text
stringlengths 0
6.86k
|
|---|
= = battle = =
|
the american crossing had been seen by a local militia captain who rushed to the british camp at trois @@ rivières and reported to general fraser thompson left 250 men to guard the landing and headed the rest towards trois @@ rivières unfamiliar with the local terrain he convinced antoine gautier a local farmer to guide the men to trois @@ rivières gautier proceeded apparently intentionally to lead the american army into a swampy morass from which it took them hours to extricate themselves in the meantime the british having been alerted to the american presence proceeded to land troops from the fleet and formed battle lines on the road outside the village ships were also sent up to pointe du lac where they drove the american guards there to flee across the river with most of the boats
|
some of the americans led by thompson made their way out of the swamp to be confronted by hms martin which drove them back into the swamp with grapeshot a column of men under colonel anthony wayne fared only a little better arriving out of the swamp only to face fraser 's formation a brief exchange of fire took place but the americans clearly outmatched by fraser 's forces broke and ran leaving arms and supplies behind portions of the american force retreated to the edge of the woods which gave them some cover and attempted to engage some of the british troops but fire from those troops kept them off the road and fire from some of the ships in the river kept them from the shore st clair and a number of men made it back to the landing site only to find it occupied by the british troops only by returning to the swampy woods and continuing to flee upriver did these men escape capture at that time wayne eventually managed to form a rear guard of about 800 men which attempted an attack on the british position but they were driven back into the woods wayne then led a staggered retreat in which companies of men slipped away with the woods giving cover to hide their true numbers
|
general carleton arrived in trois @@ rivières late in the action a detachment of british forces led by major grant had taken control of a bridge over the rivière @@ du @@ loup a critical crossing for the americans retreating along the north shore of the saint lawrence carleton ordered grant to withdraw allowing most of the americans to escape either because he did not want to deal with large numbers of prisoners or because he wanted to demoralize the americans further a significant number of americans did not make it that far and were captured these included general thompson and seventeen of his officers it was not until june 13 that the british finished rounding up the stragglers in all 236 captives were taken brendan morrissey says that about 30 americans were killed in the battle while howard peckham gives a figure of 50 americans killed
|
= = aftermath = =
|
scattered fragments of the american army made their way overland on the northern shore to berthier where they crossed over to sorel some did not return until june 11 sullivan who counted 2 @@ 500 effective troops under his command at first wanted to make a stand at sorel but smallpox desertions and word that the british fleet was again under sail to come upriver convinced him it was time to retreat by june 17 the continental army had left the province but not before it had attempted to burn montreal as well as destroying fort saint @@ jean and any boats of military value capable of navigating lake champlain
|
carleton ordered most of the british army to sail upriver toward sorel on june 9 but they did not actually leave until he joined them on june 13 a detachment of 1200 men under fraser marched up the northern shore toward berthier and montreal the british fleet arrived at sorel late on the 14th the americans had left there just that morning elements of the british army entered montreal on june 17 and also arrived at fort saint @@ jean in time to see the last americans ( the very last one reported to be benedict arnold ) push away from its burning remnants
|
the captives were treated quite generously by carleton although the conditions of their imprisonment were not always good he provided them with clothing and eventually had all but the officers transported to new york and released
|
= = legacy = =
|
a site near the le jeune bridge was designated a national historic site of canada in 1920 in order to commemorate the battle
|
there are three plaques in the city of trois @@ rivières commemorating aspects of the battle a plaque honouring the british participants was placed at the national historic site by the historic sites and monuments board of canada a plaque honouring the american dead was placed in the parc champlain by the daughters of the american revolution in august 1985 the third plaque honours antoine gauthier for his role in misleading the american troops
|
during the american retreat from quebec and in this battle wounded soldiers were treated at the ursuline convent in trois @@ rivières congress never authorized payment for these services and the convent has retained the bill a bill that was about £ 26 at the time is now estimated to be between ten and twenty million dollars on july 4 2009 during festivities marking the town 's 375th anniversary american consul @@ general david fetter symbolically repaid the debt to the <unk> with a payment of c $ 130
