Swithin

Herbert Anderson was in Navy Blues (1941) with Jack Oakie.

Two John Ford films about Judge Priest. Stepin Fetchit plays Jeff in both films. Judge Priest (1934) The Sun Shines Bright (1953)

Ann Doran was in The Man Who Turned to Stone with Charlotte Austin.

The Long Day Closes (1992) -- features the song "Tammy" The Jazz Singer (1927) -- features the song "My Mammy"

Hedda Hopper was in Little Man, What Now? with Sarah Padden.

Same thing!😉

Of course Zoroaster is the Greek version of his name. Nietzsche got it right -- almost -- as Zarathustra. As everyone knows, Kubrick used R. Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra in 2001.

Yes, Mozart was a Freemason, in his later years, which accounts for the anti-Catholic nature of the opera (the Church was heavily anti-Masonic). Many musicologists believe that the Queen of the Night represents the Roman Catholic Church; and Sarastro represents the Enlightenment. Regarding the Zoroastrian religion, almost every monotheistic religion borrowed from the Zoroastrians, especially Christianity. Judaism flirted with some of the Zoroastrian concepts briefly, after Cyrus freed the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, hence the hints of the Avestan concepts in the books of Daniel; but then the influence faded away. Zoroastrianism is a good religion, currently practiced mostly by Parsees (i.e. Persians) in India. Shame that it was almost totally wiped out in Iran.

Requiem for a Dream (2000) Next: Hideous creature

John McGiver was in Who's Minding the Store? with John Abbott.

I subscribed to BritBox early in the pandemic, particularly to watch an old series featuring a distant relative of mine. With a few exceptions, I've been kind of disappointed with the rest of the offerings. Either I've seen many of the shows, or there are too many detective series which go annoyingly into the tedious private lives and foibles of the detectives, rather than focusing on the cases. I like having access to the BBC Shakespeare series, and some of the old BBC masterpiece-type series, although much of that is available on YouTube. Also, the images on BritBox are not ideal -- they tend to be rather dark. I also find it annoying that, although they show "Good Morning Britain" every day, they only show less than an hour of what is a three-hour program. Of course BritBox introduced me to the "Mrs. Brown's Boys" series, for which I am grateful. But I probably won't renew my subscription, now that I have Netflix as part of my mobile phone plan; and also have Amazon Prime; as well as Paramount Plus and Apple TV, the latter two only for a year, free.

Not so light, though. Remember the Queen of the Night represents the Roman Catholic Church!

Dancing in the Streets in 1975? That was the "Ford to City: Drop Dead" year! I was there -- many colleagues laid off. No cause for dancing! (But I did just look at the finale, very nice -- thanks!)

Two with Cicely Courtneidge Under Your Hat (1940) The L-Shaped Room (1962)

One of the great losses to cinema history is the disappearance of the dubbed-in-English version of The Black Pit of Dr. M. The original in Spanish is available, with subtitles, but there was something special about the dubbed version of this great Mexican horror film. The dubbed version includes one of the great lines in movie history, spoken by the voice of Dr. M., who has come back from the grave, playing his signature tune ("Csardas" by Monti), which tips off his shocked family, to whom he says: "Yes it's me, I came back in Elmer's body."

I first heard the song (Chad Mitchell version) on the radio and went up to Woolworth's on Fordham Road to buy the 45. Later, when I became familiar with the New Faces score, where it originated, I heard that version.

I don't think Halloween and Christmas are analogous at all. Christmas is a holiday; Halloween is more a state of mind. Although once a pagan festival, perhaps a period of heightened "supernatural intensity heralding the onset of winter,” it has evolved into a celebration/exploration of mystery, with darker and lighter sides, which should be commemorated more often. My favorite course in college (where I read Theology) was my Demonology course, where I learned a bit about the lovely chaps depicted below. I'm glad TCM is celebrating their like throughout the month of October (though I might have programmed the films somewhat differently). Horror films are the folk tales and myths of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Try Smiles of a Summer Night (1955). It's about as light and fluffy as Bergman gets. It was the basis of the Sondheim musical, A Little Night Music. Woody Allen's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is also loosely based on it.

Helen Westley was in House of Rothschild with Florence Arliss.

Actually, what I don't understand is, what is the sense of Dracula scratching his face off, especially if it's disintegrating anyway? Maybe whoever did the edit was making a logical choice, i.e. why would anyone scratch off their face?

Leslie Howard (He played -- and directed -- Hamlet on Broadway in 1936. At the same time he was playing at the Imperial Theatre, John Gielgud was playing Hamlet on Broadway at the Empire Theatre.) Next: Funny eyes

Robert Greig (Played a butler or valet around 20 times) Next: Played a Shakespearean queen

It seemed so to me, but let someone else weigh in with an opinion.

I haven't seen this film for a long time, but I remember it fondly. I particularly remember one line: The students are at some sort of reception out on the lawn, and one of them says something like: "This cake is so good, I'm surprised dead people haven't figured out a way to eat it."