“I’m so scared, even my goose pimples have goose pimples…”

Movies Unlimited sent me an e-mail yesterday flogging a "sale" on the titles available in the Warner Archive collection, but the announcement that really caught my eye is this announcement that Universal Home Video will be releasing a box set entitled Bob Hope: Thanks for the Memories on June 8th. There’ll be six movies in this collection—three of which…

Movies and stuff I’ve stared at recently during my convalescence #3

Each Dawn I Die (1939) – It’s been a while since I unspooled this Jimmy Cagney classic…and I kind of forgot how corny it is. Cagney plays Frank Ross, a crusading newspaper reporter whose muckraking expose on a corrupt D.A. (Thurston Hall—who else?) and his stooge (Victor Jory) gets him in a heap o’trouble—he winds up going…

“Stop writing about me on the blog!”

The above is a direct quote from none other than my sainted mother, who was not amused to learn that she recently became the subject of a post on Twitter: Author's mother watched TALL TARGET (1951) and said there were “too many people falling off trains.” http://bit.ly/cUGKJc Needless to say, she is not nearly as accepting of the…

R.I.P. Dorothy Provine

Bill Crider, a.k.a. “Death’s Maitre’d,” reports on his weblog on the passing of actress Dorothy Provine at the age of 75 after a bout with emphysema. (Ditto Mark Evanier and Toby “The Once and Future Ruler of Toobworld” O’Brien.) Provine, a sexy and vivacious actress-comedienne who was truly one of Hollywood’s most underrated talents, appeared in scores of television series and films—most notably the…

Movies and stuff I’ve stared at recently during my convalescence #2

The folks from UPS delivered my recent purchases from the Warner Archive Monday (after an unsuccessful first attempt on the previous Friday) and I watched a pair of them yesterday with mi Madre because she grew weary of USA’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit marathon. Mom thought Split Second (1953) was dopey but fun…but I was surprised when she declared…

Thrilling Days of Convalescence (Part 4 in a series)

Although I made my triumphant return to Rancho Yesteryear on Friday evening around 8:00pm (after spending nearly the entire day at the hospital waiting to see if my doctor was going to let me go home—don’t get me started on that, by the way) this is the first opportunity I’ve had to sit down and rejoin…

Play it again, Sam

One year ago today, Samuel Marquieth Johnson left this world for a far better place…but as an unfortunate side effect, also emptied the hearts of the individuals who loved and cherished him as a true blue friend and “soul brother.” I didn’t know Sam as long as some of his other friends and neighbors, but as…

Cuts like a knife

The phone call has been made…and I report for surgery tomorrow at 6:00am, or what my friend Elisson refreshingly calls “the butt-crack of dawn.” (Commenter Maureen—aka bluefly—likes to use the expression “the crack of ice.”) They’ll begin slicing me open at 7am, and if everything goes as planned I’m sure there’ll be more cracking…cans of Bud Light, I’m guessing. Until…

“It’s making me wait/It’s keeping me wai-ai-ai-ai-ai-ting…”

There’s no way I’m going to be able to fool anybody—I’m trying to be nonchalant because today is the day that I have to call in (around 2-4pm) to learn what time I’m expected at the hospital tomorrow. And the suspense is going to kill me…if the operation doesn’t. A few people have asked me how…

“…deep down inside/I can’t deny/I’m tempted…”

So I moseyed on over to the Warner Archive site yesterday to cross Above Suspicion (1943) and Convicts 4 (1962) off my Wish List… This proved to be a big mistake…because like the prototypical femme fatale who lures the hero to his doom in any respectable film noir, I answered the siren song of the Archive’s 30% off Select Film Noir Classics…