MY 100 FAVOURITE FILMS (PART ONE). Recently I had a little discussion about what could be my favourite film. I was naturally unable to choose just one film among the thousands I love. How can you pick just one film to be your favourite when movies differ so widely from each other? Western, musical, horror film, comedy. So I decided it was about time to winnow down all the movies I love into a list of a select hundred. The choosing of the films to make the list is, naturally, totally subjective. Ask me at any given time to pick 100 and I'm sure the list with be different each time. However, after much thought and agonizing eliminations, I've come up with the 100 I would now call my favourite. I might add that these are not representing what I think are the BEST movies ever made; this list of 100 only represents my subjective favourites and therefore will feature some films which are not exactly shining examples of the cinematic art -- but merely those 100 films which I connect with most strongly. Now, I still don't have a number one fave and this list is not going to be in order of preference. I've decided to form the list chronologically starting with the earliest. As to prevent the list from becoming too unwieldy, I have also decided to post the lucky hundred in groups of ten at a time. So here we have the first ten (and earliest chronologically).

• M (1931) dir. Fritz Lang -- German film based on a true story of a child murderer, the monumental performance of Peter Lorre deservedly catapulted him to world stardom. Lang's surehanded direction is masterful in ratcheting up the suspense while making the homicidal maniac partially sympathetic as well as reprehensible. Grieg's music of "In The Hall of the Mountain King" would never be heard the same way again. Lorre is simply stunning!

• Frankenstein (1931) dir. James Whale -- While many critics prefer the sequel (you will however notice BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN does not appear anywhere in my top 100 films) this is the one that captures my imagination. Here Whale plays it straight (you should pardon the pun) and creates a gothic Universal horror for the ages. Obviously this is the movie that made Boris Karloff a star; aided by the masterful makeup by Jack Pierce. From the opening shots of Colin Clive shoveling dirt in the face of a statue of Death himself to the final conflagration at the windmill, this film is an almost perfect poem of morbidity and death which towers above almost all others.

• Trouble In Paradise (1932) dir. Ernst Lubitsch -- Undoubtedly the director's finest film, this sparkling glass of champagne is the ultimate expression of pre-code Hollywood in its frank depiction of sex and seduction. . .not to mention petty larceny. Herbert Marshall has never been better as the suave jewel thief who falls for and teams up with fellow jewel thief Miriam Hopkins. However, when Marshall goes after the wavishing Kay Francis, he's torn between his larcenous ways and his heartstrings. One of the most sophisticated comedies ever made; it's quite European in feel even though it was made in America. The height of 30's art deco aspirations.

• The Mummy (1932) dir. Karl Freund -- Gifted cinematographer Freund takes to the director's chair with this waking nightmare that plays like a projected dreamstate up on the screen. Basically a retelling of Universal's previous hit "DRACULA", this tops it by leaps and bounds. Karloff again appears in breathtaking Jack Pierce makeup as the revivified mummy Imhotep as well as the parchment-faced Ardath Bey; trying to stop the European infidels from robbing the tombs of Egypt. Exotic Zita Johann is perfectly cast as the reincarnated Egyptian princess and many of the cast from "DRACULA" appear as well. Seldom has the feel of a dream been so beautifully realized up on the silver screen.

• The Big Broadcast (1932) dir. Frank Tuttle -- Another pre-code film which has fun with the concept of Bing Crosby committing suicide, this utterly bizarre and surreal musical has to be seen to be believed. Most of the biggest radio stars of the day (Kate Smith, The Mills Brothers, The Boswell Sisters, Cab Calloway and Der Bingle himself) cavort in almost a stream of consciousness movie involving a radio station's bid for success by putting on the biggest broadcast ever. The aforementioned "suicide attempt" scene involves Stuart Irwin and Bing, both jilted by women, turning on the gas to kill themselves. They then hallucinate the ghostly form of Arthur Tracy (The Masked Tenor of the Air) slithering through a grate as vapour singing the incredibly unsettling "Here Lies Love". There's never been a musical like it before or since.

• The Old Dark House (1932) dir. James Whale -- Back to the mischievous James Whale with his archest of black comedies involving a small group of people (Melvyn Douglas, Raymond Massey, Gloria Stuart, Charles Laughton) seeking refuge from a storm in a . . . well, old dark house. . .belonging to the wildly eccentric Femm family (outrageously camp Ernest Thesiger, dour Eva Moore and their mute brute of a manservant Boris Karloff). Amid the lightning and thunder, there is talk of another Femm locked away in the attic due to his penchant for pyromania. Add to this mix the ancient patriarch of the family (played by the female Elspeth Dudgeon with wispy white beard) and you have the maddest of madhouses. Gloria Stuart, dressed in a slinky white satin dress, was instructed by Whale to run through the darkened corridors as if she was a flame moving through the eerie house. "Have a potato!"

