Movies 'Til Dawn BLOG

WEEKEND STOOGEFEST

‘Restless Knights’ (1935) is the 6th short subject made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Wednesday, December 19th through Saturday, December 22nd, 1934 and released on Wednesday, February 20th 1935. It features Walter Brennan as the Stooges father and Geneva Mitchell as the Queen–she’s the

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RKO AND THE ROOSTER

The history of RKO Pictures–how it began life as Radio Pictures before merging with the Keith-Albee-Orpheum Vaudeville theater chain (thus the KO appended to the R)–is a fascinating one, involving dirty deeds, unsavory mergers, forced stock liquidations and–to top it off–the manipulations of one Joseph P. Kennedy, who was in

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RKO PRESENTS…(aka ‘MOVIE LOGOS CAN BE FUN!’)

Above is a reel containing all the various iterations of the RKO Studios logo over the years, including not only the opening logo but the different styles of the words ‘The End’ which naturally appeared at the finish of the films. Of all the studios in the heyday of Hollywood,

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MOUSE IN…MOSCOW?

Apropos of yesterday’s post featuring Tom and Jerry in ‘Mouse in Manhattan’, here’s a student orchestra in Moscow performing the ‘Manhattan Serenade’ soundtrack while a silent print of the cartoon is screened. The Chamber Orchestra is apparently called “Affrettando”. This was recorded at the Rachmaninov’s Hall of Moscow Conservatory on March

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‘MOUSE IN MANHATTAN’–A TOM AND JERRY JOINT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp2J4YHuJ9Ahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujZP6UfkFe0 In 1928, composer Louis Alter created ‘Manhattan Serenade’, an art-deco orchestral piece designed to be recorded on what was then a long-playing Victor 78rpm disc (four minutes and forty-five seconds–almost two minutes longer than standard 78 RPM records). The piece is very much of its era–a 20s ode to

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WEEKEND STOOGEFEST

‘Dunked In The Deep’ was the 126th short comedy made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Tuesday, March 29 through Friday, April 1 1949 and released on Thursday, November 3rd of that year. (Much of the footage was reused six and a half years later

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A CUKOR/NEGULESCO/MONROE MOMENT

Here’s a short and somewhat curious excerpt from what appears to be a television program about Marilyn Monroe made shortly after her death. It features interviews with two of her directors–Jean Negulesco (who directed her in ‘How To Marry A Millionaire’) and George Cukor (who directed her in ‘Lets Make

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HOLLYWOOD PREMIERE PT. 3–THE INN OF THE HAPPY SIX

I could never remember the name of the ‘The Inn Of the Sixth Happiness’ when I was a kid. I liked the movie but referred to it by several different variations when noting to somebody that it was soon to be on TV. ‘The Sixth Inn of Happiness’, ‘The Happy

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HOLLYWOOD PARTY NIGHT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvCkk6iAZxIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEDTuampIMg Decades may pass, styles of filmmaking may change, but the architecture of the Hollywood premiere/awards show remains the same. The stars get out of cars, stand on ‘the carpet’ to be admired and photographed, then go inside. That’s about it. Yesterday I posted the 1953 version of a premiere.

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PRESENTING ‘HOUSE OF WAX’ (in 3D)

This past Saturday we screened ‘House Of Wax’ (1953) at the Directors Guild theater on West 57th street. I did the historical context intro and briefly discussed (i.e. jammed through) a mini-history of 3-D filmmaking. Some often cite ‘House Of Wax’ as the first 3-D movie released at the dawn

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