Vautrin

Yes of course it is, it has four letters and wad only has three. I didn't watch it last Sunday, but I enjoy seeing it every once in a while it's such a good movie. I also got a laugh out of the name of the bank, the Corn Hole Trust or something like that. Teresa Wright didn't seem to do very much in SOAD except mope around the house complaining how dull everything was, at least until a serial killer came along to spice things up. She was kind of spoiled. Okay, very spoiled.

I presumed that Hortense and Pops were married, and checking out the credits, Gladys George is credited as Hortense Derry, so these folks are legal. I thought she was a nice late middle aged lady doing her best. I seem to recall that Homer goes into the bank and gets a nice wade of cash and says something like Look at this cabbage. So he doesn't seem too concerned that he's getting a disability payment from Uncle Sam. I still get a kick from Virginia Mayo going to the powder room with Peggy and saying something like The sign on the door says Ladies, but I go in anyway. Good ol' Marie, what a dame.

If the American Society for Rich Corinthian Leather hadn't disbanded in 1987 things might have been different.

I used to listen to WABC in the mid 1960s before switching over to WNEW-FM. Sure they played the same several songs into the ground, but unless one listened to WABC hour after hour it didn't make that much difference. You'd listen to it on you car radio for a while when going somewhere, come out again and listen to some of the same songs again. No biggie. Good old Cousin Bruceee.

...they just complain endlessly, belt back a few drinks and then go about their business as before. I knew the fix was in when the little kid, can't recall the tyke's name, was killed in a car crash on his brand new high-quality bicycle. Oh, c'mon man, that thing has cobwebs upon cobwebs on it. It was all downhill from there. There's something about David Brian, or at least the characters he plays, that is off putting, but maybe that's the point. I was hoping against hope that bad ol' Steve Cochran would knock him off instead of the other way around. I think Edward had something when he mentioned that people were starting to wise up to the sameness in many of these types of JC movies. As entertaining and visually appealing as it is, TDDC is awfully familiar plot wise. But it is definitely a enjoyable piece of semi-camp. (UPI) Lorna Hanson Forbes, born Lutie Mae Humdinger of Cornpone, Texas, has just returned from a three month trip to Europe. Having a near encyclopedic knowledge of the Old Masters, she enjoyed touring the museums of Europe and also meeting various royalty in different countries. The high point of her trip was an extended audience with the Pope. She gave His Holiness a special gift of matching Kiss Me, I'm Etruscan Coffee Mugs. Though she loved seeing all the Old World had to offer, she said that she was happy to be back in the good old U.S.A. and couldn't wait to get back to having oil derricks pumping up her backyard.

Too bad Jeff was poor. A good lawyer would have had little trouble exposing Greer's habitual lying and showing that her notarized letter wasn't worth the paper it was written on.

Some of them try to do the right thing, even if it doesn't always work out that way. If I was Jeff in OOTP I would have shot Greer, framed the already conveniently dead Douglas and gone back to that sweet small-town girl, but that wouldn't be very noirish. Funny how two guys who are trying to hide out, Jeff and Swede in The Killers, work as gas station attendants. Good thinking boys.

I doubt very few average people go over to the dark side or that they are alienated and the victims of fate, though it happens on occasion. But to think that this is the norm doesn't make much sense to me. Of course it makes for good entertainment and folks can watch all the angst and mayhem from the comfort of their cozy living rooms.

Well, the Hays Office was interested in making sure that naughty things and "immorality" didn't make an appearance on the screen. That doesn't have much to do with the is it or ain't it a noir argument. I agree it's highly subjective as to what each individual sees as a noir, though I guess there is a rough consensus on the most famous examples of noir. As much as I enjoy them, I've always thought many were on the simplistic side, presenting a rather one-sided view of life. They are the negative opposite of the simplistic positive view of many studio era films, especially the ain't life wonderful musicals. For modern middle class audiences it's a bit of cinematic slumming, viewing an environment that most people wouldn't want to live in in real life.

Using my transactive-transformo mogogo on the mojo noir machine, I can turn any film into a noir. The Maltese Falcon is easy, The Wizard of Oz a little more difficult, but doable.

I've seen it many times before, but I watched it again. Very entertaining flick. I like the idea of some guys from the city going upstate to rob a bank in a small hick town. And at night the small hick town is just as spooky and strange as is the big city. The ending is a bit contrived, but that doesn't really effect what has gone on before. All the lead actors are very good. And Ed Begley had a pretty good plan. No one could know that a cop would just happen to see Ed exit from the bank in his hunter's getup. The best plans, etc. And what's the problem with Ed's phone? The most static of any one in the city. And Ed's crummy apartment is just one aspect of the overall grimy NYC setting. Hope he left enough food and water for his dog. And lots of newspapers.