|
= tenebrae ( film ) =
|
tenebrae ( also known as tenebre ) is a 1982 italian giallo film written and directed by dario argento the film stars anthony franciosa as american author peter neal who while in rome promoting his latest murder @@ mystery novel becomes embroiled in the search for a serial killer who may have been inspired to kill by the novel john saxon and daria nicolodi co @@ star as neal 's agent and assistant giuliano gemma and carola <unk> appear as detectives investigating the murders john steiner veronica lario and mirella d 'angelo also feature the film has been described as exploring themes of dualism and sexual aberration and has strong metafictional elements some commentators consider tenebrae to be a direct reaction by argento to criticism of his previous work most especially his depictions of murders of beautiful women
|
after argento had experimented with pure supernatural horror with 1977 's suspiria and 1980 's inferno tenebrae represented the filmmaker 's return to the giallo horror subgenre which he had helped popularize in the 1970s argento was inspired by a series of incidents which saw an obsessed fan telephone the director to criticise him for the damaging psychological effects of his previous work the telephone calls culminated in death threats towards argento who channelled the experience into the writing of tenebrae the director also wanted to explore the senselessness of killings he had witnessed and heard about while staying in los angeles in 1980 and his feeling at the time that true horror came from those who wanted to kill for nothing
|
shot on location in rome and at elios studios tenebrae utilised mostly modern @@ looking locations and sets to help argento realise his intent that the film reflect a near @@ future with a diminished population the director filmed none of the historical landmarks that usually featured in films set in rome employing director of photography luciano tovoli argento also intended that the film simulate the stark realistic lighting featured in television police shows at the time production designer giuseppe bassa created supporting environments that were cold and austere with sharp angles and modernistic spaces several former members of italian rock band goblin provided tenebrae 's music a synth @@ heavy score inspired by rock and disco music
|
tenebrae was a modest success in italy it reached theatres with little controversy after argento made cuts to one of the most violent scenes however in the united kingdom it was added to the infamous list of video nasties and banned from sale until 1999 the film 's theatrical distribution in the united states was delayed until 1984 when it was released in a heavily censored version under the title unsane in its cut form tenebrae received a mostly negative critical reception but the original fully restored version later became widely available for reappraisal it is considered by some to be one of argento 's best thrillers the film critic and author maitland mcdonagh said that it was in many respects the finest film that argento has ever made
|
= = plot = =
|
peter neal an american writer of violent horror novels is in italy to promote his latest work tenebrae he is accompanied by his literary agent bullmer and his assistant anne neal is unaware that he has also been followed to rome by his embittered ex @@ wife jane just before neal arrived in rome elsa a young female shoplifter was murdered with a razor by an unseen assailant the murderer sends neal a letter informing him that his books have inspired him to go on a killing spree neal is soon contacted by the police in the form of detective giermani and his female partner inspector altieri
|
more killings take place <unk> a beautiful lesbian journalist is murdered at her home along with her lover marion maria the young daughter of neal 's landlord is later hacked to death with a axe after discovering the killer 's lair neal notices that tv interviewer <unk> berti has an unusually intense interest in his work that night neal and his italian assistant gianni watch berti 's house gianni approaches the house alone to get a better view and sees an assailant hack berti to death with an axe however gianni is unable to see the murderer 's face he returns to neal to find the novelist has been knocked unconscious on the lawn
|
giermani discovers that berti was obsessed with neal 's novels and believes the killings will stop now that berti is dead however bullmer who is having an affair with jane is stabbed to death while waiting for his lover in a public square gianni is haunted by the thought that he missed the importance of something he saw at berti 's house he returns to the house and suddenly remembers that he had heard berti confessing to his attacker i killed them all i killed them all before gianni can share this detail with anyone he is strangled to death from the back seat of his car
|
