Arturo

On FMC (all times eastern): Wenesday, 3/2: 3:30 am: TALES OF MANHATTAN (1942)................................6 am: SNIPER'S RIDGE (1961)....................................7:04 am: SANDCASTLES (1972)....................................8:20 am: TOGETHER BROTHERS (1973).....................................10 am: TROUBLE MAN (1972).................................11:45 am: TWELVE HOURS TO KILL (1960)...............................1:10 pm: THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (1966)...................... Thursday, 3/3: 3:30 am: SNIPER'S RIDGE (1961)..................................6 am: LOVE IS NEWS (1937)...................................7:20 am: THAT WONDERFUL URGE(1948)....................................8:40 am: BLACK SHEEP (1935)....................................10:10 am: DANGEROUS CROSSING (1953)............'.....................11:30 am: THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (1966)...................................1:20 pm: THE REWARD (1965).................. Friday, 3/4: 4 am: THE REWARD (1965)....................................6 am: JUST OFF BROADWAY (1942).................................7:15 am: DRESSED TO KILL (1941).................................8:30 am: DANGEROUS CROSSING (1953).........................................9:50 am: NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947).......................................11:50 am: WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (1950)..........................................1:30 pm: VICKI (1953)...................

Over the weekend I went to Amoeba Records in Hollywood. And, having realized I only had one cd of their music, the one with "Evil" ("Head to the Sky", I think), I looked in the EW&F bin, and found a set of 5 cds for $20.00. It has the cds that followed the one I had covering their greatest hitmaking period in the second half of the 70s and into the 80s. I feel I scored! And I plugged up a glaring omission in my cd collection. Of course, I had all these albums back in the day.

There are two California diner locales featured prominently in a couple of noirs from 1945: MILDREN PIERCE and FALLEN ANGEL (not to be confused with a later tv movie about child porn).

I just thought of another link between Porn and Film Noir. With the many variations of the parameters of what constitutes Noir, whether expansive or restrictive, I've always said Noir is like the way porn was described in the Supreme Court, "I know it when I see it!"

Misswonderly, your story got me thinking. With FALLEN ANGEL and KISS ME DEADLY as porn titles, and the tendency to shoehorn films of all genres into Film.Noir, wouldn't it be something if there was a.body of films falling into a Porn Noir designation. It would put a new spin into Femmes Fatales and Private ****.....lol.

I go.to the movies A LOT, and see.most of the new releases. I go to matinee showings often,.and have been known to sneak food in, or sneak into other showings in a multiplex, in order to keep costs down. This I justify by buying their expensive drinks and popcorn at the concession stand, and recommending the movies to all. So I've seen most of the films with nominations of one sort or another, and will try to see the remaining in the near future (hopefully, before they've left the theaters). Here, in the L.A. area, some theaters show the Nominated Shorts, but I haven't seen them yet this year. It seems Academy members can see showings of all nominated films for free. Additionally, I think Academy members are sent dvds of all nominated films.of whatever type, so they can see them at their leisure. As for the Oscar telecast, I always see it, usually at some Oscar party. I've gone to one for about five years running, with lots of great food, and a poll you can enter to see who guesses the most correct.winners. Much good movie-related conversation,.as well.as comments on the stars' appearance, gowns, speeches, etc. Good Times.

There's a lot of gratuitous, and unnecessay, millenial-bashing on the boards, and that word in the title is an example of this.

This is a hilarious, if unfortunate story. What a disappointment both times, excited about films you're looking forward to seeing.....and that happens (twice!). Something similar happened to me when I was young, abou 13 or so. I remember I feigned illness one day to stay home from school, because A LETTER TO THREE WIVES was going to be shown on Ben Hunter's Matinee, and I wanted to see it for Linda Darnell. .Well, some cheesy Butch Jenkins film.was shown, to my dismay. After it was over, host Ben Hunter could not be more apologetic, starting off with something like, "Boy, that was some turkey!" I'm sure the station got plenty of phone calls to complain. At 13, I think I would've welcomed a mix-up with a porn movie lol.

20th Century Fox had planned to turn it into a costarring vehicle for two of its character actors/stars: Clifton Webb and Thelma Ritter; this was around 1952. I don't know what happened to that plan, other than thinking it may have been a victim of the wholesale pruning of many projects at Fox in early 1953, as the studio launched wholy into Cinemascope with projects it deemed conducive to the widescreen process. A couple years later, THE LATE CHRISTOPHER BEAN was filmed with Ritter, but as a tv movie for the studio's new anthology series. This consisted mostly of remakes of some of its classics, often with a new name, with many of its contract names. There were a few original stories, but all were basically short B films, not in widescreen, made specifically for the small.screen. Some dozen years ago, Fox Movie.Channel, when it showed more classic era films, had no commercial breaks, and actually attempted to air original programming based on the classic film era, broadcast all the episodes of the show, under the new guise of the "20th Century Fox Hour". The films.had been recently found and restored, and each week Robert Wagner hosted, providing the wraparounds. I recorded them all, but on vhs; I've only transfered one to dvd. I wish the series would be made commercially available.

