CIPHER IN THE SNOW. Don't you just love unexpectedly digging up something you haven't seen since your childhood, have often thought about and never DREAMED you'd be able to actually find again?!?!?! Well, it happened several years ago when I finally tracked down a DVD of one of my favourite lost cartoons from my past -- a cartoon that they used to show us via the creaky old projector every Christmas at school -- THE GREAT TOY ROBBERY. I wrote about it a couple years ago on this lil ole blog (click here to read about it) and finally managed to get a copy from the Canadian Film Board. It happened again when I finally tracked down THE HOUSE WITHOUT A CHRISTMAS TREE which I saw on TV as a kid and only found on video MANY years later.

Well, here we go again -- tonight I just tracked down a film which has haunted me since I saw it waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in grade school . . . probably 5th grade . . . This short 24 minute film from 1973has been lurking around the dark corners of my mind ever since. Even though I haven't seen it since (and that was back in 1911) I can STILL seen the shocking (to a little kid like me) opening scene: It's winter and a there's a school bus full of kids. One boy has the bus driver pull over -- then the boy walks down the steps and out of the bus . . . a keels over face first DEAD in the snow!!! Now, this was some pretty potent stuff for we goofy, carefree little 70's kids to be confronted with -- and I'm practically positive that THIS was the first time it every occurred to me in my life that even a kid could die. Kids feel invulnerable -- but this little film made me say "Hold up! What's going on here?" Does anybody ELSE remember this movie?

It turns out that the kid in the film was "shy and ostracized" (as quoted on the back of the video cover) and was only known as a "cipher" or a "zero" in his school. He was just so freakin' lonely that he croaked! I'm supposing they showed us this movie in school to try to get us to be nicer and more considerate to each other. Who were they kiddin'?!?!?!?

For some reason, every now and again throughout my life this movie will pop into my head; I'll see the image in my mind's eye of the kid pitching face first in the snow dead. I even accurately remembered the name of the film all these years as "Cipher in the Snow". So for some reason, for the first time I actually decided to search the internet for it and found it for sale at some LDS (that's Latter Day Saints) video site; one might have known that a film this bizarre would be the work of Brigham Young University films. The DVD comes with four other LDS movies which I couldn't care less about since I never saw THEM. . .only this one weird movie was shown to us unsuspecting public school kiddies in the mid-70's. Looking over the imdb site concerning this little film I was surprised to find comments by A LOT of users who remember this movie from school just like I did. And now, in about a week and a half (depending on the reliability of the United States Postal Service) I shall be watching once again THE CIPHER IN THE SNOW. And who knows, I might even tell you about it -- I mean, I still haven't been able to write about L'ECLISSE so. . .

STEVE GERBER R.I.P. I've only just learned of the death of comic book writer Steve Gerber on February 10th. He is probably most known as the creator/writer of Marvel Comics Howard the Duck and (despite the movie version) the comic book Gerber created in the 70's was groundbreaking and a fantastic run. Gerber was probably known for his extremely bizarre characters and situations which, as some of you might know, is right up my street! Gerber's original Howard the Duck run was terrific (and yes, believe it or don't, much more "adult" in its surrealism than most other comic books of the time);but my favourite work by the writer has got to be his extremely odd run on Marvel's THE DEFENDERS also in the 70's. This run I wrote about a couple years ago on this blog and you can click here to see the archived post I wrote at the time. Steve Gerber was one of those 70's bunch of new writers including Steve Englehart (whose JLA run I remember very fondly) and Doug Moench (one of my favourite writers) who took peripheral, oddball and seldom-used comics characters and breathed new life into them while still injecting a rather oddball sensability (similar to what Alan Moore did with Swamp Thing in the 80's). Steve Gerber's Defenders remains one of my all-time favourite runs on a comic book. The book started out with slightly oddball but heavy-hitter characters like Dr. Strange, The Hulk, The Sub-Mariner and the Silver Surfer but soon included in its core cast such extremely minor but now interesting characters as Nighthawk, the Valkyrie and Power Man. Gerber introduced such wildly bizarre villains as Nebulon (the sparkly one) and the Headmen (who all had -- well, um -- interesting heads . . . such as the guy there who grafted his noggin on a gorilla's body or the woman who had a sorta red crystal ball from which emerged tentacles). Typical Gerber plots for his run on The Defenders included the transformation of the entire population of earth into Bozos (literally with Bozo the Clown masks pulled down over the top half of their faces) or superhero Nighthawk carrying around his own brain in a bowl -- slosh slosh. Seriously. This is the kind of thing that happened in Steve Gerber's comic books: stuff you NEVER saw before in your life in any other comic book -- or any other medium in fact. Steve Gerber wrote INTERESTING stories -- and that's something which is EXTREMELY rare. And what's more, no mattter how surreal or amazing, Gerber would make everything work within the story's internal logic. In the years since, comic book stories have become INCREDIBLY bland by comparison. Steve Gerber was a one-of-a-kind writer and it's a real shame he's left us. For yet another nice little post discussing Steve Gerber's work on The Defenders and other comix click here.

