RUGGLES OF RED GAP (1935)

Helmed by mega-comedy director Leo McCarey (THE AWFUL TRUTH, THE MILKY WAY, DUCK SOUP), RUGGLES OF RED GAP is the only Western appearance of Charles Laughton until he guest starred on TV series WAGON TRAIN in 1960.

Ruggles, a "gentleman's gentleman" from a long line of them, becomes the employee of the Floud family of Red Gap, WA after being lost in a card game by his long time employer, the Earl of Burnstead. Effie Floud (Mary Boland), a frontier social-climber, is thrilled to have a servant, but dismayed that her husband prefers to treat their new butler as an equal.

Wonderful performances all around, with the standouts being Charlie Ruggles as down-to-earth Egbert Floud, Roland Young as the Earl of Burnstead, and Zasu Pitts as Prunella Judson, a widow who has eyes for Ruggles.

Especially watch out for the glorious "Gettysburg Address" scene, which, according to Robert Osborne on TCM, Laughton did in a single take.

Filmclip: Red Gap's good-time girl. Nell (Leila Hyams), shows a smitten Earl of Burnstead how to play the drums

Rockefeller Center, 1933

Exquisite photo of Rockefeller Center in 1933, from Shorpy.

Full size, high resolution image here.

Tilt-Shift Union Square

My first attempt at a tilt-shift photo

Tilt-shift miniature faking on Wikipedia

Stone Bird

A Maltese-Falconish stone sentinel on a NYC building.

SHADOW ON THE WALL (1950)

A curious, noir-ish film, SHADOW ON THE WALL reflects the late 1940s-early 1950s fascination with psychoanalysis.

What gives this movie its extra zing is the casting against type of Ann Sothern, a smart, funny presence in comedies and musicals, cast as the villain. Also, Zachary Scott, best known as sleazy Monte Beragon in 1945's MILDRED PIERCE, is the good guy here.

He plays David Starrling, who returns home to his new wife and 6 year old daughter only to find that his wife has been having an affair with his sister-in-law Dell's (played by Sothern) fiance. David, carrying a gun, confronts his wife, and as he nears her, she knocks him out with a silver hand mirror from her dressing table. The wife panics, thinking she's killed her husband, and calls Dell to help her. Dell arrives and reassures her sister that David is not dead, but unconscious. Then, as she realizes the situation with the fiance, she gets angry and kills her sister with David's gun. At this moment, David's daughter walks into the room and sees her father seemingly dead and her stepmother most certainly dead. Screaming, she sees Dell's shadow on the wall, but doesn't see who it is.

David is taken to prison believing he killed his wife, Dell's not confessing, so six-year-old Susan is the only person who really knows who the murderer is. Suffering from shock, she's taken to stay in the children's ward of a psychiatric facility under the care of a sympathetic doctor, played warmly by Nancy Davis (later to become Nancy Reagan), who begins to suspect that there were three people in the room the night of the murder. Watching this unfold — and Dell's reaction — makes this movie interesting.

Good performances all around, including Gigi Perreau as the daughter and John McIntyre as Davis' colleague. Patrick Jackson directed.

Alamo Theater: 1937

Another wonderful vintage image from Shorpy of a movie theater, this time in Washington, DC. A triple feature of a Bob Allen western, Ralph Morgan in THE OUTER GATE, and Bela Lugosi in SHADOW OF CHINATOWN.

A fantastic high resolution image where you can check out the fine detail (dig the Kosher restaurant on the left) can be found at Shorpy.

High res image of the Alamo Theater

Hopefully, I'll be able to write a proper blog post soon.

Liberty Theater: 1935

New Orleans, LA, Liberty Theater in 1935. The film was Wheeler & Woolsey in "The Rainmakers". Looks like a big Morton Salt promo with a "rain" tie-in to the movie was going on, and check out the price of admission: 15¢ + 1¢ tax.

This wonderful photo is from Shorpy, a remarkable treasure trove of high-res historical photos.

