MEETING JOAN CRAWFORD
While I was going to college I wrote, and was a reporter for, the college paper. It was a rewarding experience.
Whenever a person of celebrity visited the area, I tried to interview them. Pierre Salinger (fascinating), Warren Beatty (stoned), Marlo Thomas (had nothing of interest to say), Jerry Lewis (a miserable man), Sylvia Sidney (a real bitch!) were among the many rich and famous persons to lecture at the college or appear in the area. But the most memorable and the most gracious and accomodating was....Joan Crawford!
We had received a press release that Crawford would be in Boston for a book signing at the Jordan Marsh department store. She was to be there for two hours. The book was titled, "My Way Of Life".
The whole experience is memorable for several reasons (like having to hitch to Boston) but I'll keep it focused on Joan. The street in front of the Jordan Marsh store was roped off because it was a mob scene. Cops were everywhere. The line for the book signing zig-zagged across the first floor of the store into the street and around the block. Already you know this was an extraordinary person....thousands of people wanting to look at an old time movie star? Yes!
I was unable to get near Joan's or the store's "people" so I bought the book and cut into the line in front of a Joan fan who allowed me to do so. When I got to JC, looking radiant and not at all near her age, I told her who I was and asked if I might have 15 minutes with her for a college newspaper interview. She said she would love that but that I had to arrange it with her secretary, who she called over. Mary Jane Raphael, of Pepsi-Cola, was cordial but denied me the time because of the long line and the expected longer time since Joan insisted on signing all of the books in person. Joan was listening and intervened.. ."We can make time if you can wait". I agreed to stay and wait it out.
Four hours later, this tireless lady was ushered out a side entrance of the store with me in tow. The interview was to take place in her limo while driving across town to the Ritz-Carlton. I was VERY happy since the streets were clogged with 5PM traffic. I was rewarded with a 35 minute chat with one of the world's most famous movie stars. Most of the interview centered on her philosophy, young people and then her films. Joan Crawford spoke well and laughed heartily. She told good stories.
When we arrived at the hotel, curiously there was no one to bring her luggage upstairs. I volunteered. So I went with her and her entourage into the elevator and up to the suite where she thanked me, shook my hand and she kissed me goodbye. Raphael gave me her card and extended an invitation for copies of the article.
Crawford was a very professional lady; it had been a great day and an unforgettable experience.
I am so glad I got to meet her because it gave me a chance to form my opinion of the woman. I felt a tenderness from her and saw a quiet gentleness during all of the chaos and book proceedings. Quite unlike what has been written about her by a bitter daughter.
Within a year and a half, this very public celebrity quietly vanished from public life and eventually died a recluse.



SIDNEY POITIER MOVIE BETTER THAN I THOUGHT!
Sidney Poitier as "Brother John"
Last night I got a chance to run "Brother John", directed by James Goldstone. This is a long forgotten film that got shuffled around in the early seventies. Sidney Poitier was one of the hottest stars at the time but this piece with its' clever philosophy fell on its face. Poitier returns to his hometown just as his sister is dying. It turns out that the old town doctor, Will Geer, recalls that he had done the same thing when his mother died and then when his father passed away. The mysterious thing about it is that no one had phoned him to tell him of the dying folks because no one knew where he was.Because he returns at the time of a planned worker strike at the big factory where "coloreds" (as they say in the movie) are employed, he is suspected of being a union organizer sent to start trouble. Politicans and the law place him under surveillance and eventually arrest him even though they have no evidence of wrongdoing.This isn't a bad film. It's metaphysical ideals suggest that perhaps Poitier is an angel from above, walking the earth to check on civilization. The better idea is the illustration of at what lengths people will go to eradicate an element they see as dangerous to them, even though innocence is evident. And that is the part of the movie that makes sense to me in today's world as we witness global and national events unfold that are cloaked in secrecy and selfishness.Poitier is as good as ever. Will Geer is great in a supporting role with a controlling Bradford Dillman playing his son, a paranoid businessman with political connections."Brother John" is definitely different, but surely worth seeing.