VALENTINE'S DAY IS UPON US. And since a new St. Valentine's Day Massacre doesn't seem to be in the offing, I thought instead I would list my top 10 favourite Valentine's Day movies. These are the films that REALLY get me in the romantic mood. But please be warned . . . HERE THERE BE SPOILERS! I'm keeping to the Paleocinema 5 year rule: if the movie's more than 5 years old, you shoulda seen it already. So, if you haven't seen the movie mention, skip to the next one if you don't want the ending spoiled for yer. So here we go: My top 10 most romantic movies for Valentine's Day (in alphabametical order):

1. AUDITION (aka ODISHON): This Japanese movie is the best thing to get you in the romantic mood. A middle aged man's wife has died and he's very lonely. Since he is a director, he decides to hold auditions for a fictitious movie in order to find the perfect woman to marry. He finds a sweet, demure little woman who seems perfect for him. They begin a relationship and you finally believe this man's loneliness is at an end. Then she shoots him up with a hypo filled with something which paralyses him but keeps him fully alert -- then proceeds to torture him and saw his leg off with piano wire. Now, if that ain't romantic I don't know what is.
2. THE BLACK CAT: Bela Lugosi has been imprisoned for 15 years because of his traitorous commander Boris Karloff. When released, Bela comes looking for his long lost wife and daughter. The perfect romantic/family reunion is in the offing. Well, it turns out Boris had married Bela's wife and then apparently killed her and has her stuffed in a glass case. Boris then married Bela's daughter. When Bela visits Boris and finds out his daughter is still alive, Boris promptly kills the daughter. Ah, togetherness.
3. CAT PEOPLE: Simone Simon and Kent Nelson are a cute young couple who fall in love and get married. Ah, domestic bliss. Unfortunately, Simone believes that whenever she is sexually aroused, she turns into a ferocious panther creature and kills kills KILLS! So eventually, Simone opens the panther cage at the zoo and gets killed while Kent goes off with another woman.
4. CHINATOWN: Detective Jack Nicholson falls hard for Faye Dunaway. Unfortunately so did Faye's father who knocked her up. Then Faye gets shot in the head.
5. DIAL M FOR MURDER: Grace Kelly and Ray Milland are a happily married couple; the envy of all their friends. Ray then hires somebody to strangle her. Unfortunately for Ray, Grace shoves a pair of scissors into her attacker. All's well that ends well??? Not really. . .Ray then allows her to be arrested for murder. Ah, married life.
6. DOUBLE INDEMNITY: Barbara Stanwyck is married. She doesn't much like her husband. She does very soon like insurance salesman Fred MacMurray. A lot. Together the two lovers off her husband and collect his insurance money. Then Barbara and Fred shoot each other. And die.
7. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE: Laurence Harvey is a much-honoured and decorated war hero. He has a childhood sweetheart he's loved all his life. He plans to marry her. Then commie agents brainwash him and he shoots her in the gut.
8. MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE: Kevin Costner's wife died and he's very very sad. He writes letters to his dead wife, places them in a bottle and tosses them in the ocean. Reporter Robin Wright Penn finds one, tracks him down, falls in love with him. After a lot of romantic hard work, Costner allows himself to fall in love with her too. They've found the perfect soulmate. Romance in bloom. They are blissfully happy. Then he drowns.
9. MITCHELL: Naturally, this has to be experienced in the MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 version. Mitchell is played by Joe Don Baker. He is a slob. He initiates several very off-putting, sleazy and frankly repulsive romantic clinches and sex scenes with Linda Evans. If this ain't enough to put you off sex for a good month and a half, I don't know what will!
10. SCARLET STREET: Edward G. Robinson is a middle-aged nebbis who falls for beautiful young Joan Bennett. Edward G. is henpecked by a harridan wife. Edward plans to off his wife so he can be blissfully happy with Joan. Joan has been playing him for a fool -- laughs and ridicules him. Edward G. ice-picks her in his bed.

I hope these 10 movies will get you in the proper Valentine's Day mood. I know they work for me. Kiss kiss hug hug.

MARTIN SCORSESE PRESENTS VAL LEWTON: THE MAN IN THE SHADOWS. I have been too long remiss concerning this brand new documentary which I saw a month ago but am just now talking about. It's naturally about legendary producer Val Lewton who, in the 40's, was given the task of producing a slew of low-budget horror films for RKO. The studio would provide the sensationalistic titles and Lewton would have to come up with the movie. Subversively, Lewton decided to forgo the typical monster rallies Universal was churning out and instead make subtle, haunting and literate "terror" films. His first shot at it was "Cat People" and the little movie shocked everybody by becoming a runaway success. This started Lewton off on a string of classic terror films including the lyrical Jane Eyre meets voodoo adaptation "I Walked With A Zombie", the vastly underrated (and one of my faves) "The Leopard Man", the child psychology disguised as horror film sequel "Curse of the Cat People", the subtly creepy devil worshipping opus "The Seventh Victim", one of the greatest Boris Karloff film portrayals in "The Body Snatcher" and others. With directors like the master Jacques Tourneur and proteges Robert Wise and Mark Robson, Lewton produced some of the greatest horror films of the 40's.

