I Just Watched...

[Lorna]

Just in case any of you are interested, the HILDEGARDE WITHERS BOOK SERIES is still in print- or can be read electronically. dunno if there's an audible version or not.

EDIT- tried to post an amazon link but it didnt work, but they're all available on amazon, ebay, etsy, etc.

[Lorna]

no word on whether the book ends with a marriage proposal and/or savage night of lovemaking between MISS WITHERS and THE LIEUTENANT, but if anyone has $14.00 (plus shipping and handling) and wants to find out for the team- go for it.

[Lorna]

I have known for quite a while that I haven't seen as many foreign-language films as I should have, and having been reminded of that on another website by someone pointing out the lack of them in personal lineups, I decided to get cracking.... but Man with a Movie Camera (1929) was just a plotless course of images so it really didn't involve, and Zero for Conduct (1933) is more involving but I'm not sure I agree with its unbridled anarchy theme, especially at such a young age......

i would rarely say this on any film related matter, BUT: I think you're starting at too early a time.

watching and following FOREIGN FILMS is already a challenge for various reasons- and I just have to imagine two films from the early days of talking pictures (1929 is an especially iffy year for film in general) combined with a possibly grainy image combined with the #1 thing that kills watching a BLACK AND WHITE FOREIGN FILM for me which is SUBTITLES PRINTED IN WHITE FONT WHICH PLAY OVER THE PICTURE AND NOT BELOW ON A BLACK MARGIN.

This can make is REALLY HARD to read if the background is WHITE.

I'd recommend you check out stuff from the 40's through the 60's- the 1946 French BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, anything with ANNA MAGNANI or (my #1 recommendation: RASHOMAN)

RASHOMAN was the film that made me sit up and notice foreign movies.

[Helicopter guy]

I have known for quite a while that I haven't seen as many foreign-language films as ... but Man with a Movie Camera (1929) was just a plotless course of images so it really didn't involve ......

It's a piece of early Soviet propaganda meant to depict a day in the life of a worker's paradise.

[Lorna]

I watched the MURDER SHE WROTE episode MURDER, SHE SPOKE which was the season finale (remember those?) of SEASON THREE- had forgotten what a cheerfully OUTLANDISH EPISODE this one is- the premise being that JESSICA is recording an AUDIBLE VERSION of one of her books "for the blind" (SIDE NOTE: A plot point about how the AUDIBLE BOOK INDUSTRY has no future ca. 1987 has aged about as well as that sweater WILLIAM ATHERTON has on in the above picture.)
**his character is blind, so at least he had that excuse

there is OF COURSE a MUHHHHDUH during a POWER OUTAGE, so BLIND MAN ATHERTON is the chief suspect.

GW BAILEY- who I think played MOUSER in THE POLICE ACADEMY SERIES pretty much reprises the same role here and honestly- it's one of the more refreshing instances where JESSICA butted heads with an investigator

CHARLIE DANIELS (????!!!!!!!!!) is SERIOUSLY IN THIS as a COUNTRY STAR recording a pretty decent song in the studio next to JESSICA. He has some singularly misogynistic dialogue relating to the character of his niece who is not played by TINA YOTHERS, but the actress playing her brings TINA YOTHERS to mind.

there is a guy in this who looks a lot like JOE DON BAKER but thankfully is not.

HOLY ****, this episode has a TOP TEN ENTRY in the MURDER, SHE HAIR HALL OF SHAME- the character of THE RECEPTIONIST (not pictured) sports a coiffure that I can find no images of (and I looked)- and I actually decided it's for the best.

I have no idea who this actress is, if she is still alive or dead, and either way it's entirely possible- nee even likely- that she wants that time she showed up on national television with hair that would make DEE SNYDER burst into a fit of laughter to be AS OBSCURE and UNDOCUMENTED BY PHOTO EVIDENCE as possible.

WILLIAM ATHERTON is soooooooooooooooooooo OVER THE TOP in the episode. I want to say he appeared more than once on MURDER SHE WROTE and he was probably one of those ACTOR FRIENDS who ANGELA LANSBURY was LOOKING OUT FOR- it almost seems as if they wrote in a couple of BIG DRAMATIC SCENES FOR HIM as per his request. guess he was having a hard time finding work after playing the villain so effectively in GHOSTBUSTERS.

[CinemaInternational]

WILLIAM ATHERTON is soooooooooooooooooooo OVER THE TOP in the episode. I want to say he appeared more than once on MURDER SHE WROTE and he was probably one of those ACTOR FRIENDS who ANGELA LANSBURY was LOOKING OUT FOR- it almost seems as if they wrote in a couple of BIG DRAMATIC SCENES FOR HIM as per his request. guess he was having a hard time finding work after playing the villain so effectively in GHOSTBUSTERS.

Atherton was in two other episodes of Murder, She Wrote, ironically both times as a guilty party. One of those times, his character bumped off the doyenne of Murder, She Wrote death, Jessica Walter (who over the course of the show was shot twice and eletrocuted in a bathtub).

As for Aterton, yes, he likely had trouble finding roles ofter playing such stuffed shirts in Ghostbusters and Die Hard....but it should not be forgotten that he gave an exceptional performance in The Day of the Locust in the 1970s.

