Tag Archives: Through the Shattered Lens

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: Errol Flynn in THE SEA HAWK (Warner Brothers 1940)

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Warner Brothers pulled out all the stops for their 1940 epic THE SEA HAWK. There’s dashing Errol Flynn swashbuckling his way across the Silver Screen once again, the proverbial cast of thousands, high seas action, romance, political intrigue, superb special effects, and a spirited score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The only thing missing that could’ve possibly made this movie better is Technicolor, but since Jack and his bros had already spent $1.7 million (equivalent to almost thirty million today) to produce it, why quibble?

Flynn is in fine form as privateer Geoffrey Thorpe, captain of the pirate ship Albatross, in service to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I. When they attack and plunder a Spanish ship carrying Ambassador Don Alvarez de Cordoba and his beautiful niece Maria, Captain Thorpe is reprimanded and told to lay off the Spanish. Spain, however, is building up their Armada with world conquest in mind, and…

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Happy American Redneck Day from Gretchen Wilson!

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My father’s family is from South Carolina, my mother’s from Massachusetts, which makes me half Redneck, half Yankee, and 100% American! Since Lisa has already let us know today is American Redneck Day, let’s celebrate with Gretchen Wilson doing her 2004 country music hit, “Redneck Woman”:

Happy American Redneck Day, y’all! Now somebody give me a Hell Yeah!

 

4 Shots From 4 Films: Happy 102nd Birthday Olivia de Havilland

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4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking. Hollywood royalty Olivia de Havilland is alive & well, and celebrating her 102nd birthday today! In her honor, here are 4 shots from the films of Olivia de Havilland:

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938; D: Michael Curtiz)

Gone With The Wind (1939; D: Victor Fleming)

The Snake Pit (1948; D: Anatole Litvak)

Lady in a Cage (1964; D: Walter Grauman)

Existential Exploitation: BOBBIE JO & THE OUTLAW (AIP 1976)

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I discussed filmmaker Vernon Zimmerman in a post on his UNHOLY ROLLERS back in January. Zimmerman wrote the script (but did not direct) for 1976’s BOBBIE JO & THE OUTLAW, which on the surface is just another sex’n’violence laden redneck exploitation film. Yet after a recent viewing, it seemed to me Zimmerman was not just delving into exploitation, but exploring something more: disaffected youth, gun culture, the cult of personality, and violence in America, themes that still resonate today.

Former child evangelist turned rock star turned actor Marjoe Gortner is Lyle Wheeler, a drifter who enters quick draw contests and idolizes Billy the Kid. Lyle’s a hustler, as we find out as he pulls into a gas station and steals a Mustang from a travelling salesman. Lyle outruns a police car hot on his tail, causing the cop to go off the road, and revs into the next town, where…

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One Hit Wonders #16: “In The Summertime” by Mungo Jerry (Pye Records 1970)

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British band Mungo Jerry soared to Number One on the pop charts not just here in America, but all over the world with their joyous skiffle-rock ode to summer fun “In The Summertime”:

Mungo Jerry at the time of their smash success were Ray Dorset (vocals, guitar), Colin Earl (piano), Mike Cole (bass), and Paul King (banjo, jug). Members came and went rapidly, but Dorset was always the one constant. The huge international success of “In The Summertime” led to a U.S. tour, and though the Jerries never scored another hit, “In The Summertime” remains a perennial on Classic Rock radio, especially at this time of year.

Something I always wondered was where on Earth did they come up with the name Mungo Jerry. So I did some intense research (ok, I looked it up on their Wikipedia page) and discovered the band was named after a poem in T.S…

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Midnight Snack: THE MAN WHO CHEATED HIMSELF (2Oth Century-Fox 1950)

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THE MAN WHO CHEATED HIMSELF made it’s TCM debut last Saturday night on Noir Alley, hosted by “The Czar of Noir” Eddie Muller. This is a ‘B’ film I’d never heard of before, and since you all know how much I love discovering new/old ‘B’ movies, I stayed up past the midnight hour to give it a watch (which I usually do on Saturday nights anyway, being a Noir Alley fan!).

The film doesn’t waste any time, quickly introducing the main characters and getting right into the story. Thinking her husband is planning to murder her, rich San Francisco socialite Lois Frazer guns him down in cold blood directly in front of her lover, Homicide Lt. Ed Cullen. Ed dumps the body at the airport to make it look like a robbery/murder, tossing the murder weapon off the Golden Gate Bridge. Then he takes the lead in the investigation, along…

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Gettin’ a Woody: EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX* (United Artists 1972)

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*(but were afraid to ask)

Say what you will about Woody Allen (and I’m sure some of you will), but from 1969 to 1977 he wrote, directed, and starred in some of the laugh-out-loud funniest movies ever made (after that, things got a bit pretentious, and his output has been hit-or-miss far as I’m concerned). Allen’s inventive mind took Dr. David Reuben’s best-selling sex manual EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX (*but were afraid to ask) and turned it into a hilarious anthology that skewers not only societal mores and morals, but every segment parodies a different film genre.

Some are better than others, but each has something funny to offer. The first, “Do Aphrodisiacs Work?”, finds Woody as a medieval court jester whose lousy Bob Hope one-liners bomb with the King (Anthony Quayle). The randy jester is dying to enter the Queen’s (Lynn Redgrave) “royal chambers”, but…

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Book Review: NOIR by Christopher Moore (William Morrow 2018)

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In between everything else I do, I read about a book a week, mainly mystery fiction. Current favorites include James Lee Burke, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Janet Evanovich, and John Sandford, all with their own unique styles, and all masters of the genre. But when I need a good laugh, I pick up Christopher Moore. I first became aware of Moore’s work with his brilliant 2002 novel LAMB, OR THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BIFF, CHRIST’S CHILDHOOD PAL, an irreverent satire narrated by Jesus’s good buddy Biff that’s as outrageous as it sounds, and sinfully funny to boot.

Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer in “Out of the Past” (RKO 1947) have nothing on Sammy and The Cheese!

This time around, Moore goes from taking on the Scriptures to the hard-boiled world of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. The novel is set in 1947 San Francisco, a very good year for noir

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4 Shots From 4 Films: RIP Maria Rohm

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4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking. It was reported today that Austrian actress Maria Rohm, best known for her work with Exploitation masters Harry Alan Towers and Jess Franco, passed away at age 72. In her honor, here are 4 shots from the films of Maria Rohm:

House of 1,000 Dolls (1967, D: Jeremy Summers)

99 Women (1969, D: Jess Franco)

Venus in Furs (1969, D: Jess Franco)

Count Dracula (1970, D: Jess Franco)

Four Star Fun: LIBELED LADY (MGM 1936)

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Jean Harlow ! Spencer Tracy ! William Powell ! Myrna Loy ! Four top stars at the top of their game shining bright in LIBELED LADY, a screwball comedy directed by Jack Conway with that trademark MGM gloss. Despite the zany improbability of the script by Maurine Watkins, Howard Emmett Rogers, and George Oppenheimer, the crackling, witty dialog gives all four stars (and supporting actor Walter Connolly) plenty of good material.

Here’s the plot: rich heiress Connie Allenbury (Loy) is suing the New York Evening Star for printing a story about her being a husband stealer. Her price: five million! Editor Warren Haggerty (Tracy), after once again blowing off his nuptials to long-time flame Gladys Benton (Harlow), recruits ex-reporter and frenemy Bill Chandler (Powell) in a crazy scheme involving marrying him off to Gladys (and is she pissed!), hop an ocean liner to London, and return with Connie, using his…

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