This new documentary was written and directed by Kent Jones and produced and narrated by Martin Scorsese in exactly the same manner as the previous documentaries "A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Films" and "My Voyage To Italy". While not quite as eye-opening as Scorsese's docs, Jones' take on Val Lewton is done with a great deal of style and mood. Of course, copious clips from Lewton's films are used as well as Lewton's life story and personal writings. As in Lewton's own films, this documentary uses sounds beautifully; mixing sound effects from Lewton's films into a mood-enducing soundscape to enhance the points being made about Lewton's film work. While nothing revelatory is found in this new documentary, it does show a real feel for Lewton's work. There is particularly good use of slow motion -- that is, some scenes from Lewton's films are slowed down so they appear even more dream-like than normal. This is seen to particularly haunting effect at the very end of the documentary when a scene from "The Leopard Man" is slowed down and fades to black and the end credits (which are effectively scored not with music but with a mixture of classic Lewton sound effects. Beautiful and brilliant!).

While not much is new here there are three strange omissions which one would expect to find in any discussion of Val Lewton. First there is absolutely no mention of the fact that Lewton's film "The Ghost Ship" was not released until many MANY years after it was made. Second there is absolutely no mention of the famous Lewton "bus" and it's subsequent use in all manner of films from that day to this. For those not in the know, a Lewton "bus" first occurred in "Cat People". A woman is being stalked by the ferocious "cat creature" on a darkened street at night. The woman hurries along while the unseen cat creature is apparently at screen left. Suddenly, a loud, startling sound is heard on the soundtrack and a bus screeches to a halt from screen right. This sudden startling noise/fake scare was promptly labelled a "bus" and makers of scary movies have been using this technique ever since. However, the Val Lewton documentary doesn't make any mention of this fact. And third: there is no mention that Bela Lugosi also appeared in "The Body Snatcher". Now, these are not really criticisms -- just odd omissions in an otherwise fairly complete biography of one of the most effective (if short-lived) producers Hollywood ever had. And this is a documentary I can recommend.

