[profh0011]

I think one of my biggest objections to watching films on my computer is, sitting in my computer chair while doing it. I always stretch out real "comfy" to watch TV, and somehow, trying to watch something in my "work" chair (and I can't really move the computer or furniture around in this room at all) just rubs me the wrong way.


Oh well...

[paw broon]

"If you find them again let me know." narfstar
I'm pretty sure some of them were on Monsterpiece Theatre but the site has disappeared.  There was another site which I think was associated with it and that too has gone.  Yes they were. Just checked my hard drive.
Last night we watched The Hijackers,a British B film, 1963 which is part of a double bill dvd with Smokescreen.  These have been released by Renown Pictures but they are region 2. Here's the site:-
http://www.renownpicturesltd.com/buyprojects.asp
They also have 3 Paul Temple films and the seedy Cover Girl Killer, an intriguing little thriller.
These films are brimming over with British 2nd. string actors and it's great fun picking out the faces.

[CharlieRock]

I watched Spysmasher Returns (b/w based on Fawcett Comics character) and thought it was alright. It is a paste-up of a serial so if you leave the room, gotta pause it or it'll leave you behind.

Also, found Reaper ssn1&2 on NetFlix instant. Directed by Kevin Smith (?) or at least the first couple episodes were, I saw it changed by episode 8 but I didn't pay that close to when it happened. About a slacker who is recruited by nefarious means to hunting escaped souls from Hell in order to return them. It's like Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Ghostbusters.

[profh0011]

Tonight: no kidding:


MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS --with Alfred Molina!!! (NO S***!!!)


I watched Albert Finney last night. Damn near fell asleep for half the film (not
the film's fault). This is sort of like when I watched the various versions of
THE SIGN OF FOUR and THE HOUNDS OF THE BASKERVILLES-- and even, THE DOORBELL
RANG, back-to-back. Why not?


Utterly bizarre thingie for tonight-- all this AGGRAVATION today about computers, software & technology (I have to take my computer to Woodbury tomorrow to get no less than 3 problems looked at at the same time), and the Molina film ("updated" to 2004) is loaded with this stuff!!! I suppose this is very much in the tradition of tons of Sherlock Holmes and James Bond and Saint films, all "updated" to whatever year the films are made in (cuts costs, that's for sure). It's not the updating I mind-- so much as being reminded to such an overwhelming degree, how SICK I am of technology changing so fast NOBODY can keep up with it.


I'm taking this as a sign I was "meant" to watching this movie, TONIGHT.

[narfstar]

well watch and enjoy 

[FusKus]

Currently making my way through Adventures of Captain Marvel on youtube.  Interesting to think of how early into his comic career this was made.  He must have been an instant success to warrant such a well made serial so soon.

[narfstar]

I agree they must have known he was a hit right away

[CharlieRock]

Are the serials public domain?

[bowers]

All 12 chapters are available on the Internet Archive, so they must believe them to be PD. In my opinion, their stance appears to be "We believe these items to be in the public domain and are sharing them in good faith. If you have a claim to any of these items, prove it and we'll take them down." (Not a quote, just the way I understand their position- I could be wrong.) Cheers, Bowers

[josemas]

While there are a fair number of serials in the public domain there are also quite a few that are still protected by copyright.  Adventures of Captain Marvel, for example, is still under copyright.

Best

Joe

[profh0011]

This week:

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE CIRCUS  (featuring his entire family)
CHARLIE CHAN AT THE RACE TRACK
CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OPERA  (w/ Boris Karloff!)
CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OLYMPICS


...and, last night...


DEATH ON THE NILE  (1978)

All these years, and still my favorite Agatha Christie film! Incredibly well-structured, clearly told, stunning photographed, impeccibly cast. And lots of humor to balance out a series of surprisingly BRUTAL killings! My Dad and I both liked this so much, we wound up going to see it twice, about 2 weeks apart. Because the story was so clearly told, and because of it mystery nature, the 2nd time was like watching an entirely different movie. And we enjoyed it both times-- and every time since.


Among the cast and apparently often under-rated is David Niven, in one of my favorite roles of his as "Colonel Race", a private investigator friend of Poirot's who might be described as a "more intelligent" version of Captain Hastings. Usually unflappable (except when dragged against his will into a tango with an inebriated Angela Landsbury), I got a laugh each time he'd say something like, "I do with you'd speak some KNOWN language..."