Film Collecting
People collect all kinds of things....stamps, buttons, books, toys. I collect motion pictures. I have since I was a kid and I will always do so. As a hobby, it is fun, it is obsessive, time consuming and room-filling.
Collecting movies on 16mm film can be expensive. It is also a manageable way to help preserve our movie history.
Television stations often threw the films away (yes, into the dumpster!). Film Rental libraries had a contractual agreement with the studios to burn and destroy the films. Producers were so protective of their product that they were willing to eliminate any existing copies of them.
This happened once before. In the silent film days, movies had little resale value after their initial showings and were burnt (they were nitrate film then) or melted down for the silver content. This went on for some time, hence many films from our past no longer exist .... unless some private film collector cleverly procured and stored a copy of the picture in his film library. Fortunately, it turns out that Hollywood itself had a number of film collectors amongst its millions of employees. Actors and directors such as Rock Hudson, John Wayne, Joan Crawford, Roddy McDowall and Frank Capra have donated their large collections of film for future preservation!
Much later on, in the days just before cable Tv, (circa the 1970's) 16mm prints of then-recent films were a hot commodity. And lots of people seemed to have them! (This was before the nostalgia craze). I dealt with a few of them in the New York area, Florida and California plus many, many other collectors. One day while reading my local paper I read that the New Yorkers had been arrested and gone to jail!
Since I had purchased or traded for some of these modern pictures I received a call and a subsequent visit from the FBI. I was a college student and my mom sat in the meeting in my living room with us, explaining how I did not rent out films or use them for profit but showed them to the family on holidays and Sundays. The visit was amicable, unthreatening and over in ten minutes. His main concern was the names of certain people who had MY name...and where they were getting the movies from. Since I didn't know, I couldn't really help him although I was told at one point that some prints came from the airlines.
(In the late 1960's through the '70's the airlines used to show movies ON FILM aboard transcontinental flights. Apparently, when they were done showing the films the in-flight company sold them to collectors. Since there were many flights, there were also just as many individual prints of a movie.)
Collecting movies is hard work. You have to store them in a cool, dry area, preferably around 55 degrees. You have to clean them regularly or they will develop a "disease" called vinegar syndrome, a breaking down of the chemical elements in the cellulois itself. But a properly stored film will last forever, unlike a videocassette or DVD.
The most interesting part of collecting for me was the thrill of owning a movie you cherished. There were no video cassettes or DVD's at the time. It was a wonderful feeling! While I am still a collector, I must admit that the feeling is no more...with practically every movie available in some form or fashion, it has eroded to a degree the elation of finding a movie memory from long ago.
Hardly a week goes by that I don't get out a film, turn on the projector and enjoy what used to be.


THE UGLY DUCKLING SURVIVES

Bette Davis made a great many films before the horror films that gobbled up her career.
Early on, Davis was lucky enough to win two Academy Awards - in 1935 and 1938. These trophies made her a superstar and a wanted commodity. Under contract to Warner Bros., she made a great many successful films including this one, "Now, Voyager".
As the ugly duckling of her family, Davis underplays the character with awkward glasses, old lady hand-me-downs and a nervous twitch. Witch mother Gladys Cooper deliberately kicks her daughter down a notch so that she will watch after mother, feed her, wipe her ass, do her bidding. But unbeknownst to mommy, Psychiatrist Claude Rains stops by one day at the behest of sister Ilka Chase, to see if he can diagnose why sister duckling is so introverted. He immediately (of course!) realizes her problem and suggests a few weeks at his New England clinic.
Davis emerges from her cocoon with the help of his psychiatric sorcery and becomes a World Class Beauty, a woman desired by every man! And still hated by her witchmother. Bette decides to see the world via a cruise line. Enter Paul Henreid, a married man but a wealthy one who befriends Bette and falls in love with her.
That's it in a nutshell (no pun intended) and we have all seen to death the last scene of the picture where Henreid lights two cigarettes, gives one to Bette and they talk about the stars, the moon, each other.
It IS a good old movie. Catch it if you can. "Now, Voyager".

