Welcome to the 266th Edition. This week I have more holiday selections than what I have had. I am now in the fantasy football playoffs where I must win this week in order to get into the finals so hopefully my guys will come through for me. I have also started my own Facebook page with the title of my blog so if you like this blog, please put in a Facebook search with my blog title and "like" me there and try getting word to friends if you can.
A Boy and His Dog (1946): This is my short film for the week which I found on TCM On-Demand. Billy Sheffield stars as Davy Allen who is a young boy who finds a dog, Buck, who is badly wounded around the neck where the dog follows his home. He decides he should keep the dog even when the dog's owner Mr. Thornycroft comes to the home looking for him and Davy refuses to give him the dog because of Thornycroft's abuse to the dog. He then reports what he feels is theft and a trial over who should own the dog ensues. It is a simple story really but also one that is quite heartwarming. This particular short film won an Academy Award that year. I also liked the courtroom pretty much being a local store.
Scrooge (1935): This is just another name for the Charles Dickens classic A CHRISTMAS CAROL which I found on my Pub-D-Hub app on my Roku player which features Public Domain things like this right here. As you see this one is a much earlier one and one made in Britain. Seymour Hicks stars as the title character and becomes one of our more underrated Ebenezer Scrooges through the years. He is a lot meaner in the beginning than many of the ones that we see where he is mean through all his bitterness and evolves more and more through the film. There were some different approaches with the ghosts like with Jacob Marley, he was invisible where he mentions that only Scrooge can see him which remains true here as Scrooge questions his chains and such. We hear his voice, we hear his chains but we cannot see him. With the Ghost of Christmas Past, we see a more non-corporal figure where we see a light, hear a voice, but we do not see a physical person. The Ghost of Christmas Present is more like the usual one and is quite enjoyable. The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come was more of a shadowy figure and saw that shadow of a finger pointing to convey to Scrooge what he is to see. This one is really kind of normal as that ghost is usually the image of Death and never speaks. I really liked the camera work that was done in these flashback sequences. Philip Frost I thought gave the Tiny Tim a pretty realistic portrayal where he was positive about things but you could still see the hurt in his face. I feel this was a very well-done version that has just been overshadowed through the years by the countless other versions of the classic. A CHRISTMAS CAROL was my debut in the world of community theater and the first in my theater "comeback" many years later. This is one story I never tire of during Christmas. Next week will include another adaptation to the Dickens classic which could be new or old.
Dangerous Beauty (1998): This is my love story for the week. This film is based on a biographical book called THE HONEST COURTESAN which was based on a 16th Century Venetian named Veronica Franco. Catherine McCormack plays Franco who falls in love Marco Venier but Venier comes from a higher-class family where they do not approve of his marriage to her. Veronica is then advised by her mother, played by Jacqueline Bisset, to become a courtesan which she agrees to become where she becomes the best. She throughout will meet with her true love but something always keeps them apart. This was a very good story from start to finish with McCormack great as Veronica. Oliver Platt, Naomi Watts, Jeroen Krabbe, and many others co-star. Veronica Franco was also a poet. This is more of a tragic love story and a true story as well leading up to quite a trial in the end of the film.
The Family Stone (2005): This is another one of my holiday selections where a woman meets the possible future in-laws for the holidays. SEX AND THE CITY alum Sarah Jessica Parker plays uptight businesswoman Meredith who then goes with her boyfriend for their holiday gathering where she finds herself quite out of place in a family of more free-spirited people. Dermot Mulrooney plays her boyfriend Everett who is seeking a family heirloom for his future. Meredith soon feels so out of place, she asks her sister Julie, played by Claire Danes, to join her for emotional support but that leads to even bigger complications. Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Luke Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and Ty Giordano all co-star as Everett's family. This is more of a holiday date film and a decent romantic comedy if you like the genre.
Santa Claus (1959): I had the pleasure of being able to find this movie on TCM and record it to the DVR. No, this is not the Tim Allen film or that movie in the 80s with Dudley Moore. This is actually a Mexican film which is about you guessed it, Santa Claus. This is my really bad holiday film selection but is something that just must be viewed if you can find it. In this movie, Santa actually does not appear to have elves as he has children from other countries so I guess that would be child labor. We also learn from watching this year that Santa's nemesis is the Devil who tries to ruin Christmas every year and this year sends his minion Pitch to do what he can to stop Santa. Pitch is a very interesting person as he likes to dance and always seems to be in a good mood. If that can't be any stranger, Merlin even works for Santa and helps him with some supplies like a powder to put children to sleep and various other things. I was wondering where Jesus was to help Santa combat the Devil and his minion Pitch. This is available on instant Netflix as a standalone film as well as through MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000. Take this for what it is worth, gather some friends, and enjoy this really weird adaptation towards Santa Claus that I think everybody should watch once in their life.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974): This movie was recently remade so I decided to feature the original. Four armed men hijack a subway train demanding one million dollars. Robert Shaw plays Blue, the leader of the hijacking group who have color code names which is something Quentin Tarantino would use years later in his heist film RESERVOIR DOGS. Walter Matthau plays transit cop Lt. Zach Garber who must do what he can to contend with the City Hall red tape, the hijackers' demands, and the little bit of time he is given. This is a pretty suspenseful film with good performances from the lead and great action. I have not seen the new one but have heard it is decent.
