Around the Blogosphere This Week

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

...Turner Classic Movies is celebrating the channel's 20th anniversary with a free limited time movie locations tour in Los Angeles. The tours will take place March 14th to April 14th. TCM has been running movie location tours in New York for a few months now, but this will mark the first time they've sponsored tours in L.A. Tickets have been going quickly, but if there are any left, book here. I'm happy to say that I have a ticket for the very first tour on March 14th and I'll be reporting on it here!

...My latest article for ClassicFlix is on Loretta Young, including DVD recommendations for several of Young's best films.

...The Academy always manages to leave someone important out of their "In Memoriam" tribute reel, and this year it was the great Audrey Totter. I paid tribute to Audrey at the time of her passing last December. It's a shame the Academy continues to demonstrate it's not really serious about the industry's great past, it's only serious about "who's cool now" and of course TV ratings.

...Vienna called my attention to the 2005 book GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOR: THE MOVIES' MAGIC RAINBOW by Fred E. Basten. Want to check this one out!

...Judy has a thoughtful post on Douglas Sirk's ALL I DESIRE (1953) at Movie Classics. You can also check out my take on the film back in 2010. The film is part of the Barbara Stanwyck Collection.

...Last weekend I reviewed THE WIND RISES (2013), the excellent new animated film from Hiyao Miyazaki now being released in the United States. Coming in April: THE ART OF THE WIND RISES.

...Jacqueline's latest Ann Blyth post at Another Old Movie Blog is on ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST (1948), a prequel to THE LITTLE FOXES (1941). I haven't yet seen the film but I really enjoyed Jacqueline's in-depth analysis of the characters and their interactions. Edmond O'Brien and Dan Duryea costar. This Universal film needs to come out on DVD!

...In recent years I've read a few negative things here and there on GIGI (1958) which show that the writers were in front of a movie screen but didn't actually see the movie, to paraphrase one of the comments at the Self-Styled Siren's blog. The Siren launches a full-throated defense of this lovely film. My only quibble is her slight dig at Charles Walters, who did a seamless job on retakes.

...An interesting new book, especially for someone such as myself who's a big fan of MAVERICK: ROY HUGGINS: CREATOR OF MAVERICK, 77 SUNSET STRIP, THE FUGITIVE and THE ROCKFORD FILES by Paul Green. It was just published by McFarland Press. Huggins, incidentally, was married to actress Adele Mara.

...I just received the new Criterion edition of my favorite Hitchcock film, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940). Looks like it has lots of great extras! Glenn Erickson, Mike Clark, and Leonard Maltin review the film and new release.

...Glenn Erickson also enjoyed JUPITER'S DARLING (1955), an Esther Williams musical released last year by the Warner Archive. It's always been one of my younger daughter's favorite Esther films.

...I really want to see Joan Fontaine and Burt Lancaster in KISS THE BLOOD OFF MY HANDS (1948), reviewed by Marilyn at Ferdy on Films.

...The Favorite Discoveries posts at Rupert Pupkin Speaks are always fun reading. The latest list by that blog's proprietor has a number of titles I've really enjoyed as well as good ideas for future viewing.

...The latest reviews and discussions at Riding the High Country are on Gary Cooper in THE HANGING TREE (1959) and Robert Taylor in THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN HAWKS (1959).

...This week's YouTube find: BUCK BENNY RIDES AGAIN (1940), starring Jack Benny, Ellen Drew, and an amazing cast. This film is fondly recalled by a relative, and I hope to check it out soon. As always, remember that films tend to disappear quickly from the internet so anyone interested should check it out without delay.

...Thoughts on the films of 1948 from MC at Happy Thoughts, Darling.

...There are a lot of great blogathons coming up! A few are listed at Movies Silently.

...Stephen Tobolowsky, who played obnoxious insurance salesman Ned Ryerson in GROUNDHOG DAY (1993), wrote a warm tribute to the movie's late director, Harold Ramis.

...Coming in the next few days: a review of MAJESTIC HOLLYWOOD: THE GREATEST FILMS OF 1939 by Mark Vieira. Lined up for review in future weeks: VIVIEN LEIGH: A BIOGRAPHY by Kendra Bean and THE CRIME FILMS OF ANTHONY MANN by Max Alvarez.

Have a great week!