SCORSESE’S LATEST DOCUMENTARY

Martin Scorsese's latest film, the rockumentary, "SHINE A LIGHT" is full of energy, rock, blues, love and elation. This well-made two hour filmed concert is much more than music. There are glimpses of the director and the band making decisions prior to the event, interviews from the '60's through the '90's and medium close up shots of each of The Stones that reveals their age, the wrinkles that define their lives and the rough life that they have all earned. "Shine A Light" does just that on these four men who have not surprisingly endured changing music trends for the last forty three years.
Gymnastic camerawork throughout the movie help give one the feel of being at a live concert. The Rolling Stones all are at the top of their form and perform tirelessly while we sit and wonder how do they do it...not just at their age but even if they were twenty years younger! They fascinate at every camera angle.
The music is the main star of the film and at that, The Rolling Stones do not disaapoint the audience for a minute. Sustaining the same energy and verve that the songs held back "when", a mesmerized theatre audience is captivated to the extent of performing themselves: they gyrate, scream, applaud and holler while singing along-with-the-lyrics like these rock giants were twenty years old and performing for the first time.
This is a movie to see. You have to understand that time stands still - much like it has for the performers - and the two and a half hour concert is over in the blink of an eye. I enjoyed every close up, long shot and riff and i know you will if you are a movie buff. Scorsese's style is ultra-modern and creative and quite different from his dramatic films. He is a living wonder of the world as are The Rolling Stones. Combined, they make an enjoyable film an outstanding evening.
I viewed the film at Trinity College, Hartford on their magnificent screen with their awesome sound system. Better than any megaplex.


What were they thinking when they made "HULK"?
OH, MY GOD! ANOTHER SUMMER OF DUMB MOVIES!

"A geneticist's experimental accident curses him with the tendency to become a powerful giant green brute under emotional stress!" Can you believe that you just read this description of a $40 million dollar movie? I had the unfortunate experience of recently having to sit through this exhaustive time-waster called "Hulk".
(And believe it or not this tripe was directed by ANG LEE the guy who went on to direct "Brokeback Mountain", a sensitive modern day drama. )
This piece of junk was produced by Universal Pictures in association with Marvel Comics in 2003. The movie flopped badly. But listen....the executives feel they should try to please the small group of fans who buy comic books nowadays so hey! They are spending $40 million more to make the very same movie over again!!! Logic? Noooooooo! Marvel Comics deserve to be on the shelves so that they can be read. Oh, sorry, wait a minute...nobody reads anymore, right? I learned how to read by reading comic books such as Classics Illustrated and serializations of movies. I even bought Archie now and then. But I never even considered buying this superman-hulk-fantastic four-spiderman type of fantasy because I wasn't interested. Now that's all people want is fantasy and the problem with it is that our children are so dumb that they can't tell the difference between right or wrong, real or fake, they believe what they see, imitate it and either get hurt or killed.
My Opinion: It is time for Hollywood collectively to stop making movies that cater to the lowest forms of intelligence. These movies are part of the dumbing down process the world is experiencing. So many friends, valued people, will say to me before they head out to the movies "I don't want to think, I want to be entertained and forget life". Well, they have it in spades with more junk like "Ironman", "The Dark Knight" and about 90% of the upcoming summer movie selections. What is wrong with America? It's time to get back to basics, to classics, to O'Neill, Williams and even Shakespeare. There's a place for these "monstrosities" but not as "summer multi-million dollar blockbusters" but as B movies that are made on the cheap.
No movie should cost $40. million dollars. And a blockbuster should be the extraordinary biography of an extraordinary person or event that has happened.
But Hollywood speaks so we get more jerks like Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Adam Sandler filling our screens and emptying our minds. Eventually, I hope, they will empty the theatres.