"L'AVVENTURA" the 1960 film by Michelangelo Antonioni, is undoubtedly a masterpiece and a genuine work of art. Not in the stiff, academic, dusty way we usually think about works of art but in the sense that it's exciting, vital and sometimes astonishing. Even after all these years. When first screened at Cannes, it was hooted down by the audience. However, it would win the Cannes Jury Prize and be referred to by some Cannes-goers as the best film ever to play at the festival. The film would also affect (in a very big way) how movies would be made ever since. And that's no small accomplishment. Even more than that, however, "L'AVVENTURA" today is an incredibly absorbing, haunting movie that still packs a wallop. It is also oddly romantic; but not in any kind of conventional way, mind you. What's the movie about, you say? Well, I'll come to that. But first. . . I've heard it called "slow" but I don't see that at all; on the contrary, every single second of screen time seems to me totally necessary and there's literally never a dull moment. There indeed are no car chases, no explosions and no "speeder race" designed to sell video games. And that's good because THAT would be boring! And far from being cold or unemotional, L'AVVENTURA is grippingly engrossing in the emotional impact it has on the viewer who allows himself to feel what the characters are feeling. And this Antonioni does beautifully and skillfully -- without blatantly telling us how we should react to what we see on the screen. Just as in real life, we can't hear inside other people's heads; we have to guess how they feel or what they're thinking by outward appearances. And this is what Antonioni has us do. Most movies before L'AVVENTURA would have us watching a character think while the actor provides voice-over narration TELLING us exactly what they're thinking. Not here. That's one of the truly groundbreaking things about L'AVVENTURA: we watch the actor's face, we watch what they do, how they act, how they look, what they touch and are NOT given any interior monologue by Antonioni. It's the surface that's the thing. The surface of objects and the surface of people is all we get in real life (and this includes the words that come out of their mouths which may or may not be how a person truly feels -- in real life that's all we get). Antonioni is monumentally concerned with surfaces. Objects and locations carry a lot of significance in L'AVVENTURA. Characters are often seen looking -- looking -- looking at objects, touching them, letting their fingers run over surfaces. And locations, buildings, are indispensable aids for the viewer reflecting the character's emotions or inner thoughts. We may not hear what they're thinking but their surroundings provide vital clues. Sandro, who is a failed architect, is often seen with examples of great architecture behind him -- as if to taunt him at his artistic failure. Antonioni also makes sure that everything in the frame is in crisp, perfect focus: the actors in the foreground as well as EVERYTHING behind them and around them. Antonioni gives as much importance to the space around the actors -- the negative space -- as he does the actors themselves. Every object, building or location is just as important as the actor. Nothing is unimportant in Antonioni's frame -- and each frame is beautiful to look at in ravishing, crystal clear black & white. But what exactly are we dealing with in L'AVVENTURA? What's it about? Well, as I see it (and the film is famously open to more than one possible interpretation), L'AVVENTURA is about human beings and their utter failure to connect with one another. No matter how desperately Antonioni's characters reach out to each other, there is always an invisible wall between them which they just can't break through. Much like the island (or islands) prominently featured in L'AVVENTURA, we resemble them -- surrounded on all sides by water -- there seems to be an invisible membrane around us all which keeps us from REALLY connecting with each other. When Antonioni's characters hunger for this intimate human rapport, they often resort to unfulfilling and unsatisfying sex as a last desperate attempt at connection. When this also proves to be lacking in intimacy, Antonioni's characters often become more bewildered and unhappy. This becomes even more evident is Antonioni's later film "L'ECLISSE; L'AVVENTURA is generally considered the first in a sorta trilogy continuing with "LA NOTTE" and ending with "L'ECLISSE". Antonioni's fascination with surfaces and objects would be brought to even more prominence in "L'ECLISSE" as well. Antonioni also utilizes a technique that perfectly shows the failure of people to communicate or reach each other -- whenever two people are talking to each other they usually don't look at each other. One person will usually have his back to the other or one person will look away into space while talking. But I still haven't said what L'AVVENTURA is about. What happens in L'AVVENTURA? What's the movie about? Well, quite a lot, actually -- but not in the way we are USED to things happening in movies. This is another of the groundbreaking facets of Antonioni's film. L'AVVENTURA literally means "adventure" in Italian and some people see this as ironic since nothing outright "adventurous" or "exciting" happens in the film. I think of it more as a double meaning: the film is an adventure in the sense of human relationships and emotions but "l'avventura" is also the Italian term for a "fling". And this will become more appropriate as the movie goes along. L'AVVENTURA opens with a glimpse of well-to-do Anna (Lea Massari) talking to her diplomat father. There is something wrong between them -- some tension or disagreement that Antonioni does NOT tell us about. It's like we came upon these two people in conversation and, just as in real life, they don't stop to explain what they're talking about but go on with their day. Anna is meeting her best friend Claudia (Monica Vitti) to go on a cruise around the Aeolian Islands with some friends on their boat. The two women drive to meet Anna's lover Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti -- who played the crippled Morton in Sergio Leone's "ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST"). Anna and Sandro have been apart for about a month and Anna seems reluctant to see him again. When they arrive, Claudia remains in the street below while Anna goes up to see Sandro and has some of that unfulfilling sex I was talking about a while ago. Notice in the picture above Claudia can be seen out the window below while Anna and Sandro get on with it. Later, the trio meets up with two other couples and departs on their pleasure boat to a remote, desolate, rocky island. All during the boat trip, Anna tells Claudia her relationship with Sandro ain't so hot. The time apart has done something to her and she just wants to be alone somewhere. Once on the island, Anna and Sandro go off together to discuss things. Anna's feelings are a mess: she tells Sandro the thought of losing him makes her want to die but, in the same breath, she just doesn't feel him any more and they shouldn't get married. Anna's emotions, in fact, are as turbulent and swirling as the rough waves crashing on the island rocks. Perplexed, Sandro lays down on a rock and falls asleep while Anna broods in the foreground. Antonioni dissolves the scene to sometime later when the weather is changing; the ocean is getting rougher, the sky is getting cloudier and it's time for the party to leave the island. However, when the group gathers, they can't find Anna. They search the small island to no avail. Anna has disappeared. In fact, Anna has left the movie. Permanently. We never see her again. Sandro, Claudia and the one of the others stay on the island in a shack overnight but Anna still does not turn up. Anna's father arrives with a search party -- but no Anna. Has she secretly slipped off the island somehow to "be alone"? Or has her inner turmoil caused her to commit suicide? From here on, Sandro and Claudia go on a search for Anna all around Italy. But gradually the two begin to have feelings for one another and, while they still go one searching for Anna, they (and we the movie viewers) practically forget all about Anna. And in fact, Antonioni never tells us what happened to Anna! And by the end of the film (or even much before that) we don't really care. The movie becomes all about the growing romance between Claudia and Sandro with all the guilt and confusion of feelings their situation entails. And the final scene is stunning in its emotional rawness and impact -- one of the most haunting final images in film. Now, some people have called L'AVVENTURA "hard to understand" but I found it to be nothing of the kind. In fact, I found it to be stunningly up front and clear. There is a deliberate feel of mystery in the movie but anyone who WATCHES the film knows what's going on. Of course, that does presuppose the viewer will WATCH L'Avventura with their full attention . . . if you're going to multi-task and "sorta" watch it, you're not going to SEE the movie. As I said, EVERYTHING on screen. . .EVERYTHING that happens is meaningful. Nothing is superfluous. In that way, L'AVVENTURA is jam-packed with action and emotion. Just not the "summer blockbuster" kind. So you have to actually WATCH L'Avventura to fall under its spell. If you do, it will engulf you like an ocean wave. And now, having said all this, I will mention that Antonioni's third film in the trilogy begun with L'AVVENTURA is even better. That film is L'ECLISSE. THE ECLIPSE. And I hope to write about that one soon. . . if I can figure out just how to do it.

