Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson

A deluxe edition of Serge Gainsbourg’s 1971 masterpiece, Histoire de Melody Nelson, will be released on November 7 and is set to feature unreleased material including alternate takes and a new DVD documentary.

Histoire de Melody Nelson will be available as a Super Deluxe 2CD/2LP/DVD Limited Edition, a Deluxe Edition (2CD/DVD) and a Vinyl Picture Edition.

A film based on Histoire de Melody Nelson (entitled Melody) was made for French TV in 1971 and was directed by Jean Christophe Averty. It stars Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin in the lead roles. And here it is!

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CULT MOVIE: THE SEVEN SAMURAI(1954)

A rare example of a story where the remake and the original are equally good, if for different reasons. Kurosawa's brilliant tale of a good-hearted samurai who recruits six others to help defend a small town under constant attack from bandits, was trannsplanted to America where it became John Sturges's The Magnificent Seven. The US version is a hugely entertaining, about a bunch of men who come together to protect the weak and helpless. (Let's just pretend that Return Of The Magnificent Seven never existed.) The Japanese original is less sure of its massage and more interested in its characters. It's an absorbing and violent drama where the samurai fight to regain their honour, and the deal between them and the townspeople is complicated by class distinction. Kurosawa also explores filmmaking as an art, with vivid imagery, making it an emotional and visual masterpiece.
Director: Akira Kurosawa Cast: Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune

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CULT MOVIE:A BOUT DE SOUFLE(1960)

This hugely influential film about a car thief (Belmondo) on the run with his American girlfriend (Seberg) was at the vanguard of the French New Wave, a movement spearheaded by Francois Truffaut (who conceived the story, even though Goddard wrote the script) and the critics of the Cahiers du Cinema. Much looser than earlier formulaic, studio-led films, and the subject matter more daring for its day. What is interesting is Belmondo's character's admiration for Humphrey Bogart, down to his imitation of Bogart's nervous lip-wiping, emphasising the idea that the film is a new take on classic Hollywood genres. It was remade as Breathless in 1983, with Richard Gere and Valerie Kaprisky, but with the frisson of anti-establishment naughtiness gone. It deservedly sunk without trace.
Director:Jean-Luc Godard Cast:Jean-Paul Belmondo,Jean Seberg

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