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The Swedish actress and director Gunnel Lindblom, who was a longtime member of Ingmar Bergman's screen repertory company, died Sunday at the age of 89. She is said to have died after a short illness. Bergman's 1957 drama "The Seventh Seal" starred Max Von Sydow as a world-weary medieval knight returning to Sweden from the Crusades. At one point, he encountered Death (played by Bengt Ekerot) and, in an iconic movie scene, stalled for time by challenging the Grim Reaper to a chess match. But Death would not be denied, returning for the knight, his wife and some friends. Among them was a mute servant girl (Lindblom) who spoke for the first time when Death showed up. In "Wild Strawberries," Bergman's other classic 1957 drama, Lindblom (below right) and Bibi Andersson appeared as cousins in the film's famous reverie scene. The picture starred the Swedish actor Victor Sjöström as Professor Isak Borg, an aging and lonely physician who began to take stock of his life on the occasion of his being honored by a Swedish university. The long drive from his residence to the university was an eventful one, and included an unforgettable stop at his childhood home. Bergman's drama "The Virgin Spring" starred von Sydow as a medieval Swedish villager intent on punishing goatherds who raped and murdered his innocent young daughter (Birgitta Pettersson, below right). Lindblom played the girl's envious companion -- a pregnant servant named Ingeri -- who witnessed the crime. The picture won the 1960 Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film. Von Sydow and Lindblom were reunited in Bergman's 1962 drama "Winter Light." They played rural husband-and-wife church parishioners attending a noon service. Afterwards, the troubled husband talked to the minister (Gunnar Bjornstrand) about Cold War concerns -- but the cleric was unable to comfort him. The film also starred Ingrid Thulin. Lindblom starred in Bergman's "The Silence" (1963) as a mother traveling by train through a Central European country with her young son (Jörgen Lindström) and her ailing older sister (Thulin). The drama was the final installment in the director's trilogy about faith (begun with 1961's "Through a Glass Darkly" and "Winter Light"). Lindblom turned to directing in 1977 with the Swedish drama "Paradise Place," which was produced by Bergman. In 1981, she directed "Sally and Freedom" (also produced by Bergman), the acclaimed story of a young woman who decided to have an abortion. One of her final roles was in the 2009 Swedish screen version of the late novelist Stieg Larsson's best seller "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," The drama, which starred Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist, featured Lindblom as a member of the wealthy Vanger family. Geoff Andrew @Geoff_Andrew RIP Gunnel Lindblom; a very great actress and memorable presence in Ingmar Bergman's films, among others. If you've seen The Seventh Seal, The Virgin Spring or The Silence, she will probably have made an impession. Unforgettable. 7:09 PM · Jan 24, 2021·Twitter Web App

Fire Over Africa (1954) One of those routine programmers shot in an exotic location that can be fun to watch if you park your brain and don't expect too much. A British production, partially shot at Spanish locations substituting for Africa, with interiors done in Shepperton Studios in London, it involves a search for the syndicate behind a dope smuggling operation in Tangiers (all you really need to know about the plot), with Maureen O'Hara as an American undercover agent who tangles with various creepy types, as well as Macdonald Carey as a character who keeps popping up making with the (not so) wise cracks and coming on to her a lot. O'Hara is the kind of undercover agent who draws attention from everyone in the city with her glowing complexion, fiery long red hair and array of bright flashy dresses. Binnie Barnes plays the owner of a club/bar. My favourite moment in the film is probably when O'Hara first walks into a night club in the city. All eyes, both male and female, are upon her (it's amusing when a row of prostitutes sitting on bar stools all turn in unison to look at her). But tops is a dialogue exchange between two English males when they sight Maureen. "My word." "Yes indeed" "Healthy type." Very English indeed. 2 out of 4