Uh. . .I'm working my way up to this one. I don't know how to approach writing about this one so be patient. I'll get there because I frankly love this movie and it's become one of my top top favourites. Or else the film will beat me and I won't be able to coherently write about it the way I want to write about it. Suffice it to say that I've watched the movie 8 times (twice with commentary track) in the last 2 weeks. So hopefully I'm almost there. Watch this space. . .

HAPPY 63rd BIRTHDAY, ROBERT NESTA.

TODAY IS THE 100th BIRTHDAY OF PEG ENTWHISTLE. That name probably doesn't mean anything to you. However, she appeared in one of my favourite little 1930's mystery flicks: THIRTEEN WOMEN along with a young Irene Dunne and an even younger Myrna Loy. It's a great little film and you should see it one day. But Peg Entwhistle will be known far longer as the stage actress who failed to make it in the movies - - so she famously leapt to her death from the "H" of the Hollywood sign. She was 24 years old. A note found after her death read: "I am afraid, I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E. " So here's to the memory of an actress I fondly remember from only one screen appearance. . . and one in the countless string of hopefuls chewed up by the Hollywood machine.

"She's waitin' for me

when I get home from work oh, but things ain't just the same She turns out the light and cries in the dark won't answer when I call her name On the stairs I smoke a cigarette alone Mexican kids are shootin' fireworks below Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July She gives me her cheek when I want her lips but I don't have the strength to go On the lost side of town in a dark apartment we gave up trying so long ago On the stairs I smoke a cigarette alone Mexican kids are shootin' fireworks below Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July What ever happened I apologize dry your tears and baby walk outside, it's the Fourth of July On the stairs I smoke a cigarette alone Mexican kids are shootin' fireworks below Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July

Hey baby, Baby take a walk outside."

THE BIG BARRICADE. So, I spent the weekend barricaded inside against all the people around me who are sick with the plague. This means that it was a solid movie marathon wherein I never stepped foot outside (except when I had to work a half day Saturday). Once I came home from work Saturday afternoon (clutching a nice takeout order of Shredded Pork with Garlic Sauce to sustain me), I began watching films of a mostly noirish flavour. . . some more than others.

I began with THE BIG CLOCK, a 1948 bonafide film noir starring Ray Milland as a guy desperately trying to prove his innocence in a murder case. The corpse is a blonde; she was despatched with a metal sundial with a green ribbon tied on it (don't ask -- just go watch the film). The eponymous "big clock" is the big clock in the office building of Janoth Publications; Milland's character works on the magazine "Crimeways" and the big boss is clock-obsessed Charles Laughton. There's a nice dotty cameo from Elsa Lanchester as a dizzy artist while Maureen Sullivan is adequate if nothing more as Milland's patient wife. If you look closely you'll see Margaret Field (Sally Field's mom and star of the sci-fi classic "The Man From Planet X") as a secretary and Noel Neill (Lois Lane herself) as an elevator operator. A terrific little noir that I've always liked quite a lot. Beautiful chiaroscuro photography. Tautly directed by John Farrow (that's right; Mia's dad).

Next came a little sleeper hit from 1945: MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS starring Nina Foch in the best role of her career. Journeyman director Joseph H. Lewis surprised everybody (including probably himself) by making this picture; it began life as the forgettable bottom of a double bill but got such a buzz from audiences and critics at the time that it leapt to "A" status. Foch is the title character who takes a job as a live-in secretary to an old lady and her odd son (played by Dame May Whitty and George Macready respectively). She wakes up (after having been drugged) in a seaside manor in Cornwall with everyone insisting she is Mrs. Hughes; Macready's mentally ill wife. She naturally insists she's not Macready's batty wife but they insist she is -- and that her memory of being "Julia Ross" is just another of her delusions. She tries many times to escape the house and fails. Naturally the Hughes (mother and son) are up to something diabolical. If this sounds vaguely familiar, it's because this basic setup was remade in 1986 for the Mary Steenbergen thriller "DEAD OF WINTER" co-starring Roddy MacDowell. For some reason, this film saw something of a mini-marathon of George Macready movies because the Big Clock and the next movie both feature this wonderfully slimy character actor.

The third film on my hit parade was the 1946 noir classic "GILDA" starring Rita Hayworth in her star-making role. Glenn Ford plays her old love and George Macready plays her new husband. Who knows exactly what the plot to this one is; it doesn't matter. It's the three stars who are riveting and the reason to watch the film. There's some ho-hah about Tungsten monopolies in Argentina and former Nazis. But we just roll with it. Hayworth displays some real acting chops while Ford and Macready are no slouches either. No one can ever hear the song "Put the Blame on Mame" without thinking of Gilda. And yes, Gilda Radner's mom named her after this movie.

