Saw a Takashi Miike picture called The Great Yokai War. "Yokai" is a Japanese term for monsters from folklore, as opposed to the more familiar kaiju. It's a kids' picture, about a young boy from Tokyo sent out to live in the countryside with his older sister and his intermittently senile grandfather. When a vengeful spirit appears, the boy gets caught up in a war between warring groups of yokai and must find his courage to become the "Kirin Rider", the hero who will set everything to rights. It's not a bad picture - nothing deep, but an amusing story. Some of the yokai are really trippy, Japanese folklore can get pretty "out there", apparently.
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The Walking Dead is one of my favorite Karloff films - very noirish. I have often wondered if the film inspired creation of The Spectre.
A Laurel and Hardy silent short to look for is the one where Stan Laurel wanted to stage the worlds largest pie fight. It takes place out in the street among dozens of people. Another very good one has the boys selling Christmas trees door to door.
Stars Edward G. Robinson as (Paul) Julius Reuter, who began the Reuters news agency we know today. It’s a fascinating story of how he began in the infancy of the telegraph, augmented by carrier pigeons. Those of you who have worked in journalism today will likely agree that it is a strong narrative and that Robinson sells the character. When he scoops the world on an earthshaking story, he is accused of fabricating it. Before he is vindicated a very strong message of freedom of the press is presented to the viewer. It was just on TCM. The movie is expiring on TCM, but I think it will be back. Not currently streaming anywhere else.
THE BLACK SLEEP (1956): Tracy and I were watching an episode of My Three Sons guest-starring Patricia Blair. Both Tracy and I recognized her, but neither one of us remebered from what, so Tracy looked her up. (We knew her as Lou Mallory from the final season of The Rifleman.) "Hey," Tracy said. "Did you know she made a movie with Tor Johnson?" That was enough for us. She found the movie on Amazon Prime and we bagan watching. To our surprise and delight, The Black Sleep also features Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi and John Carradine! Well worth wtaching. (You'd like it, Richard.)
What I tend to do is look at IMDB's trivia for a movie I'm watching. Since movie titles are seldom clearly for a particular movie, I look at the trivia again to remind myself whether I've seen it. I just did this for The Black Sleep. Yes, I saw it recently. I did like it. If I really hated it I wouldn't have doubted if I'd seen it. It was Bela Lugosi's last COMPLETED film. He only did a small part of the footage in Plan 9.
Tracy and I were watching an episode of My Three Sons guest-starring Patricia Blair. Both Tracy and I recognized her, but neither one of us remebered from what, so Tracy looked her up. (We knew her as Lou Mallory from the final season of The Rifleman.)
I had the pleasure of meeting Patricia Blair once, in 1996. She was one of the featured guests at one of those Western Film Fair things. I went there directly from work, so I was in uniform, which opened doors. I was allowed to wait backstage while she was a member of a panel of former western stars. When it was over, I was able to accompany her to her seat at the table for signing autographs.
I went there specifically to meet her, so I had boned up on her television performances other than The Rifleman and her biggest television claim to fame, Daniel Boone (which I had seen a few times, but could never get into). I recalled many of her earlier performances, such as on Love That Bob and Steve Canyon and SurfSide 6, and she was flattered that I had noted the things she had done, other than the two western series. Age had taken its toll on her, as it does all of us, but I didn't care about that. She was warm and gracious and engaging.
We chatted for about fifteen minutes, when I noticed that a line of autograph seekers had formed behind me. I didn't want to monopolise her time and deny the other attendees their chance to meet her. So, I politely began to excuse myself---and made one of the biggest mistakes of my life.
Miss Blair patted the empty chair next to her and invited me to remain and continue our conversation. As I write this, I'm kicking myself again, because I demurred, too self-conscious about the other folks in line.
So, then, she asked me if she could give me her autograph. I explained that I didn't come there to get something from her, so I didn't have anything for her to write on or sign. That's when the kindest thing happened. The fellow in line behind me gave me one of her publicity photographs from his collexion. Miss Blair signed it, adding a gracious sentiment. It stayed on the wall of my den for years, until we renovated and I took everything off my I-love-me wall. I still haven't put all that stuff back up.
And that's my Patricia Blair Story, such as it is.
For those of us who find it hard to stomach Gone with the Wind’s embrace of the Confederacy and the Ku Klux Klan, I recommend this later title instead. It also stars Clark Gable, but also stars Sidney Poitier and Yvonne De Carlo. I’ve seen it twice. They all do a great job and tell a warts-and-all story. You never see a Confederate uniform and the only Confederate flag you see is their national flag, being lowered, not the battle flag we all know. Available for rental on Prime or, as far as I know, on YouTube.