MGM’S GRANDEST HOTEL

Did you ever wonder what the first big Hollywood All-Star blockbuster movie was? Did you ever wonder where these huge MGM casinos around the country got that concept from?
Have you ever wanted to see Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery and Lionel Barrymore all together in one of the most dramatic motion pictures ever made? This grand movie was the beginning of it all - literally. Think of hundreds of imitations that have come after it. Take a look at this:
GRAND HOTEL World Premiere 1032
Berlin: 1932
One of the ritziest hotels of the century caters to a myriad of guests: the proud and the powerful. But only the rich can reside at the luxurious GRAND HOTEL. The champagne flows late into the night as the drama unfolds around the clock.
Regarded as one of the greatest dramas ever made, this movie is full of tension, melodrama, culture, thievery and MURDER! Garbo plays a depressed, eccentric ballerina with no zest for life until a thief comes into her room and her life. He is there to steal her jewels but she wins over his heart. John Barrymore is the poor cat burgler; a thief with morals who just can't get a break whenever he tries to snatch the goods. Joan Crawford is the flaming youth stenographer who witnesses a lifetime of experience in her two days at the Grand where she was hired for private dictation and possibly more. Wallace Beery is a crook of a different type; a desperate corporate giant whose business is on the verge of ruin. Lionel Barrymore plays an aging employee of Beery's, who upon hearing that he has a terminal illness with a short time to life, decides to life the life of luxury that he never had. Lewis Stone is the former wartime MD turned soused hotel doctor whose face is scarred for life after a grenade exploded in the wrong place at the wrong time.
This is a great story here; powerful and sentimental. Men losing their lifetime savings of both power and money, women lowering themselves to street level activity and jealousy in high order. Emotionally, the film has not lost its punch over the years - imitated so many times on the big screen and small, in hotels, airplanes, office towers and ocean liners as well as during earthquakes, towering infernos, hurricanes and end of the world films ... Part soap opera, part drama, "GRAND HOTEL" won the Academy Award for Best Picture Of The Year, 1932 and will be remembered forever as a fine example of dramatic filmaking. Joan Crawford is stunning and most beautiful. She gives the audience a preview of the enormity of acting ability to follow in the next several decades. The Barrymore Brothers are a joy to watch. John is so quiet and calicrant; Lionel is drunk and belligerant. Didn't you think it would be the other way 'round? Garbo is the star, but really a secondary player. Hers is a role central to the story but one that is discardable. (Is that a word?)
Now, I watched a pristine 16mm film print - but you have other options: this movie is on DVD and also plays frequently on Turner Classic Movies. Give it a go.


Cry Wolf

I love these great old Warner Bros. classics from the 1940's.
This was a rainy weekend so I invited a few friends over for a rainy day matinee and dinner. We watched a thriller of sorts with magnificent actors in good ol' black and white.
"Cry Wolf" is directed by Peter Godfrey ("Christmas In Connecticut") and stars two heavyweights together for the first time: Errol Flynn and Barbara Stanwyck!
This is a magnificent thriller set in a creaky old-dark-house type of mansion where some weird unexplained things are happening. There are bizarre looking butlers, sinister maids and you know that "they" are all in on it...whatever "it" is.
No, this is not a horror movie, but Flynn IS a scientist who has a laboratory INSIDE his house!! How weird is that? Stanwyck is great here; she is forward, forthright and at times very beautiful. Not Oscar worthy stuff but definitely capable and certainly fun to watch. You are rooting for her the whole way or...wait a minute...she's mysterious too. Who is she, anyway?
But in this picture Stanwyck is very physical, much more so than in previous roles: riding horseback (it's really her), crawling around a roof top of a house, running, jumping into a dumbwaiter and pulling herself up and just plain full of piss and vinegar. Very cool stuff that she is usually too reserved to display in her dramatic work.
Mister Flynn is the classy "Sir" of the household; commanding, rough yet handsome and dashing as always. He slams/hits poor Barbara and ya can tell it is real! It looks like he might be reading his lines off cue cards a few times. I dunno.
Co-stars include Geraldine Brooks, Jerome Cowan, John Ridgely and a young Richard Basehart in an early role and all are great in their respective parts. It's nice to see Cowan in a larger role than usual and it's evident that Brooks has great talent.
Franz Waxman composed an erie yet majestic score typical in this Warners' era of film and it is fitting and melodic. Very nice.
A movie worth seeing if you get a chance. It should turn up on TCM someday.


