‘The Painted Angel’ (1929) starring Billie Dove is a lost film–for the most part. Like many Vitaphone releases of those early talking pictures years, the discs of the soundtrack have survived (Vitaphone’s early sound system involved the sound on separate discs, linked to a projector which showed the mute film.
Okay, I took a week’s vacation from posting and now I’m back. I was with family and, much as I love them, I kind of wish I was George Gershwin in the spring of 1937 on vacation with Paulette Goddard. The two of them were discreetly involved in a romance
My son and I had a marvelous time at the massive AirVenture 2026 convention–I was too busy and exhausted looking at (and riding on) airplanes to post anything as you may have noticed. I can think of no better way to conclude the experience then by delving into the darkest
Once upon a time, before we all hated getting on the plane to go somewhere we didn’t really want to go to, there was a glamour and fascination associated with all things aeronautical. Between the wars–1918 to 1940 roughly–this was epitomized by the advent of air races. Competitions were held
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rfV3301d2khttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-JBHAq_AxU&list=RDT-JBHAq_AxU&start_radio=1 This is aviation week here in my world and as a result I am going to drag all my readers (both of you) through the AvGeek muck with me. The reason for this is that on Wednesday my son and I will be going to the AirVenture convention in
Here’s some extraordinary, silent footage of World War 1 fighter planes, formation flyers and various battle-ready airplanes in action. First we see mostly the fast Bristol 2 Seaters which had a rear gunner, a sting in the tail of the ‘Brisfits’, the first successful fighter/bomber combo, a deadly aircraft when
Apropos of yesterday’s post showing the evolution of RKO studio’s logos, here’s a reel of logos from some of the most obscure in-the-gutter strictly-from -hunger low-rent low-budget low-self-esteem studios the movie business ever created. Names like ‘Invincible Pictures’, ‘Mascot Studios’, ‘Chesterfield Pictures’ sound like companies invented by a novelist for
Here’s fifteen minutes of different logos–both opening and closing–of RKO movies. I’m sure you’ll be tempted after a few minutes to either turn it off or scrub through them, but I urge you to set aside fifteen minutes and stare, glassy-eyed, at the screen. Something odd happens as they progress–they
If you know me even slightly (and nobody really knows anyone more than slightly, do they?) you’re aware that I love old comedy two-reelers, any movie connected to director Leo McCarey and old airplanes. So you can imagine my delight when I discovered this past weekend that TCM was airing
On June 30th two directors had birthdays. One of them was me. The other was Anthony Mann. I turned 62. Mann turned 120. Or at least he would have if he’d listened to those doctors and quit smoking. I can’t think of a more appropriate director for me to share