Around the Blogosphere This Week

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

...Sad news this week, the October 2020 Lone Pine Film Festival was cancelled due to the coronavirus. I was hoping that one might remain on the calendar since it's still several months out and much of the festival takes place outdoors, but at the same time I can't say I'm surprised by the decision. Most film fests have decided not to invest in planning in this uncertain environment and instead to focus on next year.

...Capitolfest in Rome, New York, is bucking the trend and planning to go ahead this August. Difficulty obtaining films from closed archives means that the Joan and Constance Bennett tribute planned for this year has been pushed back to 2021, but the festival is going ahead from August 14th-16th showing other silent and early sound rarities.  I'm told that the theater's ample seating should make any "social distancing" necessary doable. Thanks very much to regular reader Jane for the information.

...New double-film Blu-ray set: THE MAN FROM THE ALAMO (1953) paired with THEY CAME TO CORDURA (1959).

...Take a photo tour of a striking Hollywood Hills home once owned by Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee.

...Indiewire has details on the Netflix deal to purchase the Egyptian Theatre from the American Cinematheque. I must say I find it disconcerting that Netflix has the option to sell the theater a dozen years from now, with the new owner able to kick out the American Cinematheque one year after assuming ownership. The media environment changes so rapidly, who knows where Netflix will be at as a company a decade from now?

...I enjoy Western reviews by James Reasoner at his blog Rough Edges. Here's one of the Hopalong Cassidy film TEXAS MASQUERADE (1944).

...Glenn Erickson's latest reviews at CineSavant include the new Kino Lorber set Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema III with ABANDONED (1949), THE LADY GAMBLES (1949), and THE SLEEPING CITY (1950). I love his comment about ABANDONED, which is a personal favorite: "ABANDONED really glows on Blu-ray — the shiny-marble atmosphere of City Hall couldn’t be recreated on a set." I have received a copy of the Vol. III collection and will be reviewing the movies here soon, along with continuing to review films from the Vol. II collection; I have previously reviewed THE PRICE OF FEAR (1956) from Vol. II.

...Thanks to the anonymous reader who shared a link for a 2019 Los Angeles Times article on Tom Tully in the comments for my review of RACHEL AND THE STRANGER (1948). I'm sharing the story here as I think it will be of interest to many of my readers who have enjoyed the work of this fine character actor.

...Fallout from the coronavirus continues, as WONDER WOMAN 1984 (2020) has had its release pushed back from mid August to early October. Christopher Nolan's TENET (2020) was just pushed back two weeks, from mid July to the end of that month. All eyes are now on Disney and its live-action version of MULAN (2020), currently scheduled for release on July 24th.

...Silent film historian and locations expert John Bengtson is working to have a Hollywood alley named for silent comedy icons Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton, who all shot films there.

...For those who may not have heard, a few days ago Disneyland announced plans to reopen on July 17th -- the park's 65th anniversary. Sleeping Beauty Castle is seen here, photographed during its 60th Anniversary celebration. (June 24th Update: The reopening has been delayed as the state will not be releasing theme park reopening guidelines until after July 4th.)

...A happy personal note: Our youngest son graduated today from UC San Diego. It seems as though it was just yesterday that he was moving in! No photos, as like everyone else this year he had a "virtual" graduation, but I wanted to note his accomplishment here. Our oldest daughter graduated from the University of Southern California in 2010, our oldest son from Northern Arizona University in 2016, and our younger daughter from the University of Oregon in 2017. We are done!

...For additional recent links of interest to classic film fans, please check out my June 6th roundup.

Have a great week!