ASTA AND THE CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE INNER CIRCLE The intrepid terrier stars in a whodunit that leaves audiences on the edge of their seats. Going underground, he tries to infiltrate the organization "The Inner Circle" which emerged out of nowhere with mysterious invitations to seemingly randomly selected individuals. Apparently, a rosy picture was presented to the invitees, that their thoughts re. classic film would be solicited via extensive questionnaires. Most are invited to Atlanta, where the Inner Circle is headquartered, to begin this process. Soon, a motley crew has assembled, in varying stages of anxiety and excitement. Amongst themselves, they question the validity of the premise. Only one person has bought into it totally, unquestioningly, and has been giddy since arriving at the Peach Street offices. She excitedly refreshes her laptop for promised updates and newsletter, and her enthusiasm is soon noticed by the organizers. She is easily manipulated, and has come up with the idea to graph the responses, and update this daily, posting this on her blog. When Asta enters the picture, in effective disguise as another invitee, all the participants are being asked to lay down on the parallel rows of beds, and each has been hooked up to a series of wires and sensors. They are given sedatives, supposedly to induce a relaxed state, conducive to the questionnaires. Unbeknownst to them, they have been heavily sedated, and soom are experiencing deep rem sleep. At this point, the plugged wires and sensors soon start to suck out all the participants' thoughts; eventually, all their thoughts have been sucked out, and they are left lying on the tables, hooked up with nothing left in the cerebelum. Had it not been for the quick thinking of Asta, who pretended to take the sedatives, the True Inner Circle, having literally picked the brains of the invitees, might have gotten away with their nefarious plot, which as it turns out, was to sell human thoughts and ideas, wrapped in grey matter, to alien beings intent on taking over the earth by contolling human thought. Asta thwarts the plot, and the villains are arrested. Thanks to his quick thinking, there will be no more victims invited to be part of an inner circle. A coda to the story is seen during the credits: the befuddled aliens who receive the electrical impulses of the cheerleading participant. They cannot make heads or tales of graphs with infitesimal variances from day to day, and an aura of overpowering, enveloping excitement. Nowadays, few fans know that the film had started out as the final THIN MAN film (the working title had been "The Thin Man Enters the Inner Circle"). However, William Powell balked at the plot twist that the project cheerleader could be so needy in needing to believe in the legitimacy of the nefarious organization, the Inner Circle of the title. Powell publicly stated that this detail was so incredulous that it rendered suspension of disbelief impossible. He also thought too many scenes, and too much dialogue, was devoted to the minutiae of the minute changes in the daily graph bars, and the implied significance of this. As Powell bowed out, Myrna Loy followed suit. Asta remained faithful by the huge salary increase the studio offered, and the fact they decided to release it as a serial, with weekly chapters; Asta, of course made sure he would get residuals for the over dozen chapters, as opposed to just for one movie.

On FMC (all times eastern): Friday, 2/26: 3 am: THE TERRORISTS (1975)................................. 4:30 am: BORN RECKLESS (1930)......................................6 am: WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (1950).........................................7:45 am: NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947).........................................9:45 am: FIVE FINGERS (1952)....................................11:40 am: THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (1966)........................................1:30 pm: THE TERRORISTS (1975)................... Saturday, 2/27: 3 am: THE MUDLARK (1950).................................4:40 am: HALF ANGEL (1951)......................................6 am: BIGGER THAN LIFE (1956).................................7:45 am: FIVE FINGERS (1952).....................................9:40 am: THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (1966)...................................11:30 am: TWELVE HOURS TO KILL (1960)...................................12:55 pm: TUE KREMLIN LETTER (1970)................ Sunday, 2/28: 4 am: BIGGER THAN LIFE (1956)...................................6 am: MY WIFE'S BEST FRIEND (1952).....................................7:30 am: CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE (1947)........................................10 am: THE INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS (1958)..........................................12:45 pm: THE BLACK ROSE (1950)........................... Monday, 2/29: 4 am: HOUSE OF STRANGERS (1949)..........................................6 am: CAPTAIN OF CASTILE (1947)........................................8:25 am: THE BLACK ROSE (1950).........................................10:30 am: SIERRA BARON (1958).............................................11:55 am: WILD ON THE BEACH (1965)..............................