WE OWN THE NIGHT - a great movie! (2007
Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix and Robert Duvall

Duvall plays a Long Island City Police Chief and a member of a family dynasty of police officers that continues with one of his sons, Wahlberg, himself an already-decorated cop.
The plot thickens as the police need an inside man to penetrate a Russian gang of drug distributors who are clouding the population with a well made, hearty variety of pschotropic substances.
The main source of the product is The El Caribe, an once thriving motion picture palace turned trendy nightclub, managed by Phoenix.
Phoenix is estranged from his brother and father and basks in his fame as manager of the club and the daily drug induced bonuses derived from the job.
Since the brother will not help Wahlberg in his quest to find the source, Wahlberg himself and a band of officers raid the El Caribe, arresting several major players suspected in the drug ring.
Soon after this raid, Wahlberg is nearly assassinated right out in front of his home on Thanksgiving Day. Seeing his brother in the hospital, hooked up to a myriad of tubes is the turning point in Phoenix's judgment.
Without giving the gist of the film away, the complications of the plot deepen. There is a minimum of violence, a car chase in a rainstorm and a selection of well dramatized scenes all adding up to a climax that not only has a moral, but that makes perfect sense.
This is an intelligent picture, well photographed and acted. The movie does not "dumb-down" in terms of modern audience intellect.
Well recommended.

DINNER AT EIGHT gets a five! (1933) Directed by George Cukor.

It is the depression and even the wealthy of the era are feeling the pinch of poverty. A dowager needs to sell her assets just to live. An actor of the highest repute realizes he can't pay his rent because he can no longer hold a job. A shipping magnate discovers that his family business of 60 years may face a hostile takeover. And while all of this theatre is happening, ditzy, unaware Billie Burke is planning an elaborate dinner with New York's elite to honor two English royals.
A marvelous movie that has escaped me all of these years. We're all familiar with the very last scene but the two hours preceding that great closing line are filled with moments of high drama, pathos, hilarity and sadness.
This is a great chance to see the legends of thirties' moviedom before they pass on to their glory....The wonderful facial gestures of Marie Dressler, The sexy Jean Harlow, blustery Wallace Beery, the harried Billie Burke and the two Barrymore brothers, Lionel and John. Lionel is still walking at this time and his character is a strong man about to admit defeat, which literally kills him. John, "The Great Profile" plays a drunk over-the-hill actor (are you surprised?) with such style and conviction that
you believe every word of what he says and you feel exactly what he is going through: he's lost his career and within minutes he's losing his home!
The great and underappreciated Edmund Lowe co-stars as the MD who takes care of all of their needs and keeps quiet about it.
This is a 5 star drama and well worth viewing it if you can.


SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL (1959)
James Cagney lends his powerful presence to an Irish tale that looks and feels like a John Ford film even though it isn't.
"SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL" is the hellbent story of the Irish Rebellion and the Black and Tan. Cagney is Dr. Sean Lenihan, a medical teacher at the University in Dublin. We don't learn until half way through the movie that Lenihan is also the Underground Commandant who makes many of the decisions, violent and not, that affect the Irish people.
The movie opens in a cemetery as a procession of underground soldiers dressed as a priest and mourners seek to escape. The British soldiers discover the ruse and a battle begins amongst the plots, stones and crucifixes. That imagery along with many other great scenes stay in the memory long after the movies' end.
A fine supporting cast turns in great performances: the usually bland Don Murray gives his all as a medical student of Cagney's turned underground rebel; Glynis Johns plays the sexy barmaid at Donovan's Pub; Sir Michael Redgrave plays "The General", the underground commander and Dame Sybil Thorndyke portrays an wealthy old woman of purpose who would rather die for the truth than live for a lie.
Splendid camerawork and masterful direction by Michael Anderson ("Around The World In 80 Days"). I don't know if this movie was successful at the time of its' release but I hope it was. Its' reality is staggering. The location work is outstanding and it all makes for a believable story.
I know that lately there have been quite a few films made on this subject (like the awful "The Wind That Shakes The Barley"). This movie is a superior film!
See it if you can.

