Dizzy Dishes

Happy birthday to Betty Boop, whose first appearance was in this cartoon; it was released on this date in 1930.

Ulysses

Happy Bloomsday.

Chushingura: The Truth / 忠魂義烈 実録忠臣蔵 (1928)

I've seen the four-hour film made (I believe) in the sixties, but not this one. The tale of the forty-seven ronin fascinates many people, including me.

Thanks for the Memory

Thankfulness often comes mixed with sorrow. Bob Hope and Shirley Ross perform the original version of this song in The Big Broadcast of 1938.

Blow-Up - Antonioni (Yardbirds Scene)

David Hemmings is looking for Vanessa Redgrave but finds only Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. Jeff Beck destroys his guitar. David Hemmings takes part of it, then throws it away. All very cryptic.

malfunction

Something new from Cyriak.

"Your Move, Chief"

Probably the scene that won Robin Williams his Oscar.

RIP Robin WIlliams

H/t DS for noting this clip.

Charlie Chaplin - His New Profession

How about something other than music? How about a silent movie from almost exactly a hundred years ago?

Shirley Temple - Animal Crackers In My Soup

You know time is passing when former child stars die of old age. RIP.

RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman

So sad, such a waste of so much talent. Can't even find a pic I want to post. I just remember in the nineties going to movies and thinking, who is that guy? The blond guy in the supporting role (in Twister, Boogie Nights, etc.) who just takes over the screen whenever he speaks? Then the big roles (Capote and others) came and we knew who he was. I was looking forward to many more years of watching him. So sad, such a waste.

RIP Peter O'Toole

From The Ruling Class. O'Toole's character is an English lord who believes that he is God.

Happy Birthday BB

September 22 is the birthday of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, of course, so we must mark the occasion.

RIP James Gandolfini

Like everyone, I was shocked by the news of James Gandolfini's sudden death. There'll be a lot of Sopranos clips posted in tribute, and rightfully so, but Gandolfini was good in a lot of things, such as the Coen brothers' The Man Who Wasn't There. Here he has a scene with Billy Bob Thornton.

Krazy Kat Bugologist (1916)

George Herriman's Krazy Kat was a phenomenon of the popular culture of the first part of the twentieth century. The comic strip spun off a few animated shorts, which apparently never really caught on, but they survive as fascinating artifacts of the era. This cartoon is so old that many of what we think of as the normal conventions of cartoons are absent: the plot is nonexistent, the pacing is slow, the drawings are sometimes rough and the backgrounds short on detail. So it's as such an artifact that it's best appreciated. The music is a recent addition, and adds a great deal of emphasis to the action.

The Edge

A video that brings to life, or at least to moving image and sound, a passage by Hunter S. Thompson. Created by Piotr Kabat. H/t the Page-Turner blog at newyorker.com.

the EDGE from Piotr Kabat on Vimeo.

Magical Mystery Tour Trailer 2012

It was forty-five years ago today that the Beatles experienced their first real public flop, after five years of a charmed existence. (Not coincidentally, it was their first big project after the death of their manager Brain Epstein, who among other skills was good at reining in their most extravagant impulses.) The showing of their film Magical Mystery Tour on Boxing Day 1967 drew at best a response of bafflement from their devoted fans. Still, it had a certain charm, and of course the music was fantastic. Here's a trailer from the 2012 Blu-Ray edition, in German or some reason. Let's pretend that's part of its quirky charisma.

Friday the 13th (Original Version, 1980) Trailer

I got nothing, so let's look at...this! Today is Friday the double thirteenth! And it's almost Halloween! So...something.

Battle of Culloden (1964) Part 1 of 7

This docudrama first shown by the BBC was apparently something of a turning point in how such films could be made, with actors in period costumes being interviewed by a TV reporter. The obvious anachronism is quietly ignored, which works in the end, and the focus on the poorest characters is often moving. If you have time, watch the whole thing.

Mark Twain in 1909

It just blows me away that stuff like this exists. This was film shot by Thomas Edison the year before Mark Twain died. It's available on the Internet Archive.