Apparently Albert Finney suffered so much under hot makeup on the prevous film (same producers), he turned down the chance to do it again working in EXCESSIVELY hot desert conditions. Our gain, as I've always enjoyed Peter Ustinov's portrayal of Poirot much more. I still remember how thrilled I was when I found out he had returned for a 2nd film, EVIL UNDER THE SUN. (And he did 4 more after that, though none on the level of the first 2.)

Of the 3 films featuring Egyptian locations shot in 2 years (the others being THE SPY WHO LOVED ME in '77 and "Lost Planet Of The Gods" in '78) this is by far my favorite.  I remember when I watched SPY wondering how Jaws got to the top of that temple, and ...NILE answered the question by showing the stairway built into the temple wall. There's a moment just before the failed murder attempt where the cast slowly all wander in different directions, and as the camera shows various views, the music stops and there's just long moments of dead silence. I found myself thinking just then, it was as if Stanley Kubrick had stepped into the film just for that one sequence. And then the huge stone falls (having been pushed), but misses. But of course, it's only a minor diversion, as the main course was still to come.

Definitely another one of those stories you just NEVER want to blow the ending of for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.  As Poirot says, "We already know almost all there is to know... but what we know, seems-- incredible!"

[josemas]

The Lil Missus and I just watched Death on the Nile a few weeks back on DVD.  An extra on the disc was a "making of" documentary. 
It was interesting to learn that they built an exact replica of the riverboat back on stage in Britain.  All of the night scenes were filmed on that set and some of the day sequences too.
They had to do this because there was no access to electricity for night shooting on location there in Egypt along the Nile.

Best

Joe

[profh0011]

I went out at 9 PM to Corrollo's and got an ITALIAN HOAGIE (mmmmmm!!!) and
watched one of my all-time favorite movies...


EVIL UNDER THE SUN (1982)



*******SPOILERS**********



Years back, when I'd seen this film 3 or 4 times already, I realized just how
complicated it was, because I could NEVER remember or keep track of who did what
when. Tonight, I think I finally managed it. Turns out, there's TWO
inter-related mysteries in the film. One, the LOGISTICS how who, how and WHEN
the murder took place. But the other, which somehow, I had NEVER really taken
account of before, involved the murder victim, who was romanced into leaving a
Broadway show after only 3 weeks by a man who gave her a fabulous diamond, but
who BROKE the engagement after only 3 days but without returning the diamond.
And after marrying someone else, had an AFFAIR with yet again someone else,
who-- WAIT FOR IT-- STOLE the diamond and replaced it with a fake. This is what
brought Poirot into it at the beginning of the film, and it was trying to COVER
the robbery that caused the MURDER!!!


No wonder it's taken me THIS LONG to really, really "get it".




Oddly enough, this ALMOST indecipherably complex plot was what I used as the
basis for my own Agatha Christie tribute back in 1992-93, "A GUN IN PARADISE".
But I tossed in a "DANGERMAN" tribute while I was at it. Along the way, I "cast"
nearly all the employees at the place I worked in Northeast Philly in the story.
Naturally, I cast my boss as the murderer.



Ironically, Guiy Hamilton did 1 of my favorite "007" films, but also, 3 of the WORST.  (3!!! And in a row!!) But he did 2 Agatha Christies (the other being the "quiet, quaint" and slow-moving THE MIRROR CRACK'D) and this one. He also did THE DEVIL'S DISCIPLE, which is not only a film about the American Revolution, but also, a comedy!

I wish the producers who did ...ORIENT EXPRESS, ...NILE, ...MIRROR... and ...SUN had continued. How much better Peter Ustinov's next 3 Poirots might have been if they'd been big-budget all-star cast period pieces. (Mind you, that didn't help APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH...)

[profh0011]

What a hectic week...



Just found out Elizabeth Taylor passed away on Wednesday March 23, at the age of
79.


I had no idea when I was watching her Thursday night in THE MIRROR CRACK'D.
(1st film of hers I ever saw on a big screen.) The "big names" were Liz, Rock
Hudson, Tony Curtis & Kim Novak; Liz & Kim's bitchy cat-fighting is one of the
highlights of the film, some of the best insults ever slung between 2
characters.