• Duck Soup (1933) dir. Leo McCarey -- The Marx Brothers' masterpiece of insanity. Unlike all the other Marx Brothers movies which are saddled with incredibly insipid love stories involving bland engenues, here the Four Marx Brothers are let loose for total insanity. The nation of Freedonia is going to war. And I can see Margaret Dumont is bending over a hot stove. But I can't see the stove!

• Holiday (1938) dir. George Cukor -- Cary Grant is a working stiff who falls in love while on vacation. What he doesn't know is that the girl he's fallen for is stinking rich. Her sister Katharine Hepburn is the black sheep of the family and brother Lew Ayres has taken to drink to cope with the heavy burden of corporate responsibility rich Papa has placed on his shoulders. Naturally we're rooting for Cary and Kate to get together instead. Sister Doris Nolan is all wrong for him. Edward Everett Horton and Jean Dixon are Cary's hilarious down-to-earth friends the Potters. Binnie Barnes and Henry Daniell are the rich and snooty relatives. And Kate's playroom (where meetings are held for the Anti-Stuffed-Shirt and Trapeze Club) is the ultimate sanctuary of my dreams!

• Stagecoach (1939) dir. John Ford -- A masterpiece which saw John Ford learn how to make a "grown-up" western and found John Wayne catapulted to stardom as The Ringo Kid. A disparate group of people (Claire Trevor, Thomas Mitchell, John Carradine, etc.) board a cross-country stagecoach while Geronimo is on the warpath. The interrelationships between the characters is a marvel to see and the typical awe-inspiring John Ford shots make this one of the greatest westerns ever made.

• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) dir. Frank Capra -- A senator drops dead and the political machine who owned him decides to place a young, naive boys club leader in the senate as their compliant puppet. Unfortunately for them, Jimmy Stewart can't be played like that. Jean Arthur is magical as the jaded secretary who is charged with nursemaiding the new senator. Claude Rains as Stewart's mentor is also quite fine as the senior senator also in the pocket of political boss Edward Arnold. The climactic fillibuster with a hoarse Stewart refusing to yield the floor of the Senate until a smear campaign against him is proven to be all lies is thrilling, inspiring and yes a little dose of "Capra Corn". But that doesn't make it any less true and right. And we certainly need more Jefferson Smith's in government today!

So, that's the first 10 of my top 100. In the next installment, we're going to be flying high in the clouds as well as experiencing some magical fantasy, some mysterious and classic films noir and a couple candidates for the greatest film ever made. All that and more in Part Two of My 100 Favourite Films!

EXECUTIVE SUITE (1954) is one of those perfectly distilled 50's movies. Peter Biskind's excellent book on fifties films SEEING IS BELIEVING devotes and entire chapter to it and, I must say, it deserves the attention. I saw the film for the first time last week and immediately re-watched it once "The End" had flashed on the screen. EXECUTIVE SUITE could never be made today because a) they don't really MAKE memorable films anymore and b) the business world has changed to much in the over half century since the film was made. Trust me, nothing bores me quite like financial matters. This makes my enjoyment of EXECUTIVE SUITE all the more remarkable. In fact, it's true the film is about big business but it's REALLY about the backroom machinations rampant in anything from political thrillers to an Agatha Christie whodunit. There is also more than a little hint of KING LEAR. Screenwriter Ernest Lehman and director Robert Wise somehow manage to make a movie about boardrooms almost rivetting. The cast is second to none: Barbara Stanwyck, William Holden, June Allyson, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, Shelley Winters, Nina Foch, Dean Jagger, Louis Calhern and Paul Douglas form one of the most boffo casts ever put together. And the film is also noteworthy (and slightly shocking) in it's complete -- and I do mean COMPLETE -- absence of a musical score. Even the opening credits is without music; the tolling of a clocktower bell accompanied by real ambient sound is used.

