tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68482214926184991372024-03-19T00:06:23.923-04:00Celluloid ClubUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1240125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-59193513009157968752023-08-08T09:00:00.000-04:002023-08-08T09:00:03.759-04:00<p style="text-align: center;"><b> This website is dedicated to the everlasting memory of Ed Garea, its founder, head writer and one of the most remarkable cinephiles you could ever meet. </b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>Please explore the exceptional content he produced here and learn from his passion and brilliance.</b></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-32881064631468604892019-04-22T12:58:00.000-04:002019-04-22T12:58:47.700-04:00Le Beau Serge<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Film
in Focus</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Jean-Paul Garrieux</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Le
Beau Serge</b></i></span> <b>(Ajym Films, 1958) – Director:
Claude Chabrol. Writer: Claude Chabrol. Cast: Gerard Blain,
Jean-Claude Brialy, Michele Meritz, Bernadette Lafont, Claude Cerval,
Edmond Beauchamp, Jeanne Perez, Andre Dino, Michel Crueze, &
Christine Dourdet. B&W, 98 minutes.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Have
you ever returned to your hometown after a lengthy absence to find
that, while the town is still the same, the people have changed to
the point where you now feel like a stranger in their midst? This is
the plot of Chabrol’s, <i>Le Beau Serge</i>, a plot that might
just as well come from the pen of Albert Camus. It is an excellent
exercise in existential alienation.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
film begins on a quiet country road. The only sounds we hear come
from a bubbling brook in the foreground of the frame. It’s the
stuff of which picture postcards are made. The loud roar of an engine
suddenly interrupts the peace as a large bus crosses the frame. It’s
a harbinger of what is to come as Chabrol cuts inside the bus, and
after giving us a brief montage of the passengers, he settles on as
bespectacled, sickly-looking young man named Francois Bayon (Brialy)
who is returning to the hometown of Sardent for a lengthy rest after
years away in Paris (where he was a theology student) and
Switzerland, where he went for treatment. He is suffering from
tuberculosis, and has come back to his old hometown for the milder
winter.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Immediately
after arriving he is greeted by Christine (Dourdet), a friend of his
parents, and Michel (Crueze), an old friend from boyhood. They
exchange pleasantries, but soon Francois is distracted by the
presence of two men, one of whom he recognizes as his close friend
Serge. He calls out to Serge, but Serge keeps walking with the other
man, heading for a tavern. Michel tells Francois that when Serge is
“drunk as a skunk” he’s oblivious to everything. As Michel
carries Francois’ bag to the hotel, they discuss old times as
children and how the place has changed. But Francois can’t get his
mind off Serge and asks how he got that way. Michel explains that
Serge wanted to study architecture and passed his entrance exams, but
then impregnated a young lady, Yvonne (Meritz) and had to marry her.
The child was stillborn, a mongoloid. Yvonne is pregnant again and
Serge’s fear is that this next baby will be born the same way, so
he abandons himself into a liquor-hazed world, oblivious to most
everything but womanizing. The old man Serge was with is his
father-in-law and drinking buddy, Glomaud (Beauchamp).</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
most arresting part of the scene is that while the driver is fetching
Francois’ luggage on the roof of the bus, we see Serge and Glomaud
standing on the other side. Immediately after the camera espies them,
a sharp, dark sting of music punctuates their presence, and the way
they are framed in the scene makes them appear most sinister.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
opening scenes also establish Chabrol’s mise-en-scene, which is
drab, barren, and suffocating. The bleakness of the late autumn
countryside blends with the stark claustrophobia of the village, with
its narrow roads and unwelcoming run-down buildings. The hotel where
Francois stays, with its granite walls, dark halls and stairways, is
more like a penal institution than a place to relax. This is not a
happy place, the townspeople are a reflection of their surroundings,
caught in the decay. For instance, an act of incestuous rape is
treated with a "ho hum" indifference by the village. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While
discussing Serge and what has happened to him while walking to the
hotel, Michel talks of Serge’s shattered dreams, telling Francois
that “at least I knew I would end up a baker.” The best way to
avoid pain and suffering is not to dream. But then, not to dream is
to abandon hope.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For
Francois, this state of affairs is intolerable. He sees out as up to
him to set things right and he’ll begin with Serge. At first the
two friends try to reconnect as they share memories and laugh as they
talk over the divergent paths their lives have taken and the recent
developments in those lives. But too much time has passed and their
superficial and disjointed conversations quickly take a bitter turn.
The unspoken conflict between the two is existential: Francois has
been to the city. He haas become worldly, exuding an air of
entitlement. Serge, on the other hand, has degenerated into a country
bumpkin trapped in a downward slide. At first excited about his
friend’s progress in escaping the village, Serge’s wonderment
quickly grows resentful as he is put off by Francois’s superior
attitude and his constant advice about how Serge can turn his
fortunes around.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What
began as a happy reunion has now become a quiet battle marked by
passive-aggressive volleys back and forth. Soon Serge’s wife Yvonne
and her slatternly sister Marie (Lafont) are drawn into the fray,
with every get together between them seeing as if it could easily
turn vicious. Serge has cheated on Yvonne with Marie, and the town
gossip has it that Glomaud isn't actually Marie's father. Marie,
for her part, is quick to jump in bed with Francois, who in turn is
not about to turn her favors down.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This comes back to
haunt Francois when Glomaud spots François in the hotel tavern and
asks him to buy him a drink. François refuses, to which Glomard
responds, “You won’t drink with me, but you’ll sleep with my
daughter?” Glomaud yells. François’s defense to the charge is to
repeat the unsubstantiated gossip that Marie is not his daughter.
Glomaud, though, calls witnesses to attest to François’ statement,
then stumbles off to rape Marie, whom he has reputedly lusted after
for years. François later finds Marie in tears and tries to comfort
her, only to be told that “<span style="color: #252525;">You observe us as
if we were insects.” Francis then</span> chases down Glomaud,
who is trying to escape through the local cemetery, and throws him to
the ground. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bewildered by what
just transpired, François retreats to his hotel room, where Serge
finds him. They engage in a telling conversation, as François says,
“Everything’s so different here . . . You’re like animals, as
though you had no reason for living.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Serge can only
respond that “The earth’s like granite; they can barely scrape a
living. They work because they’ve no choice . . . Come and look.
Miles to walk home, often in deep snow. Still, they want to learn.
We’re animals, but who cares? Everyone can’t simply leave. You
understand? It’s like a baby couldn’t walk if there were no one
to show him how.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Later Serge will
make the observation, “Poor François. Always eager to do a good
deed.” Francois may have changed outwardly, but he’s still the
same judgmental person he always was, with Chabrol nicely emphasizing
Francois’s lack of understanding of the insults thrown his way.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Chabrol’s portrait
of Francois emphasizes his elitist outlook toward the economic and
existential challenges faced daily by the townspeople. For François,
the answer is simple: he must convince Serge to leave Yvonne, as she
is clearly responsible for the problems between them and contributing
to Serge’s fall from grace by getting pregnant and forcing him into
a shotgun wedding. Later, expanding his mission, he rebukes the town
priest (Cerval) for abandoning his mission to help the villagers find
redemption via religion. The priest’s response that
Francois doesn’t understand the situation and should mind his
own business only causes him to dig in his heels. Chabrol shows that
François has come to see himself a savior; it is up to him to save
Serge, Yvonne, and Marie. And how? Merely be being there for
them. “I think they need me, I think they need an example,” he
says. He has become a false prophet, thinking that can succeed
where the local institutions have failed in addressing and
alleviating the town's economic and moral stagnation. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The schism between
the former friends and François’ complete incomprehension of the
villagers reaches its conclusion at a local dance. Francois objects
to Serge’s callous treatment of Yvonne and begins dishing out
advice and admonishment. Serge walks out into the street, followed by
Francois, who gets a beating from his friend for his troubles. The
villagers look on, imploring Serge to “teach the Parisian a
lesson.” But instead of understanding François stubbornly remains
stays in the village, feeling he is still needed to redeem Serge.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #252525;">The
film comes to its climax as Yvonne goes into labor. Serge is nowhere
to be found. Francois finds the family doctor, then goes out looking
for Serge. He finds his friend dead drunk in a barn </span>and
literally has to drag him through the snow. Once home he awakens
Serge by rubbing snow in his face, just as his son’s first cries
break the silence. François, collapsing, utters his last words, “I
believed,” while Serge, hearing his healthy son’s cries, weeps
from joy.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Afterwords</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">No
matter how we look at it, the fact remains that <span style="color: #252525;"><i>Le
Beau Serge</i></span><span style="color: #252525;"> was an impressive
debut for the 27-year-old director. Yet. there was seemingly
something in the film to cheese of everyone: </span>Some criticized
the blunt treatments of sexual material while others were bothered by
the overt Catholic moralizing. The town of Sardent, where Chabrol
grew up, was presented as somehow frozen in time; an incredibly
insular place not unlike the backwoods towns in some horror movies,
quietly threatening. <span style="color: #252525;">Roland Barthes
attacked it for its “right-wing” and “static” image of man,
but on the other side i</span>t was championed by none other than
Francois Truffaut who said at the film’s opening that it “is as
masterly as if Chabrol had been directing for ten years, though this
is his first contact with a camera.”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The contrast between
François's holier-than thou attitude and Serge's self-destructive
actions reflects Chabrol’s Marxist view of the world as one of
class divisions that in themselves produce lasting social
consequences. Francois represents the well-to-do bourgeoise, who fail
to realize the real problems of the working classes, instead offering
platitudes instead of real solutions.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The film is also a
cross between a family drama and a murder melodrama, as Chabrol
was greatly heavily influenced by the films of his idol, Alfred
Hitchcock, in particular, <i>Shadow of a Doubt</i>, as it
announces the arrival of a dark presence in its opening scene. While
critic Tom Milne notes that “<i>As mirror images of each other, the
two men reflect the interest in Hitchcockian themes of transference
later elaborated in Chabrol's work, but here expressed rather too
overtly in terms of Christian allegory (a transference not so much of
guilt as of redemption)</i>” he is overlooking the fact that
the attempt at Christian redemption is self-serving and
superficial. <span style="color: #272727;">Chabrol is at heart a
moralist, but not in the usual sense of lecturing people about right
and wrong. Rather, he is more interested in finding out how and why
people make moral decisions and how they come by strange beliefs.
Unlike Chabrol’s later films, thrillers that disguise their
morality beneath a veneer of bloody murder and tension, Chabrol goes
right to the core of this film’s morality by asking two important
questions: Why has Serge taken to drink, and why is Francois so
obsessed with redeeming him? </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Chabrol
and cinematographer Henri present Sardent as both divided and
interlinked as Francois and Serge, using the mise en scene of the
town’s cramped layout to establish an atmosphere of alienation and
ennui. Emile Delpierre's music, with its sinister surges, is used to
foreshadow events. Throughout the movie Chabrol uses the music not
not merely as a mood enhancement, but also to clarify what is
occurring and anticipate what is to follow.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #252525;">As
Serge, Gerard Blain comes across as a sort of Frenchified James Dean,
but without the histrionics that Dean often employed. </span>Jean-Claude
Brialy hits all the right notes as Francois, a man torn between the
demands of the spirit and the pleasures of the flesh. And special
mention must be made of Bernadette Lafont, who while only 19 when the
picture was filmed, comes across with the intensity and presence of
an actress much older. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Le
Beau Serge</i> is often regarded as the first of the French New
Wave, but in truth Agnes Varda beat him to the punch with her 1955
production, <i>La Pointe Courte</i>. Still, <i>Le Beau
Serge </i>is a fascinating film, made all the more so by the
fact of its being a first effort, and one that demands to be seen.</span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-64047230486911536562018-11-06T00:30:00.000-05:002018-11-06T00:30:07.709-05:00The Maltese Falcon<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Film
in Focus</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Ed Garea</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Maltese Falcon</b></i></span> <b>(aka </b><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Dangerous
Female</b></i></span> <b>WB, 1931) – Director: Roy Del Ruth,
Writers: Maude Fulton, Brown Homes (s/p), Lucien Hubbard
(uncredited), Dashiell Hammett (novel). Stars: Ricardo Cortez, Bebe
Daniels, Dudley Digges, Una Merkel, Robert Elliott, Thelma Todd, Otto
Matieson, Walter Long, Dwight Frye, J. Farrell MacDonald &
Agostino Borgato. B&W, 80 minutes.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Those
new to classic film are usually surprised to learn that not only was
there an earlier version of this iconic film, but also how much it’s
like the 1941 remake, which is considered by critics and film
historians to be the definitive version. Those of us who have spent
years watching classic films know that Warner Bros, frequently
recycled its films. In fact, the 1941 version was the second remake
of the 1931 original. In 1936 the studio remade the 1931 version
as <i>Satan Met a Lady</i>, with Warren William, Bette Davis and
Alison Skipworth in the Kasper Gutman role. (This version is so
different and so wretched it deserves its own review.)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Having
read the novel and seen the movie as a teenager, I was a big fan of
Hammett and his writings. I saw the 1931 version in college and
marveled at its faithfulness to the text. Over the years the love of
both these movies and the author never left me. And I spent many an
hour reading obscure articles on the author, the book and the movies.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
main difference between the 1931 and 1941 versions is the
transcendent issue of care. In 1941 great care was taken to ensure a
good movie. The screenplay and the cast were chosen after careful
deliberation and the director, though a novice, went to great lengths
to ensure the movie’s quality.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjm7yq-k4joudr2EwocLE2JMrsn8AEBEHt0NqnvEFPQ9rOT1lsRLqw_XTduEtPRpHJ9-jMylZ-nXhv6yr1ffkR3s_ilMP_I_9AZ2bpsIiVtGmNX2dKnrep1bH9VdiBxZxCDxtjP_tgFDs/s1600/maltese+main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="662" data-original-width="840" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjm7yq-k4joudr2EwocLE2JMrsn8AEBEHt0NqnvEFPQ9rOT1lsRLqw_XTduEtPRpHJ9-jMylZ-nXhv6yr1ffkR3s_ilMP_I_9AZ2bpsIiVtGmNX2dKnrep1bH9VdiBxZxCDxtjP_tgFDs/s320/maltese+main.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For
anyone who has not seen the ’41 version or read the book, the plot
goes as follows: Sam Spade (Cortez) and Miles Archer (Long) are
private eyes hired by the attractive Ruth Wonderly (Daniels) to tail
a nefarious character named Thursby, suspected in her sister’s
disappearance. Archer opts to follow Thursby but is shot and killed
in doing so. The police are suspicious of Spade. Complicating things
is the fact that Spade was engaged in an affair with Archer’s wife,
Iva (Todd). The police then discover Thursby’s body, also shot to
death.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Spade
needs to clear himself. Wonderly hires him to protect her but is
evasive on the details. Spade discovers that she and three other
criminals named Cairo, Gutman and Wilmer are after a jewel-encrusted
falcon, yet no one admits to having it. What does the bird have to do
with deaths of Archer and Thursby? Will Spade find the real murderer
before the police pin rap on him? And is he falling for a client he
knows he can’t trust?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Both
’31 and ’41 versions adhere to this basic plot. The difference is
that Spade is shown to be much more of a womanizer than he is in the
’41 version. We first meet him as a woman is leaving his office. We
don’t see her face, but we do see her adjusting her stockings,
which spells out what was going on behind the closed doors. Right
after she leaves, Spade is kissing his secretary, Effie (Merkel) on
the neck and giving an admiring glance to her posterior before
cleaning up his office, which suggests it was in use as an adult
playpen.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
relation between Spade and partner Miles Archer (Long) is much the
same as in the 1941 version. Spade is having an affair with Archer’s
wife, and we’re pretty sure Archer is aware of it, but doesn’t
care. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">After
Spade is notified of Archer’s murder, he goes down to the scene of
the crime. Things follow as in the ‘41 version except for the fact
that, while leaving, Spade stops to chat in Chinese with a local
merchant. (this scene is not in the book, either.) </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
then ’31 version Ruth spends the night at Sam’s apartment and
while she sleeps he sneaks over to her flat and searches it, looking
for the falcon, convinced that she knows where it is. However, he
finds nothing. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
introduction of Cairo, Gutman and Wilmer happen for the most part as
they do in the ’41 version, though in Huston’s version there is
more emphasis on Gutman, thanks to a wonderful performance by Sydney
Greenstreet. Gutman is accompanied by his right hand man, Wilmer
(Frye), who plays the role much like Elisha Cook does in the later
version.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
’31 version now plays out like the later version, with Gutman
drugging Spade after Cairo tells him the falcon is due in on a boat
from China; the bird being dropped off at Spade’s office by Captain
Jacoby (Borgato) before he dies from gunshot wounds; and Spade
returning home after hiding the falcon to find Cairo, Gutman, Wilmer,
and later Ruth (who was hiding) waiting for him. </span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvReQI_6mLzbX1YYsB4CKf8kTv8XImRO5NMgjjOtYSrjANlt4FApZGRRuYis2rcXZsqH0H0Hnr4IdGLHmc4pQXNMX2ymP_cmHaoMLqBb7KQ7L5TgIoQnF7q0C8I51gntGi52Le4gVwT1c/s1600/maltese+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="995" data-original-width="1600" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvReQI_6mLzbX1YYsB4CKf8kTv8XImRO5NMgjjOtYSrjANlt4FApZGRRuYis2rcXZsqH0H0Hnr4IdGLHmc4pQXNMX2ymP_cmHaoMLqBb7KQ7L5TgIoQnF7q0C8I51gntGi52Le4gVwT1c/s320/maltese+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sam
insists that he will deliver the statue as soon as they agree on a
fall guy in order to clear him with the police and Gutman reluctantly
agrees to hand Wilmer over. When Effie delivers the statue to Sam at
his apartment, they discover it is valueless. Wilmer uses the
opportunity to escape through the kitchen window, while Gutman and
Cairo stick up Spade and demand all of the money they’ve given him
returned. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Wilmer
later kills Gutman and Cairo while Sam accuses Ruth of killing Miles.
Though he has fallen in love with her, he turns her over to the
police. In a departure from the book, we see Ruth at her trial, where
she is identified by an eyewitness from Chinatown – the same one
who was talking with Spade on the night Miles was murdered. Ruth is
convicted and sent to prison, with Sam receiving a political
appointment as a reward.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
differences between the ’31 and ’41 versions have everything to
do with the economic climate of the times. In 1931, Hollywood was
holding on by a thread, weathering the effects of a depression that
seems to be getting deeper rather than tapering off as other
depressions and panics had in the past.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
philosophy of Warner Bros. in 1931 was to make movies, make them
fast, and then get on to the next one. The novel, about a crew of
low-life characters in pursuit of a legendary jewel-encrusted bird,
seemed perfectly suited to be filmed.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
in the book, Sam Spade has well-deserved reputation as a ladies’
man, seducing female clients and even having an affair with his
partner's wife. As in the book, Cairo, Gutman and Wilmer are
homosexuals. Gutman, refers to Wilmer, as his "gunsel,"
which is prison slang for both a hired gun and a passive homosexual.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Director
Roy Del Ruth staged the film to emphasize its sexual mystique. Ruth
Wonderly spends the night in his apartment, Spade tells her he’ll
sleep on the couch, but when she awakes the next morning, there’s
an obvious indentation in the pillow she's not using to suggest where
he really slept. (It seems as if the writers added the line about Sam
sleeping on the couch to put off the censors.) There was also a scene
added during the confrontation at Spade’s apartment. Sam,
suspecting Ruth of stealing $1000, confronts her in the kitchen and
makes her strip to prove she didn’t steal the money. Although she
undresses out of camera range, Spade has a few articles of her
clothing thrown in his face. When the censors later objected to the
scene, studio production chief Darryl Zanuck tried to assuage them by
saying that because she didn’t throw her underwear at Spade, the
audience knew she wasn't naked. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Although
the film's gay element is somewhat subdued, it was far more apparent
than in the ’41 version. For instance, at Spade’s apartment,
Gutman fondles Wilmer's cheek while setting him up to be the fall
guy.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
in the ’41 version, Cairo, Gutman and Wilmer meet their demise off
screen, del Ruth leaving it too the imagination of the audience.
Huston merely has Spade telling then police about Cairo and Gutman
about too leave town and warns them about Wilmer.
</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
final confrontation between Spade and Ruth occurs as in the ’41
version, the main difference being that Bogart’s Sam Spade is not
as indifferent as Cortez is in the Pre-Code version. For instance,
Ruth cries, “<i>Then you’ve been pretending. You don’t
care. You don’t love me!</i>” To which Spade can only reply, “<i>Oh,
I think I do. But what of it?</i>” Bogart’s Spade doesn’t
pussyfoot around, telling her that he can’t be sure of her loyalty,
that someday, when it suits her, she’ll kill him. (“<i>All we’ve
got is that maybe you love men and maybe I love you.</i>”) He also
brings in a detective’s code about having to take action when one’s
partner is killed; it doesn’t matter what you may have thought of
him. And the final denouement is the epitome of the noir
relationship: “I won’t because all of me wants to.”</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
fatal flaw in the 1931 version is its complete lack of tension. We
really don’t get the feeling that Cairo and Gutman are going to
pose much of a threat to Sam Spade. This, I think, has much to do
with the quality of the acting. Cortez, as Spade, grins and mugs his
way through the film, and Dudley Digges and Otto Matieson are nowhere
near the menace level of Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, who
almost steals the ’41 version from Bogart. The only performance
with noting in the 1931 version is Bebe Daniels, who is excellent as
Ruth Wonderly, although she has nowhere near the acting chops of Mary
Astor. Thelma Todd and Una Merkel aren’t around that much to make a
proper impression; more’s the pity. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
the final analysis, the Pre-Code version is a wonder when first
viewed, but repeated viewings bring out its weaknesses in comparison
to the 1941 classic. However, it’s far more worth the time than the
1936 version, <i>Satan Met a Lady</i>, which was so wretched
that its star, Bette Davis, fled to England to get out from under her
contract to Warner Bros. </span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-59842072418039222622018-11-03T00:30:00.000-04:002018-11-03T00:30:14.241-04:00Quick Millions<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Film
in Focus</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Ed Garea</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Quick
Millions</b></i></span> <b>(Fox, 1931) – Director: Rowland
Brown. Writers: Rowland Brown (story & s/p), Courtney Perrett
(story & s/p), Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur (s/p,
uncredited), John Wray (add’l dialogue). Stars: Spencer Tracy,
Marguerite Churchill, Sally Eilers, Bob Burns, John Wray, Werner
Richmond, George Raft, John Swor, Leon Ames & Edgar Kennedy. B&W,
72 minutes.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Like
so many other Fox pre-Code features, <i>Quick Millions </i>is
rarely shown and not widely available on DVD. Once <i>Little
Caesar </i>(1930) made the gangster a hot commodity, other
studios were looking to cash in, and this effort from Fox is rather
par for the course. It was the directing debut of Rowland Brown, a
former newspaper reporter and contract writer for Fox. It is also the
film debut of George Raft, who has a featured role in the picture.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Star
Spencer Tracy is Daniel J. “Bugs” Raymond, a truck driver who
just spent a little time in stir for fighting with a cop (Kennedy).
Broke and with callous girlfriend Daisy De Lisle (Eilers) on the
verge of leaving him, Bugs, who describes himself as a “guy with a
one-ton brain who’s too nervous to steal and too lazy to work,”
is looking for an angle to get rich.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">He
first goes to parking garage owners, seeking to sell protection for
$75 a week. But one owner tells him there’s not enough business to
warrant protection money, so Bugs vandalizes cars parked on the
street and drums up the necessary business for the garages. Having
been a truck driver Bugs realizes that truck drivers are the ones who
make everything in the city run smoothly and without them everything
stops cold. His next angle leads him to join forces with with Nails
Markey (Richmond), who, with his father, owns 200 produce trucks.
From 1925 until 1931, through intimidation, threats and murder, they
organize all the trucks in the city.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Another
angle has Bugs and Nails throwing a party for prominent citizens,
during the course of which they arrange for thugs to hold up the
guests. In so doing they collect enough evidence of wrongdoing among
the guests to keep them from interfering with their racket. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Now
that he has the goods on his potential enemies Bugs decides to muscle
in on the most lucrative market in the city – that of construction.
Bugs zeroes in on weak-willed real estate developer Kenneth Stone
(Wray), and using sabotage and purchased inside information supplied
by a board member, Bugs coerces Stone into paying him to supply
trucks for the building of his new tower. When Stone realizes he
stands to lose a quarter of a million dollars because the tower will
not be completed on time, he accepts Bugs's offer to see that it is
finished ahead of schedule if Bugs is appointed director of the firm.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Now
established in legitimate business, the downfall of Bugs Raymond
begins. And with any gangster it starts with a woman. Dissatisfied
with Daisy because she isn’t cultured enough to meet his new
standards, Bugs ships her off to Europe while he sets his sights on
Stone’s sister, Dorothy (Churchill). She meets all his criteria:
attractive, college-educated and a granddaughter of a former
governor. In line with his new found social status, Bugs begins
dissociating himself from his gang as he plays billiards and golf and
goes to the opera with his bodyguard, Jimmy Kirk (Raft). </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Nails,
angered that Bugs has given him the high hat, decides to take over
the gang, ordering attacks on the city’s food industry, contrary to
Bugs’ previous orders. When a radio commentator speaks out against
the crime wave, Nails sends Jimmy to silence the “loud speaker.”
