mortiz002

The Studio Murder Mystery (1929) Is Prehistoric Whodunit Killings afoot on the Paramount lot circa 1929, the "Studio" given fictional name, though all of it is Para West Coast, at a time when production was divided between that and New York's Astoria lot. Release came mid-year, so there had been talkies before, though still this wears a mighty stiff collar. Only fullest committed to old film will apply, an effort since no satellite to my knowing beams The Studio Murder Mystery , nor is likely to. There are some we've just got to gi ve up for lost, including lots of Paramount even TV shunned when they first landed there in 1959. Studio suspect list engages, however: Warner Oland, Neil Hamilton, Chester Conklin, victim Fredric March, investigating Eugene Pallette. March and real-life spouse Florence Eldridge do husband-wife sparring, she confronting him for non-stop infidelity, a scene that from my understanding played often at the March household, art mimicking life....

Seminole (1953) Sees Uni Cast Swallowed In Mud Released just short of Universal's conversion to wide screens, Seminole is swamp-set and endurance trial for talent mostly underpaid to do such muddy work. In-lead Rock Hudson, clear candidate as Universal's next big thing, is backed by weekly-check support in either uniform or feathers, contract players for U getting at least variety in their parts (Hugh O'Brien a shaved-head Seminole, and it looks like he really took it off). Same-time treatment of Seminoles was WB's Distant Drums , more of which had been shot in Florida , but neither pic got made entirely there. These Indians had distinction of colorful dress and repute for no quarter given to white invaders. Background was at least a novelty and that was hoped to bestir interest not roused by mere westerns off U-I rack. Budd Boetticher directs, not so recognizably as later and better outdoor work enabled by superior writing (the Scott/Brown/Kennedy group), but likes ...

Meet The Baron (1933) Is Tunnel Through Comic Pyramids Under heading of things MGM did for boxoffice came Meet The Baron , a screen launch for Jack Pearl of radio fame. Leo brought him and Ed Wynn aboard because free broadcast was too big to ignore. Each got a single starring vehicle at the lot. Metro wouldn't warm to radio like Paramount , but then they weren't invested in radio like Paramount . Somehow producer David Selznick fell on the sword that was Meet Th e Baron . He wanted no part of the proje ct but did want to be a team player. Selznick spoke to wretchedness of Meet The Baron in notes done years later for a proposed memoir. "A horror I produ ced," he'd recall, "I made the picture with a loathing for it." Selznick confessed he had "never been a devotee of radio c omics," in dee d had never heard Jack Pearl perform. Hard as DOS labored at movies, I'd not imagine him listening to much radio, what with time off spent gambling and ...

Upstream (1928): A Silent Gone Missing Till Now A batch of busted actors and vaudevillians in a boarding house where none can afford rent, this a common thread through any pic that portrayed theatrical life, but done nicely by worker bee John Ford, who must have been thinking of this when he later referred to his movies as "jobs of work." Well, here's demonstration that those jobs were often very well done, and that so-called routine Fords are well worth close exam now that more of them are turning up. The director lends real character to these roustabouts; I didn't find myself forgetting who was who despite a parade of them being introduced. Tropes among stage folk as depicted in later movies may have been introduced here, such as a dining table where food is withheld from deadbeat renters, a scene duplicated in 1942's Yankee Doodle Dandy . Did Ford go see that Warner hit and take a silent bow? Upstream 's cast is non-stellar, but all acquit well. Ford to m...

Marty (1955) The Small One That Went Big The littlest engine that could, Marty was seen and liked as rebuke to colossals that a public, and certainly critics, had gotten bored with. Cinemascope was by 1955 gone as novelty, films done in the process judged by content rather than width, thus flops-a-poppin' that began with first anniversary of scope's The Egyptian . Wasn't it time we went back to basics of good drama? 1954 Best Picture winner On The Waterfront indicated appetite for it on standard screens plus black-and-white, sole protection a glamour name in Marlon Brando. Marty would now strip even that, Brando at first considered for the title part, but wiser hea ds holding out for plain folk we'd easier identify with, those apparent losers at life much like many paying admission to watch them. Done for amount south of $350K (specific amounts vary), Marty w ent on with help of brilliant marketing (more spent on exploitation than the pic itself) to roll up profits...

Darby O' Gill and The Little People Out To Top Magic Effects Gone Before Darby O'Gill Star Janet Munro Views Multiplane Magic Back during 70's b ounty of treasure s from Tom Osteen ' s theatre catacomb , we made 2 AM find of trailers in 35mm from varied good ones, happiest of which was a five minute deluxe for Darby O' Gill and The Little People , Disney answer to movie magic aimed at a burgeoning boomer audience. Walt was fondly behind this one, did a TV special wherein he appeared throughout rather than mere introducing, and let marketers put his face on ads in support of Never-Seen-Before Disney-Magic . So what was this other than special effects to challenge Dyna mation of Ray Harry hausen creation? Both terms implied a new screen process, Disney's above ad careful to emphasize Darby O' Gill as an "All-Live Screen Miracle" rather than an animated one. For a feature of such ambition (and expense), Darby O' Gill fell before the tille...

Decision At Sundown To Fill '57 Drive-In Lots Budd Boetticher liked this less than some of his others with Randolph Scott. Was the star miscast? He's trapped in a barn for almost the whole thing, that not preferable for we who pay, but there had to be differentiation now and then for westerns done like monthly magazines. Decision At Sundown is still "head and holsters" above average run of Scotts. Beside his for Warners, it's even more a keeper, but would have been better had Burt Kennedy wielded the pen rather than credited Charles Lang, Jr. Kennedy said later that he was on hand to do fixes, which may explain portions being up to Tall T standard. How much did 1957 patronage r ecognize tiers of western quality? Given enough popcorn or drive-in distraction, would one R. Scott materially differ from another? Surely the team went proud for work so fine as these Columbias. I wonder what push Randy himself applied to upgrades. Support cast said his downtime was s...