A salute to the late Richard Widmark
PANIC IN THE STREETS was released by 20th Century Fox starring Richard Widmark, Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jack Palance, Zero Mostel. Directed by Elia Kazan. 3 STARS.
In honor of the late, great and local (CT.) actor, RICHARD WIDMARK, I had a group of friends over Friday night and we screened a 16mm print of one of his earlier gems, "PANIC IN THE STREETS".
This is a suspenseful film about the search for a carrier of the pneumonic plague, a deadly disease that spreads very easily. Once they find the victim dead, the frantic search is to find out who he was and who was around him so that they could prevent further death.
The movie was filmed on location in New Orleans. The cinematography is wonderful. Some of the action is stilted and out of date but this picture predates any of the more modern disaster films, which this surely would have been had it been filmed today.
A thundering music score at times aids in the suspense and once or twice overshadowed the action. The actors ably performed their roles with great ease. Widmark was only a major star for a few years at this point. He was good - he did his job. I wish I had had a movie to show that had a stronger performance.

Joan Crawford ABOVE SUSPICION
A 1942 MGM thriller starring Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt and Basil Rathbone. I give this film 4 stars!
It was JOAN CRAWFORD’S100th birthday last week, and I’ve"celebrated" this by screening some of her films. I’m reviewing this one because I believe it is a lesser known effort.
ABOVE SUSPICION is a better than average spy movie based on the novel by well known spy novelist Helen MacInnes.
The movie was released during WWII as a propaganda piece in Hollywood’s means to assist the war effort.
The actors give it their all. It is delightful to view Crawford well before her "mean" period or "hard" period towards the end of her career. She’s happy, carefree and downright comical as she follows every narrow step newly-married hubby MacMurray walks to find the members of The Resistance.
There is genuine suspense throughout with the supporting cast delivering a knock out. Worth watching!

HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1963)
I just viewed a near-pristine 16mm cinemascope print of the MGM epic western, "HOW THE WEST WAS WON". The movie was one of the first non-documentaries made in the three panel Cinerama process which was projected on a huge curved screen, literally putting the audience into the movie.
If you like the western genre, you have to see this classic film as it encompasses the very best of all westerns into five chapters of the film.The cast could never be duplicated today as this type of talent does not exist: Gregory Peck, John Wayne, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Debbie Reynolds, Richard Widmark, Karl Malden, Walter Brennan, Carroll Baker, George Peppard and many more. Spencer Tracy narrates. It’s almost something like a western "Mad Mad World" featuring many western character actors who are uncredited.
From a raft ride through rapids, a buffalo stampede that is unbelievable, a moving rather than stationary Indian attack at settlers in covered wagons to the Civil War and a great train ride, this movie is packed with action.
The musical score needs to be mentioned: This is probably one of the bestscores I’ve heard in a long while with a memorable theme and a mix of the traditional songs of the day.
As far as the print, the condition was great and the color is Technicolor. It is missing the Intermission. The three panelled-look of Cinerama (three cameras produced the image, three projectors played it back) is very visible at maybe a tad annoying at times. But on a wide screen, this movie is awesome!


KING of KONGS (1933)
Who doesn't love "KING KONG"? A cute hairy ape with emotions and looking for love. It was beauty killed the beast.
I just viewed my 16mm print with a group pf friends. Do you know that they clapped at the end of it? Throughout the entire 3 reels, there was not a sound, not a whisper. This is an old movie. I think it's amazing. Why does it still CAPTIVATE an audience?
In 1933, sound was in its infancy in motion pictures, and exotic monster movies just were not being made. A Frank Buck-style explorer bought a map of an island not known to previously exist. He wants to take a film crew there and film what he was told would be a majestic ape, a simian the size of a large house.
The voyage is smooth and they reach the island but then things go wrong. The rest of the picture is a chase like no other and this mega movie lives on forever because of it.
With a big budget, a special effects wizard and a cast of B movie actors such as Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot and Fay Wray, this movie becomes believable as you feel the titanic responsibility of the relentless struggle to find Wray and capture the Beast.
Armstrong is ever the showman and he decides to take Kong on a cruise to Manhattan where he will make nightly appearances on stage. The rest is movie history atop the city and The Empire State Building.
There have been three film versions of "King Kong". The first, and most successful, was the 1933 movie that opened the humongous Roxy Theatre in New York and simultaneously played at the similarly-cavernous Radio City Music Hall.
The second version, a major flop, was produced and released in 1976 with Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin and Jessica Lange. In retrospect, it wasn't that bad but at the time a man in a monkey suit in 1976 just didn't cut it. Laughable. But the production values were voluminous. And the director was John Guillermin.
Then in 2005, Peter "I Can't do anything big wrong" Jackson decided to tackle our hero in a 3 hour and 20 minute snore-a-thon with the casting of the terrible, the tastless, the talentless Jack Black who ruined the film. Oscar winner Adrian Brody wasn't much better. But the length of the movie was overkill: too too many special effects can ruin a good thing. Audiences did not flock to see this "KK" maybe for this reason. It did well on DVD but ya know, it's DVD. You can skip over what you don't want to see.
Back to 1933 - see this version and immerse yourself into the time, the depression, the poverty, the adventure. It's well worth it. 75 years later, this KONG IS KING.

