mortiz002

Faces --- Frightened Faces --- Adorn a Typical Universal Combo Chiller Ad When Fun Ranked Even With Fright I'd like knowing just what sort of expectation young people brought to so-called "horror" combos during the early 40's. I say young people for guessing that this was overwhelmingly the age group attending such programs. What appeal could they have had for older patronage? Horror Island in particular seems juvenile to a fault, with comedy far outdistancing what might pass for "thrills." My using quotes around the word isn't as much shorthand for disapproval as recognition that a show like Horror Island gave value and very likely pleased in 1941, as did co-fea tur e Man-Made Monster . Some would claim that viewership wanted scares and were denied them. I'm not so sure. Maybe it was laughs with light chills they preferred, otherwise why hire, let alone bill prominently, Leo Carrillo, Walter Catlett, Fuzzy Knight? These names certainly weren'...

The Lady Vanishes (1938) Still Plays Strong We had an old radio station that became an art gallery, then was given over to model railroaders who built a scale town through which trains ran, their tabletop consuming near-whole of the building. It's a remarkable display, and evidence of what hobbyists can do where given plentiful space to cut loose. How often do personal obsessions have a practical application? The man who cured polio could have answered that, while ones of us gone on old movies and mini-choo-choos must forever wonder if what we do could matter a hoot to posterity. One instance where play toys did  serve practical use was Alfred Hitchcock's opening sweep for The Lady Vanishes , his camera tra vel over mini-rooftops an  endearing sleight-of-hand. Someone, or some team, had to build all this time-and-pl ace setting for opening seconds that get The Lady Vanishes underway. There are toy cars that move and even toy people whose arms go up/down. It's clearly fake...

Guns Of The Timberland (1960) Is Action Against Piney Backdrop Here's how Aaaron Spelling got his first feature producing credit, according to memoirs. He had buddied up with Alan Ladd, then-wife Carolyn Jones introducing them after her pic with AL, Man In The Net . The fading lead man handed Spelling the script for a "damn thing" being prepped at Warners,' Guns Of The Timberland . Spelling spent a weekend making it better, for which appreciative Ladd called Jack L. and told the Warners chief that Aaron Spelling would produce his movie. Here, said Spelling, was where his career took off, with Alan Ladd to thank for it. Such was Hollywood at rare moment where dreams came true. As to Timberland outcome, if it matters, there is debate. One Ladd book called it his worst ever, tough choice among flock of clucks the star had done aro und this time. Guns Of The Timberland was out of circulation thanks to ownership migrating after general release. Now Guns are firing with ...

Blu-Ray Digs Up More Dinosaur Bones Today's post is decorated with ads for the Noble Theatre's March 1926 engagement of The Lost World . The Noble sat 1,100 and was located in Anniston , Alabama . There were six theatres along Noble Street , for which the house was named. The Lost World stayed in Anniston for three days, and a fresh ad was prepared for each, proof again that showmanship thrived beyond urban sites (Anniston's population in 1926 approximately 20,000). I'd be stating the obvious to say that silent movie retrieval has become like archaeology, but where it comes to bones of The Lost World , the point just won't be overstated. Seems no sooner do they put it out again that someone turns up yet more footage to bring The Lost World closer to what crowds got in 1925. Fifty-four years is gone since I first got glimpse of those dinosaurs on 8mm, versions to follow on 16mm, video cassettes, laserdisc, DVD, and now Blu-Ray. Should they bury me with all this stu...

Holiday In Mexico (1946) Seals The Latin Deal Viva the Latin takeover of popular music during the early 40's! We think rock and roll in the 50's was the big noise, but for me the samba, conga, a whole piñata-full, was bigger. Not that I was there --- just seems that way for exuberance of south-of-border sound as resonated in c ollecting discoveries like The Gang's All Here (Carmen Miranda and company perform "Brazil" for the film's opener), The Three Caballeros (Disney having much to do with popularization of Latin sounds), plus Conga lines formed by Deanna Durbin and Charles Laughton in It Started With Eve , the cast of Since You Went Away at a soldier's hop, cartoon caricatures in Hollywood Steps Out --- it was a full-out cultural phenomenon dancing through a World War and for some time after. Holiday In Mexico was late to the sensation, but a near-defin itive summary of it, at least in Technicolor-full and maxed-out lavish terms. The pot labeled...

Side By Side by Michael Hayde Is The Last Word On Dean and Jerry Suppose you had to come back in a next life and be half of a comedy team with Jerry Lewis. For ten years. I said Jerry Lewis . We've read about him and know all the more how heroic Dean Martin was to bear it. I don't dislike Lewis, never a fan it's true, was more so for Martin, and still am. My guess is that most anyone could have gotten along with Dean, provided they didn't try getting too close to him. Not so with Jerry. Imagine him ceding any part of the stage to anyone but Martin, whom he loved like a big brother who would never love him back. Theirs was the supreme tragic bromance of 20th century comedy. Martin and Lewis play more serious than funny for me. Maybe I should never have read previous books about their rancor, then split, then further rancor that dogged both to an end. Or maybe I should have waited until Michael Hayde came out with his new book, Side By Side , which tells the saga better...

And Then There Were None (1945) Is Murder As Parlor Frolic Light soufflé of a murder mystery directed by Rene Clair, recognized early on as a devilishly clever conceit to baffle readers (Agatha Christie wrote it), playgoers (adapted for B roadway), and finally movies, desire to film the yarn being immediate. The re had been mysteries, plenty if not an excess of routine ones, but Christie's was a puzzle sure to fascinate viewers who'd not be as patient with Charlie Chan or Boston Blackie's latest case. It was this specialness that lured top names to casting: Walter Huston, Barry Fitzgerald, Judith Anderson ... each to be offed until a last one standing would be revealed as the killer, that the expected pattern but for Christie having thrown her curve to separate And Then There Were None from whodunits that went before. Producing was Harry Popkin, one-time theatre man, who took over the project from Samuel Bronston --- this was a project many hands dipped in, possib ly in re...

Universal Wants More Pillow Talk From Man's Favorite Sport (1963) Downtown Winston-Salem Hardtop Gets Hawks' Newest Man’s Favorite Sport? was guilty at most of seeming not so fresh and funny as comedies Rock Hudson had previously done with Doris Day. It’s been said that Howard Hawks copied his earlier work for highlights of Man’s Favorite Sport? , and that’s true to large extent, but he also drew from a successful blueprint that was the Day/Hudson pair, Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back , both recognized as a new direction for farce as the 50’s gave way to the 60’s. As John Ford was influenced by Anthony Mann westerns for The Searchers , so would Hawks by these. For viewers at the time and most critics, Man’s Favorite Sport? lacked a cutting edge of even Come September , a Rock Hudson vehicle with Gina Lollobrigida that had the advantage of writers from Pillow Talk plus co-starring pop pair that was Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee. Hawks at least kept up with times by again using He...