couple of days ago alex gildzen sent me a link to the blog of bill reed. reed had interviewed herk harvey in the early '80s about carnival of soul's rising cult status. here are parts 1 and 2 of reed's interview. it was because of the increasing popularity of video at the time that, i think, contributed remarkably to the rediscovery of this masterpiece. that wasn't talked about in the interview. at any rate, my mother-in-law saw the film, i think, tho anna may correct me on it, in the early to mid-60s in her native sweden. the images of the film were inscribed in india ink on the mind's eye for my mother-in-law. and she had remembered its creepiness thru the years.

still, it is a good time now for persons passionate about cinema, cuz the dvd format has brought so many films, from dusty giallos to bollywood productions, and everything in between, back into print. or coming into print. and there are excellent production companies lovingly restoring these films to the digital format. yes, there is a paucity of excellent theaters and drive-ins where ideally movies should be seen. there are probably more screens now then 30 years ago, but there were more theaters, one-screen houses that specialized in art-house, kung-fu movies, horror, porn, you name it. dvd ain't ideal movie-viewing, but for this slob who loves films, everything about movies, posters, trailers, radio ads, you name it, dvd is the next best thing to being in a chilled grindhouse, eating greasy popcorn, breathing in second-hand smoke from yr seatmate's kools, and watching movies.