Born on this day – William Cameron Menzies:

William Cameron Menzies

Production designer

Director

Producer

July 29, 1896 – March 5, 1957

Born on this day – Theda Bara:

Theda Bara

Actress

July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955

Credits:

Madame Mystery (1926); The Unchastened Woman (1925); The Prince of Silence (1921); Lure of Ambition (1919); La belle Russe (1919); Kathleen Mavourneen (1919); A Woman There Was (1919); The Siren's Song (1919); When Men Desire (1919); The Light (1919); The She Devil (1918); When a Woman Sins (1918); Salome (1918); Under the Yoke (1918); The Soul of Buddha (1918); The Forbidden Path (1918); Madame Du Barry (1917); The Rose of Blood (1917); Cleopatra (1917); Camille (1917); Heart and Soul (1917); Her Greatest Love (1917); The Tiger Woman (1917); The Darling of Paris (1917); The Vixen (1916); Romeo and Juliet (1916); Her Double Life (1916); Under Two Flags (1916); East Lynne (1916); The Eternal Sappho (1916); Gold and the Woman (1916); The Serpent (1916); Siren of Hell (1915); Destruction (1915); The Galley Slave (1915); Carmen (1915); Sin (1915); The Two Orphans (1915); Lady Audley's Secret (1915); The Devil's Daughter (1915); The Clemenceau Case (1915); Kreutzer Sonata (1915); A Fool There Was (1915); The Stain (1914).

Recommended reading - La Jetée: Ciné-Roman, by Chris Marker (1992:

La Jetée: Ciné-Roman

By Chris Marker.

Zone Books

Distributed by The MIT Press.

Published 1992.

ISBN-10: 0942299663

ISBN-13: 978-0942299663

The inspiration for the movie 12 Monkeys (1995), directed by Terry Gilliam.

Description:

In the aftermath of World War III, both the earth’s surface and all of history – everything ever dreamed or known – lies irretrievably buried in a heap of radioactive devastation. Space has become off-limits, and the war’s few remaining survivors, huddled underground in the dank galleries beneath Chaillot, seek desperately an alternative path to survival – one perhaps that passes through Time. At the expense of madness, death, and unspeakable cruelty, they begin a set of experiments whose purpose will be to launch emissaries, in search of food, medicine and energy, through a hole in Time. A man is chosen for his unique quality of having retained a single clear image from pre-war days; no more than an ambiguous memory fragment from childhood – a visit to the jetty at Orly airport, the troubling glance of an unknown woman, the crumbling body of a dying man. These elements become crucial hinge-points in the ensuing narrative, thickening and accumulating nuance with each successful expedition into the historical past. The image of a woman, increasingly suffused with the time – and eros – bestowing capacities of a deep and impossible love, provides both the kernel for the recovery of the dimension through which humankind and history will be saved, as well as the tragic abyss into which both the hero and the narrative inexorably fall.

Although Chris Marker’s legendary film is no more than 29 minutes long and contains but a single moving image, perhaps no other film has matched its combination of devastating emotional power, former brilliance and philosophical complexity. The story marker tells – a stunning parable of our modern fate – is about the death of the world, about loss, memory, hope, and the indomitable power of love.

“This strange and poetic film, a fusion of science fiction, psychological fable, and photomontage … creates its own conventions from scratch. It triumphantly succeeds where science fiction invariably fails.” – J.G. Ballard.

I love to read:

I love to read.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have a life.

It doesn’t mean I’m a nerd.

I only love the feeling that ... even when you’re back in reality, you still feel like you’re in a different world.

- Author Unknown.

On this day in movie history - An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (2017):

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power

documentary directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk,

written and presented by Al Gore,

was released in the United States on July 28, 2017.
Music by Jeff Beal.

On this day in music history - Aeterna, by Constance Demby (1995):

Aeterna

Album by Constance Demby,

released July 28, 1995.

Track list:

The Dawning; Ocean Without Shores; Innocence: Starfields / Innocence/Beloved; Cry of the Heart; Eternal Return: Unfolding / Enfolding / Return; Rites of Passage: Remembrance / The Calling / Serenity.

On this day in movie history - An Officer and a Gentleman (1982):

An Officer and a Gentleman

directed by Taylor Hackford,

written by Douglas Day Stewart,

was released in the United States on July 28, 1982.
Music by Jack Nitzsche.
Song Up Where We Belong performed by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes.

Cast:

Richard Gere, Debra Winger, David Keith, Robert Loggia, Lisa Blount, Lisa Eilbacher, Louis Gossett Jr., Tony Plana, Harold Sylvester, David Caruso, Victor French, Grace Zabriskie, Tommy Petersen, Mara Scott-Wood, David Greenfield, Dennis Rucker, Jane Wilbur, Buck Welcher, Vern Taylor, Elizabeth Rogers, David R. Marshall, Gary C. Stillwell, Tee Dennard, Norbert M. Murray, Daniel Tyler, William S. Graves, Brian D. Ford, Michael C. Pavey, Keith J. Haar, Pia Boyer, Danna Kiesel, Marvin Goatcher, John Laughlin, Jeffrey P. Rondeau, Michael Lee Bolger, Mark L. Graves, Meleesa Wyatt, Jo Anna Keane, Ed Begley Jr., Bradley James Bernard, Shannon Grimes, Raymond Kohn, Marc Kramer, Bernard Madrid, Tom Ricciardelli, Randy Tat.