JackBurley

"Given the old "locker room" stereotypes, you'd almost assume this side over here would be bulging with steamy responses, as all us guys cue-up to "weigh in" with our strutting two-cents-worth . . and yet . . . . !" Some of us might be waiting for our demographic group to be called up. I was tempted to answer in the "For the Women..." thread, as the questions seemed to apply, even if the targeted gender didn't. In this thread, I'm among the targeted gender, but the questions don't apply. Celebrate diversity.

"Regarding the SINCE YOU WENT AWAY soundtrack CD at Amazon - it is an imported bootleg and is miserable quality. For now, the 2-LP set from the Max Steiner Music Society is the best recording available. Hopefully, we will one day soon be able to strike a deal to release the soundtrack to SINCE. The complete score survives in brilliant sound from Max's acetates." Do you suppose it would be possible to include the song sung on the train by a group of soldiers in Since You Went Away? Do you know why it wouldn't have been included on the Max Steiner Music Society release? Was it a rights issue? Or maybe it's not on the actual soundtrack? It'd be swell if y'all could release it on cd. I'd buy that!

Thanks for the head's up! I'd never heard of them, and they're in my orbit: I see they're playing one block away from my office next week. I'll have to be there. Thanks again! I have plans to be their newest groupie. By the way, I saw Raw Deal last week on the silver screen and was delighted by the use of theremin throughout in Paul Sawtell's score...

hlywdkjk pointed out that The New York Times wrote a piece on the Festival opening too. Here it is: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/movies/29noir.html

[This post was a repeat of the one above.]

Thanks for the swell article, Mr. K! For my take on the evening, check this out: http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?messageID=7875400 P.S. A pal of mine has an 8-track in his truck and proudly plays horrid tapes from the 1970's. There's a lid for every pot.

Gee, Mr. K., I don't know who did the vocal on "Together" in Since You Went Away. It's sung off-screen, so we never see the actual vocalist. I also wonder if Joseph Cotten did his own whistling of the song, or if that was dubbed. I was disappointed that the little snippet sung by the soldiers on the train wasn't included on the lp of the soundtrack either; but imagine that the ditty wasn't written by Mr. Steiner so the Society excised it. I'm still wearing my black arm band; I miss Tower more than my 8-Track player. I did rake in plenty during their last months -- mainly DVDs though. It was my weekly ritual to scour through their bins every Tuesday (the day that new releases would appear). Tuesdays will never be the same. At least I still have Amoeba...

Vallo's intentions are good, but I must lend warning with regard to finding "Together" on the Since You Went Away soundtrack. The score was written by Max Steiner and as was his way, uses many leitmotifs devoted to various characters (even including Brig's dog, "Soda"). I have a 10 minute excerpt of the Since You Went Away soundtrack in my I-Pod and am playing it as I type this for confirmation -- "Together" is not included. Rather, the themes that Mr. Steiner wrote are included -- not the song that Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson wrote. I also own a two-lp version of the soundtrack that was released by The Max Steiner Foundation Music Society and features approximately 94 minutes of music from the movie -- very little of it uses the "Together" theme. It does not include the music box that plays it, nor Joseph Cotten whistling it, nor the dance band that plays it. It does paraphrase the theme in some of the incidental music when Anne reminisces about her husband, but if you're looking for an actual recording of the song itself -- buying the soundtrack is not the way to go.

'Twas a pleasure, Mr. 123. She was very gracious to her audience. After her interview, she stayed and spent time with anyone who approached her. She was very generous with her time. Are you aware that she's written a book? I believe it's called The Way We Wore....