Basically, the film is about Avery Bullard: a bigtime captain of industry who rules the Tredway Corporation (a huge furniture manufacturing giant) like a feudal king. We never actually see Bullard as the camera takes his POV the entire time he's alive. Which isn't long. Bullard drops dead in the street (filmed on the actual Wall Street) hailing a taxi. The only problem is he has never named a successor and he had five Vice Presidents sitting on the board who are all equally entitled to the presidency of the company. Immediately before Bullard (notice most of the characters names are "telling") dropped dead, he had sent a telegram back to Tredway calling a mandatory board meeting at 6:00 PM. Prior to that, Bullard had been in the office of an investment banker (Edgar Stehli) along with one of his aforementioned VP's: George Caswell (the perfectly cast gruff and sneaky Louis Calhern). Caswell looks out the office building window and sees an ambulance taking the dead Bullard away. With the stock market only open for another scant 43 minutes, Caswell orders all his Tredway stock to be sold. Short. This way, once Bullard's death makes the papers Tredway stock will fall dramatically in price and Caswell can buy it back for much cheaper. This is a Friday and the stock market won't open again until Monday obviously. Of course, to further stir the pot (or plot), a passerby steals Bullard's wallet so the dead magnate cannot at first be identified. Then there's the intriguing question: 'Why did Bullard call the executive meeting in the first place?' Was he going to name his successor? Or was there some other reason? The film nicely leaves that question unanswered as yet one more mystery in EXECUTIVE SUITE.

Back at Tredway, Bullard's telegram arrives in the executive suite ordering his secretary Erica Martin (the superb Nina Foch) to call the 6:00 board meeting. Everyone is still unaware of their president's death. Most of the VP's are annoyed at this last minute meeting for various reasons. Those VP's? Bullard's number two man Alderson (Walter Pidgeon) is a nice but inadequate fellow who is probably fit for the number two spot but not as the head honcho. VP Loren Shaw (an excellent Fredric March) is the heartless and cold comptroller of the company who is only concerned with the bottom line. William Holden nicely plays VP McDonald Walling who is in charge of research and development; Walling goes way back with Bullard and has always had a free hand to develop new, artistic creations -- UNTIL beancounter Shaw gained Bullard's ear. Now Tredway is making increasingly shoddier product (it is referred to as cheap, embarrassing and junk at various points during the film) and Walling has been getting frustrated at the downturn of Tredway's "integrity" as a company. Walling's wife Mary (a surprisingly sexy this time June Allyson -- who knew she was rockin' some hot abs?!?!) urges him to quit rather than "die a slow death" at Tredway. Another disillusioned VP is Jesse Grimm (crusty Dean Jagger) in charge of manufacturing; Grimm is planning to retire and chuck the company. Next we have pat-you-on-the-back sales VP Josiah Walter Dudley (Paul Douglas) who has had to sell the rather inferior product not on its merits but on the quality of his scotch and his winning personality. Married Dudley is having an affair with a secretary (an unusually reigned-in performance by Shelley Winters who shines in her rather small role) and is planning on sneaking off for a romantic weekend when Bullard's board meeting is called. The last major player is Julia Tredway (a slightly manic Barbara Stanwyck) who is the daughter of the company's founder and consequently owns a HUGE HONKIN' CHUNK of Tredway stock. Tredway's father apparently jumped out the window during a past financial crisis and Bullard took over the company and served as a father figure (or possibly MORE -- that's never made clear) for Barbara Stanwyck's character. Unfortunately, in recent years Bullard has grown distant from Julia causing her to look longingly out office highrise windows from time to time as if contemplating daddy's choice for herself.

Suspense is ratcheted up nicely as we are kept waiting for SOMEBODY to find out that Bullard is actually dead. The VPs wait in the boardroom for Bullard to arrive and eventually give up and leave. When Bullard's death is finally made public, the scramble begins among the VPs as to the naming of a successor. The shady deals and backroom handshakes are too labyrinthine to go into here but everybody is trying to curry everybody else's favor as a power struggle ensues between those who want Fredric March's soul-less beancounter as president and those who don't. Alliances form back and forth and the final climactic scene involving the vote really leaves you guessing. AND it's a real nail biter as well. Illicit sex is dealt with matter-of-factly which is strange for a film of this vintage; the dalliances between married businessmen and secretaries are shown rather realistically without averting the camera's eye. There is also conflict aplenty -- June Allyson wants William Holden to choose family over work, Fredric March releases a rosy financial statement undercutting Louis Calhern's stock manipulations, Dean Jagger is out on a pleasure boat somewhere and won't come back for the vote, Barbara Stanwyck gives Fredric March her proxy and then shows up at the vote anyway...

EXECUTIVE SUITE shapes up with twists and turns aplenty providing lots of drama in the board room. It's quite like a gripping courtroom drama only without the court room. This is the cutthroat world of high finance and everybody's got something up their sleeves. Performances are uniformly excellent by the entire cast. My only slight quibble is that the final resolution of the film seems a little rushed. But with this tiny quibble hardly worth mentioning, I highly recommend you take a look at this film and see who does what to whom and why.

