Hi Moira - That's really funny; immediately after posting that I began to have second thoughts about Mr. MacMurray, especially with respect to the Mitchell Leisen film you mentioned, SWING HIGH SWING LOW. Then other films came to mind (PUSHOVER, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, REMEMBER THE NIGHT) and I really beg...

Merci beaucoup, Monsieur Arkadin!

Ralph Bellamy: KING of the SQUARES
Robert Young: MAYOR of SQUARESVILLE
Hugh Marlowe: SQUARE!
Fred MacMurray: Mega SQUARE
Van Johnson: SQUARE Root
Bruce Bennett: SQUARE du jour
Vincent Price: SQUARE squared

re: THE STRANGER dvd

Even that (MGM) represents a major improvement over what's been available in the past.

re: THE STRANGER
Ken, do you know who's releasing THE STANGER on DVD? In the past we've always had to make do with all those crappy public domain prints. Is it someone reputable like Criterion or Kino?
-Dewey

Y'know, Mr. A, I think it's safe to say there are a number of Sudden Sam's pictures that would easily qualify as Essentials (with or without Princess Lea's approval). What a remarkable, original artist he was!

I'll settle in with a double dose of Sam Peckinpah: BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA and THE WILD BUNCH. Happy Cinco everybody!

Mr. Arkadin wrote: "He starts with a medium shot that includes the ceiling in some parts and then throughout the film gradually works the shots tighter and tighter till they're almost all close ups. This gives us a clostrophobic feeling like the world is closing in on us." You're right on ...

cmvgor: That's really funny! I have to assume it was on the strength of THE GREAT ESCAPE the year before which, as I understand it, was a huge sensation in Europe. Leave it to Bronson to upstage the Ratpack!

For me, this is Preminger's best noir film, far superior to LAURA, in fact. What distinguishes this one in particular is Dana Andrews' complex performance as an essentially good cop who tragically oversteps his bounds once too often (he's compulsively violent) and then tries to cover his bloody trac...

I went to see Robert Aldrich's 4 FOR TEXAS at the local nabe when I was about 15 and it really cracked me up. Ratpackers Frankie and Dino mix it up with Ursula Andress and Anita Ekberg (not to mention the likes of Charles Bronson and Victor Buono as well as Aldrich veterans Wesley Addy and Jack Elam...

Moira wrote: "I had the pleasure recently of introducing the film The Mark of Zorro (1940) and Blood and Sand (1941) to a couple of youngsters who'd never heard of the man." I had a very similar experience recently with Mr. Power. In a course on Film Noir I was teaching this past fall I sh...

A nice pair of obscure "B" noirs airing on Wednesday, May 9. First up is GOOD TIME GIRL, a 1948 British film that I know absolutely nothing about but will be more than happy to investigate. The other, later the same day, is NO ESCAPE from 1953 starring the usually laughable Sonny Tufts. It...

One of the strongest (if not THE strongest) anti-racist western films is DEVIL'S DOORWAY, a 1950 MGM film directed by Anthony Mann and beautifully photographed in black & white by John Alton. In it Robert Taylor plays Lance Poole, a Shoshoni Indian who also happens to be a decorated Union Army v...

Hi Moira -
Hate to throw a monkey wrench in your computer, but culturebath.org also turned up missing! (Not that anyone else was likely to vote for it!)
-Dewey