Over at our official Facebook page , we are currently posting daily Film Recommendations, with each week being a different theme. This is a collection of those recommendations! This week’s theme is Portmanteau Films (otherwise known as Anthology Films), films usually compiled of different shorts/segments normally linked up by a connecting narrative.

1. Dead of Night (1945, Alberto Cavalcanti, Robert Hamer, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden)

Dead of Night is an old-school British horror anthology which is quite important for a variety of reasons. Made during the 1940s when Britain wasn’t producing many horror films, the film’s success lead to Britain deciding to increase their volume of horror and anthology films and influencing further generations, such as the Amicus anthology films and the Hammer Horror series. Whilst not the first film to do it, Dead of Night popularised the linking narrative in an anthology film, rather than the films going in a linear fashion. The linking narrative features architect Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns) attends a dinner party he was randomly invited to, and slowly realises he’d attended the party in a nightmare he had the night before, as he’s able to predict each event before it happens at the party. The other guests decide to test Craig’s ability by telling him various horror stories.

By today’s standards, the horror shorts are quite tame and pretty predictable, with one ghost story being a goofy slapstick comedy rather than anything attempting horror, but the most famous segment is the final one featuring an evil spirit-filled ventriloquist dummy which drives its owner crazy. This story gave birth to the evil ventriloquist dummy trope, which is now commonly associated with the act and can be seen in later generations in media like the Goosebumps series and the Anthony Hopkins film Magic. The unique thing about this film is that the linking narrative is actually the best part of the film and has a great pay-off at the end, one which has been imitated many times since.

2. Chacun son Cinema (2007, 36 Different Directors)

An extremely loaded cast of directors for this film, which means each only gets 3-4 minutes to make their films, but highlights each of their individual talents in being able to tell a unique and whole story within the time boundaries given. Some of the more well-known directors in this film include Roman Polanski, David Lynch, David Cronenberg, Wong-Kar Wai, Lars Von Trier and many more. The theme of the shorts is ‘Love of Cinema’, so each film has each director’s own translation of their love of cinema.

Some of the highlights include The Coen Brother’s short featuring Josh Brolin as a cowboy debating art films; Takeshi Kitano’s short about a farmboy trying to watch cinema (with Kitano acting of course), Wong-Kar Wai’s literal interpretation of the excitement he feels in the cinema and Atom Egoyan’s criticism of modern audience’s views on classic films, using The Passion of Joan of Arc as an example. Obviously because of the high volume of shorts put together, the quality is not consistent, but compared to other anthology films, it is overall pretty great.

3. Aria (1987, 10 Different Directors)

Using ten arias (a song sung by a solo singer in an opera), ten directors visually interpret these pieces into a visual art piece, to break it down. Think of it as a live-action version of Disney’s Fantasia. The more well-known directors in this film include Robert Altman, Jean-Luc Goddard, Nicolas Roeg and Ken Russell. The linking narrative (directed by Bruce Beresford), features John Hurt remembering all the past operas he’s performed, which goes into each segment.

Due to the nature of the music and the free reign the filmmakers were given, the segments are quite abstract and are quite obscure interpretations of the chosen songs. They are not literal interpretations, but rather stories created by how the filmmaker felt listening to the songs and slightly matching them to the music. The better segments come from Roeg and Altman, which remind the audience of what talented filmmakers they are, whilst some of the other segments, such as Jean-Luc Goddard’s, come off as pretentious and slow the overall film down.

4. Creepshow (1982, George A Romero)

An homage to the old-school horror comics of the 1950s, Creepshow is a great horror-comedy anthology, which features an eclectic cast such as Leslie Nielsen, Hal Holbrook, Adrianne Barbeau, Ted Danson and the film’s writer Stephen King (who is overacting, but suitably so). The film is bookended with a child reading a horror comic book which is detested by his father (played by B-Movie King Tom Atkins). The film uses horror and comedy effectively, making sure things never get too dark and really translating the old-school comic sensibilities to the big screen.

Exaggerated elements such as animated segue ways, bright and intense colour palettes used infrequently and obscure camera angles play up the fun angle of the film and show off Romero’s eye for making horrific situations amusing to the mainstream viewer. One of the great segments is the one featuring Leslie Nielsen and Ted Danson, where Leslie Nielsen plays the antagonistic role of a man who finds out his wife is cheating on him with Ted Danson’s character, so he buries Danson’s and his wife’s bodies at the beach neck height and waits for the tide to roll in for them to drown. Things obviously take a supernatural turn and it is quite an entertaining segment.

5. Coffee and Cigarettes (2003, Jim Jarmusch)

Coffee and Cigarettes is the most comedic film Jarmusch has made and plays into a lot of hypothetical situations that many play around with when discussing films and filmmaking. The basic recurring theme between each segment is simply, two or more people having a conversation that features smoking and drinking coffee and shot entirely in black and white. The twist is that each segment features very well-known celebrities, many staples of Jarmusch’s previous films, having a comedic or philosophical discussion, but having the fun factor of pairing up two celebrities you wouldn’t expect to have a civil conversation.

Examples include Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan (probably the most entertaining segment), Cate Blanchett and her ‘twin sister’ (also played by Blanchett), Bill Murray and the Wu-Tang Clan and more. An odd segment features Jack and Meg White (of the White Stripes) hanging out, when Jack reveals he has made a tesla coil due to his love of Nikola Tesla. An interesting film overall, which features some interesting dialogue and subtle directing.

6. Four Rooms (1995, Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino)

Four Rooms, made a year after Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, is an uneven but an anthology film totally worth the watch. The film is set within an aged, rundown hotel with each segment being introduced and featuring the newbie bellhop Ted (Tim Roth). Tim Roth was directed by four different directors for each segment and it shows. The opening segment, directed by Allison Anders, in which Ted walks in on a witch ceremony, starts the film off in a bad way. The segment is quite awkward and meandering with no considerable payoff.

The second segment, directed by Robert Rodriguez, is Rodriguez directing his most comedic effort yet, with a slapstick comedy about Ted babysitting two young reckless children. The segment could be seen as a precursor to the Spy Kids franchise, as they have a familiar feel (and Antonio Banderas playing a similar role). This segment is enjoyable, even if Tim Roth is extremely overacting (he pretty much is the entire film). Alexandre Rockwell’s segment is pretty forgettable, so then we get to the final one: Tarantino’s. The segment stars Tarantino and Bruce Willis, in a homage to an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. The story entails a bet between Tarantino and Willis if one can light a lighter five times in a row, he wins money. If not, his pinky gets cut off. It starts slow but overall it contains Tarantino’s trademark style and ends the film on a good note.

7. New York Stories (1989, Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese)

Set within a New York Apartment complex, New York Stories features the directing talents of Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, so it’s a pretty loaded cast. The opening segment, directed by Scorsese, stars Nick Nolte and Rosanna Arquette, about a painter (Nolte) who is attempting to keep his girlfriend who wants to leave him. The film retains Scorsese’s style and starts the film in a great way, with Nolte playing the reckless shaggy painter well.

Coppola’s segment is disappointing, but follows in Coppola’s quality decline that happened over the 80s and continued into the 90s (and sadly hasn’t gotten any better). Woody Allen is exactly how you’d picture a Woody Allen short film. The great thing about Allen’s segment is it’s more of a throwback comedy than Allen has made for quite a while, arcing back to his origins with Take The Money and Run and Sleepers. Whilst the first half is stronger, it’s still pretty enjoyable and always great to see Woody Allen flex his broader comedic muscles.

Any more great anthology films that we missed?

(Top Image: Coffee and Cigarettes – source: United Artists)