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I can still well recall a summer job I had as a youth working in a factory. The job was a simple one and it was for a full eight hours every day, shovelling dirt and minerals into a kiln. Simple as the job was it was also an exceedingly dirty one. The minerals, with the rotation of that kiln, hung literally like a dark cloud over our heads as we shovelled this mess into it. Everything would be covered with dirt and grime. Blowing one's nose produced a black product such as I would, thankfully, never see again after I quit the job. At the completion of the day's work, of course, there was always the big shower. Even then for some time I could never quite get rid of a dark ring under my eyes. It looked like I was wearing mascara. One day when a workmate (Pete, I think his name was) and I were once shovelling this endless ghastly supply of dirt and minerals the topic of The Adventures of Robin Hood was surprisingly brought up by him. He said that he had always enjoyed the film as a kid but, because of his black and white television, had no idea that it was a colour film. He said that seeing the film for the first time in colour made it a new viewing experience for him. So there we were, shovelling this crap, but at the same time losing ourselves with memories going back to the lush Technicolor greens of Sherwood Forest as we talked of Robin (Errol Flynn) meeting Little John (Alan Hale) for the first time on that fallen log over the creek. Years later at clean job far removed from shovelling stuff into a kiln I met another guy, Jim. Jim had had a hard life, but he had been a successful amateur boxer, undefeated after 50 contests, actually winning either the lightweight or welterweight (I forget which) Golden Gloves. He had a dream of turning professional but suffered a bad cut over one eye in his 50th bout (given to him when his opponent ran across the ring while they were awaiting the decision,which Jim won, and giving him a vicious head butt). Jimmy lost his next bout when that cut was re-opened and a doctor told him that he would never be able to box again as the skin over that eye was thin as tissue paper. The guy who fouled him with a head butt after the match, by the way, was a Montreal tough guy Gaetan Hart, who later became a professional boxer, eventually losing a gutsy title match to the legendary Aaron Pryor ( I'm sure Jimmy enjoyed very punch Pryor landed on him). With his boxing dreams over Jimmy then lived for ten years or so on the streets and there he saw all the meanness there was to see there. He became known as a local tough guy, though he told me he never picked on anyone. People came to him for protection from others. Knowing Jimmy, I could well believe this. Tough guy or not he was also a sweetheart with a big heart. But the streets lead to drug addiction for him and, his biggest lifelong battle, alcoholism. When I first met Jim he hadn't touched a drop in ten years and was going to AA meetings on a weekly basis. Jimmy and I talked about the streets and boxing a lot but one day I brought up a new topic, movies, asking him if he had any favourite actors. "Well, I always kinda liked Errol Flynn" he said, much to my surprise, and then made specific reference to the enjoyment he had received from watching Captain Blood and those tall sailing vessels in a long ago Caribbean Ocean. There's nothing new in talking about the pleasures of escapism that the movies can bring us, but these are a pair of specific illustrations of that pleasure in unpleasant (my case) or harsh circumstances (Jimmy's). Errol Flynn's big budget adventure films made at Warner Brothers have always been a source of particular enjoyment for me, with the elegance and dynamic appeal of the best of those often stirring epics, combined, of course, with the winning combination of athleticism, devil may care charm and light heartedness that Flynn could bring to his roles, making them all seem, at least during his prime years before his self destructive lifestyle took its toll, like such a lark. And it was good to see that my love for Flynn and, in particular, the films of his pinnacle years as a film star was shared by some others that I've known, including a guy shovelling minerals into a kiln and a tough guy seeing the meanness of the streets. Any other Flynn fans here care to comment?

Warner Archive has released "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" on blu-ray with a transfer that is dazzling. Not only are Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland great in their cat-and-mouse games, but the detail in their costumes shines as never before--with proper 3-strip registration. But Flynn is a revelation, a perfect movie star, who also hits subtle and varied notes as an actor. I believe this title is underrated --as is his acting in general.

The breakdown of the wife is well played by Vera Miles but other than that there isn't really a lot going on in The Wrong Man. Henry Fonda looks and acts more like an Insurance salesman than a jazz musician \ bass player. I just can't see Fonda saying "can you dig it, man".

