Silent Summer: Dans la nuit (1929) direccted by Charles Vanel

 

One of, if the last of the French silent film era. this film is a tour de force in acting and image composition. The editing and transitions are amazing and the recent restoration really lays to rest any ideas that silent films were primitive filmmaking in any way. 

After a disfiguring mining accident, a man hides his face from his wife who he discovered is charting on him. He catches her and her lover who is also wearing a mask and in the struggle, the husband is killed and the body dumped in the river. I won't spoil things but suffice it to say that murder leads to to a number of twists and turns that use creative montage to show the [present, what really happened and to move between the past and present in a truly masterful way. The only problem I have is with the ending, which was forced on the director by the studio. It still works but could have been a much more powerful ending if the studio had kept their hands off it. 

I saw this on French TV and I have no idea where else it can be seen. I did not find it on Amazon or on YouTube but if you get a chance see it! 

Finding Mr. Goodbar

Over at the always fab FINDADEATH.COM there is a summary of the real victim of the "Goodbar" murder.

Click here to see photos of the victim's singles bar haunt on 72nd Street (now) and screengrabs of the SNL 1977 skit advertising the "LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR SLEEPYTIME PLAYSET" where (as the announcer tells Gilda Radner playing a child) every little girl can "win" by "getting killed".

The film is currently out of print on VHS and has never been released on DVD/Blu Ray (Is the studio too cheap for pay for the disco music rights featured in the film?)

Watch the clip below if you've forgotten how great young Richard Gere looked in a jockstrap.



The next clip is the title sequence with the theme song.

Snuff

I was trapped in the car and listened to Chuck Palahniuk's book Snuff, and now I have to post it here as a recommendation for it's wealth of quirky, old-school beauty tips of classic Hollywood stars as well as horrible tragic ends of Hollywood stars (In addition, the meaning of gang tattoos, toxic overdose symptoms of Viagra and effects of cyanide). While there seems to be some contrivance and deus ex machina kinda stuff happening, it was a jolly good and disgusting adventure, if one is, as always except in the case of documentaries, willing to suspend one's disbelief. His willingness probably comes from the juxtapostion of the violent death of his father and his father's girlfriend, which was basically a repetition of the same circumstances a generation earlier - history repeating itself.

Harry - He's Here to Help

With a Friend Like Harry or/ou Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien

Last night's DVR from IFC. The feel of this film by director Dominik Moll is akin to Hitchcock, yet without any direct "tribute-y" vibe. I mean it's well-constructed; the structure of the shot sequence is so carefully thought out that the journey this film takes you on unfolds with every moment seeming to emanate from a blank slate. It's only until the final 3rd of the film that one starts to anticipate some of the shocking activities that take place. The players are all radiating their own enigmatic energy, even when no dialogue carries them. Lastly, the bathroom is about one of the best non-human actors I've seen in a while. Strongly, STRONGLY recommended by me. I know, "So what?" So there.

You will at least temporarily feel like you want to avoid having guests

Sry - no subtitled trailer.

Hip Talking Dolls

A teaser from the Zsa Zsa movie - Picture Mommy Dead.

Mr Jolly

From "The Comic Strip Presents..." Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door

We Are Your Children

Chilling. But hey, we're not all dead, so Ha Ha! Also, lest we forget, his roots were in Scientology.
Why didn't Railsbeck (Everybody's favorite Ed Gein) get an Emmy? WTF?!?!? I BLAME THE SYSTEM!!!

Hooray for the Hallowe'en countdown!

Wicked, Wicked (That's The Ticket) Wicked, Wicked (That's The Ticket)

I think the prospect of seeing the 'Wicked, Wicked' song performed in it's entirety is more enticing than duovision.

Atta Boy Luther!

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)

In the first and funniest film of his 5-picture deal with Universal, Don Knotts plays Luther Heggs - a meek type-setter who in his quest to become an ace reporter agrees to spend the night in a spooky mansion and becomes a local hero.

Vic Mizzy's peppy (and creepy) score adds to the brilliance of the film.

character actor sightings:

• Jesslyn Fax and Nydia Westman as the bickering boarding house ladies.
  
• Reta Shaw plays the banker's wife and head of the local occult group.
• Charles Lane and Ellen Corby show up in the courtroom scene
• Philip Ober as villian Nicky Simmons (was the real life hubby of Vivian Vance until she divorced him in 1959)
• Hope Summers ("Clara") and Hal Smith ("Otis") are brought over from TVs Mayberry as similar characters in the first scene of the film.
• Bert Mustin plays the old man boarder who lends Luther his flashlight.

trivia: Don Knotts personally contacted the makers of Bon Ami to get permission for a running gag where the product is mentioned. The other running gag has an off-camera wiseacre yelling "Atta Boy Luther!" in every crowd scene. Knotts said in his autobiography that the voice belonged to screenwriter Everett Greenbaum.