CaveGirl

I just finished reading a book by a criminologist called "Why We Love Serial Killers" which has a whole chapter on what he calls "mob panic". The implication is that whether a person or situation is really dangerous, if the powers that be which include the police, the authorities and the media all conspire to make the story seem ultra-dangerous for the community, that people in the area will act up instantly and participate in mob mentality. I agree with you in essence, Miss Wonderly that it seems a bit insane that this could happen in a two hour window, but I also agree with Lorna that things like this can get stirred up quickly and begin to have a life of their own. Maybe I will be moving to Canada!

"two crisp one-dollar bills", eh? Not to ruin your fun, TB but you do know that there is probably no gold in Fort Knox backing up the value of those bills by now, since the vaults haven't been audited since 1974. If I were you I would ask to be paid in gift certificates to either Movies Unlimited or the TCM catalogues!

By now, most of us have been aware of the similarities between certain aspects of the films "Mad Love" and "Citizen Kane". Now of course we are not talking about the entire movie plots or characters, but the noted resemblance of Peter Lorre as the bald Gogol and Welles as the elderly Charles Foster Kane, with similar looks. There is also the resemblance to the Grand Guignol effect of the mansions of both men, and of course who can forget the most outre aspect of both films as seen in the cockatoo scenes. I mean really, don't both films have a strange hypnotic quality when we see that dang white cockatoo? Now we can attribute this perhaps in some sense to the participation of famed cinematographer Gregg Toland on both pictures. Maybe he had a thing for shooting lighting off bald pates and got a thrill out of the possibilities of cockatoos waking up an audience, as Welles had once said was his motive for including the freaky shot of the bird, just as Susan Alexander walks out on Kane. But "Mad Love" is definitely Karl Freund's movie, so it also may just be the German Expressionism bowing its head in Kane, since Toland was only co-cameraman with Chester Lyons also at the helm. No matter, it still is fun to wonder if "Mad Love" with its fantastical story about a Pygmalion and his Galatea, could have a bit influenced the ideas in "CK" since Kane does try to create a woman worthy of himself also in Susan. Thinking about how one movie may have even small bits of a homage to another earlier film, keeps me off the streets and out of trouble, so if you can name some others that do the same it would be most appreciated. Remember, the films do not have to be exact duplicates but just have some bit in them which is reminiscent of another earlier film in settings, character looks or dialogue or whatever you like. The only movie I do not want to hear about is "Xanadu" with Olivia Newton-John!

I never saw a Gracie Fields' film till I was out of college since British film stars aren't shown here as much. I did enjoy seeing her finally in something. Also though TPOP with Hutton is fun, I would kill to see the real serial with Pearl White on TCM sometime.

Really stinks eh? I've never seen it but I shall take your astute review to heart and keep not seeing it, Hamradio!

Ya know what I like about Alexander, Dargo? He said besides the "right to know" that people also had "the right not to know, which is more valuable". I appreciate this philosophy every time someone thinks I want to hear about their gastric problems or bedroom issues with their spouse.

I know more about "potables" than "portables", Dargo!

DeMille movies always crack me up. He uses religious themes which allow him to show liberal doses of sinning type behaviour. Killer way to get around the censors for sure!

Sepia, please share the marcelled hair photo sometime!

Great choice! I'd listen to anything Basil Fawlty narrated.

Now I'd like to be classy and say my favorite movie narrator is the great Kim Stanley, as the adult Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird" but I'd be lying. My favorite is really Ed MacMahon as the narrator of the classic "Daughter of Horror" [aka "Dementia"] which if you don't remember is the film being shown at the movie theatre, in "The Blob" with Steve McQueen. Who do you enjoy most as a narrator?

Me too, Columbo Fan! I love all Peter Weir films, particularly that short one made for Australian tv, called "The Plumber". If you've ever had a handyman in your home who is taking forever to finish the work, you should see this film!

I want to chastize myself for admittedly somewhat desecrating the original meaning of "life imitating art" which is a bit more about that, for example one seeing a Turner landscape in an oil, would then view a real landscape influenced by the way it was painted. So it is not just about the same storyline being recreated. Just wanted to clear up that both ideas work for me in this post. Mea culpa!

Snookums, I just find that bit about both bodies being able to be seen through the ice, sounds like something out of a Poe story. I shall have to reread the original story. The bit in the AHP episode where the naive wife looks through the crystal trench to see the young face of her hubby and then spots the locket, is unbelievably sad. Particularly since she is now aged and has refused to marry the faithful suitor for lo those many years, thinking that she had the perfect husband and marriage.

Slayton, totally enjoyed your take and comments on Mister Ryan! I remember once that someone said he had a face that looked like a four-wheeler had run over it, which made him look more tough.

OMG, are you trying to put me in a home, Hamradio? Must we quibble that the one guy was in the Alps and the other was in the Himalayas, when my point was that both were found years later preserved in ice, and both had wives who have aged yet both of the lost mountaineers seemingly has been preserved in the ice at a younger age and appearance. Don't make me come beat on you with a dvd copy of Babylon 5. Life imitating art, does not have to have every exact element of the original story to be the same, just the most salient points for clarification if anyone else decides to nitpick, and then I will smack them with a mountain goat's wet goatee.

Well, that kinda fits in a sort of offshoot way, Sepia! A man I worked with, said he once started thinking about the song "Hillbilly Heaven" and the next thing he heard on the tv, was that Tex Ritter had died.

You mean "screechy" and "whiny"? Nah, I think she sounds more like that chick Jack Lemmon picks up at the bar in "The Apartment". Bizarrely her name is Hope Holiday. But I think Judy spelled her last name with two "l's.

Been there, done that. The Festival was great except for some self-professed "experts" who tried to countermand the TCM agenda.

Okay, either he is totally smitten after dealing with Ruth Warrick, the society dame and wants an easier type chick OR the writers had to make a parallel between that story and Hearst's trysts with Marion Davies. He did want her to make more high class film fare than the comedies she was known for, so the comparison might be apt. We know it is based on Davies since the word "Rosebud" was used in the script and that was Hearst's pet name for an unmentionable body part. Don't ask!

Thanks. Dar! I am the arbiter of male beauty for sure. Can't say I've ever found Kinski attractive though. But Buscemi is so cute. Miss Wonderly and I can never go out bar hopping, since we'd be fighting over the same Buscemi-like guys!

That's probably why he was picked for the Addams role since he can look like a cartoon figure.

Uh, Klaus Kinski?

I kinda think he is adorable! Much more attractive than Ben Affleck.

Maltin's gonna be there? I'll have to miss since I have some very important shelf paper to be up in my kitchen cabinets. I hope all who go enjoy themselves!