Category Archives: Uncategorized

Screenplay by Steinbeck, based on his children’s book/novella; directed by Lewis Milestone (who also directed the original classic Of Mice and Men). This was intended to be family film about a boy’s coming-of-age via horse. The only character of interest is … Continue reading →

(available from MPI Home Video) Those were the days, indeed. One of the best historical films ever made and a strong script that began as a stageplay, Becket is a study of two friends, betrayal, and conflict between state and … Continue reading →

All it takes are two spinners to collect the unsuspecting flotsam of long summer nights. Apart in the same yard we cast our respective filaments– some to control, some to set free, some in love, some from death itself. Silver … Continue reading →

that it is morally wrong to possess another. Using others to satisfy one’s own ego is as old as Magwitch or Miss Havisham ruining Pip in Great Expectations. People are not meant to be manipulated or controlled as means to … Continue reading →

are often shallow, empty-headed, superficial, flighty, silly, slight, unintelligent, foolish, banal, fatuous, jejune, vapid, trivial, obvious, dull, literal, witless, foolish, ridiculous, scatter-brained, capricious, trite, vain, dumb, childish, immature, ignorant, and not to be taken seriously at all. If you want a … Continue reading →

  When you spend a fair bit on and spend a fair chunk of time buying, planting, and caring for flowers, you hate to see them ‘go’ early in September. And always, there is a choice. To preserve some natural … Continue reading →

(the patio terrace after 7:00–on a really warm evening, one can dine out here with added heat lamps) (the best time to see the gardens is about the 2nd or 3rd week into Sept. before the fleurs are taken out) … Continue reading →

The version of Macbeth that nearly everyone remembers is Polanski’s with the ‘gross’ severed-head ending. It certainly is the sensuous and ‘glandular’ Macbeth which revitalized this classic for a lot of readers and filmgoers. Earlier in this blog, I reviewed … Continue reading →

(Two huge labours of love: Ken Russell’s film The Devils, still photo of the great Vanessa Redgrave as the mad nun Sister Jeanne) (and Aldous Huxley’s book (which inspired the film), Harper, 1953, dust jacket) (engraving of actual Father Grandier, … Continue reading →

(notes after the first hour of the PBS Walt Disney documentary) It, like life, reveals how much is process, how one gets from A to B to C, etc. The familiar story of an American hero or any successful person … Continue reading →