The first time I remember seeing Emerick's name was on the back cover of Abbey Road, though it might have appeared before then. I remember reading that Paulie had a bit of trouble with some of the drum parts in TBOJAY, though he finally got it. Enjoying the Yes gossip. I had read before that Bruford quit because he got tired of all the elaborate plans for the smallest bit of music during the Yes recording process and that the Close to the Edge sessions was the last straw. That seems to be confirmed in articles on Yes and Bruford. Not that Squires might have been part of that, but I don't think he was the main reason that Bruford quit. You can only imagine what Bruford would have thought of doing Yes' next album, TFTO. Yikes.

The first hour or so was on the dull side with nothing outstanding about it. Your typical gangster flick. The last twenty minutes or so picked up a bit as ol' Barry tried to hightail it out of town. A bit on the pretentious side too, but I suppose pretentious beats dull. It was enjoyable to see all the well-known noir actors who popped up in small roles. I got an especial kick out of Elisha Cook, Jr with a near rerun of his Wilmer role in The Maltese Falcon. The smaller the hood the bigger the patter. And of course the more Cook mouthed off, the more you knew that Barry was going to flatten him out. One part of the film had a William Saroyan kind of vibe with the various characters coming together in an ice cream parlour instead of a bar. And Harry Morgan was a gas as the "player." Right. It has its moments, but overall it's not anything special.

I don't think too many people would have mourned the death of Nellie from LHOTP. I'm guessing that the overly sweet, somewhat naive girl or young woman was a Victorian stereotype which Dickens was not the only author to use. To me it's a minor flaw and most great writers have them. I do remember that film from the Universal series though I haven't seen it in a while. Many of the Rathbone films are on YT in very good condition or at least they were a few months ago.

The saccharine quality of some of Dickens' female characters is a criticism that is often made of his novels and it's certainly true to some extent. Some of the Penguin editions of the novels contain Dickens' outlines of the novel, which are fairly detailed, though I'm sure there was room for changes to be made, especially considering the quick pace that serialization demanded. So he could very well have not decided on the final fate of Little Nell until near the end. I do remember the Holmes' movie about the bank plates hidden in Johnson's library. I think it was one of the last of the series. Counterfeiting, the next to last refuge of a scoundrel. Maybe Boswell was up in Scotland fooling around.

The act the old family retainer put on made Loretta seem downright stoic. I'm neutral on Loretta Young. I did notice there were some shots where the lines around her mouth seemed too obvious. When one watches these old studio era movies one expects the stars to look perfect, whatever horrible predicament they are in.

I guess the little Nazi man is too old to think about a career in the majors.

Or him singing the Horst Wessel Song just before he brushes his teeth. Wake up lady.

Yes she obviously doesn't want to believe that the man she loves was a Nazi, but to me she just seemed a bit over the top in that situation.

Number four is a good one that I never thought about. And all this also happens in a small town where people are supposedly slow to take to outsiders. Hmmm. Three is one I have thought of before. Considering what Eddie does for a living you'd think he'd give Orson the fish eye as soon as the remark about Marx was out of his mouth and not suddenly hit on it many hours later. It's fun to find these rather unrealistic things in movies, though it rarely spoils the movie itself.

I've seen it a ton of times before and watched it last night mainly because I haven't seen it in years. Loretta's character is too hysterical to take seriously. She always seems to be on the edge of a nervous breakdown. The main story of Eddie unmasking Welles as a Nazi is fairly interesting and done with some nice touches, but it's rather predictable. What I most enjoy about the movie is the small town setting and especially the character of Potter, the owner of the general store. Hey let's open up that little man's suitcase, shall we? I just need a witness. Thanks. And when he puts on his eye shade during an especailly tough game of checkers. Hilarious. One minor point is how the heck did the little Nazi guy manage to knock out Eddie with just one lucky swing of that gym equipment. Hmmm.

If I remember it correctly, there is a Baker Street, but not a 221B Baker Street. The Holmes-Watson apartment in the Universal Holmes' series is pretty cozy with shelves full of books. Must be especially comfy on a rainy afternoon. I always get a kick out of how quiet most apartments are in the movies. No loud music, no arguments heard through thin walls, nobody heavy footing it on the ceiling. Sure.

I just watched the original version of Sleuth a few days ago. Sir Larry's old pile of a country house would be a great place to live. So much room. And lots of peace and quiet. I probably would hold a yard sale to clear out some of the old knickknacks and paddywhacks he kept around. Just a little too much.

Hoppy Serves a Writ. Vastly underrated early Mitchum.

I nominate Ava Gardner as Kitty Kat Collins in The Killers. Classy, sexy, and deadly. What a dame.