You can access the high-res version of this image at:
Liberty Theater in 1935 from Shorpy

A History of Star Trek Title Logos

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm a Trekker (Original Series only, though). I love this.

THE REVOLT OF MAMIE STOVER (1956)

THE REVOLT OF MAMIE STOVER at IMDB

First of all, I like Jane Russell (although not all of her politics). I've especially liked her since I read an anecdote from Lee Server in his biography of Robert Mitchum. On the set of one of the films Mitchum and Russell appeared in, Russell was being interviewed by a writer for one of the big movie magazines. The reporter had heard that Jane and her husband were quite religious folk and was having trouble justifying that in his mind with Ms. Russell's lusty screen image. When asked about it, the great Jane just looked at him and smiled. "Hey, buddy," she told him, "Christians have big breasts, too."

The earthy Ms. Russell is the best thing about THE REVOLT OF MAMIE STOVER. Despite having a name sounding like someone who manufactures candy, Mamie Stover is one of those prostitutes who are cinematically euphemistically called "dance hall girls". At the opening of the film, our heroine is being escorted out of San Francisco by the police (as a native San Franciscan, I can't imagine what you have to do to get kicked out of that town). She meets well-to-do writer Richard Egan on the ship headed for Honolulu. He takes what he says is a writer's interest in her story and after a short shipboard affair, Egan is met at the dock by his respectable girlfriend played by Joan Leslie.

Mamie heads for her new job at the "dance hall" run by a bleached blond and butch Agnes Moorehead and her sidekick, sadistic sleazeball Michael Pate. Mamie and the writer meet periodically and things develop, interrupted suddenly by the attack on Pearl Harbor, the aftermath of which Mamie finds as a money making opportunity.

Worth seeing for the technicolor, Jane Russell, and Agnes Moorehead's brief but unforgettable performance.

The 1983 iPhone

Yes, it's from Apple, and it's a phone!

From Apartment Therapy: Unplugged

http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/look/look-the-1983-iphone-design-ahead-of-its-time-077295
MORE IMAGES AT LINK ABOVE

This image was found by Marc Esslinger, the son of Hartmut Esslinger who designed the famous Apple IIc. If you don't remember, the Apple IIc was the first portable computer from 1984. We featured the image back in 2007 when the article came out, but we never really expanded on the ideas that this image represents.

It's quite amazing to see that this iPhone also had touchscreen capabilities, even though it was corded. Still, the basic premise existed far in the past of Apple. No wonder that the iPhone currently works so well. It's been something that has been studied for quite a while. It was a design that was way ahead of its time. You can read more about Marc's personal Apple story over at Fudder. However, the article is in German. Click here for a translated version! [via Hello Bauldoff] Translated original story

THE ATOMIC CITY (1952)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044382/

It was 1952, and the "Atomic Age" had just begun. If there was anything cooler than having a rumpus room decorated with bullfight posters or bongo drums, it was anything "atomic".

The daily life of those who live and work in Los Alamos, New Mexico seems strange and exotic. There are fenced in areas everywhere, Dad gets thoroughly checked by geiger counters every morning on his way into work, and a co-worker on a perfectly ordinary day gets sent to the hospital with severe burns from radioactivity overexposure. Mom wants to move away because her little son has stopped saying, "When I grow up..." and has started to say "IF I grow up...". This is a big time company town. During a school trip, the son is kidnapped and held for ransom; not money, but nuclear secrets.

Basically a police procedural, THE ATOMIC CITY is crisply directed by Jerry Hopper (whose credits include THE PRIVATE WAR OF MAJ. BENSON, a rare comedy from Charlton Heston), with a very tense chase through the New Mexico hills comprising the final third of the film.

Gene Barry and Milburn Stone star, a couple of years ahead of their TV western fame. Young Lee Aaker deserves special credit as the best performance. He would go on in the next year to play "Red Chief" in the "Ransom of Red Chief" episode of O'HENRY'S FULL HOUSE.

I'd bet that the FBI field phone in the pic above (taken off the TV screen — please excuse the quality) triggered lots of oohs and aahs from an audience in 1952.