GEORGE CARLIN WAS A COMEDIAN WHO MEANT SOMETHING. Naturally, he was extremely funny. He was also extremely witty (there's a difference). But on top of all that, he was a comedian who actually stood for something. Remember when that wasn't so unusual? But what stand up comedian today could you point to and say "There's someone who stood for something other than laughs". Certainly not George Carlin today who has died leaving the world a much less funny and much less moral and thoughtful place than it was with him in it.

Carlin was often compared with Lenny Bruce and there's something to be said for that. Both men were concerned with that old concept of free speech. Remember when free speech was a concept the U.S. was concerned about as well? Both comedians would hold up a mirror to us all and force us to look. Not an easy thing to do and not always very popular. But it was something that needed to be done. And STILL needs to be done. And all the while he made it funny and not preachy. Those seven dirty words that you couldn't say on television couldn't hurt anybody and he was here to prove it. They're just words. It's actions that can hurt. Slamming the lid down on somebody who is trying to exercise freedom of speech is extremely hurtful and Carlin wasn't too fond of that. That's why he spent practically his entire professional career making progress (and he did make some concrete progress) on that front. He took his case all the way to the Supreme Court. This funnyman was serious about that shit! And it's frankly a shame that the vast majority of Americans couldn't care less about such fundamental basic freedoms upon which this country was founded in the first place and for which so many died to protect and ensure. It's all pretty much been forgotten along the way; and forfeiting those rights cheapens the memory of those dead as well as the integrity of this country. And that's why it's such a huge loss to find George Carlin not fighting for us anymore.

I actually had the great pleasure of meeting the man once about ten years ago. He was doing a book signing for his hardcover book "BRAIN DROPPINGS" and I can go to my grave boasting that I made George Carlin laugh. A genuine laugh; not one of those polite chuckles with which celebrities humour the public. Carlin had had to cancel his original book signing date due to the death of his wife but, being the kinda guy he was, he rescheduled it a little later for this measly little bookstore in a backwater of South Jersey. As I shook his hand, I look at him in mock horror and gasped "What Are You Doing in New Jersey?!?" (the title for one of his best comedy albums). The man laughed and put his other hand on top of the one he was already shaking. I then apologized saying "I guess you've heard that at least 20 times today." but he said, "No, actually you're the first!" The bookstore handlers had made a big show of telling us all to hustle through, not to ask for individual inscription or try to engage him in conversation. However, George Carlin being George Carlin, it was HE who genuinely engaged all of us in little conversations; looking each and every person in the eye and not sending us through like cattle in a pen. The guy certainly never "went Hollywood"; he was always down to earth and approachable. I find it to be an immense personal loss as well as this country's and the world's. George Carlin stood for something. Isn't it about time we all stood for something too?

R.I.P. CYD CHARISSE. I just this minute learned that Cyd Charisse has died at the age of 86. Coming on top of an already REALLY bad day, I find my thoughts going to my favourite Cyd Charisse moment. This occurred in that classic MGM musical "THE BAND WAGON" in which she danced with Fred Astaire in the park to the song "Dancing in the Dark". There isn't really anything more romantic than that. All through the movie, Fred & Cyd's character's couldn't stand each other through mutual misunderstanding. However, during a walk in the park where they are trying to get to know one another, they at first tentatively then spectacularly fall into one of the most superb dance routines in all of cinema. And nobody looked more beautiful in that simply but flowing white dress.

Fast forward a couple decades to the classic years of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. The dance was so memorable that Gilda Radner and Steve Martin redid it (albeit comically) on the show. The same song. Gilda was wearing the same dress. While the moment was very funny, it was also strangely touching. And all these years it remains probably my favourite Gilda Radner moment. The "lump in the throat" factor came years later when Gilda died. At the time, coincidentally, Steve Martin happened to be hosting SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. He walked out to the camera and announced the news of Gilda's death. And what did they play? That dance routine between Gilda and Steve Martin. That's how powerful it was and that's how memorable the original scene with Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire is. Rest in peace, dear lady. We're going to miss you.

