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gjohnson

I watched "Charlie Chan At The Circus" - (1936) the other day and Francis was given a more prominent role in that movie than he ever got in any of his brother's film. That was an odd relationship. Or should I say strained. Francis had got into movies at it's earliest stage that he was able to rise i...

gjohnson

Stop ruining my fun!

Gary J.

gjohnson

Mike Gebert wrote:Menu and Penny Wisdom are possibly the first cooking videos in history. .

What about "Dough and Dynamite" - (1914)?
I learned from that what not to mix in my baking dough.

Gary J.

gjohnson

Are you saying that now with the video tape era that Turner Entertainment only has to be at half operation?

Gary J.

gjohnson

Harlett O'Dowd wrote: Be greatful they didn't run Chinatown Nights!

Didn't that run at Cinecon a few years ago?
I believe I used my popcorn bag as a pillow during it and snoozed away.

Gary J.

gjohnson

PS - I've been trying to figure out where my own Angels fit into this analogy -- I guess they're either Charlie Chaplin or the Snakeville Comedies (depending upon one's optimism), since--like they Angels--they both once had a cowboy for a boss. Hardly! Chaplin has to to be the Yankees. He/They have...

gjohnson

Invite the skinheads over for the next Chaplin viewing. No one would feel like a stabbing after watching a Chaplin Essanay. On the other hand, Broncho Billy may incite a few hard feelings between rival gangs.

Gary J.

gjohnson

Precode films have always embodied those films made between the time the production code was written - in 1930 (and ignored) - to the time that it was finally enforced - 1934. If you want to find earlier films that may of influenced that style of films you need to find another name for those films -...

gjohnson

I thought you were staying out of this thread and concentrating on Slapsticon? Gary J. (....and it irks the hell out of me that I have recently become a victim of this Administrations' depression and may not be able to afford to head out east to DC next month for your 4 day slapfest -- irregardless ...

gjohnson

Richard, If you insist on using the baseball metaphor, then Monty Collins is the Chicago Cubs of comedy. Why do people pay attention to them? They have never won anything over 100 years ago. Their not worth my time. If you want to glamourize a team/comedian - then extoll the Minnesota Twins/Harry La...

gjohnson

I'll look for that on TCM.
I was rattling my head trying to think of other appearances he made straight but they all reminded me of his "Hollywood Party" character.

Gary J.

gjohnson

I had TVO'd and just got around to watching MGM's "Forsaking All Others" - (1934) , one of those glossy, sophisticated, romantic comedies with an all-star cast - Gable, Crawford, Montgomery. It was about a set of NY sophisticates in nice clothes saying witty things. But actually it was very entertai...

gjohnson

From the opening establishing shot of "Three's A Crowd" , showing a tenement block street scene, it looks like we are in familiar territory. This could be be the same block from "Easy Street" or "A Dog's Life" or even "The Kid." I kept expecting the little tramp to come waddling around the corner at...

gjohnson

I see there was a hurricane brewing in LA that day.

Gary J.

gjohnson

I was aware of most items mentioned here except when Bruce said that local tv stations broadcast old movies in 16mm. I guess I just never thought of it. It guess it would of been quite cumbersome to ship 35mm copies all around the country. Let's not forget cost, as some of the early individuals like...

gjohnson

Joe Adamson writes in GROUCHO,HARPO, CHICO and sometimes ZEPPO that Joe Santley was an ex-child star and leading man. Even though he is listed as co-director Adamson surmises that he mostly helped out in filming the numerous song and dance numbers. He relates one story about Santley in which he argu...

gjohnson

From what I've read of McCarey, his trajectory of being a top flight director seemed to of depended more on his personal health than on any real loss of his creative ability. Considering mostly everything he learned about comedy and film directing he learned at the Hal Roach studios, it may come as ...

gjohnson

It is so easy for writers and critics to lump films and their directors that use sentiment as a story-telling tool into tiny little catch-phrases (Capra-corn), that immediately alerts their more savy and sophisticated readers to stay clear from this material -- we are too cynical for such claptrap! ...

gjohnson

The problem with watching those big cartoon sets like the Loony Tune series is that you begin seeing a lot of the same gags reappearing and one realizes how much the directors regurgitated material from the same well. Of couse the original audience didn't notice because those cartoons would be relea...

gjohnson

Mike,

Minneapolis had a handful of rep theaters in the 60's & 70's (and began dying out in the 80's) playing all variety of film genres but none of them played 24 hours.

How long did the Clark Theater last? Did it start to reek by the end?

Gary J.

gjohnson

One of the reasons I have very little interest in today's feature animation (besides the fact that a computer is doing the animating) is the studio's penchant to hype the entire project around some big name voices. COME SEE "KUNG FU PANDA" STARRING JACK BLACK AND ANGELINA JOLINE!!!! If I wanted to l...

gjohnson

Clair's camera is in constant motion in all of his early films, like "Le Millions," which races around and above and along sides of it's galloping charactors as it attempts to keep up with the action. But I think the original posters question about the overhead shot had to do with musicals - not wit...

gjohnson

Walking in during the middle of a showing did seem to be an odd movie-going habit back then. Robert Benchley made a very funny short in 1937 called "A Night at the Movies." His charactor is trying to purchase movie tickets but keeps trying to find out when the feature starts and can't get a straight...

gjohnson

Robert Florey uses an overhead shot during a musical number in The Marx Bros. "The Cocoanuts" - (1929) . Just as Griffith was credited with almost every camera shot outside of today's digital effects, what was truly more important than who was first was how certain filmakers used such techniques. It...

gjohnson

I have read that the majority of films being made from 1927, at the beginning of the sound era, up to about the next 3 years, still had silent versions of them being made for the areas that Ed Hulse mentioned, the smaller rural areas that hadn't yet converted to sound. Considering that the country w...

gjohnson

What makes "The Westerner" one of the great westerns for me is first, it marked the return of the great William Wyler to the genre that he he first made his mark in when he started out in silents. And second for the two showy roles it afforded both Cooper and Brennan. Of course Brennan is great. It'...

gjohnson

I'm afraid you agree with me. I wrote that his deadpan face revealed every emotion that he was going thru during "The General." Just because he didn't laugh and cry and howl but kept a consistantly straight face did not mean that we couldn't read his emotions. If he wasn't considered one of the grea...

gjohnson

I imagine it was hard to be a top ranked comedian during the silent era and regardless of whether your films were top money earners or that your films always generated solid laughs, there was always that nagging feelings that the critics didn't appreciate you because you weren't Chaplin. The Twentie...

gjohnson

Plot was never the selling point of these films. I never understood how Indy came upon the artifacts from the other 3 films either. Bruce has it right when he says the humor is not as strong as the other movies. And most of it is crammed into the first 40 minutes or so of the film. I went to a matin...

gjohnson

Almost all of the music in HOLLYWOOD HOTEL is performed by the Warner Bros. orchestra, orchestrated and directed by Ray Heindorf (with Gus Levene et al). Goodman and his band do the opening number, "Hooray For Hollywood" (with some Heindorf augmentation) and "Sing Sing Sing." Goodman is seen conduc...

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