Sunday, May 15, 2011

Around the Blogosphere This Week

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

...The Warner Archive had a bunch of interesting releases last week, including remastered prints of Robert Taylor in FLIGHT COMMAND (1940) and William Holden in TOWARD THE UNKNOWN (1956). I reviewed FLIGHT COMMAND, which costars Ruth Hussey and Walter Pidgeon, in 2007. TOWARD THE UNKNOWN has a very interesting supporting cast, including Lloyd Nolan, Charles McGraw, Karen Steele, and James Garner, in his film debut.

...Lou Lumenick provides more info on new Warner Archive releases, as well as reviewing Bogie in THE WAGONS ROLL AT NIGHT (1941), and the entertaining "gothic noir" THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS (1947), which I enjoyed seeing on the big screen at last month's film noir festival in Hollywood.

...Turner Classic Movies has announced more details about its December cruise.

...At DVD Savant, Glenn Erickson reviews Cary Grant, Betsy Drake, and Franchot Tone in EVERY GIRL SHOULD BE MARRIED (1948). He provides some enjoyable social commentary, jokingly referring to the film, which he rates as "excellent" and "unusually good," as MAD MEN: THE EARLY YEARS.

...Erickson also recently reviewed the Archive release of CONFIDENTIAL AGENT (1945) starring Charles Boyer and Lauren Bacall.

...After watching the very good film noir BLACK ANGEL (1946) earlier this week, I enjoyed reading Kristina's DARK PAGES profile of actress June Vincent.

...I'm looking forward to recording Esther Williams in THE UNGUARDED MOMENT (1956), one of the few Williams films I've never seen. "Morlockjeff" reviews the movie at the TCM Movie Morlocks blog. THE UNGUARDED MOMENT is on TCM on Thursday, May 26th.

...I just caught up with an interesting April New York Times story giving thumbnail bios of professors who blog, including Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit and Ann Althouse.

...New book: THE NOTES: RONALD REAGAN'S PRIVATE COLLECTION OF STORIES AND WISDOM. It's edited by Douglas Brinkley, who also served as editor of the very interesting 2009 book THE REAGAN DIARIES.

...Greenbriar Picture Shows takes a photo-filled look at Jeff Chandler in MAN IN THE SHADOW (1957) in Parts One and Two. MAN IN THE SHADOW was recently released on DVD-R.

...At Out of the Past, Raquelle reviews the new documentary THESE AMAZING SHADOWS (2011), which will be out on DVD this fall.

...Raquelle also posted a review of Humphrey Bogart in WE'RE NO ANGELS (1955) which is filled with colorful screen caps. I've never seen this one; Joan Bennett is always a plus in any film!

...There's a 1939 blogathon taking place this week; the links for reviews of films made in Hollywood's Golden Year can be found here. The first post I read in this series was Caftan Woman's take on John Farrow's FIVE CAME BACK. I saw that one in a theater as a teenager and have never forgotten the experience. Talk about a spooky movie!

...Moira Finnie posted an outstanding tribute to the late Jackie Cooper last week at the TCM blog.

...Toby reviews the new widescreen DVD of TENNESSEE'S PARTNER (1955) at 50 Westerns From the 50s.

...This Wednesday, May 18th, the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood celebrates the centennial of the birth of actress Maureen O'Sullivan with a double bill of THE THIN MAN (1934) and HIDE-OUT (1934). I wish I had time to get up there for this evening; I adore HIDE-OUT, which just might be my favorite Robert Montgomery film.

...Notable Passing: LAWRENCE WELK SHOW singer Norma Zimmer has passed away at the age of 87. Zimmer is heard on the soundtracks of Disney's ALICE IN WONDERLAND (1951), singing the White Rose, and MGM's SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954), in which she dubbed singing for one of the brides.

...Sincere congratulations and good wishes to KC of Classic Movies on the birth of her baby girl on Mother's Day!

Have a great week!

6 Comments:

Blogger KC said...

Thanks for the congrats Laura! That TCM cruise looks amazing.

6:21 PM  
Blogger Laura said...

Hope your family has had a wonderful first week with your new little one!

I've never had any inclination to take a cruise, but the TCM cruise does make one consider the possibility -- not this year, but perhaps in the future?

Best wishes,
Laura

6:26 PM  
Blogger Raquel Stecher said...

Thank you so much for the two links! I'm glad you enjoyed the screen caps.

And I love the Around the Blogosphere series. It's always full of great links. :-)

7:40 AM  
Blogger JH said...

Don't miss "The Unguarded Moment"!

It has to be one of my favorite mildly campy, 50's, pseudo-erotic thrillers that used to be in heavy rotation on AMC back in early-mid-90's - along side favorites like "Female on the Beach" and "Gorilla at Large".

You know you're entering exploitation territory when Esther Williams get's her own seductive (yet menacing) saxophone (or clarinet?) theme music during certain scenes.

It also must be considered a minor rock&roll/juvenile delinquency flick - due a the Leonard Bennett storyline and a few memorable scenes in the neighborhood malt shop called the "Sugar Shop".

Also similar to "Rebel Without a Cause" it's filmed in beautiful color, and skillfully directed (although don't expect Nicholas Ray).

The ending will make you feel like that time you watched "Strangers When We meet" and got all nervous and uncomfortable at the end watching Walter Matthau behave...like...that...

BTW Laura, Love the Blog!

And make sure to listen not-so-carefully for that music I like to think of as "Esther's Theme"! Enjoy!

6:35 PM  
Blogger Laura said...

Raquelle, a belated thank you for your very nice words -- I overlooked your comment earlier this week. I appreciate the encouragement!

And you're very welcome for the links. :) I appreciated all the work that went into collecting those screen caps -- it looks like a fun movie!

Best wishes,
Laura

9:25 AM  
Blogger Laura said...

JH, thanks very much for your feedback on THE UNGUARDED MOMENT. (I really enjoyed FEMALE ON THE BEACH recently!) Looking forward to trying this movie, especially as I'm an Esther Williams fan.

Thanks very much for the compliment, I'm delighted to know you like the blog and hope you will enjoy visiting again.

Best wishes,
Laura

9:27 AM  

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