Category: Film

The North By Northwest crop duster scene was filmed on a soundstage

You’re old if you knew M*A*S*H was a movie before it was a TV show

It was a book before it was a movie – a novel written by a doctor who had served in the Korean War.

The 1970 film M*A*S*H was directed by Robert Altman. I saw it in a theater in downtown Philadelphia and thought tickets were expensive because they were $3.00.

I believe that Gary Burghoff (Radar) was the only actor who played the same role in the film and TV show.

Tweets on the death of Jean-Luc Godard

I am no expert on his films but certainly recommend Breathless, his debut.

My favorite Ealing comedies

This list of the top 100 British films reminded me of the great comedies produced by the Ealing Studios in the later 1940s/1950s. I recommend all of them. I am posting overviews and then stuff on specific films. Alec Guinness stars in several of them.

I think the best one is Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) which is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Kino Lorber.

The Man in the White Suit (1951). It’s on Blu-ray and DVD from Kino Lorber.

The Lavender Hill Mob (1951). It’s on Blu-ray and DVD from Kino Lorber.

The Ladykillers (1955). Its on disc from Studio Cabal/Lionsgate. The Coen Brothers remake is not as good.

Passport to Pimlico (1949). It’s on Blu-ray and DVD from Film Movement.

Whisky Galore! (1949) has also been remade. It’s on disc with The Maggie from Film Movement.

The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953). It’s on Blu-ray and DVD from Film Movement.

Douglas Slocombe’s home movie from the making of Ealing comedy The Titfield Thunderbolt

The Maggie (1954)

Tiny Tim

Tiny Tim was a unique musician who had 15 minutes of fame in the late 1960s. He had one hit record with an old song, “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” (1968), and appeared on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. His wedding was televised on the Tonight Show. in 1969. If you didn’t live through this era, I can’t explain this to you.

MOJO article on Tiny Tim

He even starred in an independent horror film, Blood Harvest (1986).