ChristineHoard

Funny!

Thanks for sharing all the wonderful After Dark covers, especially the Crawford cover. I guess it didn't make it to my little corner of Illinois back then. Didn't the Borat character wear a swimsuit like the one that man is wearing on one of the covers? Looks uncomfortable and if somebody pulled on the top part the wrong way it might have been painful.

This is nice. It shows you don't always need computer special effects, tons of gore and color to create effective chills.

Maybe it was too much of the "method". Kazan directed only one Dean film. I, too, saw one of those TV dramas with Dean but I don't remember which one. Didn't TCM run those a couple of years ago? Maybe the TV director told Dean to take it down a notch for the small screen.

Great post of the trailer, Ray. Thank you for sharing.

Interesting. He probably had many artistic ambitions but needed food (beyond flies and spiders) and a roof over his head. My source on the comedy thing was an interview (don't remember with whom) several years ago in the magazine SCARLET STREET. Great magazine, by the way, for lovers of classic horror.

Tony Perkins was intense and I mean that in a good way. James Dean was intense but obvious like James said and Dean could be "over the top.". Tony was more subtle. Partly it's in his dark eyes.

Check him out with Tuesday Weld in PRETTY POISON near the end of the month.

When it comes to horror, I still think the first one in a series is generally the best. Two possible exceptions: BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and DAWN OF THE DEAD although personally I lean towards the first in those series probably because I didn't know what to expect the first time I saw them. A lot of people like ALIENS more than ALIEN but I like the first one better because there is one monster and one beat up ship with a small crew and the action is confined to that setting.

I got two reminders this week about SPINAL TAP being on in June. Thanks, TCM. Glad I remembered on my own plus I rewatched it when they ran it again last month because I think it's so funny. I don't know what the glitch is with the reminders.

I remember AFTER DARK mag but I don't think I've ever seen a copy. There were some great magazines in the 1970's; I miss them. RAMPARTS was a great leftist magazine. SATURDAY REVIEW covered all the arts. VIVA was a competitor of PLAYGIRL run by Bob Guccione, Sr.'s wife. Lots of sexy romantic soft focus photography.

I do believe in closing the cultural gap by sharing some nice wine. It worked in NINOTCHKA.

TopBilled: Remember the important part glasses play in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN. Dorothy Parker allegedly said "guys don't make passes at girls who wear glasses" but Ingrid Bergman looked good in them in SPELLBOUND. Dorothy Malone removed hers for Bogart in THE BIG SLEEP.

Great post, marcar. So glad you enjoyed DRACULA. I love it, too, especially the first half at the castle. FYI: In real life, Dwight Frye really wanted to be in comedy but ended up getting somewhat typecast in horror. Still, I love his Renfield. Who wants puny flies when there are fat juicy spiders? Makes total sense...

Save your money.

GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK is an exceptionally excellent movie. One of my favorites of the modern era.

I think Possessed is one of Joan's best performances. I like what Eddie said about Joan's career at its peak from Mildred Pierce to the early-mid 1950's (I am paraphrasing). I agree that a case can be made for her winning the Oscar instead of Loretta Young that year. I do think she was having an intimate affair with David in Possessed. She wouldn't have gotten that freaked out about David breaking it off if they hadn't been intimate. It is a pretty sad thing when you are in an intimate relationship with someone and really dig them and then they reveal they kind of feel "meh" about you afterwards. Yes, she probably had some mental struggles to begin with but I kinda don't blame her for going off the rails when David, who doesn't want any commitment or so he says, falls head over heels for Joan's stepdaughter. OUCH! I felt sorry for Raymond Massey's character. He's playing a decent guy who clearly loves Joan and wants to help her. I've said before about Van Heflin: he is just so good in everything.

As I said, I discovered Sven here in metro Atlanta TV by accident. I found METV as a local station. I have AT&T and you can look up things by actors' names, TV channel or title on a search site. The films Sven shows aren't listed by the name of the film; it's under Svengoolie. I don't know if this helps you but if you are able to get METV in the Land of Bread and Circuses you should get Sven.

Seeing Willem Defoe on the Neglected Favorites thread reminded me of AUTO FOCUS (the film about actor Bob Crane of Hogan's Heroes fame). Talking about toxic masculinity - Bob Crane's sexual obsessions pretty much tanked his career. In the movie. Willem Defoe plays his buddy who enables his behavior and is a video taping/electronics expert. It's sorta subtle, but I think pretty clear, that Defoe's character has the unrequited hots for Bob Crane (played by Greg Kinnear) and this may have led to his murder when Bob tries to break up their relationship. It's a bromance gone sour. I really liked the film and the way it explores sexuality, celebrity in the 1960's. Willem Defoe isn't a conventionally handsome guy but he is an excellent actor and he's really good in this as is Kinnear.

Now that may be an unpopular opinion. Personally, I like teddy bears and other stuffed animals and so do my cats.

I wouldn't go that far. Last week the restored version of Frankenstein was shown without cuts. Of course, there are the commercials and silly jokes but Sven throws in a little film history as well.

Anybody watch The Panic in Needle Park last night? It was a TCM premiere. I had seen it before and I watched some of it last night but it is so depressing. Kitty Winn is heartbreaking (and kinda stupid). Al Pacino right before GODFATHER.

Have you seen in him in BETTER CALL SAUL or BREAKING BAD?

It might have been interesting if they had switched roles - Mason the up-and-comer and Judy the self destructive one on the way down.

Glad my girl Norma is getting some love here. I know a lot of people don't like her and I get that but personally I think she's a good actress. She did make a smooth transition from silents to talkies and that wasn't easy for a lot of actors. I think she's excellent in MARIE and BARRETTS and her early talkies like THE DIVORCEE. She's not at the top of my favorite list like Barbara and Bette but she's close.