May 31, 2023

Podcasts for Classic Film Fans: May Round-up

A lot of my podcast listening this week involved subjects that connected to current day issues. From striking workers to the examination of Asian-American actors in Hollywood, it was a reminder that our history consistently flavors the present. Episode titles link to shows:

Little Gold Men by Vanity Fair 
May 11, 2023 

The discussion about Flower Drum Song (1961) which starts at about the 25-minute mark is a solid analysis of the film because it draws from the past and present state of Asian-American actors in Hollywood.

The Tinsel Factory: A Film History Podcast
 
May 14, 2023 

This is a fascinating history of the 1941 Disney animator’s strike of 1941, made more fascinating by the current WGA strike, which seems to be only the beginning of an industry-wide push for big change.
Rarified Heir
May 16, 2023 

The only child of Vincent Price, Victoria Price has always been a great storyteller when it comes to sharing her unusual childhood. While she spent a lot of time alone, she was deeply loved, and her famous father made her a priority as much as he was able. She does a great job telling that complicated tale here.

Just the Discs
 
May 15, 2023 

The concept of Brian Sauer’s podcast seems simple: he discusses new releases on disc, but the way he does it is what makes this show satisfying. He approaches each episode with the energy of a knowledgeable fan, so there’s always lots of great information about the film, but it’s shared in a friendly, accessible way. It’s a great resource for anyone looking to expand their physical media collection.

May 26, 2023

Book Review--But Have You Read the Book? 52 Literary Gems That Inspired Our Favorite Films


 

While the first films I saw as a child were book adaptations like The Wizard of OZ (1939) and Gone with the Wind (1939) it wasn’t until much later in life that I thought about what the process of adapting a written work to the big screen entailed. In her new book, But Have You Read the Book? 52 Literary Gems That Inspired Our Favorite Films, podcaster and entertainment writer Kristen Lopez brings a well-researched eye to that process. 

There are a lot of ways to approach describing the task and results of adaptation, but Lopez keeps it streamlined, picking the most prominent film where multiple versions of a story have been made and focusing most of her 52 entries on the differences between page and screen. She uses side bars to address some of those complicating factors, like other adaptations worth noting and bits of interesting, related trivia. The films stretch from 1931 to the present day and are diverse in theme, subject, and genre, though the focus is on Hollywood films. 

In the wake of the book’s release, there has been some online chatter about readers planning to tackle every book and film in, But Have You Read the Book? including some who are as ambitious to attempt an entry a week and finish every title in the book in a year. Fortunately that would be a pleasant task, because Lopez’ selections are all excellent films and novels, which of course is often not the case. 

The idea of exploring the source material along with a film adaptation has long been a popular one among film fans. Lopez has handled the task of translating this concept to the page with a light touch and thorough analysis. It’s an entertaining read in addition to being informative. 


Many thanks to TCM for providing a copy of the book for review.

May 19, 2023

On Blu-ray: The Gorgeous 4K Restoration of the William Cameron Menzies Sci-fi Classic Invaders from Mars (1953)


 

Invaders from Mars (1953) is an excellent example of how execution can overcome a mediocre plot. This story of the inhabitants of a spacecraft that lands in a small town taking over the bodies of its residents isn’t novel, but everything about the way it’s presented is unusual and artfully done. This is entirely due to the influence of director and production designer William Cameron Menzies. I recently enjoyed a 4K restoration of the film on a new DVD release from Ignite Films. 

While Menzies had directed several films before this production, he had been most celebrated and prolific as a production designer. In this late career work he uses his distinctively bold style to mold the tone of the film, using eerie blue night lighting, stark, oversized sets, and dramatic perspective to create an unsettling, otherworldly tone. The film’s hero is a boy (Jimmy Hunt) who tries in vain to get the grown ups around him to believe that aliens are invading, and the sets are made to express the intimidation and rigid conformity that the adult world represents for him. 

As with many of the sci-fi flicks of the era, Invaders from Mars can be read as an allegory for any number of societal ills people of the day were experiencing. It doesn’t need another read though, the effect of those amazing sets, the goofy look of the aliens in a late film reveal, and the actors who know just how much to give in a production where everything around them is already giving a lot makes it work as pure entertainment. It also perfectly evokes the feelings and fears of being young and relying on your parents for safety and support when the rest of the world feels overwhelming and mysterious. 

Special features on the disc are robust and include a new and vintage trailer, interviews with the film’s star Jimmy Hunt, Menzies’ biographer James Curtis, and Menzies’ granddaughter Pamela Lausen, a featurette about the production, director John Sayles’ introduction for the film at TCM Classic Film Festival, restoration comparisons, a press image gallery, and a 20-page booklet with essays about the restoration process. 


