CREDITS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CINEMATOGRAPH
MOVIE STILLS
Movie stills belong to the rights holders of the respective films. They are used under the Fair Use doctrine of U.S. copyright law and may not be appropriated for purposes unrelated to film reviews.
ESSAYS
Credit is listed for anyone whose observations and/or ideas have been incorporated into the movie reviews published on this site.
Lawrence N. Fox is the original inspiration for the writings here, and his contributions are too great to list comprehensively. Most of the essays that were published in 2019, and many of those I wrote later, are based on conversations I had with Larry Fox. In many cases time has erased the memory of who contributed what. Nevertheless, at some point it should be possible to publish a rough breakdown of which observations came from each of us.
Vern Ballard (from the Understanding Movies group on Clubhouse) pointed out the profusion of phallic symbols in Knife in the Water (a movie he re-introduced me to), and he opened my eyes to the protagonist’s obtuseness in Chinatown (credit for noticing the pairs of lenses is forthcoming, as soon as Vern can trace where he got it). He also called my attention to the ironic contrast between Diouanna’s love of life and her suicide in Black Girl.
John Blanchard (my student at Triton College) discovered the correlation between the characters in Ladies in Retirement and the seven capital sins. He also gets co-credit with Anwaar Saadeh for the parallel between Pyle’s and Joker’s full metal jackets in the dual climaxes of Full Metal Jacket, along with the way the bullets fit the idea of unintended consequences.
Darren Cheng (at Toronto Metropolitan University) noticed the on-and-off patterns in City Lights that resemble the flickering lights of a city.
Alex Dvorkin (from the Understanding Movies group on Clubhouse) noticed the Christ allusions in I Knew Her Well and in Knife in the Water as well as the defining nature of walking and sailing in the latter movie, and he made the apt comparison between the bathtub and a coffin in Black Girl. For the Stalker essay he called my attention to the first line in the Zone, and to the fact that the glass, like Stalker, falls unseen and only heard.
Courtney Saladino Gurney (my classmate at the University of Chicago) caught the allusion to 2001: A Space Odyssey in the toy store in Eyes Wide Shut (described under the Connections heading).
Leonard Hockerts pointed out to me that Ornamental Hairpin ends at the same midpoint of the staircase where I had already seen a numerical significance during Takeshi’s previous climb. In La nuit fantastique he caught Thalès’ salute at the end of the Cavern of Illusions scene. He also realized that the large shadow behind Bruno in his father’s bed in Strangers on a Train hints at the psychological presence of the missing father.
Richard Kieckhefer (my father) is a historian of the late medieval period with expertise on European witch trials. He reviewed the articles on Day of Wrath and Baxter, Vera Baxter for accuracy.
James Mann (my student at Triton College) wrote a midterm paper outlining the patterns of music and clothing which are so central to understanding I Walked with a Zombie.
Anwaar Saadeh (my student at Triton College) gets co-credit with John Blanchard for the parallel between Pyle’s and Joker’s full metal jackets in the dual climaxes of Full Metal Jacket, along with the way the bullets fit the idea of unintended consequences.
Michael Glover Smith (a Chicago-based teacher and filmmaker) first tipped me off to the allegory of decolonization behind Black Narcissus during the only class of his I ever visited.
Yassi Soufi (from the Understanding Movies group on Clubhouse) pointed out the similarity between Frank Booth in Blue Velvet and Albert Spica in The Cook the Thief His Wife and Her Lover, which appears in the Connections lists.
Eric Trommater (from the Understanding Movies group on Clubhouse) called my attention to the similarity between the Frans Hals painting and the Last Supper in The Cook the Thief His Wife and Her Lover.
June Winters (from the Understanding Movies group on Clubhouse) observed that the geographical instability in Plein soleil reflects the instability of Tom Ripley’s persona.
The theory of Maria Schneider’s character’s identity in The Passenger comes from a now-removed text on Wikipedia by user Mister Jinxy dated 29 April 2006 (the archived page is here).
WEBSITE
Vern Ballard generously helped to underwrite the costs of the site’s development.
Michael Wutzke, my long-time friend and colleague, and an excellent web designer, provided valuable help registering the domain and setting up the website.