Replies
The Walking Dead is one of my favorite Karloff films - very noirish. I have often wondered if the film inspired creation of The Spectre.
A Laurel and Hardy silent short to look for is the one where Stan Laurel wanted to stage the worlds largest pie fight. It takes place out in the street among dozens of people. Another very good one has the boys selling Christmas trees door to door.
A Dispatch from Reuters (1940)
Stars Edward G. Robinson as (Paul) Julius Reuter, who began the Reuters news agency we know today. It’s a fascinating story of how he began in the infancy of the telegraph, augmented by carrier pigeons. Those of you who have worked in journalism today will likely agree that it is a strong narrative and that Robinson sells the character. When he scoops the world on an earthshaking story, he is accused of fabricating it. Before he is vindicated a very strong message of freedom of the press is presented to the viewer. It was just on TCM. The movie is expiring on TCM, but I think it will be back. Not currently streaming anywhere else.
A Dispatch from Reuters (1940) - IMDb
A Dispatch from Reuters - Wikipedia
Paul Reuter - Wikipedia
THE BLACK SLEEP (1956): Tracy and I were watching an episode of My Three Sons guest-starring Patricia Blair. Both Tracy and I recognized her, but neither one of us remebered from what, so Tracy looked her up. (We knew her as Lou Mallory from the final season of The Rifleman.) "Hey," Tracy said. "Did you know she made a movie with Tor Johnson?" That was enough for us. She found the movie on Amazon Prime and we bagan watching. To our surprise and delight, The Black Sleep also features Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi and John Carradine! Well worth wtaching. (You'd like it, Richard.)
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What I tend to do is look at IMDB's trivia for a movie I'm watching. Since movie titles are seldom clearly for a particular movie, I look at the trivia again to remind myself whether I've seen it. I just did this for The Black Sleep. Yes, I saw it recently. I did like it. If I really hated it I wouldn't have doubted if I'd seen it. It was Bela Lugosi's last COMPLETED film. He only did a small part of the footage in Plan 9.
Tracy and I were watching an episode of My Three Sons guest-starring Patricia Blair. Both Tracy and I recognized her, but neither one of us remebered from what, so Tracy looked her up. (We knew her as Lou Mallory from the final season of The Rifleman.)
I had the pleasure of meeting Patricia Blair once, in 1996. She was one of the featured guests at one of those Western Film Fair things. I went there directly from work, so I was in uniform, which opened doors. I was allowed to wait backstage while she was a member of a panel of former western stars. When it was over, I was able to accompany her to her seat at the table for signing autographs.
I went there specifically to meet her, so I had boned up on her television performances other than The Rifleman and her biggest television claim to fame, Daniel Boone (which I had seen a few times, but could never get into). I recalled many of her earlier performances, such as on Love That Bob and Steve Canyon and SurfSide 6, and she was flattered that I had noted the things she had done, other than the two western series. Age had taken its toll on her, as it does all of us, but I didn't care about that. She was warm and gracious and engaging.
We chatted for about fifteen minutes, when I noticed that a line of autograph seekers had formed behind me. I didn't want to monopolise her time and deny the other attendees their chance to meet her. So, I politely began to excuse myself---and made one of the biggest mistakes of my life.
Miss Blair patted the empty chair next to her and invited me to remain and continue our conversation. As I write this, I'm kicking myself again, because I demurred, too self-conscious about the other folks in line.
So, then, she asked me if she could give me her autograph. I explained that I didn't come there to get something from her, so I didn't have anything for her to write on or sign. That's when the kindest thing happened. The fellow in line behind me gave me one of her publicity photographs from his collexion. Miss Blair signed it, adding a gracious sentiment. It stayed on the wall of my den for years, until we renovated and I took everything off my I-love-me wall. I still haven't put all that stuff back up.
And that's my Patricia Blair Story, such as it is.
That's a good story. Thanks for sharing.
Alice in Wonderland (1915) Not bad for 111 years ago.
I really enjoyed it.
I saw the marx brother movie,"Coconuts!"
Band of Angels (1957)
For those of us who find it hard to stomach Gone with the Wind’s embrace of the Confederacy and the Ku Klux Klan, I recommend this later title instead. It also stars Clark Gable, but also stars Sidney Poitier and Yvonne De Carlo. I’ve seen it twice. They all do a great job and tell a warts-and-all story. You never see a Confederate uniform and the only Confederate flag you see is their national flag, being lowered, not the battle flag we all know. Available for rental on Prime or, as far as I know, on YouTube.
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