Steve Jobs as THE NEW YORKER's Eustace Tilley

the forbidden fruit by ~capitanicopor on deviantART

Impatient for Spring

Photo taken in Madison Square Park in April of last year.

History of the Internet in animation

The complete history of the internet in eight minutes of beautiful animation.

THEY WON'T BELIEVE ME (1947)

First of all, toss out any mental images you have of Robert Young as that nice old doctor or the father who always knows best, in THEY WON'T BELIEVE ME, he plays a grade-A heel.

As the film opens we see Larry Ballantine in a courtroom, on trial for murder. As he takes the stand, he tells how he got there, and the flashback begins...

Larry is a man who seems to have everything, a rich wife, Greta, (Rita Johnson) and a beautiful girlfriend, Janice (Jane Greer), who he meets every Saturday afternoon. Today, Janice tells Larry she's breaking up with him; her company offered her a transfer to Montreal, and she's going. Larry goes home to pack and meet Janice at the station. But Greta tells him she knows about the Saturday trysts and offers him another choice — she's bought a home in Los Angeles for them and half ownership of a brokerage firm for him. He jumps at the chance.

After a few weeks in LA, Larry begins an affair with Verna, a colleague at work, and a self-confessed golddigger. As he begins to arrive home later and later each night, Greta realizes Larry hasn't changed. and tipped off by Larry's partner in the brokerage, she confronts her husband about Verna.

Did I mention that this film has more twists and turns than the Pacific Coast Highway?

Anyway, Greta has bought a ranch in the country and tells Larry she's going there, with or without him. And, BTW, she's sold his stake in the brokerage and he no longer has a job. Larry goes to the ranch.

A while goes by and Larry looks for an excuse to drive into LA to see if he can hook up with Verna. He does, and they plan to withdraw $25,000 from the Ballantines' joint checking account and run off to Reno. Driving through the hills everything seems to be going well for the couple, when a truck swerves into the lane and their car goes over a cliff. Larry is thrown from the wreck, but Verna is trapped in the burning car.

Larry wakes up in the hospital and begins to realize that the authorities believe the woman in the car with him was his wife (the only thing left of the charred body is the dime-store wedding ring that Verna bought for their trip).

Then Larry gets a diabolical idea. Since everyone thinks his wife is dead, and Greta is all alone in the country...

The moment he's released, he drives up to the ranch and looks around for his wife. He finds her body at the bottom of a ravine where she had tripped and fallen down the steep slope. She's already dead. And then things really start to get interesting.

Tightly directed by Irving Pichel (THE MIRACLE OF THE BELLS, MR. PEABODY & THE MERMAID); even with the quickly shifting story, the viewer never feels lost. Producer Joan Harrison is best known as the producer of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS and as screenwriter of REBECCA, SUSPICION, and other Hitchcock classics.

The ending of this film may be the most noirish ending ever, even beating out Otto Preminger's infamous ANGEL FACE. You will be surprised, I guarantee.

Watch They Won't Believe Me in Entertainment Videos | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The House of Portfolios

We've all heard of a house of cards, the 3 Little Pigs had their house of straw, and there is The House of the Rising Sun that's been the ruin of many a young boy — but NYC has The House of Portfolios.


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THE BLUE DAHLIA (1946)

When Johnny Morrison returns home from the war with his two buddies, he finds his wife has taken up with another man and a fast crowd. There's a quarrel and Johnny walks out. All this is being observed by "Dad" Newell, the apartment complex's house detective. A short while later, he finds Helen Morrison murdered and Johnny is the prime suspect. Meanwhile, in a coincidence that happens often in noir, Johnny meets the estranged wife of Eddie Harwood, the "other man" and owner of The Blue Dahlia nightclub and goes on the run.

I don't understand the appeal of Alan Ladd. For me, he's the weakest element of this very strong movie. On the other hand, we have incredible film noir stalwarts everywhere you look. Veronica Lake as Joyce Harwood, the criminally underrated William Bendix as Morrison's tightly wound buddy Buzz, Howard Da Silva as Eddie, Hugh Beaumont (yes, he did have a film career before he was Beaver's dad) as Morrison's other buddy, with smaller roles to Anthony Caruso and Frank Faylen.

