Note: Today’s bonuses might be repeats, my records got a little messed up. I apologize if this is the case!
Greetings gentle readers and welcome to another installment of the Sunday Morning Movie. Today it’s a film about isolation, resilience and the power of love, Exile:
and next week’s film, Blade Runner:
Reviews of Exile:
Letterboxd says:
This is a really solid existential art film, leant a stolid, windswept heft by it’s exquisite cinematography that revels in craggy Tasmanian coastline, and offered considerable ballast by its cast – about the best to be found in this country at the time. Aden Young specialised in tortured protagonists, and he’s on top form in that regard here. Claudia Karvan is as gracefully, breathlessly lovely as ever. And my boy David Field betrays a reverential humility as Timothy – a member of a cloistered settler community clinging to fundamentalist ideology, who nonetheless practices compassion by acting as intermediary between the community and Young’s exiled Peter Costello (no, not the former Australian federal treasurer). Its plot is threadbare, but what’s there is stretched taught and misshapen by the ghostly howls of an unreliable protagonist, so we’re increasingly unsure what’s reality and what’s delusion. It’s an anomaly within Cox’s ouvre as a period landscape film – he established his career making contemporary urban cinema, which was somewhat against the grain in the early 80s given the new wave’s tendency towards critiques of colonisation. But there’s no socio-historical analysis here. It’s no stodgy “making of a nation” meta-narrative. Instead it feels self-contained as a vision of an alternate past.
We’ve proven consistently for decades how little regard we have for particular types of Australian film. Paul Cox had a career largely in spite of the national film industry. We have never had an appetite for certain indulgences, or the numbers to give them a fighting chance. Nor have we cared for them through restoration or celebrated them after the fact. The NFSA is criminally underfunded. That inclination to look back and pan for gold might be gathering steam, but surely in an age of globalised streaming there’s room for more? Less exiles please – let’s bring these lost-cursed texts in from the cold.
Variety says:
With this, his second adaptation of a book by E.L. Grant Watson (after last year’s “The Nun and the Bandit”), Australian auteur Paul Cox moves another step away from urban relationship films that established him on the international arthouse circuit. “Exile” is an ambitious, sometimes hallucinatory drama that tackles themes difficult to bring off successfully in the cinema. Responses are likely to be mixed.
My take:
This is a lush film, both visually and intellectually. The Tasmanian scenery is incredibly beautiful. Themes of isolation, fear, the power of life and the weight of memory are woven together. There are mystical elements as well, visions and ghosts, that add another dimension and blur the lines between madness and revelation. ⭐⭐⭐, worth returning to again and again.
Director: Paul Cox
Writer: Paul Cox
Novel: E.L. Grant Watson
Plot (Spoilers!):
Peter, a young Australian in the 19th. century, has screwed up royally. He wanted to marry a rich man’s daughter but stole the man’s sheep to appear more worthy. He was caught and banished to a small island off of the coast.
There he is left with a few tools and his own devices. It’s a hard slog but he manages to build a small shelter and to feed himself. He also has help from a friend who brings him supplies…and Mary. She decides to stay with Peter and they become intimate. A baby is born.
Meanwhile, Peter seems to be descending into madness. He has visions of his former love, the rich man’s daughter, dressed in a red dress, walking about or floating drowned in the surf. He also hears the whispering voice of a deceased priest whose ghost walks the island. What is real and what is not?
The baby is baptized by the local minister. Mary wishes to keep their child within the hands of God, but they cannot be married as Peter is an outlaw. But Peter calls upon the wind and the sea to marry them and the film ends with the couple holding one another, contented.
***
Bonuses:
No 6207 A Study in Steel 1935
A very well done film about the making of a huge steam locomotive from plain bar steel. It is nothing short of incredible to see how these men work to build a giant machine.
This is what Victorian people sounded like
In a previous video I introduced the oldest voices that can still be heard through recordings made on Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville’s phonautograph and Thomas Edison’s early tinfoil phonograph. This time, we look at how efforts to promote Edison’s new “perfected” phonograph in Britain led to the preservation of the voices of many famous Victorians – from poets and composers like Robert Browning and Arthur Sullivan, to major political figures like William Gladstone. We will also see how his rivals finally succeeded in recording the voice of Queen Victoria.
