must see tv..., er, internet

I know we've been away from our battle stations for a little while, but a healthy dose of Jury Duty and catching up afterwards will do that for you. Nonetheless, I have read several things lately around the ol' Shelf Community and our neighbor bloggers and friends and found many things worth reading. Some of the best commentary and film history is right here at your fingertips with a few clicks of the mouse. Allow me to highlight a few; it's time for another edition of The Shelf's Passing Parade.

Item 1:
Big Hollywood is big time for sure, so congratulations are in order to John Nolte (formerly Dirty Harry) and Andrew Breitbart. While it is a daily read, two articles in particular are wonderful gems:
First up, one of our favorites, Robert Avrech, of the great Seraphic Secret, posted an article today on the story of silent film actress Alma Rubens and her rise and fall and all too brief life. It is perfect companion to our various discussions about the Hollywood of the silent and pre-code era. Wonderful piece.
Second, Noel Anenberg gives a very interesting take on the classic western High Noon and how it is analogous to our present political situation.

Item 2:
Those of you who may have seen the documentary Warners at War on last year's Homefront Collection DVD, or even have read Hollywood Goes to War or various biographies of the Warner Brothers, have heard of Warner's 1943 effort at propaganda called Mission to Moscow. It's a now little-seen film which Warners produced in 1943 starring Walter Huston as an ambassador to the USSR; ostensibly based on the real life story and book of the actual ambassador. It was an effort at boosting relations between our wary ally and our wary selves, but it only really gave Warners headaches over the years. TCM ran it on their schedule recently and the awesome Self-Styled Siren has seen and wrote a great review of the film and discussed it's impact and place among classic films. Please go check out her post and tell her Uncle Loophole sent ya'. It's been one of my favorite posts in recent memory.

Item 3:
There is another great post on a now little known actress whose career spanned decades on stage and screen: but chances are many people have seen her and never really knew who she was. Remember the chain smoking lady from the afterlife office in Beetlejuice? Well her name was Sylvia Sydney and she worked with many of the greats including Fritz Lang (in one of my favorite little Lang films he did in the US- Fury with Spencer Tracy) and Hitchcock. Moira Finne has penned an extensive portrait of this fascinating woman and her equally fascinating life over at TCM's Movie Morlocks.

Item 4:
Speaking of TCM, have you been attending TCM U during the 31 Days of Oscar? You should be- just click on the TCM ad at the top to go over and check out the schedule.

Item 5:
And finally, make sure to check in with the DVD Savant Glenn Erickson and his new feature at film.com every month: Glenn's Guide for the Classics Collector.

Hope you've enjoyed this addition of the Passing Parade and will enjoy the articles. Be sure to check them out and stay tuned for more of the Shelf.



People gotta talk themselves into law and order before they do anything about it. Maybe because down deep they don't care. They just don't care.

passing parade: items of classic film interest

It's been awhile since we've had a Passing Parade segment, and several news items have perked my interest, so buckle up Mr. and Mrs. Internet and let's take a quick trip around the world of Hollywood!

Item 1:
Laura (at Laura's Miscellaneous Musings) has several news posts that should be of interest to Classic Film fans. First of all, she sadly notes the passing this year of Betty Carr. Fans of the classic musical, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, will recognize her as one of the seven "Brides", Sarah.
Also Tyrone Power fans may be interested to know that Power's three children and several former co-stars will be on hand for a Ty tribute this weekend at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. They will screen several films, and possibly talk about the man they knew. Power still has a drawing power, and I think as more of his films hit DVD, his popularity is increasing.
You know - looking over all the DVDs we've reviewed, promoted or saw come out this year, I think the Tyrone Power set that Fox released is still one of the best this year. It's not only a testament to the talent and drawing power of Power, but also a testament to quality and enduring nature of Classic Hollywood's B films and programmers. They didn't churn out a Ben-Hur or Gone With The Wind every year, much less several times a year. Having really dived into Hollywood History this year with my reading I'm convinced more than ever that the studio system, despite it's faults, was in a much better position to market, produce and present so much more quality entertainment than today's multiple iterations of "independant production companies." Today's Hollywood can be easily divided into 4 major concerns:
1. The Oscar flick- increasingly indie, increasingly arty message or political films.
2. The Niche film. Targeted to specific demographics.
3. The Foreign market.
4. The special effects "Blockbuster"- this is how they fund #1-3.

Item 2:
Dirty Harry recently posted one of his TCM Picks o' the Day as Strangers On a Train, and proceeds to offer an excellent appreciation for the film. But it doesn't stop there- he also wrote an excellent appreciation for one of my favorite actors: Dana Andrews. As always, DHP is a great read.

