Thursday, February 10, 2011

Ten random thoughts on the tenth


--- I wish I was in Hammersmith.

--- I like the idea that Turner Classic Movies showed a baseball movie around the same time as The Super Bowl on February 6.

--- We're told that when William Wyler tired of watching excessive close-ups in others' films he would try to look around the subject's head to see what the other characters were doing.

--- When I was a boy, in a dark movie house, The Spiral Staircase scared me more than any of the Universal horror films.

--- My favorite mogul was (and still is) Louis B. Mayer (I know all the bad stuff).


--- I usually admire Lee Marvin, and Jane Fonda was a good comedienne and sexy then -- but the motor of Cat Ballou belongs to Nat Cole and Stubby Kaye.

--- Am I the only one who would have preferred Eli Wallach rather than Frank Sinatra as Maggio?

--- When I go on about being there, back during the Sarris-Kael dust-ups, I feel like one of those cantankerous old Civil War veterans in thirties westerns.

--- Watching it again on Turner Classic Movies in January, I had forgotten how good 99 River Street is.

--- My English friend, Nicholas, of High Barnet, whose family hails from the north, is fond of saying: “You can always tell a Yorkshireman -- but you can't tell him much.”



Note: “Random thoughts” pieces bring to mind the great Jimmy Cannon, whose “Nobody Asked Me, But” set the form. Any similarity stops there.

Source: Photograph of the young woman at the tube platform is from As I Travel

4 comments:

  1. just watched the spiral staircase! I must say I have a soft spot for films that feature eerie thunderstorms and old mansions. it's a perfect pairing for the many rainy days here.

    and I love that william wyler recollection. I often do the same thing for film extras from years gone by, except I'm left wondering about all of them personally.

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  2. Thank you Meredith,

    I vividly recall “Spiral Staircase,” with the close-up of the eye and the eerie score. I hope we all still love old dark houses, storms, rattling shutters and what appears to be a shadow in an upstairs window. It also has that splendid cast of personal favorites: Ethel Barrymore, Dorothy McGuire, Sara Algood and Elsa Lanchester.

    And yes, the Wyler quote just works. And you, taking it a step further, trying to spot the extras, no less. I enjoy hearing about another of your interests /commitments. My wife and I occasionally, when watching a very familiar film, will scrutinize and discuss the extras. (That might come from Nathanael West.) I think I read the Wyler anecdote in Sarris’s “You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet.” But it is so on-the-mark, it is likely told in many places. Best. Gerald

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  3. You are not the only one who would have preferred Eli Wallach rather than Frank Sinatra as Maggio. He'd have been so good that I can almost visualize exactly how he would have been in the role.

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  4. Thank you KC. I hoped I was not alone. Yes, Eli is special. Best. Gerald

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