It's never my right or duty to weigh in with writerly advice, and I'm a firm believer in Kipling's "There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, and every single one of them is right!" That said, and keeping in mind that my forte is short stories, not screenplays, I don't think you're doing yourself any favors by always reading subtitles. The written word is distinctly different from the spoken word. When creating text, you have to have an eye for whitespace, deliberate imbalance of paragraph lengths, and a hundred other visual clues to provoke interest (or, at least, to avoid looking boring). Good word flow is important because most people read stories aloud in their head, but because the words aren't actually spoken, the writer of text can (occasionally) slip in things like "The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" without making the reader stumble, taking them out of the story. The spoken word is both bulletproof and more delicate. It doesn't matter how it looks on the page. Instructions on pronunciation and aspect can be straightforward, totally inelegant, because the audience never sees them. Even, somewhat rhythmic, flow from word to word is paramount within each character's dialogue but must be deliberately interrupted when another character speaks to enhance the distinction between them. Tongue-twisters are right out! The exact opposite of your advice is usually helpful. Rather than reading often inaccurate transcripts of spoken dialogue, writers are sometimes told to read their text aloud because that gives them a better sense of how the words flow. I must caution you, however, that this practice can be a little dangerous. To pass the time when in the hospital, I was working through a particularly difficult scene. A nurse walked into the room while I was having an argument with a dragon. I told her I'm a writer, and showed her my notepad and everything, but she still insisted on checking my list of medications.

Desi Arnaz is hilarious. Hands down, the funniest scene, imo is in the episode with William Holden when Lucy "fixes" her putty nose. She makes it long and pointy. The look on William Holden's face, combined with the look on Desi Arnaz' face, is hilarious. My sister and I are watching the series from pilot through the last episode of "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour," and we're on the episode where Lucy and Ricky renew their wedding vows. During the first season, I love the episode with Ricky and the fur coat. Ricky brings home a mink coat that he rented for a musical number down at the club. Ethel asks to try it on, Lucy sees it, is initially upset that Ethel got a fur coat and she didn't, but when Ricky tries to smooth things over, Lucy jumps to the conclusion that it is HER fur coat. She wears the coat day in and day out. Ricky is trying to get it back so he arranges for Fred to dress as a burglar to steal it. That night, a real burglar breaks into their apartment. Ricky, thinking it is Fred, is helping him rob their apartment. Lucy sees the burglar, screams, so then Ricky screams too, scaring the burglar. That whole scene is hilarious. I also love the episode where Lucy and Ricky dress up as senior citizens to scare off high schoolers Arthur and Peggy, who have developed crushes on them. The entire "Please keep jigglin' Peggy" sequence is a riot. Without Desi Arnaz, there would be no Lucille Ball, period. While I understand that she was hurt by his behavior during their marriage, she owes him a lot for her professional success. I think Lucy and Desi still loved each other after the marriage. Perhaps during Lucy's interview when she called him a loser, she was going through a bad time; but in their respective autobiographies, neither trashes the other. Desi is the first one to admit his faults. While both remarried other people, I think those were marriages of companionship. Lucy and Desi were each other's true love.

Character Actor Bruce Kirby has passed away. Father of actor Bruno Kirby and famed Hollywood acting coach John Kirby. He was one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet. https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/bruce-kirby-veteran-character-actor-and-father-of-bruno-kirby-dies-at-95/ar-BB1d77ZL?li=BBnb2gh