1974 is calling! I don't know why. Something about the year 1974 lately has been badgering at my brain and I think the only way to exorcize it is to blog it. Maybe that will lay the ghost of 1974 to rest so it will stop popping up in my everyday life time after time after time. In the last week or so, the year 1974 has continually popped up constantly -- so it must be trying to tell me something. Now, 1974 was a good year for me. Being a kid and all. It was coming home from school to watch The Three Stooges and episodes of "The Mothers-In-Law" among many others. This was on the black and white TV I had in my room. You know, the one you had to reach over and turn the dial to change the channel. And what channels there were: 3 main ones (once known as VHF -- they were 3, 6 and 10), 3 local ones (once known as good ole UHF -- they were 17, 29 and 48), two public TV channels (WHYY-12 and NJN 23 the New Jersey Network). That was it, pal. Of course, late at night you MIGHT be able to just tune in an extremely snowy glimpse of a New York channel like Channel 9 or 11. Then there were weekends at my grandparents Westfield Avenue humongo house (5 storeys including the basement which once had been a Speakeasy during Prohibition -- but that's another story).

So what happened in 1974. Besides my being in the third grade, that is. Well, there was that whole Watergate thing. That was fun. The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped Patty Hearst and made her help them in a stick-up. There was the energy crisis and the oil embargo. ABBA wins the Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo". Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record with # 715. Stephen King published his first novel: "CARRIE". Formal impeachment hearings are opened for President Nixon who later becomes the first president to resign from office. Helmut Schmidt was elected West German chancellor. Valery Giscard d'Estaing is elected French president after the death of Georges Pompidou. The Philadelphia Flyers win the Stanley Cup. The first UPC code is scanned in Troy, Ohio in the sale of a pack of Wrigley's chewing gum. Juan Peron died and his wife Eva "Evita" Peron becomes President of Argentina. Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is deposed. Harold Wilson wins the second election of the year in the UK. Newly-sworn-in President Gerald Ford pardons Richard Nixon for any wrongdoing he done did as President. It's what's known as a presidential do-over!

WHO WAS BORN IN 1974???:

• Kate Moss, fashion model
• Christian Bale, actor
• Seth Green, actor
• D'Angelo, singer

• Robbie Williams, singer
• Victoria Beckham, singer
• Penelope Cruz, actress
• Jewel, singer
• Alanis Morissette, singer
• Steve-O, jackass
• Hilary Swank, actress
• Xzibit, rapper
• Jimmy Fallon, comedian
• Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR driver

• Shaggy 2 Dope, rapper
• Joaquin Phoeniz, actor
• Leonardo DiCaprio, actor
• Meg White, drummer
• Duff Goldman, celebrity chef

• Fairuza Balk, actress
• Jerry O'Connell, actor

• Pablo Francisco, comedian

WHO DIED IN 1974???:

• Tex Ritter, singer/actor
• Samuel Goldwyn, movie mogul
• Harry Ruby, songwriter
• Chet Huntley, TV news anchor
• Georges Pompidou, French President
• Bud Abbott, comedian

• Agnes Moorehead, actress
• Duke Ellington, musician
• Darius Milhaud, composer
• Frank Sutton, actor
• Juan Peron, President of Argentina
• Earl Warren, Supreme Court Justice
• Joe Flynn, actor
• Cass Elliot, singer
• Charles Lindbergh, aviator
• Ed Sullivan, TV host
• David Oistrakh, violinist
• Vittorio DeSica, director

• Nick Drake, singer

• Jack Benny, comedian
• Edward Platt, actor
• Donald Crisp, actor
• Ilona Massey, actress
• Olga Baclanova, actress
• Walter Brennan, actor
• Johnny Mack Brown, actor
• Richard Long, actor
• Anatole Litvak, director
• Dorothy Fields, songwriter
• Candy Darling, actor
• Anton Grot, art director
• Clay Shaw, businessman
• Hubbell Robinson, producer
• Ivory Joe Hunter, singer
• Otto Kruger, actor
• Jane Ace, comedian

THE MOVIES OF 1974:

• The Towering Inferno
• Blazing Saddles
• Young Frankenstein
• Earthquake
• The Trial of Billy Jack
• The Godfather Part II
• Airport 1975
• The Longest Yard
• The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams
• Murder On the Orient Express
• Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
• The Beast Must Die
• Benji

• Chinatown
• F For Fake
• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
• The Great Gatsby
• Herbie Rides Again
• The Man with the Golden Gun
• Son of Dracula
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• That's Entertainment!
• The Three Musketeers
• A Woman Under the Influence
• Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too
• Zardoz
• Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter

• Foxy Brown
• Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell
• The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
• Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires
• Madhouse
• The Missiles of October
• Let Sleeping Corpses Lie aka The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue
• Phantom of the Paradise
• Sugar Hill