Last night I attended the opening night of the festival. Thought I'd report a few tidbits for those who are interested. The evening opened with a short subject by a very talented 26-year-old fellow from the U.K by the name of Osbert Parker. Film Noir was a stop action animation piece using collages of old stills from classic movies. It was very effective and a great fanfare to open the fest. The first movie in this Marsha Hunt double feature was Raw Deal, and it was immediately apparent that the full house was populated with afficiandos: the most rousing applause during the opening credits (other than for Miss Hunt, who was in attendance) was for Director of Photography John Alton. Marsha Hunt was interviewed and she looks great. Healthy, aglow, elegant, gracious. She was stunned to see a full audience of people who came out in the drizzle to see her. "Who knew sixty years later that Film Noir would be the vanguard with a cult following?!", she cried. She theorized that people love these dark movies about lives gone wrong because the audience can say, "Well, I guess my life isn't so bad after all." Ms. Hunt loved the twists of Raw Deal: ***SPOILERS AHEAD*** That the gun moll and bad girl Claire Trevor would end up behaving nobly and that the good girl (played by herself) would end up murdering. Film Noir connaisseur Eddie Mueller was the interviewer, and told of meeting Ms. Trevor and asking her about Raw Deal. She said, "What's that?". He told her it was a movie she made in the 1940's. "Who was in it?" she replied. When he told her "Marsha Hunt", she slyly smiled and said, "Oh, the Good Girl, no doubt..." Ms. Hunt was also called "the youngest character actress", having played four "old lady" roles before she hit 30. On the Raw Deal cast: "Dennis O'Keefe was a lot of fun and taught me a very spicy song. Claire kind of avoided me. She wanted to keep the distance (because of the rivalry of their characters). Forty years later we met at [director] Burt Kennedy's place. He lived right across the street from me and he gave himself a 75th birthday party every year for about ten years. One time Claire was there and I was surprised that she greeted me so warmly." Ms. Hunt asked us with a wink, "Did you ever notice there's no dry street at night [in this movie]?". It's a Film Noir affectation, to be sure; but this film took place in San Francisco, and that night fog does roll in, making it the perfect setting for these flicks. [side note: the daughter and granddaughter of Dashiell Hammet were also in the audience.] And with another wink, "I don't think there were more than two lines without either one of us saying the name 'Joe' [Dennis O'Keefe's character]." The second movie was Kid Glove Killer which was Fred Zinnemann's first feature film [We also get a peak at a very young Ava Gardner, as a stunningly beautiful drive-in car hop!]. He was "a nice, complicated fellow. As gifted as they get; soft spoken, low key. Before rehearsing the first scene of the movie, he called the entire crew down from the catwalks and gathered everyone around him. He said, 'this is my first film and you're all veterans. I want this to be the best picture it can be, so if any of you see something that can be better, I want you to let me know.' Well, what a start. Everyone loved working with someone like that." Adding with a wink, "The only thing to be grateful to Hitler for was the exodus of these great directors -- Preminger, Ulmer, Zinnemann and so on. Thanks Adolf." Marsha Hunt grew up in New York City, not far from Broadway. She dreamed of becoming a Broadway star (and later would perform on the stage). As a youth, she said she was frustrated because there was little training available. They weren't allowed to major in stagecraft until the third year of college and there was no training for films; so she went into modeling and travelled to Hollywood as a model. Her favorite movie was Pride and Prejudice. [Cinematographer] Karl Freund would walk on the set and call out "Where's turkey neck?" (referring to Ms. Hunt). "They taught me to sing off key, which is hard if you have musical ability. I can sing. So they had to train me to sing just under the pitch." And "Of course, I had a crush on Lawrence Olivier." Regarding her trip to the HUAC session in Washington, D.C., she began by downplaying her own attendance, with "There were many who wanted to go. Several hundred would have wanted to be on that plane from Hollywood. The House Un-American Activities Committee discovered that they could get headlines by attacking Hollywood. So Hollywood gave a send-off at the Shrine Auditorium. Howard Hughes offered a plane, but wasn't allowed to give it. [John] Huston, [William] Wyler... We had two or three stops on the way there and again coming back, and at every stop there would be crowds wanting to see the Bogarts. We would tell the people in these towns that it was ridiculous that all of Hollywood was behind these communist ideas, hiding propaganda in all of the scripts. By the time we returned to Hollywood, the meetings were called off. But the bottom dropped soon after. The money backers to the studios demanded the forcing of the Hollywood 19; many were blacklisted. So that's 'whatever happened to Marsha Hunt'!" She was twice asked to run for public office and was "so flattered, but no... Though getting blacklisted was a great way to get more free time!"

Picnic Queen Bee On the Waterfront The Caine Mutiny The Big Heat Member of the Wedding Harriet Craig The Jolson movies Jean Arthur flicks...

Thought lost, Paramount Pictures recently found a 35mm archival print of I Walk Alone. This noir, based on the play Beggars Are Coming to Town by Theodore Reeves, will be screened February 3, 2007 at the Castro Threatre in San Francisco.

John Dahl's The Last Seduction was a great neo-Noir from the mid-1990's featuring Linda Fiorentino as one of the greatest femme fatales of all time. She ranks up there with Ann Savage [in Detour] in her ability to manuplate the hapless men around her.

I plan on attending tonight, so will give her your regards, Mr. 123.