"Why Marena, dear, you've not only KEPT your figure, you've ADDED so much to
it."



One of myu favorite roles of her had to be Wilma Flintstone's MOTHER in the
live-action film THE FLINTSTONES. In one scene, the main characters return home
from a night on the town, only to find the house has been burglarized, and both
"Mom" and Dino are lying on the floor, tied up. Fred yells, "DINO!" and steps
RIGHT OVER his mother-in-law to untie his pal, and doesn't even notice Liz until
Wilma hollers across the room about her.



I finally got to see the INFAMOUS film CLEOPATRA some years back on TCM. What
astonished me was reading how there was almost TWO HOURS of footage missing, cut
just before it was originally released. Having watched various versions of the
story (and the Marlon Brando JULIUS CAESAR) had led me to believe that not only
is the siege of an Egyptian city missing (seen in full glory in the Timothy
Dalton tv-version), but possibly that Richard Burton may have actually filmed
the famous "soliloquy" that Brando performed so magnificently in HIS film.
Anyone know one way or the other? Who wouldn't love to see Burton deliver the
famous "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" eulogy, that incited a crowd to start a
CIVIL WAR, in revenge for the murder of their country's leader?

[narfstar]

I just watched got the Warriors series from Netflix. The true stories of such as Spartacus and Attila. Having watched Spartacus on Starz it is interesting

[profh0011]

Tonight...


"Do you realize what you've done? You've MURDERED it. You've MURDERED a flower. To think, I was incarcerated for MERELY murdering a MAN..."





I know, I only saw this a couple months ago, but I like it so much, I just felt in the mood to watch it again.

[profh0011]

Feeling really tired AND really STRESSED-OUT today... and just finished sitting thru a really AWFUL movie, which, inexplicably, has tons of the most long-winded heapings of non-stop praise I've ever seen for any film at the IMDB...


CONAN THE BARBARIAN  (1982)


This may be only the 2nd time I've ever sat all the way thru this. First of all, the first 20 minutes could be completely snipped off and you'd have a better film. WHAT is it with Hollywood that they're so DAMNED obsessed with showing (and giving) characters origins? I just did some reading about CONAN, and as I always suspected, the "origin" in the movie has NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO with anything Robert E. Howard ever wrote.  (Gee, just like in the film THE SHADOW, or THE SAINT, and I bet several others.)


The first half-decent scene is when Conan stumbles into a cave and finds a sword. For a moment, it looks like the skeleton holding it is about to come alive. I'm PRETTY SURE it did in the short story that scene was based on.  NOT here. That almost made me feel like I was watching a John DEREK movie, instead one by John MILIUS.


The only decent acting in the film is by Max Von Sydow... I could have stood to see him at the film's ending again, since the heroes all put their lives at risk to rescue the guy's daughter (and one of them died in the process).


Nearly every action scene in the film seems to have been shot in SLOWWWWWWWWWWWW-MOTION. Did they think they were doing a Japanese or Italian film (never mind Dino DeLaurentis' involvement)? Near the beginning, there's a scene where James Earl Jones just stares at somebody without saying a word for two whole minutes.  I MEAN COME ON! Later on, his acting is just abysmal. I swear, they only got him in here because he was having a wave of noteriety as the voice of Darth Vader. When he started calling Arnold "My SON..." you could just about puke.




One interesting thing I learned so far today at the IMDB... the planned 3rd film, CONAN THE CONQUEROR, fell into "development hell", and eventually became... KULL THE CONQUEROR. Which, by comparison, I feel is one HELL of a GREAT, FUN film, and gets my vote as the BEST Robert E. Howard film EVER made.


I have CONAN THE DESTROYER on the same tape, and strangely enough, I don't think I ever watched it ALL the way thru. I recall taping this off HBO or some channel back in the 80's, but didn't actually watch it at the time. And I don't think I EVER played the tape back! I did catch ...THE DESTROYER on TNT or some channel years back, but never saw it uncut.


Honestly, though, I think some of the reviewers at the IMDB have their heads in the clouds. I've seen lots of my fave films get ripped to shreds, but this is a rare instance where something SO BORING got such OVERWHELMING loads of praise. (While at the same time, several reviewers listed several other "S&S" films they thought were awful... and THOSE I liked!)