Flynn had greater versatility as an actor known for action films than any other performer in history. Name any other actor who mastered swashbucklers, westerns and war dramas like Flynn did. Yes, Flynn was always underrated as a performer.

two thousand one hundred thirty-third category Lady judges Myrna Loy in THE BACHELOR AND THE BOBBY SOXER (1947) Jill Clayburgh in FIRST MONDAY IN OCTOBER (1981) Susan Dey in L.A. Law

I think it was OLIVIA HAVILLAND who described a late screening of the film in which BETTE DAVIS was in attendance and she remarked to her friend OLIVIA, that she hadn't realized all those years past that ERROL was "really goot". I believe they did not get on well during production.

Though he dressed conservatively and looked nerdy with his thick-lensed glasses, Joe Morello laid down the odd 5/4 signature and solo drummed the Dave Brubeck Quartet's milestone piece, "Take Five":

My philosophy about this has always been that when I read something by someone who doesn't, for example, know the damn difference between the words "your" and "you're", or the words "there", "their" and "they're" and who constantly show me that they DON'T know the damn difference between their proper usage, well, I always wonder what OTHER "things" they don't know and especially when they're attempting to explain what appears to be some half-baked opinion that they hold. OR in other words, their CREDIBILITY or that they have a command of not ONLY the "finer points" of the English language but ALSO a command of the facts, specifics and minutiae of ANY given subject, begins to suffer in my eyes. (...yep, THAT'S my philosophy about this kind'a thing, and it AIN'T..ahem..I mean it isn't ever going to change and because "my philosophy" here tends to be proven TRUER day by day and the older I get)

Sure. Like your workmate I was long used to THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD in black and white, never owning a color TV set until I was 21 and eventually bought my first house with my first wife. And too, really liked those Flynn swashbucklers since I was a kid. But of course, for different reasons than what I still like them for. Sepiatone

I'm a huge fan of Flynn's. He was a good actor who gave good performances but when he teamed up with director Michael Curtiz in those adventure films it was cinematic perfection! He was even excellent in his cowboy roles in Raoul Walsh's westerns and let's face it, nobody is gonna look at Errol and say, "Yep. There's a cowboy", but he made a darn good one. Flynn has that ability, for me at least, of when I watch one of his adventure/western movies, even if I have never seen it, I'm instantly transported back to being a twelve year old kid bouncing around in my seat, smiling ear to ear, giggling and pretending it's me on the screen. Charm, grace, style, wit Errol Flynn was the best at what he did. The archetype swashbuckling rogue hero.

Judge Lois DeBanzie in Sudden Impact (184) , tells Dirty Harry his search was illegal and lets the suspect go free His reaction:

When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin Along - Susan Hayward I'll Cry Tomorrow ( I love this song and we never mention it) another beautiful redhead sings in a movie

The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) One Hour With You (1932) Make Me a Star (1932) Love Me Tonight (1932) I'd Rather Be Rich (1964) Next: Debra Kerr and Robert Morley

When video rentals first came out, it was in my area very cheap. First were CED videodisc then VHS. I hated the cinema's at the mall because the screens was small, sound too loud and didn't have the same "feel" as my downtown theatre which closed up during the same time period. Cable satellite TV was in it's infancy and didn't have many channels. Did have the MATV cable on steroids since the 1950's though Now Directv is charging too much for pay per view - cheaper to wait a little and buy a movie on Ebay. Not missing much today since 99% of everything produced today is boring or crap.

Which reminds me, IIRC HIGH BEAM headlights were actually the norm first! It was low beams that followed. Seems odd to me for some reason, I'd think would have been the other way around. Here's Raquel as Myra Breckenridge driving her/his 1947 Lincoln Continental Convertible Cabriolet. NICE sealed beams on that one!