THE ALBUMS WE LISTENED TO IN 1974:

• 461 Ocean Boulevard - Eric Clapton

• Apostrophe - Frank Zappa
• Autobahn - Kraftwerk
• Bad Company - Bad Company

• Caribou - Elton John
• Court and Spark - Joni Mitchell
• Crime of the Century - Supertramp
• Dark Horse - George Harrison
• Diamond Dogs - David Bowie
• Eldorado - Electric Light Orchestra
• Fine and Mellow - Ella Fitzgerald
• Fulfillingness' First Finale - Stevie Wonder
• Good Old Boys - Randy Newman
• Greatest Hits - Alice Cooper
• Grievous Angel - Gram Parsons
• The Heart of Saturday Night - Tom Waits
• Here Come the Warm Jets - Brian Eno
• Hergest Ridge - Mike Oldfield
• It's Only Rock 'n' Roll - The Rolling Stones
• Jolene - Dolly Parton
• Kansas - Kansas
• Late For the Sky - Jackson Browne
• The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - Genesis
• Miles of Aisles - Joni Mitchell
• Natty Dread - Bob Marley
• Nightlife - Thin Lizzy
• #1 Record - Big Star
• On the Border - The Eagles
• Past, Present and Future - Al Stewart
• Perfect Angel - Minnie Riperton
• Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan
• Queen II - Queen
• Rush - Rush
• Second Helping - Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Sheer Heart Attack - Queen
• The Singles: 1969-1973 - The Carpenters
• Standing on the Verge of Getting It On - Funkadelic
• Streetlife Serenade - Billy Joel
• Up For the Down Stroke - Parliament
• War Child - Jethro Tull
• Waterloo - ABBA
• What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits - The Doobie Brothers

THE SONGS OF 1974:

• The Air That I Breathe - The Hollies
• Already Gone - The Eagles
• American Tune - Paul Simon
• Another Saturday Night - Cat Stevens
• At My Window - Townes Van Zandt
• Aubrey - Bread
• Back of a Car - Big Star
• Bad Company - Bad Company
• Band On the Run - Paul McCartney & Wings
• Beach Baby - First Class
• Best of My Love - The Eagles
• Billy, Don't Be A Hero - Paper Lace
• The Bitch Is Back - Elton John
• Black Eyed Dog - Nick Drake
• Black Water - The Doobie Brothers
• Boogie On, Reggae Woman - Stevie Wonder
• The Bottle - Gil Scott-Heron
• Bungle in the Jungle - Jethro Tull
• The Candy Man - Sammy Davis Jr.
• Can't Get Enough - Bad Company
• Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe - Barry White
• Can't Get It Out of My Head - Electric Light Orchestra
• Captain Jack - Billy Joel
• Cats in the Cradle - Harry Chapin
• The Cockroach that Ate Cincinatti - Rose & the Arrangement
• Dancing Machine - The Jackson 5
• Dark Lady - Cher
• Devil Gate Drive - Suzi Quatro
• Doctor's Orders - Carol Douglas
• Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me - Elton John
• Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing - Stevie Wonder
• A Dream Goes On Forever - Todd Rundgren
• Earache My Eye - Cheech & Chong
• Fire - Ohio Players
• Free Man in Paris - Joni Mitchell
• Haven't Got Time for the Pain - Carly Simon
• Heartless - Heart
• Help Me - Joni Mitchell
• Hollywood Swinging - Kool & the Gang
• Honey, Honey - ABBA
• How Long - Ace
• I Feel Love - Charlie Rich
• I Honestly Love You - Olivia Newton-John
• I Shot the Sheriff - Eric Clapton
• It Ain't No Use - Stevie Wonder
• It's Only Rock 'n' Roll - The Rolling Stones
• Jet - Paul McCartney & Wings
• Jungle Boogie - Kool & the Gang
• Killer Queen - Queen
• Kinsiona - Franco & OK Jazz
• Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas
• Let It Ride - Bachman-Turner Overdrive
• Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me) - Reunion
• Lively Up Yourself - Bob Marley
• The Loco-Motion - Grand Funk Railroad
• Long Tall Glasses - Leo Sayer
• Louisiana 1927 - Randy Newman
• The Love I Lost - Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
• Love's Theme - Love Unlimited Orchestra
• Machine Gun - The Commodores
• Magic - Pilot
• Midnight at the Oasis - Maria Muldaur
• The Night Chicago Died - Paper Lace
• No No Song/Skokiaan - Ringo Starr
• Nothing From Nothing - Billy Preston
• Oh Very Young - Cat Stevens
• The Payback - James Brown
• Pieces of a Man - Gil Scott-Heron
• Ragged Old Flag - Johnny Cash
• Ready For Love - Bad Company
• Rebel Rebel - David Bowie
• The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Gil Scot-Heron
• Rikki Don't Lose That Number - Steely Dan
• Roads To Moscow - Al Stewart
• Rock On - David Essex
• Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks
• September Gurls - Big Star
• The Show Must Go On - Three Dog Night
• Smokin' in the Boys Room - Brownsville Station
• Some Kind of Wonderful - Grand Funk Railroad
• Still Crazy After All These Years - Paul Simon
• The Streak - Ray Stevens
• Summer Madness - Kool & the Gang
• Sundown - Gordon Lightfoot
• Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Takin' Care of Business - Bachman-Turner Overdrive
• Tell Me Something Good - Rufus & Chaka Khan
• Them Belly Full (But We Hungry) - Bob Marley
• Tin Man - America
• Waterloo - ABBA
• Whatever Gets You Through the Night - John Lennon featuring Elton John
• Who Do You Think You Are? - Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods
• Will It Go Round in Circles - Billy Preston
• Wishing You Were Here - Chicago
• You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet - Bachman-Turner Overdrive
• You Haven't Done Nothin' - Stevie Wonder
• You're the First, the Last, My Everything - Barry White

