Around the Blogosphere This Week

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

...GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) premiered in Atlanta 75 years ago tomorrow, on December 15, 1939. Susan King writes in the Los Angeles Times about various commemorations of the anniversary.  She also interviewed University of Southern California professor Rick Jewell.

...Glenn Erickson has listed his Most Impressive Discs of 2014 at DVD Savant. I have four of his top choices and was especially delighted to see his high praise for CRY DANGER (1951) which is one of my favorite noir titles ever. Discovering it at UCLA in 2011 is a great film-going memory.

...Great news for fans of Preston Foster: VCI is releasing his 1954 TV series WATERFRONT and Sony is putting out his 1948 film THUNDERHOOF.

...Also of interest from VCI: G.I. JANE (1951) with Jean Porter, double billed with GRAND CANYON (1949) starring Mary Beth Hughes, Reed Hadley, Richard Arlen, and James Millican. That goes on my wish list!

...Character names for the new STAR WARS movie, THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015), were introduced in a fun way, via retro-style bubblegum trading cards such as I collected as a teenager. First Showing has photos.

...Nora writes on "5 Reasons to Love THE UNSUSPECTED (1947)" at The Nitrate Diva. I also enjoyed this film, which stars Claude Rains, Joan Caulfield, Audrey Totter, and Constance Bennett; my 2013 review is here.

...The Edelweiss Patterns Blog take a nostalgic look back at the dresses Kathryn Grant Crosby wore on Bing Crosby's annual Christmas shows.

...Kendahl writes on Christmas Noir for ClassicFlix. I love her selections; I've seen all but one of the films she mentions, and in fact I cited two of them for an upcoming article on Christmas films I wrote for the same site.

...Life Magazine shares rare photos of snow production on the set of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946). (Via The Jimmy Stewart Museum.)

...Continuing in a Christmas theme, Kimberly Lindbergs wrote about MGM's 1938 version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL for the TCM Movie Morlocks site.

...Here's John at Greenbriar Picture Shows on a film I really liked, PRINCE OF FOXES (1949) starring Tyrone Power.

...Marc Myers recently interviewed Kristen Chenoweth about her childhood and early love for music in The Wall Street Journal.

...Jacqueline's great series on Ann Blyth at Another Old Movie Blog recently included a review of RED CANYON (1949) costarring George Brent and Howard Duff.

...Coming in January to 50 Westerns From the 50s: A Randolph Scott Blogathon!

...Over at Rupert Pupkin Speaks, check out the very interesting Underrated Thrillers lists by John Knight and Colin McGuigan.

...Royalty Watch: Here are adorable new photos of Prince George, who is 16 months old.

...Notable Passings: The funeral for Queen Fabiola of Belgium, who passed away several days ago at the age of 86, was held on Friday. The Daily Mail has many moving photos of the day's events...Former Miss America and actress Mary Ann Mobley, the widow of Gary Collins, has passed on at 75.

...Congratulations to Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota who was awarded the Heisman Trophy yesterday, the first Heisman winner in University of Oregon history. He is by all accounts a very nice young man as well as a great football player.

...We are so excited that the Ducks are playing in the Rose Bowl! Our daughter in the Ducks Marching Band will have the opportunity to march in Disneyland (on December 30th) and the Rose Parade (on New Year's Day) as well as playing at the bowl game. For anyone who may have missed my recent photo posts of my visit to the University of Oregon, they are here and here.

Have a great week!