Bogie56

John Houseman (1902-1988) Began as a theatrical producer with Orson Welles then moved over to become a film producer for which he had some impressive credits: Julius Caesar; The Bad and the Beautiful; The Blue Dahlia and They Live by Night to name a few. Then if you don't count an appearance in the recently rediscoverd Welles' film, Too Much Johnson (1938) Houseman took a small part in Frankenheimer's Seven Days In May (1964). He followed that nine years later with his Oscar winning performance in The Paper Chase (1973) and thereafter had quite a good acting career in films and television in his twilight years. And he also did some commercials. You could say of his success that "he earned it."

If you had him yell "f-k off!" at you on a city street you might think he was a little scary too.

And ... ?

Monday, June 22 Now the Chrisptopher Lee tribute. 9:30 a.m. Horror of Dracula (1958) Everyone is hoping that this is the recently restored version. 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Two of my favourite Richard Lester films; The Three and Four Musketeers. ​10 p.m. Too Much Too Soon. Errol Flynn as John Barrymore! Have to catch this one.

Further to the Variety story above, Judge Squalo has awarded the defendants damages in the amount of ten million dollars. "This will leave the Tor Johsnon estate in tatters" said Gordon Howe, lawyer for the plaintiffs. "T-shirt sales will not cover the costs I'm afraid."

His brother from the 'old' country.

I was hoping nobody would notice. Elective surgery gone wrong, I’m afraid. My lawyers are looking into the matter but meanwhile I’m left tearing my hair out. I should never have gone to that surgeon. But with a name like Dr. Laurence Einstein, who would known that he would turn out to be such a quack? His accent was so thick, I could barely understand him. He kept nattering on and on and I just kept saying “fine, Larry, fine.” Well, look at me now. Is this Fine?!

What, no druid movies today? Happy solstice day, Swithin.

Seems to corroborate my encounter with Jack Palance on Yonge street in Toronto. My friend approached him with "Mr. Palance could i have your autograph" to which Palance turned, sneered and barked "F-k off!!" I nearly died laughing.

Variety has reported that the case of Johnson v Levin has been thrown out of court in Los Angeles. The heirs of the Tor Johnson estate had been seeking 100 million dollars in damages and an injunction against the makers of the popular Sharknado franchise. Prosecution lawyers, Dewy, Screwem and Howe were unable to convince Judge Squalo that Sharknado was an infringement on Johnson's intellectual property rights, "Yes, we intend to appeal" said Gordon Howe, "the Judge failed to take into account the huge amount of work that Tor had put into the screenplay before he passed away. He really sweated over it." And indeed much of the prosecution's case came down to DNA evidence of Tor Johnson's sweat on the one paragraph film outline that he had penned several months before his death in 1971. Though the defence conceded that Levin had changed the film's title from Tornado to Sharknado it was deemed parody and therefor exempt from copyright law. "This isn't funny" said Howe.

Quite a few people have gone from being actors to film directors. In fact this was a topic of discussion in a thread not long ago. A few come to mind such as Rob Reiner, Penny Marshall, Elia Kazan, Jules Dassin, Vittorio De Sica and Irving Bacon. One person practically did this in reverse. Though he did perform in silent films he was probably better known as a director at the time. Donald Crisp (1882-1974). Crisp started work in the theatre for George M. Cohan then became D.W. Griffith's assistant in film. He has 72 credits as a director from 1914 through 1930 when he gave it up to concentrate on being a character actor. One that never stopped working. Of course he won the Supporting Actor Oscar in 1941 for How Green Was My Valley.

the Doc says the bandages may come off tomorrow. I'm so excited! Sunday, June 21 10:15 a.m. Life Begins For Andy Hardy (1941) Gonna grab this one. 8 p.m. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) A really good Buster Keaton worth recording. 12:15 a.m. Sherlock Holmes (1922) I’ve never seen this Barrymore silent. 2:00 a.m. Red Desert followed by L‘Eclisse. Two by Michaelangelo Antonioni. Of the two I prefer L’Eclisse.

Slapstick (of Another Kind) 1982. I was a big Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. fan and loved the adaptation of Slaughterhouse Five (1972) by George Roy Hill. But Slapstick with Jerry Lewis and Madeleine Kahn was beyond a mere disappointment. It was an abomination.

And Santo in the Fury of the Karatecas with the amazing Grace Renat?

Sept. 22. The Robot vs the Aztec Mummy (1965). Has this ever been on before? Haven't seen this in years. It would be nice to see more Mexican Horror and Santo movies n October.

If they had arrived in California by stagecoach instead of by train then it definitely would not be a western. I see your point about it being 'out west' though. I guess California is as west as you can go, isn't it? Unless you are in Hawaii. Now George and Lennie in Hawaii would have made it what ...? Of course they would have arrived by tramp steamer and not by train. If so, it might have been a south sea ocean voyage picture.

Isn't Of Mice and Men a road picture? And a rather dusty one too.

Yes. I'm paraphrasing from the Borgnine autobiography. Spring of 1964 after a season of McHale's Navy he met her at a party. He had heard of her before. Someone asked her to get up and sing. Afterward they spoke for a few hours. I guess it was instant infatuation and they were married not long after. Then he jumps right to the disastrous honeymoon.

Yes, Elwy was certainly responsible for a great deal of my film education too. No commercials too. TVO had years and years worth of those great interviews. Eddie Bracken, Dorothy Malone, Robert Stack. I was blown away when he screened Touch of Evil in 1975. And before Saturday Night at the Movies there was his Magic Shadows show. I would rush home from school to watch that in the afternoon. He would show about 20 minutes of a classic film each day with his armchair wraparound. Films like King Kong, Last of the Mohicans and the Flash Gordon serials. Did you know that Elwy had the job of laying all the AVRO Arrow workers off? My father and two uncles lost their jobs on that day.

I think this may be the best schedule so far this year. Steve McQueen's In the Name of the People. I've always been curious to see that. Fragments. The documentary showing surviving sequences of lost films. I understand that this has played before but I missed it. THX1138 and The Tin Drum. There is a lot of interesting stuff.

Yes he does. I think you have already mentioned the story practically word-for-word. On their honeymoon she got really ticked off that people recognized him and not her. And that was it. Marriage over.

Was this serial teenage killer also gay? Just testing AndyM's theory that every thread eventual devolves into a discussion of gay subtext.

I've never seen A Very Brady Sequel. In fact, other than a few seconds when flipping the dial I have never seen the Brady Bunch show either. The movie, A Very Brady Sequel is supposed to be a send up of their own show.

You know in London there is actually a statue of George Washington in Trafalgar Square. It is on a plinth on a small piece of lawn outside the National Gallery. I always thought this was curious. The Brits honouring a the man who took their colony away from them with a statue. Funny though ... the figure of Washington is only 3 foot high.

It's too bad Kubrick never did get his Napoleon movie made. I read the Felix Markham book that he was adapting and it was beyond belief. There was enough for ten movies in the first 30 pages.