films, “Julie”, “Millicent and Therese”, and “Ameilia”. 

This release includes a 17-minute interview with Karen Black from 2006 called “Three Colors Black” that was a real eye-opener. Throughout most of the interview Black relates her believable rise from Broadway chorus girl to TV actress to Hollywood star. But she closes with a smack to the head in which she explains the difference between horror and science fiction, a description so memorable in its unbelievability that I can recall it quite accurately.

Very close to quoted, Black explains: Horror is about cutting up bodies. It’s about blood, and bodies not staying together. Science Fiction is about concepts like going to the moon. I have only ever done Science Fiction films, never horror. I’ve only made concept films based in science.

She concludes by crediting Trilogy director Michael Curtis for teaching this to her. Mind you, we have just watched three short films that are psychological horror in any literate person’s assessment, the first two being adaptations of common Poe-style Gothic tales and the last a fairly bloody Chucky-style story about an unstoppable killer doll. They are unified by a solid absence of anything like Science Fiction. Black also unknowingly discloses that she does not understand that this made-for-TV horror trilogy is a substantial downgrade from the important, quality films that launched her career such as Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces. 

I suspect that during the Slasher Film era of the 80s and 90s, Karen Black became embarrassed and confused by her status as a Horror Queen and wished to differentiate that she never made those kind of movies. Agreed, confirmed, whatever. More significantly to cineasts, perhaps a parallel to the career of Klaus Kinsky has been revealed. That exquisite German method actor fell from hyper-A list status to picking up dopey roles in spaghetti westerns and cheap horror films because he was impossible to work with. He deserved his reputation for sinking productions with his childish behavior and for bringing costly struggles to the set that outweighed his talent. Similarly, perhaps it became unacceptably exasperating for directors like Coppola and Schlesinger to continue working with an actresses who unfortunately seems to be as stupid as she looks despite the intermittent sexual attractiveness of that stupid appearance.

Two Much

Two Much. Fernando Trueba, 1996.

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Edition screened: Included in Kino Loerber Two Much/Miami Rhapsody Blu-ray double feature, released 2018. English language. Runtime approximately 118 minutes.

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

Tystnad! Tagning! Trollflöjten!

Tystnad! Tagning! Trollflöjten! Måns Reuterswärd, 1975.

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Edition screened: Included in Criterion Blu-ray set Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, released 2018. Swedish language with English subtitles. Runtime approximately 63 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

This documentary about the making of Bergman’s The Magic Flute is on disc #20 in the Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema set, and was produced for Swedish television.

Vice Academy 1-3

Vice Academy 1-3. Rick Sloane, 1988-1991.

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Edition screened: Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray set #VSA03, released 2019. English language. Cumulative runtime of three features, approximately 271 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals in any of these three films.

The VS compilation includes: 

Vice Academy - 1988, Rick Sloane, 90 minutes

Vice Academy 2 - 1990, Rick Sloane, 93 minutes

Vice Academy 3 - 1991, Rick Sloane, 88 minutes

Linnea Quigley is the draw in these otherwise boring formulaic sub-Police Academy-style films. The first film is by far the “best” in every way. The second is not nearly as watchable. The third does not include Quigley in the cast and is terrible. 

The Wild Blue Yonder

The Wild Blue Yonder. Werner Herzog, 2006.

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Edition screened: Subversive Cinema DVD, released 2006. English language. Runtime approximately 81 minutes.

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

Wrong Turn

Wrong Turn. Rob Schmidt, 2003.

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Edition screened: Included in 20th Century Fox Blu-ray set Wrong Turn 1-5, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 84 minutes.

Summary: Animal bodies at roadside.

Details:

1) Car passes a dead deer alongside the road, 11:50-11:52.

2) Pedestrians find a dead mink alongside the road, 15:13-15:22.

Wrong Turn 2: Dead End

Wrong Turn 2: Dead End. Joe Lynch, 2007.

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Edition screened: Included in 20th Century Fox Blu-ray set Wrong Turn 1-5, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 93 minutes.

Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals.

Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead

Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead. Declan O’Brien, 2009.

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Edition screened: Included in 20th Century Fox Blu-ray set Wrong Turn 1-5, released 2014. English language. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.

Summary: Off-screen shooting of a dog.

Details: We see a police dog attacking, followed by a cut to a shotgun being raised and fired, 1:20:30. We hear a very short whimper but see no more of the dog.