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| The Notorious Landlady |
And dedicated to the memory of Haskell Wexler and George Clayton Johnson.
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| The Manchurian Candidate |
Allan Fish: The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Anne Billson: women in westerns; favorite films of 2015
Anonymous: The Bishop's Wife; Calvary; Phoenix; Barbara
Barry Malzberg: The Hustler
Ben Radatz: Title Design on "B"-Films: 1940s-50s; 1960s; 1970s and '80s (courtesy Reed Andrus)
Bhob Stewart: Norton Records vs. Hurricane Sandy flooding
The Big Broadcast: 27 December (check here for 24 and 25 December episodes)
Bill Crider: The Musketeer [trailer]; Rob Roy [trailer]; Dick [trailer]; The Chase [trailer]
Brian Arnold: Simple Gifts: "My Christmas"; "December 25, 1914"; "No Room at the Inn"; "Lost and Found"
B.V. Lawson: Media Murder
Colin: City of Bad Men; Two Weeks in Another Town; The Crooked Way; Backfire
Comedy Film Nerds: Jackie Kashian on Xmas DVDs; Krampus et al.
Cullen Gallagher: James Cagney
Cynthia Fuchs: Janis: Little Girl Blue; Crocodile Gennadyi
Dan Stumpf: Blast of Silence; Tennessee's Partner
Dana Gould: Kliph Nesteroff, MST3K, Lenny Bruce
David Vineyard: A Place of One's Own
Elgin Bleecker: Vacancy
Elizabeth Foxwell: They Met in the Dark; An Evening with Nicholas Meyer;
Four-Star Playhouse: "A Study in Panic"; Fugitives for a Night
Evan Lewis: Sergeants Three; Fearless Fosdick
Eve: Letter from an Unknown Woman; Frank Sinatra 1965
Gary Deane: Inside Detroit
George Kelley: 10 Movie Holiday Romance Pack; Doctor Who: The Christmas Specials Gift Set
Gilligan Newton-John: Carry On Christmas (and its sequels); Mr. Jericho; Deadly Weapons; Boeing Boeing; The Big Switch; Please Turn Over!
How Did This Get Made?: The Star Wars Holiday Special; Steel; Hackers
Iba Dawson: Ava DuVernay and her Barbie; the Batman v. Superman trailer
Ira Brooker: vintage film discoveries of 2015
Ivan G. Shreve, Jr.: Five Little Peppers and How They Grew and its sequels
Jack Seabrook: Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "John Brown's Body"; "Nightmare in 4-D"; The Odd Couple: "Scrooge Gets an Oscar"
Jackie Kashian: Robert Hurt on starship design in film and television; Lesley Tsina on Windows 95, tonal East Asian Languages, and baking; Pat Susmilch on Hamilton and the ALA's Banned/Challenged Books; Beth Schumann on mushrooms
Jacqueline T. Lynch: Star of the Night; Trail of Robin Hood
Jake Hinkson: 7 Holiday Noirs; Never the Sinner
James Clark: Flight of the Red Balloon; Three Times
James Reasoner: Trail of Robin Hood; Pixels; The Mole People
Janet Varney: Jessica Ogilve; Collette Wolfe
Jerry House: "Stamp Day for Superman"; The Adventures of the Saint: "Santa Clause is No Saint"; The Adventures of Ellery Queen: "The Adventure of the Green Gorillas"; Gulliver's Travels (1939 film); The Six Shooter: "Brit Ponset's Christmas Carol"; TED Talks: "David Christian: The History of Our World in 18 Minutes"; The Shadow: "The Hospital Murders"; Car 54, Where Are You?: "Christmas at the 53rd"; In the Year 2889
John Grant: Maškarada; Köld Slód; Swamp Woman; The Gang's All Here; Gambling Daughters; The Hei$t; Cottage to Let
Jonathan Lewis: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: "The Project Strega Affair"; The Undefeated (1969 film); Tombstone Canyon; The Mummy Lives; The Wild Wild West: "Night of the Inferno"; North to Alaska; John Paul Jones
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| The second Caedmon Records LP |
Karen Hannsberry: When Ladies Meet; Too Late for Tears
Kate Laity: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; Dylan Thomas: A Child's Christmas in Wales (the Caedmon recording)
Ken Levine: how we got A Charlie Brown Christmas
Kevin Pollak's Chat Show: Al Jean of The Simpsons
Kliph Nesteroff: David Letterman: Looking for Fun
