GordonCole

Thanks for some sage thoughts, Painted Lady.

Vautrin, you and Bette Davis always did make me laugh. On a more serious note I would say saving Hollywood would be similar to saving all things which are about movies including sites like TCM. Eliminating all that has a whiff of controversy to let remain that which is wishy washy and is so inoffensive to all that it is boring as heck, is never a good idea. The golden age of Hollywood had films of depth and strong opinions that were not ditched in favor of more pabulum that appeased the masses. If you put Wanda Hendrix in a film since she is less opinionated than Bette Davis, then you get a lackluster film which you deserve and which is sanitized but not worth the price of the film used. Take note to those who think only happy talk is the acceptable conversation online or in person. Edward R. Murrow is probably rolling over in his grave but at least many of the oldsters here had the luxury of living through a time where excellence was rewarded and crass incompetence was not, nor was it touted as being above reproach.

While watching news of the Bill O'Reilly situation they showed the old film clip of him screaming on Inside Edition I think, and saying something like "Take it live!" which reminded me so much of the scene from Sunset Blvd. where Hedda Hopper says something similar on the phone from Norma Desmond's bedroom after she has offed her paramour. The fact that films often influence real life in catch phrases or situations is a fascinating subject. It has often been said that it was not till the painter Turner, painted a sunset that people really began to see them with clarity in real life. Also in reel life we read of situations wherein something similar happens as in when actress Laura Elena Harring was contacted about playing the part of Rita [aka Camilla Rhodes] in David Lynch's film Mulholland Drive, she could not make the interview due to just having been in a car accident that day. So the next day when she arrived to find out the character's part she learned that it was to be about Rita/Camilla or whoever having just been in a car accident on Mulholland Drive. Did the fates that be drive Laura to be in similar circumstances or is it all just coincidental? Whichever it is the movies often are reflected afterwards in real life and if you have an example I'd like to hear it.

That's really unfortunate since the printed version is much handier and more accessible.

Then of course there's also East of Borneo with Rose Hobart. One should also suspend disbelief about the Borneo Albino Siamese Twins who worked for carnivals.

I have noticed. Even Katy Perry seemed to be channeling Bettie a bit since I think her hair is dyed black when she changes from her natural light color.

Have to agree with you if you are saying art in the movies is mostly puerile, just like the architecture in certain films supposedly being of innovative character is not, as in The Fountainhead. The life of Gaughin with his conventional beginnings and staid existence and then his flight from wife to island paradises is definitely a tale worth filming and The Moon and Sixpence was done well. Probably helped that it was taken from a Maugham book but Hollywood was known to mess with even his tales and change whole situations according to their whims.

Yet there are those who seem unable to restrict their critical thinking values when watching a film that is fluff or just a throwaway comedy. I remember being at the original showing of the John Waters film of Hairspray and a female in front of my wife and me said out loud "That cute guy would never like that fat girl." It made me laugh thinking anyone would take such a 1950's pastiche as being reality based yet many do. Deep down I will say though that any man might like Tracey Turnblatt regardless of her size if I try to turn it into a Todd Haynes film remake.

I like him too when I am drinking scotch and in a kitsch mood! But when I want to be more scared by the Aleister Crowley character then I close my eyes since he reminds me of Walter Matthau. http://classic-horror.com/files/images/curse_of_demon_01.preview.jpg

One creature I'd really like to decimate is the one in Tourneur's Curse of the Demon. The movie is so much more visceral with none of its theatrics and hyperactive animation. Flaming lips begone.

To truly be entertained, sometimes the viewer must cooperate in a way conducive to appreciating the artwork of the film. If one questions all gambits of the screenplay to the extent they want to know the exact location of Skull Island in relation to Borneo, or question the material used in the chains holding Kong back, they can become disenchanted with the whole milieu of the story. Any aesthetic distance an audience participated in willingly to disengage from being too clinical or demanding, makes for a more enticing situation visually or aurally. I think this attitude is essential for the viewing of many movies but there is also the Brechtian belief system which may be counterproductive. Your choice but a give and take between creation and viewer is synonymous often with the appreciation of a film. If one cannot think of anything but that Chico Marx is probably not Italian and that Harpo looks like he is wearing a wig and Groucho probably does not have eyebrows that large, then all is lost while watching a Marx Brothers film. Suspension of disbelief plays a role in most films particularly comedies and sci-fi classics.

Another 1957 gem is The Monolith Monsters. Are they creatures or just sycophantic extrusions.

The work of Henri Rousseau, former civil servant was perfect for the movies both as inspiration or in actual usage as when Wilder put his painting The Sleeping Gypsy behind the bed in Jack Lemmon's apartment with Shirley MacLaine ensconced there throughout the film, as a metaphor maybe for her psyche. I've always thought Decker, who was fond of making portraits of Hollywood celebrities in as you say, a rather Rousseau way might also have been influenced by the Surrealistic art of Victor Brauner. The straight on portrait of Kitty is like the work of Henri with its lack of perspective and flat patterns which are a bit like Matisse.

If you stop using an 8-Watt LED green light in your bedroom, your Gobloots will go away without further medication or doctor visits.

The best part of the Burns and Allen show was the rather Twilight Zone-ish concept of George being able to see what was happening in different areas at home, by watching his tv set in the connected den wing. Burns was smart enough to let Gracie be the star since vaudeville and it made his comments and attitude even more amusing. Lucille Ball was also smart enough to have a wardrobe taken off the rack that could have really been that of a typical housewife and she would often wear the same clothes, not needing to be glamourous on the show as in her film career. And Desi started the three-camera set-ups and was majorly innovative for the time period. Funny is funny, no matter how dated just like Norton is still funny when he talks about the sewers and Jackie dealing with his wife, is like many couples who lived in Bensonhurst and would fight with each other but still cared deep down about their battling spouse. I wonder which tv comedies of the last twenty years will still be watched and laughed at in the year 2075?