The opening of "The Tears of a Clown" actually was written by Stevie Wonder, but he gave it to Smokey when he couldn't do anything with it. Stevie got a writing credit, anyway. There is an interesting story as to how "The Tears of a Clown" became a Hit. After Stevie gave the music to Smokey, the calliope lick reminded Smokey of the circus, which in turn, reminded him of Paggliacci"s clown. This inspired the title and lyrics, which are pure Smokey. It was released as a album track in 1967. A Couple or so years later, the Miracles' song, "The Tracks of MY Tears" became a belated hit in the U.K. (many Motown songs were hitting the charts belatedly there in the late 60s/early 70s). The British division of record company, known there as Tamla-Motown, looked through the Miracles' discography for a follow-up, and came across another song with "Tears" in the title, the obscure album cut from 1967, "The Tears of A Clown". They released this in England, where it became a chart-topping hit in 1970, Seeing this, the American branch also released it in the U.S., where it also topped the charts.

Besides "Love Machine", offhand, I can recall two other hits, "Do It Baby", and "Don't Cha Love It".

(Smokey Robinson and )The Miracles began making the charts at the end of the the 1950s. They became Motown's first chart act, and their first consistent chart presence. They were usually in the Top Forty Pop and Top Ten Soul charts throughout the 60s and into the 70s. After Smokey went solo around 1973, both entities continued to have hits, if not quite as often. This continued into the 80s, with Smokey getting bigger hits throughout that decade. The Temptations didn't become a chart presence until 1964, largely through the courtesy of Smokey, who wrote and produced their first hits, as well.as.some of their best-known. While they continued until the mid70s making hits at.Motown, a label switch saw their fortunes fade. They continued to have the occasional hit into the 1980s. The Four Tops also had their first hits in 1964, but their popularity had declined by the end of the decade; they, along with the Supremes, suffered most from the decampment of the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting/producing team. They got another big hit in 1970, written and produced by Smokey. They couldn't sustain it, however. In 1972, a label switch led to several more big hits, but after the mid1970s, they only occasionally made much impact on the charts. Smokey had as much longevity as these other groups, if not more, and his many productions for other Motown groups must definitely count for something. As for EW& F, they should probably better be ranked alongside other self-contained.soul/funk outfits, whose band members were also musicians, as opposed to the purely vocal groups such as the aforementioned.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE'S THREAD Two aging sister's living together in a modest cottage in an L.A. cottage, compete with each other at every opportunity, and have done so since their youthful years in the 1920s. Each had success in Hollywood, if not necessarily at the same time. At present, they have discovered the marvels of the internet, and the wonders of online blogging and chatrooms. Both have become regular fixtures on a classic movie message board, and their rivalry has manifested itself here as well. Blanche, crippled.and in a wheelchair, has all day to post constantly, on her threads and others'; she relives the glory years as a film star as she shares this in her posts; it is obvious she has no other passion. Jane, mobile but angry, meets her sister post by post, thread by thread; she obviously has no job nor any friends; in short, no life. She mocks her sister's posts, and starts similar, mocking threads, to compete with Blanche's. She brags about having a superior education, as she attempts to demonstrate with her selected internet writings. Soon, she feels she is the most influential poster on the boards. She is intentionally mean to the bed-ridden Blanche, going into her room and removing the battery from her pc, and hiding the charger. She cackles with glee at the pain she causes her sister, and mirthfully runs barefoot down the stairs to her laptop, to up the ante as she racks up posts and view counts. Jane now feels she is not only the most prolific and influential poster, but might soon be hired by the classic movie station, as she has been invited to join their inner circle. Employment there seems within grasp; surely her prominence and intelligence on the boards must've been evident to warrant this invitation. However, Blanche, with much struggle, has found the charger, and once she is back online, has found a malware that allows her to send Korean language spam, at the rate of every ten seconds, and quickly buries Jane's many threads pages deep. She does this several times a day, effectively ridding her sisster from Page One. Well, this drives Jane over the edge, who, barefoot, drags her sister down the stairs, and leaves her on an empty beach to die; best off all, Blanche has no internet or computer during her last hours.

Speaking of art in Clifton Webb movies, there is THE DARK CORNER (1946). Here he is an art dealer, and appropriately, art is seen throughout. I can't think of any examples off-hand, but many movies from the 1940s and 50s have Diego Rivera prints hanging on walls. Yesterday, I was watching EVERYBODY DOES IT (1949), and on Linda Darnell's wall, there is a Salvador Dali print. Which brings us to the Hitchcock film.......

During the heyday of Technicolor, that company would have a "Technicolor Consultant" on the sets of film; many films have a credit for that, usually Natalie Kalmus.

