Around the Blogosphere This Week

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

...Coming March 25th from Kino Lorber Studio Classics: THE GLASS WEB (1953) starring Edward G. Robinson. Kino Lorber has announced an impressive special edition presentation which will include two different ways to watch the film in 3D, along with a standard 2D presentation.

..."Coming soon" from Kino Lorber: THE COUNTESS OF MONTE CRISTO (1934) starring Fay Wray and Paul Lukas.

...Toby reviews the new 4K/Blu-ray release of THE SEARCHERS (1956) at his site 50 Westerns From the 50s.

...CineSavant Glenn Erickson's latest reviews include Humphrey Bogart in SAHARA (1943) from Powerhouse Indicator and NORA PRENTISS (1947) from the Warner Archive Collection. The latter film was reviewed here a few days ago.

...Thanks to Chris Yogerst for making me aware of a book which looks quite interesting, BOOK AND DAGGER: HOW SCHOLARS AND LIBRARIANS BECAME THE UNLIKELY SPIES OF WORLD WAR II. It's by Elyse Graham, published by Harper Collins' Ecco imprint last September.

...I enjoyed looks back at 2024 viewing at Comet Over Hollywood and Phyllis Loves Classic Movies.

...Clint Eastwood's JUROR #2 (2024) is due out on Blu-ray February 4, 2025. Hopefully it will be more affordable than the initial "placeholder" price listed at Amazon.

...Screening at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills on April 22nd: FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956), along with two restored Puppetoon shorts - and an appearance by Robby the Robot! This is early in the week of this year's TCM Classic Film Festival so out-of-town attendees might want to try to fit it in.

...Coming to UCLA Film & Television Archive's Billy Wilder Theater on January 25th: A free screening of two COLUMBO episodes, "Murder By the Book" (1971) and "Double Shock" (1973).

...It will be a long time before we tally all of the losses from the ongoing horrific fire situation in the greater Los Angeles area, but two historic homes we currently know are lost are the Will Rogers Estate and the Zane Grey Estate. (We are doing fine in Orange County. Our daughter's apartment was too close for comfort to the Hollywood Hills fire, causing her to evacuate in case things got worse, but thankfully it was put out after a few hours last Wednesday night.)

...Notable Passing: I was greatly saddened this week to learn of the passing of Michael Schlesinger, a former Sony executive and champion of classic films and film festivals. He was 74. I couldn't count how many screenings I've seen him at over the years. I particularly remember when we were the first ones in the Egyptian Theatre prior to a screening of NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH (1940) in January 2020 and enjoyed a nice chat. He's seen here in a photo I took at opening night of the 2019 Noir City Film Festival with Alan K. Rode (left) and Christa Faust.

...More Notable Passings: Former child actor Johnny Russell has passed on at the age of 91. His films included JESSE JAMES (1939), SABOTAGE (1939), THE BLUE BIRD (1940), and THE MAN I MARRIED (1940). (He's seen here with Joan Bennett in THE MAN I MARRIED.) He went on to serve as an Air Force pilot and had a long career in the U.S. Foreign Service...Editor and producer George Folsey Jr., son of cinematographer George Folsey, has died at 85...Busy working actor John Capodice has died at 83...Actress Linda Lavin has died at 87...Character actress Gwen Van Dam has passed away at 96...Bob Laemmle of Hollywood's famed Laemmle family, who ran the Laemmle movie theater chain, has passed on at 89...TV director Harvey Laidman, who directed 11 episodes of THE WALTONS, as well as episodes of many other shows, has died at 82.

...For additional recent links of interest to classic film fans, please visit my December 28th column.

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