Many thanks to Ignite Films for providing a copy of the film for review.

May 16, 2023

Guest Appearance: Movie Nights & Matinees Podcast and the Classic Film Fan USA Travel Guide


I had a fantastic time talking to Bill Groves of the Movie Nights & Matinees podcast about the Classic Film Fan USA Travel Guide. Give it a listen to learn more about the book! The show is available from the usual suspects. You can also listen here.

May 12, 2023

Documentary Picks at SIFF--Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy and Douglas Sirk: Hope as in Despair


 

While there are several documentaries that will be of interest to classic film fans at Seattle International Film Festival 2023, Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy and Douglas Sirk: Hope as in Despair were of particular interest to me. In different ways both films explore the powerful external elements that shape cinema and how they are so often rooted in challenging emotions. The film titles link to the festival screening information for each documentary. 

Having read and reviewed the source material, Shooting Midnight Cowboy by Glenn Frankel, there was a hint of familiarity to Nancy Buirski’s documentary about the production of the film Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy. Like the book, it acknowledges the deep debt Midnight Cowboy owed to its source material, the book by James Leo Herlihy and it likewise gives the actors and other participants in the production the space to speak candidly on the personal and societal impact of making the film and the turbulent times it reflected. 

Buirski explores those times thoroughly, with extensive footage of the rapidly changing, violent, and rebellious world in which Midnight Cowboy was made. Coupled with deeply emotional and insightful commentary from players including Bob Balaban, Jon Voight, and Jennifer Salt, you come away with a better understanding of both the film and the era. For that reason, the documentary has general appeal beyond classic movie fandom. 

One element that Buirski gives more attention is the feeling that this was a film about misfits made by a band of misfits. That fact was made more remarkable when Midnight Cowboy became the first X-rated film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The very establishment (though in her own way rebellious) Elizabeth Taylor looks a bit surprised, if not unpleased to see the film’s win as she announces it, reinforcing the juxtaposition of a rebellious production with an industry struggling to maintain relevance in a rapidly shifting landscape.
German director Roman Hüben’s Douglas Sirk: Hope as in Despair is a more spare, elegant production which hones in on a tragedy that ultimately shaped the tone of the also German filmmaker’s Hollywood melodramas (among them Imitation of Life, Magnificent Obsession and All That Heaven Allows). Hüben bases his film on the discoveries he made at the Douglas Sirk Archives housed in the Cinémathèque Suisse. There he found the revealing calendar/diaries his second wife Hilde Bary kept on his behalf. 

In his research Hüben learns that Sirk’s first wife Lydia Brinken apparently became a Nazi out of spite because it angered her that her ex-husband had married a Jewish woman. She also used current German laws to forbid him from seeing his son, who also became a Nazi. The boy became an actor at an early age, so the devastated Sirk was only able to see him on the screen. 

The film explores how this heartbreaking turn of events molded Sirk’s style, which showed direct references to what had happened and hit emotional notes that seemed clearly influenced by his loss. Jon Halliday, the author of Sirk on Sirk offers the most revealing insights into how that affected the filmmaker, though he told him very little of what happened. Also welcome is the insight of the two directors who most effectively translated the Sirk style: Todd Haynes in a new interview and Rainer Maria Fassbinder in archival footage; both men understood that while the filmmaker used a distinctive visual style, his true essence was in the way he explored emotional content. 

While Hope as in Despair reveals an artist managing a life-altering loss, Hüben also explores Sirk's joy in work, and accurately describes his output as “films made by someone who loves people.” With a combination of film clips and interviews, a story of perseverance in the face of trauma emerges. It is ultimately a story with a strong upside, centering a man with a great sense of humor who led a productive life to the very end. 


The 49th Seattle International Film Festival is in theaters from May 11-21 and streaming May 22-28.

May 10, 2023

Watching Classic Movies Podcast: Classic Film Travel Destinations, The Stoogeum with Michelle Squiccimara


My guest is Michelle Squiccimara, registrar and outreach coordinator of The Stoogeum in Ambler, Pennsylvania. This three-story museum dedicated to the 3 Stooges contains thousands of artifacts and works of art. It’s also the home of the 3 Stooges fan club, one of the largest and most enduring in the nation. We talked about the many surprises the Stoogeum holds, the supportive fan community that has helped it to thrive, and a new book that reveals the underseen history of the Stooges extensive career on the road. 






