Saturday, May 30, 2020

Around the Blogosphere This Week

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

...Happy 85th birthday to Ruta Lee! She was born in Montreal on May 30, 1935. I'm fortunate to have seen her in person on a couple of occasions, most recently the 2018 Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival.

...Happiest 97th birthday wishes to Jimmy Lydon, reviewed here last weekend in HOT ROD (1950).

...After over a year, Netflix has closed the deal to buy the Eygptian Theatre from the American Cinematheque. I have concerns about how this will play out long term and hope it goes well.

...It's time to sign up for the Summer 2020 Classic Film Book Reading Challenge at Out of the Past!

...Here's a trailer for the Streamliners Vol. 2 Westerns Collection, coming in June from ClassicFlix. Nice to see the Alabama Hills in the trailer! Earlier this month I enjoyed TANKS A MILLION (1941) in the Vol. 1 set, and I anticipate reviewing more films from that collection in the future.

...Here are some photos of the late Robert Conrad's beautiful Malibu home, now up for sale for over $5 million. Conrad passed away in February.

...The proposed Hedy Lamarr miniseries starring Gal Gadot is now lined up for Apple TV streaming.

...The latest upcoming Blu-ray announcements from Kino Lorber Studio Classics include THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK (1933), WAKE ISLAND (1942), THE RED BALL EXPRESS (1952), EVIL UNDER THE SUN (1982), and THE MIRROR CRACK'D (1980).

...Here's a salute to Twitter's #TCMParty hashtag and how comforting it is to "talk movies" during these challenging times.

...This Sunday's Silent Movie Watch Party, with live music by Ben Model, will include Harold Lloyd in GET OUT AND GET UNDER (1920). The Watch Party streams at 12:00 Pacific/3:00 Eastern on May 31st. Details here.

...Disney+ alert: Hayley Mills' THE MOON-SPINNERS (1964) is now available to stream.

...The Pacific Symphony has a John Williams concert on their site available to stream at no charge for the next 45 days.

...Notable Passing: I was sorry to learn of the death of film historian James Harvey at the age of 90. I reviewed his book MOVIE LOVE IN THE FIFTIES in August 2013 and his ROMANTIC COMEDY IN HOLLYWOOD: FROM LUBITSCH TO STURGES the following month. While I sometimes parted ways with his opinions, both books were interesting reads, and at their best they offered engaging, detailed analyses which made me want to rewatch some of the films described immediately.

...More Notable Passings: Marge Redmond, part of my childhood viewing as Sister Jacqueline on THE FLYING NUN (1967-'70), has passed away at the age of 95. The last feature film of her half-century career was MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY (1993)...Soap opera actress Melinda O. Fee has passed away at 77. She appeared on GUIDING LIGHT in the '70s and DAYS OF OUR LIVES and SANTA BARBARA in the '80s. She also costarred with David McCallum in the short-lived series THE INVISIBLE MAN (1975-'76). Fee's mother was Astrid Allwyn, who had a busy screen career in the '30s and early '40s.

...For additional recent links of interest to classic film fans, please check out my May 23rd roundup.

Have a great week!

4 Comments:

Blogger Seth said...

Thanks for pointing out the Summer Reading Challenge. Maybe I should sign up--it would give me incentive to take down a few books from my shelf and finally read them.

I enjoy those two Poirot films starring Peter Ustinov, and I'm glad to see they're getting Blu-ray releases. I've also been meaning to see THE MIRROW CRACK'D. I see that Kino Lorber is currently having a sale until June 8, so I might just need to upgrade a few other titles in my collection.

As for the Egyptian's sale, I hope Netflix sticks to its claim that it will remain a place for American Cinematheque programming and special events and screenings. But you're right that after a few years they could easily change directions.

5:39 PM  
Blogger Caftan Woman said...

I hadn't heard of the passing of Marge Redmond and Melinda Fee. Thank you for relaying the news, however sad.

6:58 PM  
Blogger barrylane said...

The Ustinov Poirot pictures and Lansbury in The Mirror Cracked have been availalbe on Blu ray for years; I have them. Perhaps these will be better editions.

7:34 PM  
Blogger Laura said...

Hi Seth, great to hear from you! I encourage you to consider the reading challenge! I've done it several times and it's definitely a great motivator to dig into the "to read" stack!

I saw THE MIRROR CRACK'D at the time it was released but have not seen the Ustinov films. Thanks to Barrylane also for the Blu-ray info. Kino has generally been releasing restored/remastered prints with extras so I'm assuming the discs will be a step up from whatever currently exists.

Caftan Woman, glad I could inform you, just always sad to see actors leave the scene, so to speak...

Thank you all for stopping by!!

Best wishes,
Laura

9:00 AM  

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