Cine TV Contest #93 - Sealed With A Loving Kiss

Meanwhile, modernity begins to make its entrance in England, with the arrival of POP and POP ROCK music “The Bee Gees and Crosby Still Nash & Young” and the fashion of the time. Daniel, influenced by this modernity, decides to take Violone lessons “specifically “The Double Bass”” and form a band with his friends -that in real life, in the film you only see a scene of him with “the double bass”-. As music becomes an important part of his life, Daniel realises that Melody shares his passion for music “she learns to play the recorder”, and decides to reach out to her through their shared love of music.

Despite opposition from his parents and teachers, Daniel and Melody begin to spend time together. However, their platonic love is threatened by societal pressure and his parents' lack of understanding, despite England's openness to modernity at the time. As the story progresses, Daniel and Melody struggle to keep their love alive in the midst of modernity and social pressure.

At the same time, other stories are woven in that show “social freedoms”, such as vices, the use of long hair for men and tattooing for women, things that were unimaginable years ago.

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At the time I literally heard the film, I was eight years old. I say “heard” because by then I was in a school for the visually impaired. Following the “advances in medical technology at the time” operations, I enjoyed the film two years later, back in 1973. We didn't have colour TV, but seeing and feeling it in monochrome was the best.

It turned out that, just as I had imagined two years earlier, a curious character in a supporting role identified with my nerdy, visionary and adventurous behaviour. He was precisely the boy who experimented with making explosives that never worked, but at the end of the film, his dream is realised with an explosion that renders Daniel's mother's car unusable…

The music of “The Bee Gees” grew up with me and is still with me today. I have a collection of their albums. Tracks like “In the morning, First of May, Melody Fear (original film theme)”, I still enjoy them on my hi-fi. The original title of the film was “Sealed with a loving kiss”, but it had no great repercussion in England or in the United States, the name under which it became famous (Melody) survived in Japan, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, among other countries…

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On a curious note, last year I was able to purchase a DVD of the film in full colour, remastered and in full HD from Amazon's online shop. I have had the joy of being able to enjoy the film in colour with the little monocular vision I have, and it has been a wonderful experience. Today it is one of my treasures in my collection like Time in a Bottle (1973), Love Story (1970), One Fleo Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), A Clockwork Orange (1871), and of course, The Godfather (1972). Those of you my age will have enjoyed these unforgettable films.

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Goodbye, goodbye, Melody (Tracy Hyde), became my first platonic love. Two children who dream of growing up decide one day to rebel against the rules set by adults, even talking about marriage! Narrated from the children's point of view and as if adults were given the chance to get inside the child's mind, only the small audience will be able to fully appreciate it. It's not that grown-ups won't like it, but it's like reading “Catcher in the Rye” at 20…, it's not so funny anymore. But, when an era like the 60s and 70s marks us “as it did many of my generation”, as well as the influence that “The Beatles” had, it is essential to remember those times.

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For me, the film Melody is a poem between images and music, a poem about the purity of childhood, about the innocence of love and the ideal of living in love. This is also reflected in another film in my collection called “The Hard Skin (1976)”.

^{Beautiful scene in the cemetery…}

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CREDITS:

• Titles: CoolText

• All assembly was done with Microsoft Office 360 Pro 2023 PowerPoint on Windows 11.

• Translation Assistant; DeepL Pro