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bruce-kirby-dead-columbo-cop-904097 Bruce Kirby, Veteran Character Actor and 'Columbo' Cop, Dies at 95 The father of the late Bruno Kirby, he also portrayed District Attorney Bruce Rogoff on 'L.A. Law.' Bruce Kirby, the veteran character actor perhaps best known for portraying the gullible Sgt. George Kramer on the long-running NBC series Columbo, has died. He was 95. Kirby, who excelled at playing authority figures during his more than five decades in show business, died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his son, John, reported. His older son, actor Bruno Kirby (The Godfather: Part II, When Harry Met Sally …, City Slickers), died in August 2006 from leukemia at age 57. The elder Kirby also portrayed District Attorney Bruce Rogoff on NBC's L.A. Law, and early in his career he was one of the goofy cops from the fictional 53rd Precinct in the Bronx seen in the early 1960s sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? In Rob Reiner's Stand by Me (1986), Kirby played the market owner Mr. Quidacioluo, who tells Gordie (Wil Wheaton) that he resembles his older, deceased brother. He also was a detective in Throw Momma From a Train (1987), and in the 2006 Oscar best picture winner Crash, he appeared as Pop Ryan, the father of cop John Ryan (Matt Dillon). A native of New York who studied with Lee Strasberg, Kirby (real name: Bruno Giovanni) also recurred as Sgt. Al Vine on Kojak and then starred as a San Francisco police officer opposite Kojak co-star Kevin Dobson on another CBS crime drama, Shannon. On Columbo, his unimaginative Sgt. Kramer constantly fell for for the killer's alibi, accepted clues at face value and thought Peter Falk's character was nuts. Kirby appeared in nine episodes of the show spanning more than two decades. He played another cop for laughs on the wacky, short-lived 1976-77 sitcom Holmes and Yo-Yo. Kirby starred as legendary TV broadcaster Arthur Godfrey in the 1985 film Sweet Dreams, starring Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline, and appeared on the big screen in Catch-22 (1970), Don Knotts' How to Frame a **** (1971), Armed and Dangerous (1986), Another Time, Another Place (1992) and Mr. Wonderful (1993). After Arthur Miller saw him as Alfieri in an L.A. production of A View From the Bridge, the playwright brought him to Broadway and cast him as Uncle Ben opposite Dustin Hoffman in Death of a Salesman in 1984. (Kirby had made his Broadway debut in 1965 in Diamond Orchid.) In addition to John Kirby, an acting coach, survivors include his wife, Roz. Wrote his son: "Thank you Dad for everything you taught me about acting and how to have such a strong work ethic while sharing your love for the arts and the craft of it all. I will miss you and love you always. I’m glad you're up there with Bruno and so many of our loved ones."

Safety Last! next--icy ---edit: sorry, this was for 'climbing'...didn't refresh page, so... next---a movie you never get tired of watching

The old 'string through the keyhole' trick in The Kennel Murder Case No door needed for The Abominable Dr. Phibes A clever method of murder from Ellery Queen (Caesar's Last Sleep) --I won't give it away in case you want to watch https://www.solie.org/alibrary/ElleryQueen75_120CaesarsLastSleep.html

Lorna, I suggest you try to stop "reading" movies whenever possible. It's a crutch teenagers use, although it helped me guide TikiKid into watching silents! But you can easily lose your good language skills by not carefully listening & processing words/sentences/meanings, it's a different brain skill. That said, it's sometimes necessary, I understand this film in particular has sound clarity issues. This synopsis reminds me very much of what's best about THE BAD & THE BEAUTIFUL '52.

Espionage Agent (1939)

You may notice teens often watch movies with close captioning on. I don't know why or when this happened until I saw TikiKid doing it maybe a decade ago. Hearing the spoken word uses a completely different part of the brain to comprehend than the eyes reading the same dialogue. It's better to leave your eyes to "read" visual cues and for your brain to digest the dialogue by actively listening. It's one of the reasons music/sound is so important in film. I did exploit TkiKid's tendency to "read" close captions by inviting her to attend silent film festivals with me. I was thrilled she became a big Louise Brooks fan just like me at her age.

When we saw this movie in the theater, it went on so long--especially the whole agonizing section where the needs-to-be-gay guy gets it on with a SECOND girlfriend--that I thought, "If the kid doesn't get around to making it with another guy, this audience of AARP-eligible gay men will attack the box office and demand their money back!"I liked the movie better than you did, but it could and should have been trimmed.

He was also originally listed as a main cast member on Miami Vice.... but he got killed off only two or three episodes into the show!

Amos and Andy

I read that the "monkey" of the title was a reference to YOKO! My favorite song on that album... My second favorite would be "Cry Baby Cry" and that snippet at the end is one of the reasons. I read that JOHN said this recording was really all he and YOKO. That one still holds up for me, though I would not have expected it.