Kristina Dijan: Brewster's Millions; Knockout; Man Bait; Caught; The Brasher Doubloon; Sunrise (1927 film); Hard Times; Gun Crazy; The Blue Angel; Le silence de la mer
Laura G: Death on the Diamond; Big City Blues; Lawman: the second season; Rod Cameron; Everything I Have is Yours; The Kid from Cleveland; 1945: five underrated films
Leonard Feather: Jazz on Television 1965 (The Regis Philbin Show being the 1964-65 continuation of The Steve Allen (Westinghouse) Show, Westinghouse syndication's 1962-64 late-weeknightly alternative to NBC's The Tonight Show and CBS's The Les Crane Show)
Lucy Brown: Primose Path
Martin Edwards: And Then There Were None (BBC television 2015); Conspiracy Theory: Dead of Winter
Marty McKee: Werewolf Woman; Star Trek; "Court Martial"; To All a Good Night; Elves; The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals; Airport '77; Enemy Territory; The Boys from Brazil
Mildred Perkins: Final Girls; Evil (To Kako); Suffragette; Resident Evil; Limitless; Crimson Peak; "Lights Out 2013" and "If Horror Movies were Realistic"
Mystery Dave: For the Boys; The Man with the Iron Fists 2
Patricia Nolan-Hall: A/V Xmas Parties; Frank Sinatra; 12 Angry Men
Patti Abbott: Summer with Monika; favorite tv Xmas episodes; Brooklyn; Favorite 2015 television; Christmas in Connecticut
Pop My Culture: Sarah Baker
Richard Finch: Young at Heart
Rick: Claudine Longet; Aaron Slick from Pumpkin Crick; Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy; Burt Lancaster; Appointment with Death; My Six Loves; ...as Dr. Watson
Rod Lott: Hitchcock/Truffaut; Airport '77; Saving Christmas; Nightmare Weekend; The Executioner Part II; That's Sexploitation! (nsfw image); Bunnyman; The Hand; Frozen Scream; Knock Knock; The Transporter Refeuled; Silent Night, Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out!; Detour (1945 film); See No Evil (1986 film); TV Turkeys: The World's Worst Television Shows
"Rupert Pupkin": Nightmares; The Dungeonmaster; Eliminators
Ruth Kerr: Scrooge (1935 film); The Man with the Golden Arm; The Big Country
Sam Juliano: Son of Saul and others (Youth poster could be NSFW)
Scott A. Cupp: White Pongo; The Thing (From Another World); Between Two Worlds; Porco Rosso
Serena Bramble: Gloria Grahame
Sergio Angelini: The Notorious Landlady; Top 25 Television Detectives
Stacia Jones: Wallace and Gromit; The Dick Van Dyke Show: "The Alan Brady Show Presents"
Stephen Bowie: Run for Your Life: "Time and a Half on Christmas Eve"
Stephen Gallagher: The Ghost Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore
Steve Lewis: The Saint: The Brazilian Connection; Girl of the Port; The Halliday Brand; Sagebrush Law; Beau Bandit; Hardball: "Till Death Do Us Part"; a century of Leigh Brackett, Eli Wallach, and Louis Prima plus five; Tarzan the Magnificent; South of Suez; Find the Lady
Todd Mason: bullet points for an unwritten post:
- Cabin Pressure is one of the best BBC Radio sitcoms of recent years...you have 23 hours left as of this writing to hear the fourth (and final, so far) season premiere repeated on the BBC Radio 4 website, and a larger increment of weeks afterward to hear the other five (the second episode will drop off next week, and so on...they haven't reposted the sixth and season finale yet, but probably tomorrow; one can hope the two-part series finale, not quite its own "series" as UK parlance would have it, follows).
- I hadn't seen The Detective for decades, and never uncut (or so I take it) till TCM's recent Sinatra-days run. Notable to me the degree to which the film is actually sympathetic to oppressed minorities, in Sinatra's patented Aw Shucks, And What's Your Problem, Buddy? way, though hedging its bets by having one of its most virulent homophobes be its only notable African-American character...but women still get the shaft, in every way. Homophobia ain't the Chairman's bag, but he don't get dames. Unless they stay got.