Mayan Ball Game, Pok Ta Pok, at Kun Che, Cozumel
A recreation of the Mayan ball game, Pok Ta Pok, at Kun Che, Cozumel. Teams compete to bounce a 9-pound rubber ball through one of the rings on the court walls. June, 2022.
Rare WWI Aerial Dogfight Footage (1916) | Colorized & Upscaled
This footage originates from ‘War As It Really Is’ (1916), filmed and distributed by Donald C. Thompson, one of the earliest American war correspondents to document the First World War at close range.
Thompson was known among his contemporaries for his composure under fire. One journalist described him as having “more chilled-steel nerve than any man I know,” a reputation earned through years spent filming on active fronts rather than from a distance.
Over the Front – original aircraft footage (b&w, silent)
It features original footage of aircraft from the First World War being prepared for take off and in flight. This was used as reference material for the video produced by Peter Jackson for the film, light and sound show for the Over the Front exhibit at the Australian War Memorial.
The 280mm Atomic Cannon – Nuclear Artillery Test
Picatinny Arsenal was tasked to create a nuclear capable artillery piece in 1949. Robert Schwartz, the engineer who created the preliminary designs, essentially scaled up the 240mm shell (then the maximum in the arsenal) and used the German K5 railroad gun as a point of departure for the carriage. (The name “Atomic Annie” likely derives from the nickname “Anzio Annie” given to a German K5 gun which was employed against the American landings in Italy.) The design was approved by the Pentagon, largely through the intervention of chief of the Ballistics Section of the Ordnance Department’s Research and Development Division, Samuel Feltman, and a three-year developmental effort was begun. The project proceeded quickly enough to produce a demonstration model to participate in Dwight Eisenhower’s inaugural parade in January of 1953.
The Fantastic Space Art of Angus McKie
Angus McKie is best known as an English science fiction illustrator whose work appeared on the covers of numerous science fiction paperback novels in the mid-1970s and 1980s, as well as in Stewart Cowley’s Terran Trade Authority series of illustrated books. His illustrations often present highly detailed spacecraft against vividly colored backgrounds and high-tech constructions as demonstrated by his pioneering work on The Dome: Ground Zero for DC Comics imprint Helix in 1998. Like Peter Elson, Tony Roberts, Chris Foss and some other artists of the period, he influenced an entire generation of science fiction illustrators and concept artists. This lasting influence is probably visible at its best, about twenty years later, in the visual look developed for the Homeworld videogame.
The Cosmic Art of Chris Foss
Growing up, Chris Foss (born 1946) painted the landscapes of my imagination and his art helped sell many books to me I would not have otherwise purchased! His iconic 1970s sci-fi art still feels as awe-inspiring today as it did then.
“The Consolation of Philosophy” by Boethius (Full Audiobook – No A.I.)
A huge thank you to all of those who support Kallipolis radio either in a monetary fashion or simply through comments, likes, and shares. My name is Ryllan, and I record audio books of classic philosophical, literary, and religious works in my free time. I also occasionally dabble in contemporary works from non-professionally published authors. I don’t do this for money nor do I particularly desire to, but if you would like to contribute to paying for my editing software or some of my various channel expenses, you can become a member for 1.49 per month here: / @kallipolisradio
“Why Are There No New Aesthetics?” (Spring 2026 Rutgers Design Lecture Series)
In this lecture, given at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA, artist, designer, writer, and professor Ruby Justice Thelot examines the conditions under which new forms emerge, and the economic, technological, and cultural forces that prevent them from reaching the mainstream.
Toward a Cognitive Science of Transcendence | Episode 2502 | Closer To Truth
Understanding the nature of transcendence requires careful experimentation and innovative ways to reveal essence and tease out aspects of aesthetics. What are key characteristics of transcendence? Tracking imperceptible eye movements, or brain blood flow during mental activity, reflect neural activity, which is always ready to spring surprise.
What is Consciousness? | Episode 1302 | Closer To Truth
What is consciousness? Consciousness is what we know best and explain least. It is the inner subjective experience of what it feels like to see red or smell garlic or hear Beethoven. Consciousness is baffling. Featuring interviews with Simon Blackburn, Susan Greenfield, Christof Koch, Bruce Hood, and Roy Baumeister.