jane sits at her kitchen table with a pistol when a figure leaps through her window and hacks off one of her arms the wound sprays blood over the kitchen walls before jane falls to the floor the killer continues to hack at her until she is dead at which point neal is revealed to be the murderer upon learning the details of berti 's sadistic murder spree neal recovered a previously repressed memory involving his murder of a girl who had sexually humiliated him when he was a youth in rhode island the memory torments neal and <unk> his previously repressed lust for blood driving him insane
|
inspector altieri arrives at the house and neal kills her giermani and anne arrive soon afterwards when neal sees that he cannot escape he slits his throat in front of them finding the telephone out of order giermani and anne go outside to report the incident from the car radio giermani returns to the house and is murdered by neal who had faked his own death neal waits inside for anne to return but when she opens the door she accidentally knocks over a metal sculpture that impales and kills neal the horror @@ stricken anne stands in the rain and screams repeatedly
|
= = analysis = =
|
= = = themes = = =
|
critics have identified various major themes in tenebrae in interviews conducted during the film 's production the usually somewhat reticent argento offered his own views as to the thematic content of the film as biographer maitland mcdonagh noted in broken mirrors / broken minds the dark dreams of dario argento argento has never been more articulate and / or analytical than he was on the subject of tenebrae film scholar william hope identifies that the film is devoid of classical narrative progression and writes that the characters lack a narrative function or purpose existing only to be killed in a spectacular fashion their death hardly moving the narrative on at all traditional cause and effect are seemingly forgotten or actively ignored according to james gracey author of a book about argento 's work with tenebrae explores some of his most reoccurring themes and preoccupations such as freudian psychology sexual deviancy repressed trauma voyeurism audience spectatorship and the fetishisation of violence and death water is linked constantly with neal in almost every scene his appearance is followed or accompanied by a shot of water in some way later this device is used over and over as a clue to the ultimate killer 's identity neal himself
|
= = = dark doubles = = =
|
according to argento expert thomas rostock tenebrae is filled with rhyming imagery that relates to the film 's exploration of the dual nature of [ the ] two active murderers using doubles inversions reflections and re @@ reflections every major character has at least one double and the theme extends to objects locations actions and events major and minor the doubling or mirroring of incidents and objects includes telephone booths aircraft homeless men otherwise @@ meaningless public brawls in the background car accidents typewriters ( literally side @@ by @@ side ) keys handkerchief hands caught in doors and the characters themselves rostock cites several scenes where characters are set up in frame with their doppelgängers one such is the first meeting of peter neal and anne with detectives giermani and altieri mcdonagh notes that argento emphasizes the doubling between neal and giermani giermani is made to reflect neal even as neal appropriates his role as investigator the detective / writer and the writer / detective each belittles his other half as though by being demeaned this inverted reflection could be made to go away mcdonagh also observes that in what is arguably the film 's most potent shock neal at one point really does make giermani go away virtually replacing him on screen in a shot that is as schematically logical as it is logically outrageous earlier neal killed a woman who to his and the audience 's surprise was not anne but altieri tenebrae itself is split almost exactly into two parts the first half belongs to the murders of berti the second to those of neal the two are set up as mirrors of one another berti 's killings with a razor are clinical with lingering sexualised aggressiveness whereas neal 's ( with an axe ) are crimes of passion committed for personal reasons or out of necessity they are swift and to the point
|
kevin lyon observes the plot revolves around the audacious and quite unexpected transference of guilt from the maniacal killer ( about whom we learn very little itself unusual for argento ) to the eminently likeable hero surely the film 's boldest stroke while noting that the device is striking mcdonagh comments that this guilt transmission / transfer occurs between two dark doubles who are seriously warped individuals she suggests that neal and berti act as mirrors to one another each twisting the reflection into a warped parody of the other berti 's obsession with neal 's fiction compels him to commit murder in homage to the writer while neal seems to think that his own violent acts are simply part of some kind of elaborate fiction when the bloody neal is confronted by giermani immediately after having killed numerous people neal screams at him it was like a book a book
|
= = = metafiction = = =
|