Wow. At first I thought the idea might be movie theaters will start offering movie ownership via DVDs sold in their lobbies. But I don't think streaming will totally replace theaters as: Not EVERYBODY in this country streams. And there's no such thing as "theater quality" popcorn you can make at home. Believe me, I've tried 'em all. And even the largest LED/plasma screen you can find at Sam's Club or Costco, as impressive they look in the store or in anybody with the room in their house and has one can compare(IMHO) to how a movie looks on a theater's screen. Sepiatone

Yes, except that with the Flynn films the enjoyment is real. Not to nit pick but I've always wondered about that Mickey Mouse segment in that Preston Sturges film. Would adults really burst into screams of laughter the way those convicts do over the antics of Pluto? Speaking for myself, not in a million years. As a kid, maybe, as an adult, nah. If, on the other hand, that cartoon had been one of a few Bugs Bunnys, I could well believe adults might react like that. Speaking of Bugs, Errol made a guest appearance in one of them, of which I'm sure you are well aware, when he makes an appearance as Robin Hood at the end of Rabbit Hood . . . . . . to which Bugs, after seeing him and shaking his head says to the camera, "Nah, it couldn't be him." Now, Dargo, I bet in its day that scene brought the house down.

I love The Locket ! That's such a great film. I love the non-linear narrative and I thought that Laraine Day was fantastic in that film. I also liked her in Mr. Lucky with Cary Grant. I actually like Laraine Day, she reminds me of Irene Dunne. She was also interesting in The Woman on Pier 13 even if that wasn't the greatest film noir I'd ever seen. With my comparison of Day to Brenda Marshall, I was trying to think of an actress who was attractive and seemed all-around fine, but there was nothing remarkable about her--nothing to set her aside from her peers who may have achieved more stardom. By far, I prefer Laraine Day over Brenda Marshall. Marshall just doesn't have a strong onscreen persona. She can barely hold her own against Flynn in The Sea Hawk and Footsteps in the Dark, e.g. I love Joel McCrea. He's fantastic in Sullivan's Travels and Foreign Correspondent. I also love him in The Palm Beach Story and The More the Merrier. I love the dry sarcasm that McCrea brings to his roles, he's handsome (though I wouldn't call him "hot" like my man Flynn) and has an approachable quality about him. He deserves to be more well known. I also thought McCrea was interesting in These Three and as the original Dr. Kildare in Internes Can't Take Money.

Yeah, sure Tom. I'd say the enjoyment one sees the chain gang in Sullivan's Travels receives from watching a Mickey Mouse short could easily be matched and even exceeded if then the main feature on that prison's bill had starred Errol Flynn in one of his swashbucklers. No question about it. (...this WAS kind of the point to your story here, wasn't it?)

Kon Ichikawa also is scheduled for screening in VISIONS OF EIGHT (1973) which follows TOKYO OLYMPIAD. He directed "THE FASTEST" segment... The controversy leading up to the men's 100 meters sprint at Munich, the subject of Ichikawa's "THE FASTEST", is but a hint to my knowledge: You should notice only one American in the event that is often dominated by the United States.

"If you don't know the difference between there, their and they're, your an idiot." I am automatically against any viewpoint or opinion which is presented with multiple mindless spelling, punctuation and grammar errors because I have clear evidence in front of me that the person is clueless. There is a popular meme: "The only thing separating you from certain death at 65 mph is a painted white line and a mutual agreement to not play bumper cars." Communications is the same. There is a consensus on how words are spelled, where punctuation is used and how sentence structure affects meaning. A person who drives with two wheels on either side of the centerline has no concern for the flow of traffic and a person who ignores common rules of written English has no concern for communication. Both are instances of narcissists simply wanting to call attention to themselves. I am more guilty than most of making stupid little mistakes in writing English but I am at least trying to learn from my mistakes so that I do not repeat them. I know that I will never be great but I know also that I am better than I was a few years ago.

I'm with you there. Don't do horror at all, unless it's some 30's-era thing and bloody stuff like Carie holds no appeal, either. The Untouchables is one of his favs, despite the Potemkin ripoff. I figured that the number of people who had actually ever seen that movie was so low that it didn't matter. And, it worked for the film. It was not just a gratuitous remake. But I can see how people who find it so...

Eddie learned his lesson and who's to say it wouldn't happen to him again. It just takes one poster to spoil it for the rest of us who would like to interact with Eddie and maybe feel we had a slight influence on the programming.

