Well, dear readers, the Strange Case of The Reappearing Fly continues. I have found and killed at least twelve flies, I have been over every inch of my house trying to figure out where they are coming from and yet I have not found anywhere where they could be coming from and yet they keep coming from somewhere. I haven’t seen any this morning so maybe they’ve gotten the hint that if they manage to find their way into this house they will be hunted down and spoken to in the harshest terms before being swatted with whatever magazine happens to be lying about handily. Damn them, damn them all to hell.
Last night a friend of mine screened a 35mm Technicolor print of that marvelous motion picture entertainment, The Music Man. What a wonderful movie it is, still to this day. Why Mr. Meron and Mr. Zadan had to remake this is anyone’s guess – why they felt they had to denigrate the original just makes them look like fools. The original is a just-about-perfect adaptation of a Broadway musical into film. Since it takes place in the early part of the century it is hardly dated as a sixties film, other than it doesn’t have any silly fast cutting or step-printed sped up shots as is so au courant today. It just works – it’s perfectly cast, tells its story, makes us care about the people, and most of all trusts the material. No pandering to audiences of the day and yet audiences of the day embraced it for what it was – a grand and rollicking good show. Mr. Preston has never been bettered in this role – he embodies Harold Hill, he is Harold Hill, unlike Mr. Broderick who plays at it, who comments on it, rather than inhabiting it. One cannot say enough about Onna White’s choreography, which is stunning, especially in Marian the Librarian and the deceptively simple and charming The Sadder but Wiser Girl for Me. The other thing you realize is that there are simply no character actors today who are the equal of the unique and splendid character people we had back then. These people were one-off – Hermoine Gingold, Paul Ford, there was no one else like them. Add to that the likes of Mary Wickes, Jesslyn Fax, and every single bit player (including Hank Worden for one line) and you’ve got a film which is populated by amazing people in every single role. Just compare the movie traveling salesmen to the TV version traveling salesmen in Rock Island Line and it will be abundantly clear. In any case, I love this film and again it makes me wonder what ever happened to Monique Vermont, who played Amaryllis?
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Let’s all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must finish these here notes and write, write, write (that is three writes, so what can be wrong) and then prepare for our Unseemly Live Chat.
Yes, you heard it hear, dear readers, our Unseemly Live Chat is this evening at six o’clock Pacific Mean Daylight Savings Time and I do hope that many of you will be able to join us and that there won’t be too too many errant and truant people for me to bitch-slap come morning.
I finally picked up the DVD of What’s Up, Doc? and shall watch it later this evening. Isn’t that exciting? Isn’t that just too too?
Don’t forget to send Donald your votes about which radio shows you’d like to hear repeated. I’m not sure if today’s will be a repeat or a new one – hopefully he’ll drop by and tell us.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must get myself in the proper frame of mind to begin a new job tomorrow, I must do errands and I must eat various and sundried foodstuffs. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you get to discuss any old topic you like – for example, how are the flies getting into my home? Another topic could be who invented the burp. Post away, my pretties and I’ll be checking in often – and I’ll see you all at chat.