How to purchase A Tour De Farce: The Complete History of the Three Stooges on the Road, by Stoogeum founder Gary Lassin

The Stoogeum is included in my book, The ClassicFilm Fan USA Travel Guide: Over 500 Attractions for Road Trips and Online Exploration


Thank you to everyone who has purchased the book so far! I'm thrilled by the response. If you are enjoying the guide, I'd love it if you'd post a review wherever you bought it. It really helps!


The show is available on Spotify, PocketCasts, Breaker, Stitcher, Anchor, Google, Radio Public, Amazon Music, and YouTube.

Watching Classic Movies podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts! If you are enjoying the show, please give it a 5-star review and share it with your friends.

Like the podcast? Want to hear more frequent episodes? Subscriptions are as low as 99 cents a month, click on the Support button here.

You can also support my work on ko-fi.

May 5, 2023

On YouTube: Two New Videos, Badass Seniors in Classic Film and Domesticity in Classic Film Noir

 

 I recently posted a couple of new videos on YouTube: 

There are plenty of young, bold stars in classic movies, but for my money nothing beats a badass senior. After all, with all that life experience, wisdom, and the confidence that comes with being a survivor, what’s not to love? These classic films feature elderly characters who plant themselves firmly in the middle of the action and don’t take nonsense from anyone.

   

While the most popular image of film noir is that of men in trenchcoats walking down foggy nighttime streets. There’s a lot more to it than that. One aspect of noir that always fascinates me is when it collides with domesticity: marriage, family, the home, and everything that goes with it. Here are five noir flicks that touch on domestic life in some way.

May 3, 2023

Watching Classic Movies Podcast: Classic Film Travel Destinations, The Jimmy Stewart Museum with Executive Director Janie McKirgan

This episode my guest is Janie McKirgan, Executive Director of the Jimmy Stewart Museum in Indiana, Pennsylvania. We talked about the long history of this museum that seems humble from the outside, but has an extensive collection within and a movie theater that shows Stewart films every day. It’s a beloved institution in a town that still shows a lot of love for its most famous native. 


You can learn more about the Jimmy Stewart Museum at its official website

Check out their Jimmy Stewart podcast. There are some amazing interviews, including one with Kim Novak! And some interesting clips featuring Stewart. 

The Jimmy Stewart Museum is included in my book, The Classic Film Fan USA Travel Guide: Over 500 Attractions for Road Trips and Online Exploration


The show is available on Spotify, PocketCasts, Breaker, Stitcher, Anchor, Google, Radio Public, Amazon Music, and YouTube.

Watching Classic Movies podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts! If you are enjoying the show, please give it a 5-star review and share it with your friends.

Like the podcast? Want to hear more frequent episodes? Subscriptions are as low as 99 cents a month, click on the Support button here.

You can also support my work on ko-fi.

May 1, 2023

The 49th Seattle International Film Festival 2023: Picks for Classic Film Fans


 
Seattle International Film Festival is back in theaters May 11-21 and streaming May 22-28. As always, there’s plenty on the schedule to please classic film fans. Here are my picks for 2023:

Archival Films 

There’s not much in the way of selection or adventurous picks for archival offerings this year, but The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), Midnight Cowboy (1969) and Seven Samurai (1954) are all films that especially need the big screen treatment to be fully enjoyed and should be a treat to see in restored versions. I can’t remember the last time a classic sci-fi flick was included on the schedule and the tale of a scientist who finds his stature alarmingly reduced is particularly fun due to all those enormous props and an encounter with a monstrous kitty cat. Midnight Cowboy is a story best experienced in total immersion and an epic like Seven Samurai must be seen blown up as large as possible.
Documentaries 

Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy tells the story of the legendary Oscar-winning film in two ways: how the culture of its times breathed life into the production and how it subsequently had its own cultural effect. 

Douglas Sirk – Hope as in Despair bases its exploration of the influential German filmmaker who made a splash in Hollywood via interviews and entries about the man from his wife’s journal. 

A Disturbance in the Force tells the history of the once mocked and now mocked and celebrated The Star Wars Holiday Special, a 1978 television production that a mortified George Lucas tried to bury, but that keeps coming back to life for Star Wars fans. The poetically eccentric experimental filmmaker Jonas Mekas gets the spotlight in 

Fragments of Paradise, an appropriately experimental documentary which features footage from his extensive visual diaries. 

Classic televisions fans can get a closer look at a television legend with Being Tyler Moore, which features interviews with Rob Reiner and James L. Burrows.