I did mention BLOOD AND SAND, but not CENTENNIAL SUMMER. CS seems to be locked up in some rights issue, possibly related to the songs, since it doesn't seem to be available anywhere. It was on youtube a couple of years back, in like 11 installments.

I also love those late 50s melodramas,.whether in color.or b 'n w, like FROM.THE TERRACE, TEN NORTH FREDRICK, THE YOUNG PHILADELPHIANS, THE SOUND AND THE FURY, etc. These films I see as guilty pleasures, although I really don't know why. I should enjoy them guilt-free.

I would argue with you there. But I loved EW&F, especially the early stuff. My all-time favorite song of theirs is "Evil". Now that is one mean jamming song. The tribute the other night on the Grammys,.with Stevie Wonder and others doing"That's the Way of the World" acappella, was winning in its understatedness.

This reminds me.when I flew into Mexico City on 2002, I think. When I arrived.at.my tios' house, the first words out of my Catholic Opus Dei tia's mouth were, "it is forbidden to see EL.CRIMEN DEL.PADRE AMARO" (she said it in Spanish), a movie which was opening that day, and of which I had never heard. The Mexican Catholic hierarchy had condemned ot for sacreligious content. Well, now I wanted to see it, but couldn't while in Mexico City (my tia was protesting with a picket sign outside theaters where it was showing). So later, during this trip, I saw the film in Puebla (ironically, considered the most Catholic city in the country). I could.see.why the Church found it sacreligious, but I'm not that religious, and I've always felt (almost) nothing's.sacred. Plus, it's a good movie, which I recommended.to people when it later opened here in L.A.

On FMC (all.times eastern): Saturday, 2/20: 3:30 am: THE KREMLIN LETTER (1970)..................................6 am: MOONTIDE (1942)....................................7:40 am: WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (1950)......................................9:20 am: FIVE FINGERS (1952)...................................11:10 am: SEVEN THIEVES (1960).................................12:55 pm: THE KREMLIN LETTER (1970)...................... Sunday, 2/21: 3:30 am: CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE (1947)...................................6 am: TALES OF MANHATTAN (1942)...................................8:10 am: CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE (1947).......................................10:35 am: PRINCE OF FOXES (1949).........................................12:25 pm: A FAREWELL TO ARMS (1957)............................. Monday, 2/22: 3 am: A FAREWELL TO ARMS (1957)....................................6 am: PRINCE OF FOXES (1949).................................8 am: DAISY KENYON (1947)........................................9:40 am: ISLAND IN THE SUN (1957)........................................11:40 am: MADISON AVENUE (1962).............. Tuesday, 2/23: 4:45 am: DAYTIME WIFE (1939)...................................6 am: DAISY KENYON (1947)......................................7:45 am: ISLAND IN THE SUN (1957)........................................9:45 am: MADISON AVENUE (1962)........................................11:30 am: SATAN NEVER SLEEPS (1962)...............................1:40 pm: SANDCASTLES (1972)................

A.later,.left-field.entry in the Darnell filmography for selection.as.an.Essential, is 1957's aviation drama,.ZERO HOUR! This is the film.that would.later.be.the blueprint for AIRPLANE, which even used the identical dialogue for.some.scenes. The retroactive.camp quotient of.ZH is due to this, despite the game.cast.having played it straight.

A film.storage vault in a salt cave in Oklahoma was recently inventoried and categorized. Among.several.unexpected rarities perhaps the most newsworthy was a supposedly lost film from 1934, SHE DONE HIM RIGHT, starring.Jane Hudson. It's rumored existence is now confirmed, after nearly 3/4 of a century. The story is that the studio of Jane's sister (and rival), star Blanche Hudson, bought the negative to this film.and had it buried (literally). They were afraid of the reputedly superb performance by Jane, which insiders were predicting would win her the oscar and jump-start her adult career into overdrive. Jane's own studio, reeling.from their contractee's demanding behavior, and wanting to drop her at the next option, used the excuse to her that with the implementation of the Production Code, the film.was.unreleasable as is, and that the subject.matter could.not be cleaned up enough to have audiences buy it. Jane bought the cover-up story, but the later.whispers contributed to her bitterness.and sibling rivalry. She soon took matters.into her own.hands (or feet), and.pressed the pedal.to the.metal.

I just thought of this Douglas Sirk melodrama, as I was posting a comment on the Linda Darnell thread. How about SUMMER STORM, with Linda as a small-town femme.fatale in pre-Revolutionary Russia. George Sanders and Edward Everett Horton compete for her, despite the fact.that she's married to Hugo Haas. While not in vivid color like Sirk's 50s melos, it has some.evocative black and white photography, and has a tangible European moody atmosphere.