When the headlines connect Bugs with the killing he realizes Jimmy is
a liability and arranges to have him killed.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">After
the dedication of the new tower, Stone and other intimidated
businessmen tell the district attorney that they are through with
graft and promise to back his crackdown on the racketeers. Bugs also
has a setback on the personal front as Dorothy rejects him,
preferring to stay engaged to her beau who is returning from Europe,
after which they will be married. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
setbacks convince Bugs to return to his life as a hoodlum and he
convinces Nails to help him in his latest angle: the kidnapping of
Dorothy at her wedding. Bugs will have her at any cost. Daisy, who
Nails has propositioned after Bugs threw her over, suspects he is
plotting against Bugs, but keeps silent. On the way to the church,
Nails shoots Bugs and tosses his top hat from the car window as it
passes the church.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Afterwords</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Quick
Millions</i> is not a film that is interested in exploring any
of the social issues it inadvertently raises. Once Bugs leaves the
cab of his truck we are no longer presented with the street level
perspective which dominates the film until that point. Rather, the
film is a fascinating, if flawed, portrayal of a gangster who leaves
not only his fellow gang members behind, but also his fellow truckers
to join the swells on the other side. In so doing he leaves behind
what made him prosper and pays the ultimate price. Once Bugs
establishes himself on the other side, there is very little attempt
to provide insight into the society characters he now
associates with, as Brown prefers to give a superficial
account rather than delve for meaning. </span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjutWyh7zsj9K4n-dybQvLaVpvspAjFd4ccKnj3LjrQpny0MxjYfeCcTdSUQUSitLogDZmyL4zCsFOhJnAknq1fzRT3pH5NpeKMUDIt8jFjMm-3olN6I7aBgjzch5SsNMIlJjM1z3KCFdA/s1600/quick+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjutWyh7zsj9K4n-dybQvLaVpvspAjFd4ccKnj3LjrQpny0MxjYfeCcTdSUQUSitLogDZmyL4zCsFOhJnAknq1fzRT3pH5NpeKMUDIt8jFjMm-3olN6I7aBgjzch5SsNMIlJjM1z3KCFdA/s1600/quick+poster.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
film’s attraction comes from the performance of Tracy. His Bugs is
cool and calculating, not an angry street kid like Cagney in <i>Public
Enemy</i>, a power-driven killer like Robinson in <i>Little
Caesar</i>, or a psycho like Paul Muni in <i>Scarface</i>.
Tracy’s Bugs is interested in achieving the American dream the
quickest and easiest way possible, and ironically, once he
does that he sets in motion the cause of his downfall.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
problems with <i>Quick Millions</i> lie in its direction.
The film moves quickly – too quickly – in telling its story,
using a vignette style to give us a picture of his rise from truck
driver to mob boss, and of the reasons behind his downfall. It’s a
fascinating story, focusing as it does on racketeering rather than
bootlegging, but it’s told in superficial style by Brown, which
makes it instantly forgettable once the film ends.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Unlike
its contemporaries, gunplay is minimized, though we see the
undercurrent of violence in scenes of the racketeers spraying water
on cement, blowing up buildings and riddling milk cans with
bullets. The murders in the film are handled in a rather
stylized manner, almost like silent cinema, only with sound effects.
Besides the murders, Brown utilizes a great lighting effect at the
testimonial; as the robbers move in the lights go out and the scene
is presented in darkness, which adds to its effect. Another excellent
touch is the scene of Raft dancing to “Frankie and Johnnie.”
Brown focuses on his dancing legs, then cuts to the next scene where
we see Raft’s legs before committing the murder. But these scenes
aren’t enough to overcome Brown’s uninspired direction and the
film fails to capitalize on the momentum provided by these scenes.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Brown
seems so intent on his vignette approach that he leaves several large
plot holes in his wake. When Jimmy is killed at a gas station the
killer is immediately arrested by police, but nothing more comes of
it. And the scene of the intimidated businessmen joining with the DA
just seems to come out of nowhere and is left swaying in the breeze,
and there is no further development.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
for the acting, Tracy is superb. Even at this early stage he exhibits
the underacting style that made him so effective and which
contributed to his reputation among his fellow actors. Later,
aspiring actors would crowed the set of a Tracy film hoping to pick
up tips and strategy.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
was George Raft’s first film, and while he doesn’t handle the
delivery of dialogue too well, he has already nailed the ferret-like
persona he would later use to great effect in <i>Scarface</i>.
Marguerite Churchill is fine as Dorothy, playing off Tracy to great
effect. Sally Eilers, on the other hand, is badly underused. It would
have been nice to see more of her character, especially in the final
scene, where she realizes that Nails is going to bump off Bugs. It’s
a scene of great potential, but all Brown does is cut away to Bugs
and Nails in the limo.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
the final analysis <i>Quick Millions </i>disappoints.
Anyone expecting another <i>Little Caesar</i> or <i>Public
Enemy</i> will likely go away disappointed. But the film is a
Must See because of Tracy’s performance in his first starring role
and the fact that Fox pre-Codes are difficult to find. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Trivia</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
working title of this film was <i>Sky Line</i>.</span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-63452640054752616622018-10-31T13:20:00.000-04:002018-10-31T13:20:59.319-04:00Hold That Ghost<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Film
in Focus</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Ed Garea</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Hold That Ghost</b></i></span> <b>(Universal, 1941) – Director:
Arthur Lubin. Writers: Robert Lees, Frederic I. Rinaldo (story &
s/p), John Grant (s/p), Edmund L. Hartman (uncredited). Stars: Bud
Abbott, Lou Costello. Richard Carlson, Joan Davis, Evelyn Ankers,
Mischa Auer, Marc Lawrence, Shemp Howard, Russell Hicks, William B.
Davidson, Milton Parsons, Ted Lewis & The Andrews Sisters. B&W,
86 minutes.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Filmed
right after their breakout hit, <i>Buck Privates</i>, but not
released until after <i>In the Navy</i>, <i>Hold That
Ghost</i> is, in this author’s opinion, their finest film, a
wonderful send-up of The Old Dark House genre, even though the studio
panicked and almost ruined it.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It
was originally titled <i>Don’t Look Now</i>, and later, <i>Oh,
Charlie!</i>, but just before its release, the studio – reacting to
audience fervor for the musical interludes in <i>Buck Privates –
</i>decided to re-tool the film by adding musical interludes and a
new opening. It made the film almost incoherent at times, as
characters came and disappeared and others entered without
introduction to the audience. That it remained as funny as it is was
a tribute to both the writing and the comedy stylings of the boys.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
movie opens with Chuck Murray (Abbott) and Ferdinand “Ferdie”
Jones (Costello) working as relief waiters at <i>Chez Glamour</i>,
a nightclub where The Andrews Sisters and Ted Lewis and His Orchestra
are appearing. A subplot involves gangster Moose Matson (Davidson),
his lawyer Bannister (Hicks), and torpedo Charlie Smith (Lawrence),
who threatens to rat out Moose to the DA unless he’s given a cut
from Moose’s latest heist. Chuck and Ferdie end up being fired
after head waiter Gregory (Auer) catches them eating a patron’s
food.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
next day Chuck and Ferdie are back working at the gas station when
none other than Moose Matson pulls in for gasoline. As they service
his car the cops spot Moose and the boys find themselves
inadvertently kidnapped as Moose speeds away. Moose is killed in a
shootout with the pursuing police, and as he dies he pulls a copy of
his Last Will and Testament from his jacket.</span></span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOMqpNEU8uTmFYXDuP_2JLtZ3tRzRFFK9lSFTB_wT0f6PizCu_-u5RokV4K2swWeGXiGcDG-myb7P5rt95r-hV-uE1eczWYxSaHBZQcY8PfMogKiyy-Cv4wv4rcZP9dfwNh8C4F8F7NuU/s1600/hold+main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1259" data-original-width="1600" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOMqpNEU8uTmFYXDuP_2JLtZ3tRzRFFK9lSFTB_wT0f6PizCu_-u5RokV4K2swWeGXiGcDG-myb7P5rt95r-hV-uE1eczWYxSaHBZQcY8PfMogKiyy-Cv4wv4rcZP9dfwNh8C4F8F7NuU/s320/hold+main.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">During
a meeting with Banister they learn they are the sole beneficiaries of
the will, but Bannister tells them there is no money: “Moose Matson
always said that he kept his money in his head. We never learned what
he meant.” The only tangible asset is an old tavern on the highway
out of town. Bannister buzzes for his associate, Charlie Smith, to
accompany the boys to their inheritance. Charlie makes plans with
Chuck and Ferdie to meet him at the corner the next day, where they
will catch a private bus driven by Harry Hoskins (Parsons) to the
tavern. “It’s going to be a pleasure to take you boys for a
ride,” Smith tells them. As Chuck and Ferdie leave the office
Ferdie has second thoughts about the inheritance. Chuck chides him
for his attitude, but then shots ring out from a passing car, missing
Ferdie, but hitting his hat. As the car speeds away we see Charlie
Smith inside along with other gang members.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Arriving
on the corner at the prescribed time the boys learn that other
passengers have also hired the bus: Norma Lind (Ankers), Dr. Jackson
(Carlson) and radio actress Camille Brewster (Davis). As they drive
to the tavern a thunderstorm breaks out and it’s decided to rest
for the night at the tavern until the weather clears. They unload the
groceries and enter the tavern, hear a backfire and run outside,
only to see Hoskins driving off with their luggage. They’re stuck.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
the night progresses, strange things happen. Smith disappears while
searching the basement, and later his corpse turns up unexpectedly
several times. The water in the tavern is undrinkable. Ferdie's
bedroom turns out to be rigged with hidden gambling equipment. The
girls are scared by what appears to be a ghost. Two detectives show
up but vanish soon after starting their investigation. Chuck and the
doctor decide to search for the detectives while Ferdie examines a
map to find the quickest route back to town. However, the candles on
the table move mysteriously and scare Ferdie. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Chuck
takes Ferdie to a room they deduce is Moose Matson’s bedroom. A
long cord hangs by the bed. Ferdie asks what it’s for and Chuck
tells him “you pull that when you want your breakfast.” As Ferdie
yanks the cord the curtains separate to reveal a closet door. Chuck
tells him to open it, but Ferdie refuses: “I know what happens in
those mystery pictures. A guy walks up to a perfectly ordinary door,
he opens it up and zowie!Out falls a body right on its kisser.”
Chuck opens the door and there is nothing there. Ferdie feels ashamed
and slams the door. As he does so Charlie Smith’s body, bound and
gagged, falls out from behind some curtains. Ferdie faints and Chuck
drags him out, calling for the doctor. The doctor examines Smith and
tells the others that he’s been strangled. “Is that Serious?”
asks Ferdie. “The man is dead,” Chuck replies. “Oh, that’s
serious.”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Later,
Chuck tries to find Ferdie another room, but the problem is that, in
each room, as Ferdie tries to go to bed, he finds his room has
changed into a gambling parlor, thanks to a trick coat tree; but when
he goes to get Chuck he takes the article of clothing off the tree,
which causes the room to change back when Chuck enters. Downstairs,
Norma finds Jackson testing the tavern's water, and the two begin to
feel a mutual attraction. Unable to find the police, and convinced
that someone is trying to scare them out, the group decides to leave
the tavern. Chuck seats Ferdie at a table and gives him a map of the
area to find a way out. Later, Camille joins him and we are treated
to one of Abbott and Costello’s classic bits – the moving candle
routine – before they are jumped by a “ghost,” a thug with a
sheet over him.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
Chuck and Camille are trying to figure out what Moose meant when he
said he kept his money in his head, Ferdie arrives to join the
discussion. This leads to a funny bit on “figures of speech,”
with Ferdie hitting on the solution about Moose’s money when he
points to a moose’s head on the wall, and says, “You mean he kept
his money in that thing?” Chuck and Camille think he’s crazy and
Ferdie begins reaching into the head to prove himself wrong when
bills suddenly begin coming out, followed by what Ferdie thinks is a
tonsil (roll of bills). </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Members
of the gang appear and demand the money, leading to a chase through
the building with Ferdie knocking them out one by one with the bag of
money. Alerted by the sound of a police siren, the gangsters scamper
out of the tavern, unaware that the "siren" was actually
Ferdie. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">With
the gangsters gone, Chuck and Ferdie count the money, but the doctor
tells them that the water they drank last night has therapeutic
properties, and Ferdie and Chuck are inspired to transform the club
into an nightclub. The boys hire Ted Lewis and The Andrews Sisters to
headline, and even Gregory, the maitre d' who fired them from <i>Chez
Glamour,</i> turns up as a waiter. Jackson and Norma arrive
fresh from their honeymoon, and when they ask Ferdie about Camille,
he tells them that he and Camille had a “runaway wedding,” she
got the license and he ran away. Ferdie works the cash register, but
when Chuck checks it, he finds it nearly empty, then discovers all
the money hidden in Ferdie's tuxedo.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Afterwords</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
problem with <i>Hold That Ghost</i> is, though it is
hilarious at times, it has a choppy plot. Characters enter and
disappear with no explanation and plot threads are suddenly dropped
with no explanation. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Robert
Lees and Frederic Rinaldo completed the screenplay on January 14,
1941, a week or two after <i>Buck Privates</i> wrapped.
Their vision for the film was to move Bud and Lou from supporting
players in a romantic plot with music to the focus of the film –
real characters who do much more than simply come in to supply a
routine or two to liven the pace. </span></span></span></div>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSSNtYvruJyc2R43bGbihGHqxP6SWEXBVAEiIwUQF9coQWQaj78ZrIWDtUKyfNDQ46u7cMyj1hWtxvKXC1_fczJU2yaTGVJAjRmgvRaR1qigyBTYMrA0EGp6P2WoUQx_UEpsyKfAddwX0/s1600/hold+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSSNtYvruJyc2R43bGbihGHqxP6SWEXBVAEiIwUQF9coQWQaj78ZrIWDtUKyfNDQ46u7cMyj1hWtxvKXC1_fczJU2yaTGVJAjRmgvRaR1qigyBTYMrA0EGp6P2WoUQx_UEpsyKfAddwX0/s320/hold+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
written, it’s a funny, though incoherent, film. The problem is that
the cuts that were made in order to fit in the musical sequences, led
to the loss of several plot lines. Characters come and go without
sufficient explanation. A prime example are the detectives who arrive
after Smith’s body is found. We see them looking about, but they
suddenly disappear and no more is said. Several supporting
characters, members of Smith’s gang (such as Paul Fix), also have
had important scenes cut.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Perfectly
paced by director Lubin, the film is filled with funny gags and
classic routines. The idea of Matson as a gangster who doesn’t
trust anyone adds to the fun as the boys discover that due to their
kidnapping, they are his only heirs. (“<i>Whereas anybody who would
associate with me in the first place must be a rat; and Whereas I
can’t tell my friends from stoolies, leeches or chiselers; and
Whereas it’s impossible to foresee who will turn yellow when the
going gets tough; therefore I hereby bequeath all my worldly
possessions to those with me at the final moment when the coppers dim
my lights</i>.”) But as mentioned before, the only asset is the
roadhouse, where it’s suspected to be the hiding place for the
Moose’s dough. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While
waiting for Charlie at the corner we meet the other passengers, the
most memorable of which is Camille Brewster (Davis), who introduces
herself as “Camille Brewster the radio actress.” In spite of
Camille’s self-introduction, the only thing she’s known for is
the opening scream from a radio show called <i>Tales of Terror</i>.
She tells the boys, “I told them I was an actress, not just a sound
effect, so I quit. Guess I’ll have to go back to the movies.”
Chuck asks, “Movie actress?” “No,” she says, “usherette.”</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Once
they reach the tavern, Chuck and Ferdie help Camille and Norma with
dinner while Charlie Smith goes down to the basement to “rustle up
some heat.” As he searches for Moose’s bankroll a pair of hands
emerge from the furnace, grabbing Smith around the neck and pulling
him in.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Upstairs
the evening meal is punctuated with classic bits of Abbott and
Costello dialogue as soup is prepared and everyone minus Charlie sits
down to eat. Ferdie reaches out with his hand and is given an
etiquette lesson by Chuck: “Don’t reach! You want something, ask
for it. You have a tongue, haven’t you?” </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Yeah,
but I can reach further with my hand,” replies Ferdie. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ferdie
and Camille then perform one of the best routines ever seen in an
Abbott and Costello film as they take part in a “water ballet” on
the dining room floor where there is a large puddle from a leaking
roof. Though the scene itself was scripted, the improvisation from
both Costello and Davis raises the dance to hilarity. Running through
the puddle Ferdie slips and falls down, which leads to the two
splashing each other like a pair of kids before Camille, attempting
to rise, falls backwards into a bucket, which Ferdie plays like a
bongo to a Latin beat as they depart the room. In Joan Davis,
Costello has met his match, a comic who can perform pratfalls and
rattle off witty lines as well as he. Almost stealing its from
Costello, it’s a shame they never worked together again.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Afterward,
when the group decides to look for Charlie Smith, Chuck, Ferdie and
the doctor search the basement. Ferdie opens the furnace only to find
a pair of glowing eyes that blows out his candle. “Ah, it’s only
the wind,” Chuck says. “Since when does the wind eat garlic?”
Ferdie asks. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Watch
for the next scene where Norma and Camille decide to look upstairs
and are scared by an owl. Their screams bring up the men from the
basement, but Ferdie wants no part of going upstairs. As he shouts,
“Did you see the puss she (Camille) made?” we see Joan Davis
trying to keep from cracking up. When we realize that this scene must
have been rehearsed and gone through earlier blown takes, it’s a
testament to the comic ability of Lou Costello.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
the group continues to search for Smith, they discover hidden rooms
and come to the realization that Moose used the tavern as a speakeasy
during Prohibition. Meanwhile, Ferdie becomes convinced that the
tavern is haunted, as strange things continually happen to him when
he is left alone.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">After
Ferdie chases off the gangsters by imitating a police siren, everyone
watches while the boys count the money. However, in the original
version the money turns turns out to be counterfeit. That’s when
Dr. Jackson tells Chuck and Ferdie that could mask more money right
here. The water that tasted so bad turns out to have therapeutic
qualities. “It’ll make sick people feel like dancing,” he says.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
the original ending, the boys have turned the roadhouse into a health
spa with Camille as the dietician. In the last scene a rich woman is
in Moose Matson’s old bed and asks Camille what the long cord is
for. Camille says its purpose is to ring the staff. The woman pulls
the cord and out falls Charlie Smith. The movie ends with a close-up
of Camille screaming.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
new scenes required a rewriting and reworking of the existing
footage. Joan Davis was not available for all the retakes, which
explains her absence at the end of the edited film. having by that
time reported to 20th Century-Fox for a role in <i>Sun Valley
Serenade</i> (1941). As she was unavailable for the re-shoots,
Davis had to be written out of the new scenes (including the new
nightclub finale). In one scene, the tavern money counting scene, her
back is to the camera and it was assumed that this was not Davis but
a double. According to studio records, Davis was on hand for retakes
during that sequence. However, in the rush to complete the retakes
she just happened to be facing the wrong way.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Universal
said it changed the movie at the behest of patrons at test screenings
who “missed the music.” However, the studio would have been
better served by releasing the musicals first, as they did with <i>In
the Navy</i>, and held <i>Hold That Ghost</i> over until
the next year when the musical fad ran its course. Despite the
butchery, though, the film holds up better today than do their
service comedies.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Trivia</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Co-writers
Robert Lees and Fred Rinaldo would later work together and
write <i>Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein</i>. They both
ended up being blacklisted for supposed Red connections during the
Hollywood witch hunt.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
animated opening was done by studio animator Walter Lantz’s crew.</span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-10277522306867555032018-10-28T00:30:00.000-04:002018-10-28T00:30:13.666-04:00TCM TiVo Alert for November 1-7<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>TCM
TiVo ALERT</b></span></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>For</b></span></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>November
1–November 7</b></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>DAVID’S
BEST BETS</b></u><b>:</b></span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span><span style="color: red;"><b>LITTLE
CAESAR </b></span><span style="color: black;">(November 5, 8:00
pm): The movie that made Edward G. Robinson a legitimate movie star.
Warners set the standard for its gritty, engaging, violent,
tense-filled gangster films in 1931 with the release of </span><span style="color: black;"><i>Little
Caesar</i></span><span style="color: black;"> on January 9 and </span><span style="color: black;"><i>Public
Enemy</i></span><span style="color: black;"> with James Cagney on
April 23. Both are among my favorite films. In </span><span style="color: black;"><i>Little
Caesar</i></span><span style="color: black;">, Eddie G. plays Caesar Enrico
"Rico" Bandello, a small-time hood who does everything
possible to become a mob boss in Chicago. Robinson's portrayal of
Rico, also called Little Caesar, is among the most authentic in
cinematic history. His ability to get into character, playing someone
that cold-blooded, ruthless and single-minded without a concern about
anything or anyone else is impressive. The ending is a classic with
Rico gunned down in the gutter saying with surprise, "Mother of
mercy! Is this the end of Rico?"</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b>GASLIGHT </b></span><span style="background: #ffffff;">(January
11, 8:00 pm): As a huge fan of Joseph Cotten and Ingrid Bergman, it's
great to see that when the two teamed together in this 1944
film that the result was spectacular. </span><i>Gaslight</i><span style="background: #ffffff;"> has
fantastic pacing, starting slowly planting the seeds of Bergman's
potential insanity and building to a mad frenzy with Cotten's
Scotland Yard inspector saving the day and Bergman gaining revenge.
While Charles Boyer has never been a favorite of mine, he is
excellent in this role as Bergman's scheming husband who is slowly
driving her crazy. Also deserving of praise is Angela Lansbury in her
film debut as the couple's maid. Lansbury has the hots for Boyer
and nothing but disdain for Bergman. A well-acted, well-directed film
that is one I always enjoy viewing no matter how many times I
see it.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>ED’S
BEST BETS</b></u><b>:</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>ALEXANDER
NEVSKY</b></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"><b> </b></span>(November
4. 2:00 am), As with the rest of director Sergei Eisenstein’s work,
this is a Must See, a brilliant <i>tour de force</i> that
unfortunately foresaw the horrors of the near future. And like most
of Eisenstein's best films, <i>Alexander Nevsky </i>was
conceived as a morale film whose aim was to rally Russian patriotism.
Though set in the 13th century, the villainous Teutonic Knights are
obviously meant to represent the then contemporary threat of Hitler
and his Wehrmacht. With Russia besieged by both these knights and the
Tartars, a charismatic leader is needed to save Russia from the
onslaught of barbarians who stoop so low as to kill babies
(Eisenstein depicts the villains tossing screaming infants into
bonfires). The hero who comes forward to save Russia is the legendary
Prince Alexander Nevsky, portrayed by Nikolai Cherkasov (who bears a
striking resemblance to Gary Cooper). The turnaround for Nevsky
occurs at the battle of ice-covered Lake Peipus in 1242, filmed by
Eisenstein in spectacular fashion, using specially-commissioned music
by Sergei Prokofiev as an underlining and to supply emphasis.
Ironically, Leningrad was saved from total starvation by the Germans
as the Soviets ferried supplies and took away starving children
across frozen Lake Pagoda. Watching it today, even after all this
time, it still has the power to enthrall and captivate the viewer, no
mean feat.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>THE
SHOP AROUND THE CORNER</b></span> (November 5, 8:00 am): Ernest
Lubitsch was at his absolute best when he directed this wonderful gem
about two feuding co-workers at a Budapest notions store who do not
realize that they are secret romantic pen pals. Jimmy Stewart and
Margaret Sullivan, as the employees, bring the concept of charm to
its ideal. They are aided and abetted by a sterling cast, including
Frank Morgan (in one of the best performances), Joseph Schildkraut,
Sara Haden, Felix Bressart, William Tracy, and Inez Courtney. It
boasts a superb script by Samson Raphaelson, who adapted it from
Nikolaus Laszlo’s play, <i>Parfumerie</i>. In fact, the film
was so compelling that it was later remade as a Judy Garland
musical, <i>In the Good Old Summertime </i>(1949), a
Broadway musical, <i>She Loves Me</i> (1963, revived in
19934), and the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan vehicle, <i>You’ve Got
Mail</i> (1998), where the lovers correspond via e-mail.
However, the original still stands head and shoulders above the
remakes and is an essential</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>WE DISAGREE
ON ... MIGHTY JOE YOUNG </b>(November 1, 6:00 am)</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>ED:
B-.</b></span> <i>Mighty Joe Young</i> is no classic by any
stretch of the imagination, <u><b>but</b></u> it is
quite watchable. My partner absolutely hates it, probably the
result from some trauma suffered in childhood where his parents broke
his crayons to make sure that he watched the movie. We should see the
film for what it is – the entertaining, friendlier version of <i>King
Kong</i> that <i>Son of Kong </i>tried, but failed, to
be for the studio. This time around, however, the film has a much
more pronounced subliminal message than did either two Kong films.