Fourth outta the (DVD) box was another noir classic from 1947: OUT OF THE PAST starring Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas and a surprising Jane Greer. This one was directed by Jacques Tourneur and is in the running as possibly his best film. Mitchum is at his best as a former private eye who is hiding from his former employer (Kirk Douglas) for double-crossing him. Daniel Mainwaring's screenplay was adapted from his own novel and is sheer noir poetry; possibly because he was helped (uncredited) by James M. Cain. The entire cast is flawless and Jane Greer has the role of her career as a woman whom you're never quite sure where she stands. One of the quintessential films noir ever made.

The fifth film went backwards a little in time since THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS" was, in fact, Kirk Douglas' first movie. Here we have another classic (if little known) film noir starring Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Kirk Douglas and Lizabeth Scott (in my favourite role for the actress) as well as a small role for Dame Judith Anderson as Stanwyck's rotten aunt (perfect casting since the two actresses LOOK like they could be related). The plot to this one is too extensive to go into here; let's just say it's another noir where someone's past catches up with them (in fact, almost the entire cast). Stanwyck is perfect as the cold-hearted, manipulative wife of twitchy Kirk Douglas (who does a remarkable job in his first film role up against these acting heavyweights). Lizabeth Scott pouts like no other and Van Heflin is the quintessential rough and tumble gambling man with a heart of gold. Wonderful little film!

Sixth is possibly Edgar G. Ulmer's best film: 1945's DETOUR (only the Universal Boris Karloff - Bela Lugosi vehicle THE BLACK CAT rivals it). This film illustrates the classic noir idea that, no matter what you do you cannot escape what fate has in store for you. This is Tom Neal's most famous role (in fact, his ONLY famous role) as a pianist hitchhiking to California to meet his girlfriend. Along the way, he is picked up by a man named Haskell who died during the trip. Unfortunately, Tom Neal opens the car door and the dead or sleeping (it's never clear which) Haskell falls out and cracks his head on a rock. Believing the cops would never believe he didn't kill the man, Tom Neal buries the guy in the desert, takes his car, I.D., money and clothes and continues on to California. When he finally reaches California, Tom Neal has the even MORE unfortunate luck to meet Vera (played savagely by the aptly named Ann Savage) and things REALLY begin to heat up. There's absolutely nothing Tom Neal can do to get out from under the vicious joke fate is playing on him -- and that's the heart of film noir. Strangely, Tom Neal's real life would follow much the same path as his character in this film. His real-life on again/off again romance with actress Barbara Payton (Four Sided Triangle) resulted in his almost beating actor Franchot Tone to death. Later, Neal was jailed for murdering his wife. Even more bizarrely, DETOUR was remade in 1992 starring Tom Neal's real life son in the same part. This movie is an unforgettable experience in ultra-low budget filmmaking. Oh yeah. . .and the song of the movie? "I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me". Can't never hear that song without thinking of this movie. No how.

The seventh film is Alfred Hitchcock's favourite of all his films: 1943's SHADOW OF A DOUBT starring Joseph Cotten as Uncle Charlie and Teresa Wright as niece Charlie. Evil comes to small town America . . . and Hitchcock loved it! Not really noir but it's what I felt like watching next. While my opinion of the film is not quite as high as Hitchcock's (my favourite of his films has got to be REAR WINDOW), this is indeed a fascinating study of suspicion and trust. There's a killer on the loose who offs wealthy widows by strangling them. The law isn't sure who the fiend is but they've got it narrowed down to two men . . . and one of them is Uncle Charlie; the favourite uncle of Charlie (Teresa Wright). The young girl finds life in typical middle America deadly dull and wishes her Uncle Charlie would visit and liven things up. Coincidentally, Uncle Charlie is coming to visit on his own. While she is initially thrilled to have her uncle visit, young Charlie soon begins to suspect something isn't quite right with her uncle. The appearance of two government investigators (Macdonald Carey and perennial character actor Wallace Ford in probably the most subdued and understated role of his career) serve to further freak young Charlie out. In the meantime, Uncle Charlie is beginning to suspect that his niece suspects HIM. Let the suspense begin. I always thought that SHADOW OF A DOUBT would make an interesting double feature with the B-grade little Francis Lederer horror film THE RETURN OF DRACULA which always seemed to me to be something of a cross (pun intended) between SHADOW OF A DOUBT and DRACULA. Watch 'em both and see.

The eighth film brings us into the downbeat 70's with Robert Altman's 1973 adaptation of Raymond Chandler's "THE LONG GOODBYE" starring Elliott Gould as detective Philip Marlowe. This is a perfectly odd adaptation which some people don't like at all. It's true that this is unlike any other Raymond Chandler/Philip Marlowe movie made before. I in fact didn't particularly like it the first time I saw it -- I didn't dislike it either. However, it's grown on me since then and I can appreciate the new take Gould brings to the character. It's also got a great ending. There is also an amazing performance from Sterling Hayden as a kind of drunken surly (and more than slightly unhinged) writer in the Ernest Hemingway mold. There is also Henry Gibson (sans giant flower) as a bizarre mental doctor. Definitely worth a look.