WHAT WAS ON TV IN 1974:

• Monty Python's Flying Circus
• Tattletales
• Doctor Who
• The Match Game
• Good Times
• Happy Days
• All in the Family
• Land of the Lost
• Rhoda
• Chico and the Man
• The Rockford Files
• The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson
• The Carol Burnett Show
• Mary Tyler Moore
• Hee Haw
• Sesame Street
• The Benny Hill Show
• The Odd Couple
• The Electric Company
• Columbo
• Old Grey Whistle Test
• Soul Train
• Are You Being Served?
• Emergency
• Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
• Kung Fu
• Maude
• M*A*S*H*
• Sanford and Son
• The Bob Newhart Show
• Kojak
• Last of the Summer Wine
• Schoolhouse Rock
• The Six Million Dollar Man
• Love American Style
• The Brady Bunch
• Here's Lucy
• The Partridge Family
• The Dean Martin Show
• The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour
• The Flip Wilson Show
• Star Trek: The Animated Series
• The Newlywed Game

Well, I certainly hope this careening down memory lane was a nostalgic blast for you (even if you weren't around the first time). And here's hoping the year of 1974 will now stop tormenting me and leave me alone -- perhaps giving 1985 a chance. Now, if only I could find my Pet Rock and my Invisible Dog on a Leash...

GROTESQUERIES! The most fun you're liable to have with a DVD in some time. This is the brand new DVD of rare material from the dawn of motion pictures up through the 1930's. All of them are of a fantastical or horror nature and most I've never had the opportunity to see before. GROTESQUERIES was produced by Blue Mouse Studio - Reel Curiosities and is the brainchild of Rex Schneider, Chris Buchman and Steve Stanchfield. It is also the most fun use of the DVD medium since Something Weird's phenomenal MONSTERS CRASH THE PAJAMA PARTY; a DVD which single-handedly prompted me to buy my first DVD player. Accomplished graphic artists in their own right, the creators of this DVD has made wonderfully whimsical cartoon menus and the DVD itself is split up into three acts (not including a generous side of special features).

Highlights of the disc include the 1907 LE SPECTRE ROUGE (literally "The Red Ghost") which features music hall magician Bretteau dressed as a devilish skeleton performing magic tricks that would appear right at home in any Georges Melies production. The truly wonderful part of this 101 year old film is that it is tinted in multi-colours all the way through.

Two 1928 Felix the Cat cartoons are included: FELIX WOOS WHOOPEE and the superior SURE-LOCKED HOMES which features many spooky going-on just right for Halloween. A really nice animated Felix introduction to both cartoons appears almost certainly to have been newly created by the team who made this DVD -- and it works BEAUTIFULLY. In fact, there are many instances where the DVD's creative team seems to have added newly animated introductions to these films and the work does not go unappreciated.

The expressionistic FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER from 1928 was not new to me but was a welcome adddition to the DVD. The short film by Melville Webber and James Watson owes a lot of it's delirious hallucinogenic imagery to THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI from nearly a decade earlier.