Willis O’Brien was an early version of today’s animal
activist, he believed that animals should be left alone, and further,
be free to be left alone. Joe Young was happy living in the wilds of
Africa until Robert Armstrong and his pals showed up to take both Joe
and his companion, Jill (Terry Moore), back to “civilization” as
part of a nightclub act. The poor ape is abused by drunken audiences
and placed in a cage between performances. Anyone who sees the scene
of Jill visiting Joe in his prison can’t help but be moved by
Joe’s plight. When Joe has a natural; reaction one night to
his audience abusers, he (no pun intended) goes ape and is ordered to
be shot by a judge. But Joe escapes, and to show what a good guy he
really is, rescues about a dozen orphans from a burning building. The
judge relents and Joe and Jill return to Africa to live happily ever
after. Unlike the earlier Kong movies, this film is quite obviously
aimed at the kiddies. Most of the budget went for O’Brien’s special
effects, and Armstrong was brought in to remind audiences of <i>King
Kong.</i> (In fact, this film often played on a double, or
triple, bill in some cities to cash in on its predecessors.) As such,
important things such as plot, direction, and star power went by the
wayside, which hurts the film. Disney remade <i>Mighty Joe
Young </i>in 1998, but steer well clear of that one, as one
would of all <i>King Kong</i> reboots.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b>DAVID:
D+</b></span>. I'm not a fan of <i>King Kong</i> so you can
imagine how much I dislike this pathetic Kong rip-off. Ed
is partially correct about this film and trauma I suffered in
childhood, but it has nothing to do with crayons or at least I
don't think it does. My father was a huge Kong fan and
he loved this film so I've seen it about a dozen times. I freely
admit I haven't seen this film in about 30 years, but when
you've seen it as often as I did and loathe it, the memory of this
train-wreck of a movie stays with you for a very, very long time. The
plot reminds me of Curious George meets Santa in the courtroom scene
of <i>Miracle on 34th Street</i>. There is barely a
plot. There's a pathetic attempt to be some sort of message
movie though I don't understand what the film's message is.
Ed wrote the film has a more pronounced subliminal message that the
first two Kong films. The message must be extraordinary subliminal
because I don't get it at all, or maybe I do and it
hasn't reached my consciousness yet despite seeing it so many
torturous times. The acting is atrocious. The special effects
are a mixed bag, but not awful. However, Joe's changing height
is laughably bad. He's sometimes the height or a person and then
he's much taller in other scenes. At least the movie
doesn't take itself seriously, or it shouldn't take itself
seriously as it comes across as a cheap-looking attempt at slapstick
comedy. That's not saying much, but the all-too-few bright spots
save the movie from getting an F. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 33px; text-align: justify;">For the complete list of films on the TCM TiVo Alert, click </span><a href="http://celluloidclub.blogspot.com/p/tcm-tivo-alert.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.4; text-align: justify;">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 33px; text-align: justify;">.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-28637781993873400952018-10-26T00:30:00.000-04:002018-10-26T00:30:06.264-04:00First Man<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dinner
and a Movie</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Steve Herte</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>First
Man</b></i></span> <b>(Universal, 2018) – Director: Damien
Chazelle. Writers: Josh Singer (s/p), Jamres R. Hansen (book). Stars:
Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke. Color, Rated PG-13, 141
minutes.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It’s a rare thing
indeed when I view a biopic. This one interested me, even though I
knew the story, having lived through the 1961-1969 period and
followed the Gemini and Apollo missions avidly. My teen years were at
times terrifying – the Cuban Missile Crisis – and extremely
hopeful – the Space Race. This movie brought back that hope and, at
the same time made me glad I didn’t decide to become an astronaut.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The movie follows
the lives of Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) and his wife Janet (Claire
Foy) as they experience the successes and the failures of America’s
competition with the Soviet Union in the dangerous fledgling manned
space program. At the same time they have to deal with the death of
their youngest child Karen (Lucy Stafford) and explain to their two
sons Mark (Connor Blodgett) and Rick (Luke Winters) that Dad is going
to the moon and he might not come back. That possibility became
scarily clear after Gus Grissom (Shea Whigham), Roger Chaffee (Cory
Michael Smith) and Edward Higgins White (Jason Clarke) are killed in
a command module fire on a test of Apollo 1.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2ExtuZvE10Elhze9YXChEof9q-zKZyAq-BBgU2qPK8eJvP5BdE5aQ9SfveTlyr4OCWS5Na4cnT41MmXO8Zsw6nsxDzbGgurc-Us4FNZ1X_U1Z5solREmQIcV-930pLkgrnFT9LiV_Hw/s1600/D%2526M+movie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="620" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2ExtuZvE10Elhze9YXChEof9q-zKZyAq-BBgU2qPK8eJvP5BdE5aQ9SfveTlyr4OCWS5Na4cnT41MmXO8Zsw6nsxDzbGgurc-Us4FNZ1X_U1Z5solREmQIcV-930pLkgrnFT9LiV_Hw/s320/D%2526M+movie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Janet probably would
not let Neil go to the moon if she saw what the audience witnessed on
a docking mission with an orbiting Aegina rocket and the spacecraft
started spinning out of control. I for one would not enter a cramped
space that rattled and shook as if it were made out of tin atop
hundreds of pounds of rocket fuel. The effects were that good. Many
times the photography was hand-held as if the audience was a press
employee following the actors. Normally, this would leave me a bit
nauseous but it worked in this film. The acting was superb and the
characters convincing. The two hours and twenty-one minutes could
have been shortened to under two hours by reducing the few scenes
where nothing is going on, no one is talking and it seems like an
endless staring contest. Otherwise, it’s an excellent movie.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I enjoyed seeing all
the familiar astronauts in NASA history; Jim Lovell (Pablo
Schreiber), Elliot See (Patrick Fugit), Pete Conrad (Ethan Embry),
Dave Scott (Christopher Abbott), John Glenn (John David Whalen),
Wally Schirra (Shawn Eric Jones), as well as the two other members of
the Apollo 11 crew, Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll) and Mike Collins (Lukas
Haas). My favorite line was from Janet Armstrong when her radio
monitor was shut off at a crucial moment. “You’re a bunch of boys
making models out of balsa wood! You don’t have anything under
control!”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>First Man</i> is
a film worth seeing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Rating: 4 out of
5 martini glasses.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Boucherie</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>225 Park Avenue
South (18</b><sup><b>th</b></sup> <b>Street), New York City</b></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.boucherie.nyc/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><u><b>www.boucherie.nyc</b></u></span></span></span></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I love French food
and I also love steakhouses. Boucherie has the best of both worlds,
with The traditional French menu on a placemat-sized card and the
steakhouse menu on a separate leather-bound card.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I was seated near
the front window, a great location great. My server, Boban, was eager
to please. When it was discovered there was no Beefeaters gin, he
quickly got the idea of Botany gin and I was able to enjoy my
favorite martini.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">My drink set off the
intense, garlicky flavor of the <i>Escargots de Bourgogne</i>,
made traditionally and served in the familiar six-cupped crock with
parsley, butter, lemon, garlic and shallots. The sliced French bread
helped get every drop of the intoxicating butter sauce. The surprise
for me was that there were twelve snails in the serving instead of
the usual six. They were savory and a little chewy but great.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Despite having dined
at over two thousand restaurants, I’ve never had a <i>Salade
Niçoise</i>. I had my own ideas about the recipe and just recently
heard what would make it interesting yet I was still surprised at the
pan-seared Ahi tuna, baby arugula, Haricots verts, tomato, Niçoise
olives, organic hard-boiled egg, fingerling potatoes and balsamic
vinaigrette dressing. The size of the dish alone was a show-stopper
and I took my time enjoying all the ingredients. Everything was
fresh, the Haricots were crisp, the potatoes were tender and the tuna
beautifully prepared and delicately flavored.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As my entrée was
seafood, I chose the 2017 Alain Geoffroy Petit Chablis, from
Burgundy, France – a crisp, fresh white that had a little
sweet flavor mixed with the iodine-like tang. It accented the spicy
flavor of the <i>Lotte Rôtie aux Coques</i> – roasted
monkfish, cockles, chorizo, white wine, piquillo peppers and spring
peas. The spice from the peppers and the chorizo made the meaty
monkfish taste like a new breed of fish. I loved the excitement of it
and the crunchy peas cut the spice nicely.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhof6XeYqVmbQ100JDYihs-S6v2xZLavYdn4CsY0UIZvVg-jUQK3tUnUnXFDqfpfUaN-3vCruLlup8iXYFDjLzFRzln7u4LZh6fMixevIOWXJ6NKW2i6GUoF1TZi0iUSppSccoc1q8BkZM/s1600/D%2526M+crepes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhof6XeYqVmbQ100JDYihs-S6v2xZLavYdn4CsY0UIZvVg-jUQK3tUnUnXFDqfpfUaN-3vCruLlup8iXYFDjLzFRzln7u4LZh6fMixevIOWXJ6NKW2i6GUoF1TZi0iUSppSccoc1q8BkZM/s320/D%2526M+crepes.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It’s been a long
time since I last had Crêpes Suzette, when the waitress spilled the
Grand Marnier onto the table and blue flames danced everywhere. She
tried to put them out with a napkin and set that on fire too. Such a
memory. But I ordered them anyway. What arrived was not flambé, just
wet, thin orange pancakes with a globe of vanilla ice cream perched
on a peach half. It tasted as boring as it looked. Boban noticed
right away and suggested replacing the dish with Profiteroles. I
agreed, even though I consider them boring too. I was wrong. This
fluffy pastry was not what I expected. It was a fresh-made sphere of
sweet puffy dough that Boban covered in dark chocolate sauce.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The double espresso
was very good but the Chateau Laubade Extra Armagnac was excellent!
Again, a long time since I even saw Armagnac on a menu. It was
delightful. I think I might return to Boucherie to try their
steakhouse menu.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.3636px; text-align: justify;">For the Dinner and a Movie archive, click<span style="color: #343434;"> </span></span><a href="http://celluloidclub.blogspot.com/p/dinner-and-movie-archive.html" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 16.3636px; text-align: justify;">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.3636px; text-align: justify;">.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-12301964487373092392018-10-23T00:30:00.000-04:002018-10-23T00:30:02.076-04:00Foreign Agent<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
B Hive </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Ed Garea</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Foreign
Agent</b></i></span> <b>(Monogram, 1942) – Director: William
Beaudine. Writers: John W. Krafft (s/p), Martin Mooney (story &
s/p). Stars: John Shelton, Gale Storm, Ivan Lebedeff, George Travell,
Patsy Moran, Lyle Latell, Hans Schumm, William Halligan, Kenneth
Harlan, Herbert Rawlinson, Boyd Irwin, David Clarke, Fay Wall, Edward
Pell, Sr., & Paul Bryar. B&W, 64 minutes.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Those
who have seen a lot of Monogram’s output during the Second World
War might well come to the conclusion that when goofier movies are
made, Monogram will make them.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It
might be argued by some that this is a train wreck movie. However,
train wreck films are made by major studios and have budgets. This is
Monogram, where the budget at times is practically nonexistent.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
only a little over an hour Monogram gives us a nearly
incomprehensible story of a Hollywood starlet who teams with a
technician to take on Japanese spies in California.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
movie opens with the murder of a Hollywood lighting technician named
Mayo, found hanged in his apartment by a maid. At the time
of his murder he was working on a new kind of filter that would allow
a searchlight to expose enemy aircraft without visible light. </span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoM_y13FVqF2xFO3Km1Q78CR5y1IIqpgkHNaeDllReDtdJzIesscejHvJv-ltWCkAA9HLibCKV1VZGZ49L7xQtQBw62gZEK_RJ0TOe_RQHxByfSdjQLHnAVn-iAuJdryGgkwUdQqQezB4/s1600/foreign+main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoM_y13FVqF2xFO3Km1Q78CR5y1IIqpgkHNaeDllReDtdJzIesscejHvJv-ltWCkAA9HLibCKV1VZGZ49L7xQtQBw62gZEK_RJ0TOe_RQHxByfSdjQLHnAVn-iAuJdryGgkwUdQqQezB4/s1600/foreign+main.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">He
was murdered by two foreign agents named Nick Dancy (Travell) and
Okura (Lebedeff). They work for master Nazi spy Dr. Werner
(Schumm), who in turn works with Robert Nelson (Pell Sr.)
and Elliott Jennings (Irwin) who head a Quisling-type organization
called the North American Peace Association, funded by the Nazis. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dancy
and Okura bring Mayo’s papers to Dr. Werner but nothing of note is
found in them aside from an autographed photo of Mayo’s daughter,
Mitzi (Storm), a struggling actress at the studio. This leads Werner
to believe that she might have the plans. (How many daughters –
even if they are movie stars – give their father an autographed
photo?) </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Meanwhile,
the film shifts gears as Mitzi's boyfriend Jimmy (Shelton), an actor
at the same studio, tells her that he is joining the Army. Mitzi, who
shares an apartment with stuntwoman Joan Collins (Moran), also sings
at the Harbor Club. Joan, who is practically engaged to studio sound
man Eddie McGurk (Latell), borrows Mitzi’s car for a date with
Eddie. They are followed by Dancy and Okura, who, mistaking them for
Mitzi and Jimmy, steal Joan's diamond engagement ring and Mitzi's
car.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Later,
as Mitzi and Jimmy return to Mitzi's after a date, they discover the
house has been ransacked. Mitzi confesses to Jimmy that she has the
plans for the filter and asks him to keep them safe. Jimmy suggests
that they show the plans to George McCall (Harlan), an electrician at
the studio who might be able to build the filter.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When
Jimmy goes to the recruiting office to sign up, it’s explained to
him that there are many ways he can help his country right here at
home. Jimmy is asked to defer his plans to join the Army to help
radio commentator Bob Davis (Halligan) investigate subversive groups.
When Jimmy goes to his office he becomes involved in a fight that was
apparently staged by Davis to test Jimmy’s mettle (and to pad out
the rather thin plot). Having passed his entrance exam, Jimmy is
assigned to watch Nelson and Jennings and report on their activities.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Later,
Joan goes to see Mitzi perform at The Harbor Club. While there she
recognizes one of the men who robbed her and calls Eddie. When Eddie
arrives a fight breaks out and the men flee. However, one has dropped
his wallet and an examination of the papers inside reveal his
connection to Werner's group. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Meanwhile,
Davis discovers that his office is bugged. With Jimmy's help, he
feeds the eavesdroppers false information as Jimmy discovers the
location of the spies's headquarters and sets up a system to tape
their interactions. During a lull in the action Jimmy and Mitzi play
around with one of Davis’s recording machines. Speaking with
horrible German accents, they somehow decide they’d be good in Nazi
movies. (“Everybody’s making them these days!” Jimmy says.) But
then they think it over and decide they don’t want money badly
enough to play Nazis (!). Later, while listening to the tapes Jimmy
and Mitzi learn the group plans to bomb Los Angeles. They agree to
turn the recordings over to the FBI. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">However,
Werner’s men discover they were being bugged and trace the tap to
Mitzi's apartment. There they capture Jimmy, Mitzi and Davis. Jimmy
then plays them the recording that he and Mitzi made, convincing the
spies that it’s actually Werner and his mistress Anna (Wall)
planning to double-cross them. During the ensuing confusion, U.S.
government agents arrive and arrest Werner and his men. Later, Jimmy
and Mitzi watch a demonstration of her father's invention, and Jimmy
tells Mitzi that he loves her.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Afterwords</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiF__rYdKFq1s8VQiAmhnjh0PYdac1uQKAxT7nC3jQPNloVfKJ4fhNmiEuxjP-XmepBt64PCRZdpt0nJGl6U4C1q18XwFZNXP8VZ1gdWV60VGEeaA_aSmxYxPxJfjfGMLpKYPCz-YekhY/s1600/foreign+two.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiF__rYdKFq1s8VQiAmhnjh0PYdac1uQKAxT7nC3jQPNloVfKJ4fhNmiEuxjP-XmepBt64PCRZdpt0nJGl6U4C1q18XwFZNXP8VZ1gdWV60VGEeaA_aSmxYxPxJfjfGMLpKYPCz-YekhY/s320/foreign+two.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
a spy movie, the only thing <i>Foreign Agent </i>has going
for it is a mercifully short running time of 64 minutes. It’s more
interesting as a rather unpleasant mirror of its times – 1942
America. When it was made the possibility of a Japanese raid on Los
Angeles was seen as very possible, giving the plot of this movie the
illusion of being ripped right out of the day's headlines. And so the
movie’s goal seems to be to remind Americans to keep their lips
zipped about defense matters and the like, and also to be suspicious
of foreigners, because spies are everywhere. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
film is marked by its casual racism, which is so over the top that it
engenders more laughs today than outrage. For instance, one of the
songs Mitzi sings at The Harbor Club is an entertaining little ditty
written by Bill Anderson and titled “It’s Taps For the Japs,
Buddy,” with lyrics like “<i>that sneaky race is gonna
diminish/’cause what they’ve begun we’re prepared to finish!</i>”
(With only an on-screen accordionist as accompanist.)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
main drawback of the film is its dopey plot reinforced by some
amazingly shoddy acting. As Mitzi, Gale Storm gives an amazingly
lifeless performance, but compared to the others in the cast she
comes off like Myrna Loy. John Shelton, as Jimmy, is, as they say,
what might be described as mercifully inadequate. He spends his time
as an extra on the studio lot whining such witty lines as “Why do
they give all the American military movies to foreign directors?”
Obviously a deep thinker.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
movie’s plot spends too much of its time wallowing in Mitzi and
Jimmy’s insipid love story. It’s all too obvious that Mitzi’s
night job as a lounge singer is simply a poor excuse to perform a few
seemingly endless awful musical numbers and eat up even more of the
plot before returning to our foreign agents of the title as they plot
away. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Even
worse than the love story between Storm and Shelton is the comic
relief duo of Patsy Moran and Lyle Latell. It seems that every
time the film begins to demonstrate a plot, director Beaudine cuts
back to these two as they engage in a form of argument found mainly
in bad sitcoms. At least it’s better than some of the utterly inane
morale propaganda cut-ins, like the starlet at a bar who
complains that her boyfriend has just been shipped off to Australia,
leading the bartender to admonish her by pointing at a poster with a
picture of a dead hand with a caption that reads “Somebody
blabbed!” That’s as subtle as it gets. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There
also is a curious scene concerning a first-generation American whose
family was still back in mother Russia standing up to Nazi thugs at a
rally. That he is practically the spitting image of Stalin was
obviously Monogram’s idea of showing support for the Soviet Union.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And,
of course, there are the accents. One would think that the terribly
phony German accents of Mitzi and Jimmy would be spotted right away
by the Axis spies. Actually, they would </span></span></span>–<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> if the spies’ own
accents weren’t just as atrocious. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Actually,
the idea of spies operating on Hollywood studio lots is a good one,
and was used in quite a few B-movies of the time. But no studio used
it as outrageously as Monogram did with <i>Foreign Agent</i>.</span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-20394604458259661142018-10-20T00:30:00.000-04:002018-10-20T00:30:06.530-04:00TCM TiVo Alert for October 23-31<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>TCM
TiVo ALERT</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>For</b></span></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>October
23–October 31</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u>DAVID’S
BEST BETS</u>:</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background: #ffffff;">THE
GREAT DICTATOR</span></b></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: #ffffff;"> (October
23, 5:45 pm): TCM shows this 1940 Charlie Chaplin masterpiece on a
regular basis so it often gets overlooked. As he did in so many of
his roles, Chaplin brilliantly portrays the film's protagonist, known
as "a Jewish barber," with great empathy and humility while
still being funny. And when you mention funny, his impersonation of
Adolf Hitler – the character in the film is named Adenoid Hynkel –
is spot-on and highly entertaining. The film, made before the United
States was at war with Nazi Germany, has several iconic scenes,
including Hynkel playing with a bouncing globe, and a chase
scene between the barber and storm troopers. Chaplin's brilliance
lied in his ability to make people think about the world while making
them laugh. There is no finer example of that than </span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="background: #ffffff;">The
Great Dictator</span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: #ffffff;">.
The ending is beautiful. It's too bad life rarely turns out to have a
happy Hollywood ending, but that doesn't diminish from the
entertainment and importance of this landmark film. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background: #ffffff;">DODSWORTH</span></b></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: #ffffff;"> (October
26, 6:00 am): Sam Dodsworth (Walter Huston) is a rich automobile
manufacturer who loves his job, but is convinced to retire early by
his wife Fran (Ruth Chatterton), a vain woman who is fearful of
growing old. She wants to see the world, particularly Europe, lead an
exciting life. Sam is a regular guy who wants to please his wife.
Fran quickly grows bored of Sam and spends most of her time with
other men. She eventually dumps him for a European noble, leaving Sam
to mope around Italy, where he sees a divorcee (Mary Astor), who he
first met while traveling on the Queen Mary to Europe. The two fall
in love, but Fran wants to reconcile. I won't ruin the ending.
Everything works exceptionally well in this film. The acting is
top-notch (besides the three leads, David Niven is great in a smaller
role in one of his earliest films, and Maria Ouspenskaya as a
baroness is a scene-stealer), the story is first-rate, and with
William Wyler as the director, the movie is filmed and paced
perfectly.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u>ED’S
BEST BETS</u>:</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>THE
DEVIL BAT</b></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"><b> </b></span>(October
24, 1:30 am): Bela Lugosi is the whole show in this wonderfully
ridiculous thriller. Bela plays a scientist who entices his victims
to sample a new cologne he’s developed, and one that will attract a
giant bat he keeps in the attic. It’s all about his revenge on two
families he felt cheated him out of a partnership. With Dave O’Brien
and Suzanne Kaaren. It’s hilarious watching Bela telling his
victims to “rub some on the tender part of your neck” and then
bids them cheery good-byes before sending them t their doom. A lot of
fun if you simply take it for what it is.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>DIABOLIQUE</b></span> (August
28, 4:00 am): Frankly, I cannot recommend this picture enough. Think
of a perfect Hitchcock film without Hitchcock. That’s <i>Diabolique</i>,
which is directed by Henri-Georges Cluzot. To no one’s surprise,
he’s known as “the French Hitchcock,’ and Hitchcock himself was
influenced by this film. This is a masterful psychological horror
film that builds slowly to a final 15 minutes that will keep you on
the edge of your seat. Although the twist ending murder plot has been
done many times since, it’s never been done
better. <i>Diabolique</i> takes place at a school where
Simone Signoret helps her friend Vera Clouzot (real life wife of the
director) drown her ogre of a husband (Paul Meurisse), who “returns
to life” in a really terrifying scene. It’s a taut, beautifully
woven thriller with a climax that will truly shock you. Fans of
Hitchcock will love this, as will anyone that loves a well-written
thriller with the emphasis on character rather than going for the
cheap thrill.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: #ffffff;"><b>WE
DISAGREE ON ... DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE</b> (October 29, 9:15
pm)</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: #ffffff;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>ED:
A.</b></span> Of all the versions made of Robert Louis
Stevenson’s classic over the years, this is my favorite. This is
the film that established Frederic March as a serious actor and he is
superb in it, as is Miriam Hopkins as Ivy. Director Rouben Mamoulian
teamed with cinematographer Karl Struss to make full use of the
camera not just as a recorder, which had been the case with sound
films of the era, but also as an active participant in the framing
and movement of the film. Note the use of wipes and fades to move
from scene to scene and first-person perspective to heighten our
viewing experience. Even transitional shots and effects are used to
intensify our attention. The lengthy dissolves linger beautifully
into superimposed imagery, for example, the image of Ivy’s legs
superimposed over the scene of Jekyll and Dr. Lanyon’s
conversation. Mamoulian makes full use of camera positioning for some
extraordinary shots. Watch also for the scene where Hyde appears to
be breaking the fourth wall – looking through the camera
and into the next room. Returning to the performances let me
note that March won the Best Actor Oscar (which he shared with
Wallace Beery for <i>The Champ</i>). This would be the only
acting award granted for a horror film until Anthony Hopkins won
for <i>The Silence of the Lambs</i>. March gives a nuanced
performance, carefully straddling the line between the repressed
Jekyll and the libidinous Hyde without going overboard into the
ecstasies of overacting. Hopkins dazzles as Ivy: after Jekyll drives
off a man who tried to attack her and takes her back to her flat, her
attempt at seducing Jekyll is exquisitely done, and tragic, as Jekyll
resists, but Hyde, the beast within Jekyll, remembers. Although I
also love MGM’s 1941 remake with Spencer Tracy as Jekyll/Hyde and
Ingrid Bergman as Ivy, it’s the 1931 version that triumphs due to
Mamoulian.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: #ffffff;"><span style="color: red;"><b>DAVID:
B-.</b></span> This is a good film with solid performances by
Frederic March in the title role and Miriam Hopkins as Ivy, a sexy
and sexual bar singer who catches the eye of Dr. Jekyll. Also, the
camera work and makeup that shows Jekyll's transformation to Mr. Hyde
is impressive for a 1931 film. The main issue I have with the film is
I'm just not a fan of the story. That makes enjoying a movie version
of the film – and there have been a lot of them –
challenging. This film isn't as true to the Robert Louis Stevenson
book as other versions though it is among the better ones.
Interestingly enough, I prefer the 1941 movie, which stars Spencer
Tracy and Ingrid Bergman (who is absolutely delicious in the
"bad-girl" role). That version is almost a scene-by-scene
remake of the 1931 film, minus some of the Pre-Code sexual innuendo.