Lorinne Vozoff in Irreconcilable Differences (1984) Lynne Thigpen in Anger Management (2003) (her final film role) Nydia Rodriguez Terracina in The Dark Knight (2008) Annie Corley in Law Abiding Citizen (2009) Fran Lebowitz in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) Mary McCann in Can You Forgive Me? (2018)

Freeway (1996): Lorna Raver It Could Happen to You (1999): Beatrice Winde Custody (2016): Viola Davis [photo] Just Mercy (2019): Rhoda Griffis, Lindsay Ayliffe

This one was on TCM a few weeks ago (I think..)..the judge (Clara Blandick) marries Perry and Della! The Case of the Velvet Claws

Judith Light on SVU Candice Bergen on SVU Carey Lowell? on SVU (they had a lot of female judges) Ruth Bader Ginsberg in On the Basis of Sex Ruth Bader Ginsberg in The Notorious RBG (think that was the name of the documentary)

That sounds familiar to me somehow..... See the post I placed on Monday. Only my other one was a 1923 silent(no pun intended). Sepiatone

I always teach my students: Proper grammar is important if you want others to fully understand your intent. Leave nothing to chance speculation, as you don't always know to whom you're speaking. English may not be their first language or they could be from a different culture. That holds true on the internet even more than real life...but I also realize people are lazy. (50% apparently)

one thing that strikes me in retrospect about BLOW OUT (1981), and I apologize if I wasn't paying attention and missed something, but you could really quite easily read TRAVOLTA'S character in the film as gay. He avoids the ingenues flouncing through the office, HE IS IN THE PARK ALONE AT AN EARLY MORNING HOUR, and (as I recall) he and NANCY ALLEN have a completely asexual relationship all-around, there isn't even a whiff of attraction, he even has to feign interest in her at times to get her to go along with him.

1947 - Black Narcissus 1953 - Young Bess 1960 - The Grass Is Greener Next: Joan Blondell & Humphrey Bogart

The thread is to name movies with the same/similar names, then tell how they are different: different casts, plots, etc. The post should include what makes them different, that's insinuated right in the title. Gives the poster the chance to show they know what they're talking about, not just making a mindless list generated by algorithms. Sans, I absolutely noticed & loved the coudlnt in the title-everyone has "fat" fingers from time to time hitting 2 keys at once. But amazing to me so many just do not comprehend what they read. Guess that's why many posters here don't bother to spell or use grammar.

Please forgive if I'm having a senior moment here but in the past Diabolique, Rififi and Breathless I'm sure have been shown on Noir Alley. It'sbeen a long time since I've seen Breathless, it's subtitled?

Friday, July 16 9:45 p.m. Body Heat (1981). I believe it was this film that put Kathleen Turner on the map.

Because every 20 to 30 years, people tend to party a little differently. Like say in '29 it was with bootleg/bathtub gin, in '56 it was probably with a Manhattan or a Tom Collins, in '75 it was probably with cocaine and/or some weed, AND in 20??...well...I'm not sure. (...and because Vautrin didn't specify the year here!)

Nickel Queen (1971)

Fanny (1961) A Very Special Favor (1965) Is Paris Burning? (1966) Next: Maurice Chevalier and Charlie Ruggles

Pillars of the Sky(1956)

Lida Rose ("The Music Man") Next: Sung by a child

Which one?

Dynamite (1929) - Early talkie film about an heiress who has to be married in order to inherit. She marries a condemned man who is released because the guilty party is found. Dynamite (1949) - Programmer about two guys who work with dynamite and love the same woman. Black Cat (1934) - Lugosi/Karloff horror film at the end of the precode era. Black Cat (1941) - Comedy/horror revolving around an old woman's will and two guys who are just not funny. Broadway (1929) - Early talkie about murder at a speak-easy Broadway (1942) - George Raft as himself looking back on his days as a hoofer on Broadway

I agree with James, but all of the Falcons are entertaining. Might be better to start with the George Sanders ones just because he started the series and then turned it over to Tom Conway. The first in the series is The Gay Falcon and no he was not gay. His name was Gay which I assume was short for Gaylord. One interesting one with Sanders is The Falcon Takes Over. It is based on Raymond Chandler's Farewell My Lovely which was later made into Murder My Sweet (1944) and Farewell My Lovely (1975). While the Falcon version is entertaining, it does not measure up to either of the other two. Of course all The Falcon moves are about 60 minutes long, so not enough time to dig deep into Chandler. Speaking of the 60 minute length, that is one thing sort of appeals to me. Have an hour to kill, watch a Falcon movie or if you do not wish to invest an hour in something. Personally my favorites are The Falcon's Brother with Jane Randolph, The Falcon Strikes Back (again with Randolph), The Falcon and the Co-Eds, The Falcon Out West, The Falcon in Mexico and The Falcon's Adventure ( last in the series). Enjoy all of them though.

