[profh0011]

"And Then There Were None"- WOW! What a cast- Huston, Hayward, and Fitzgerald plus a couple of my very favorite character actors, Mischa Auer and C. Aubrey Smith. First saw it on the late show about 50 years ago. I was a twelve year old boy sitting in the dark and watching this mystery unfold. The surprise ending was a total "gotcha". Cheers, Bowers

The 1st time I saw it (with my Dad, I think), I thought the casting was a bit of a "cheat". The only actors I knew going in turned out to be the HERO and the KILLER!  Many years and many movies later, I realized my Dad was right when he said it was an "all-star cast". I've gotten to know almost every person in there from other movies.

My feeling about Agatha Christie whodunits is, there's 2 ways to cast them. Either every actor should be relatively obscure, or every actor should be a big-name star. It's the only way to "play fair"!

Sadly, CBS in the 1980's made a number of TV movies, all updated to the present day, and in every case, the BIGGEST "name" actor turns out to be... well, you get the picture.

My favorite AC film is still DEATH ON THE NILE. Dad & me went to see that TWICE! (He almost never did that.) I absolutely could not predict where the thing was going the first time, but the way it was done, every single detail was SO clear, I didn't get even the slightest bit lost by the end. And the amazing thing was, the 2nd time, knowing everything in advance, it didn't ruin the film at all! It was SO good-- it just seemed like an entirely different film the 2nd time. I always feel it's very important not to blow the ending of one of these for someone. You only get ONE chance to see it "cold".  (My best friend blew the ending of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS for me, which may be part of the reason it's never impressed me that much... apart from Albert Finney, of course. My friend said, "It came out ten years ago-- I assumed you MUST have seen it by now!" Never, never do that...!)


On the other hand, there's EVIL UNDER THE SUN.  I've seen it at least 4 times (maybe more), and each time, I can never keep all the details straight! I guess they wanted something much more complex than DEATH ON THE NILE, and they found it.

[profh0011]

Tonight:

THE WOMAN IN GREEN

Funny thought struck me when "Lydia" was putting Holmes under hypnosis (or thought she was), is that in the last few years, the one film of Basil Rathbone's I've probably seen more often than any other is TALES OF TERROR, where he plays a hypnotist!

[Captain Mefisto]

Batman the Brave and the Bold: Mayhem of the Music Meister.

[narfstar]

I just downloaded the Green Hornet movie serials but have not watched them yet. I may watch the new GH movie and take it something separate from real GH continuity. A silly GH is not the GH

[josemas]

With the greatest amount of difficulty, I managed-- just barely-- to get all 120 Roger Moore episodes on tape. This was between the color episodes rerun on CBS late night, the B&W episodes on Channel 9, and several 2-parter syndicated separately as "movies" (this was a bane of syndication in the 70's & 80's-- often the best episodes MISSING from syndication packages, like where every Ron Ely TARZAN 2-parter was missing).  Moore's acting is MUCH better in those than it ever was in the Bond films. It's ironic-- he plays Templar MUCH more serious than the guy in the books, yet, refused to ever take Bond (a character with no sense of humor) serious. He'd have been much better off doing big-budget SAINT films in the 70's.

I suspect the decision to have Roger Moore play The Saint more seriously in the television series was a decision of the producers as Moore had already proved he could play a role demanding humor quite well during his season as Beau Maverick on Maverick in the early 1960s.

In the Bond series when Moore took over the role the producers also wanted something different than the way Connery had been playing it thus the lighter approach. 

In both cases the producers probably made the right decision (even if some of us purists to the original sources didn't agree) as The Saint series did very well on TV with a more serious Saint and the Bond series revived when Moore came on board.

Best

Joe

[profh0011]

Tonight: one of my all-time favorite movies...

WRONG IS RIGHT  (1981)


What an incredible cast!  What an amazing script!  What a scary look into a possible future () that now seems to have ACTUALLY COME TRUE!!!