Wanna see a good "Conan" film? See THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER, with Lee Horseley, which came out 2 WEEKS before CONAN THE BARBARIAN. Much cheaper, and LOTS more fun.

[narfstar]

Have you seen the new Soloman Kane movie. Pretty good.

[profh0011]

Tonight:

A CARIBBEAN MYSTERY (1983)



I was so looking forward to seeing this again. What a DELIGHT Helen Hayes is as
Miss Marple. I honestly think I enjhoyed her much more than Angela Landsbury.
Funny thing, reading IMDB reviews, several people pointed out that although this
was "updated", it aapparently follows the book CLOSER than the later Joan
Hickson version! GO FIGURE.


The other actors I'm familiar with are Maurice Evans (BEWITCHED, PLANET OF THE
APES), Bernard Hughes, Brock Peters (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, STAR TREK 6, DEEP
SPACE NINE, and the STAR WARS radio shows!!). It also features Kurt Russell's
EX, Season Hubley (looking MUCH better than she did in ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK).
The rest are American "TV" actors who I can't really put a face with a name, but
one guy was apparently the star of SIMON AND SIMON.


I admit I've seen this 3 times now... once when it was first-run (and I taped
it), again about 10 years ago (when I watched my entire AC collection) and again
tonight. But I'd forgotten all the details of the story. The thing is, this may
be the ONLY Agatha Christie film I've ever seen when the identity of the
murderer was PAINFULLY OBVIOUS to me no more than 15-20 minutes in!




**********SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!************


The Major talks about 2 similar cases of women attempting suicide, being saved,
then later succeeding. And, it coming out that BOTH were married to the same
man! "Very suspicious".


So the NEXT scene, the wife of the owner wakes up from a nightmare, and says she
"NEVER" has nightmares. My very first thought was, "Is someone drugging her?"


The rest of the movie, I kept hoping it wouldn't be that obvious...





I was rather surprised when at one point, watching Helen Hayes, it suddenly
crossed my mind, I was wondering how my Mom might have been if she'd been
healthy, happy, and lived to a ripe old age.

[bowers]

Last night , I watched a rerun of Masterpiece Mystery's "The 39 Steps". If you've seen it, you will have noticed the scene with an homage to Hitchcock.  Having seen all four versions of this film, it's probably my second-favorite, with the Hitchcock/ Robert Donat version as my favorite. Oddly enough, the 39 steps in the title refers to something completely different in each version. I have no idea which version is truest to Buchan's novel and don't much care- I enjoy the films for their own sake. Also read that a fifth version is possibly going to be in the works. I guess good stories never die! Cheers, Bowers

[profh0011]

I checked online, and sure enough, somehow the last 3 Joan Hickson MISS MARPLES are all ones I never saw or taped.  And all 3 were done less than a decade earlier, either by Angela Landsbury or Helen Hayes.  So, so far, the only MM I have 2 versions of it "4:50 FROM PENNINGTON", with both Joan Hickson and Margaret Rutherford.  (The funny thing is, Joan Hickson appears in BOTH versions!  In the Rutherford version, she's the day housekeeper who refuses to stay in the mansion after dark.)

Tons of stuff to catch up on if my financial state ever finally turns around.

[narfstar]

hulu and archives.org are free

[profh0011]

The murder mysteries continue...


CHARLIE CHAN ON BROADWAY
CHARLIE CHAN AT MONTE CARLO

The latter was sadly Warner Oland's last film. Crazy but true: the same actor appears in both of the above films, playing 2 different police officers (one in NYC and the other in Monaco!).


Last night:

MURDER WITH MIRRORS

Helen Hayes' last film. This got terrible reviews at the IMDB, but I liked it, if only for her-- AND Leo McKern as the booming-voiced police inspector who reluctantly teams up with her. John Woodvine, who was so memorable in the DOCTOR WHO story "The Armageddon Factor", has a key role as Jane's lawyer, who tells her something is "very wrong" at a school for "wayward young men".