Synecdoche, New York (2008): This is part two of what may be a Philip Seymour Hoffman four-part series. Last week I used CAPOTE. This is Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut. Philip Seymour Hoffman stars as playwright Caden Cotard who is fresh off the success of a unique version of DEATH OF A SALESMAN. He then wins a MacArthur grant where he wants to create a very brutal piece of realism. He then gathers a cast in a New York theater and instructs them to live out their constructed lives. This project also takes a toll on Caden who finds that this project is a bit too real. He hires an actor to play him but becomes too perfect. This is not exactly an upbeat film and I thought that it may be a bit too long. However, it comes along pretty well with a great performance from Hoffman. Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Emily Watson, and many others co-star in this film. This reminded me some of a Fellini film and it is one where you must be able to give attention and maybe view it again. It was quite an experience to view this one, just be prepared.
The Wicker Man (1973): I guess this is my Pagan selection for the holiday season. Edward Woodward stars as Sergeant Howie who is investigating the disappearance of a young girl and ends up on a strange island where the locals are not the most cooperative. Christopher Lee plays Lord Summerisle who is the head of the island. Britt Ekland co-stars in the film as Willow and has quite a dance scene. In 2006, there was a remake where Nicolas Cage plays the sheriff and Ellen Burstyn plays Sister Summerisle, something that apparently really dismayed Lee having a woman in that part. I have not seen the remake and I have heard I have not missed much. There was a lot of beautiful Celtic music with some very strange Pagan rituals which really dismayed the devout christian Sergeant Howie during his investigation. Lee was very good as Summerisle in this film and even did the movie for free as he wanted to expand his acting horizons. We also get to her his musical side where he sang a couple songs which shows he has a pretty decent singing voice. I assume the beginning disclaimer was some kind of fiction but sets the tone pretty well leading to a great climax. I recorded this from the IFC channel.
Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro (1980): I now bring some early anime with the famous Anime character of the title. Lupin the Third is a world renowned thief who in this one travels to the town of Cagliostro looking to investigate some perfectly forged money only to find a conspiracy dating back many years. Lupin and his sidekick Jigen then see that a beautiful princess is being held captive and they look to rescue her while uncovering the conspiracy. This character started with a tv series in the late 70s of Lupin which lasted about 3 years. Lupin is the grandson of a the "Gentlemen Thief" and I guess in a sense is a Robin Hood type. He is very flamboyant and leads a group of thieves. There have been quite a few movies since the series. This one here is available on Instant Netflix so if you Anime, go check this out if you have not seen it. This is anime with a good mix of action and comedy.
Well, that is it for this week. Tell me what you like and dislike and stay tuned for next week which so far includes Ralph Fiennes, more Philip Seymour Hoffman, another CHRISTMAS CAROL adapation, Peter Sellers, Janet Leigh, and many others. I have an honorable mention for the week so please read on.
HONORABLE MENTION: AUDIO PLAY
Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls (2007): I checked this out at my local library. This is considered an Audio Melodrama where there are actors doing the voices for each part. Yuri Rasovsky wrote this melodrama. Most of us know Sweeney Todd from that Stephen Sondheim musical SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. However, there were many adaptations to this story long before that musical. This is more based on the original story THE STRING OF PEARLS, A ROMANCE written in 1846 as a penny dreadful serial with apparently no credited author. I'll just give the basic plot to all Sweeney Todd stories where Sweeney is a murderous barber who kills his clients and has a partnership with Mrs. Lovett who has a meat pie shop where he provides her with the meat she needs. In this story, Sweeney is a lot more maniacal and just seems to take pleasure from what he does. In the Sondheim musical, Sweeney is given a reason for what he does as he is wrongly sent to prison and looks to avenge the corrupt Judge Turpin who wrongly sent him to prison while also killing everyone else who "deserves" it. The characters mostly remain the same except just used different. This is a 2-disk series that takes about 2 and a half hours and is a pretty well-done production from The Hollywood Theater of the Ear which won some Audie awards which is an award show for Audiobooks but this is more than a book but kind of like a radio play. Sweeney Todd is said to have been a real person but is a big subject of debate though possibly based on other people and becoming an early Urban Legend. Nonetheless, Sweeney will always have his place in historical pop culture thanks to people like Sondheim.
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