Just accidentally discovered the existence of a novel in which 1930s Hollywood is hit with a plague of vampirism; and it's mainly told from the PoV of Oliver Hardy. Unfortunately the novel is in Italian, and the only English version appears to have simply been run through Google Translate, which does add to the weird dreamlike quality, but does ( Read more... )

Last night we watched Devil Doll (1936), starring Lionel Barrymore. A bank executive framed for robbery and manslaughter escapes years later in the company of a mad scientist, who wants to solve overpopulation and world hunger by shrinking everybody to doll size. They join his wife and fellow mad scientist, who's been carrying on their work, but ( Read more... )

We've been watching Some Laurel & Hardy shorts recently, in between other movies. Some I'd seen before, some I can't recall if I'd seen them or only seen stills. Towed in a Hole is my favourite of the latter. I suspect the title is one of Stan's in-jokes for the British viewers ( Read more... )

Ordered In Chinese food and watched Lang's Die Nibelungen, which is what I imagine Iris Whitcomb's movies in Experimental Film would have looked like, except with a bigger budget:

Click to view

Plotwise, I mostly just feel sorry for Atilla the Hun (Rudolph Klein-Rogge).

Watched Richard III (1995) on the weekend. This time out, looking at all the BBC-period-drama trappings that probably came from the same costume houses that outfitted a thousand Agatha Christie adaptations, I found myself wondering what Poirot would do in that universe -- well, dodge assassination attempts most likely, once Richard noticed him as a ( Read more... )

After watching the trailer for Arrival last week, I went and read the source work, Ted Chiang's 'Story of Your Life.' I've been wondering ever if they'll be able to translate such a intimate, quietly tragic story into a feature-length movie as-is. I think, from hints in the trailer, they may have constructed a third act, perhaps one in which the ( Read more... )

Andrew recently acquired a copy of Just Imagine (1930), a movie he last saw in 1980, the years it is set. I can see why he's always going on about it - this movie feels like the perfect early-'Thirties movie: Singing! Dancing! Rockets! Art Deco sets! Comedy Swedish accents! Women in extremely pre-Code costumes! Props and FX scenes that would be re- ( Read more... )

Last night we watched The Invisible Ghost (1941) and Ed Wood (1994), and this evening we watched The Devil Bat (1940). One thing Ed Wood really gets right is Lugosi's professionalism, no matter how silly the script -- in the 1940s films he always plays it straight and to the best of his ability, whether he's waving a swab of cotton at a large bat ( Read more... )

...at least three are titled "Nowhere Special."

So, I finally read Experimental Film: A Novel, today, and it's great, but a very weird experience. Apparently it's a truism that female writers have to cope with everyone assuming their work is autobiographical; except in this case it's partly right -- Gemma's made no secret that Lois, the narrator, is based on herself (or how she feels about ( Read more... )