Around the Blogosphere This Week

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

...I'm very happy that some other bloggers decided to use my "10 Classics" idea and make their own individual lists of classic films they'd like to catch up with this year. Please visit the 10 Classics lists posted by Raquel at Out of the Past, MC at Happy Thoughts, Darling, and Lindsay at Lindsay's Movie Musings. Update: And here's a list from KC at Classic Movies!

...The other night I wrote about attending a lecture and book signing by Robert Matzen, author of the new book on Carole Lombard, FIREBALL. Lou Lumenick interviewed Matzen for today's New York Post.

...Here's John Greco on WHIPLASH (1948) at Twenty Four Frames. I enjoyed this Dane Clark-Alexis Smith film at the Noir City Festival a couple of years ago.

...I enjoyed these side by side photo comparisons of London in 1927 and 2013. It's fascinating how little has changed in some cases!

...Over at The Stalking Moon, Jeff's been enjoying getting to know George Montgomery's Westerns, just as I have over the past year. Jeff writes about GUN BELT (1953) and THE LONE GUN (1954).

...Danny reviews Ginger Rogers and Frances Dee in FINISHING SCHOOL (1934) at Pre-Code.Com. I'm definitely one of those he refers to who was a little slow on the uptake regarding the big plot development in the last part of the movie. Not being so familiar with pre-Codes several years ago, it simply hadn't occurred to me as a possibility. The second time I saw the film, I wondered how I'd missed it!

..."End of Film: Paramount First Studio to Stop Distributing Film Prints." Sigh.

...Here's Leonard Maltin on the Warner Archive's Classic Shorts From the Dream Factory: Volume 2 (1929-1946). I was thrilled to receive this from a kind friend at Christmas, and it's wonderful to have so many interesting shorts gathered in one place, including Ann Rutherford and Dennis Morgan (aka Stanley Morner) in ANNIE LAURIE (1936), Rutherford and Henry Brandon in CARNIVAL IN PARIS (1937), Virgina Grey and George Murphy in VIOLETS IN SPRING (1935), and Grey and Dorothy Dandridge in SNOW GETS IN YOUR EYES (1938). Plus Judy Garland and Deanna Durbin teamed for the first and only time in the famous short EVERY SUNDAY (1936).

...Thanks to the Self-Styled Siren for Tweeting this fun YouTube link to Fred and Ginger presenting at the Oscars in 1967. What a team.

...A great deal at Amazon: A 5-Film Bing Crosby collection currently sells for as little as $2.99 plus shipping from some vendors. (Tuesday Update: The vendor offerings change daily and that price is now good just for used sets, but there are still great prices available for new sets, considering the set includes so many movies!)

...It's interesting to note that the upcoming TCM Vault release of Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth in THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1947) is following the lead of the Criterion Collection and being released as a DVD/Blu-ray combination package. I wonder how frequently that might happen in the future; it's hard to imagine combination releases occurring with sets, for example. THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI will be out on January 27th.

...This week's Ann Blyth post by Jacqueline at Another Old Movie Blog focuses on episodes of WAGON TRAIN and THIS IS YOUR LIFE.

..."Anticipatory shipping"? The latest interesting Amazon news.

...NBC has announced that its next live musical production, following THE SOUND OF MUSIC, will be PETER PAN.

...New on Blu-ray from Twilight Time, available at Screen Archives Entertainment: Edmond O'Brien and Audrey Totter in MAN IN THE DARK (1953). The Blu-ray includes a 3-D viewing option. I reviewed the movie last year.

...Cliff reviewed some interesting random titles at Immortal Ephemera; I enjoyed learning that Chester Morris and George E. Stone worked together many years before they were "Boston Blackie" and "the Runt"! Grant Mitchell, who's in a couple of the titles he writes about, turned up today as the movie studio head when I watched THE CORPSE CAME C.O.D. (1947).

...Brilliance seen at ThinkGeek: A STAR TREK "red shirt" stuffed dog chew toy!

...More found via Twitter: The Official John Wayne account Tweeted a link to a very interesting article on actor Joe Sawyer. Saywer's one of those actors you're always glad to see show up in a cast; IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953), seen at the left, was one especially notable role, and THE KILLING (1956) was another. Sawyer also cowrote and produced a Lippert docudrama I really enjoyed, OPERATION HAYLIFT (1950).

...Notable Passings: A bit of my childhood TV memories faded away last week, with the passings of Dave Madden of THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY and Russell Johnson of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND. As noted by Toby and company at 50 Westerns From the 50s, Johnson's film career was more memorable for some of us than his famous TV role, as he costarred in Westerns such as LAW AND ORDER (1953) and sci-fi classics including IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953). Johnson is seen here with Joe Sawyer in a scene from the latter film.

...Additional Notable Passings: British actor Roger Lloyd-Pack passed on at 69; the BBC offered a look at his career in photographs...Ruth Robinson Duccini, one of the last surviving Munchkins from THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939), has died at the age of 95.

Have a great week!