Culinary Adventures and Films of the Olympic Games with Don and Liz Whelan
With the news of Tokyo 2020’s postponement, we’re looking for ways to fill the void. Happily, the Olympic YouTube channel contains a playlist of 15 official films for our (free) viewing pleasure! This is a great resource for a selection of films, and can certainly assist you in following our discussions as we go through […]
We’ve reached the final silent summer film in the Criterion Olympic Films collection, (LW: thank goodness) and it happens to be the very first one, from Stockholm 1912. We’ve already discussed a few of these silent editions (here, here, here), and by and large there’s no significant deviation from the format here. However, there are […]
1992 was a particularly fascinating moment in time: in 1989 the Berlin Wall came down. In 1990 Germany was reunified. In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed. Change was truly in the cold, crisp air of the French Alps. One Light, One World 1992104 MINUTESJoe Jay Jalbert,R. Douglas Copsey The XVI Winter Games at Albertville, France […]
Last time we discussed the two small films of Melbourne/Stockholm 1956. This week we’re going to move on to the Summer Games proper with a pair of films focused on the breadth of events held in Melbourne. Despite having a similar scope, they’re incredibly different. Overwhelming Speed Olympic Games, 1956 195660 MINUTESPeter Whitchurch Olympic Games, […]
The Olympics appeared for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere at the 1956 Summer Games in Melbourne, Australia. It was the first Games to take place in two different countries, because Australian quarantine laws prevented equestrian horses from making the trip. Stockholm, Sweden stepped up to host a week of equestrian events. What this […]
After Bud Greenspan’s success in filming the 1984 Los Angeles Games, he turned his attentions to the XV Olympic Winter Games. Calgary ’88: 16 Days of Glory is the second milestone in the Greenspan catalog. As a child, Calgary was really the first Games I was fully aware of, and I followed the events closely. […]
The official film for Paris 1924 was accompanied by a curious little piece of theatrical, athletic art to help audiences discover the Ancient Olympic Games.
Ah, Paris in the summertime! The Olympic Games returned to the French capital in 1924. Having previously hosted the second Games in 1900, Paris became the first city to organize the event twice. The Olympic Games in Paris 1924 1924174 MINUTES, BLACK & WHITE, SILENTJean de Rovera Like the Chamonix winter film produced earlier in […]
The very first Winter Olympic Games were held in 1924 at the French resort of Chamonix. Amid the peaceful prosperity of the post-war years, leisure time had expanded. Winter sport had become a growing obsession, and in 1921 the IOC decided to formally recognize the cold-weather sports world. An inaugural “International Week of Winter Sport” […]
The summer Games held in Rome in 1960 were probably the first truly modern Games. Fittingly, The Grand Olympics was a new type of Olympic film.