Something I completely missed was that some of the plot elements made their way into the Margaret Rutherford film MURDER AHOY.  I don't believe anyone at the IMDB mentioned this, but someone did at Wikipedia (while they all the same insist that film ISN'T based on any of her novels... I guess it's like some of those Basil Rathbone HOLMES films where they used elements from the original stories incorporated into otherwise "new" stories... sort of like most of the "007" films!)  If I'd realized this, the identity of the murderer might have been more obvious.  Most reviewers said it was, but I didn't see it coming at all.  Not like Hayes' A CARIBBEAN MYSTERY, where I thought I'd figured it out only 20 minutes in, something I'm NEVER usually able to do with Agatha Christie stories.

[profh0011]

Last night:

THIRTEEN AT DINNER

I'm tossing around whether to jump ahead with the David Suchet series so I can watch LORD EDGEWARE DIES tonight for comparison...




Today:

THINK FAST, MR. MOTO

I love this.  There's almost 35 minutes of the film that goes by before you find out which side of the law Peter Lorre is really on.  What a fantastic character he plays!  Some mistake the series for being a Japanese "Charlie Chan", but really, he's Japan's answer to JAMES BOND.  And you know what?  Even to the very end of the film, they never admit the truth to the audience! He claims he's the owner of a big import-export firm, who felt he had to take matters into his own hands, and only plays at being a policeman "as a hobby". In later films, he portrayed as a member of Interpol.  But one of the later films does strongly suggest he's really working for the Japanese government all along. I suppose given the real-world climate the films were made in, they tried to avoid showing that too much.  But I have read 4 of the novels, all great stuff.  He's a very interesting character in there.  The formula of the books usually has him cross paths with innocent people in the wrong place at the wrong time.  He takes it upon himself to help them out of it... provided it doesn't get in the way of his actual duty.  I suppose that makes him about halfway between Bond and Simon Templar.

I decided to dig these out now because I'm out of Warner Oland films, and the 3rd MR. MOTO features Lee Chan!

[profh0011]

Comparing POIROT versions...  (just posted at the IMDB)



Unfortunately, most of the Suchet "remakes" I haven't seen yet...  (DAMN!)


However... I just watched THIRTEEN AT DINNER and LORD EDGEWARE DIES back-to-back. WOW. The Ustinov version is loud, garish, annoying, yet fun. The updating didn't bother me that much because-- let's face it-- we've seen updates in so many of those Basil Rathbone HOLMES films, Roger Moore SAINT episodes, and every single JAMES BOND film ever made! If anything, it was the attitude of some of the American characters that got on my nerves, and all the time spent with them and the movie crew took away time from solving the murder properly. There were a few points that seemed to come out of left field, as if something was missing.  Like, how did Poirot get ahold of the letter? What the HELL was the significance of the glasses? By comparison, with Suchet, it was a joy to see so much focus on the reunion of the main cast (even if this was not in the book, well, I'll admit the awful truth-- I have never read a single AC book!!). The unfolding of several key plot points-- like Poirot's talk with Lord Edgeware, where he wonders HOW is it possible the man's wife DIDN'T know he'd changed his mind, and several of the red herring motives were all spelled out much clearer in the Suchet version.

I've seen LORD EDGEWARE DIES now at least twice (or 3 times, but I'm not sure). It might have been better if I hadn't seen the Ustinov version the night before, but having done so, the Suchet version was ASTONISHINGLY well-done! The ending, instead of being brash, was jaw-dropping, as detail after detail slowly comes out, and you see the horror in Jane's intended's face, while inwardly, we feel the PAIN of Poirot, for surely, he was taken with her, even if he would NEVER admit it.



DEATH ON THE NILE and EVIL UNDER THE SUN are 2 of my favorite films of all time, period... so it'd be tough for anything to beat them. I'd still like to see the remakes.  As for ...ORIENT EXRPESS, despite it being so high-profile and a huge success, I never cared for it that much. I know it's nuts, but I actually enjoyed the Alfred Molina version BETTER.


And then there's THE ABC MURDERS, which I've read is thought of as one of the best AC stories ever. The Suchet version lived up to its reputation. On the other hand, I watched the Tony Randall version again a couple weeks ago. I wanted to like it so much... it's got so MANY actors I know and like in it... but Randall is SOOOOOO BAD in it, and like too many "insane comedies" of the 60's, the storytelling seems designed to be as indecipherable as possible. When the bit from the very start of the film about the high-diver comes back to bite you at the end, it was a shock. Up to then, I didn't think the writer was paying attention to what he was doing AT ALL.