Marlene Dietrich and Edward G. Robinson TOGETHER!

Why has it taken me so long to getting around to recognizing some of the greatest actors of the silver screen? I don't know the answer to that; I guess I just avoided them. But recently I have been viewing the films of the late great Marlene Dietrich and she was one of the sultriest, most fascinating film actors ever. She was a damned good actress and could compete with the best: Hepburn, Davis, Crawford, anyday.
Given her German accent. hew spweech impediwent and her age, you would thing she had everything going against her. But she was accepted and offered parts in the best pictures regardless. The speech became part of her caricature. But I have read recently that she was well educated, spoke several languages, could sing, dance and above all of them act. Her early films are interesting gems to watch, (the Paramount films) full of implied sexuality and devilish humor. Even her later films like "Witness To The Prosecution" and "Judgment At Nuremberg" are interesting because of her...her ability to steal scenes and evoke sympathy for her character.
Don't Ignore this fascinating Hollywood Icon.
Another: Edward G. Robinson. He was short, always acted tough, dumb and raffish. But he too was a worldly wise immigrant who grasped at knowledge and that led him to collecting fine art. Sometimes referred to as ugly, it doesn't matter, nobody noticed. He had style, charisma and ability and the camera and the audiences loved that. His early films are almost all one type, the gangster film. But Robinson, like Dietrich, went on to play fine drama, serious work and was not rewarded for it by the Academy Awards until after his death.
If you can, check out his films "All My Sons" (1948), or "Illegal" a small Warners film, (1955) and "A Boy Ten Feet Tall" (1963) definitely should have been an oscar nominee. He even stole scenes in movies from Paul Newman and Steve McQueen!
Two Icons that I am just getting around to realizing how great they really were! And how unappreciated they still are today!


Peter Sellers AFTER THE FOX
Just got in a print of the 1966 Neil Simon comedy AFTER THE FOX starring Peter Sellers and Victor Mature. Does that combination sound weird?...it gets better. It's directed by Italo-great Vittorio DeSica.
I had a large group of friends over tonight for the "preview" and, man, everyone laughed SO loud that I am gonna have to show it again. We missed so many lines. This movie, quite underrated, is soooo damn funny. Between Sellers with his comedic style and the dialogue of Simon it just never stops. If you get a chance, rent it or look for it on TCM. Better than any Clouseau-Panther flick. Old timer Victor Mature is fantastic as a has been movie star parodying himself and many others. Britt Ekland is a starlet and Akim Tamiroff from the silent days has one of the funniest segments.
Going out on a limb, and according to the audience, definitely one of Peter Sellers best movies........if you are a movie lover then you must see it for all of the in jokes of the industry, the foreign film market, critics and the musical score by Neal Hefti. (Is he still alive?)

The Joan Crawford film collective

I've been a film collector since I was 18 years old. After many years of searching for a 16mm print of the Joan Crawford Academy Award winning film, "MILDRED PIERCE", I was finally able to acquire one. Perseverance has paid off.
This 1945 movie is wonderful...but of all her films are. And this film noir is paramount to all others with the greatest cinematography and the medlodic score of Max Steiner. Michael Curtiz ably handled a large cast of prominent actors giving the film a true feel. Crawford steals the show as she downplays her former shopgirl turned glamour girl image and becomes a first rate actress.
The print is a gem and I now proudly add this to my growing collection of JC movies....about 40 (of hers!) in all.
Now I have to find a venue to show them.....