- Finally saw The Man From U.N.C.L.E. episode written by Harlan Ellison(and someone who sure sounds like a pseudonym, Yale Udolf, who has other, mostly 1970s credits) that caused such a ruckus between him and Judith Merril, wherein a THRUSH recruit, sadistic book reviewer Judy Merle, if anything seems more Mary McCarthy than Merril and a cartoon of either, as well as being an enthusiastic thug in the more traditional sense. I'm guessing that Merril was mostly tired of what she considered being picked on (inside the SF community and here outside it as well), since it's mostly a mere Tuckerism, albeit thrown-away bits such as how Merle mostly does her work in bed might've been meant to sting. "The Pieces of Fate Affair"; Sharon Farrell is quite good in it (and her wardrobe rather striking), as "Jacqueline Midcult" (I'd still suggest she's more Masscult if Susann was the actual target) and it does rise above the usual level of the camp-infused third season. Also amusing that the now obscure Joe Pyne, long-term non-favorite of Ellison's, is parodied as the self-important interviewer shot at with Midcult in the first act.
Victoria Loomes: Monkey Business (1952 film); A Farewell to Arms
Vienna: El Dorado
What a great way to end the year - with a massive roundup! My last one for quite a bit Todd, so thanks very much as always. Have never seen that UNCLE episode but have always wanted to after reading about all the fuss - THE DETECTIVE is a fascinating if very strange concoction, as you say (bizarre to think DIE HARD is technically a sequel) - and how could he be such a jerk toward the amazing Lee Remick just because she's a nympho ... sheesh! And am typing this while listening to CABIN PRESSURE - so your influence extends and extends ... Have a great 2016 matey.
ReplyDeleteWell, because it allows Sinatra's character to manfully sulk, while making eyes at the even younger Jacqueline Bisset, apparently added to the cast when Mia Farrow wasn't going to work out (and Bisset was apparently a necessity in any film about police corruption in the US in 1968 starring an egomaniac Heroically Against the System--since she's also in BULLITT in a similar role). I've meant to catch the Ellison/Merril episode for decades, and it just never happened till recording it off-air the other week. Have a good time in Australia...and, of course, take time away from visiting family hallway around the world to write stuff for your blog. Or not. Thanks, and catching up with you upon your return.
ReplyDeleteI love CABIN PRESSURE. Glad you've highlighted it.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks again for mentioning my blog.
Vienna
Not at all, Vienna, and thanks for continuing to publish so much of interest. CABIN PRESSURE certainly makes the most of its cast and rather tight set of options for story-setting. Even when easy choices are made, it's still good. One can buy the whole series from either the BBC or Apple if so inclined.
ReplyDeleteRe THE MAN FROM UNCLE/"Pieces Of Fate":
ReplyDeleteThe 'Joe Pyne' guy in the teaser was Tom Duggan, whom I remember from my Chicago childhood in the '50s.
In a way, Duggan was Pyne before Pyne was. His Chicago bosses were always trying to get him out of trouble with local figures he'd attacked on his late night show.
There was a trial he was "covering", and the presiding judge took exception to something he said - and suddenly Duggan flew to Los Angeles to accept a new job, beating the subpoena by less than a day.
In Harlan Ellison's original script, Joe Pyne was supposed to be the talk-show host, IDed by name; for whatever reason, Pyne declined the 'honor', and Duggan (with whom Ellison had appeared on another show) stepped in to play 'Joe White'.
I was going to ask Harlan Ellison about this on his own blog, but for unknown reasons I can't access his comments section (I used to be able to, but about a year ago that stopped).
Should HE or any of his friends happen to see this comment, please pass the word along to him, and maybe we can communicate some other way.
Well, the last minute removal of the fake call-letters for the fictional tv station that Joe White works for from the desk on the interview stage left behind impressions of those letters...and the establishing shot of the exterior of the station is of KNBC, the LA NBC station, with signage quite visible...so, clearly, some last-minute fiddling of at least a few sorts was called for. I'll see if I can pass your query along, Mike.
ReplyDeleteThough do you have a specific question, or is it more--How'd this happen, Duggan taking the role?
ReplyDeleteThat would be the question, Todd, although I could make an educated guess.
ReplyDeleteIn one of his GLASS TEAT columns, Harlan Ellison mentioned having once went head to head with Tom Duggan on Joe Pyne's show (Pyne was ill that night). My guess is that that was before the UNCLE show (1967).
Harlan told of how he got Duggan to hold back that night by threatening to mention his Chicago legal troubles on air. Terrible Tom (as Chicagoans often called him back in the day) suddenly became quite a bit more polite than was his norm - and may well have scored the UNCLE gig on that basis ... and that's what I'd like to find out, really.