Intro to the Philosophy of Mathematics (Ray Monk)
A good introduction to the philosophy of mathematics by Ray Monk. He considers the issue of the nature of mathematical truth – what mathematics is actually about – and discusses the views of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Frege and Russell. What is mathematics about? Is mathematics something discovered or is it something invented or constructed by us? If numbers and mathematical objects are mere mental constructs, something invented by us, then why does mathematics work so well and seem to describe the world? On the other hand, if mathematical entities are “out there” in some sense waiting to be discovered, then what is their status and how do we get knowledge of them? After all, you can’t see or touch numbers and other mathematical objects. And unlike ordinary empirical truths, mathematical truths seem to have a quite different and special status: they are a priori, necessary, eternal, universal, and absolutely certain. And this is why from the time of Plato onward, people have regarded mathematical truths as an ideal. In this talk, some of the ways in which philosophers have tried to account for the special nature of mathematical truth. (My Summary)
The Bizarre World of Japanese Stop-Motion Movies
Japanese stop-motion animation is a lot stranger than you might expect.
From cursed fairy tales and cyberpunk body horror to spider-legged goblins, shape-shifting aliens, and underground worlds filled with bizarre creatures, these are some of the weirdest stop-motion films Japan has ever produced.
Aldo Tambellini’s LISTEN (2005) – Part 1
Winner of the New England Film Festival, Best Experimental Film 2005; Winner of the Syracuse International Film Festival, Best Experimental 2006. As a survivor of WWII in Italy, when at the age of 13 ½, my neighborhood was bombed by the B-23 on the Day of the Epiphany, 44. Twenty-one of my neighbors were killed and many wounded. LISTEN to the collateral damage of war! The killing fields, the young soldiers wasted lives.. Why War? Asks a child. Aldo Tambellini
Aldo Tambellini’s LISTEN (2005) – Part 2
Werner Herzog anecdote about Klaus Kinski’s “egomania”
Herzog describes Kinski foaming at the mouth because his coffee was lukewarm. A ripping yarn, but it is worth remembering – as some commenters have already pointed out – that Klaus Kinski was a deeply troubled man guilty of some utterly shameful things. As for Werner Herzog, while brilliant in so many ways, he too has made some morally reprehensible decisions in the name of creating art.
Taken from an interview by Paul Holdengräber.
Ingmar Bergman interview on The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries & more
Melvyn Bragg interviews Ingmar Bergman (1978)
Anita Berber and Sebastian Droste – Epitomes of 1920s Wiemar Republic Excess – Dancing on Film
In this video, there are two different dance sequences performed by extreme Wiemar Republic cabaret dancer, actress, and extreme performance artist Anita Berber. Each sequence is from a silent German film – the first from ‘Unheimliche Geschichten’ [‘Eerie Tales’] (1919) and the second from ‘Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler’ (1922).
While the second dance sequence is known, I believe that the first has never been noticed before. And it is this first performance that takes us a little nearer to the extraordinarily extreme Berber of the decadent ‘Die Weisse Maus’ [‘White Mouse’] cabaret in Friedrichstrasse, Berlin.
Pre-Codes: Thelma Todd
Cleopatra (1917) – Newly Discovered Footage
Misirlou – Mulatar Version
Ben from Lockruf music is playing Misirlou with the Mulatar
Lee Perry – Skanking With The Upsetter Rare Dubs 1971-1974
Th. Morley – Dances for Broken Consort, from the Concert Lessons, Book 1 (1599)
From THE FIRST BOOKE OF CONSORT LESSONS, made by diuers exquisite Authors, for six Instruments to play together, the Treble Lute, the Bandora, the Cittern, the Base-Violl, the Flute & Treble-Violl
[published by William Barley in 1599]
The Early Music Consort Of London / The Morley Consort – Two Renaissance Dance Bands (Full Album)
Artist(s): The Early Music Consort Of London / The Morley Consort (directed by David Monroe)
Composer(s): Tielman Susato / William Byrd / John Dowland / Richard Nicholson / Thomas Morley
Label: His Master’s Voice
Cat #: TC-EXE 104 / OC 227 ◦ 04849
Released: ca. 1974 (orig. 1971)
C̲ream – W̲he̲e̲ls of F̲ire (Full Album) 1968
Autumn Leaves | 15 Legendary Versions by Jazz Masters
An Autumn Leaves jazz playlist featuring 15 legendary versions of one of the most famous jazz standards ever recorded. This mix brings together classic Autumn Leaves recordings by McCoy Tyner, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Ahmad Jamal, Oscar Peterson, Erroll Garner, Nat King Cole, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Michel Petrucciani, Keith Jarrett, and more. Perfect for jazz lovers who enjoy jazz standards, classic jazz, jazz piano, trumpet jazz, saxophone jazz, live jazz recordings, and timeless interpretations of Autumn Leaves.