The differences are the 1941 film stars actors I consider stronger
than March and Hopkins, and better special effects because of the
advancement of the technology over those 10 years. I wouldn't
discourage anyone from watching the 1931 version, and recommend it to
those who are fans of the genre.</span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 33px; text-align: justify;">For the complete list of films on the TCM TiVo Alert, click </span><a href="http://celluloidclub.blogspot.com/p/tcm-tivo-alert.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.4; text-align: justify;">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 33px; text-align: justify;">.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-83460448068962933992018-10-18T00:30:00.000-04:002018-10-18T00:30:09.895-04:00Venom<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dinner
and a Movie</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Steve Herte</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Venom</b></i></span> <b>(Columbia/Marvel,
2018) – Director: Ruben Fleischer. Screenplay: Jeff Pinkner, Scott
Rosenberg. Stars: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed. Color,
Rated PG, 1 hr, 52 minutes.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Anti-hero: A
protagonist in a story lacking conventional heroic qualities and
attributes such as idealism, courage and morality. I found this
summation from Wikipedia pretty accurate in the case of Eddie
Brock/Venom (Tom Hardy). Eddie is a fearless reporter when exposing
injustice but he takes it to foolhardy levels. He’s not physically
strong and he’s not particularly suave with the love of his life,
Anne Weying (Michelle Williams), an up and coming lawyer. His latest
broadcast makes accusations against the powerful Carlton Drake/Riot
(Riz Ahmed) and results in both he and Anne getting fired.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Drake’s
experiments with human/symbiote meldings horrifies scientist Dr. Dora
Skirth (Jenny Slate) and she agrees to smuggle him into the company
headquarters to, hopefully, clear his name and get Anne back (she’s
also left him). It’s there he discovers the alien creatures Drake
has been bringing to Earth for human hosts as an advance party for a
full-out invasion and it’s there he’s paired up with Venom. Eddie
is now a kind of superhero, except without a secret identity or
alter-ego. He’s literally two beings in one.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Venom is all for the
extermination of weak, human life until he spends time actually
walking in Eddie’s shoes. He’s always hungry and humans are
delicious, “Eyes! Lungs! Pancreas! So many snacks, so little time!”
He’s extremely powerful and can re-form any part of his body into a
weapon. When he gets angry with you he can, and will, bite your head
off. His natural form is a sticky, clingy black ooze that is as
mobile as an amoeba and fast moving.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In her time apart
from Eddie, Anne starts dating Dr. Dan Lewis (Reid Scott). Eddie’s
strange behavior while Venom is in him causes her to think he’s got
a parasite. (Note: Never say that word in Venom’s presence. It
disturbs him greatly.) Dan persuades Eddie to submit to a full body
MRI which sends Venom convulsing in an epileptic-like seizure. The
results of Eddie’s blood tests make Dan very concerned when
everything is off the charts. They both try to help Eddie until Anne
witnesses the change from Venom back to Eddie after a massacre.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Drake sends his
drones and minions, including Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) to
capture Eddie, marveling in the success of the human/symbiote
experiment. Meanwhile, Riot, the leader of the invasion force is in
Malaysia and travels from host to host and eventually settles in
Drake. On a humorous note, one of the hosts is a Papillion dog. Riot
wants to start the invasion and use one of Drakes rockets to alert
the rest of his kind and Venom/Eddie now are simpatico and decide to
stop him. And the big chase scene and final battle are on.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Venom</i> is
a good movie, not a great one, but good. It has no dead spots
whatsoever and is entertaining from end to end. The humor is on the
dark side, but it breaks up some of the serious violence going on. I
particularly liked Venom’s confession to Eddie, “On my planet,
I’m kind of a loser, like you.” Tom Hardy is such a lack-luster
actor the audience couldn’t wait until he transformed into Venom.
Michelle Williams walked her way through the script occasionally
sporting emotion but was mostly not believable. Riz Ahmed played the
cartoon villain to the hilt. All he lacked was the evil laugh,
something Hugh Laurie does perfectly. And what would a Marvel Comics
movie be without an appearance by Stan Lee as a Dapper Dog Walker
whose advice to Eddie/Venom is “Don’t give up on her. Either of
you.” (Referring, of course, to Anne.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If you want more
of <i>Venom</i>, be sure to stay through the initial credits and
see the next challenge to the unlikely duo.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Rating: 3 1/2 out
of 5 martini glasses.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Bedford
& Co.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>118 East
40</b><sup><b>th</b></sup> <b>Street, New York</b></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.bedfordandco.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><u><b>www.bedfordandco.com</b></u></span></span></span></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bedford & Co is
located in the venerable Renwick Hotel, listed in Historic Hotels of
America, a place that once hosted John Steinbeck and F. Scott
Fitzgerald.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The menu was all on
a single side of a large card and had several interesting appetizers
and main courses. I ordered a Negroni – Tanqueray gin, Campari,
Carpano Antica sweet vermouth and orange zest. Having never tasted a
Negroni before I realized I had almost created one when I had my
first cocktail. Before the classic martini was my favorite, I was
mixing gin with sweet vermouth as a teenager. I liked it. The Campari
gave a novel bitter twist to the flavor.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I started with the
Fairy Tale Eggplant – grilled with roasted pine nuts and a garlic
aioli garnished with parsley. These delicate little finger-long
eggplants were sliced in half, cooked to juicy tenderness and topped
with crunchy pine nuts. The aioli was almost secondary the flavor of
the first two, yet added a sophisticated note.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">My choice of wine
was a varietal, the 2013 Spring Valley Vineyard Frederick, from Walla
Walla, Washington – 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet
Franc, 10% Merlot. It accented the dishes with spice in them and
backed off on those that didn’t. A very accommodating red.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Next came the
Spanish Octopus – wood-grilled with cucumber, chili and squid ink
vinaigrette – was, once again, remarkably tender and with a nice
smoky flavor from the wood that mixed nicely with the sweet cucumber
and spicy chili. I never cease to be amazed at how a dish so easy to
make wrong can come out delicious so many times.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I was interested in
the Duck Breast entrée but it was sided with kohlrabi on the menu,
which I never liked. However, listening to the conversation with
diners near me, I learned that the dish was prepared a different way
that night and it involved black cherry sauce and spinach. Much
better! The large slices were dark pink and juicy. The nearly black
spinach mitigated the sweet cherry sauce and the net flavor was
heaven.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">My dessert looked
and tasted like – for lack of a better description – a S’Mores
Cupcake. The chocolate and graham cracker cake part was topped by a
fluffy, singed marshmallow meringue. It was no too much, just the
right size and decadently sweet at the same time. A double espresso
cut that sweetness right away. But then I saw the list (yes a list)
of about seven Absinthes. I chose the Jade 1901 Absinthe and my
server brought out an ornate (probably antique) Absinthe preparer. It
looked like a silver space ship filled with ice water. Four spigots
projected from its lower end, one poised over my glass of Absinthe. A
slotted spoon rested across the mouth of my glass with a sugar cube
on it. It was fascinating as the water dripped from the spigot over
the sugar and into my glass as it turned the clear golden liquid to
smoky green. Lovely. I can see why this drink was banned in so many
countries on the suspicion that it drove people mad.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
had a delightful time dining at Bedford & Co. and who knows?
Maybe I’ll stay at the Renwick Hotel on my next stay-cation.</span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.3636px; text-align: justify;">For the Dinner and a Movie archive, click<span style="color: #343434;"> </span></span><a href="http://celluloidclub.blogspot.com/p/dinner-and-movie-archive.html" style="background-color: white; color: #343434; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 16.3636px; text-align: justify;">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 16.3636px; text-align: justify;">.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-4399569322367891002018-10-16T00:30:00.000-04:002018-10-16T00:30:03.275-04:00Cinéma Inhabituel for October 16-31<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A
Guide to the Interesting and Unusual on TCM</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Ed Garea</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Our
column will be relatively short and sweet this time around, for there
is little new or interestingly weird on TCM for the rest of October.
It’s just a mix what we’ve seen many times before, so I’ll just
dwell on a few highlights.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><u><b>THE
MUMMY</b></u></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
21:</b> Start with Hammer’s <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Mummy</b></i></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"> </span>at 8 pm, then
move on to <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The Curse of the Mummy’s
Tomb</b></i></span> at 9:45 and <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The</b></i></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"> </span><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Pharaoh’s
Curse</b></i></span> at 10:45.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">At
2:30 am it’s the 1959 French classic, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Eyes
Without a Face</b></i></span>.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
28:</b> More Hammer horrors with <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Mummy’s Shroud </b></i></span>at 8 pm followed by <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Blood
From the Mummy’s Tomb</b></i></span> at 10 pm.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>GERALD
THOMAS</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
19:</b> A night of comedies from English director Gerald Thomas
begins with <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Carry On Screaming</b></i></span> at
8 pm. At 10 pm Juliet Mills is young woman who moves with her
scatterbrain mother (Esma Cannon) to a country village to take up her
first job as District Nurse in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Nurses
on Wheels</b></i></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"> </span>from 1963.
The evening rounds out at 11:45 pm with a group of music students
trying to help each other academically and financially while sharing
quarters in London in the delightful <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Roommates</b></i></span> (1962),
starring Leslie Phillips, Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Paul Massie,
Jennifer Jayne, Jill Ireland and Eric Barker.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>BORIS
KARLOFF</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
16:</b> A night of Boris Karloff begins with the James Whale
classic, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The Old Dark House</b></i></span>,
with Charles Laughton and Ernest Thesiger, at 8 pm. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>200
YEARS OF FRANKENSTEIN</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1uRA6JVLgxWbLfskhvFIhyUt-ECa7AdUsf2rWAONiMWOTscZYKgskIDSMxSmEtANNrc-WD-6ousQxBdkbGOwxfl0XOljJSQ7t2h6pm79bMW92ddORz_Oxbz5RJlTs5SGjzEleRJ099lM/s1600/ci+main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1uRA6JVLgxWbLfskhvFIhyUt-ECa7AdUsf2rWAONiMWOTscZYKgskIDSMxSmEtANNrc-WD-6ousQxBdkbGOwxfl0XOljJSQ7t2h6pm79bMW92ddORz_Oxbz5RJlTs5SGjzEleRJ099lM/s320/ci+main.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
22:</b> The 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s <i>Frankenstein </i>is
celebrated with an original documentary, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein</b></i></span>, at 8 pm, followed at
9 pm by Universal’s 1939 production of <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Son
of Frankenstein</b></i></span>. At Midnight. it’s Hammer’s remake
of the classic 1931 film, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The Curse
of Frankenstein</b></i></span><span style="color: #0433ff;">,</span> followed
by <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Frankenstein Created Woman </b></i></span>at
1:30 and <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Frankenstein Must Be
Destroyed</b></i></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"> </span>at 3:15
am.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>BELA
LUGOSI</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
24:</b> No October could be complete without a night
dedicated to Bela Lugosi. Begin with the classic <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>White
Zombie</b></i></span> at 8 pm. Stick around for the
atmospherish <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Night Monster </b></i></span>from
Universal in 1942 at 10:30, followed by <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Human Monster</b></i></span> (1939) at Midnight. Then it’s one
of my favorite Bela’s, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The Devil
Bat</b></i></span> (1940) a ridiculously enchanting thriller
from PRC, at 1:30 am. followed by his “classic” <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Corpse Vanishes</b></i></span> (1942), at 2:45 <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Spooks
Run Wild </b></i></span><span style="color: #0433ff;">(</span>1941) at 4
am, and <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Bowery at Midnight </b></i></span>(1942)
at 5:15 am.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>BOWERY
BOYS</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFvg7fkw_J3NciXVvS5sfKVqMONFqhaVH2D7Ng5EN62A8ytVDA6PqckEFwT_bPv1fsdgMI42s6WtiZqgjs_E8jsEIDeuXegMv6ti-dO5C-TRd6ei3DzEv-YjDPvkjuZtsTVrloOd8F_dg/s1600/ci+bowery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFvg7fkw_J3NciXVvS5sfKVqMONFqhaVH2D7Ng5EN62A8ytVDA6PqckEFwT_bPv1fsdgMI42s6WtiZqgjs_E8jsEIDeuXegMv6ti-dO5C-TRd6ei3DzEv-YjDPvkjuZtsTVrloOd8F_dg/s1600/ci+bowery.jpg" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
30:</b> An evening of the Bowery Boys versus various horrors
kicks off with <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Ghost Chasers </b></i></span>(1951)
at 8 pm, followed at 9:30 by <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters</b></i></span> (1954), <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Spook
Busters</b></i></span> (1946) at 10:45, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Spook
Chasers</b></i></span> (1957) at 12:15 am, and finally, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Master
Minds</b></i></span> (1949) at 2:30 am.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>VINCENT
PRICE</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
31:</b> An evening of Vincent Price features <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>House
of Wax </b></i></span>(1953) at 8 pm, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Pit
and the Pendulum</b></i></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"> </span>(1961)
at 9:45, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Masque of the Red
Death</b></i></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"> </span>(1964) at
11:15 pm, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>House on Haunted
Hill </b></i></span>(1958) at 1 am, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Theatre
of Blood</b></i></span> (1973) at 2:30 am, and <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Last Man on Earth</b></i></span> (1964) at 4:15 am.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>NOIR
ALLEY</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
20</b>: Preston Foster, Belita and Charles McGraw take turns
double-crossing each other in 1948’s <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Hunter</b></i></span>, at Midnight.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
27: </b>Police track a mysterious killer nicknamed “The
Judge.” in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Follow Me Quietly</b></i></span>,
starring William Lundigan, Dorothy Patrick and Jeff Corey
at Midnight.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>NOTABLE
PRE-CODE</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
19: </b>A crooked banker and his assistant devise a scheme to
frame an ex-con for their crime in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Strange
Justice</b></i></span>, from 1932, at 10:15 am, followed by <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Last Mile</b></i></span> at 11:30, Edward G. Robinson in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Two
Seconds </b></i></span>at 12:45 pm, and the 1931 social justice
film, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Are These Our Children?</b></i></span> at
2 pm. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>MOVIES,
BAD MOVIES</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-KeHgWzkSfQ1jBuwpHIa6GnTgOmbIiB6X79233RhFHIjNz7CUQg_zQ0ROXx0ZMI2D_KGgH1P7n_Ze35R97ynWTTuCR2lO6mmLJcBZVgZ7JkOSVhFpHacI3rUm6IjIoIeSQ-p8LnTztpQ/s1600/ci+frozen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="520" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-KeHgWzkSfQ1jBuwpHIa6GnTgOmbIiB6X79233RhFHIjNz7CUQg_zQ0ROXx0ZMI2D_KGgH1P7n_Ze35R97ynWTTuCR2lO6mmLJcBZVgZ7JkOSVhFpHacI3rUm6IjIoIeSQ-p8LnTztpQ/s320/ci+frozen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
29:</b> Catch Dana Andrews debasing himself in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Frozen Dead </b></i></span>from 1967 at 4:15 am. Michael Weldon
describes it as “An unheralded wonder of silliness.” A look at
the plot explained why: Dana is a mad Nazi scientist in England
trying to revive Hitler’s too officials, now hanging i uniform in a
freezer. While Dana can get them to walk, their brains don’t
function all that well. His colleague kills a girl and and keeps her
shaved head alive on a table. As in <i>The Brain That Wouldn’t
Die,</i> the head is able to develop telepathy and warns her
American friends about what Dana’s up to. In the finale the two
Nazi scientists are strangled by dismembered arms hanging from the
wall, activated by the telephonic head. Yes, it’s Must See.</span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-50264287090755164782018-10-13T00:30:00.000-04:002018-10-13T00:30:01.380-04:00TCM TiVo Alert for October 15-22<div align="CENTER" style="border: none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>TCM
TiVo ALERT</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>For</b></span></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="border: none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>October
15–October 22</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u>DAVID’S
BEST BETS</u>:</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background: #ffffff;">STAGECOACH </span></b></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: #ffffff;">(October
18, 6:00 pm): Except for </span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="background: #ffffff;">The
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance</span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: #ffffff;">, </span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="background: #ffffff;">Stagecoach</span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: #ffffff;"> is
Wayne's finest movie. This 1939 Western, directed by the legendary
John Ford, is about a group of people – including a prostitute, an
alcoholic doctor, a pregnant woman, a gambler, and a bank embezzler –
traveling by stagecoach in 1880 through the southwest through hostile
Apache territory. Along the way, they pick up the notorious Ringo Kid
(Wayne), who helps fend off the Indians. The ensemble cast that also
features Claire Trevor, John Carradine and legendary character actor
Donald Meek is the strong-point of this film with each actor getting
enough screen time so viewers can understand and appreciate them.
Wayne is perfectly cast as the young gun who's wrongfully accused,
but fast with a gun and charming despite being rough around the
edges. This was Ford's first talkie Western and one of his best. As
with nearly all of Ford's films, the scenery in </span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="background: #ffffff;">Stagecoach</span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: #ffffff;"> is
breathtaking at times. It's one of the best Westerns ever made.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background: #ffffff;">BEYOND
A REASONABLE DOUBT </span></b></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: #ffffff;">(October
22, 12:45 pm): The last American film directed by Fritz Lang is an
excellent one with Dana Andrews convinced by his newspaper publisher
father-in-law to plant clues implicating him in the murder of a
woman. The plan is to prove the weakness of circumstantial evidence
and make a fool out of the local district attorney. The problem is
the plan works and Andrews' father-in-law is killed in a car crash
with the evidence that he didn't do it burned to a crisp. This leaves
Andrews on death row and heading for the chair. The concept and
subsequent plot twists are fascinating and riveting, and the film's
conclusion is outstanding and brilliantly executed (pun intended).</span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>ED’S
BEST BETS</b></u><b>:</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>THE
EX-MRS. BRADFORD</b></span> (October 17, 12:45 pm): Of all
the <i>Thin Man</i> knockoffs William Powell made this is
by far the best. Jean Arthur, while no Myrna Loy, is excellent as
Powell’s ex-wife in this clever, though a little far-fetched,
mystery about murders at the race track. Powell is his usual urbane
self with Arthur providing the ditzy comedy that keeps us not only
entertained, but moves the story right along with no dead spots.
Arthur was an intelligent actress; it takes such an actress to make
the part of Paula Bradford believable. The only other actress I can
think of who could handle the role as written is Rosalind Russell.
James Gleason provides solid support as Inspector Corrigan, and the
murder weapon is most unusual. All in all, a very satisfying
film.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><b>EYES
WITHOUT A FACE</b></span> (October 21, 2:30 am): One of the most
disquieting horror films of the 1950s and a film many consider a
classic of the genre. Pierre Brasseur is a famous surgeon and
researcher who kidnaps young women in an attempt to graft their faces
onto that of his disfigured daughter (Edith Scob), whose face was
disfigured in a car accident. Those I know who have seen it will
forever remember the surgery sequence. Modern horror films may be far
more grotesque and graphic, but this film will really unnerve you
because of the quality with which it was made. Definitely not for the
squeamish.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>WE
DISAGREE ON ... AN AMERICAN IN PARIS</b> (October 16, 11:45 am)</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="orphans: 2;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>ED:
A+.</b></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> During
the early ‘50s the Freed Unit at MGM made three classic
musicals: </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Singin’
in the Rain</span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
Band Wagon</span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
and this one. Made when star Gene Kelly was at the top of his
creative powers with the studio, it was flawlessly acted by its cast,
and directed by Vincente Minnelli. Kelly is Jerry Mulligan, an ex-GI
and struggling American artist who stayed in Paris after the war
ended. He is “discovered” by a socially connected heiress (Nina
Foch) with an interest in more than Jerry’s art. In turn Jerry
falls for Lise (Leslie Caron), a young girl already engaged to a
cabaret singer. In addition to the two women, Jerry is entertained by
Adam Cook (Oscar Levant), a would-be concert pianist. Fans of the
musical form know that plot is the last thing they need worry about.
It’s the music and the dancing. Both are well represented here,
with the Gershwins supplying the music, and Kelly and Caron the
dancing. The film is built around a simple idea: Kelly wanted to make
a film with a lengthy ballet scene based on Gershwin’s tone poem.
Freed and Minnelli took the idea and ran with it, adding plot
complications plus some stunning backgrounds that bring to mind the
works of the French impressionists. This is definitely a move for the
eyes as well as the ear. Levant adds a safety valve of acerbic wit
whenever the romantic complications threaten to become leaden. He
does this simply by playing Oscar Levant, which he does in every film
he’s in. However, his performance here tops all the others. Nina
Foch provides a solid support, proving she’s come a long way since
her B-ingénue days at Fox, and Leslie Caron, a discovery of Kelly’s,
provides the eye candy as well as an underdog to root for along with
Kelly. Those who have seen it know what I’m talking about, while to
those that haven’t, I recommend this as a definite Must See.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0RWOw_hqHgyaro0fzqxVYhERr_Kgfa_jakXW-XBEJVRo5duZMT_qjIseEYfG_bX1VP_DT4YJUf40_Jdwd6NSbvF_yyAIlwu1FumecEJRPue8esM4xTknuf5qgCBo6v-PoMs0J4hTEL4/s1600/tcm15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="777" data-original-width="1200" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0RWOw_hqHgyaro0fzqxVYhERr_Kgfa_jakXW-XBEJVRo5duZMT_qjIseEYfG_bX1VP_DT4YJUf40_Jdwd6NSbvF_yyAIlwu1FumecEJRPue8esM4xTknuf5qgCBo6v-PoMs0J4hTEL4/s320/tcm15.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><b>DAVID:
B-. </b></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Gene Kelly is among the two best dancers in the
history of cinema with Fred Astaire, of course, being the other.
Kelly was more physical and muscular than what most people think of
dancers. He was quite charming and how can anyone hate that wonderful
smile? During his career in Hollywood, Kelly fancied himself a
visionary. </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">An American in Paris</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> is a perfect
example. Kelly wanted a lengthy ballet-heavy dance performance that
showcased Paris through the works of French impressionist paintings
so that's what he did in the final number leading to the conclusion
of this film. The concept is admirable, but the implementation is
quite frankly boring – and it goes on for 16 minutes. I'm
not a fan of musicals though there are some I greatly enjoy
including </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Singin' in the Rain</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> with Kelly (which also
at one point spends more than 20 minutes on a daydream/dance that has
little to do with that movie's plot). </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">An American in Paris</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> is
a good film. Why else would I give it a B-? But it's certainly not a
classic. Also, unfortunately it was a leader in Hollywood's move away
from film noir toward lighter movies in the 1950s. The plot is basic
as are the characters in the movie. Kelly wants to be a great
painter, but is offended when a rich socialite takes an artistic and
sexual interest in him. Kelly has two buddies: one wants to be a
concert pianist and the other a cabaret singer. There's a simplistic
love triangle with a happy ending. Leslie Caron, the female lead and
the girl Kelly wants, could dance, but was a lousy actress. I've
never understood her appeal as she always seemed way too young for
her love interests. Her characters never have any depth, which is
probably why she was in this film. I don't buy for a second the
contention that a musical doesn't need to have a plot, and that we
should primarily concern ourselves with the singing and dancing. When
the music stops, why should our enjoyment or interest stop with it?
The songs are good, the dancing – except the final one – is also
entertaining, the scenery is magnificent and, as usual, MGM spared no
expense when it came to the color of its big-time productions. It's
good, but it's not a movie I'd ever seek out to watch.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 33px; text-align: justify;">For the complete list of films on the TCM TiVo Alert, click </span><a href="http://celluloidclub.blogspot.com/p/tcm-tivo-alert.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.4; text-align: justify;">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 33px; text-align: justify;">.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-26202934317122025012018-10-11T00:30:00.000-04:002018-10-11T00:30:10.293-04:00Flaming Creatures<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
Psychotronic Zone</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Jonathon Saia</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Flaming
Creatures </b></i></span><b>(1963, USA) – Director: Jack
Smith. Writer: Jack Smith. Stars: Francis Francine, Sheila Bick, Joel
Markman, Mario Montez, Arnold Rockwood, Judith Malina, Marian
Zazeela, Beverly Grant & Piero Heliczer. B&W, 45 minutes.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
was the film that put Jack Smith on the map, much to his own chagrin.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Flaming
Creatures</i> was made over a period of eight weekend afternoons
in the late summer and early fall of 1962 on the rooftop of the
Windsor Theatre in New York City. The film cost $300 and used a
variety of Jack’s friends, most of whom were rumored to have been
high on cocaine, meth, or pot during filming; which when you see the
film you can understand why.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
breaking with tradition from my usual format, my discussion
of <i>Flaming Creatures</i> will rest less on a play by
play analysis and more on the overall look, feel, and take away one
gets from the film. Any “analysis” of <i>Flaming
Creatures</i> (or most of Jack Smith’s work for that matter) I
believe misses the point entirely; as Susan Sontag said, “There are
no ideas, no symbols, no commentary on or critique of anything
in <i>Flaming Creatures</i>. Smith’s film is strictly a treat
for the senses.” Moreover, the aftermath of the film’s release
and the effect it had on Jack’s career fascinate me (and I hope the
reader) more than the film itself.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Flaming
Creatures</i> is a plotless series of tableaux, not unlike his
photography, that celebrate the exotic aesthetic of Arabia (including
a portion of the soundtrack from his muse Maria Montez’s 1944
film, <i>Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves</i>) while pushing
sexuality – more specifically transvestism – and male nudity to the
foreground; incredibly forbidden and shocking elements for the time
(and sadly still today…) as we shall see.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
establishing Smith’s eventual modus operandi of keeping an audience
waiting, the credit sequence lasts an endless three and a half
minutes, repeating title cards and intercutting flaccid penises and
indistinguishable other body parts for good measure. Transvestites
(Transsexuals? Drag queens?) fan each other. Men and women put on
lipstick; “Is there a lipstick that doesn’t come off when you
suck cock?” Jack Smith intones on the soundtrack. More shots of
flaccid penises and swollen breasts. An elongated rape scene in where
women are groped and their genitals are eaten and digitally inserted
by the transvestites. A drag queen vampire that looks like Marilyn
Monroe rises from a coffin. Men in dresses dance with one another.