Ninth out of the gate is the late Bob Clark's 1979 film MURDER BY DECREE which brings us the hoary pairing of Sherlock Holmes with Jack the Ripper. Once again we have the (pretty much disproven) theory that the royal family had something to do with the Ripper murders -- more precisely the Duke of Clarence Prince Eddy secretly married Annie Crook and had a child with her. Then the royal physician and another man went about murdering all the prostitute friends of Annie Crook who knew about the baby. The freemasons are also added to the mix. Regardless of the unlikeliness of this theory bearing any semblance to fact, this Ripper film is classy and fairly well-made (until the rather weak final confrontation). The black contact lenses worn by the Ripper(s) is genuinely unsettling in shots. Christopher Plummer as Holmes is very serviceable while James Mason's Dr. Watson is rather the same doddering cliche that appears in many movies. Genevieve Bujold's one scene as Annie Crook is genuinely affecting. The appearance of Sir John Gielgud as "The Prime Minister" provides a face to face meeting of two Sherlocks: Gielgud played Holmes in a rather good radio series during the 1950's with Sir Ralph Richardson as Dr. Watson. There is also a small role for Donald Sutherland who is fairly wasted as a psychic. All in all a solid if unspectacular Holmes/Ripper film.

The tenth and last film in my weekend barricade movie marathon is an installment of the Brian Clemens' 70's horror anthology show THRILLER entitled "FILE IT UNDER FEAR". This 1973 made-for-tv movie is not my favourite of the series (that would be my oft-discussed fave SOMEONE AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS) but it's got a really nice atmosphere of the early 70's that I quite like to revisit again and again. The mise en scene is a public library around which someone is murdering . . . shall we say. . . "loose" women. It's like the Ripper all over again only this time someone's strangling them. The cast is lead by Maureen Lipman as head librarian Miss Morris -- I kept thinking "I know this actress from somewhere but where the hell is it?" Well, not only was she in the bizarre little filmed Christmas play "Absurd Person Singular" but she also appeared in the new Doctor Who series episode "The Idiot's Lantern" in which she sucks people into television sets in the 1950's. Also in the cast is veteran British character actor John LeMesurier. This is a nice and creepy way to end my little (LITTLE?!?!) big barricade movie marathon. I wonder what the NEXT marathon theme will be???

NEW LINK OVER THERE. Yeah, over there. In the recommended links list on the right hand side. Go look under TV Intros.com and you will find a wacky little site that has a strange little credo: "Where all that matters is how the show starts." You guessed it; they have countless videos of TV show theme songs. I mean, come on . . . we all know that the best part of most TV shows is the theme song -- once the actual programme starts it's often all downhill. So here we have the beginnings of MUCH TOO MANY shows where you can see anything from the theme song to SILVER SPOONS (Hi Fink!) to the godawful duet singing that opened JOANIE LOVES CHACHI. Oh, and another favourite is the several BATTLE OF THE NETWORK STARS show openings on offer on the very same site. And they've got THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN too, folks! And it looks like every damn season of SURVIVOR (Hi Cheeks!). But there's just one thing I wanna know: how come I've never heard of BATFINK until I saw it on this site?!?!?! And why haven't we seen MORE of him?!?!?!?

So, go on have a look. You know you wanna. After all, we can't all be sitting around a Rustler Steak House table listening to a TV Toons tape and talking about that old show SMOKE GUN. . .

"BALL TOOK A BAD HOP!" There's real life and there's the MGM musical; and never the twain shall meet. "THREE LITTLE WORDS" is one of my favourite musicals: it's about the "true" life story of songwriters Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby who wrote such standards as "Who's Sorry Now", "Nevertheless", "Thinking of You", "I Wanna Be Loved By You", "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" and many more. And naturally, being an MGM musical from 1950 there is a LOT of artistic license brought to bear. Nevertheless (pun intended) I like to think this is EXACTLY the way the songwriters' lives played out. "THREE LITTLE WORDS" is one of Fred Astaire's favourites of his own films (and he knew both the songwriters from his days in vaudeville). However, the film is less a Fred Astaire vehicle than a musical biopic; Fred is always in service to the story even though we do get to see quite a few Astaire dance routines thrown into the film at appropriate moments.

Bert Kalmar (Fred Astaire) and his fiancee Jessie Brown (the incomparable Vera-Ellen) are vaudeville hoofers -- and quite a successful dance team at that. Despite the great success, Kalmar pines to become a stage magician. He in fact secretly performs a (very bad) magic act in a run down vaudeville theater under the assumed name of "Kendall the Great". During a particularly abyssmal performance, Kalmar's magic act is botched by stagehand Harry Ruby (the also incomparable Red Skelton -- oh yeah, and by the way, Astaire is incomparable too I just forgot to mention it) who would rather be playing baseball than pushing geese and rabbits through trapdoors for a hack magician. After the show, Kalmar is furious and Ruby gets fired. Jessie and Kalmar's agent Charlie (Keenan Wynn) find out about Kalmar's "magic act" and gently tease him about wanting to be a third rate magician when he's a first rate dancer. There is talk of Bert and Jessie finally tying the knot. But as fate would have it, a backstage accident smashes Bert's knee and the dancer is laid up indefinately -- he may never dance again. Since Bert has "finally stopped moving long enough", Jessie finally accepts his proposal of marriage -- however, Bert is too proud to marry her without being able to support her and he doesn't want to hold her back from a successful career -- so Jessie departs in tears to become a solo while Bert decides to attempt songwriting to make a living (a task he's toyed with in the past but never took seriously).

