Crime Without Passion (1934) and The Wild Party (1929)

CRIME WITHOUT PASSION (1934)

I’m reading a biography on Claude Rains and therefore have been watching a number of his films.  One of them, a decent copy available on YouTube, was the 1935 The Clairvoyant which was shot in Britain and also starred Fay Wray as his wife.  I couldn’t help but feel impressed by the fact that there was only “two degrees of separation” between me and them as I have met both of their daughters, Jessica Rains at a Bogart Film Festival, and Victoria Riskin (whose father was screenwriter Robert Riskin) at the Capitolfest Film Festival.

Columbus Moving Picture Show 2024

I attended the May 23 to 26, 2024 Columbus Moving Picture Show in Ohio.  It was a wonderful festival, showing many rare and truly interesting films.  It was the third year that Samantha Glasser along with Rodney Bowcock took the reins, making it a seamless and most enjoyable event. 

Dutch Girl and Warrior|Audrey Hepburn

Recently, I read Robert Matzen’s latest book, Warrior|Audrey Hepburn.  I have read three of Robert’s books including the first one he wrote on Hepburn’s early life, Dutch Girl.

New Biography: Maria Montez

I have this childhood memory of my mother once telling me who she thought was the most beautiful actress ever to grace the silver screen.  She told me that this actress died young while in a hot tub which led me to an image of a lovely woman wearing a toweled turban on her head, steam billowing up and around her in a darkened, shadowy room. 

That was my introduction to Maria Montez.

I have this childhood memory of my mother once telling me who she thought was the most beautiful actress ever to grace the silver screen.  She told me that this actress died young while in a hot tub which led me to an image of a lovely woman wearing a toweled turban on her head, steam billowing up and around her in a darkened, shadowy room. 

That was my introduction to Maria Montez.

Films I’ve Watched in 2021: Part 2

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Covid isn’t over but at least our lockdown is.  I’ve been busy like crazy at work.  A good thing—now I can actually look forward to my time off.

Films I’ve Watched in 2021: Part 1

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One of the people I’ve known for many years from Toronto Film Society (TFS) was Jaan Salk. He was a board member and at one time president back when I was in my late teens.  Jaan was a huge Deanna Durbin fan and began corresponding with her in the mid-70s.  You can read two of her letters to Jaan here and here.  Jaan passed away Monday, July 12, 2021 but left a legacy of film notes which can be found on the TFS website.  This post is for him.

FILMS I WATCHED IN 2020, THE YEAR OF OUR PANDEMIC: PART 10.2

I feel optimistic that things will open up in my part of the world–unless we are told that the Delta variant is now a looming threat–and I look forward to beginning work in just under two weeks’ time. I can now fully enjoy my last week of idleness by finishing up writing about films I watched in 2020.

FILMS I WATCHED IN 2020, THE YEAR OF OUR PANDEMIC: PART 10.1

Here where I live, we are apparently coming out of the pandemic in three steps. Friday the 11th we began Step 1. I am still not allowed to work but the goal is to begin back doing partial work when Step 2 arrives, sometime around July 5th. I want to finish writing about the films I viewed in 2020 before this momentous occasion and have divided what was left roughly in half. Here’s “.1”.

FILMS I WATCHED IN 2020, THE YEAR OF OUR PANDEMIC: PART 9

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So, it’s been close to two months since I last felt like writing.  This is completely apathetic on my part since here where I live, everything pretty much has continued to be in complete lockdown and I have been unable to work for the past six months.  There’s nothing much to do since the big box stores are closed unless they happen to sell food with the rest of their products roped off.   If you really desire something, you can turn to online shopping.  There is certainly no outside entertainment and only until recently has the weather been warm enough to start exercising outdoors.  The lockdown here was supposed to end on June 2nd but again they are now extending it to June 14th.  We continue to live in purgatory, or for many of us, hell.

FILMS I WATCHED IN 2020, THE YEAR OF OUR PANDEMIC: PART 8

The lockdown continues and with all the time in the world, I just couldn’t write; as of tomorrow we’re going into what is called “Emergency Brake”.  Whatever.