Mario Montez (yet another cross-dressing male, this one taking a
moniker that mirrors Jack’s goddess) dances in full Spanish garb.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jack
saw the film as a comedy about a haunted movie studio. The title is a
reference to the fleeting and ephemeral nature of stardom; how movie
stars “flame out” within five years, the approximate length of
Maria Montez’s career in Hollywood. Marilyn Monroe also died during
the filming of <i>Flaming Creatures</i> so it is no
accident that the vampire looks like her.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
title could also be a reference to the film’s inherent queerness.
The consensus view of homosexuals in the 1960s was that we were trash
(there’s that word again), replaceable, to be discarded,
“creatures” that would be better off “flaming out” into
nothingness. The film is Jack’s world in where a group of mostly
queer people have created their own space; a place they feel safe to
enact their most taboo fantasies.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">“<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">After </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Flaming
Creatures</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
I realized that that wasn’t something I had photographed:
Everything really happened. It really happened. Those were things I
wanted to happen in my life and it wasn’t something that we did, we
really lived through it; you know what I mean? It just was almost
incidental that there was a camera around. In other words, if it had
happened before the camera was invented, it would have gone on much
the same way it did.”</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When <i>Flaming
Creatures</i> was released alongside <i>Blonde Cobra</i> in
1963 by the Film-maker’s Cooperative in New York City (a
distribution company ran by Jonas Mekas that released films that
“made the censors blushed”), it set off a firestorm of passionate
praise and hatred: Mekas himself called it ”so beautiful that I
feel ashamed even to sit through the current Hollywood and European
movies”; while critic Arthur Knight of <i>The Saturday
Review</i> called it, “a faggoty stag-reel...as close to
hardcore pornography as anything ever presented in a theater.”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Flaming
Creatures</i> was by far not the first film to deal with overt
nudity nor was it the only contemporaneous film to do so: <i>The
Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man</i>, featuring Jack himself, had
copious amounts of nudity; Stan Brakhage’s films <i>Window
Water Baby Moving</i> (1959) and <i>Thigh Line Lyre
Triangular </i>(1961) showed the births of Brakhage’s
children, complete with graphic, vaginal footage; while Barbara
Rubin’s <i>Christmas on Earth </i>(1963, made in homage
to <i>Flaming Creatures</i>) and Carolee
Schneeman’s <i>Fuses</i> (1964) show their female
filmmakers having sex.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Nor
was it the first film to deal with cross-dressing, male nudity, or
homosexuality. Nor was Jack the only homosexual director working
within the underground and avant-garde scene: Jean Genet’s <i>Un
Chant d’Amour</i> (1950) was not only blatantly homoerotic,
but showed erect penises. Gregory Markopoulus’ <i>Swain</i> (1950)
heavily alluded to homosexual desire. Ed Wood’s <i>Glen or
Glenda?</i> (1953) called for sympathy for transvestites and
transsexuals. And of course the work of Kenneth Anger, particularly
his seminal films, <i>Fireworks</i> (1947) and <i>Scorpio
Rising </i>(1964) grappled with homosexual and homoerotic
longing.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But
what was new about <i>Flaming Creatures</i> is that it
added humor and joy to queer images. The above queer films are
essentially cautionary tales or deal with homosexuality in a way that
makes it something to analyze or give one pause. <i>Flaming
Creatures</i> treats its queerness and male nudity without
fanfare or analysis; a grave sin for the time. To see the film today,
in the aftermath of things such as <i>Pink
Flamingos </i>(1972), <i>Salo</i> (1975) or even
mainstream cable television, <i>Flaming Creatures</i> is
extremely quaint. But in 1963 – six years before Stonewall, eleven
years before the <i>Deep Throat</i> trial, and twenty-one years
before Falwell vs. Flynt – New York City, a place hellbent on
cleaning up its image in time for the World’s Fair of 1964, began
to crack down on “obscene” materials. And not just plain old
obscene, but obscene and unashamedly queer.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Flaming
Creatures</i> – and other films distributed by Mekas’ Co-op
– was never submitted to the New York Board of Censors; therefore,
they legally could not charge admission for showings. Mekas skirted
this by soliciting donations instead. However, when word got out to
the Bureau of Licenses at the “offensive” nature of <i>Flaming
Creatures</i>, they put the pressure on theatre owners to refuse
bookings. At one viewing at the Tivoli, which was in conjunction with
an award being given to Smith by Mekas, the police had to evacuate
the ticket holders out when they refused to leave upon management’s
decision to shut down the film. In Belgium at a film festival, when
the board refused to have screenings of <i>Flaming Creatures</i>,
Mekas threatened to pull the other films he was representing from the
festival; later, he and his cohort, filmmaker Barbara Rubin, snuck
the film into a canister of Warhol’s <i>Sleep</i> (1964),
and projected it on to the face of the Minister of Justice during a
riot. The following month, when Mekas showed <i>Flaming
Creatures</i> in conjunction with footage from Smith’s new
film, Normal Love (1963-1964) at the Bowery Theatre in NYC, the films
were seized and Mekas, Ken Jacobs (who was projecting the film), and
Florence Karpf (Jacobs’ girlfriend and the ticket taker for the
evening) were arrested. They served sixty days in jail. The film was
officially deemed obscene by the courts; the United States Supreme
Court denied an appeal and to this day, <i>Flaming Creatures</i> is
still technically “obscene” in New York City.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One
person that did not expect the hullabaloo was Jack Smith himself. He
saw it as a light comedy not some grand statement of sexual
liberation or celebration of homosexual expression. What is most
shocking – and telling about Jack’s personality, intentions, and
artistic “integrity – is his subsequent relationship toward Jonas
Mekas. By all accounts, here was a man that championed his work,
paying for film stock and printing costs, and loaning him his Bolex
to make <i>Normal Love</i>. He heralded <i>Flaming
Creatures</i> in print and in person, even going to jail for the
right to show it. Jack saw Mekas as an opportunist, clinging to the
controversy of his film to make a name for himself. When Smith was
barred from being at Mekas’ trial by Mekas’ lawyer (presumably
afraid Jack would do or say something to jeopardize the case), Jack
blamed Jonas. But his greatest grievance was that he felt that Mekas
commodified his art.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When
asked about the “meaning” of <i>Flaming Creatures</i> years
later by a journalist, Jack responded: “The meaning has to come out
in what is done with the art…the way my movie was used – that was
the meaning of the movie. What you do with it economically is what
the meaning is. If it goes to support <i>Uncle Fishook</i> [Mekas],
that’s what it means. Movies are always made for an audience. But I
didn’t make it that way. I was just making it completely for
myself. At the time, that seemed like an intellectual experiment. But
that point got lost…I turned over my film to this film co-op. And
then it became a grotesque parody of Hollywood.”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What
is glorious about <i>Flaming Creatures </i>is its ever
changing perspective of horizon. Like Maya Deren’s <i>The Very
Eye of Night</i> (1958), the camera spins and pans across piles
of bodies; the audience ever unsure who, what, where (and sometimes
why) they are seeing. What is maddening about <i>Flaming
Creatures</i> is its (seeming) lack of construction. While some
elements and scenes seem deliberate, others seem spliced at random; a
technique that would later become a crucial part of his live
performances. However, the general feeling one gets from
watching <i>Flaming Creatures</i> is that you are getting
away with something. That you are let into a secret world. You may
not understand what is there, you may not like what you see, and you
may want to leave for a myriad of reasons, but it is definitely a
place like no other.</span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-91411049317886817082018-10-08T00:30:00.000-04:002018-10-08T00:30:09.169-04:00A Lady to Love<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Film
in Focus</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Ed Garea</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>A
Lady to Love</b></i></span> <b>(MGM, 1930) – Director: Victor
Sjostrom. Writer: Sidney Howard (s/p & play </b><i><b>They
Knew What They Wanted</b></i><b>). Stars: Vilma Banky, Edward G.
Robinson, Robert Ames, Richard Carle, Lloyd Ingraham, Anderson
Lawler, Gum Chin, Henry Armetta & George Davis. B&W, 92
minutes.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">According
to the popular wisdom, Vilma Banky was a Hungarian actress discovered
by Sam Goldwyn and turned into a big star in silents, his biggest
moneymaker. But when it came time for talkies, her thick Hungarian
accent prevented her from making the transition to sound and she
retired to married life with Rod LaRocque.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">That’s
the popular version, anyway. Reality has a habit of being quite
different, as witness this film. Banky not only comes off quite well,
but her so-called thick accent is actually lighter than that of Zsa
Zsa Gabor. As an actress Banky easily outdoes the hammy antics of her
co-star, Edward G. Robinson, whose Italian accent in the film makes
one think his elocution teacher was Chico Marx.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
this seldom seen and underrated delight, Robinson owns a prosperous
vineyard in the Napa Valley. One day he calls Father McKee
(Ingraham) to his place to tell the good father he has decided to get
married. He also breaks the news to his young foreman, Buck (Ames),
who he sees as being like a son. And how will he do this, they ask.
Simple, he’ll go to San Francisco and check out the merchandise
there. He feels he’s bound to find a wife.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When
he goes to San Francisco he spots a waitress named Lena (Banky) at a
local eatery. Returning home he finds he cannot get her out of his
mind and so decides to write her a letter asking for her hand in
marriage. Buck ghost writes the letter for Tony and tells him he
should include a photo. Tony is reluctant, as he doesn’t believe
himself handsome enough to entice her to come. He does decide to
enclose a photo before he sends it off, but it is a photo of Buck.
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Anxious
for a stable home, Lena accepts the offer, but on the way to the
train station to meet her Tony gets in a car accident, breaking both
legs. When Lena arrives, she is met by Buck, and judging from the
photo that was sent, she thinks Buck is Tony. Later on, when Tony
finally arrives, Lena is shocked to discover the man she agreed to
marry is certainly not who she thought he was. When she first lays
eyes on Tony her first reaction is, “Who’s that old man?” But
Tony clears up any misunderstandings by appealing to Lena's practical
side, making her realizes it is far better to marry him than going
back and waiting tables.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But
there is another reason for Lena’s decision to stay, and that is
Buck. The two are immediately taken with one another and Lena is soon
embroiled in an affair with Buck while dutifully attending to Tony.
However, guilt gets the best of Buck and he leaves. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Without
Buck to distract her, Lena warms to Tony and becomes his attentive
and devoted wife. However, this placid contentment can’t last
forever, for Buck returns to take Lena away with him. Though she’s
tempted to go with Buck, Lena realizes she deeply loves Tony and
sends Buck away.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Afterwords</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Banky
is just fine as Lena, playing her as on edge and a simmering volcano
just beneath the calm surface, as witness her scenes with Buck. She
portrays herself as being from Switzerland and her accent matches the
origin beautifully. There are two reason I can think of as to why
Banky failed so spectacularly in talkies. One was the tyranny of
sound itself in the early days. Accents of any type were just not
permissible unless the actor had that quality of mystery, as did
Garbo. At the same time, however, Garbo’s films were far, far more
popular in the lucrative foreign markets, especially Europe, than
they were in America. As for Bela Lugosi, he was limited to horror
films at Universal. To play any other type of role he was forced to
work on Poverty Row. The other reason that comes to mind was that
Banky was a bit on the chunky side. There was actually nothing wrong,
as she had a sexy, voluptuous figure, but “skinny Minnie” flapper
types were the rage, with the only exceptions being comediennes like
Marie Dressler and Polly Moran. At any rate Banky was extremely
dissatisfied with Hollywood and gladly retired to life with her
husband. She and LaRocque would later make a fortune in the real
estate market.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
for Robinson, he wins the ham for his portrayal of Tony. Over the top
is too mild a way to describe it. There is one moment in the film
where Lena insists on giving Tony a well-needed sponge bath in bed.
This is the perfect moment for Robinson to chew the scenery and he
does so with delicious abandon, crying and screen that he just
“took-a bath on-a our wedding day!”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Robert
Ames is fine and understated as Buck, whose lust for Lena conflicts
with his loyalty to Tony. Ambers came from a strong background
on the stage and in vaudeville, He became an alcoholic after a string
(4) of unsuccessful marriages and dalliances. At the time of his
death he was in a relationship with Ina Claire. Ames died from the
effects of severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms, known as delirium
tremens (the DTs), at the age of 42.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>A
Lady to Love</i>, which is in the public domain and can be accessed
on You Tube, was simultaneously filmed in German as <i>Die
Sehnsucht jeder Frau</i> (<i>The Desire of Every Woman</i>) for
the all-important German market. Banky’s last film was as Erika
Leroy in Deutsche Universal’s <i>Der Rebell</i> (<i>The
Rebel</i>) in 1933. Reportedly, it was a great favorite of Adolph
Hitler, who has a copy of it in his private film collection.</span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-46791609951386888632018-10-06T00:30:00.000-04:002018-10-07T19:30:06.538-04:00TCM TiVo Alert for October 8-14<div align="CENTER" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: -webkit-center;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>TCM TiVo ALERT</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>For</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>October 8–October 14</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff2500;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u>DAVID’S BEST BETS</u>:</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff2500;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">EXECUTIVE SUITE</span></b></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> (October 8, 2:00 pm): A fascinating look inside the cutthroat world of the business boardroom as allegiances are formed through a variety of ways, including blackmail and seduction. Top executives at a major furniture company are fighting it out to see who will run the company after the president drops dead on the sidewalk. The dialogue is riveting and the storyline is compelling. A large part of the film takes place inside an office, particularly the boardroom, which normally detracts from a film. But this is quite the engaging movie. The film's greatest strength is its all-star ensemble cast – William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, Frederic March and Walter Pidgeon at the top of the bill.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #ff2500;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">I LOVE YOU AGAIN</span></b></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">(October 11, 4:00 am): Cinema's greatest couple, William Powell and Myrna Loy, are reunited in this 1940 film with W.S. Van Dyke, who directed them in the 1934 classic, </span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Thin Man</span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">. When you have Powell and Loy working together, the chemistry is magic. It's a fun film to watch with Powell showing great range, playing the same character two completely different ways. Before a head injury that reverts Powell's character back to his old self as a conman, he promised to take a group of Boy Rangers on trip into the woods to learn about deer-tracking techniques. He has no idea what to do so he makes stuff up. He ends up falling into holes, getting caught in traps and is completely lost. It's Powell's best physical-comedy role that I've seen. And Myrna, what can you possibly write to capture her beauty and talent? Well, you could write a book. But I'll leave it as she is wonderful and delightful in this movie with her character evolving with the changes in Powell's character.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #0432fe;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u>ED’S BEST BETS</u>:</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><b>THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET</b></span> (October 8, 4:00 pm): One of history’s most celebrated romances was that of the poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett in 19<sup>th</sup> century England. Norma Shearer and Frederic March bring Elizabeth and Robert to light in this handsome, well-acted and most entertaining feature. Shearer, who was reluctant to take the role, brings forth the essence of the famous poet, whose illness confined her to bed and sofa for much of her young life. March is adequate as Browning, but it’s Shearer’s show and she makes the most of it. However, Charles Laughton, as her rotten father, almost steals the picture. The censors toned down the incestuous leanings of Barrett’s father, but Laughton nevertheless gets the point across and makes the role of Elizabeth’s father even more villainous. Even those who aren’t partial to poetry should enjoy this one.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><b>HORROR OF DRACULA</b></span> (October 10, 10:00 pm): A sumptuous retelling of Dracula with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing at the top of their games as Count Dracula and Professor Van Helsing, respectively. Filming the story in color forever changed the paradigm of horror films for better or worse, with shadows being replaced by blood. But with a great atmospheric story, a great score by James Bernard, and supporting performances that serve to enhance the work of the leads. And who can forget Valerie Gaunt as one of Drac’s vampire women?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>WE AGREE ON ... MY MAN GODFREY</b> (October 11, 10:00 pm)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><b>ED: A+</b></span>. The screwball comedy was one of the best things to come from Hollywood in the ‘30s and there was no better example of the genre than this film. All right, the plot is somewhat preposterous, but that was true of screwball comedy in general – absurd reactions to absurd situations. Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard) is a scatterbrained socialite who wins a treasure hunt when she finds a “forgotten man” living in the city dump. That man is none other than Godfrey (William Powell), who accompanies her to the society ball with her to prove her claim and ends up as the family’s butler as she feels sorry for him. While Godfrey is the perfect butler, the Bullock family is anything but normal; a bunch of spendthrifts who are bankrupting patriarch Alexander (the wonderful Eugene Pallette), the only reasonable member of the family. Her mother, Angelica (Alice Brady), lives in luxury, keeping a "protégé" (Mischa Auer) whose duties should involve declaiming great literature and playing the piano, but whose real talents lie in leaping about the room like a gorilla and scarfing up second helpings at every meal. Her sister Cornelia (Gail Patrick) is bitter because she not only lost the scavenger hunt but got pushed into an ash heap after insulting Godfrey. Meanwhile the maid, Molly (Jean Dixon), briefs Godfrey on the insane world he is entering and falls in love with him. Irene loves Godfrey, too, and perhaps down deep, even does Cornelia. Godfrey, though, has a secret: he was born rich but down on his fortune after a heartbreaking romance. The family never do manage to figure out he's too good to be a butler (or a bum); they're all blinded by their own selfishness, except for Irene, who would like to undo the buttons on his pants, a clever way of getting around the censors. Godfrey, for his part, has come to like and admire his fellow hobos at the dump. Offended by the way the Bullocks treat their wealth so uselessly, his solution is one of those outcomes we love so much in screwball comedy because it’s totally impossible in real life. For the film to work and work so well, the chemistry between Godfrey and Irene must be as strong as steel. The studio originally wanted Constance Bennett for Irene, but Powell held out for Lombard, an actress he was once married to from 1931-33, and whose divorce from her was one of the few amicable examples in Hollywood, so he knew they had chemistry. (By the way, this is the first instance of a divorced couple playing a couple in a film.) Though the rest of the cast is wonderful, the only competition faced by Lombard and Powell comes from that gravelly voiced genius, Pallette who, if given a few more scenes, might well have walked away with the movie. His speech in the scene where he’s finally had enough ranks with the best ever spoken in a comedy: "What this family needs is discipline. I've been a patient man, but when people start riding horses up the front steps and parking them in the library, that's going a little too far. This family's got to settle down!" Besides the direction by Gregory La Cava and the screenplay co-authored by Marx Brothers veteran Morrie Ryskind, pay particular attention to Ted Tetzlaff’s cinematography. As Roger Ebert points out in his review, never has a black and white film looked so alluring: “Everything that can shine, glimmers: the marble floors, the silver, the mirrors, the crystal, the satin sheen of the gowns.” Just another reason why I love this movie so much.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b>DAVID: A+. </b></span>This is one of the most sophisticated screwball comedies I've ever seen. It is also a great social commentary as the nation emerged from the Great Depression. William Powell plays Godfrey, who we first see as a "forgotten man," an unemployed guy who lives in a shack by New York City's dump next to the East River. A spoiled socialite (Gail Patrick) needs him as part of a scavenger hunt, offering him $5 to come with him. He pushes her into an ash pile, which draws laughter from her sister Irene (Carole Lombard). Irene turns out to be a genuine and kind person, and Godfrey agrees to be her "forgotten man" to win the game. He then tells off the rich socialites participating in the spectacle. Irene offers him a job as her family's butler, which Godfrey accepts. It turns out her family, the Bullocks, are bizarre and hilarity ensues. It's later revealed that Godfrey himself comes from a wealthy family but gave it all up after a bitter breakup that made him suicidal with plans to jump into the East River. The rich are portrayed as self-centered idiots while those down on the luck are the salt of the Earth. That probably played well with the movie-going audience in 1936 when the film was released. But the story is timeless and holds up exceptionally well today. The movie moves at a fast pace with terrific lines delivered by an incredibly strong cast. It's a very clever film and one to be enjoyed.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 33px;">For the complete list of films on the TCM TiVo Alert, click </span><a href="http://celluloidclub.blogspot.com/p/tcm-tivo-alert.html" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.4;">here</a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 33px;">.</span></span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-56285815413215511472018-10-03T00:30:00.000-04:002018-10-03T09:42:50.813-04:00Rita Hayworth<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Stardust:
TCM's Star of the Month</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Ed Garea</b></span></span></span></div>
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“<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Men
go to bed with Gilda, but wake up with me.”</span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Star of the
Month for October is screen goddess Rita Hayworth, whose life
offscreen was the stuff tragedies are made of. Born Margarita Carmen
Cansino in Brooklyn, NY, in 1918, her parents were dancers. Her
paternal grandfather, Antonio Cansino, was renowned as a classical
Spanish dancer, popularizing the bolero. Brought up to be a dancer,
in 1931 Rita partnered with her father, Eduardo Cansino, Sr., in an
act called the Dancing Cansinos. Besides being her partner, her
father was also her lover, setting the young Rita on a spiral from
which she would never recover, as she kept looking for the perfect
father figure and ending up bitterly disappointed each time. When she
was 18 and a young starlet at Fox, she married Edward Judson, an
oilman turned promoter who was more than twice her age and who played
a large part in launching her acting career. According to
Hayworth, “He helped me with my career and helped himself to my
money,” compelling her to transfer a considerable amount of
her property to him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">She divorced Judson
in 1942 and married Orson Welles in 1943. Welles, who many cite as
the love of her life, was a difficult person who, Hayworth said, did
not want to be tied down: “During the entire period of our
marriage, he showed no interest in establishing a home. When I
suggested purchasing a home, he told me he didn't want the
responsibility. Mr. Welles told me he never should have married in
the first place; that it interfered with his freedom in his way of
life.” The marriage lasted until 1947, after which she married
playboy Aly Khan. Their marriage lasted until 1951, as Khan’s
wandering eye destroyed their bliss. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In 1953 she married
singer Dick Haymes, known in Hollywood as “Mr. Evil.” He milked
Hayworth for money to pay of debts to ex-wives Nora Eddington and
Joanne Dru, as well as the IRS. After a rocky two years together,
Haymes slapped his wife across the face at the Cocoanut Grove
nightclub in Los Angeles in 1955. She left him and sued for divorce,
which was granted in 1956. He last marriage was to film producer
James Hill in 1958. Like her previous trips to the altar, this one
also failed miserably and ended in 1961.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Hayworth had two
daughters - Rebecca Welles, from whom she was estranged for years,
and Yasmin Khan, who later became her caretaker when Hayworth
developed Alzheimer’s disease. Rita Hayworth died in February 1987
at age 68 and s<span style="color: #232323;">he was interred at Holy Cross
Cemetery, Culver City.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October 2:</b> Some
of Hayworth’s best films are featured this night, including
musicals <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>You’ll Never Get Rich</b></i></span> (8
pm) and <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>You Were Never
Lovelier </b></i></span>(9:45 pm), both co-starring Fred
Astaire. At 1:30 am comes <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Only
Angels Have Wings</b></i></span>, with Cary Grant and Jean Arthur,
followed at 3:45 am by <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Blood and
Sand</b></i></span>, with Tyrone Power.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
9:</b> Featured this night are three of Hayworth’s most
defining performances. At 8 pm it’s <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Gilda</b></i></span>,
followed by <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The Lady From Shanghai </b></i></span>at
10 pm. Finally at 11:45 pm, Hayworth co-stars with Gene Kelly
in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Cover Girl</b></i></span>. Kelly
was the perfect partner for Hayworth, as both were physical dancers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October 16:</b> Five
of Hayworth’s '50s films are on tap, with the best being <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Pal
Joey</b></i></span>, with Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak, which opens
the evening at 8 pm. Frank is the real star, with Hayworth and Novak
providing support. Not as great film, but nevertheless an
entertaining one. At 10 pm Rita is ravishing in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Affair
in Trinidad </b></i></span>as a cafe singer who enlists
brother-in-law Glenn Ford to track down her husband’s killer. At
Midnight Rita dazzles in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Miss Sadie
Thompson</b></i></span>, a musical remake of the old Somerset Maugham
chestnut. The last two films are run of the mill: <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Fire
Down Below</b></i></span>, which followed at 1:45 am, and <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Salome </b></i></span>at
4 am, as Rita plays thew title role in the by now obligatory Biblical
epic.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October 23: </b>An
evening of late Hayworth films. The two best begin at 8 pm
with <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Separate Tables.</b></i></span> Burt
Lancaster, Rita Hayworth, David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Wendy Hiller,
Gladys Cooper, Cathleen Nesbitt, Rod Taylor, Felix Aylmer are all
superb in this adaptation of Terrence Rattigan’s pair of romantic
playlets set at English seaside resort reworked into compelling
drama. Following at 10 pm, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The Story
on Page One</b></i></span>, with Hayworth and Gig Young as lovers
accused of killing her husband. They are defended by a drunken,
bankrupt Tony Franciosca, who sees the case as his chance to get back
his reputation. The other interesting film comers on at 4 am, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Wrath of God</b></i></span>. This 1972 Western is notable only for
the fact that Hayworth, decimated by Alzheimers, was noticeably
reading her lines off cue cards.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-31029946898599648412018-10-01T00:30:00.000-04:002018-10-01T00:30:09.007-04:00Cinéma Inhabituel for October 1-15<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A
Guide to the Interesting and Unusual on TCM</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Ed Garea</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>MOVIES
ON THE BIG SCREEN</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><b>Mr. Smith Goes
to Washington</b></i>, Frank Capra’s 1939 classic about a naive
young idealist (James Stewart) whose eyes are opened after being
appointed to serve a vacant U.S. Senate seat when he sees how
the nation’s political system works. It can be seen in selected
theaters on October 14 and 17.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>GAY
JAPAN</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>October
12:</b></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> In
America and Britain the pejorative for a male homosexual is “pansy.”
