Around the Blogosphere This Week
Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the internet......A particularly exciting Blu-ray announcement from Kino Lorber Studio Classics: SAIGON (1947), starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, is "coming soon." To my knowledge this is the only Ladd-Lake film which has never had a VHS or DVD release. Can't wait to see it!
...Coming from Kino Lorber April 18th: RIO (1939), with Basil Rathbone heading an interesting cast.
...The latest ClassicFlix newsletter announces the company is restoring OUR TOWN (1940), long available only in muddy public domain prints. They have also started shipping Volume 3 of the O. Henry Playhouse series.
...Disney historian J. B. Kaufman has a new book coming this fall: WORLDS TO CONQUER: THE ART & MAKING OF DISNEY'S FANTASIA. It will be published by Weldon Owen next October 17th. Kaufman's previous books include SOUTH OF THE BORDER WITH DISNEY: WALT DISNEY AND THE GOOD NEIGHBOR PROGRAM, 1941-1948 and WALT DISNEY'S SILLY SYMPHONIES.
...Here's the latest news on the HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services.
...I enjoyed this article on RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (1962) by Hannah Long. It also pays tribute to the late critic Terry Teachout who is much missed.
...The Douglas Foundation has just launched an online archive featuring a library of memorabilia from the late Kirk and Anne Douglas. Visit The Douglas Archive.
...I've enjoyed Hallmark films written by and starring Paul Campbell and was interested to learn he has an upcoming movie mystery series for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, "The Cases of Mystery Lane." Aimee Garcia costars. (Thanks to Ashley for the tip.)
...Here's the crazy new trailer for FAST X (2023), coming May 19th. It looks nuts -- not that that's a surprise! -- but they had me at Jason Statham.
...Notable Passing: Charles Kimbrough, who played anchorman Jim Dial on MURPHY BROWN, has died at 86. He had been married to the late actress Beth Howland. I was interested to learn that his aunt was writer Emily Kimbrough (OUR HEARTS WERE YOUNG AND GAY).
...For additional recent links of interest to classic film fans, please check out my February 4th roundup.
posted by Laura @ 5:00 PM
8 Comments:
Laura, this is good news about the Kino Lorber 2k master Blu-ray release of SAIGON(filmed 1946-47, released 1947) starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Douglas Dick, Wally Cassell, and Luther Adler. I haven't viewed this movie in over 40 years. This movie eluded me for years, and I finally caught up with it on WREC Channel 3 Memphis, Tennessee's LATE, LATE MOVIE in 1982. It's a good adventure movie, but I don't think that it's a noir. Although, if that gets the movie a 2k mastered release on Blue-ray, so be it.
Thank you for the heads up on the outstanding write-up of Hannah Long's titled RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY: A CLASSIC WESTERN OFFERS A FABLE OF DECLINE, INHERTIENCE, AND HOPE. It is a keeper, and I enjoyed reading it right down to the ground that Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea stood on. There is hope, Hanna Long is in her late twenties and she wrote what I think is a really good essay.
For those interested, here is the link to Hanna's write-up.
https://www.plough.com/en/topics/culture/film/ride-the-high-country
I'm very excited about SAIGON, Walter, and glad to know you are too! I know a couple other Alan Ladd fans who are going to be very happy about this news. How interesting you got to see it on TV in Tennessee in the early '80s!
I'm so glad you enjoyed Hannah Long's essay as well -- thank you for adding your endorsement. It is indeed wonderful to see a younger film fan embrace the Western genre.
Best wishes,
Laura
Laura, I think SAGION is well worth viewing and I hope others will read Hanna Long's really good essay on RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY.
On another note, in listing where I first recall viewing a movie on tv, this is my homage to all those local tv stations that gave me, back in the day, the opportunity to view all those wonderful movies and tv shows of what we now call the Classic Era. I grew up out in the hinterlands on a small ranch in northern Arkansas and there wasn't a movie theater down the street to attend, so tv was it, until I was old enough to drive myself to a movie theater. In my viewing area there was WREC Channel 3, which later became WREG Channel 3 the CBS Network affiliate in Memphis, Tennessee showed a lot of movies and claimed to have the largest movie library outside of Hollywood, although Memphis' ABC Network affiliate WHBQ Channel 13 disputed this.
Thank you to the Memphis, Tennessee program directors of the CBS Network affiliate WREC/WREG Channel 3; the NBC affiliate WMCT/WMC Channel 5; the ABC affiliate WHBQ Channel 13; the PBS affiliate WKNO Channel 10; Jonesboro, Arkansas' ABC affiliate KAIT Channel 8; and Little Rock, Arkansas' NBC affiliate KARK Channel 4.
That's great news about OUR TOWN (1940), Laura - I've been searching for a good copy of it for years, particularly as one of my favorite character actresses, Doro Merande, was in the cast.
Thanks for link to the Douglas Archive Wonderful items to be looked at . If only there could be public access to more treasure troves online
I am over the moon with joy about the news about Saigon. I found several online copies that were all so crummy that I stopped watching. Hallelujah!
:-D I'm still bouncing with joy over Saigon's upcoming release :-D
I'm so glad I could share such good news with you all about SAIGON and OUR TOWN!
Walter, loved your tribute to local TV. What great memories. I grew up watching movies on KTLA Ch. 5, KHJ Ch. 9 (which is now KCAL), and KTTV Ch. 11. KTLA had Goldwyn and Warner Bros., KHJ had RKO, and KTTV had MGM. I'm not sure where I saw Fox movies -- I don't recall seeing much from their library growing up -- maybe KTTV?
Vienna, I'm also happy to know you're enjoying the Douglas Archive link. I agree, it would be great if more archives could be online.
Best wishes,
Laura
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