[narfstar]

I don't thing I have ever seen it. I put it on my netflix list

[profh0011]

Last week:

THE DOORBELL RANG  (1977 and 2001)

I actually watched the 1977 version a month ago, 3rd time I think. Last Thursday I watched the 2001 version, and with the earlier one so clear in my mind, was amazed at HOW DIFFICULT it was to follow the plot of the 2001 version!  I mean, even having just seen the other version, and both versions DO follow the book rather closely, I could see where the difference in emphasis on certain things made the version with Maury Chaykin & Timothy Hutton almost impenetrable at times. So, the NEXT day, I watched the Thayer David-Tom Mason version AGAIN. Even though certain scenes (like the preparations for the charade with the actors impersonating Wolfe & Goodwin) were cut to the bone (3 minutes, say, instead of 10-15), EVERYTHING was crystal-clear. I'm sure the 2001 version was MUCH closer to the book, but this may be a good example where certain changes in a movie CAN be an imporvement.


Last night:

CHAMPAGNE FOR ONE


Very entertaining, but unlike most Agatha Christie's where all becomes clear at the end, in this case, the ending was the MOST CONFUSING part of the whole story.  I had to think about it for hours afterwards to get it all straight as to who was related to who and did what to who else and why.

All the same... I LOVE this series!!

[josemas]

Some recent Movie Night viewings.

His Musical Sneeze-1919-Fox-Sunshine-2 rls-  Lloyd Hamilton stars in a very wacky slapsticky entry.  Virginia Rappe, best known for her untimely death a couple years later (google her), plays the female lead.  Print had Danish intertitles but was easy to follow.  I think this one is available on the web for anyone interested in checking it out. 

Make the Connection-1955-  Silent comedians Buster Keaton and Harry Gribbon guest star on this game show hosted by Gene Rayburn.  Panelists include Betty White, Eddie Bracken and Laraine Day.   Buster demonstrates how to throw a pie.

The Horror Hall of Fame: A Monster Salute-1974-  ABC originally aired this on Halloween night back in 1974 and I don't think it was ever rerun after that.  The special is hosted by Vincent Price has guest stars such as Frank Gorshin, John Astin and John Carradine.  Price affectionately and with some humor looks at clips of old movie horrors and their stars and talks about the horror genre in general.

So You Want a Model Railroad-1955-Warners-Vitaphone-1 rl-  Another excellent Joe McDoakes entry where our hero becomes completely obsessed with the model railroad that was supposed to be a Christmas gift for the kid.

Free Rent-1936-Columbia-2 rls  In addition to their very popular Three Stooges shorts Columbia produced tons of other comedy short series.  Some had long runs, others very short runs and a number of them somewhere in between.  This series series starred the Mutt and Jeff pairing of big Tom Kennedy and shorter Monty Collins.  In this one Collins and his freeloading brother-in-law Kennedy get thrown out of Monty's rented home and build a trailer for their families to live in so they can "live off the land."  Things don't go as planned.  Pretty amusing.

The Spider Returns-1941-Columbia   We're three chapters into our new serial and so far it's proving popular.  Plenty of fights, stunts and things getting blowed up real good!  Director James W. Horne also throws in the occasional bit of humor (villain or hero doing an extra broad "take") to keep things from getting too serious.

On DVD

John Adams-2008-HBO-  Kudos to HBO for turning out one of the best biopics that I have ever seen.  Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney are perfect as John and Abigail Adams.  HBO also wisely decided to adapt David McCullough's top notch bio on Adams as a miniseries which gives it time to do proper justice to the source.  The DVD also has a neat featured that when accessed  brings up panels under the film frame that provide historical background on whats going on at any current point in the narrative which, for me at least, added even more to the viewing experience.

