SSSSSSS

I've had an unusual week of offbeat posts with King Crimson, British comedians and stamps. Today's post has been scheduled in my Blogger list for weeks now and it's time to finally put it up. This should add to the week's peculiarity...

SSSSSSS is a 1973 horror film, starring Dirk Benedict and Strother Martin, about humans being turned into cobras. I love this campy trailer "Don't say it-Hiss it".



"King cobra vs. Mongoose or is it man vs. man." Because I was a fan of Benedict in Battlestar Galactica at the time, I convinced my mom to allow me to watch this cult film one Saturday afternoon. I don't recall thinking it was bad, but I found it to be a decidedly strange movie.

Paul Newman, 1925-2008

This is a scene from Hud (1963). Damn, he was such a fine actor. Rest in peace.

Sherlock Holmes: The Final Problem

The US audience has long identified Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. He made an indelible impression that has lasted sixty plus years. In the mid-eighties, I heard about Jeremy Brett's portrayal of Holmes, and critics were saying that Brett had made the role his own, becoming the definitive version of the master sleuth. At that time, my family was renting a VCR along with two VHS tapes for $20 at the local video shop, and selections were scarce, so it was difficult to get my hands on copies of the Brett movies. It was almost ten years later (about a year before his death) when I finally was able to watch these films.

I’m posting here one of my favorite stories, The Final Problem, starring Brett as Holmes and David Burke as Dr. Watson.



Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

I know... the part where Holmes and Moriarty are struggling on top of Reichenbach Falls looks stagey but the fall itself gets me everytime.

The producer intended to film all sixty stories, but Brett had only filmed forty-one before his unfortunate passing. These movies are without a doubt the most faithful rendering of Doyle’s original yarns.

According to Wikipedia, Doyle ranked The Adventure of the Final Problem fourth on his personal list of the twelve best Holmes stories.

Lady in the Lake (1947)

The film version of The Lady in the Lake is considered a misfire and that’s unfortunate as it’s one of my favorite Chandler novels. It takes Marlowe outside his usual Los Angeles digs to Little Fawn Lake in search of a missing woman. The talented actor and director, Robert Montgomery, decided on an unusual gimmick -- the entire film is seen from the viewpoint of Marlowe. We occasionally glimpse Montgomery in a mirror, but other than that, we, the audience, are Marlowe. I’ve seen the film twice and think it’s better than what many critics said, but then again, I’m a Chandler fan, noir aficionado, and love just about anything from this period. Here's the trailer:



The original New York Times review: “In making the camera an active participant, rather than an off-side reporter, Mr. Montgomery has, however, failed to exploit the full possibilities suggested by this unusual technique. For after a few minutes of seeing a hand reaching toward a door knob, or lighting a cigarette or lifting a glass, or a door moving toward you as though it might come right out of the screen the novelty begins to wear thin. Still, Mr. Montgomery has hit upon a manner for using the camera which most likely will lead to more arresting pictorial effects in the future.”

Silent night at the movies: Sherlock Jr. (1924)

Richard Schickel: "The impeccable comedian directs himself in an impeccable silent comedy. The man with the flat hat and the dead pan has a night job as a movie theater projectionist but daydreams about becoming a famous (and natty) master detective. In real life he is falsely accused by a shameless cad of stealing a watch from his girlfriend's father. At work that evening he sleepwalks himself into the film he's projecting (its plot eerily mirrors his real-life problem) and solves the crime in a series of magnificently imaginative, physically perilous, perfectly orchestrated gags."



Wikipedia: "Into the film: Keaton "walked" into the movie via the power of suggestion. The scene shifted back and forth several times from the projectionist's booth to the movie that was being shown. But for the last shift, instead of showing the movie, the camera this time showed a stage with live actors, designed to replicate the look of the movie. Therefore, Buster actually climbed onstage, but created the illusion of joining the movie. It wasn't until the 1940s that Keaton revealed that he and his cameraman had used surveyor's instruments to position him, and the camera, at exactly the correct distances and positions to provide the illusion of continuity."