I'd also like to find out if Harlan ever learned what happened later in '67, when Duggan's Chicago situation came to be resolved in a kind of strange way - and led to an even stranger outcome.
As I've said above, I have some inexplicable problem with Harlan's own blog, and can't ask the question over there (it's been over a year now).
Anyway, that's the question (or questions). Any aid rendered will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Just saying' Happy New Year, man.
ReplyDeleteOne can never have too much AIRPORT '77.
ReplyDeleteOK, Mike, posted. So, what was "what happened later in '67, when Duggan's Chicago situation came to be resolved in a kind of strange way - and led to an even stranger outcome."?
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Rick! Thanks! May our health matters be less troublesome.
Rod, I can have enough AIRPLANE, much less AIRPORT sequels...though AIRPORT '75 was one of only three films I recall seeing in a theater with my mother and no one else in the family (the others being MURDER BY DEATH and THE CHINA SYNDROME, rather the best of them even though that was the first exposure I had anyone saying, repeatedly, "nukular" when they meant "nuclear"...Michael Douglas's self-righteous ignoramus somewhat distracted me at the time)...
Steve Barber at Ellison Webderland notes:
ReplyDeleteTODD: I can't help with Mike's Glass Teat question, but the forums have been closed and locked for a year as of tomorrow morning. They may resume shortly.
Ellison discusses his encounter in Glass Teat installment #8, 22 November 1968.
ReplyDeleteHope this link works:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PM0qAwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT29&ots=QWzxcQx6xS&dq=%22so%20i%20figured%20the%20pyne%20people%22&pg=PT29#v=onepage&q=%22so%20i%20figured%20the%20pyne%20people%22&f=false
- matthew davis
Thanks, Todd, but maybe I wasn't clear:
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't the forums I had the problem with.
It was the main blog, the Art Deco Dining Pavilion, that I haven't been able to crack in more than a year. Each time I try, I get a notice to the effect "Board posting shut down" for a temporary reason, the exact wording of which I keep forgetting. As I said, this has been for more than a year, and I can't understand a reason why (especially since Frank Church keeps getting in almost daily, but that's another story).
But since you asked nicely, here's what happened to Tom Duggan in '67:
Late that year, Duggan's father died in Chicago, and Tom tried to sneak back into town for the funeral.
The plan was to dodge Judge Daniel Covelli's still-extant subpoena and have his family meet him at the airport.
But Judge Covelli read the papers, and had Cook County Sheriff's Deputies meet Duggan's plane and escort Tom to the County Jail for the weekend (this happened on a Friday, just in time for the evening papers).
The funeral was on Saturday morning, and Judge Covelli allowed Duggan to attend (under armed guard).
Monday morning, Duggan was brought to Judge Covelli's chambers, where the men settled their differences (exactly how much the settlement was is unknown), and they went outside and posed for one of those all-smiles "glad-it's-over-with" pictures (again, in time for the evening papers). Duggan flew back to LA, and that was the end of it.
Except ...
Duggan's boss at channel 7, the ABC station in Chicago, was Red Quinlan, one of the great figures in local TV history.
In 1967, Quinlan had left ABC and joined Field Enterprises, the owners of the Sun-Times and Daily News, to start up a UHF station on channel 32.
Ch32 had been on the air for a little more than a year, and Quinlan was looking for ways to get viewers (this was back when most TV sets still couldn't receive UHF, and you had to get a converter to get the stations at all).
As I said above, Tom Duggan's homecoming was front-page news, and his old boss Quinlan figured this might work ...
... and so in the fall of '67, Tom Duggan began commuting to Chicago every Friday, to do a live, two-hour talker on ch32.
In the early going, Duggan was a sensation of sorts (UHF was a handicap, but Terrible Tom was antagonizing people as in days of yore).
But it turned out to be a nine-day's-wonder; when Duggan's initial contract came up for renewal, it wasn't.
Duggan was back in LA for the rest of his days, until his death in a car crash in (I think) 1970.
For whatever it's worth, Duggan's death made the front page of both of Chicago's afternoon papers (really slow news day).
Hey, Todd, you did ask ...
Well that's interesting enough, indeed. And ties in with a recurring theme here on this blog...touching on Kaiser Broadcasting, which was sold to Field Communications when the Kaiser organization got out of broadcasting. By 1967, new tv sets were required to have UHF tuners, but that had been true only since 1962...
ReplyDelete