This and That

I've been buried under a large pile of work for the last couple days, coming up for air periodically to enjoy many great new posts! The week has just begun and I've already come across more than enough posts to fill next weekend's roundup -- so instead, here's a roundup of interesting links to start off the week!

...50 Westerns From the 50s has just celebrated its second bloggiversary! Toby is a terrific blogger, and he's also been a great friend who has been a pleasure to become acquainted with over the past couple years. His site has also become an excellent place for many folks with great knowledge of the genre to share their insight and recommendations in the comments. Here's to many more years of great blogging on Westerns and success on his coming book! And while I'm at it, thanks to Toby for linking to last Saturday's review of SHOTGUN (1955)!

The photo at the above left is a great publicity shot of Van Heflin and Yvonne DeCarlo in TOMAHAWK (1951), which I've previously admired at Toby's site and borrowed in honor of the celebration!

...Leonard Maltin previews a number of new film books. One of the books Leonard mentions is James Garner's memoir, due out on November 1st. Lou Lumenick of the New York Post had an interesting piece on the book today -- Garner rates his own films in the book. He gives THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY (1964) and THE NOTEBOOK (2005) five stars. Sounds like he's pretty hard on many of his movies.

...Another book Maltin mentions, SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE FABULOUS FACES, is going on my youngest son's Christmas list. He has an amazing memory for the names and faces of character actors and loves the Universal Holmes films. Author Michael Hoey is the son of Dennis Hoey, who played Inspector Lestrade in the series.

...It was wonderful to discover a new post by Moira today at Skeins of Thought, interviewing John Ford scholar April Lane, who has a website titled Directed by John Ford.

...What a great photo-filled post on JANIE (1944) at Greenbriar Picture Shows! I recently linked to a review of the same film by Mark at Cin-Eater. Really looking forward to catching up with this one, which I recorded from TCM some time ago.

...At Motion Picture Gems, Tom shares the interesting news that Dolores Hart, who has been a nun for the past half-century, will appear at an autograph show in New Jersey this weekend. My review of WHERE THE BOYS ARE (1960) links to a great interview with Hart about her two careers, first as a movie actress and then as a nun.

...Today KC had two links I especially enjoyed at Classic Movies: a review of Dyan Cannon's book on Cary Grant at Sittin' on a Backyard Fence and Judy's review of LAUGHTER (1930), starring Fredric March and Nancy Carroll, at Movie Classics. Check 'em out!

...The Lady Eve's Reel Life has a lovely post on the Victor Young musical score for the great chiller THE UNINVITED (1944), starring Ray Milland and Gail Russell. The haunting "Stella By Starlight" turns a very good film into a great film. THE UNINVITED next airs on Turner Classic Movies October 30th.

...Netflix has lost 800,000 customers in recent months. Wow. Unfortunately I still don't have a sense that CEO Reed Hastings "gets it," if his recent interview with the New York Times is anything to go by. He made a "mistake in underestimating the depth of emotional attachment to Netflix"? He seems to confuse "emotional attachment" with customers preferring superior service and convenience, which would both cease to exist if Netflix is divided in half.

...At Immortal Ephemera Cliff has a terrific, detailed post on THE RAZOR'S EDGE (1947), which stars a bunch of my favorite actors, including Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, and Herbert Marshall. And yet I've never seen it! As Cliff notes in his comment at the end, the movie is on TCM this Wednesday evening, as part of a night devoted to the first films made by Power, Clark Gable, Robert Montgomery, and Robert Taylor after their service in World War II.

...London's Daily Mail takes a photo tour of the interior of actress Andie MacDowell's Asheville, North Carolina mansion, which is currently on the market.

...Raquelle has continued to work through her big stack of new books and reviews the new Patrick McGilligan book on director Nicholas Ray at Out of the Past.

...The new biography of Steve Jobs has just been released. Author Walter Isaacson received the cooperation of Jobs and his family; Jobs apparently promised he would only meddle with the book's cover. It received an excellent review from Janet Maslin in the New York Times. The Washington Post review also describes what sounds like a very interesting book.

...Notable Passing: I was sorry to learn of the death of former CBS News correspondent Robert Pierpoint at the age of 86. Mr. Pierpoint was a graduate of my alma mater, the University of Redlands, and his daughter was a contemporary of mine who was in several of my classes at Redlands. Her older brother, Eric Pierpoint, another Redlands grad, has enjoyed a successful career as a steadily working actor.

Have a great week!