the moment at which the first half becomes the second is punctuated by the rising score and pan to an otherwise meaningless point of reflected light on an ornament according to rostock the meaning is clear it marks the spot when berti 's spree ends and neal 's rampage begins argento uses the shift in focus to comment on the shaping of the film itself until that moment a typical clichéd and remote giallo neal previously passive begins to control what happens in his own story which is more personal with weight and meaning according to rostock this structure allows argento equal scope to play with the narrative while commenting upon it all without having to deviate from the advancement of plot according to kim newman the use of a sculpture as a weapon makes literal one of the themes of the film art that kills people rostock agreed saying that as the film is a commentary on art the only weapon that can end the narrative is art itself
|
according to gracey a number of critics have compared argento with the character of peter neal speculating that he serves as an alter @@ ego of the director gracey refers to tenebrae as a reflexive commentary on [ the director 's ] earlier work the director himself saw the film in the same light claiming it was a reaction to accusations that dario argento was a misogynist a criminal a murderer argento resolved to include all of these aspects of his previous films into tenebrae a scene in which a woman criticises the lead character 's books as sexist featuring women as victims <unk> male heroes [ and ] macho bullshit echoes criticisms of argento 's own work kim newman calls the confrontation scene essentially autobiographical and refuting these accusations argento said that his films were instead an attempt to tackle his dark side to let it speak with tenebrae in particular he felt he was making a joke or playing a game with his critics creating a front or mystique about himself rostock also believes argento is having fun and sending up this perception newman agrees that argento used tenebrae to address his own public image the notion that someone who creates art as sick and twisted as his must himself be sick and twisted with tenebrae 's reveal that the author is the killer newman argues that argento is saying what if i were
|
= = = <unk> sexuality = = =
|
as in many of argento 's films which tend to <unk> the murder of beautiful women gender sexuality and power are major issues foregrounded by the film the fictional novel within the film is described as being about human perversion and its effects on society male and female sexual deviancy are a central theme with the victims being sexually liberated women who the first killer conservative tv presenter cristiano berti refers to as filthy slimy perverts the first victim is a sexually promiscuous shoplifter and his next two are the lesbian reporter and her bisexual lover berti murders the comparatively normal maria only because she inadvertently discovers his twisted compulsion his moral crusade is inspired by and in his mind given credibility by neal 's novel neal 's own motivations for becoming a killer are revealed in freudian flashbacks as summarised by <unk> these flashbacks expose how the misogyny evident in his books actually stems from being sexually humiliated by a beautiful woman in his youth mcdonagh also notes that tenebrae expands on the themes of sexuality and <unk> found in argento 's earlier films the bird with the crystal plumage the cat o ' nine tails four flies on grey velvet ( 1972 ) and deep red ( 1975 ) but believes that tenebrae 's overall sensuality sets it apart from argento 's other gialli she says that the film 's sexual content and abundant nudity make it the first of argento 's films to have an overtly erotic aspect and further notes that tenebrae is fraught with free @@ floating anxiety that is specifically sexual in nature gracey notes that in several scenes the victims gaze directly into the camera which demonstrates argento 's preoccupation with voyeurism and spectacle
|
mcdonagh noted that two sexually charged flashbacks are key to understanding tenebrae these distinct but strongly related memory fragments are introduced repeatedly throughout the film usually immediately following a murder sequence although the flashbacks are never fully explained the first reveals a beautiful young woman 's sexual humiliation ( though oral rape ) of a teenage boy presumed to be peter neal the young woman is mostly topless during this first sequence and she humiliates the young man by jamming the heel of one of her shiny red shoes into his mouth while he is held down by a group of gleeful boys on a pale @@ white beach the second flashback shows the vicious revenge @@ murder of the woman some time later mcdonagh notes that all of the fetishistic imagery of these flashbacks combined with the sadistic details of the murder sequences in the main narrative set the parameters of tenebrae 's fetishistic and <unk> visual vocabulary couched in terms both ritualistic and <unk> out of control peter neal indulges in sins of the flesh and tenebrae revels in them inviting the spectator to join in in fact it dares the viewer not to do so
|
= = = vision impairment = = =
|