[Lorna]

As for Atherton, yes, he likely had trouble finding roles ofter playing such stuffed shirts in Ghostbusters and Die Hard....but it should not be forgotten that he gave an exceptional performance in The Day of the Locust in the 1970s.

I forgot he was in DIE HARD. He is really good in DAY OF THE LOCUST, he's actually excellent in GHOSTBUSTERS- it's a case of an actor arguably damaging their career by being so effective in a role.

at the risk of being tacky, he doesn't look well in the MURDER SHE SPOKE episode (which aired in 1987), although maybe that was partially his intent, but he looks a little gaunt and weary beyond that.

EDIT: TO BE FAIR, after THREE YEARS of people pointing at you in public and saying "this man has no d***", you'd be weary too.

[Lorna]

I wish I could remember from back when I watched the show during its first run whether or not I noticed HOW OFTEN MURDER SHE WROTE recycled their GUEST STARS.

[CinemaInternational]

I wish I could remember from back when I watched the show during its first run whether or not I noticed HOW OFTEN MURDER SHE WROTE recycled their GUEST STARS.

Admittedly, when I first started watching the show, I was pretty young and hadn't seen as many films and TV series, so I would not have probably have recognized as many people as I do now, but the show really did reuse a lot of guest stars, and what was wild was that sometimes the same guest star would be killed more than once or be guilty more than once. I guess they were not expecting just how successful the show would be in syndication. But they even once had one actress play two different characters, both small roles though, in the same season!

BTW, yes, I do remember season finales. They still have them for series, but there is never as much hype about them as there used to be. The height of their influece was likely in the 80s in the aftermath of Dallas/Knots Landing/Dynasty/Falcon Crest, which really made an art of it....

Also, although I will forwarn, it will take a long time to load, is a list on IMDb of everyone who appeared on at least one episode of Murder She Wrote. It has so many names that it reads like a phonebook from the Bronx circa 1986. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086765/fu ... _=tt_cl_sm

[Masha]

HOLY ****, this episode has a TOP TEN ENTRY in the MURDER, SHE HAIR HALL OF SHAME- the character of THE RECEPTIONIST (not pictured) sports a coiffure that I can find no images of (and I looked)- and I actually decided it's for the best.

Trish Garland is credited as: Secretary

[CinemaInternational]

HOLY ****, this episode has a TOP TEN ENTRY in the MURDER, SHE HAIR HALL OF SHAME- the character of THE RECEPTIONIST (not pictured) sports a coiffure that I can find no images of (and I looked)- and I actually decided it's for the best.

Trish Garland is credited as: Secretary

Looks like a brunette/auburn version of Catherine Oxenberg's hair on Dynasty

[txfilmfan]

HOLY ****, this episode has a TOP TEN ENTRY in the MURDER, SHE HAIR HALL OF SHAME- the character of THE RECEPTIONIST (not pictured) sports a coiffure that I can find no images of (and I looked)- and I actually decided it's for the best.

Trish Garland is credited as: Secretary

Looks like a brunette/auburn version of Catherine Oxenberg's hair on Dynasty

I thought it looked like a poofier version of David Bowie's hair.

[j.lunatic]

I watched The Scarlet Letter (1934), which got its TCM premiere this past Sunday. By 1934 standards it is sadly static, even allowing for Hays Code enforcement, Poverty Row production values, and fading silent stars in several of the lead roles. Yet in spite of this, its gets to the essence of the Hester-Arthur-Roger triangle (especially the antagonistic bond between Arthur and Roger). I haven't seen the 1926 Liilian Gish version of TSL recently, but I don't remember it being so strong in this aspect.

The 1934 film also features a secondary triangle: friends Bartholomew and Sampson, and the widowed Abigail, who Sampson has been courting but who prefers Bartholomew. The filmmakers probably intended it as (ill-judged) comic relief, but I found it a funhouse mirror reflection of the primary triangle. As for the ending....is there a good recent biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne? In my limited knowledge of the author and his life, he seems so proto-Goth he makes Edgar Allen Poe look almost square.

5.7/10; currently available on WatchTCM and after that via YouTube and other public domain film sources.

[Lorna]

Trish Garland is credited as: Secretary

1. Oh my Lord, my sweet Lord.
2. I don't know where you found this, but thank you.
3. for the record, she is a very pretty lady with lovely eyes.
4. forgive me for not mentioning THE STUDDED ACID WASH which contributes to 50% of the FASHION CRIME being perpetrated here, the hair is usually what stays with me long after THE HORROR of the ENTIRE LOOK (and accessories) has passed.
5. Bless her heart, she looks like she was at her data entry job one morning, when she heard a rumble, she looked up and there was ZZ-TOPP and their entourage who then SNATCHED her off to the mall and had her try on frilly ankle socks while someone stood by with a rag soaked in ether and a couple jumper cables at the ready.
6. that necklace is too understated for that look. she needs some WILMA FLINTSTONE PEARLS, but in BUBBLE GUM PINK...or possibly A TURQUOISE CRUCIFIX