That's ridiculous. It's not plagiarism. Goodness, if every time a filmmaker made a movie that was influenced by another work (either another film or a book or a play or whatever it may be), the movie world would be littered with plagiarism. Plagiaristic works. No. There is a huge difference between plagiarism and just being influenced by another work, or paying respectful tribute to it, or both. Plagiarism is much more literal, copying almost exactly another, earlier work. The whole world of art -- music, literature, film - is full of works that have built upon other, earlier works. And that's ok.

I gët kwite a kîkk out øf theír älphäbêt tū børk børk iïf ū dø fïnd ûrsëlff ïn Swėdėn søm dæ, wâtch œt fœr mööse bÿtes. they cän be vërē nastï

Five Fingers is a fine, intelligent, understated spy drama based on real events that transpired in neutral Turkey during WW2. James Mason is perfectly cast as a secretary at the British embassy securing intelligence secrets for the Germans. The film also benefits from some highly clever dialogue, dryly delivered by the cast. Probably my favourite line comes from Danielle Darrieux as a countess who, politically, blows with whichever wind allows her to live a lifestyle of luxury. At one point she catches a German courier of meager economic means looking at her longingly. Darrieux's response, "Please do not look at me as if you have a source of income other than your salary." This is arguably my favourite James Mason film in which he has the lead role.

Here's a review I wrote after viewing The Man Between earlier this year. A fine film even if it will never be regarded as a classic alongside The Third Man. The Man Between (1953) Director Carol Reed returns to the moody ambience that he had masterminded four years earlier with The Third Man with this post WWII thriller set in Berlin. Claire Bloom plays a naive English woman who arrives to visit her brother, now married to a Berliner (Hildegarde Neff) who, while outwardly pleasant, holds troubling secrets. Soon appearing on the scene is James Mason, as a mysterious East Berliner, also outwardly pleasant, who has some kind of relationship to Neff. After an interesting, if slightly meandering first half, this film really starts to take off as a taut thriller following a kidnapping. The real stars of the film are its dramatic visuals, many of them set at night, with the same striking photography, this time by Desmond Dickinson, full of odd off centre Dutch angles, that had so memorably distinguished The Third Man. The cast is generally impressive, in particular Mason as the film's charming, morally ambiguous Harry Lime-like character. Shot on location in the ruins of post war Berlin, along with interior shots taken at Shepperton Studios in London, the two blend seamlessly together, excluding some obvious rear screen projection at the film's climax, to create a memorable exercise in moody suspense. One wishes that the film's script might have been as impressive as the performances and the photography. Something else that the film lacks, when compared to The Third Man, is that film's oddly effective dark humour, which so effectively complemented the suspense and mystery elements of its tale. If The Man Between falls short of being a classic, it still remains a film of distinction and visual bravura, and must rank as one of the better films in James Mason's career.

I've noticed fewer & fewer actually comprehend the written word, resulting in an increase of nonsense posts.

I just watched The Third Man for the second or third time. I just started watching classic movies about a year and a half ago and have about two or three movies I will watch repeatedly, out of about 600 I have seen in that time, and this movie has become one of them. There are some elements to the movie that are outstanding to me. The zither music is so unique and good that I love it. I also enjoy the feel of being there in the immediate aftermath of WW2, the real rubble around Vienna being prominent. Also, the image of the walk of the woman at the end gives such a picture of endlessness. Last is the lighting, photography and the set itself n the sewer system. Those components, and the imagined smell, along with the suspense of the chase, make that part of the movie unforgettable.

Thursday, July 15 8 p.m. Blue Hawaii (1961). Great title and Elvis too. This should have been better. Perhaps if they had spent more than two seconds on it …?

I think it's part of the Rush Limbaugh estate Nip, him acquiring it years ago because it was the only mic that could accommodate his way oversized blowhole. Sepiatone