But in Japan the term is “rose.” Director Toshio Matsumoto gives
us a glimpse into a subculture we rarely think about when it comes to
Japan in his 1970 </span></span></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Funeral
Parade of Roses</b></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">, airing at 2:15 am. It’s an outrageous gender-bending version
of sorts of Sophocles' </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Oedipus
Rex</span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> updated
to the swinging ‘60s. Barely known outside of Japan since its
release, this avant garde cult classic has gained a life of its own
thanks to the digital age. Using the thinnest of plots, Matsumoto
shows the counterculture lifestyle of Eddie (Peter) and other Tokyo
"gay boys" who range from hippies to drag queens. Eddie is
a frequenter of Gonda’s (Yoshio Tsuchiya) Shinjiku establishment,
the Genet Bar (an obvious reference to French writer Jean Genet), a
hotbed of competition and jealousy as Eddie battles Leda (Osamu
Ogasawara), the established matriarch of the club, for Gonda's
attentions. Eddie, who is also repeatedly haunted by visions of his
dead mother and his absent father, confronts Gonda in the finale.
That’s all I’m going to say, except to keep Sophocles in mind.
It’s a fascinating look as a subculture few outside Japan are
familiar with as Matsumoto, obviously showing the influence of
Godard, follows the adventures of Eddie and his friends. Look for the
scene where the transvestites run across a gang of girls who are not
too happy with what they see as being mocked. Bu the way, Yoshio
Tsuchiya is best known to Japanese film fanatics as Farmer Rikichi
in </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Seven
Samurai</span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> and
for his appearances in such Kaiju genres as </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Godzilla
Raids Again, The Mysterians, The H-Man, Matango, Destroy All Monsters
and Frankenstein Conquers the World</span></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>ROHMER</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
7:</b> At 2 am it’s the delightful <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Pauline
at the Beach</b></i></span> from director Eric Rohmer. The third
in Rohmer’s 1980s series “Comedies and Proverbs,” the film
follows the adventures of 15-year old Pauline (Amanda Langlet) as she
accompanies her her older cousin Marion (Arielle Dombasle) to their
family's vacation home on the north-western coast of France. As they
settle into their trip, Marion quizzes Pauline on her love life, with
Pauline confessing that she has not had any serious affairs of the
heart. On the beach, Marion spies ex-lover Pierre (Pascal Greggory),
there with his friend Henri (Feodor Atkine). The quartet agree to
have dinner together and afterwards they discuss their ideas of love
in Henri's living room. Marion falls for Henri while Pauline begins
an affair with a young man named Sylvain (Simon de la Brosse) who she
met on the beach. It’s an enchanting look at young love and coming
of age as both ladies end up disappointed with their amours. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>THE
MUMMY</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
October, The Mummy is TCM’s “Monster of the Month,” and TCM has
a nice supply of one of our favorite monsters on hand. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
7:</b> Start with <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The Mummy’s
Hand</b></i></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"> </span>at 8 pm, then
move on to <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The Mummy’s Ghost</b></i></span> at
9:30 and <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The</b></i></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"> </span><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Mummy’s
Curse</b></i></span> at 10:45. The latter two starred
Universal’s Man of all Monsters, Lon Chaney. Jr.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
14: </b>The night takes a comedic turn with <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Abbott
and Costello Meet the Mummy</b></i></span> at 8 pm and Wheeler
and Woosley in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Mummy’s Boys</b></i></span> at
9:30 pm. At 10:45 pm comes the unintentionally funny <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy</b></i></span>, a film best enjoyed on its
MST 3000 incarnation.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>CHRISTOPHER
LEE</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>October
10:</b></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> A
night of Christopher Lee kicks off at 8 pm with </span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><i><b>The
Devil’s Bride</b></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
followed at 10 pm by </span></span></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Horror
of Dracula</b></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
with Peter Cushing as Van Helsing and Christopher Lee in his
star-making turn as Dracula. At 11:30 pm the sequel, </span></span></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Dracula,
Prince of Darkness</b></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,
follows. And at 1:15 Lee stars with Betta St. John in </span></span></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Horror
Hote</b></i></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">l.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>OTHER
NOTABLE PSYCHOTRONIA</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
3:</b> A night of Lon Chaney begins with the classic <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Unknown</b></i></span>, with Joan Crawford, at 8 pm. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
8:</b> The 1920 silent classic, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari</b></i></span> airs at 12:15 am.</span></span></span></div>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWFI6bwlU9UQQ1gif1VPw-oARSRI62dYrqObtcxKB9Yr-BBX7b_oqAStPB-qyjVMD9fde2d7EhSNC-Cw-zxc9a6wUy522KU0hsRvrJmtqxyXA1ORVj34BFWR6Z5SdeL0PQsNSkP3lIRcE/s1600/ci+fearless.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1409" data-original-width="931" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWFI6bwlU9UQQ1gif1VPw-oARSRI62dYrqObtcxKB9Yr-BBX7b_oqAStPB-qyjVMD9fde2d7EhSNC-Cw-zxc9a6wUy522KU0hsRvrJmtqxyXA1ORVj34BFWR6Z5SdeL0PQsNSkP3lIRcE/s320/ci+fearless.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
13:</b> At 8 pm bumbling professor Jack MacGowran tracks
vampires in the wilds of Eastern Europe in Roman Polanski’s <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Fearless Vampire Killers</b></i></span>.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>NOIR
ALLEY</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
6</b>: A group of desperate losers plan a bank robbery, with
unexpected results, in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Odds Against
Tomorrow</b></i></span>, at Midnight.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
13: </b>Joan Crawford in one of her better ‘50s films, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Damned Don’t Cry</b></i></span>, at 12:30 am.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>NOTABLE
PRE-CODE</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
2: </b>Myrna Loy dazzles in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Penthouse</b></i></span> at
8 am. followed by Harlow in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Red-Headed
Woman</b></i></span> at 9:30 and back to Loy, along with William
Powell in the venerable <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The Thin
Man</b></i></span> at 11;30.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
4:</b> Mae West, along with Cary Grant, ion the classic <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>I’m
No Angel</b></i></span>, airing at 8 pm.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
5</b>: Maurice Evans, Roland Young and John Loder in the rarely
seen <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Wedding Rehearsal</b></i></span>,
from director Alexander Korda and London Film in 1932.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
12:</b> William Haines and Madge Evans star in the 1932
comedy <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Fast Life</b></i></span> at
6 am.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuBaobospdswiMwGyor4BVif_l2AdoPo3Yv7u7EB-TEBW9jKmQ-1-vFWfTIfwni2OwedaY-McvH29jqJBLlKzDIAtuz0C7pUViCeZJqO-mcZqcj9gM8vRmpTlTyop7Fs_fLf01ey0hyphenhyphenxU/s1600/ci+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="288" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuBaobospdswiMwGyor4BVif_l2AdoPo3Yv7u7EB-TEBW9jKmQ-1-vFWfTIfwni2OwedaY-McvH29jqJBLlKzDIAtuz0C7pUViCeZJqO-mcZqcj9gM8vRmpTlTyop7Fs_fLf01ey0hyphenhyphenxU/s320/ci+3.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
14:</b> Bette Davis, Ann Dvorak and Joan Blondell in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Three
on a Match</b></i></span> (1932) at 8:45 am. Also with an early
appearance by Humphrey Bogart.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Charlie
Chaplin in one of his best, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>City
Lights</b></i></span> (1931) at Noon.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
15:</b> An eccentric millionaire kidnaps eloping couples to make
sure they're meant for each other in RKO’s <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Where
Sinners Meet</b></i></span>, with Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>MOVIES,
BAD MOVIES</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="border: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; padding: 0in; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October
3:</b> Catch Virginia Weidler, Ray McDonald and Leo Gorcey as
“Snap” Collins in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Born to
Sing</b></i></span> at 1 pm. All we need say is that Gorcey
actually warbles in this - enough to make it both awful and a Must
See.</span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-65058704088733200132018-09-29T00:30:00.000-04:002018-10-05T15:49:39.449-04:00TCM TiVo Alert for October 1-7<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>TCM
TiVo ALERT</b></span></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>For</b></span></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>October
1–October 7</b></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u>DAVID’S
BEST BETS</u>:</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background: #ffffff;">THE
PETRIFIED FOREST </span></b></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="background: #ffffff;">(October
4, 12:30 pm): In one of his first major roles, Humphrey Bogart
plays Duke Mantee, a notorious gangster on the run. Bogart was
so great in this 1936 film as the heavy – bringing depth,
emotion and character to the role – that Warner Brothers
spent nearly five years casting Bogart in other movies as the bad
guy. But very few were of this quality. Duke and his gang end up
in a diner near the Petrified Forest in Arizona with the police
chasing them. The gang takes everyone inside hostage,
including Alan Squier (Leslie Howard), a once great writer who
is now an alcoholic. Not fearing death because of what life has
become for him, Squier engages Duke in conversation, pushing his
buttons. The interaction between the two is outstanding. Also at the
diner is Gabrielle Maple (Bette Davis), who owns it with her father
and grandfather. Davis is excellent and even subdued as a secondary
character.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b>NOSFERATU</b></span><span style="color: #ff2500;"> </span>(October
7, 12:00 am): The first <span style="background: #ffffff;">–
and to me, the best – version of Bram Stoker's Dracula on
screen. This is a 1922 silent film directed by the legendary German
Expressionist director F.W. Murnau. Star Max Schreck as Count
Orlock – the movie is a Dracula adaptation to avoid a lawsuit
from Stoker's estate – is absolutely terrifying without being
gory or over the top. While it's close to 100 years old, it's
remarkable how well it holds up. It's a landmark in horror films.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u>ED’S
BEST BETS</u>:</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>RED
HEADED WOMAN</b></span><span style="color: blue;"> </span>(Oct. 2,
9:30 am): Watching Jean Harlow in <i>Hell’s Angels</i> (1930)
and <i>The Public Enemy</i> (1932), one thing sticks out
like a glass jaw: the woman can’t act. But she goes to MGM, and a
year later she is completely mesmerizing in this story of a gold
digger who busts up her boss’s marriage, and that’s for starters.
Harlow shows a real flair for comedy and lighter roles, which is
perfect for the film. She also had the perfect writer in Anita Loos,
who took what was a turgid soap opera by original writer F. Scott
Fitzgerald and turned in into a completely tongue-in-cheek, saucy
comedy. Had Harlow played the original script, the film would have
sunk like a lead balloon. Instead she readily adapted to Loos’s
scenario and took it from there. Its one of my favorites from the
Pre-Code era and that is entirely due to Harlow.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><b>THE
UNKNOWN </b></span>(October 3, 8:00 pm): When Lon Chaney and Tod
Browning teamed up they made some of the best and most unusual fits
of Chaney’s career. <i>The Unknown</i> may just be the
weirdest of the lot. Chaney is “Alonzo the Armless Wonder,” an
armless knife thrower who uses his feet to thrown the knives. In
actually he’s a criminal on the run and only pretends to be
armless, bring strapped into a straitjacket type of restraint before
each performance. The love of his life is his assistant, Nanon (Joan
Crawford). They could be together if not for her abnormal fear of
having a man’s arms around her. Chaney is so besotted that he has
his arms amputated for real to prove to her his love. After he
returns from the operation he finds her in the arms of Malabar the
strongman (Norman Kerry), who has cured her of this fear. It’s
right out of Grand Guignol and remains one of the creepiest movies
ever made.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>WE
AGREE ON ... THE THIN MAN</b> (October 2, 1:00 pm)</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><b><span style="background: #ffffff;">ED:
A+</span></b></span><span style="background: #ffffff;">. This is a
truly remarkable film that only seems to get better with the passage
of time. And yet, were it not for its director, Woody “One Shot”
Van Dyke, it would have opened, run its course, and quickly been
forgotten. Van Dyke, while directing </span><i><span style="background: #ffffff;">Manhattan
Melodrama</span></i><span style="background: #ffffff;">, noticed the
unique chemistry between William Powell and Myrna Loy. When handed
the assignment to direct </span><i><span style="background: #ffffff;">The
Thin Man,</span></i><span style="background: #ffffff;"> he
suggested Powell and Loy as its stars. The MGM brass shot it down;
their reason being that Powell was too old to play Nick Charles and
Loy was better suited to play the exotic or the other woman. But Van
Dyke persisted, and as the film was to be quickly shot on a low
budget, the brass acquiesced, thinking that if it tanked, they
wouldn’t lose much money. Instead it turned out to be one of the
greatest casting choices in film history and made a star out of Myrna
Loy. Van Dyke told screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
to downplay the mystery and focus on the relationship between Nick
and Nora Charles. He was right. Who tunes in to see how the mystery
unfolds? We’re much more interested in the byplay of Nick and Nora.
That’s what makes this film so enjoyable and one that can be viewed
multiple times. When released it became a huge hit and led to five
sequels, not bad for a low budget film that was a combination of
equal parts mystery and screwball comedy.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #ff2500;"><b>DAVID:
A+. </b></span>Without a doubt, William Powell and Myrna Loy are
my all-time favorite movie couple and they were never better than in
this film, which is one of the most charming and enjoyable you'll
ever see. Powell and Loy are so good together that people were
convinced they were really married. <span style="background: #ffffff;">Powell
is Nick Charles, a charming (did he ever play a character who wasn't
charming?) ex-private detective who knows every cop and criminal in
the big city and both sides of the law love him. Loy is Nora, his new
wife and a socialite, who doesn't mind that Nick is a hard-drinking
ex-private eye. Actually, she rather enjoys the excitement and wants
to help her husband solve a murder. Loy, who was a stunningly
beautiful woman, was also an outstanding actress. The two of them are
so in sync with each other and hysterically funny as they piece the
clues together. The plot, which is somewhat confusing even to those
of us who've seen this more than a few times, is secondary to the
funny banter between the leads. One of my favorite exchanges is Nick
saying "I was shot twice in </span><i><span style="background: #ffffff;">The
Tribune</span></i><span style="background: #ffffff;">." Nora: "I
read you were shot five times in the tabloids." Nick finishes
it: "It's not true. He didn't come anywhere near my
tabloids." It’s a funny, entertaining film that really
showcases these two incredible talents. This film spawned five
sequels. While the first sequel, </span><i><span style="background: #ffffff;">After
the Thin Man</span></i><span style="background: #ffffff;">, is very
good, they get progressively worse. But the interaction between the
two leads remains solid.</span> </span></span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 33px; text-align: justify;">For the complete list of films on the TCM TiVo Alert, click </span><a href="http://celluloidclub.blogspot.com/p/tcm-tivo-alert.html" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.4; text-align: justify;">here</a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 33px; text-align: justify;">.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-46671646209539077272018-09-27T00:30:00.000-04:002018-09-27T00:30:05.331-04:00King of the Underworld<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
B-Hive</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Ed Garea</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>King
of the Underworld</b></i></span> <b>(WB, 1939) – Director:
Lewis Seiler. Writers: George Bricker & Vincent Sherman (s/p).
W.R. Burnett (story). Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Kay Francis, James
Stephenson, John Eldridge, Jessie Busley, Arthur Aylesworth, Raymond
Brown, Harland Tucker, Ralph Remley, Charley Foy, Murray Alper, Joe
Devlin, Elliott Sullivan, Alan Davis & John Harmon. B&W, 67
minutes.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1939
was a great year for Hollywood, but not if you happened to be either
Kay Francis or Humphrey Bogart. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Kay
Francis was wooed away from Paramount and signed to a $200,000 a year
contract by Warners when she was hot box office back in the early
‘30s. By 1938, with the rise of the younger and more dynamic Bette
Davis, she had cooled off considerably and Jack Warner was trying to
find ways to get her to break the contract. One such way was to star
her in this dreck. Also cast as her Napoleon Bonaparte quoting
criminal nemesis was Humphrey Bogart, who began his career at Warner
Bros. on a high note with <i>The Petrified Forest</i> in
1935. Since then he’s been cast as the heavy in almost every studio
picture since, with the nadir of his career being cast as a vampire
of sorts in 1939’s <i>The Return of Doctor X</i> (read
our essay on the film <span style="color: #ff2600;"><b><a href="https://celluloidclub.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-return-of-doctor-x.html">here</a></b></span>).</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>King
of the Underworld</i> did nothing for either career, other than
giving them a reason to depart the studio. Besides placing her in bad
movies, the studio also made Francis help out with the screen tests
of up-and-coming actors. The final indignity came when the film was
released in January 1939. Bogart was given star billing with
Francis’s name below his in decidedly smaller type. Bogart, who had
befriended Francis during the shooting of the film in the summer of
1938, knew the studio wasn’t doing him any favors. He saw it for
what it was, which caused him to further despise Jack Warner, if such
a thing was possible. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>King
of the Underworld</i> was shot in 20 days. The story goes as
follows: Niles and Carol Nelson (Eldridge and Francis) are married
doctors. Struggling to establish a practice, they operate on a
gunshot victim given up for dead by other doctors. Miraculously, they
save him. The gunshot victim is a gangster in the empty of Joe Gurney
(Bogart), who is delighted to have found such dedicated medics. So
delighted in fact, that he shows up at their office and gives Niles
$500 as a token of his appreciation. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Niles
explains there sudden fortune to Carol as a result of playing the
ponies (Niles is an inveterate gambler). They decide to move uptown
and Niles promises to stop playing the ponies. At first things are
going well, though Niles keeps disappearing at time. Carol thinks
he’s back to playing the ponies, but when he leaves one evening she
trails him to a seedy section of town. She can’t find him, but does
find his car and decides to wait there. As she does, the place is
raided by the police and Niles, attending to one of Gurney’s men,
is killed in the crossfire.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Carol
is arrested as an accomplice and tried, but the result is a hung
jury. Nevertheless she has three months to clear her name of lose her
medical license. Carol decides the best way to do this is to trail
Gurney and bring him to justice. She sets up her medical practice in
a small town where she was informed Gurney has been frequently seen
and in which two of Gurney's gangsters have been imprisoned. However,
Gurney, a gangster with delusions of Napoleonic grandeur, breaks
into the jail and frees his men. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Wounded
in the jailbreak, Gurney calls upon Carol and has her tend his
wounds. Also wounded in the jailbreak is down-and-out English writer
Bill Stevens (Stephenson), who had innocently accepted a ride from
the notorious gangster. When the local medic, Doctor Sanders
(Aylesworth) refuses to treat the alleged criminal, Carol extracts
the bullet and befriends Bill, who is later taken prisoner by Gurney
(he likes the fact that Bill can quote Napoleon) so that he can write
the gangster's biography. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When
Gurney’s wound worsens, he sends for Carol. Returning back home she
learns from the grocer that the doctor had relayed his suspicions
about Carol to the sheriff, with there result that the sheriff and
federal agents are coming to arrest her for her involvement with
Gurney. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Carol
comes up with a plan to capture the mobster and his henchmen.
Convincing Gurney and his men that they have an eye infection, Carol
temporarily blinds the mobsters with adrenaline eye drops and calls
for the federal agents to close in. After a blinded Gurney is mowed
down in a gun battle Carol is exonerated and as the film ends we see
her in domestic bliss with Bill, now a successful writer, and their
son.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Afterwords</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
screenplay was based on the novel, <i>Dr. Socrates</i>, by famed
crime writer William Riley “W.R.” Burnett, and was released in
1935 under the same title starring Paul Muni. Lewis Seiler
was known as a company director, churning them out as written. He was
nothing if not prolific, beginning his career in 1923 directing
silent comedy shorts for Fox. By the time he retired in 1958 he had
over 90 films and teleplays to his credit. His work on this movie was
typical of his style. Seiler knows how to frame a scene and keep a
story moving. The faults in the movie lie more with the hacked
together script rather than and directorial fault.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
script, by George Bricker and Vincent Sherman, was unfinished by the
time principal photography commenced, and even Francis and Bogart
chipped in ideas and dialogue (accompanied, it was said, by famed
writer and mutual friend Louis Bromfield) to help finish it. Sherman
(later promoted to the director’s chair) visited the set daily to
work out any unforeseen snags. This had an unsettling effect on
Seiler, who had a preference for slow pacing and liked a finished
script. He was said to have had little enthusiasm for the film and
would show up to set and start blocking scenes without having read
the part of the script that was to be shot on that day. Originally
shot as <i>Unlawful</i>, the title was changed during
post-production.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
acting is excellent, much better than it should be for this type of
nonsense. Francis, who was once quoted as saying that she would mop
the sound stage if that’s what it took to continue drawing her
salary, gives her usual professional performance. Bogart, too, was
professional, adding a little levity into a role he just couldn’t
take seriously. James Stephenson, as Carol’s love interest, gives a
solid performance with what little he has to work with, but it seems
as though his character exists only for plot advancement.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bogart
did have a little fun when filming the trailer. After delivering the
line, “I'm King of the Underworld and <i>nobody</i> is
better than I am,” he jabbed his forefinger at the center of the
lens and ad-libbed, “<i>And that goes for you, too, Jack Warner!</i>”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
the final analysis, <i>King of the Underworld </i>is
predictable, but fun, especially for Bogart and Francis fans.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Quotable</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Joe
Gurney:</b> (<i>after Carol mends his gunshot wound</i>) Well,
can I take it or can I take it?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Dr. Carol
Nelson: </b>You can take it. Some people aren't sensitive to
pain, especially moronic types.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Joe Gurney:</b> Hey,
did you hear that, Slick? I'm a moronic type.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Slick: </b>Yeah?
Hey, what's that?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Joe
Gurney: </b></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
don't know. Some type of medical name, ain't it doc?</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Bill
Stevens:</b> (<i>discussing Gurney’s plans for a biography</i>)
What you want is a ghost writer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Joe Gurney:</b> Nah
no mystery stuff, just plain facts.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-72385342780949835702018-09-24T00:30:00.000-04:002018-09-24T07:26:45.004-04:00Here Comes Carter<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
B-Hive</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Ed Garea</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Here
Comes Carter</b></i></span> <b>(WB, 1936) – Director: William
Clemens. Writers: Roy Chanslor (s/p). Michael Jacoby (story). Stars:
Ross Alexander, Glenda Farrell, Anne Nagel, Craig Reynolds, Hobart
Cavanaugh, George E. Stone, John Sheehan, Joseph Crehan, Dennis
Moore, Norman Willis, John T. Murray, Charley Foy, Eddy Chandler,
Davison Clark & Wayne Morris. B&W, 58 minutes.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And
there goes Carter. At a little less than an hour, it’s over before
we know it, although there’s a lot of plot packed into that hour.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ross
Alexander is Kent Carter, Director of Public Relations at Premiere
Pictures. In other words, head flack. He has a slight problem in that
he doesn’t want to give his secretary, Linda Warren (Nagel), a
screen test because he wants to marry her and wants a stay-at-home
wife. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">To
make him jealous, she tells him she had dinner with actor Rex
Marchbanks (Reynolds). Rex is easily Kent’s least favorite person
in any case, so when Linda gives him the news, he really has a reason
to hate Rex. The unknowing Rex, however, hands Kent a golden
opportunity for a little revenge. Would Kent take care of his wife,
who is suing him for non-support? Kent seizes on the opportunity and
turns Rex in to the authorities.</span></span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkCUkfZcSRDLIvqrBHTeL8kF9_lL1FmeQxPqxYQmfsGf3pU5hZi4z-IdDfYpwfIGs5Uf1rVjXDCOulLy1tmuK8VspJNr6bNcrWojhlgwWf-tWqrL7VHKgzUKVocmaXHsKBsHnHYkHDcBM/s1600/here+main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="476" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkCUkfZcSRDLIvqrBHTeL8kF9_lL1FmeQxPqxYQmfsGf3pU5hZi4z-IdDfYpwfIGs5Uf1rVjXDCOulLy1tmuK8VspJNr6bNcrWojhlgwWf-tWqrL7VHKgzUKVocmaXHsKBsHnHYkHDcBM/s320/here+main.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When
Rex is ultimately cleared, he takes revenge by getting Kent fired.
Linda begs Kent to apologize and get his job back, but he refuses.
Reduced to trading an autographed cigarette lighter to diner owner
Bill (Morris in only his second picture) in return for a hot dog and
mug of beer, he notices Bill listening intently to the radio. When he
asks Bill what’s so important, Bill responds that he never misses
Mel Winter’s Hollywood gossip show. This gives Kent an idea. Why
not use his inside knowledge of Hollywood to make money? He offers to
provide dipso radio gossip Winter (Cavanaugh) with real scandals.