The Beatles (White Album) Nov 1968 A very good album, some great stuff, many good ones and few strange odds and ends. I will review each side since there are so many songs on this. This came with a poster of strange old and current photos, one has Ringo dancing with Elizabeth Taylor, she seems completely charmed by him. The lyrics of all the songs are on the other side of the poster. There are individual photos of each Beatle looking somewhat unkempt. Side 1: It starts with the great rocker 'Back In The USSR" Paul plays a lot of the instruments here (including the drums), it's a fun send up of Chuck Berry/Beach Boys music with high pitched John and George backing vocals. John has a beautiful ode to nature "Dear Prudence" as he tries to convince a girl to come out in the sunshine. There is a lot of humor on this album and on "Glass Onion" John plays around with fans obsession with hidden meanings in songs, even says "The Walrus was Paul". Paul then does a witty upbeat reggae influenced "Ob La Di Ob La Da". A throw away track is "Wild Honey Pie" which sounds like some fooling around in the studio. "The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill" is fun singalong song John wrote about a hunter, his new girl friend Yoko Ono is heard on one line as Bill's mom ("not when he looks so fierce"). George has one of the best on the album with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" nicely sung and Eric Clapton guest stars with some great lead guitar. John is back with a three part song "Happiness Is A Warm Gun", starting with some surreal lyrics, then turns to a druggy section ("I need a fix") before it settles into a doo w o p parody with lyrics about a love affair with a gun. This is probably my favorite side on the album. Side 2: "Martha My Dear" is an endearing little dance hall song that Paul says he wrote for a pet dog. "I'm So Tired" has an exhausted sounding John talking about not sleeping a wink, turns to anger and frustration with some of his best singing. Paul sings a beautiful "Blackbird" solo on guitar about being free, learning to fly. George has an unusual song for him, with some funny and pointed lyrics with a good harpsicord beginning. Paul does an entertaining h o n k y tonk song about a cowboy facing a duel. Ringo gets his first solo composition with the fun country song "Don't Pass Me By". "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" has Paul doing his gruff, bluesy voice but the song sounds like a demo. Paul then does one of his best love ballads "I Will" again solo on the guitar, I wish the song was longer. John then does his own solo guitar ballad "Julia" a beautiful tribute to his late mother. This would have been one of their greatest if they ended it right here. Side 3: This begins with a great rocker "Birthday" love the guitar riff and Ringo's drumming, John and Paul have said this was created on the spot but it is a lot of fun to listen to. "Yer Blues" is John singing about being lonely and wanting to die, his singing is very good but it is hard to tell if he is serious or if this is just a parody of the blues. "Mother Nature's Son" is an OK Paul song about a country bumpkin. "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey" is a John song that sounds like something quickly thrown together with a lot of cowbell. "Sexy Sadie" is one of John's better songs on here with some bitter lyrics about somebody who "made a fool of everyone". It was directed at Maharishi but he changed the name before recording it, more good doo w o p backing vocals. Paul brings his wildest rocker ever with "Helter Skelter" with some frenzied vocals and screaming guitars. Ringo has the last word as he bashes the cymbals and yells out "I got blisters on my fingers!" George has a strange sounding ballad "Long Long Long" with some weird moaning and creaking sounds. This is the weakest side on the album. Side 4: "Revolution 1" kicks things off with a laconic sounding John singing some good social comment lyrics, some "shoo be doo w o p" backing by Paul and George. Paul does another great old time musical hall song "Honey Pie". George has a fun song about having a sweet tooth with "Savoy Truffle" backed by a great horn section. "Cry Baby Cry" is one of John's best on the album, one of the last Lewis Carroll influenced ones he did. There is a quick haunting snippet of a song that Paul sings "Can you take me back where I came from" but it is not listed on the album, I wish that it was completed and longer since it is better than a couple that did make the record. The next track is the 8 minute collage of sounds, voices, musical notes. It was John probably inspired by Yoko and her avant garde art. Only interesting part is trying to catch some dialogue being spoken by George (he says El Dorado at one point) and John saying "Take this brother, may it serve you well". The album ends with Ringo singing a sincere and dreamy Hollywood type song "Good Night". Taken as a whole, the album is a very good listening experience though the group appears to be drifting apart now.

Bruno Kirby is one of my dad's favorite actors, and he was very sad when he passed away.

