Column Chronicles
 
Some of my favorite films
 
 
Frank Cotolo
September 17, 2015
 
Through the decades of my storied life in and around show business I have always had an esoteric taste for film. I enjoyed many of the popular movies that have made industry history and I don't disparage any movie based on its lack of depth or artistry. It just so happens that some of my favorite films are abstruse works produced and performed by people that never made the mainstream league. Here are a few of my favorites.
 
Institutionalized, 1983
 
Peter Pretorious wrote, directed and catered this gripping drama of a man who shakes free of all commitments while living and working in a Midwest town. All seems to be going well for the rebel until his wife chases him for child support, even though their marriage never produced children. Lawyers side with her and the concept of "institutions" is threatened by a judge and jury that agree with the wife and conspire to convict her husband and not put him in jail as a sentence.
 
Stark Raving Mad, 1972
 
Clementine Mercury directed this black-and-white feature that was based on a story that was based on an idea that was based on a nightmare of L. Wentworth Storm, a vagabond journalist.
 
This is the story of a man who feels he is going out of his mind when he is visited by a man claiming to be Scotland. Ernest Weckman, who plays Diff Scown, begins to feel he is losing his mind when Scotland fills Scown's apartment with a flock of sheep. Battling to keep his sanity, Scown has to ignore severe urges to buy plaid skirts and learn the bagpipes. Mercury shot the second half of the film with his hand over the lens, allowing us only to hear the characters talk and to emphasize that all you hear is not all you see.
 
Make Mine Marble, 1956
 
The first know screwball tragedy (as opposed to screwball comedy) was written, directed and edited by Crape Suzette, a woman who swore she was once inspired to make movies by a tossed salad, this tale of woe and wonder takes place in a fictional town with two names. All of the characters living in the town know it by two names but when a young boy carrying a grilled cheese sandwich in his pants disappears, all hell breaks loose. Most of the action takes place in a local bakery whose owner is known for making the best marble cake in the state. The sad ending (which I will not disclose) is surprising and yet predictable, leaving anyone who watches it yearning for hot pastry.
 
Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.
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