argento 's protagonists in his giallo films almost always suffer from vision impairment of some kind it is these characters ' chronic inability to find the missing pieces of a puzzle ( the puzzle being the solution of a murder or series of murders ) that generally provides much of the films ' narrative thrust most obviously is the blind franco arno ( karl malden ) in the cat o ' nine tails who must use his heightened aural sense in combination with visual clues supplied to him by his niece to solve a mystery in the bird with the crystal plumage sam <unk> ( tony <unk> ) witnesses a murder attempt but admits to the police that something seems to be missing as the film 's surprise ending makes clear he did not miss anything but simply misinterpreted what happened in front of his eyes in deep red marcus ( david hemmings ) has a similar problem in both seeing and not seeing the murderer at the scene of the crime and does not realize his mistake until it 's almost too late this recurring theme according to douglas e winter creates a world of danger and deception where seeing is not believing
|
flanagan observes that in tenebrae argento offers two characters who suffer from impaired vision gianni ( christian borromeo ) is an eyewitness to an axe @@ murder but the trauma of seeing the killing causes him to disregard a vital clue returning to the scene of the crime he suddenly remembers everything and is murdered before being able to tell anyone homicide detective giermani reveals that he is a big fan of the novels of agatha christie mickey spillane rex stout and ed mcbain but admits that he has never been able to guess the identity of the killer in any of the books he is similarly unable to solve the real mystery until the last corpses are piled at his feet he cannot see peter neal for what he really is
|
= = = an imaginary city = = =
|
in an interview that appeared in cinefantastique argento noted that the film was intended as near @@ science fiction taking place about five or more years in the future tenebrae occurs in a world inhabited by fewer people with the result that the remainder are wealthier and less crowded something has happened to make it that way but no one remembers or wants to remember it isn 't exactly my blade runner of course but nevertheless a step into the world of tomorrow if you watch the film with this perspective in mind it will become very apparent argento later insisted that the film was set in an imaginary city fifteen years in the future and that the disaster the city 's inhabitants were striving to forget was an atomic bomb blast despite argento 's claim maitland mcdonagh observed that this vaguely science @@ fictional concept isn 't apparent at all and that no critics at the time noted the underlying futuristic theme in their reviews of the theatrical release of the film the film critic and author kim newman countered that in avoiding a more recognisable rome in favour of suburbia argento had succeeded in giving some parts of the film an almost futuristic sheen argento biographer alan jones agreed that argento 's intention did come across in these scenes and newman cites the on @@ screen use a videophone as an attempt by argento to place tenebrae in the near future
|
while rejecting this thematic concern as unrealized by argento mcdonagh noted that the result of the director 's experiment is a strange architectural landscape that becomes the key element in differentiating tenebrae from argento 's earlier gialli argento 's use of unusual architectural space and so @@ called visual hyper @@ realism results in an enormously fake looking environment seizing on the director 's additional comment i dreamed an imaginary city in which the most amazing things happen she notes that the film 's fictive space couldn 't be less ' real ' with its vast unpopulated boulevards piazzas that look like nothing more than suburban american malls hard @@ edged bauhaus apartment buildings anonymous clubs and parking garages the eur district of rome where much of tenebrae was filmed was built in preparation for the 1942 world 's fair and intended by then @@ prime minister of italy benito mussolini to be a celebration of twenty years of fascism rostock believes that argento used this location as an attempt to realise his theme of an imaginary city the district gives a glimpse of a future rome that never was showing the city how it might have looked had fascism not fallen
|
= = influences = =
|
according to the film historian and critic bill warren tenebrae is a typical example of the giallo film genre visually extremely stylish with imaginative sometimes stunning cinematography it presents mysterious gruesome murders often in picturesque locations at the end the identity of the murderer is disclosed in a scene destined to terrify and surprise these narrative and stylistic clichés had been introduced years before argento made his first thriller 1970 's the bird with the crystal plumage most critics point to mario bava 's the girl who knew too much ( 1963 ) as the original giallo
|
by the time argento made tenebrae he had become the acknowledged master of the genre to the point where he felt confident enough to be openly self @@ referential to his own past referencing the reckless driving humor from the cat o ' nine tails ( 1971 ) and the hero from the bird with the crystal plumage the scene in which veronica lario 's character jane returns home directly references the bird with the crystal plumage with its large sculpture in the entrance hallway
|
