Well, dear readers, I had a most lovely sleep last night, hence the lateness of these here notes. I slept and slept and then just when I thought I would sleep no more I slept some more. I shall endeavor to speed through these here notes so I can get them up posthaste.
Last night I watched a motion picture from the year 1969. I’d heard about this motion picture from 1969 and yet I’d never managed to see this motion picture from 1969. Well, that has now been rectified and I’m happy to report that this motion picture from 1969 is excellent and deserves its cult film reputation. I’ll bet you would like to know the title of this film. Well, I’ll tell you the title of this film because why should I withhold such information from you? The title of this film from 1969 is The Honeymoon Killers, although that was not the original title – no, the original title was Dear Martha. In any case, it’s coming out Tuesday on DVD from Criterion. The Honeymoon Killers is the only film of writer/director Leonard Kastle, and it’s based on a true story. It’s a very low budget affair, but it’s very well done, although I must warn you that the production sound is dreadful and very hard to understand. Somehow that adds a bit of something to the effect but you might have to go back a few times just to hear what they’re saying. The performances are wonderful, especially the honeymoon killers themselves, Shirley Stoler and Tony LoBianco. The music is by Gustav Mahler, mostly his Sixth Symphony, which is one of my favorite symphonies of all-time. There are some nice extras, especially a video interview with Mr. Kastle. He’s a wonderful raconteur and he has many good stories to tell. The two most interesting stories were that Mr. Kastle wasn’t even a writer/director back then – he was a composer and had written several operas, including one which had been broadcast on NBC. The other interesting story was that Mr. Kastle wasn’t the director of the film when it started shooting – the director of the film when it started shooting was a very young unknown named Martin Scorsese. Apparently, he did not understand just how low budget the budget was and he was taking too long to shoot and he was let go after a week and Mr. Kastle took over and finished it. About ten minutes of Mr. Scorsese’s work remains in the film. Anyway, I recommend this DVD so go get it.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? Don’t we have an Unseemly Live Chat to get ready for? So, let’s all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’ve got to get these here notes up.
Yesterday I mentioned that the latest entry in Juliana’s Journal was up, and yet, it was not up. I stand corrected, although sometimes I sit corrected. I would say it is up now, but I haven’t actually looked for myself, so someone go look and if it’s up let us know. It should be up, but then I’ve been saying that since Friday. Also, the person who’d originally posted about Sam Mendes directing Sweeney Todd was an idiot – and I was an idiot for taking his post (posted as fact) as fact without having read the article he was referencing. According to the Variety article, Mr. Mendes is in “early talks” about directing it. Therefore he has not been signed to direct it, and although the producers have spoken to a writer, the writer hasn’t been signed either. In other words, it’s a load of press-agent hooey. I should have known the minute I saw that the article referenced was from Variety, because ninety-nine percent of what is in Variety is a load of hooey – always has been, always will be. It doesn’t mean that it might not happen, but for now it’s totally bogus.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must do some more errands, write some more pages, eat some more food and then join all of you for our Unseemly Live Chat. Today’s topic of discussion: Today is free-for-all day, the day in which you get to discuss whatever your collective hearts desire. For example, you could discuss how stupid the person who posted the Sweeney Todd info was/is – and how no one who responded to his post pointed out the little detail that it was all a load of hooey. Anyway, I will check back often and I will see you this evening at six o’clock Pacific Mean Daylight Savings Time for our Unseemly Live Chat. Be there or be round.