1933

Du Barry Was a Lady (1943)

Yes, odds are low, but I'll keep pushing. EDDIE: You have work to do; Get management to pony up for some Universal noirs and feature those on Noir Alley. If Universal staff don't play ball send your goons and convince them!!! (ok just send them some ties and tell them they have to wear them 24 \7 until they lease TCM these films).

LOL Oh yeah, Nip! If only Big Duke there JUST would've been a little younger at the time, I can really see him playing a would-be and inept gigolo in Midnight Cowboy, or maybe even playing the bitter wheelchair-bound anti-Vietnam War vet in another from Voight's filmography. (...now, you wouldn't have thought of this because Mr. Voight's political leanings now days seem to have coalesced with that of what Mr. Wayne's were, did you?)

2021 Billboard Music Awards Date Announced

Tuesday January 26, 2021 Nuttiness on TCM the nutty professor

LHF: Hope you don't mind, I responded to excerpts of your review in RED LD: I don't mind. I'm simply wild about red. I'm more a candy apple or deep burgundy guy, but my den is red. A favorite guitar is red. My favorite bike as a kid was red. Why if you cut me ... (I don't see a text coloring option or I'd use it. How did you do that?) LHF: I always watch EVERYTHING with subtitles. I am religious about subtitles. I don't know exactly WHY this is- maybe it's the aspiring screenwriter in me, but I recommend everyone always watch everything with SUBTITLES. (Also, every now and then, subtitles/closed captioning can result in some unintentional hilarity) LD: I can see that you may have a gift for natural dialogue. I'd be interested in reading some of your work. The subtitles were a happy accident. My wife uses the Netflix account and she enjoys watching Korean dramas and romantic comedies, so it defaulted to the titles. I stick pretty much to the over-the-air classic sitcom channels. Speaking of. You know who else loved classic sitcoms? Orson Welles. Mm hmm. He was particularly fond of "The Dick Van Dyke Show." In fact, one of the sets he used for Wind was the set of "The New Dick Van Dyke Show." But yeah, when I cranked up the movie, there were the subtitles. I found there were moments when my ears didn't detect the dialogue I read, and then I sometimes heard the actors speak but I doubt I would have understood what they were saying if not for the titles. There has been great improvement from the old days of phonetic misspellings and that ugly distracting type in the black boxes. LHF: so, is it an outright mystery? or more of a MRS DALLOWAY kind of thing? I'm also somewhat reminded of the late 70's mystery film THE LAST OF SHEILA by your synopsis. Not a mystery per se, no. We are invited to draw our own conclusion, but there is no answer, and it isn't the point. Jake is simply gone. What do we think of him? That seems to be the question. LHF: A touch of RASHOMAN? LD: I don't know Rashoman but after pulling up Mr. Wiki and my eyes falling on the first line of the second paragraph, I would ask the Rashoman guy, "A Touch of Kane?" But you give me a chance to talk about the one mental note I made that I did not include in my review. Bava. The colors Orson chose for the club scene in the movie-within-the-movie are bold primaries against black. Chiaroscuro. Bava and "all the colors of the dark." But since I don't think Orson meant that, and because I couldn't find a way to squeeze it in without sounding like an "I know Bava" film dork, I skipped it. (Edit: Adding it here makes me a wannabe film dork, doesn't it?) LHF: Your review is excellent, but I hope you don't mind my one critique: you buried the lede. the FIRST THING you can say that will get ANYONE interested in ANYTHING is "there is tons of nudity in this." like, you could have made the whole review "this thing has A LOT OF NUDITY" and I can practically hear everyone scampering off to open up their Netflix. LD: I could rhapsodize about Oja's beauty in the proper venue. She is something to see. But even writing that, I anticipate reactions like, "Thing?! You sexist pig!" I can't relate to today's sensibilities. And I don't want to. When the movie started, I noted Netflix's disclaimers of "Language. Nudity. Smoking." And I thought ... Smoking? Are you. Forking. Kidding me!? Is somebody's allergy going to be triggered at the sight of John Huston firing up a cigar? Oja (pronounced OY-uh) is the pseudonym given to The Actress by Orson and we can imagine him in his middle life meeting this young lady and thinking, "ohh yeahhh." She is quite something to see and there is much of her to admire here. I simply considered my audience and opted to take the subtle route in describing her scenes. I think I was quite artful, really. LHF: also, in re: THIS PHOTO, "DAMN, I didn't know FRESCA has been around since the 1970s!!!!!!" LD: Fresca in the late 60s was a player in the soda wars. Their ads featured blizzards as I recall. I remember a joke that went, "Did you hear about the Aggie that drank a case of Fresca? He snowed in his pants." Addendum Let me add here my first second thought about the movie. I said in my review that I thought Jake was worthy of our sympathy. Now I'm wondering if he wasn't simply a self-indulgent man who found himself presented with a bill he couldn't pay. And yes, I'm thinking too about Orson. Did he bring it all on himself?