1930's THE WIZARD'S APPRENTICE was part of the "Visual Tone Poem" series designed by the great William Cameron Menzies and features a literally depiction of the famous Dukas classical music piece "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" familiar to all those who've seen Disney's FANTASIA. Right down to the animated brooms. The short includes live action, stop-motion animation and normal animation in a whimsical flight of fantasy. In fact, the Disney film owes quite a LOT to this short subject -- even down to the duplication of a couple of shots. The same can be said of ANOTHER short subject which found a place in FANTASIA...

UNE NUIT SUR LE MONT CHAUVE from 1933 is another literally adaptation of Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" which also featured prominently in the Disney film. This musical piece shows the congregation of the forces of darkness on the top of Bald Mountain complete with ghosts and demons. The Disney creators also must have assuredly seen this short film before mounting their own animated production. Groundbreaking use of "gravures animees" or "pin-screen animation" highlights this short subject; a complex system involving a vertical frame through which thousands of tiny white pins are inserted and withdrawn and, through lighting, animation occurs. You have to see it to believe it. Another hallucinogenic early-30's short subject that befuddles the eye. Quite a few shots even have a three-dimensional look owing to the strange "pin" animation.

In the dvd's Act Two (entitled "Banshee Bijou") we find a condensed version of the classic Lon Chaney film "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA" -- only this time it features a live orchestral performance created by the same creators of this DVD (Chris Buchman & Rex Schneider) for a 1979 screening at Johns Hopkins University. The musical accompaniment is quite good and fitting. A nice moment comes at the film's conclusion when you hear the rapturous, appreciative applause of the theater audience before the sound fades out. As a prologue to "The Banshee Bijou", the DVD's creators have made many fake, funny "frequent our advertisers" screen cards to up the Halloween fun quotient. Then we are treated to some actual REAL prevues of coming attractions including an old "Spook Show" trailer as well as a lengthy trailer for one of the worst movies ever made: Dwain Esper's fleapit extravaganza MANIAC!

THE FRESH LOBSTER is a 1928 (there is some discrepancy with the film's date although it is CERTAINLY earlier than imdb's guess of 1948!!!) "Billy Bletcher Hilarity" in which slightly unspectacular comic Billy Bletcher awakes in the middle of the night, raids the refrigerator for a pickle and a whole lobster, then has subsequent nightmares brought on by this questionable feast. Bram Stoker blamed the conception of DRACULA on a meal of dressed lobster so we really can't be surprised when Bletcher is relentlessly hounded by a huge lobster; in some scenes a man in a strangely effective lobster suit and in other scenes animation neatly inserted into the live action a la Roger Rabbit.

Two Tom & Jerry cartoons from the early 30's (no not THAT Tom & Jerry but two earlier human characters) entitled "WOT A NIGHT" and "THE MAGIC MUMMY" add to the Halloweeny fun. Of the two, I enjoyed "THE MAGIC MUMMY" more as the pair of dimwit cops are harassed by skeletons and ghosts of all description. Bizarrely, this cartoon featured the debut of the song "The Cop On the Beat, The Man in the Moon and Me". As one of the DVD's special features, a recording of the song is included along with an art gallery of images.

THE GHOSTS' HIGH NOON is in fact a 2006 "music video" animated by the DVD's creators to the music from Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta "RUDDIGORE or The Witches' Curse". The music is taken from the HMV 1931 recording featuring the D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus and Orchestra which is readily available on cd and such places as itunes. I know. I already own it. The animation is limited but very effective and quite beautiful in a Halloween way. It's probably one of my favourite parts of the dvd.

A trick or treat bag of special features also graces the DVD including an art gallery of antique Halloween decorations and postcards (not as many of the latter as I would have liked), a feature entitled "Crypt Tickles" which animates actually humourous tombstone inscriptions, "Haunted Melodies" which features several songs (including many favourites obviously taken from the Jass Records cd "HALLOWEEN STOMP" which I love) including Rudy Vallee's "With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm", the aforementioned "Cop on the Beat..." song, Ray Noble's "The Haunted House", Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Sorceror's Song" (kindly including on screen lyrics) as well as one of my personal favourite songs of all time: Harry Reser's "Mysterious Mose". All these songs are illustrated by on screen animations and movie posters, etc.

I can't tell you what a barrel of fun I had watching this truly delightful DVD; one tailor-made for the Halloween season. Next October, while awaiting the little creeps knock on your door, you couldn't do better than pop this DVD into your player -- as well as the classic Something Weird DVD "MONSTERS CRASH THE PAJAMA PARTY". I'll have to get around to discussing THAT one ... one of these days...

GROTESQUERIES can be had at the marvelous CREEPY CLASSICS website.