Probably the most infamous scene in Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland is the Mad Tea Party, and we all know how it happens. Alice comes upon the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Doormouse, sits down to have tea with them, and is rather put out at their rudeness. Here's an audio version of … Continue reading Tea In Wonderland
Ronald the Rapscallion
Early talkies are rather infamous, as we all know. Actors often huddled around a microphone, in some cases stiff and wooden, afraid to move too much lest they mess up the take or the mikes pick up weird sounds. 1930's The Devil To Pay is a typical early talkie, but it's also pretty danged funny. The … Continue reading Ronald the Rapscallion
My British Buddy
Britannia rules the waves... After V-E Day, Brits were, for the most part, feeling pretty good. There was still a lot of recovery to be done, to be sure, but the fighting in Europe was over and they didn't have to worry about running out to an Anderson shelter or sending loved ones off to … Continue reading My British Buddy
Robin Hood Gets the Spaghetti Treatment
Westerns weren't the only movie genre to receive an Italian spin in the nineteen-sixties and seventies of course. Another film to come out of that lovely and varied country is 1976's Robin Hood, Arrows, Beans and Karate, or Storia di arcieri, pugni e occhi ner in the original Italian. Does the title give anyone Men … Continue reading Robin Hood Gets the Spaghetti Treatment
Leave Well-Enough Alone. Please.
Here we go... Who doesn't have Robin Williams memories? I remember watching Mork and Mindy as a little kid. Heck, I had the suspenders. He was an unique talent with a bright, sharp, quick wit and explosive energy that refused to stay confined to a script. It's been ten years since he's been gone, and … Continue reading Leave Well-Enough Alone. Please.
No Room Is Truly Empty
The 1948 film, Enchantment has been on my Amazon watchlist so long that I kind of block it out, but this year I decided to take a chance on it. Put it this way: What seems familiar can still surprise us. Enchantment opens in London during the Second World War, with a towncar pulling up to a … Continue reading No Room Is Truly Empty
Hitch Films Another Play
Good evening... Hitchcock was no stranger to filming plays. His first one was the limp Juno And the Paycock, a depressing affair that was only made bearable by Sara Allgood. Almost a quarter of a century later, Hitch was feeling a little stagnant, so he decided to film another play, Dial M For Murder, which was released … Continue reading Hitch Films Another Play
Nine Smeg-tastic Red Dwarf Episodes
I have a love-not-love relationship with Red Dwarf. It can get pretty bawdy at times and the humor is generally of the masculine variety, but I still have a soft spot for some of it because it can be a ton of fun. And we can't forget the theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV0hwZwNQZc For those who might not be … Continue reading Nine Smeg-tastic Red Dwarf Episodes
Five Reasons To See “A Hard Day’s Night”
Britannia rules the waves (again)... We all know 1964 was a huge year for the Beatles. Their careers and collective fate suddenly shot to the top. They made two appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. They toured America for the first time. John wrote and published In His Own Write, which he also promoted on … Continue reading Five Reasons To See “A Hard Day’s Night”
Praising the Lord And Changing the World
I don't think there's another hymn that's as ubiquitous as "Amazing Grace." Everyone sings it, tons of musicians have covered it (here's one), and pretty much no one has a problem with it, whether they're Christian or not. What people might not know, though, is that the song was once the anthem of the abolition … Continue reading Praising the Lord And Changing the World
Stage To Screen: What A Girl Wants
When I heard that 2003's What A Girl Wants was based on a play, my first thought was, "Really?" For those who haven't seen it, the movie follows Daphne Reynolds (Amanda Bynes), who leads a rather bohemian existence with her mom, Libby (Kelly Preston) in a fifth-floor walkup in New York's Chinatown. Libby is a wedding … Continue reading Stage To Screen: What A Girl Wants
Stage To Screen: Henry V
This month's Stage To Screen is a strike-while-the-iron-is-hot kind of scenario, because first of all, I felt like writing about Henry V, and secondly, the Lawrence Olivier version is on HBO Max right now, so the timing is fortuitous. Henry V is one of Shakespeare's later plays, and is thought to have been written and perfomed in 1599. … Continue reading Stage To Screen: Henry V
The Toppermost of the Poppermost
Those of you who have read my Origins posts probably saw that I did a bit about the 2019 film, Yesterday. Since then, I've not only seen it in the theater, but when I was in South Dakota I bought it on Blu-ray at Target. I thought it would be one of those movies I'd let … Continue reading The Toppermost of the Poppermost
There’s A New Sheriff In Town
Looking for a few good men... Anyone who's ever been in a school anywhere, teacher or student, public, private, religious, whatever, knows that the average class can smell fear. Even a Sunday school class can be fraught with peril. Some teachers claw their way through it. Others buckle. Still others end up bringing it, whether … Continue reading There’s A New Sheriff In Town
The Talk of the Town
About a year ago I did an "Origins" post on Judy, and it's kinda nice that Amazon brought the movie to Prime. Were my first impressions correct? Yes and no. The movie alternates between scenes of Judy as a youngster and as an adult, up to about six months before she passed away. There's music, of course, … Continue reading The Talk of the Town
Oxford Calling
The Barrymores are back, y'all... In 1936, MGM established a branch of its studio in Britain, starting out at the Denham Studios in London. In 1938 three of its biggest stars made A Yank At Oxford there: Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, and Maureen O'Sullivan, supported by a lady who would became rather infamous later. Lee (Robert Taylor) … Continue reading Oxford Calling
Reading Rarities: John Lennon In His Own Write
If he were alive today, John Lennon would be turning eighty this year. It's also the fortieth anniversary of his death. Kind of amazing, isn't it? Gee whiz, time flies. Once the Beatles had a number one song in America, lives that were already on fast-forward went into hyperspace. In 1964 alone, the group toured … Continue reading Reading Rarities: John Lennon In His Own Write
Taking Up Room 