warren and alan jones cite a scene where a character is killed in a public square as evoking the work of alfred hitchcock rostock agrees that the editing of the sequence is in a hitchcockian vein while the lighting is more influenced by michelangelo antonioni the film critic and author maitland mcdonagh argues that argento 's influences for tenebrae were far broader than just his own films or previous italian thrillers she refers to the strong narrative in the film as an example of the most paranoid excesses of film noir mcdonagh suggests that fritz lang 's beyond a reasonable doubt ( 1956 ) ( in which a man convicted of murder on false evidence is in fact guilty of the murder ) and roy william neill 's black angel ( 1946 ) ( in which a man who tries to clear a murder suspect does so at the cost of learning that he himself is the killer ) both use such a similar plot twist to tenebrae that argento may have used them as partial models for his story
|
kim newman and alan jones suggest that the mysteries of arthur conan doyle and agatha christie were both obvious influences on tenebrae and there are references to both authors throughout the film as well as rex stout one example is the use of a quote from sherlock holmes in conan doyle 's novel the sign of four ( 1890 ) how often have i said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains however improbable must be the truth a variation of this quote is used several times throughout tenebrae another reference is the dog attack as something of a non sequitur the scene is thought by newman to be a likely nod to conan doyle 's the hound of the baskervilles ( 1901 1902 ) neal is seen to be reading this novel in an early scene the imagery in the beach flashback references the american mystery film suddenly last summer ( 1959 ) especially the scene of eva robin 's wearing white while kneeling in the sand which is a direct reference to elizabeth taylor in that film
|
= = production = =
|
= = = development = = =
|
after completing inferno ( 1980 ) the second in his planned three mothers trilogy of supernatural horror films argento was expected to move straight into production of its concluding chapter the first in the trilogy suspiria ( 1977 ) had turned the director into what alan jones called a horror superstar but inferno had proven a difficult follow @@ up argento had become unwell while writing the film and his ill health continued into filming in addition argento 's relationship with inferno 's co @@ producer 20th century fox had soured the director on hollywood politics so when inferno was not well @@ received upon release argento put the three mothers trilogy on hold inferno also flopped commercially according to james gracey argento under pressure and feeling the need to once again defy expectations returned to the giallo genre and began work on tenebrae argento later stated that he wanted to put on film a gory roller @@ coaster ride packed with fast and furious murders and that he shouldn 't resist what [ his ] hardcore audience wanted he added that he had also become irritated that in the years since his last giallo so many other directors had made films derivative of and inferior to his own genre @@ defining works
|
argento said that tenebrae was influenced by two disturbing incidents he had in 1980 after suspiria 's surprise success argento was spending time in los angeles where an obsessed fan telephoned him repeatedly to talk about suspiria 's influence on him according to argento the calls began pleasantly enough but before long became more insistent eventually menacing the fan claimed that he wanted to harm argento in a way that reflected how much the director 's work had affected him and that because the director had ruined his life he in turn wanted to ruin argento 's although no violence came of the threat argento said he found the experience understandably terrifying and felt unable to write at the advice of his producers argento fled to the coastal city of santa monica where he felt safe enough to resume writing however after a few weeks the fan found argento and resumed his calls issuing more threats the director decided to return to italy argento felt the escalating nature of the fan 's threats were symptomatic of that city of broken dreams with its celebrity stalkers and senseless crime the second incident occurred during argento 's stay at the beverly hilton where a japanese tourist was shot dead in the hotel lobby later hearing of a drive @@ by shooting outside a local cinema argento reflected on the senselessness of the killings to kill for nothing that is the true horror of today when that gesture has no meaning whatsoever it 's completely repugnant and that 's the sort of atmosphere i wanted to put across in tenebrae
|
= = = casting = = =
|