Item 3:
Another actress that I believe is in the process of being "rediscovered" is Norma Shearer. Classic film fans had a great boon in the Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 2 set from earlier this year that included Shearer's The Divorcee and A Free Soul. Go over the Bright Lights Film Journal for a great in depth look at Norma Shearer and proceed immendiately thereafter to the email program of your choice and send word to WB to release more Shearer on DVD!

Item 4:
Cinema Retro writer Tom Santopietro has what looks to be an interesting new book out titled: Sinatra in Hollywood, all about old Blue Eye's film career. Looks like fun to me.
While you are there be sure to check out this link to another article about the death of the Hollywood tough guy.

Item 5:
Jaqueline over at Another Old Movie Blog has a great list every classic film fan will appreciate: Ten Things I Like About Old Movies. If a flick has all 10 in it, it's sure to be some classic entertainment in my book. Swell, indeed.

Item 6:
The wonderful Siren at Self-Styled Siren has responded to a fun, but maybe difficult challenge: Can you name a favorite movie for each letter of the alphabet? Check out The Alphabet Meme.

Item 7:
Lastly, this is my favorite time of the year- when Leonard Maltin and Disney present the current wave of the Walt Disney's Treasures. This year sees three titles: The Mickey Mouse Club presents Annette, The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh: Dr. Syn, and The Chronological Donald Duck, Volume 4. Some long awaited sets, to be sure. And I have been particularly looking forward to finishing the Donald Duck series- one of my all time favorite cartoon characters.


Well that's the Passing Parade for today, Mr. and Mrs. Internet. What are you waiting for? Get to reading! And don't forget to come back to the Shelf for more reviews and Shelf madness!




I admire people who do things.

passing the parade along

The Roundup will be back next week- there just isn't much to choose from this week. We'll have some cool stuff that has come out last week or the next week that we will feature in a special Halloween edition in the next week. For now there are a couple of articles featured around the neighborhood that I want to direct your way.

Great two part articles:
Jacqueline at Another Old Movie Blog has recently posted a great two part series of article on one of our favorite flicks: King Kong. You should check it out, and her site regularly. Here is part one and part two.

The Siren also has a great two parter on a little appreciated Tyrone Power classic: Nightmare Alley. Here is part one and part two.

New Shelf Neighbors
If you hadn't noticed, we've added a couple of great new members of the Shelf Community:

Basic Instructions: It's a fairly regularly updated webcomic that is both sarcastic and truthful. Also hilarious. Good stuff.

2719 Hyperion: This a great Disney blog that I first encountered off of Cartoon Brew. This past week or so he's had some great posts on the history of Epcot.

Clydfro: It's another great blog about classic films with some great taste in TCM picks.

Michael Barrier: We've been meaning to add this animation historian and commentator to our link list and now we have. Check him out.

That's all for now folks- stay tuned, cause we'll be back with more later!



I'll have to think up a lot of new adjectives when I come back.

passing parade o' stuff

Just a couple of items today. A semi regular feature of news you can use, that we like to call: The Passing Parade. The roundup will be posted tomorrow. Now, on to the headlines:

Shelf Community News

OTRE moves!

First off- Our pal Sallie over at Old Time Radio Experience has broadened her blogging horizons. She has decided to create a new blog that will encompass OTR with her interests in classic films and more. So go check her new site out, it's called The Vintage Place. I know you'll be interested. Just click the sign below and away you go. We'll have a permenant link in the sidebar, but we'll also leave up OTRE for a time, as there are some great stuff to download and look at still. Good luck, Sallie!

Geekerati!
If you missed last night's broadcast of the show Geekerati, you can still catch it as it is archived. Last night Christian, Shawna and the gang talked about entertainment and viral marketing. And of course, ol' loveable Loophole was there with the audio version of this week's Roundup. So for a sneak preview of the Roundup every week, and lots of entertainment talk and more, listen to us at Geekerati Monday nights at 7pm PT/ 10pm ET. Just click the link below to head on over and listen to archived shows.




DVD News

Mickey and Judy set!
Here's a bit of DVD news that you may have seen over at Laura's Miscelanous Musings or DVD Times, but we would be remiss if we didn't mention it here for the Shelf faithful (Hat tip to DVD Times for info and from whom we shamefully cribbed the picture:
Warner Home Video will be releasing The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection: Ultimate Collector’s Edition on Sept. 25th. The films in the set will be Babes in Arms, Babes on Broadway, Strike Up the Band and Girl Crazy. As you've come to expect and appreciate Warner's is including a ton of features for each disc, including musical and comedy shorts, cartoons and more. There will also be a fifth bonus disc of special features that will include and episode of TCM's Private Screenings: Private Screenings with Mickey Rooney, The Judy Garland Songbook: a 21 song collection of Judy's best and Mickey and Judy Trailer Gallery. We know fans have been clamouring for this set for awhile, so mark your calenders. The WHV Ultimate series are known for great DVD sets, and this is no slouch, brother. The set also includes 20 collectible photo postcards and a booklet which includes photos of vintage memorabilia, reproduced advertisements, and production notes written by film historian John Fricke. By the way, the films have new introductions by Mickey Rooney! Take a gander at the glorious goodies below:

Charmed!
The 8th and final season of Charmed will hit DVD on Sept. 11th. Unlike past sets, Charmed: The Final Season, will feature several extras, incuding a look at the creation of the show, several commentaries, and a look at the set, makeup and production of this magical series. Mrs. Loophole and I love watching the show and are eager to catch up on season 8 again. The ending was not praised by all fans, but it certainly tied many storylines up. The show which starred Shannon Doherty, Alyssa Milano, Rose McGowan and Loophole's favorite, Holly Marie Combs was the longest running television show with all female leads. Good entertainment, lots of backstory magic and mythology. The series also had lots of drama, romance and comedy. Great fun.

Well kiddies, the parade has gone by. But don't fret, we'll return tomorrow with the Roundup! Stay tuned.

Who would shoot a gnome? And why is the 'g' silent?

passing parade

We'll bring you our review of Tex Avery's Droopy later (didn't get our review copy yet- but it's coming), as well as a new semi-regular feature, Queue Review. However, I've read a couple of articles here and there from around the Shelf Community that I've enjoyed this week that I would like to bring to your attention. First of all if you aren't regularly reading our neighbors in the Shelf Community, you should. Some informative and intelligent stuff, and it's a good way to stay on top of things.

Fred Thompson:

Laura continues her Musings, and gives some thought to Fred Thompson for President and his verbal response to Michael Moore. If you haven't seen it yet, watch the video. Fred is perhaps the most exciting candidate not running today. We hope he remedies the situation soon. Also of interest is the Nixon Library going under the control of the government (National Archives).

Education:

Maggie's Farm has a great piece about minimal requirements for a liberal arts education in colleges and universities. I think it is advice that should be taken to heart. We may elaborate on this further in a future article.

Hollywood Politics:

Finally, an article that was written by Mark Styen in 2003 on Elia Kazan. Recently we reviewed the Brando documentary on The Shelf, and the stuff about Kazan and Brando were very interesting. As I said then, Kazan brought out the best of Brando's talent. Kazan was a great director for Brando, and Brando was a great actor for Kazan. Their pictures demonstrate this kinship well. On the Waterfront is a terrific and important film, and the collaboration is there for all to see. In this vein, it is a wonder about Kazan's traitorous image in modern Hollywood. Traitorous to whom? Mark Styen gives an excellent answer in his article. Just a small portion:

It’s no fun being a socially conscious movie star if nobody’s conscious of you. You want to be noticed. Not too noticed, not Salman Rushdie price-on-your-head noticed. But just a little bit of attention. And the only time any one in power paid any attention to the political views of Hollywood people was half a century ago. In an ideal world – or if you were making a movie on the subject – the fellows who were politically “persecuted” would be a little more talented, or at least prominent, and maybe it would be better if they weren’t subscribers to an ideology so thoroughly failed and so comprehensively rejected by anyone who’s had the misfortune to live under it. But those are mere nitpicky details next to the towering feeling of validation the latterday Hollywood activist derives from his McCarthy fetish. For the Richard Dreyfus generation, what Kazan did is an affront to their deep conviction of their own heroism.

....

Amid the herd-like moral poseurs, Kazan was always temperamentally an outsider, and his work benefited after he became one in a more formal sense. But, both before and after, his best productions concern themselves with a common question: the point at which you’re obliged to break with your own – your union, your class, your group, or, in Kazan’s case, your Group.

It is worth your time to read the whole article: The Crucible of Hollywood's Guilt.

Katharine Hepburn:

Don't forget! Next week is the Duke's 100th Birthday and you'll see more DVD releases than you can shake a stick at; not to mention the release of the TCM Spotlight Collection: Katharine Hepburn set. We'll have details in next week's roundup, and hopefully a full review of the Katharine Hepburn set. In the meantime here is a couple of good articles on Kate; one from Blogcritics Magazine and another from the Charleston Post & Courier. We also had another blogger comment on our Top 11 Kate list, and he has an interesting blog, aptly entitled The Katharine Hepburn Project, devoted to a year long project of watching all of Kate's films. Check it out, and we'll keep checking back to see how he's doing. Maybe he'll have a countdown list as he makes his way through them.

We'll be back later with more goodies from The Shelf. Stay tuned.

It's a small request, but I'd give anything for a good smack on the south end.