And the script — WOW — written by Raymond Chandler. What a joy it must've been to be able to say those lines! Chandler received a Best Screenplay Oscar for THE BLUE DAHLIA in 1947.

A Tribute to the Career of Rod Blagojevich

Like the parrot, Blago is an EX-, and his political career is now "pining for the fjords."

Coming soon: Convicted-on-7-Counts Former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens meets the Minister of Silly Walks

Good Signs: Button and Zipper

West 36th Street


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SHOCKPROOF (1949)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041871/

At turns, “Shockproof” can’t make up its mind on whether it’s a melodrama or a film noir. This schizophrenia is due to the fact that the co-writer is Sam Fuller and the director is Douglas Sirk, better known for technicolor weepies like “Magnificent Obsession” and “All That Heaven Allows.”

“Shockproof” stars Cornell Wilde, better known as the guy who rented a hotel room above Lucy and Ricky Ricardo when they went to Hollywood. He plays Los Angeles parole officer Griff Marat, trying to straighten out the life of recent parolee Jenny Marsh (played by Patricia Knight, who was Mrs. Cornell Wilde at the time).

The very sexy parolee can’t stay away from her former lover for whom she committed the murder that sent her to prison. Marat gives her a job in his home looking after his little brother and blind mom and soon familiarity turns to love between paroler and parolee. Then the ex-boyfriend decides to complicate things and that’s when the movie turns darker.

Very interesting, save for a tacked on “Hollywood” ending.

TECHNOLUST — iPHONE LOVE GONE MAD

From Gizmodo

http://i.gizmodo.com/5136162/dude-fiddles-with-iphone-despite-having-best-seat-in-the-house-at-obama-inauguration

"Wow, this is amazing. I'm bearing witness to a truly historical moment. Hmmm...seems like the perfect time to play a game of Bejeweled on my iPhone."

FASHIONS OF 1934

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025101/

A shockingly glamorous Bette Davis plays a stylish second banana to con man William Powell and sidekick Jimmy McHugh in this caper picture with a backstage musical tacked onto the second half. The three are working a successful high fashion bootlegging scam when they’re discovered and run out of NYC. They go to Paris and continue, meeting Hugh Herbert who is an ostrich feather magnate, and they produce a show starring Powell’s ex-girlfriend who is currently the lover of Paris’ most popular designer.

Orry Kelly designed the magnificent gowns and there is enough bias-cut satin to reach from here to the moon if stretched end to end. There is a completely over the top production number from Busby Berkeley, with the famous image of half-naked women as harps.

IT ALL CAME TRUE (1940)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032643/

Made the same year as the Edward G. Robinson gangster comedy BROTHER ORCHID, this gangster musical comedy(!) is not nearly as funny, but still a pleasant little mashup. Humphrey Bogart is hiding from the law in a boarding house run by the moms of showgirl Ann Sheridan and struggling songwriter Jeffrey Lynn, who have just returned home. Bogie handles the comedy well, and the supporting cast is graced by some of the best character actors, especially Zasu Pitts and Felix Bressard.

This was the year before HIGH SIERRA and THE MALTESE FALCON (starring roles which were turned down by George Raft), after which Bogart became a top tier star at Warner Brothers.

THE FILE ON THELMA JORDON (1950)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041368/

And here I thought I knew almost everything about films noir. How did I miss this one?

Perhaps it was the thought of Wendell Corey in a noir that made me avoid this film for so long. I’d always liked him; his work in HOLIDAY AFFAIR is exceptional. But in film noir? I was wrong. Corey is fantastic in FILE as an alcoholic assistant DA whose marriage is crumbling and who meets the wrong woman.

Robert Siodmak’s direction is fine and the film takes some really unexpected twists and turns before a very noirish ending.

Good Signs: Wonton Specialist

Lafayette Street, NYC