argento reportedly offered the lead role of peter neal to christopher walken but it eventually went to anthony franciosa kim newman felt that franciosa 's casting was fortunate as he was capable of bringing more to the role than the script asked of him he also believed that if walken had been cast it would have been more obvious that he was the killer according to jones and daria nicolodi the relationship between franciosa and argento was a fractious one in addition nicolodi and argento were romantically involved at the time but their relationship had suffered over a disputed story credit during filming of suspiria nicolodi therefore only agreed to a cameo in tenebrae according to nicolodi she originally asked for the small role of jane mckerrow ( which eventually went to veronica lario ) alan jones says that nicolodi was cast as the woman on the beach in neal 's flashback however thomas rostock says that nicolodi was never intended for that role only that of jane transgender actress eva robin 's was later hired to play the woman on the beach
|
when the american actress who had been hired to play anne dropped out just before the start of principal photography argento convinced nicolodi to take on this larger role nicolodi found anne to have a different personality than her own and much preferred the characters she had played for argento previously whom she said had much more personality than anne she said the role required little energy or imagination but liked the novelty of playing neither killer nor victim newman and alan jones agreed that nicolodi had very little character to play as written newman added that this lack of character stretched to all the italians in the film and that only the american characters had discernible personalities nicolodi later claimed that although filming began well enough argento became angry when she and franciosa bonded over playwright tennessee williams and their experience in theatre leading the director to make sure their shared scenes were an ordeal to endure the charged atmosphere culminated with argento reportedly telling franciosa leave my woman alone nicolodi said she channelled her frustrations with the situation into her character 's last scene in the film where anne stands in the rain and screams repeatedly continuing over the film 's end credits she had been directed to scream only a little but knowing it was the last day of filming and her last scene to complete nicolodi screamed loudly and for a long time much to argento 's and the crew 's surprise nicolodi said the scene was her cathartic release from the whole nightmare
|
although tenebrae was an italian production most of the cast spoke their dialogue in english to increase the film 's chances of success in united states for domestic audiences the film was dubbed into italian the english @@ language dub retained franciosa 's saxon 's and steiner 's natural voices however nicolodi 's voice was dubbed by theresa russell giuliano gemma 's was dubbed by david graham and most of the female voices were dubbed by adrienne posta michele <unk> frequent argento collaborator second assistant director on tenebrae and later a noted director in his own right acted alongside robin 's in the second flashback scene another of argento 's collaborators fulvio <unk> cameoed as a hotel porter in common with several other argento films close @@ ups of the killer 's gloved hands were argento 's own in the film 's italian @@ language dub argento also provided the opening voice @@ over reading aloud descriptions of murderous actions from neal 's fictitious novel tenebrae
|
= = = filming = = =
|
filming began on 3 may 1982 and took ten weeks shot mostly on location in rome kim newman described the rome of tenebrae as unlike the one usually shown on television and in films with none of the usual historical landmarks newman and alan jones agreed that this was a deliberate choice made by argento as some of his previous films had utilised so much of recognisable italy argento himself said he had wanted to show italy was not just a museum piece newman said it was argento 's way of saying rome is a vibrant city it is modern most of tenebrae 's location shooting was carried out in rome 's eur business and residential district the first flashback scene was filmed at the <unk> beach south of the city near ostia the shoplifting scene near the beginning of tenebrae was filmed on location at department store la <unk> off piazza fiume bullmer 's death in a public square was shot at a shopping precinct called le <unk> in rome 's casal <unk> residential neighbourhood the scene in which neal 's landlord 's daughter is killed was filmed outside the home of architect and friend of argento sandro petti switching to studio shots for her initial entrance into the house and back to petti 's house for the confrontation with the killer the scene at the beginning of the film where neal boards his flight to rome was filmed at john f kennedy international airport in new york
|
giuseppe <unk> a frequent argento collaborator was the film 's production designer the surroundings are given a bleached merciless look made from marble and stone façades shiny metallic sculptures with steel water and glass surfaces some of the homes specifically those of the lesbian couple and he first killer are cold austere brutalist slabs of granite and many of the interior shots feature plain white backgrounds with characters ' wearing pale @@ coloured clothes against them better newman felt to contrast the blood once the violence started the studio @@ set scenes were filmed at elios studios in rome unlike argento 's previous films in the city which he had filmed at <unk> de paolis he could not use elios because his idol michelangelo antonioni was using the studio to film identification of a woman ( 1982 ) at the time the design and creation of tenebrae 's special effects was supervised by giovanni <unk> who with his brother <unk> had a near @@ monopoly on special effects in the italian film industry at the time the scene in which jane is hacked to death after having her arm cut off was filmed about eight times argento was not satisfied with any of the takes he had which used a type of bicycle pump to spray fake blood from the wound across the white wall so the director had <unk> place an explosive squib in the prosthetic arm a solution which apparently satisfied argento