What a coincidence, I just read the novel this movie was based on less than two weeks ago. (Well it's not quite a coincidence, since the movie was made and I read the novel for the same reason--the author recently won the Nobel prize.)

Ingram, Helen - played by Ruth Hussey in Blackmail

I'm prone to seasonal bouts with the blues myself, so if the screwballs are working for you, stick with them. I don't think you will see anything in The Other Side of the Wind though that would set you back. Take a look when you're ready. I'd love to hear what you think.

I love Ruth in Warner precodes like Frisco Jenny and Lilly Turner. She had great chemistry with George Brent, to whom she was married for a while. Of course, he was married to a lot of people, as you know!

The most amazing thing about Lucy and Desi is Desi. He was an amazing comedic talent and I never noticed it until lately. The handcuff episode. Desi has to perform on television with Lucy handcuffed to him. He has to sing on stage with his handcuffed hand behind him as Lucy, behind the curtain, plays his hand at animation and it is a priceless scene to watch Desi's expressions. You have to give credit to Desi because he had that comedic talent as well.

Robards next : Big Boy who drank and partied a lot

Ghenoccio, Ma -- Mary Boland in Julia Misbehaves

Why do you want to know? Are you planning on marrying one of them?

Sally Next: Polly, Judy and Billie

Sheldon Leonard

To me Born To Kill has some strange changes in atmosphere. It starts out with a fairly grisly double murder, then morphs into a drawing room play and then back again to more killings. Pretty good, though a bit one-track. I felt sorry for Cookie. He did all kinds of favors for Tierney and then as a reward Tierney kills him. Thanks a million, buddy. I got a kick out of the old beer-loving floozy who hired Slezak. She was a riot. Slezak never looks as fit as he did playing Willy in Lifeboat. Must have been those pills he had. Many years ago I saw Tierney in The Devil Thumbs a Ride. He's pretty mean and crazy in that one too. That would be a good selection for Noir Alley, though it only runs about an hour.

Another Thin Man (1939).

On CNN's webpage (under Paid Content), is: The Worst Movie Remakes of All Time, with this photo: While the High Society "remake" of The Philadelphia Story is inferior to the original, no firm with the music scene with Louie Armstrong and Bing can be among the worst of all time. (I didn't check out the other films since these "paid content" links are bogus, taking one to mostly ads, ads, ads, and very little content).

The Petrified Forest (1936). Next: Funny in small doses

Faulkner, George, played by Thomas Mitchell in "Tradewinds"

I always kind'a felt this way about it too Cid...that is until I watched it again last Saturday night. It seemed to click more with me this time and as I more noticed how excellently this film was shot by director Robert Wise and his cimematographer Robert De Grasse. (...and now I think those aspects of it alone have moved it higher on my list of favorite Noirs ever made)

And btw, remember the actor Jim Hutton? (...sure, while he's not a contempory actor, THAT was the guy who I've always thought was about as close to a Jimmy Stewart-type as they've ever come)

I Remember Mama

THIS WOMAN IS DANGEROUS (1952)

Gregory Sierra was also the bartender in the promenade room at the top of The Towering inferno.

"Oh, really? I rather appreciate anyone who appreciates someone who wears a good bow tie."

Phil Spector is one of many prisoners who have died from COVID. I liked some of the groups (remember Ronnie of the Ronnettes (sp?) singing backup for Eddie Money (died too young).