M Squad-1957-NBC-  Some friends gave me this set which features the first fourteen episodes of this 1957-60 cop series.  Police procedurals were popular after the monster success of Dragnet earlier in the decade and many imitators followed throughout the 1950s.  What sets this one apart is the casting of Lee Marvin in the lead.  Marvin plays the hard edged Lt. Frank Ballinger as he tracks down criminals preying on Chicago.  Ballinger is not afraid of engaging in fisticuffs and getting a little rough now and then in a way Dragnet's Joe Friday seldom did.  Although the film is set in Chicago it was mostly shot in LA.  The producers cleverly got around this by sending Marvin up to Chicago for a few days each season and shooting a bunch of shots of him walking and driving around numerous areas of the Windy City.  Then it was back to LA where all interior shots and additional exteriors (studio backlots or carefully chosen locations) were shot.  The better episodes have a nice noirish quality to them and the series actually benefits from being shot in black and white.  Occasional interesting guest stars also appear-I spotted Deforest Kelly in a couple of episodes.  This set from Timeless Video is apparently a teaser set for their complete collection of the series.

Best

Joe

[profh0011]

I've never seen M SQUAD, but for decades I've had the soundtrack LP!  Includes music by Stanley Wilson, Benny Carter, Johnny Williams and the theme song is written by Count Basie!  (I'm pretty sure the theme was the song parodied by the theme to POLICE SQUAD! (IN COLOR).

[josemas]

I'm not surprised to hear that Count Basie did the theme song for the show.  Jazz themes on television shows gained popularity around this time.  The most famous is probably the theme for Peter Gunn by Henry Mancini but I've recently watched such shows from this era as Johnny Staccato (a cool show with John Cassavettes) and even the western show Shotgun Slade which also had Jazz theme music.

Best

Joe

[Menticide]

Johnny Staccato was an excellent show, nice performance from John Cassavetes, and great theme music from Elmer Bernstein. Oddly, mostly forgotten,  but surprisingly still influential.

[profh0011]

It is so frustrating that I have never seen JOHNNY STACCATO, or PETER GUNN, or MIKE HAMMER (the version with Darren McGavin!). But I believe I have the themes for all 3, on Rhino's CRIME JAZZ comps.


"Peter Gunn" got a revival back in 1977, courtesy, oddly enough, of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.  I recall going to see them in concert twice that year, and the 2nd time, riding home on the subway, I overheard two guys in the next chair discussing the instrumental they opened the concert with. They thought it was really cool, but didn't know what it was. One of them said, "It sounded like something from a BOND movie!"

I finally learned what it was when the live album came out some time later. Then, in 1980, it appeared in the movie THE BLUES BROTHERS. Several years later, The Art of Noise did a version (with Duane Eddy sitting in on guitar). Around that time, it was used on a TV commercial advertising Trump Casino. In the 90's... COUNTLESS "surf guitar" bands started doing covers of it.

I do have both PETER GUNN revivals on videotape... the 1967 feature film with Craig Stevens (and nobody else from the show, and he was looking a bit too old for it by then), and the redo in 1989 with Peter Strauss, which I liked MUCH better than the '67 film.  (Go figure!) Blake Edwards got his daughter to play the secretary. What a sweetie!

[narfstar]

Several years ago Peter Gunn and Johnny Derringer and some other shows that I do not remember were run in place of reruns of the regular shows one summer. They may have done it for two years that way. I liked because it gave me a chance to see some shows that I had never seen before. Archive.org has some episodes if you want to check them out

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=peter%20gunn

[josemas]

Timeless  released the complete Johnny Staccato on DVD a few months ago.  There were also a couple volumes of the Peter Gunn series released on DVD a few years back but they are out of print now.

BTW, Timeless has also recently released some other vintage TV series on DVD which may be worth checking out-Soldiers of Fortune-(1955-1957) with John "Lawman" Russell and Chick Chandler, State Trooper-(1956-1959)-with Rod Cameron and Coronado 9-(1959-1960)-also with Rod Cameron.

Best

Joe

[paw broon]

I fancy Johnny Staccato and remember watching some episodes when I was much, much younger.
Been watching the last part of this series of Primeval.  Very good and frustrating 'cos as an answer to what is going on is revealed, 2 or 3 new questions are raised.  An old face returns in this one and lots of dodgy goings on. This weeks Hustle was the best yet.  I've said that before but it's true.  This one was a great con.  And Castle is just good entertainment week after week.