Winter is too timid to broadcast such damaging information,
preferring press releases, but he does hire Kent as his writer.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One
day, Winter is too drunk to broadcast and the sponsor hires Kent as a
replacement. Kent is an instant hit, using his new position to attack
Rex whenever possible. In retaliation, Rex asks gangster Steve Moran
(Willis) to throw a scare into Kent. Moran sends one of his
enforcers, Slugs Dana (Sheehan in an entertaining performance), to
threaten Kent, but Kent Buys him off with tickets to a movie preview
starring Slugs's favorite actress.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Kent
secretly arranges an audition for Linda, who repays him by refusing
to be involved with him as long as he broadcasts scandals in
Hollywood. When Kent keeps riding Rex on the air, Moran and one of
his thugs, Boots Bennett (Stone), beat him up and sending him to the
hospital. Kent refuses to tell the police who beat him because he’s
saving the information to announce it on the air.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBuhU2AxiY6nme5KG7W91l0tAgRFFrqo7q-WJZkBNfmiJE0qZhIxCBy_NFjLBWYpknjGeJNpz5iQsm_YNxquo0AGBOf6G5_anVlWQVWG0PEDpQ7kDwccuUIBciML8iyzqw1B_TBJ8I0zo/s1600/here+alexander.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBuhU2AxiY6nme5KG7W91l0tAgRFFrqo7q-WJZkBNfmiJE0qZhIxCBy_NFjLBWYpknjGeJNpz5iQsm_YNxquo0AGBOf6G5_anVlWQVWG0PEDpQ7kDwccuUIBciML8iyzqw1B_TBJ8I0zo/s320/here+alexander.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Slugs,
who has become a source of inadvertent news to Kent in return for
preview passes, tells the broadcaster that Moran once killed a man
during a robbery. Kent then breaks a story that Moran and Marchbanks
are in reality brothers. Moran breaks into the radio station
intending to kill Kent, but the police shoot him first. Having
learned that he was responsible for her singing career, Linda
reconciles with Kent, who agrees to change his profession.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Afterwords</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Unbelievably,
Glenda Farrell is second-billed to Alexander in this movie. although
she appears in a minor role as Verna Kennedy, Mel Winters’s former
secretary inherited by Kent when he took over the position. Although
she has a nice little scene encouraging Linda not to give up on
Carter, despite the fact she is mad about the boy, it’s just
further proof that Warner’s didn’t know what to do with talented
actresses. Just a few months later (January 2, 1937), Warner’s
released <i>Smart Blonde</i>, which turned Farrell into a very
popular star in one of the iconic roles of the ‘30s, that of
reporter Torchy Blaine. Read our review of it <span style="color: #ff2600;"><b><a href="https://celluloidclub.blogspot.com/2016/08/smart-blonde.html">here</a></b></span>.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
song Nagel sings on a radio broadcast, “Thru the Courtesy of Love”
(also played during the opening credits) bears a more than striking
resemblance to Jackie Gleason’s composition, “Melancholy
Serenade,” which was used as the theme of his television show.
Compare the two some time; both are on You Tube.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Besides
Wayne Morris, look for Jane Wyman as a nurse and Marjorie Weaver is a
secretary for studio head Joseph Crehan. Both actresses are
uncredited.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Anne
Nagel was one of Hollywood’s “hard-luck cases,” never making it
higher than the cusp of stardom. She met Alexander on the set of <i>Here
Comes Carter.</i> They fell in love and married on September 16,
1936. Just a scant few months later, on January 2, 1937, Alexander, a
closeted homosexual in financial straits and depressed over the
suicide of former wife Aleta Freile in 1935, shot himself in the
temple with a .22 pistol in a barn behind their Encino ranch home.
The loss affected Nagel deeply. She signed with Universal in 1939,
but stardom still eluded her as the studio assigned her to B-horror
and Western films. She left Universal to freelance, but could only
find work on Poverty Row, working at Monogram, PRC and Republic. Her
last film, an uncredited appearance in RKO’s 1950 noir, <i>Armored
Car Robbery</i>, was the best film she had done in years. She worked
doing television guest shots until 1954 when, plagued by alcoholism,
she could no longer find work. Her 1941 marriage to Army Air Corps
officer, James H. Keehan in 1941, was an unhappy one and ended in
divorce in 1951. She spent the last years of her life virtually
penniless before passing away from liver cancer on July 6, 1966, at
only 50 years of age.</span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-61257843338448181702018-09-21T00:30:00.000-04:002018-09-21T00:30:02.101-04:00TCM TiVo Alert for September 23-30<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>TCM
TiVo ALERT</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>For</b></span></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>September
23–September 30</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u>DAVID’S
BEST BETS</u>:</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>THE
LAST WALTZ</b></span></span></span></span><span style="color: #ff2500;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">(September
24, 9:00 pm): Martin Scorsese directs this all-time classic concert
film that captures the last time the five original members of the
legendary rock/folk/Americana group The Band performed. It features
appearances by, among others, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison
and a great set with Bob Dylan, who The Band backed when he first
went electric. It's one of the best rock movies ever made though it's
certainly not perfect. The interview segments with the group's
members are just as good as the music. You can read a full review I
wrote a couple of years ago about the film <a href="https://celluloidclub.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-last-waltz.html">here</a> that does it
justice. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background: #ffffff;">WUTHERING
HEIGHTS </span></b></span><span style="background: #ffffff;">(September
26, 6:00 pm): It's always challenging to adapt a classic book into a
movie, and this 1939 film uses less than half of Emily Bronte's 34
chapters (eliminating the second generation of characters) in the
book. But it's still a stunning film directed by one of the true
masters, William Wyler. Laurence Olivier gives an unforgettable
performance as Heathcliff, showing a wide range of emotions in a
complicated role. Heathcliff is bitter, vengeful, conflicted and
passionately in love. I doubt anyone else could do justice to the
role. Merle Oberon as Cathy is also wonderful as are many members of
the cast including David Niven, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Hugh
Williams.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>ED’S
BEST BETS</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>HOLLYWOOD
SHUFFLE</b></span> (Sept. 25, 8:00 pm): A dead on, hilarious
satire about the marginalization of African-Americans in Hollywood,
directed by Robert Townshend and written by Townshend and Keenan
Ivory Wayans. The film is a series of vignettes tied together by the
experiences of Bobby Taylor (Townshend) in auditioning for parts that
turns out to be stereotypical. One of the funniest vignettes is
“Black Acting School,” in which prospective students are taught
how to play slaves, butlers, criminals, and street punks. Other
standout vignettes are “Sneakin’ Into The Movies,” a parody of
Siskel and Ebert, and “Sam Ace,” a take off on hard-boiled
detectives with the hero taking on villain Jerry Curl. Besides the
satiric broadsides, the film also offers a refreshing authentic
glimpse into real middle-class African-Americans in stark contrast to
the roles they are offered in the film industry. It’s a welcome
shot at an industry that always saw itself as immune and never missed
a chance to pat itself on the back (see George Clooney’s
ridiculously smug speech at the 2006 Oscars).</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><b>WHAT
PRICE HOLLYWOOD? </b></span>(September 27, 2:00 pm): A
surprising look into Hollywood that been unjustly overlooked after
the release of <i>A Star is Born</i>, which it inspired. Lowell
Sherman is unforgettable as the dipso director whose career has
sliding into oblivion with Constance Bennett shining as a waitress
whose ambition is to be a movie star, a goal she fulfills with the
help of Sherman. With Gregory Ratoff and Neil Hamilton. A must see
for all movie fans.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>WE
DISAGREE ON ... 42ND STREET</b> (September 30, 8:15 am)</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0000fe;"><b><span style="background: #ffffff;">ED</span></b></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background: #ffffff;">: </span></span><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="background: #ffffff;">A++.</span></b></span><span style="background: #ffffff;"> This
is the mother of all Pre-Code musicals, and the prototype for all
future musicals. The story is simple – Sugar Daddy Abner Dillon
(Guy Kibbee) is backing a new Broadway show titled “Pretty Lady,”
which will star his squeeze Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels). The trouble
is that while Brock is Dillon’s Main Squeeze, she doesn’t want to
be squoze by him. She’d rather be in the arms of old boyfriend
George Brent, with whom she’s still in love. Things come to a boil,
with the result that Bebe breaks her ankle and can’t go on. Just as
it looks like there’s going to be a dark theater, young Peggy
Sawyer (Ruby Keeler) is plucked from the chorus line by director
Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter) and given the chance to be the star. You
know the rest. Once Busby Berkeley takes over staging the dance
numbers, it’ll never be quite the same again, both for the musicals
and for Berkeley. Not only does the film contain unforgettable
numbers such as “Young and Healthy,” Shuffling Off to Buffalo,”
and the title song, but listen in and catch some of the most risque
lines and scenarios ever to populate a musical. Ginger Rogers, in an
early role, plays a character named Anytime Annie. “She only said
‘No’ once, and that was when she didn’t hear the question,”
says backstage manager Andy Lee (George E. Stone). Also watch for the
homosexual innuendo between Julian Marsh and Andy Lee. I can’t
count the number of times I’ve seen this film over the years, but
each time I sit down to watch, it comes across still as fresh as the
first time I saw it.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUusyeVCxHW1VteqS6iaVxvhXZz2lq7Rj0xz-QE6CwZ24l4xG-M9PuU6HV-wN1a2Ib5zAW0XqnIB2Ijt7VY4YTb3k9EPMqQVBQFWJHP3WTez3qBQmQedWPrk5dLrPT7-Z3Dr0Tx-viGjk/s1600/tcm23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="1140" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUusyeVCxHW1VteqS6iaVxvhXZz2lq7Rj0xz-QE6CwZ24l4xG-M9PuU6HV-wN1a2Ib5zAW0XqnIB2Ijt7VY4YTb3k9EPMqQVBQFWJHP3WTez3qBQmQedWPrk5dLrPT7-Z3Dr0Tx-viGjk/s320/tcm23.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background: #ffffff;">DAVID:
C. </span></b></span><span style="background: #ffffff;">When I
saw the play on Broadway in 1982, I thought it was fun, primarily
because of the great choreography. The plot is simplistic and there's
a handful of good songs. When I saw the 1933 movie, of which the play
is based, I wondered why anyone would take a mediocre at best film
and make it a play. (Of course, the play was an unbelievable success
and the film was well-received.) The movie is filled with cliche
lines about putting on a Broadway musical including the unknown
chorus girl becoming the star. “Sawyer, you're going out a younger,
but you've got to come back a star!” and “Sawyer, you listen to
me and you listen hard” are two such cheesy lines.</span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background: #efefef;"> </span></span><span style="background: #ffffff;">The
only missing piece is Mickey Rooney. Like its play adaption, the
movie's plot is virtually nonexistent. The movie is a shade under 90
minutes and about 20 minutes of it is three song-and-dance numbers
from the fictitious play being put on in the film. The Busby Berkeley
dance numbers have entertaining moments and the cinematography of
them is good, but not nearly enough to keep my interest. </span></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 33px; text-align: justify;">For the complete list of films on the TCM TiVo Alert, click </span><a href="http://celluloidclub.blogspot.com/p/tcm-tivo-alert.html" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.4; text-align: justify;">here</a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 33px; text-align: justify;">.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-49445781406870966662018-09-19T00:30:00.000-04:002018-09-19T00:30:03.146-04:00The Mouthpiece<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Films
In Focus</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Ed Garea</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Mouthpiece</b></i></span> <b>(WB, 1932) – Directors: James
Flood, Elliott Nugent. Writers: Joseph Jackson (s/), Earl Baldwin
(adaptation & dialogue), Frank J. Collins (play). Stars: Warren
William, Sidney Fox, Aline MacMahon, John Wray, Mae Madison, Ralph
Ince, Morgan Wallace, Guy Kibbee, J. Carrol Naish, Walter Walker,
Stanley Fields, Murray Kinnell, Noel Francis & William Janney.
B&W, 86 minutes.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If
we were to choose any actor as the perfect heel in the Pre-Code era I
think Warren William would win by seven furlongs. To paraphrase
William’s biographer, John Stageland, William specialized in
playing characters noted for a bankrupt conscience, predatory
sexuality and a deeply buried smidgen of decency.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And
yet, according to Stageland, Warner Bros. offered the role to nearly
every other actor in the Warner-First National stable before giving
it to William. The only reason he got the role at all was because
everyone else had turned its down. The movie made him a star.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>The
Mouthpiece</i> is a film based on the career of noted attorney
William Joseph Fallon, who made his reputation defending all kinds of
criminals and getting them acquitted. One of his most famous clients
was Arnold Rothstein, who he defended against charges of fixing the
1919 World Series, and for whom Fallon was on permanent call. Fallon
(who dubbed himself, “The Great Mouthpiece”) could, according to
his biographer Gene Fowler, read and memorize a book in just a few
hours and use its contents to devastating effect in the courtroom the
next day. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Gene
Fowler’s best-selling biography of Fallon, <i>The Great
Mouthpiece</i>, published in September 1931, four years after
Fallon’s death at age 41 from alcohol related causes (he had been a
teetotaler for much of his life until Prohibition), inspired a rash
of movies about his exploits. Three were released in the month of May
1932 alone, beginning with <i>The Mouthpiece </i>(May 7),
followed by RKO’s <i>State’s Attorney</i>, starring John
Barrymore and Helen Twelvetrees (May 20), and Columbia’s <i>Attorney
for the Defense,</i> starring Edmund Lowe and Evelyn Brent (May
21). Warner Bros., which began the trend, ended it with <i>Lawyer
Man</i>, starring William Powell and Joan Blondell, released January
7, 1933. Two films released before the publication of Fowler’s book
with Fallon-inspired characters were Paramount’s 1930 <i>For
the Defense</i>, with William Powell and Kay Francis; and MGM’s
1931 <i>A Free Soul</i>, with Lionel Barrymore as the Fallon
character, Clark Gable as the hood he defends, and Norma Shearer as
Barrymore’s daughter and Gable’s paramour.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As <i>The
Mouthpiece </i>opens we meet Vince Day (William), an overworked
ADA prosecuting a defendant accused of murdering his wife. Everything
we see in the courtroom, from Day’s oratory, to the faces on the
jury, to the face of the defendant himself, tells us his conviction
is a foregone conclusion. And so it is – a conviction for
first-degree murder, with the death penalty to be applied. However,
at the hour of execution the D.A. (Walker) informs Day that the
defendant was innocent; the gardner confessed to the murder. The D.A.
phones the governor, but it’s too late; an innocent victim is dead
and Day, absolutely crushed by the news, resigns in disgrace. After
drowning his sorrows in Guy Kibbee’s watering hole, Day vows never
to prosecute another case and begins a new career as a defense
attorney.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">At
first he’s a success, getting his clients acquitted. But very
little money is coming his way. Back at the watering hole, friendly
bartender Kibbee gives him some advice. Day had been defending the
wrong people – those who were innocent. The big money lies in
defending the <i>guilty</i>.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
next time we see Vince Day he’s back in the courtroom, defending
his client O’Leary, who is accused of murder. Using bombast and
outrageous stunts he gets his client acquitted. Back at the watering
hole he tells bartender kibble what he’s learned:
</span></span>“<i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sensationalism!
Ballyhoo! Barnum and Bailey. Give ’em a three ring circus and toss
in a little Houdini on the side. Give ’em a swell show and they
won’t even stop to think.”</span></i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Next
we see Day’s secretary, Miss Hickey (MacMahon) usher in a new
client, Mr. Barton (Wray). Barton has embezzled $90,000 from his
employer, E.A. Smith & Associates and is in a panic because the
company is going over the books. Day asks Barton how much of the
embezzled money he has left. $40,000, replies Barton. Day asks him to
hand it over and sends him to another room to wait. Day then calls
Smith (Wallace), tells him he’s been robbed, and invites him over
to his office. There he tells Smith he’ll return $30,000 of his
money if Smith agrees not to prosecute. Smith agrees. When Smith
later learns from Barton that he gave Day $40,000 the employer is
outraged and walks out in a huff. Barton asks for a cut of the
remaining $10,000, telling Day that he won’t be able to find
another job. But Day cold-heartedly tells him, “<i>Yours</i>? You
stole it. I earned it.” </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While
this is going on Celia Faraday (Fox), a naive young girl from
Kentucky, has come into the office seeking a job. Hickey tells him,
that “she’s jailbait and dumb,” but after meeting her and
learning she’s been in the city for five months looking for a job,
Day hires her. His sights are set on seducing the young woman. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When
Day learns that Smith plans to file charges against him for helping
himself to the stolen $10,000 he produces a copy of the waiver Smith
signed for the return of his $30,000 in the DA’s office, forcing
Smith to either back down or face a charge himself of compounding a
felony. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There’s
a brief scene where Day begins putting the moves on his little
Kentucky Kernel, Celia, but she is so naive and innocent she has no
inkling of what he means under the double-talk.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Now
comes the movie’s most famous scene, one that people with whom I’ve
discussed the movie always bring up. Defending Tony Rocca (Naish),
accused of murder by poison, Day holds up the poison bottle. “This
is the bottle containing the so-called poison,” he declares
before gulping the contents down to the accompaniment of gasps
from the gallery. While everyone tries to recover we notice the
presence of Celia who also looks most concerned.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
expected the jury finds Rocco Not Guilty. After shaking hands with
the jurors and prosecutor, Day leaves the courtroom accompanied by a
couple of other men and briskly walks down the street and into a
building where he has his stomach pumped, remarking how glad he is
the the jury didn’t know that the poison took 45 minutes to work. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
Day is celebrating his victory at a party Celia is dining at a chop
suey joint with boyfriend Johnny (Janney). Celia puts in a call to
Day and is told by his servant, Thompson (Kinnell), that she is to
deliver some papers to his apartment. As she arrives, Day is there to
meet her in a smoking jacket. Day makes his big move, kissing her,
but she pulls away, telling him she’s not interested. Day then
tries to impress her with the revelation that there really was poison
in the bottle, but instead of being impressed, she’s disgusted to
the point of where she quits her job. Day, floored by the
way the night has turned out, apologizes, asking if she would stay on
until he finds a replacement and she reluctantly agrees.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On
Celia’s last day Day gives her a $100 check endorsed over from a
law journal for an article he wrote. As this is clean money, she
accepts. But that night, a distraught Celia, along with Hickey,
arrives at his apartment, looking for him. Hickey, reckoning he’s
at Guy Kibbee’s gin mill, finds him there and brings him back home.
Along with Thompson she cleans him up to properly receive Celia.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Celia
is in a panic because Johnny, a bank messenger, he was robbed of some
bonds, but the police believe he was an inside man and arrested him.
Day bails him out and has him sent over to his apartment. Sending
Celia out of the room Day grills Johnny, but comes to believe in his
innocence after Johnny tells him that he wouldn’t be able to look
Celia in the face if he stole money. He tells both Celia and Johnny
that he’ll clear this up in time for their wedding. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Day
learns from bail bondsman Roscoe (Ince) that Joe Garland (an
uncredited Jack La Rue) committed the theft. He asks Garland to
confess as a favor to him, and when the thief refuses, Vince has him
arrested.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Back
in Day’s office, Celia and Johnny show up to thank him and invite
him to their wedding. He says he’ll do his best to be there. After
they leave Roscoe enters, telling Day the boys aren’t happy because
he ratted. Day not only tells Roscoe where to go, but also mentions
that he has a file that contains information about the boys and their
activities that will be handed over to the police if anything happens
to him. Roscoe’s not buying it. He leaves as Hickey comes in.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Day
tells Hickey he’s tired of “crooked streets and crooked people”
and is returning to civil practice. After ordering flowers over the
phone he leaves for the kids’ wedding. Looking out the window,
Hickey sees trouble coming. She calls out to him and chases down the
stairs trying to catch up to him.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
Day pauses to buy a newspaper, a driver across the street makes his
car backfire, followed by a gunshot. Day slumps into the wall, but
then straightens up and slowly makes his way into the cab as Hickey
catches up to him. As the cabbie asks, “Where to?” Day replies,
“Emergency hospital. And you better hurry.” As Hickey pulls her
hand back from Day she sees it’s covered in blood. Day laughs,
telling her the joke’s on Roscoe and the boys because those
papers really do exist. As the film ends he looks at Hickey. “Good
old Hickey,” he says. “You’re always around when I need you,
aren’t you, Sweetheart.”</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Afterwords</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>The
Mouthpiece </i>is pure Warren William, establishing the template
for later portrayals of men without consciences. As Day, William is
pitch perfect. Not for a minute do we doubt either his
characterization or his performance. When he appears he commands the
screen and we end up only caring what he’s up to this time.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
Hickey, Day’s loyal secretary, McMahon gives another one of her
patented performances. Though we’ve seen it before, most notable
opposite Edward G, Robinson in <i>Five Star Final</i>, she never
ceases to impress us with the variety of her loyal characters.
Instead of being just a one-note actress, MacMahon brings a sense of
spontaneity into the role. Though we know just what she’s going to
do – this is a Warner Bros. film, after all – we enjoy the verve
she brings with her. It’s a shame there weren’t more scenes with
her. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sidney
Fox, in the role of the ingenue, comes off rather uneven, as her
Kentucky accent seems to drift in and out throughout the film, a
problem that can be attributed to bad writing in having a New York
actress attempt to be a Southern lady. The diminutive Fox (4’ 11”),
born Sidney Leifer in New York City, began her career at Universal
in <i>The Bad Sister</i> (1931), opposite Conrad Nagel,
Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis (in her first film). She received a
strong push from the studio, fueled in part by rumors that she was
Carl Laemmle, Jr.’s mistress. Named one of 13 “Wampas Baby Stars”
of 1931, she also began making the covers of such movie magazines
as <i>Modern Screen</i> and <i>Movie Mirror</i>. But
her career fizzled out in 1934 after only 14 films, the most
memorable of which was the 1932 production of <i>Murders in the
Rue Morgue </i>(for which she was amazingly billed ahead of Bela
Lugosi). Her last three pictures – <i>Midnight</i> (1934), <i>Down
to Their Last Yacht</i> (1934) and <i>School for
Girls </i>(1934), for Poverty Row studio Liberty Films – did
nothing to reverse her downhill slide, although she remained a
romantic leading lady throughout her career and was never reduced to
bit parts. After leaving Hollywood she found some work here and there
on the Orpheum Theatre circuit, on radio and a brief return to
Broadway in a replacement role. Then, nothing. Her stormy marriage to
Universal editor Charles Beahan in 1932 helped her slide into
depression and illness. On the morning of November 15, 1942, the
34-year-old actress was found dead in her Beverly Hills bedroom by
her husband after consuming a number of sleeping pills.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
the final frame, <i>The Mouthpiece</i> is an entertaining effort
whose performances from William and MacMahon raise it above the level
of ordinary programmer. It was remade twice, in 1940 as <i>The
Man Who Talked Too Much</i> with George Brent in 1940, and in
1955 as <i>Illegal</i> with Edward G. Robinson. Neither
remake comes close to matching the original. Stick with this one.</span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-71845357554942595212018-09-16T00:30:00.000-04:002018-09-16T09:28:41.775-04:00Cinéma Inhabituel for September 16-30<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A
Guide to the Interesting and Unusual on TCM</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Ed Garea</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>A
GENIUS AT HOME</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Celluloid
Club </i>fan Joe Weber writes to inform us about a resident at
the retirement home where he works. It is none other than famed
graphic designer Pablo Ferro. If you’ve never heard of Pablo Ferro,
you’re not alone. His is a talent that is always seen but rarely
acknowledged. In fact every one who has seen a movie from 1964 to
2014 has seen Mr. Ferro’s work. He was a title designer, and not
only just a title designer, but the best in the business according to
directors Stanley Kubrick and Jonathan Demme. Kubrick hailed Ferro as
the father of the sixties look and the MTV aesthetics. Pablo Ferro
began his career in 1964 when he designed the titles for
Kubrick’s <i>Dr. Strangelove</i>. Over the years he has served
as title designer and graphics designer for 93 films, including <i>The
Thomas Crown Affair</i> (1968), <i>Midnight
Cowboy </i>(1969), <i>A Clockwork Orange</i> (1971), <i>Harold
and Maude</i> (also 1971), <i>Being There</i> (1979), <i>To
Live and Die in L.A. </i>(1985), <i>L.A.
Confidential</i> (1997), the HBO movie <i>Winchell</i> (1998), <i>Napoleon
Dynamite</i> (2004), and <i>Men in Black 3</i> (2012).
His titles and montage sequences have appeared in 12 Academy Award
winning films.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For
those of us old enough to remember the original NBC peacock,
announcing that the program is in color, he created that, also. He
also directed two movies: <i>Me, Myself and I</i> (1992)
with Jobeth Williams and George Segal; and the TV movie <i>Rage</i> (1983). </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Pablo
Ferro has won over 70 national and international awards, among them
numerous Clios, a DGA Excellence in Film Award, and several Lifetime
Achievement awards. He has also been nominated by such highly
regarded institutions as the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt. In 1999 Pablo
was awarded the prestigious DaimlerChrysler Design Award, and in 2000
Pablo was inducted into the Art Directors Hall of Fame.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There
is also a documentary titled <i>Pablo</i> (2012), about his
life and career. Look for it – you will not be disappointed. Joe
told us that it’s a honor to have met him and that he is a joy to
be around every day. Knowing Joe as I do, compliments from him do not
come easily, so Pablo Ferro must be quite a man in addition to being
a genius. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>VICTOR ERICE</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">September 30:</b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> A double feature from the groundbreaking Spanish director begins at 2:15 am with his 1973 feature, </span><span style="color: #0433ff; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><i><b>Spirit of the Beehive</b></i></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">. Combining a serious view of village life in the ‘40s with a unique look at the world of childhood imagination, the film follows the adventures of a young girl named Ana (Ana Torrent). The daughter of a beekeeper, she is captivated when she sees a roadshow featuring the 1931 movie </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Frankenstein</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">. Her sister Isabel (Isabel Telleria) tells Ana that the monster is a spirit who can be conjured up simply by calling out for him. Ana returns alone to an isolated barn where she and her sister routinely play, and there she meets a stranger that she believes is Frankenstein’s Monster. Following at 4:15 am is </span><span style="color: #0433ff; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><i><b>El Sur</b></i></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">(The South</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">) the director’s 1985 look at a southern Spanish village. Set in 1957, 15-year old Estrella (Iciar Bollain), is awakened by the barking of dogs in the distance, and the voice of her mother calling for her husband Agustin (Omero Antonutti). When Estrella finds her father's pendulum (which he wore on a chain around his neck) under her pillow, she realizes that he has left for good. What follows is told in flashback, as Estrella describes how her family came to live in this village, and her attempt to understand her mysterious, moody physician father Agustin. Both films examine not only the ives of their characters but also the atmosphere of Franco’s authoritarian regime and both are considered masterpieces of European cinema. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>RENOIR</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
16:</b> A double feature from the famed director begins at
2 am with his masterpiece, and one of the best films ever made, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Rules of the Game</b></i></span>, from 1939. It’s a brilliant
satire, using a veneer of light comedy, on the upper classes of
France, following the romantic shenanigans (both upstairs and
downstairs) that occur at a French country estate. During the course
of the film Renoir sends up their follies, rituals and class
distinctions. If he thought he was going to get away with it he was
sadly mistaken, for the film was savaged upon its release, with
audiences actually hissing. Of course, it’s a Must See.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Following
at 4 am, it’s <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The Golden
Coach</b></i></span> (1953), a delight about a theater company
touring South America in the 18th century and the amorous doings of
the leading lady (Anna Magnani). Sumptuously filmed with a dazzling
use of color, this has to be one of the best films ever made about
the art of acting.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>OZU</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
23:</b> One film, two different versions. At 2 am comes the 1959
remake, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Floating Weeds</b></i></span>,
about a struggling acting company that visits a remote island, where
its leader (Ganjiro Nakamura) visits his illegitimate son and the
son’s mother, with whom he had a passionate affair years before.
