This and That

Around the Blogosphere This Week will be taking this coming weekend off, due to a busy schedule which includes our family team, Skippers in De Nile, competing in MouseAdventure Card Games on Sunday. Instead, here's a nice big batch of links to enjoy heading into the weekend!

...Comet Over Hollywood hosts the Gone Too Soon Blogathon on Friday and Saturday, March 9th and 10th. Over 30 classic film blogs will be paying tribute to actors who passed on before the age of 50. I plan to contribute a post on Carole Landis this Saturday.

...I never tire of stories on actress Hedy Lamarr's remarkable scientific achievements. Here's a story and video from CBS.

...There are two especially good new releases from the Warner Archive this month: the delightful comedy-fantasy JOHNNY DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (1944), which came out on Tuesday, and one of Fred Astaire's lesser-known (and underrated) musicals, THE SKY'S THE LIMIT (1943), due out on March 20th. I saw JOHNNY DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE last year and thought it was a wonderful surprise, which kept me laughing all the way up to the mind-blowing ending. As I wrote three years ago, THE SKY'S THE LIMIT has never received the attention it deserves; it has an excellent cast and introduced the Mercer-Arlen standards "My Shining Hour" (nominated for Best Song) and "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)."

...The Archive is celebrating its third anniversary this weekend with a "5 for $50" sale, including free ground shipping.

...For a look back at the earliest days of the Warner Archive, check out my posts dated March 22 and March 23, 2009, followed by my first review of an Archive disc, PRIVATE LIVES (1931), on April 7, 2009.

...I have fond memories of buying a beautiful old dust-jacketed copy of Elizabeth Goudge's GREEN DOLPHIN COUNTRY at a used bookstore in Marblehead, Massachusetts, a number of years ago. I also loved the movie version, GREEN DOLPHIN STREET (1947), which was released by the Warner Archive last fall in a remastered edition. Leading man Richard Hart is kind of a zero, but other than that you've got Lana Turner, Van Heflin, Donna Reed, and a great earthquake; it's highly watchable. Greenbriar Picture Shows has posted Part One of a series on this film, with the usual amazing photos and posters readers know to expect at Greenbriar.

...The Washington Post ran an excellent article on POLDARK star Robin Ellis signing his new cookbook. He'll have a book signing in Hollywood on March 17th.

...Colin has reviewed SINGAPORE (1947) at Riding the High Country. As Colin points out, it's far from a perfect film, but despite its issues, I enjoyed it.

...There's an interesting discussion of the ending of THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (1944) at the Self-Styled Siren. (Needless to say, be sure to watch the movie before you read the post!) I liked the ending, myself, and thought it "fit" what was a very interesting film.

...John DiLeo has a new book coming out in May: SCREEN SAVERS II: MY GRAB BAG OF CLASSIC MOVIES. I enjoyed the first SCREEN SAVERS book, as well as John's book on Tennessee Williams movies, and I'm looking forward to his latest! You can read a bit more about it at John's blog, Screen Savers.

...A Very Happy 5th Bloggiversary to Jacqueline Lynch at Another Old Movie Blog! And here's to many more.

...Notable Passings: Benedict Freedman, a professor at Occidental College who coauthored one of my favorite novels, has passed away at the age of 92. Freedman wrote MRS. MIKE with his wife Nancy, who passed away at the age of 90 in 2010. MRS. MIKE was a 1949 film starring Dick Powell and Evelyn Keyes; my review of the movie is here...Actress Martha Stewart has died at age 89. (Via KC at Classic Movies.) Her film credits included DAISY KENYON (1947) and IN A LONELY PLACE (1950).

...For more recent links, please visit last weekend's Around the Blogosphere This Week.

Have a great weekend!