Around the Blogosphere This Week
...Next month the Film Noir Foundation and the Hollywood Legion Theater will present a Summer Weekend of Noir, to be hosted by Alan K. Rode (in person) and Eddie Muller (in prerecorded introductions). Seven films will be screen in 35mm prints. Titles include one of my all-time faves, THE NARROW MARGIN (1952), as well as CRY DANGER (1951), LOOPHOLE (1954), and several more highly watchable films. Update: It's now been announced that Eddie Muller will be there in person this weekend!
...July 17th at the Legion, Retroformat will be presenting a mid-afternoon screening of Harold Lloyd's SAFETY LAST! (1923), with an introduction by Suzanne Lloyd and live music by Cliff Retallick. This screening was originally scheduled to take place in March 2020. It's wonderful seeing people heading back to the movies again!
...Our pal Toby Roan of 50 Westerns from the '50s was recently video interviewed by Robert Bellissimo at the Movies on THE MAKING OF ONE-EYED JACKS.
...Happiest birthday wishes to June Lockhart, who turned 96 on Friday, June 25th.
...Last week the Los Angeles Times published a story on Turner Classic Movies and how it's doing in a streaming world.
...Coming to Blu-ray from Kino Lorber this October: COME SEPTEMBER (1961), starring Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Bobby Darin, and Sandra Dee.
...Speaking of Kino Lorber, over 400 Blu-rays are on sale in their current "June Swoon" sale...I'm also hearing that the annual Barnes & Noble Criterion half-price summer sale starts July 2nd. (Update: Criterion Half-Price Summer Sale at Barnes & Noble.)
...31 animated films are coming to the Criterion Channel in July. Cartoon Brew has the rundown.
...Here's some history of the 60-year-old Wienerschnitzel hot dog chain, or as it was known when I was a kid, Der Wienerschnitzel. It was founded in Los Angeles in 1961.
...Liam Neeson's THE ICE ROAD (2021), an adventure film about a daring rescue, is now available on Netflix. I'll be checking it out soon.
...Here's Leonard Maltin's latest "New and Notable Film Books."
...Rachel Zegler, who is playing Maria in the upcoming movie remake of WEST SIDE STORY (2021), has been cast in the lead in Disney's live-action remake of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937). (Enough with the remakes already, but no one's listening to me...)
...James Reasoner has a fun little post at his blog Rough Edges on a Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Whitman children's book.
...Vienna's Classic Hollywood features some fascinating photos of the premiere of DODGE CITY (1939). It's all the more appropriate as it will be the late Olivia de Havilland's birthday in a few days, on July 1st.
...Regular readers know I'm a fan of the long-running Fast and Furious series. The latest entry, F9 (2021), is now out after a year's delay. I have tentative plans to go see it during an upcoming trip. Here's more on the movie and the series from the L.A. Times and Variety.
...Notable Passings: Actress Joanne Linville, a fixture in episodic television for decades, has died at 93...Television executive Norman Powell, the son of Joan Blondell and Dick Powell, has passed on at 86. In 2016 I sat across the aisle from Norman Powell at UCLA screenings as he watched his mother in I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER (1934) and both his parents in FOOTLIGHT PARADE (1933). (One of his relatives commented at the latter screening that Norman's birth father, cinematographer George Barnes, had also worked on FOOTLIGHT PARADE.) I remember thinking how remarkable it must have been to watch his parents as they were decades ago, around the time he was born.
...For additional recent links of interest to classic film fans, please check out my June 19th roundup.
...Please note that Around the Blogosphere This Week will be taking the next two weekends off while I travel. The column will return on July 17, 2001.
posted by Laura @ 3:30 PM
5 Comments:
Many thanks for the shout-out, Laura. It was wonderful to see the Dodge City premiere in Technicolor- from You Tube.
That Noir weekend sounds fabulous!
I'm listening to you, Laura.
In my opinion most movie remakes are like, or worse than, second-grade retreads.
Consider The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951), The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (1947), The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Ocean's Eleven (1960), Sabrina (1954), Ben Hur (1959), Papillon (1973), Rebecca (1940), King Kong (1933) (remade countless times), A Star Is Born (1954) (yes, I know that the classic 1954 version was itself a remake which had its own remakes in 1976 and 2018).
The originals are classics that will live forever, while most remakes are quickly gone and forgotten.
You're very welcome, Vienna! Looking at everything made me wish I'd been at that premiere. :) Must have been a thrill for the local people to have Hollywood drop in!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Mel! Remakes can have their place -- for instance, I enjoy classic Hollywood's shorter "B" versions of "A" films -- but I agree with you the originals typically are the best. And it seems these days that half of Hollywood films are remakes -- maybe not, but the imbalance with original material is quite notable. As much as I love Disney, they are one of the worst contributors to this pattern. For every wonderful CINDERELLA (2015) there are many more films like BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (2017) and DUMBO (2019).
Best wishes,
Laura
Oh man, I'm very sorry to hear of Joanne Linville's passing. Her Romulan Commander was one of my all-time favorite characters on Star Trek, and I loved her whenever she popped up in other tv shows. I was very honored to meet her several years back and tell her how much her portrayal had meant to me.
Deb, how wonderful you were able to meet Joanne Linville and tell her how much you enjoyed her work. That's really special.
Best wishes,
Laura
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