Shot in color, it’s directed with Ozu’s usual thoroughness and is
excellently acted. Following at 4 am is the original silent
version, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>A Story of Floating Weeds</b></i></span>,
from 1934. Though sound had come to Japanese cinema in 1931, as late
as 1938, roughly one-third of Japanese films were silent. But you
shouldn’t let lack of sound prevent you from enjoying a well-made
and moving film. Take it in, by all means.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>MARCEL
CAMUS</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
27:</b> At 11:15 pm comes one of the most lauded and successful
foreign films, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Black Orpheus</b></i></span> (1959).
An imaginative retelling of the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice set
against the backdrop of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, it features some
of the most beautifully photographed color images ever to be shown.
Gorgeous and totally compelling, with wonderful performances from its
cast, it truly deserves to be be seen.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>NOIR
ALLEY</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
22:</b> At midnight, it’s <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Stranger</b></i></span>, Orson Welles’s excellent 1946 tale of an
escaped Nazi war criminal (Welles) who marries a local schoolteacher
(Loretta Young) and settles down in a small Connecticut town where he
lives quietly until federal investigator Edward G. Robinson tracks
him down and exposes him. It’s one of Welles’s most underrated
and compelling films, with excellent performances all around.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
29:</b> Sometimes, Monogram surprised everyone with a good film.
Such is the case with <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The Gangster</b></i></span>,
from 1947. Produced by the King Brothers, Frank and Maurice, it
stars Barry Sullivan in a strong performance as Shubunka, a
racketeer whose territory is coveted by fellow gangster Cornell
(Sheldon Leonard). Belita co-stars as Shubunka’s show girl squeeze.
She’s deeply in love with him, but his paranoia about Cornell is
damaging their relationship as he thinks she’s two-timing him. John
Ireland is along for the ride with a good performance as Frank Karty,
a compulsive gambler who begs Shubunka for money or a piece of the
action. Not the usual Monogram product, it, too, can be seen at
Midnight. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>RITZ
BROTHERS</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
16:</b> “On the funny side, there's the Marx Brothers, except
Zeppo, the Ritz Brothers, no exceptions, both Laurel <i>and</i> Hardy,
and Woody Woodpecker.” </span></span></span>–<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"> Benjy Stone (Mark Linn-Baker), </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">My
Favorite Year</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Although
nearly forgotten today, in their heyday the Ritz Brothers (Al, Harry
and Jimmy) had a large following. They were the stars of Broadway and
enjoyed a movie career lasting from the late ‘30s to the early
‘40s. Although some fans compared them to the Marx Brothers, the
Ritzes did not play contrasting characters like the Marxes. The
boisterous Ritzes frequently behaved identically, which made it
difficult for audiences to tell them apart. Harry was the ringleader
with Jimmy and Al enthusiastically following his lead. They
frequently broke into songs and dances during their feature comedies,
and often did celebrity impersonations. They were a huge influence on
comics such as Danny Kaye, Jerry Lewis, Sid Caesar, and Mel Brooks.
Tonight, TCM pays tribute to the brothers with three of their films
from Fox, beginning at 8 pm with <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Kentucky
Moonshine</b></i></span>. In this 1938 film, the boys learns that
radio singer Tony Martin is going to Kentucky in order to boost
ratings. Along with Marjorie Weaver they travel to Kentucky, posing
as hillbillies in a bid to be discovered.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">At
9:45 pm, the Brothers star in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Life
Begins in College </b></i></span>(1937), their first feature
film as headliners. Nat Pendleton is excellent as a rich student who,
through the Ritzes, donates $50,000 to Lombardy College with two
conditions: the football coach, under fire, must stay on, and the
Ritzes must be allowed to play for the football team. Gloria Stuart
and Joan Davis provide solid support.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
tribute wraps up at 11:15 pm with the 1938 comedy, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Straight,
Place and Show</b></i></span>. The Brothers inherit a racehorse,
raise training and entrance money in a wrestling match, help young
Denny Paine train the horse of his fiancée, Barbara Drake (Phyliss
Brooks), and expose some crooked Russian jockeys while they’re at
it. With Ethel Merman.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It
did not end well at Fox for the talented trio. After complaints about
being cast in that old war horse, <i>The Gorilla</i> (1939),
the Brothers left the studio and moved over to Universal.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>NEAGLE
& WILDING</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
23:</b> Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding were a popular pair in
English cinema who <i>Daily Mirror </i>columnist and
critic Godfrey Winn called “the greatest team in British films.”
TCM is running a double feature honoring the pair, beginning
with <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Spring in Park Lane</b></i></span> (1948)
at 8 pm, a romantic comedy with Neagle as a diamond merchant’s
niece who falls for the new footman (Wilding), unaware he is actually
an impoverished aristocrat. In <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Maytime
in Mayfair </b></i></span>(1949) at 10 pm, Michael
Gore-Brown (Wilding) is a broke playboy gentleman who inherits
London's leading dress store in the posh Mayfair district. Instead of
selling it for cash, he falls in love with the shop’s manager,
Ellen Grahame (Neagle) and decides to make a go of the
business, especially when he learns that a rival shop across the
street seems to get the new fashions first. This is a delightful
musical comedy and the pair’s first in Technicolor. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>PRE-CODE</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
18:</b> Director King Vidor is featured in a double feature
beginning at 2 am with his all-Black musical, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Hallelujah</b></i></span> (1929),
followed at 4 am with his acclaimed 1931 drama of life in New
York City’s tenements, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Street
Scene</b></i></span>, starring Sylvia Sidney and Beulah Bondi. Both
films are Must Sees.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
19:</b> Ex-convicts Robert Young, Nat Pendleton and Ted Healy
help impoverished Louisiana shrimper Jean Parker Parker and her
family fight off a hostile takeover by the half-Chinese C.
Henry Gordon in the meandering 1934 drama <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Lazy
River</b></i></span> at 2 pm.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
24:</b> William Powell and Joan Blondell star in the 1933
drama <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Lawyer Man</b></i></span> at
12:45 pm. Following at 3:15 pm it’s Lionel Barrymore, Norma Shearer
and Clark Gable in 1931’s <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>A Free
Soul</b></i></span> (read our review <span style="color: #ff2600;"><b><a href="https://celluloidclub.blogspot.com/2016/02/a-free-soul.html">here</a></b></span>).
At 5 pm, Warren William shakes things up in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Mouthpiece</b></i></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"> </span>(1932);
and at 6:30 pm John Barrymore stars in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>State’s
Attorney</b></i></span>, also from 1932.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
26:</b> John Gilbert is a chauffeur up to no good in the
excellent <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Downstairs</b></i></span> (1932)
at 11 am, and at 2:30 pm newlywed Helen Hayes discovers that she and
husband Robert Montgomery’s snooty family speak different languages
in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Another Language</b></i></span> (1933).</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
27:</b> Six pre-Codes are featured today, beginning with Norma
Shearer in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The Divorcee</b></i></span> (1930)
at 7:30 am. Following in order are <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Madame
Satan</b></i></span> (1930) at 9 am, Hepburn and Colin Clive
in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Christopher Strong</b></i></span> (1933)
at 11:15 am, Stanwyck and Blondell in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Illicit</b></i></span> (1931)
at 12:30 pm, Constance Bennett and Lowell Sherman in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>What
Price Hollywood?</b></i></span> (1932) at 2 pm, and finally,
Stanwyck and Brent in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Baby
Face</b></i></span> (1933) at 3:30 pm.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>PSYCHOTRONICA
AND THE B-HIVE</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
17:</b> A different kind of monster threatens Tokyo run the
1962 <i>kaiju</i> feature, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Mothra</b></i></span>,
airing at 3:30 am.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
18:</b> George Sanders in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Gay Falcon</b></i></span> (1942) at 7:30 am. A Val Lewton double
feature kicks off with<span style="color: #0433ff;"> </span><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Cat
People</b></i></span> (1942) at 8:45 am, followed by <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
Seventh Victim </b></i></span>at 10 am.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
20:</b> Tamara Dobson fights the scenery chewing Shelley Winters
in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Cleopatra Jones </b></i></span>(1973)
at 1:45 am.</span></span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjRO9P0LqUuORkyiFBoRgMhxA1ti_5VRqQsZYbBYlbU6sGMw70AfhAl3jYmA58-gNph3-jVq5cArM58iPaTOBYR1uLMHQ0_3EcTkKVSfY_Jl1xd4KDuaG6-xBmekLnTbaiGTk_s77ir5I/s1600/ci+bowery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1201" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjRO9P0LqUuORkyiFBoRgMhxA1ti_5VRqQsZYbBYlbU6sGMw70AfhAl3jYmA58-gNph3-jVq5cArM58iPaTOBYR1uLMHQ0_3EcTkKVSfY_Jl1xd4KDuaG6-xBmekLnTbaiGTk_s77ir5I/s320/ci+bowery.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
21:</b> The Bowery Boys encounter genie pic Blore in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Bowery
to Bagdad</b></i></span> (1955) at 1 am, followed by <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Macon
County Line</b></i></span> (1974) and <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Return
to Macon County </b></i></span>(1975 beginning at 2:15 am.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
22:</b> At 10 am the last of TCM’s Saturday morning Tarzan
series, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Tarzan the
Magnificent</b></i></span> (1960), airs at 10:09 am, preceded by
Popeye in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Dizzy Divers</b></i></span> (1935)
at 10 am.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
24:</b> In an evening dedicated to director Martin Scorsese, one
of his early efforts, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Boxcar
Bertha</b></i></span> (1972), starring Barbara Hershey and David
Carradine, is showing at 11:15 pm.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Joseph
Lewis’s classic, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Gun Crazy </b></i></span>(1950),
is scheduled for 3 am.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
25:</b> Melvin Van Peebles’s satirical 1970
classic, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Watermelon Man</b></i></span>,
starring Godfrey Cambridge and Estelle Parsons, will air at 11:30 pm.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
28:</b> <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Alone in the Dark</b></i></span> (1982),
with Jack Palance and Donald Pleasance, will be shown at 2 am,
followed at 45 am by Deborah Kerr and David Niven in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Eye
of the Devil</b></i></span> (1966).</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September
29:</b> A Tom and Jerry cartoon, <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The
House of Tomorrow</b></i></span> (1949), will air at 8 am. At 10
am, Popeye returns in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>You Gotta Be a
Football Hero</b></i></span> (1940), followed immediately by
Louis Heyward in <span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>The Saint in New
York</b></i></span><span style="color: #0433ff;"> </span>(1938). Read
our review <span style="color: #ff2600;"><b><a href="https://celluloidclub.blogspot.com/2012/11/films-in-focus.html">here</a></b></span>.</span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-58717313447818493622018-09-13T00:30:00.000-04:002018-09-13T00:30:07.729-04:00TCM TiVo Alert for September 15-22<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>TCM
TiVo ALERT</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>For</b></span></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>September
15–September 22</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u>DAVID’S
BEST BETS</u>:</b></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background: #ffffff;">TAXI
DRIVER</span></b></span><span style="color: #ff2500;"><span style="background: #ffffff;"> </span></span><span style="background: #ffffff;">(September
17, 12:15 am): This film expertly captures the grit, dirt and
violence of New York City in the mid-1970s. Robert De Niro is
perfectly cast as a disturbed taxi driver who is obsessed with a
teenage prostitute (Jodie Foster) and who thinks a nice first date is
going to see a pornographic film. It also gave us one of the greatest
lines in movie history: "</span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="background: #ffffff;">You
talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who
the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the
only one here. Who the f--- do you think you're talking to?"</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="background: #ffffff;">CAT
PEOPLE</span></b></span><span style="background: #ffffff;"> (September
18, 8:45 am): If you're going to make a successful B-movie on the
cheap – 1942's </span><i><span style="background: #ffffff;">Cat
People</span></i><span style="background: #ffffff;"> reportedly
had a budget of less than $150,000 – you better be sure to be
imaginative. And that's exactly what this film is. It's the story of
Irena (Simone Simon), a Serbian fashion designer who is convinced she
is the victim of a curse that will change her into a killer panther
if she is sexually aroused. She is obsessed with a black panther at
the Central Park Zoo, often sketching and visiting the creature in
its cage. Irena falls in love and marries Oliver Reed (Kent Smith and
not to be confused with the actor Oliver Reed), an engineer, who she
is never intimate with fearing a transformation. What it lacks in
special effects – which are virtually nonexistent – it more than
makes up in atmosphere and exceptionally good use of cinematography,
especially shadows and black-and-white framing. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u>ED’S
BEST BETS</u>:</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>THE
LONG VOYAGE HOME</b></span> (Sept, 15, 2:00 pm): When we
consider John Ford’s oeuvre, this film tends to fall into the
underrated category. It’s a quietly moving story of merchant seamen
returning to England on the tramp steamer <i>Glencairn</i> from
the West Indies after stopping at Baltimore to pick up a supply of
munitions just as World War II breaks out. Adapted by screenwriter
Dudley Nichols from four short Eugene O’Neill plays, it boasts a
stellar ensemble cast, headed by Thomas Mitchell, Ian Hunter, Barry
Fitzgerald, Wilfred Lawson, Mildred Natwick, Ward Bond, and a
surprisingly effective John Wayne playing a Swede, no less. John
Qualen is memorable as Wayne’s fellow Swede and older protective
friend. Look for Barry’s younger brother, Arthur Shields. Gregg
Toland, who captures and sets the mood of the film, beautifully
photographs the film. It’s par for the course today to praise
Toland’s work, but I think this is one of his best efforts. It’s
also one of Ford’s best efforts and definite one to catch.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>THE
RULES OF THE GAME</b></span> (Sept. 16, 2:00 am): Director Jean
Renoir’s satiric farce of the manners of the French is a classic
and one of the best films ever made. A group of wealthy aristocrats
assemble for a weekend hunting party at a country chateau on the eve
of World War II. Before long, however, the façade breaks down with
the guests, hosts and servants involved in rather complex romantic
problems. Renoir’s point is that beneath the polite and civilized
façade lies a world of casual cruelty and betrayal, for we are all
playing by the rules of society (“the rules of the game”), and
those who don’t suffer the consequences. The film itself is
beautifully made with every shot and frame composed with care and an
eye to the overall story. Anyone interested in the history of cinema
or just looking for a good movie should take this one in. You won’t
be disappointed. Renoir tried to save the film by cutting it, but the
film closed after three weeks and was banned for being
“demoralizing.” After the war prints of the film were
occasionally shown, missing 20 minutes from its premiere length. In
1956, two lab technicians found bits and pieces used to assemble the
film and with the help of Renoir, restored it to almost its original
length. When the newly restored film premiered at the 1959 Venice
Film Festival it was hailed as a rediscovered masterpiece. How time
changes everything.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>WE
AGREE ON …</b> <b>THE STRANGER</b> (September 22, 12:00
am)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;"><b>ED:
A</b></span><span style="color: blue;">.</span> Orson Welles said it was
his worst film. And the French, who usually fall over anything Welles
makes, see the film as impersonal and bland. This is because Welles,
directing his first film in four years after being blacklisted in
Hollywood, was told to direct the film straight from the script and
allowed none of his usual wiggle room. But pay no attention to that,
for this is a first-rate film noir directed and starring Orson Welles
as Franz Kindler, a Nazi who helped mastermind the Holocaust, and
who, as Professor Charles Rankin, is hiding in the picturesque
village of Harper, Connecticut as a history instructor at a private
school. Not only has he ingratiated himself seamlessly with the
locals, he plans to marry one – Mary Longstreet (Loretta
Young), daughter of the town’s esteemed judge, Adam (Philip
Merivale). Having strong suspicions that Kindler fled to the U.S.,
Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) of the War Crimes Commission has
released Konrad Meinike (Konstantin Shayne), hoping he will lead
Wilson to Kindler. But Meinike is killed before he can identify
Kindler, and Wilson’s only clue as to Kindler’s whereabouts is
his fascination with antique clocks. It’s a beautifully written and
directed cat and mouse game, with Robinson essentially reprising his
role of insurance investigator Barton Keyes from 1944’s <i>Double
Indemnity</i> and Welles anticipating his performance in <i>The
Third Man</i> as Harry Lime, a wanted war criminal. There are
many excellent scenes in the movie, but none as powerful as the one
in which Wilson attempts to deprogram Mary by showing her films of
concentration camp horrors, explaining how Rankin, as Kindler,
developed the idea of genocide. This marks the first time (1946) that
such footage was incorporated into a studio film. There is also the
scene where Wilson, suspecting Rankin, but having no proof, tricks
him into exposing himself, is also notable. The performances across
the board are near perfect, except for Welles, who comes off rather
over the top. (A case of the director not being able to reign in the
star?)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red;"><b>DAVID:
A.</b></span><span style="color: #ff2500;"><b> </b></span>Orson Welles'
third film as a director was also his third straight masterpiece.
This one has Welles as a Nazi fugitive, who supposedly came up with
the idea of mass exterminations, in 1946 settled down in small-town
Harper, Connecticut, as Charles Rankin, a teacher at a prestigious
preparatory school. There's only one person in the world who knows
Rankin is really the notorious Nazi Franz Kindler: his former
right-hand man, Meinike (Konstantin Shayne) who is being held in
prison and allowed to escape at the request of Wilson (Edward G.
Robinson), who is essentially a Nazi hunter. The thought <span style="background: #ffffff;">–</span> and
it's the correct one <span style="background: #ffffff;">–</span> is
Meinike will lead Wilson to Kindler. Kindler has it good and isn't
going to let Meinike get in his way so he kills him. That happens on
the day Kindler is marrying Mary Longstreet (Loretta Young), the
daughter of a Supreme Court justice. The psychological cat-and-mouse
between Welles and Robinson is brilliant as is Welles' signature film
style with lots of shadows, darkness, unique camera angles and
depth-of-focus shots. The acting is as good as it gets. Not only are
the three leads splendid, but Billy House, a burlesque actor who
plays the town clerk and owner of its drugstore, steals nearly every
scene he's in. Welles liked House so much that he added scenes with
the actor to the movie to the chagrin of Eddie G. It's also the first
commercial film to use footage of Nazi concentration camp atrocities.
There's a lot to admire in this film and it's definitely one to see
if you've never viewed it. Or you can be like me and watch it twice
in one day. It's that good.</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 33px; text-align: justify;">For the complete list of films on the TCM TiVo Alert, click </span><a href="http://celluloidclub.blogspot.com/p/tcm-tivo-alert.html" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.4; text-align: justify;">here</a><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 33px; text-align: justify;">.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6848221492618499137.post-77594181674927649912018-09-11T00:30:00.000-04:002018-09-11T00:30:00.364-04:00Alias the Doctor<b style="font-family: "times new roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Films
In Focus</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>By
Ed Garea</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i><b>Alias
the Doctor</b></i></span> <b>(WB, 1932) – Directors: Michael
Curtiz, Lloyd Bacon (uncredited). Writers: Houston Branch (s/p),
Charles Kenyon (dialogue), Imre Foldes (play). Stars: Richard
Barthelmess, Marian Marsh, Norman Foster, Adrienne Dore, Lucille La
Verne, Oscar Apfel, John St. Polis & George Rosener. B&W, 61
minutes.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
implausible melodramatic plot of <i>Alias the Doctor</i> would
have perfect for Douglas Sirk, the master of implausibility in the
‘50s. We could easily see Rock Hudson as Karl, Robert Stack as
Stephan, and Jane Wyman as Lotti, with Agnes Moorhead as Mrs.
Brenner.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Karl
Brenner (Barthelmess) and his foster brother, Stephan Brenner
(Foster), leave their farm in the Austrian countryside and travel to
Munich to study medicine. Karl, in love with foster sister, Lotti
(Marsh), would rather work as a farmer, but he bends to the wishes of
foster mother, Mrs. Brenner (La Verne) and joins Stephan in medical
school. Karl is a brilliant student, earning his rent money by
tutoring rich kids and studying hard, with the result that he is
named class valedictorian.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Stephan,
on the other hand, would rather drink and chase women. One night,
loaded to the gills, he argues with his girlfriend Anna (Dore) and
hits her hard, causing her to fall down the stairs and rupture her
abdomen. To compound matters Stephan operates on Anna, even though he
does not yet have his medical license. The operation goes badly and
she becomes very ill. Panicked, he confesses everything to Karl, who
agrees to try to help her, even though he does not yet have his
license, either. However, before he has a chance to operate
he’s discovered by the landlord. Karl gallantly takes the
blame and gets a three-year prison sentence for his trouble while
Stephan returns home racked with guilt and operates a small medical
practice in between bouts of drinking. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">On
the day Karl is released Stephan conveniently dies of tuberculosis.
Even more conveniently, one his first day home, a small boy is badly
injured in an accident right in front of the family home. Karl
decides to operate, even though knowing that if he was caught, it’s
back to prison. But all comes out well and when Dr. Niergardt (St.
Polis) arrives from Vienna, he examines the boy, and congratulates
Karl on his life-saving work, believing him to be Stephan. Niergardt
takes Karl with him back to Vienna, where the young doctor becomes a
big success. But his new double life hangs over him and he knows it
could end any minute once someone who knew Stephan gets a look at
him. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Karl
calls Lotti, telling her that he wants to quit. He tells her to pack
and meet him in Vienna. From there they will go to Paris and be
married. However, now that he is supposed to be Lottie's brother,
they are forbidden to marry. Mrs. Brenner forces Lottie to announce
her engagement to another man, which drives Karl crazy. Then, to
compound matters, she writes a letter exposing Karl to Franz von
Bergman, head of the medical board. But why? She had just made a big
deal out of convincing Karl to accompany Niergardt to Vienna, giving
him Stephan’s diploma and telling him that if his operation on the
little boy was a crime, then go to Vienna and commit a thousand more
crimes. Her actions here make absolutely no sense, other than to move
the plot along.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Later
though, Frau Brenner has had second thoughts about the letter because
she waits in the rain to intercept it. Failing that, she collapses in
the street with no one there able to save her but . . . Guess Who? As
Karl prepares to operate the board of directors call him up to let
him know that the game is up and it looks as though Frau Brenner is
about to buy the farm, as it were. Yet, Karl delivers a speech so
passionate and convincing that the board relents and he gets to save
his foster mother. After the operation the film cuts away from the
humbly thankful look on Karl’s face to a brief distant shot of his
back plowing the fields as ‘The End’ pops up on the screen.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>Afterwords</b></u></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">That
this movie is watchable despite the plot machinations is due to the
directorial skill of Michael Curtiz, who keeps the film moving at a
fast pace and wrings every drop of melodrama from this that he
can without allowing it to become too lachrymose, lest the audience
sit back and reflect on the implausibilities on the screen.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Curtiz’s
use of shadow to show lovers embracing, patients being treated, or
family members waiting for news is masterful, as is the appearance of
a skull paperweight used to foreshadow Foster’s death and
which pops into Barthelmess’ memory years later when he learns
Foster has died. The coroner’s inquest, shot through bars just
before Barthelmess is locked up, is also eerily effective with the
autopsy doctor (an uncredited Nigel De Brulier) waiting eagerly by
the operating rooms, the light focused on his eyes to give him a
ghoulish look.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Art
director Anton Grot also lends his capable hand to the production,
contributing sets that are massive, angled, sparsely furnished spaces
which look impressive, as in the hospital and the student dormitory.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
to the acting, Barthelmess is earnest, but the techniques that made
him so effective in silent movies come to hurt him here, such as too
many long unnatural pauses and other instances of exaggerated
gesticulation. This inability to conform to the new paradigm of sound
would force his semi-retirement from the screen in 1936.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Still,
he fares better than his co-stars. As Lotti, Marian Marsh isn’t
given a whole lot to do. Her character seems to have been
invented merely to add more conflict to Karl’s double life. Norman
Foster’s role as Stephan Brenner is more of an afterthought, but
Lucille La Verne as Frau Brenner contributes real drama to the
proceedings as we are constantly questioning her motives. Karl’s
mother Martha is a real treat. In a vexing performance we are left
wondering as to her true motives. Was she really out to help both
sons, or just Stephan, the natural born one by sending the studious
Karl to help carry him through medical school?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Alias
the Doctor</i> is by no means a great movie, but its Pre-Code
pedigree makes it watchable.</span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0