Buried Treasures: M (1951)

The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™ rolled out a righteous premiere on the first day of the new year: the Joseph Losey-directed remake of Fritz Lang’s 1931 masterpiece M.  Unseen in this country for many years until a couple of years ago due to a tangle of copyright issues (it got a limited release by Columbia…

Movies I’ve stared at recently on TCM #69

I shall take you into my confidence right now and let you know it’s going to be a busy April.  There’ll be a goodly number of items up on the Radio Spirits blog within the next week or so, and I’m also hard at work writing liner notes for one of their upcoming releases.  In addition, I’m trying to…

The passings parade

This week’s edition of the “roll call of the deceased” is a little shorter than it has been in recent weeks—which, when you stop and think about it, is an encouraging sign in that while we’ve established that Death rarely takes a holiday s/he might be lingering a bit during those three-martini lunches.  The celebrity…

The passings parade

We bid a fond farewell to a genuine television pioneer this week—his name might not be instantly familiar, but some of the people whose shows he worked on certainly are.  Bob Banner was a young production assistant at Chicago’s WMAQ-TV, working on the children’s classic Kukla, Fran & Ollie and being fortuitous enough to work at a…

The passings parade

I’m not going to mince words here—I am waaaaaaay behind on chronicling the passings of certain celebrities in the fields of film, TV, music and what have you.  But when I saw on Facebook yesterday that actor James Arness—a boob tube legend best-known for his starring role as Marshal Matt Dillon on the series Gunsmoke—has ridden…

Grey Market Cinema: Whom the Gods Destroy (1934)

(Ivan’s note: This post will reveal the end of this film, for an important reason that will be apparent in the final paragraph…so if you don’t want it spoiled, stop at the warning…) Theatrical impresario John Forrester (Walter Connolly) is on a boat trip to London to personally oversee a production when a Titanic-like shipwreck occurs en route,…

The passings parade

It was my father who phoned me Friday to let me know that country music legend Ferlin Husky died on St. Patrick’s Day from heart failure at the age of 85—which is sort of unusual in that I’m usually the one who lets him know if a notable has gone to their greater reward…after I try…

Bounce me, brother, with a solid four

Seventy years ago today, Bud Abbott & Lou Costello’s first starring feature Buck Privates (1941) was released to motion picture theaters…and to commemorate this auspicious occasion, I prepared a little essay on the film—which I encourage you to read at your leisure at Edward Copeland on Film…and More.  When I was a tad, the TV stations that showed…

Death be not proud

As of this posting, Turner Classic Movies is running a 24-hour cinematic tribute to Tony Curtis, the veteran film star who passed away on September 29 at the age of 85.  Practically every classic movie blogger and his/her brother/sister made notice of “Bernie Schwartz’s” demise, but the only reason why I didn’t get something up is…

When the roll is called up yonder

With the news of the passing of French New Wave director Claude Chabrol at the age of 80—an individual who became legendary in the film industry for suspense thrillers like Les biches (1968, aka Bad Girls), The Beast Must Die (1970), Le boucher (1970, aka The Butcher), and Wedding in Blood (1973)—I realize that I’ve been a tad recalcitrant in noting the passings of celebrity…