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Love Has Many (Familiar) Faces (1965)     Lana Turner, stood against a process screen, is gored by a bull. This may be your idea of unforgettable. It is certainly mine. At left is an ad I clipped from The Charlotte Observer in 1965. S omething told me even t hen that this was not a sort of picture they would be making much longer. Lana Turner i n a swims uit and drawing on a cigarette put me on notice that here was adult entertainment. There was also the little box at lower right about Lana's "Million Dollar Wardrobe By Edith Head," this back when fashion in films still meant something. Women not working outside the home would attend matinees of  Love Has Many Faces , sometimes in groups, this occasional relief from bridge parties or garden clubs. Most of that would crash down by decade finish, as did themes like Love Has Many Faces explored. It was shot in Acapulco and Mexico City , those aspects sold hard. Men and women of the cast had to buff up for abbreviated att...

Dangerous Crossing (1953) Boards A Familiar Ship Out just weeks before The Robe opened and swept 20th away from B/W flat features, Dangerous Crossing was shipboard suspense traveling second class, its negative cost a puny $519K, from which Fox still lost money. Was there no hope for commonplace programmers in this new age of television? Studios had to do cheapies to feed distribution and keep overhead down. Ongoing double feature policy at most theatres supplied a market, but diminishing. These B's, even where solidly mounted, weren't enough to part customers from coin where nearly-as-good entertainment could be had for free at home. Zanuck saw the problem, and Cinemascope as its solution. He'd replace a Dangerous Crossing that would play but days with The Robe and others of wide persuasion that could run weeks, maybe months, to full seating. Fox had 39 feature releases in 1953. Most bled red. New York chief Spyros Skouras sent continuous wires that the shop would go...

The Young Land (1959) Finishes Up The Whitney Trilogy Publicity For Young Leads in The Young Land Looked at this on Amazon Prime. Quality was poor, ratio wrong, but how else to see last of C.V. Whitney's "A merican Trilogy," which had begun with The Searchers ? (middle one The Missouri Traveler ) The Young Land came of Merian C. Cooper development, but he'd drop out, producer reins handed to Patrick Ford, son of John. Pat was gone by start of editing, the yarn bought in 1955, finessed through '56, put before cameras in summer 1957. Other of Hollywood offspring was lead Pat Wayne, teenaged and handsome chip off block that was John Wayne, creative group figuring maybe another Rick Nelson or some such could be forged, minus singing. Trouble was Pat's inexperience, lack of Dad's charisma, kid's voice and delivery a poor match for size and athleticism otherwise (he does a good fight with Ken Curtis, an almost sole highlight). Lay Aside Your Hopes, As ...

Have Yourself A Merry Little Thin Man Christmas Ladies First Was Emphasis of Thin Man Merchandising I've seen it pointed out, but not enough, that William Powell is one of the most enduring of all Classic Era stars. But audiences must see him first, and there is the rub for viewers not currently situated at TCM. Powell's is the wit that does not date, even where story-situations might. He will please even those with most ingrained cooler-than-you attitude. But again, they must experience him first. Powell was a name unknown to a college class I took where the prof ran movies of his 30's youth. It was month long daily dose of double features, mostly 16mm rented from Films, Inc. To say this was heaven would be understating, as here were films I had but dreamed of seeing --- the Fredric March Jekyll and Hyde, Tarzan, The Ape Man , Fury , the list went on to thirty titles, all of which were received like "old" movies until came The Thin Man , which none of us had see...