a:celli

Border Incident
$2.99
Save your money about the current movie about the dog that poops and dies, and discover the power of movies to engage us at deep, unsuspected levels. Plot is usually secondary in film noir (with the exception of "The Maltese Falcon"); atmosphere, understated acting (Jimmy Stewart is practically the antithesis of film noir), and exquisitely shadowed cinematography reign supreme. Westerns, long the most popular genre in American film, examine our personal relationship to nature; film noir examines the complexities of modern urban existence and our place in a dangerous and deceptive social milieu, a world that can paradoxically leave us as isolated as the Western loner. The quintessential archetype of the Western is John Wayne and "The Searchers"; the same position in film noir is occupied by Bogart and practically any of his films from the 1940s. Later color films can qualify, providing the colors are muted so completely they play like black and white--prime examples: "Chinatown" and Clint Eastwood's underrated "Tight Rope"). America's obsession with film noir throughout the 1940s is testimony to a pervasive paranoia or a sophisticated appreciation of film art or both.

The stand-outs in the present collection are: 1. Robert Ryan and the Bernard Herrmann score for "On Dangerous Ground" (great title for a work on film noir, a genre that transplants us from the open plains to the shadowy, mysterious streets of the inner city--though surprise!--in this film the country ground is no more stable or peaceful or less "noirish" than the dark and treacherous urban pavements. Ryan, the heavy-weight-boxer-turned actor (in real life) gives another nuanced performance (in reel life); the score could not have been composed by any other than the composer of the music for "Vertigo" (splendid movie but too "operatic" to qualify as film noir); 2. "His Kind of Woman" may be the most multi-layered example of film noir yet. The fact that Vincent Price doesn't steal the show in what is arguably his best performance is a tribute to the smoldering, sensual power of the "love dance" between Mitchum and Russell on screen (after viewing him in this film, I can finally understand his appeal. That glide--the legs moving without the participation of the torso--is as unique a form of poetic pedestrian choreography as the John Wayne stride). If all this weren't enough, there's Raymond Burr in one of the most cruel, sadistic, obsessively psychotic roles ever filmed. But in the end, the film becomes swashbuckling, slapstick farce, equal parts Erroll Flynn, Mack Sennett, and Shakespeare--all of it harmonizing thanks to the charming, forgivably narcissistic theatricalism of Vincent Price. The film is at once a remarkable example of film noir and a send-up of the entire genre.

In a Special Features section included with each film are extended commentaries, often of questionable worth. On this latter one, the scholar repeats the word "wonderful" as often as Caroline Kennedy says "Y'know" and attributes Price's Shakespearean quotes to the wrong plays. The violent thriller "Border Incident," while not prototypical film noir, receives perhaps the most insightful, thoughtfully-scripted commentary from an NYU prof, though the political emphasis is often overdone (mustn't allow the slightest stereotyping of Hispanics go unnoticed, even though the filmmakers probably imagine they're pro-Mexican--the kinds of observations that, after awhile, take on a self-congratulatory quality while perhaps the most excruciating death scene ever filmed somehow gets explained away in glib archetypal/political talk. And why not pay as much attention to George Murphy's idiosyncratic "look" and acting on-screen as to his political sympathies off-screen?). But each includes at least some fascinating trivia and, best of all, they give the viewer an excuse to watch the films a second time. Each flick is well worth it!

North Beach
$14.95
North Beach is ultimately a love story--that's edgy and gritty and hard. At first lick it's a movie that tastes like candy, but under the surface, it gives you something meaty to chew on. Like the question: What do you do when your boyfriend cheats on you and, frankly, you don't really care?

The answer would be easy if you didn't really love him, right?

Ah, but you do.

That's the situation Paige (Jennifer Milmore) finds herself in. Of course, we don't really figure all this out until the end because the movie is from the perspective of her screw-up boyfriend, Tyler (Casey Peterson), who's madly trying to wrap his mind around what he's done, recover from his raging hangover, and make things right.

The entire movie takes place in a single day, beginning with Tyler coming out of the stripper's front door in the morning. (Stripper? Yes, he cheated with a stripper. The jerk.) Tyler attempts multiple times to talk to Paige, but she rebuffs him. And so he has to come to his ultimate conclusion--that he really does love Paige--on his own.

It's the quirky occurrences that besiege him on the day's quest that really give you a giggle: A drugged out friend (played brilliantly by Richard Speight) who considers himself a Rock Star. A scene with a large man, missing pants, and last night's condom (eeew). A philosophical treatise from the local lush (another strong performance, played by Jim Hanna) that's interrupted in a way that made me laugh out loud. And an awesome musical (yes musical) finale where Tyler improvises on stage a song about the day's events. (OK, so it's a rock song with a funky base-line, not a Guys & Dolls tune, but as this high-cheese-factor scene cued up, I was thinking, How are they gonna pull this off? Well, they DID. Makes me bop my head and smile just thinking about it.)

In the end, while you're not convinced that Tyler and Paige are gonna make it for the long-haul, you are convinced that they'll make it through another day. And that this day might be better than--even different from--the last. Which, in a movie about hard-drinking, coffee-shop-hanging slackers, is enough.

North Beach is a fun, rough-around-the-edges independent film. And it's partly this small-budget, diamond-in-the-rough feeling (a lot like Tyler himself) that gives the movie its charm.

Eco-celli Mercury Free Barometer
$279.00
The Eco-celli is a patented new development in the ecological design of liquid barometers. The Eco-celli contains no mercury. The U-shaped glass tube is filled with a red fluid as well as a gas. This comprises the barometer part of the instrument. The barometers scale is four times larger than a standard mercury barometer making it much easier to read the scale. This barometer was recently improved by replacing the solid scale with a clear acrylic scale. This allows both the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales to be printed on the background and inches and millimeters to be printed on the sliding scale. The precision thermometer is filled with blue colored methyl alcohol. An increase or decrease in temperature can cause the fluid in the barometer to expand and affect the pressure reading. This is corrected by setting the movable scale, which is attached to both the barometer and thermometer, to the surface of the blue fluid in the thermometer. The barometric pressure can be read by sliding the index attached to the red tube to the top of the red fluid level. This also serves to show the pressure trend as it remains in place as the red fluid changes level with the changing air pressure. The Eco-celli comes with a calibration kit to adjust the unit for an altitude above sea level. The dark mahogany colored frame and glass tubes are packaged separately in the same box and require simple assembly by the final purchaser. This model has a simulated high gloss burl wood frame outlined in brass colored trim on the inside and outside edges. This is our most popular decorative frame. It turns an ordinary instrument into a featured element in any home or office.

Gillo Pontecorvo: From Resistance to Terrorism
$37.00