Around the Blogosphere This Week

Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the Internet...

...Just in time for Christmas comes the Perry Como Complete Christmas Collection, due on December 7th. The set is described as having every Christmas recording Como made at RCA in a 36-year time span. Liner notes are by Richard Carpenter. For more on individual Como albums, please visit my 2006 post Christmas Music: Perry Como.

...Livius reviews WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS (1956) at Riding the High Country. It's out on Region 2 DVD.

...There are a number of new entertainment-related books which look worth checking out: ONE FROM THE HART, a memoir by Stefanie Powers; HITCHCOCK PIECE BY PIECE by Laurent Bouzereau, with a forward by Patricia Hitchcock O'Connell; THE HAMMERSTEINS: A MUSICAL THEATRE FAMILY by Oscar Andrew Hammerstein; and the 5th Edition of David Thomson's THE NEW BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF FILM.

...The D23 website has an interview with Don Hahn, whose documentary WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY (2009) comes out on DVD November 30th.

...Favorite (and not-so-favorite) Mitchell Leisen films are listed at Via Margutta 51.

...Raquelle was moved by BROTHER ORCHID (1940), starring Edward G. Robinson. It sounds like a film which is both fun and thought-provoking. One of my sons saw it recently and liked it too. This is one I've got to be sure to see soon. Raquelle's been reviewing Bogart movies all month so be sure to scan through the rest of her blog too!

...At Motion Picture Gems Tom takes us along on a tour of the General Patton Military Museum at Chiriaco Summit, California. It looks like the museum has grown quite a bit since I was last there.

...Daniel Day-Lewis will play Lincoln in an upcoming Steven Spielberg film.

...Where Danger Lives is celebrating its second anniversary with a look at the 100 Greatest Posters of Film Noir. Mark begins by reviewing posters which didn't make his list...check it out, it's great fun. Even the "rejects," such as the HIGH WALL poster to the right, provide visual eye candy.

...Speaking of film noir, San Franciscans can enjoy Noir City Xmas December 15th, when REMEMBER THE NIGHT (1940) and MR. SOFT TOUCH (1949) will be screened at the Castro Theatre... The 9th Noir City festival comes to San Francisco in late January...hopefully there will be another festival in Southern California next spring!

...No pardoned turkeys coming to Disneyland this Thanksgiving... On the other hand, it's almost time for the park's annual fresh-made candy canes. I've never had one of these, but I'd like to...

...I'm not sure what I think of this trailer for THE TOURIST (2010), starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. Jolie and the European locations look amazing, but Depp -- capable of being a very charismatic actor -- seems entirely too milquetoast. Maybe that's the point, but I would have expected more sparks to fly between Depp and Jolie. The movie costars Paul Bettany and Timothy Dalton. It arrives in theaters December 10th.

...The threat by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to require cars of the future to have technology to jam cell phones and prevent their use displays a complete lack of critical thinking -- what about emergencies? what about passengers? -- and far too much comfort with nanny statism.

...Check out the beautiful Fox DVD Sets currently being sold at Target. Raquelle has titles and photos at Out of the Past.

...The inimitable Charles Krauthammer has penned a funny column on the current controversy over TSA airport screenings which are a little too personal for comfort.

...Notable passings: W. Howard Lester, former chairman of Williams-Sonoma, has passed on at the age of 75, and Marie Osborne Yeats, known as Baby Marie Osborne in silent movies, has died at 99.

Have a great week!