[profh0011]

The last few weeks I've started re-watching my SHERLOCK HOLMES tapes again, as well as NERO WOLFE.  I suppose I should dig out my Agatha Christie's to make it a trifecta (heehee).

I have 2 Arthur Wontner films-- THE TRIUMPH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES and SILVER BLAZE, and 4 Basil Rathbones-- THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE WOMAN IN GREEN (terrible copy) and TERROR BY NIGHT (excellent copy from TCM-- but I would swear it was remastered at the wrong SPEED! --every character's voice sounds an octave too low).

If was funny how 2 consecutive NW episodes had someone murdered in the living room-- the 1st time, driving Wolfe nuts, the 2nd time, Archie. Someone suggested they were done this way because some stations insist on running it in a 2-hour format. Remember when they used to just run ONE hour of something a week, SAME TIME every week, and it was expected?

I guess next up will be the Ronald Howard / Howard Marion Crawford SHERLOCK HOLMES tv series. I got most of these off PBS, but somehow missed a handful of them.  (I hate when that happens, it's next-to-impossible to get ahold of just a FEW particular episodes when you already have all the others).

I often think Marion Crawford would have made a perfect Sir Hugo Drax if they'd ever adapted the novel MOONRAKER accurately. (Honor Blackman would have been perfect for Gala Brand.)

[profh0011]

Today:

REBECCA


Terrific story, great cast. I still recall being fascinated the 1st time I saw this, because I recognized it as the source material for half of the "1970 Parallel Time" story on DARK SHADOWS. Except, without the supernatural elements.

I keep thinking watching it again today, if I were a character in the story, that psycho-B****-from-hell Mrs. Danvers would have gotten her sorry self fired early-on. How do some people hold onto their jobs?

[narfstar]

She might have been union 

[profh0011]

 

[josemas]

I guess next up will be the Ronald Howard / Howard Marion Crawford SHERLOCK HOLMES tv series. I got most of these off PBS, but somehow missed a handful of them.  (I hate when that happens, it's next-to-impossible to get ahold of just a FEW particular episodes when you already have all the others).

Millcreek has an inexpensive complete set of this series out.  I think mine set me back all of $5.00.   I've only watched a couple of episodes and haven't been particularly impressed so far.

Best

Joe

[bowers]

I agree with Joe- this wasn't really a very good series. I feel that Howard, even though a competent actor, totally missed the character in his portrayal. Too good-natured and even just a bit of a twit. The scripts, on the other hand, were fairly well written and usually entertaining. The production values were not bad for the time. I suppose my only gripe with the series was the casting (or miscasting) of Howard in the role. It does make me wonder- could his father have pulled it off? Cheers, Bowers

[boox909]

I guess next up will be the Ronald Howard / Howard Marion Crawford SHERLOCK HOLMES tv series. I got most of these off PBS, but somehow missed a handful of them.  (I hate when that happens, it's next-to-impossible to get ahold of just a FEW particular episodes when you already have all the others).

Millcreek has an inexpensive complete set of this series out.  I think mine set me back all of $5.00.   I've only watched a couple of episodes and haven't been particularly impressed so far.

Best

Joe

I have this set on DVD also. It is a gem! I used to watch the episodes on the local PBS every Sunday night and loved it! It became the end of my weekend ritual.

B.

[bowers]

Just finished watching Edward G. Robinson's 1938 crime farce "A Slight Case of Murder", evidently based on a play by Damon Runyan. Although I had seen the 1950's Broderick Crawford remake ("Stop, You're Killing Me") I had never seen the original. Most of the cast were Warner's B movie character actors, but they were just great, as was Robinson. I think I enjoyed this just as much or better than his other two crime-comedies, "Larceny, Inc." and "Brother Orchid". Cheers, Bowers

[narfstar]

I love a good laugh. I will have to check these out. I probably saw them forty years ago on late night tv. Brother Orchid sounds familiar. They are probably available at archive to watch online.