While visiting a Tin Pan Alley building, Kalmar overhears a songplugger playing a song he wrote on a piano. Naturally, it's Harry Ruby -- but Kalmar doesn't recognize him as the lout who spoiled his magic act. He looks familiar though... The song Ruby is playing (for which he has no lyrics yet) will one day become the standard "Three Little Words"; however, this song becomes a running gag throughout the movie. Kalmar thinks it's "a nice enough little tune" but asks Ruby "what else ya got?" All throughout the movie (long after the two have become a successful songwriting team), Ruby will play this tune whenever Kalmar asks if he's got any new tunes. As the two become fantastically successful as songwriters, Bert eventually reconciles with Jessie and marries her. Besides Kalmar's fondness for magic, he also has a yen to become a playwright. Unfortunately, the play Bert spends years writing is not very good and Ruby is told of this. For Bert's own good (because he's going to sink everything he's got into this turkey of a play and will almost certainly lose his shirt), Ruby warns off the only possible investor and the play dies unborn.

This crushes Kalmar but Ruby can never let on about what he did. Concurrently, Harry is constantly falling in love with girls who are -- shall we say -- not the marrying kind. Ruby is constantly getting engaged to these hoydens while they are seeing other gents behind his back. Each time this happens, Kalmar arranges for Ruby to go down to baseball camp and practice with his friend's professional baseball team. By the time Ruby returns, the woman of the moment has already married somebody else. Ruby, unaware of each woman's philandering, believes the breakup was caused by his sojourn down at the baseball camp -- and he would be livid if he found out it was Bert that scotched his romantic aspirations. Of course, these two secrets among friends are BOUND to come out sooner or later. And they do. And it breaks up the songwriting team. The two men no longer speak and the years go by . . . until their wives hatch a scheme to get the two songwriters together again.

The songs in the film are naturally classics; arising as they do from the Kalmar and Ruby songbook. Richard Thorpe's direction is swift, enjoyable and to the point. Not too much time goes by without a song or a dance number appearing exactly where we want one. The cast, of course, is second to none. Fred Astaire and Red Skelton have a terrific chemistry together as Kalmar and Ruby. It's also always a huge treat to hear Red Skelton sing; it's another apparently little known fact about Red Skelton that he had a fine singing voice. Astaire in fact does some really fine acting in the film and he and Skelton make their characters quite real and complex; not cardboard cutouts at all. Add Vera-Ellen to this pair and the chemistry is even better; she also earns kudos for her acting job. All three get on so well together that you believe they've known each other for years. Later in the film, as the songwriting team has broken up and Kalmar is not there to prevent it, Ruby marries a singer/actress named Eileen Percy (Arlene Dahl). BUT it turns it this is finally the right woman for Ruby and the match is perfect. Dahl fits in perfectly with the other three cast members (if in fact possessing a little less chemistry than the others). There are also some very nice set pieces sprinkled all throughout the film with some effective cameos. The real Harry Ruby in fact appears as one of the baseball players Skelton throws a pitch to. Stunningly beautiful Gloria DeHaven appears in the film playing her own real life mother as she sings the new Kalmar-Ruby composition "Who's Sorry Now". And an incredibly young Debbie Reynolds appears as Helen Kane (better known the inspiration for Betty Boop); however when she sings "I Wanna Be Loved By You" it is the REAL Helen Kane who dubs her singing voice. And speaking of dubbed singing, Vera-Ellen's singing was dubbed (as was common at the time) by Anita Ellis; however, you'd never know it unless someone told you.

"THREE LITTLE WORDS" is one of those movies I've been watching again and again and again since childhood. The immense charm of the actors, the terrific songs and comedy, the classic dance numbers by Fred and Vera-Ellen -- all this makes it one of my top 5 favourite musicals of all time. A couple years ago the film was FINALLY released on DVD inside a box set called "Classic Musicals of the Dream Factory" and then released separately as a stand alone disc. The production values by MGM are, of course, superb and the DVD print is damn near spotless: vivid, saturated colours and wonderful sound. A few years before the DVD, I was also lucky enough to pick up the soundtrack cd (which was released in a very limited edition). It's a mystery to me why this film isn't better known but once seen it's hard to resist. Maybe because it's not too flashy and doesn't feature much in musical pyrotechnics. It's just pure joy to watch and one of the best musicals MGM ever made.