Yes, there is a great book with many of Bunny's famous photos that came out a few years back which I snapped up immediately. There are some nice shots of Bettie. She is also featured in a book detailing the photography in 3-D of Harold Lloyd which was sold with glasses for viewing. That prototype of looks with the dark hair, which was begun with Brenda Frazier the debutante, who was also the inspiration for our friend, Dale's comic book character, was very in vogue in Hollywood circles. The fact that Joan Bennett adopted that look with the dark hair, after dyeing her much lighter color, was a smart move as it enlarged her roles in films, making her look less like her sister Constance. Unfortunately for Cobina Wright Junior, the blonde look had gone a bit out of style. I think the dark-haired vixen look was in style since many artists were taken with it, and then the Dahlia's after death posing which resembled the Picasso minotaur artwork was also telling. I assume you enjoyed the Bettie Page Reveals All film, Dargo and would recommend it.

Enjoyable film for sure. Surprisingly there has never been a film on the the failed artist who was forging Vermeers, namely Han van Meegeren. The tale of this amazingly untalented painter being able to fool many supposed art experts with his clumsily composed "Vermeer" paintings would make a wonderful film expose. First he is charged with crimes concerning the removal of the country's treasures and then has to prove that the paintings are not really Vermeers, but canvases he painted personally. Either way, he was in dire trouble with the government. Speaking of Vermeer, that documentary about recreating one of his works, was a travesty as many true art lovers knew. Read the following for review: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2014/jan/28/tims-vermeer-fails

Some of the more lurid items like the supposed **** abnormalities of Short that would have prevented intercourse, led to this case being kept in confidential closed autopsy results but much was later contradicted. The placement of the body and its resemblance to artworks by Man Ray or the Picasso animal head, made this a sine qua non in murders even for Hollywood which has its share of oddball situations that are even too wild for Confidential Magazine. It could still be solved if only the members of clubs which shared the same leather bound photo albums for their secret hobbies would be willing to bring out such evidence. It could be that now since the original owners of such memorabilia are dead that even their descendants have no idea that they own clues to the Dahlia's death in such 35mm form encased in leather albums like Hodel's as pictured in his son, Steve's book. Thanks, Vautrin. PS The bleeped word is a lot like my friend's name, Jenny Talia.

My friend was on the set of this show a few times, being that he was the designer of the baby wall art for Little Ricky's bedroom back in the day. He said it was a most congenial place and was always a fun place to hang out but that Desi was more into the behind the scene's issues than Lucille, even about the decoration for the baby's room.

I bought a videotape version of this film years ago and of course it contained the Fieldsian segment. I mean what film that had William Claude in it should be seen minus his appearance. Why, that's anathema! It is strange that TCM would not be aware. I had it on for a few minutes but decided not to watch because other than Fields it's not the most amusing movie.

Thank you for mentioning the truly awful DePalma movie based on the even more awful Ellroy book. Yes, totally inaccurate in all ways but hung onto the stigmatic attraction to the case. Many of the Hollywood art colony who were followers of the work of outsider artist, Richard Dadd and also Boschian dioramas and tableaux being recreated in camera club works, were privy to the rumors circulating in Hollywood. But I doubt Man Ray or even his friend, Dali who had painted works based on bi-sected and eviscerated corpses had anything to do with the murder. As Richard von Krafft-Ebing might say 'With respect of the development of physiological love it is probably that its nucleus is always to be found in an individual fetish which a person of one sex exercises over a person of the opposite sex." This motivation which was to be found by Short's appearance, which was similar to Bettie Page is illustrative of a type. Those in camera clubs around at that time, were often from art backgrounds like my friend Dan and these people would meet up in the art colony and rarely was a woman ever found there except as a model. Only in an extreme circumstance like when I met Dan's friend, Dale who was a famed woman artist was there ever to be a female in attendance. Her fame was such that she was put above the usual female milieu and allowed admittance. As you say the True Confessions film at least is entertaining unlike the Ellroy hodge podge. Dahlia lore is often also used as bait in typical noirish melodramas. Thanks for response.

The abbreviated life of tabloid vixen, Elizabeth Short seems to have launched the careers of many men who seemingly have fantasies about women who are brutally murdered and leave no suspects in the holding pen. The slew of authors and scriptmongers who have appropriated this story to hang another tale on, in books and such includes such folk as Ellroy, who seems unable to write without stirring up memories of his own murdered mother. But her death was nowhere near as mysterious or entangled with Hollywood legends, artists and hangers on as Short's was with the bi-sected remains and seedy nightclub address connections. Dr. George Hodel who was friend to many artists and photographers who belonged to some of the camera clubs, has often been brought up as a suspect. With the publication of his son's book, he has been looked at more closely but one wonders as usual if the progeny are just using him as a starting point for their own addiction to the Dahlia murder. It seems to draw into its web the typical noir sad sack males who love yet fear such temptresses. The Hodel photo album purporting to have photos of Short as a model is a fake but the other photo albums the club used for members might have true photos of the doomed girl. Name any movies that use the Dahlia like theme as the initial taking off point, but take serious liberties with the true story from January 10th, 1947 since they bespeak a flawed vantage point but attest to the continuing interest in the case.

NOTFILM is a wonderful addition to the release of FILM and the Waiting for Godot play as you say, Bingfan. By the way I always admired Billie Whitelaw in movies, like the one she did with Finney. Was it Charlie Bubbles maybe? Too tired to go look it up.

An astute exegesis of the non-meshing of minds of two geniuses, each uniquely talented. Thanks, VanNorden.

What film fan does not love the Bava film, Black Sabbath so thanks Hamradio.