Goree Carter – Rock Awhile (1949)
First rock’n’roll with famous guitar intro later used in many rock’n’roll songs.
It has been cited as a contender for the “first rock and roll record” title and a “much more appropriate candidate” than the more frequently cited “Rocket 88” (1951). Carter’s over-driven electric guitar style was similar to that of Chuck Berry from 1955 onwards.
The Alan Parsons Project – I Robot (1977) (2016 RM, MFSL UDSACD-2174)
I Robot is the second studio album by British rock band The Alan Parsons Project, originally released on 1 June 1977 by Arista Records. This is the MFSL remaster.
Heroin (Velvet Underground) | a cover version, with an introduction by Patti Smith
“Heroin” is a song by American rock band the Velvet Underground, released on their 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. Written by Lou Reed in 1964, the song, which overtly depicts heroin usage and its effects, is one of the band’s most celebrated compositions.
My interpretation includes alterations to the original arrangement, and I’ve omitted some lyrics, mainly in the final verse, not for censorial reasons, but for reasons related to flow of my version. My goal in covering a song is never to replicate, but to interpret based on how I hear it in my head.
The introduction comes from a documentary on Patti Smith talking about her music, art and rock and roll, of which the Velvet Underground was a big influence. I think her take on the song is good. I imagine record companies of the day cringed in utter horror. A 7+ minute song about a taboo subject. Well, in the end, art won that battle, thank God.
CODEX BURANUS: the real medieval CARMINA BURANA, Clemencic Consort
Ensemble: Clemencic Consort
Album: Codex Buranus
Video: Codex Latinus Monacensis 4660 (Codex Buranus)
/ musicamedievale
•
Frederick I was not a good king for the Italian people of the Middle Ages. Although many centuries have passed, the nickname that the Italians gave him remains, and the whole world remembers him as Barbarossa.
The Germans have a different idea of this king, of him they remember liberality and culture. He allowed students to travel around medieval Europe with various privileges and immunities to be able to follow classes in the various universities of Europe.
Once the students had taken the minor orders, they began to follow the lessons they considered most valid through real pilgrimages from one university to another with the aim of studying and learning directly from the best teachers. There were born the clerici vagantes, wandering students who had access to prestigious university knowledge and who, wandering around Europe, with the goliardic spirit that still distinguishes university students today, scattering knowledge through their songs and poems, often moving heavily criticism on the ecclesiastical and state system.
Many of the melodies of the Codex Buranus were born as sacred songs or “crusade” but within these songs modifies were made of their contents becoming hymns to Bacchus or parodies of religious services with lots of litanies along the lines of the Catholic ones with interruptions of giggles, sneezing and much more …
Here are briefly explained the contents of the Codex Buranus, a splendid German manuscript of the thirteenth century containing the poems and music that the clerici vagantes sang in the streets and taverns, in the study rooms or wherever they had the opportunity to do so.
The codex is divided into four parts: the Carmina moralia (CB: 1-55), poems and songs of satirical and moral subjects, the Carmina veris et amoris (CB: 56-186), poems and songs of love, the Carmina lusorum et potatorum (CB: 187-226), containing Bacchic and convivial songs and finally the most recent part of the manuscript, namely the Carmina divina, poems of criticism on the corruption of the clergy.
The lyrics were written in medieval Latin as well as in high German, the contents of the songs are very explicit, ranging from well-known Bacchic hymns to decidedly erotic love songs, there are “blasphemous” parodies of the liturgy and criticisms of the Roman curia , always dedicated to the search for wealth and power.
In my opinion, the most accurate and complete modern musical version is the one performed by the Clemencic Consort, an ensemble founded by the flutist, harpsichordist, composer and conductor René Clemencic.
In the video you will find all the songs whose musical notation has come down to our days.
I wish you happy listening!