|
much of tenebrae takes place during daytime or in harshly over @@ lit interiors except for the finale and some night scenes the entire movie is shot with clear cold light permeating the surroundings the lighting and camerawork used in andrzej <unk> 's possession ( 1981 ) was an influence on the film 's look although <unk> / <unk> is a latin / italian word meaning darkness or shadows argento ordered cinematographer luciano tovoli to use as much bright light as possible the director intended that the film be set in the near future and wanted the lighting to help create a cold stark and semi @@ futuristic look argento explained that this approach was also an attempt to imitate what he saw as the realistic manner of lighting used in television police shows the director explained that he was adopting a modern style of photography deliberately breaking with the legacy of german expressionism today 's light is the light of neon headlights and omnipresent flashes caring about shadows seemed ridiculous to me and more than that reassuring argento filmed half @@ empty streets and shops where he could in an attempt to reflect a futuristic setting where a disaster had diminished significantly the population of his imaginary city tovoli used kodak <unk> film stock ( 125 asa speed rating ) for daylight scenes and kodak <unk> ( 250 asa ) for night shoots tovoli rated both at 300 asa to ensure controlled overexposure of the negative during filming for the benefit of under @@ developing in the lab and less colour loss the ultimate aim was for images that were crystal clear and night that was awash with light
|
film scholar richard dyer highlights several intelligent devices uses by argento in the editing of the film noting that interpolated sequences are sometimes punctuated by shots of pills and the sound of running water steffen <unk> believes that the shock cuts in the latter part of the film are among cinema 's most brutal and stylized and exhibit a degree of abstract expressionism film scholar leon hunt argues that the devices and themes utilized by argento in the making of tenebrae make it as much an example of art cinema as anything else the initial murders are shot in a clipped montage style which is later revealed to be reflecting the use of a camera by the first killer to record the scene giuliano gemma later said that argento fostered an improvisational atmosphere on set one example he gave was the scene where his character bends to pick up some evidence from the floor only to reveal neal behind him having perfectly matched his position relative to the camera this moment was not scripted but resulted from argento 's noticing the actors ' similar build while they were stood one behind the other in front of him
|
= = = crane shot = = =
|
gracey refers to the film 's cinematography as nothing short of astounding and cites a particular example as highlighting argento 's passion for technical prowess and breathtaking visuals influenced by the closing shot of the passenger ( 1975 ) on which tovoli had also been the cinematographer one of tenebrae 's main setpieces is the murder of the lesbian couple to introduce the scene argento and tovoli employed the use of a louma crane to film a several minutes @@ long tracking shot owing to its extreme length the tracking shot ended up being the most difficult and complex part of the production to complete it required a maze of scaffolding to be built around the outside of the home argento captured all the footage he needed in two takes but insisted on filming ten more the scene which lasts for two @@ and @@ a @@ half minutes on @@ screen took three days to shoot it marked the first time the louma crane had been used in an italian production the crane itself had to be imported from france according to gracey the camera performs aerial gymnastics scaling the victims ' house in one seamless take navigating walls roofs and peering in through windows in a set piece that effortlessly exposes the <unk> of a seemingly secure home newman and jones said that although this type of crane shot became commonplace later at the time it was truly ground @@ breaking in the way the camera seemingly crawled over the walls and up the building not quite from the killer 's viewpoint patrick mcallister of <unk> said the sequence should be considered one of the most memorable moments in cinema according to mcallister tenebrae 's distributor begged argento to cut the shot down because it was meaningless newman and jones agreed that the shot added nothing to the film 's plot but called it meaninglessly brilliant
|
= = = title = = =
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.