Amoeblog

13th Annual Los Angeles Film Noir Festival Week 2

Posted by Mr. Chadwick, April 9, 2011 04:00pm | Post a Comment

We're now deep in week 2 of the 13th annual Film Noir Festival and have some great pairings to look forward to!

Tonight features a couple of classic tough guy performances from Charles McGraw and James Cagney in Loophole and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye.  Sunday brings a great "women's night" with scarce films featuring Gloria Grahame, Maureen O'Hara, Susan Hayward & Jane Greer-- how much more beauty could you squeeze into a double feature?!? They Won't Believe Me is a top notch dramatic thriller produced by the trailblazing Joan Harrison, Hitchcock protege & one of only 3 female contract producers working in Hollywood during the classic noir years.  A Woman's Secret is one of Nicholas Ray's most rarely screened films, making this night a must see! Female on the Beach & Hazard continue the focus on the ladies. Joan Crawford and Paulette Goddard lead with memorable performances by Jeff Chandler, Jan Sterling, Charles McGraw & Percy Hilton.  These films screen on Wednesday.
 

Thursday provides us with a Robert Ryan double feature.  Amongst the most complex players in noir, Ryan's special brand of darkness could liven up even the most hollow of films. The Max Ophuls helmed Caught features Barbara Bel Geddes of Vertigo & Dallas fame while Beware, My Lovely pairs Ryan with Ida Lupino in a taught psycho-sexual thriller. Friday rounds things out with a personal visit from actress Jeanne Cooper and a William Castle double, The Houston Story & New Orleans Uncensored.  If I'm not mistaken, not a damn one of these films is available on DVD!!!
 


13th Annual Los Angeles Film Noir Festival Week 1

Posted by Mr. Chadwick, April 2, 2011 12:30pm | Post a Comment

It's lucky 13 for us in LA as the Film Noir Foundation is offering quite an unusual batch of films this year.  Last night kicked off the festival with newly struck prints of Audrey Totter in High Wall and a recently restored Anthony Mann obscurity Strangers In The Night.  Tonight's offering is a prison themed double starting off with Jules Dassin classic Brute Force. Well known for its ensemble cast, it features a particularly stellar performance from Hume Cronyn as the sadistic Capt. Munsey. Paired with Brute Force is Jack Palance vehicle House of Numbers, which features vintage San Quentin locations and Tim
othy Carey of Killing of a Chinese Bookie, the Killing & World's Greatest Sinner fame.
 
Sunday brings a couple of unearthed gems in Whiplash and The Hunted, neither on DVD.  In fact, 6 of the first 10 movies in this year's lineup are not available on DVD! Wednesday offers the murderous combination of Humphrey Bogart as a psychotic artist in the Two Mrs. Carrols & Olivia De Havilland in a dual role as twins accused of murder in The Dark Mirror. Thursday rounds out the first week with Charles McGraw as a murderer on the lam in The Threat & Joan Crawford as a gangster losing her eyesight in This Woman is Dangerous.  Promised to be "Joan at her Joaniest," what more could you ask for?!


(In which Job honors his Mother.)

Posted by Job O Brother, May 10, 2010 12:27pm | Post a Comment
 

victorian woman
An actual picture of my Mother (not pictured here).

In honor of this week’s Mother’s Day, I’m dedicating this entry to my Mammy. 

I remember Mom liked the house kept quiet so she could concentrate on reading her scripts. It also allowed her to track the progress of the housekeepers; she could hear if they were spending their time talking, how much time they spent scouring the living room tile, etc. It was kind of intense, but not as bad as when she stopped getting decent movie roles and her alcoholism worsened. That’s when she started beating me with coat hangers and…

(Wherein which you may get cancer.)

Posted by Job O Brother, April 11, 2010 03:33pm | Post a Comment
get well soon

Recently, one of my boyfriend’s favorite celebrities died from one of his least favorites diseases.

Dixie Carter passed away April 10, of complications from endometrial cancer.








Cancer has been an unwelcome houseguest in our lives for a while now. The boyfriend’s from the Lone Star State, where getting cancer seems to be as common as sequenced sweaters and tuxedos matched with leather boots. The stars at night are big and bright deep in the heart of Texas, but so it seems are a few malignancies.

No amount of my assurances will convince the boyfriend he won’t necessarily get cancer; it’s neither a birthright, nor a curse – but he’s already decided which hospital will treat him and where to find the best wig for the occasion. It’s the “wedding day” daydream equivalent for the hypochondria set.

(In which pop eats itself.)

Posted by Job O Brother, February 20, 2008 09:11pm | Post a Comment


This is a video to a single from an album by Rough Trade called “For Those Who Think Young.” I’m pretty keen on the lead singer, Carole Pope; I dig her husky vocals and her facial expression when she sings. Her face often twists, ugly, and looks close to screaming in horror, then suddenly breaks into a plaintive sadness – a combination which reminds me of Joan Crawford before she was doped out on [insert any liquor here].

Interesting to note is that Carole Pope was lovers with another singer, Dusty Springfield.


That’s Dusty Springfield singing. I hope you already knew that, because it would mean you’re acquainted with her. If not, my sympathy lasts only long enough for you to rush out to the nearest Amoeba Music and find her out. Accompanying her on piano is Burt Bacharach. He’s the dude who wrote the music for the song.

Burt Bacharach, along with lyricist Hal David, also wrote “Walk On By” for Dionne Warwick. It was one of many collaborations between the songwriters and singer. She was their muse. Between them they released a dizzying amount of Billboard Hot 100 hits.

A lot of people from my generation (unfortunately) associate Warwick with two moments in her career: the schmaltzy #1 hit “That’s What Friends Are For” (which – laugh at it though you may – did raise a few million dollars for AmFAR) and her stint as co-host of infomercials for the Psychic Friends Network, along with celebrity psychic, Linda Georgian.

In the mid-1980’s, my sister Jacquie was Linda Georgian’s personal assistant and housemate. My Mom and I visited her at Linda’s house in Fort Lauderdale. When Linda wasn’t reading tarot cards for Liza Minnelli or casting out evil spirits from the summer home of David Hasselhoff, she liked to make her own jewelry, and she taught me how to string necklaces. She also read my aura and saw a lot of “lavender.”