Mirko Virginio Volpe
MUSICA MEDIEVALE
HAYMARKET SQUARE Magic Lantern Mega Rare 1968 USA CHAPARRAL Private Press Female Vox PSYCH LP £3000
Here we have a copy of the incredibly scarce LP by US Psych Band Haymarket Square called Magic Lantern, released Privately through Chaparral (CRM 201) a pressing label used by Laddies Recording Studios (named after proprietor and engineer Laddie Oleson). An estimated 100 copies were released it was mainly composed for a museums sound and light show. Therefore features long instrumental passages of Fuzzy Psych (and lots of drums). A copy sold in 2015 for £3169.
Various – Weird A Go-Go : 50’s 60’s Garage Rock Surf, Rock & Roll Beat Music Album Compilation LP
Label: Doghouse & Bone Records – DGR-DJ-01
Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: France
Released: 10 Oct 2018
Genre: Rock
Style: Garage Rock, Surf
No America, No Jazz: 1956/1958 | Modern Jazz Classics: Hard Bop & Cool Jazz
A tribute to the birth place of Jazz and an era when Jazz wasn’t just music; it was the heartbeat of American culture. This is the high energy side of that time – Hard Bop with a swagger, Cool Jazz with an edge.
Featuring titans who defined the sound including Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley and more. Thanks for tuning in!
Red Garland feat. John Coltrane – All Mornin’ Long (Official Audio)
Track taken from the compilation album Side Steps.
Donald Byrd: trumpet; John Coltrane: tenor saxophone; Red Garland: piano (leader); George Joyner (Jamil Nasser): bass; Art Taylor: drums.
About Side Steps:
The artistic prowess of saxophonist John Coltrane was so expansive and influential – even in his own short lifetime, let alone in the decades since his death – that it’s difficult to quantify or differentiate his significance as a leader, a collaborator, a sideman or any other role in the jazz idiom. What’s certain, though, is that some of his most pivotal session work took place on the Prestige label in the 1950s.
The Side Steps compilation captures Coltrane in a supporting role, as a sideman to leaders like Sonny Rollins, Gene Ammons, Red Garland, Tadd Dameron and others. The collection of 43 tracks represents the entirety of Coltrane’s session work as a Prestige sideman, from mid-1956 to early 1958, with the exception of his work with Miles Davis (which is featured in other acclaimed Prestige compilations).
“It is easy to measure Coltrane’s musical growth through his recordings with Miles, and as a leader, while at Prestige,” says jazz historian Ashley Kahn in his extensive liner notes for the Side Steps collection. “But it is especially revealing to gauge his progress through impromptu studio sessions with a wider variety of musicians and music. They tested his increasing abilities, and allowed him to apply the techniques and confidence gained from Miles’s tight-lipped tutelage (and his later apprenticeship with Thelonious Monk). They also introduced his name to an expanding community of fans and fellow musicians, and permitted him entry into the rank and file of jazz players, many of whom were destined to become leaders and help shape the future of the music.”
In short, Prestige was the place where Coltrane cut his teeth, according to Nick Phillips, co-producer of the boxed set. “This is where he was really gaining his experience,” says Phillips. “You can hear him developing his individual voice in these recordings, already sounding like no one else but John Coltrane, yet not having fully developed into the John Coltrane who would become one of the most important and influential artists in the history of jazz.”
Forgotten 60s Treasure: THE LORDS – Death Bells At Dawn (Rare MONO)
THE LORDS – “Death Bells At Dawn” / “Light Rain” (Aldrich ALD 1001) December 1966
An obscure group from Morris Plains, NJ. This was their only record. (it’s rare and hard to find) . . . . Both sides with an eerie, hypnotic, psychedelic sound. “Death Bells At Dawn” has been compiled on a few comps including ‘Brain Shadows’ and ‘Sixties Rebellion – Volume 11′ but the equally memorable “Light Rain” has never appeared on any compilation.
“Screaming minds on fire
That holler with desire
Keep waiting ’round on high
As stars are passing by.”
The Beatles – Revolver (Full Album) [1966]
Thelonious Monk – 1964 – Maison de la Radio, Paris – Bootleg Remaster – HD
Bootleg Wizard’s remastered version of a rare Thelonious Monk live recording at Maison De La Radio, Paris, France. 02/23/64