A Formative Judy Marathon: Pigskin Parade Broadway Melody of 1938 Thoroughbreds Don't Cry Everybody Sing Love Finds Andy Hardy Listen, Darling The Wizard of Oz Babes in Arms Andy Hardy Meets Debutante Strike Up the Band Little Nellie Kelly Ziegfeld Girl Life Begins for Andy Hardy Babes on Broadway Include the following shorts between the main pictures: A Holiday in Storyland Bubbles The Wedding of Jack and Jill La Fiesta de Santa Barbara Hollywood Goes to Town (1938) The Miracle of Sound If I Forget You We Must Have Music Mamoulian Marathon: Applause City Streets Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Love Me Tonight The Song of Songs Queen Christina We Live Again Becky Sharp The Gay Desperado High, Wide, and Handsome Golden Boy The Mark of Zorro Blood and Sand Rings on Her Fingers Summer Holiday

Wow, the Betty Grable contract release sold for such a small amount, and is one of the most interesting pieces. Go figure. Thanks in advance for the theremin disk and bed jacket. Those portuguese nuns must go blind, what with all the detailed needlework and ruching. Ms. Cutter, the very notion of a tour gets me very excited. Just the parking lot would be enough,as I can see myself picking up each pebble in the gravel and muttering "do you suppose this dropped out of the treads of Gale Sondegaard's Buick?"

For those in the area (or interested in coming to the area), the Fifth Annual Noir City Film Festival opens Friday, January 26, 2007 in San Francisco with Raw Deal and Kid Glove Killer on the double-bill. Marsha Hunt will make a personal appearance with an on-stage interview between the two movies. Raw Deal will be seen using the pristine archival print from the Library of Congress. Saturday, January 27 will feature Cry Danger with featured player Richard Erdman making a personal appearance. He'll be interviewed between the feature and its screen mate Abandoned. This latter movie with Dennis O'Keefe, Gale Storm, Raymond Burr and Jeff Chandler has never been transferred to VHS nor DVD, and will be seen in an archival print from Universal Pictures. Also featured: Sunday, January 28 99 River Street (Never on VHS nor DVD) Hell's Half Acre (Never on VHS nor DVD) Monday, January 29 The Threat (Never on VHS nor DVD) Roadblock (Never on VHS nor DVD) Tuesday, January 30 Framed (Never on VHS nor DVD) Affair in Trinidad Wednesday, January 31 I Love Trouble (Never on VHS nor DVD) Pushover (Never on VHS nor DVD) Seen last week on TCM! Thursday, February 1 Scarlet Street (Archival print from the Library of Congress) Wicked Woman (Never on VHS nor DVD) Groundhog Day The Big Combo The Spiritualist New print. Saturday, February 3 I Walk Alone (Never on VHS nor DVD) Recently discovered archival print courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (Never on VHS nor DVD) New print from Universal Sunday, February 4 The Damned Don't Cry Possessed

Oh that! That was a vaudeville routine? I thought that was the fodder of old silent melodramas; based in turn on even older stage melodramas and operas. Was it performed as a skit in Vaudeville?

For those who do not believe that Linda Darnell can play the Blessed Virgin Mary, and that by doing so would render Werfel's concept pointless, no explanation is possible. For those who do believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who don't believe, they get to that's say, "Bah, that's Carmen Espinosa from Blood and Sand" or "She's crazy; just seeing things". Believers get to see her as a beautiful vision. Seems the same conundrum as putting a bare light bulb on the screen.

Well there's a bunch of women heading west on a train in The Women too; but this isn't it either. Can you describe a little of the routine? It might ring a bell...

Is it possible that the most seemingly innocuous document can hold a treasured bit of information for the scholar researching, for example, Yul Brynner? I hope that Twentieth Century Fox is at least scanning copies of the paper ephemera that they're selling and keeping a catalogue of this. It seems a little disheartening to me. P.S. My birthday is in June, and that will be here before you know it.

"By the way, why have they ended Jean Arthur films already? When Lucille Ball was SOTM, her films would usually go until the following morning!" I believe it was mentioned in another thread that only 17 of Ms. Arthur's films were included in this Star of the Month tribute. It would have been interesting to see some of her earlier movies, but I wonder how many even exist. She appeared in many silent films, but they were often over at Paramount and there've been several discussions about this studio's [lack of] commitment to their older works. A majority of silents don't even exist any longer; I wonder how many of hers do? Is there a copy of The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu in existence? Has anyone seen the later film Paramount on Parade? This movie used all the stars on their lot, with several two-strip color segments. I'd love to get ahold of this one.

I see that Die! Die! My Darling is playing on TCM tomorrow. I wonder if it's playing in Germany too, so that Mr. Me. can see it...

The Song of Bernadette is available on DVD now. I have a copy of it and believe it is uncut; at least Ms. Darnell is seen as "the Lady" aglow next to the grotto... Addendum: Ah, I see Mr. Vallo has already linked you to it. I recommend it. It includes the A&E Biography of Jennifer Jones, a newsreel, and audio commentary. Additional note, Alfred Newman's wonderful score is also available as on a two-disc cd set. Enjoy!

Wow! Cool! Thanks Mr. Flub. That means he's also the guy who sings "Broadway Melody" in the opening number of Broadway Melody of 1936.