Well, dear readers, I’m getting to these here notes quite late, so I must therefore write them in a hurry and I shan’t worry if they are not amusing or pithy or if they have merriment and mirth and laughter and legs. As the Gershwins put it, I can’t be bothered now. I must just forge ahead like a gazelle in a hot tub and, as Newley and Bricusse put it, nothing can stop me now. I shall dispense with anything superfluous or even fluous. Speaking of fluous, yesterday was a wacky day that I remember very little about. Oh, I did some shipping and learned some music and wrote some e-mails and made some telephonic calls and did some errands and ate some foodstuffs, but I remember almost no details about any of it. I know that at some point I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I managed to watch two count them two motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled Alfred Hitchock’s To Catch A Thief, starring Mr. Cary Grant and Miss Grace Kelly, with wonderful support from Miss Jessie Royce Landis and Mr. John Williams. It’s a very fun, very lightweight Hitchcock, but beautifully directed and wonderfully played by its mega-watt stars. There’s lots of wonderfully quotable dialogue (as always), courtesy of screenwriter John Michael Hayes. And the location photography by Robert Burks is spectacular. The film came out on DVD many years ago, and there was a lot of criticism of the transfer by the usual no-nothing armchair critics. No, it wasn’t a great transfer in terms of its authoring, with some annoying artifact-type things, but the color was just about perfect and I didn’t mind it at all. Now we have a brand spanking new transfer and a new special edition DVD, which is basically the same as the older DVD with a commentary track added. This new transfer is, I believe, off the same or a similar element as the first transfer, but it’s authored better in terms of being artifact-free. It’s a little sharper and a lot cleaner, but they have screwed up the color but good. When I first saw some comparison screencaps I was alarmed at how yellow the new transfer looked. Then when I did a quick comparison myself, I thought the new transfer looked reasonably close in color, but I was just flipping from scene to scene quickly. Now that I’ve seen it in its entirety, I’m really angry about it, and the people who are raving about this transfer obviously only care about sharpness and dirt, because they certainly can’t care about color. For me, these color screwups are as bad as doing a film in the wrong ratio or having the wrong sound. Of course, when you say this, these stupid armchair critics ask how you can possibly know what it’s supposed to look like. Well, I owned several different IB Technicolor prints, and I damn well know exactly what it’s supposed to look like and it’s supposed to look like the first DVD, color-wise. The green tinting alone in the new transfer is enough to make you want to vomit on the ground. No, the screen is not supposed to be ALL green, fools – look at the first transfer and you’ll see – there’s green, there’s blue, and it’s too damn dark in the new transfer. It’s especially noticeable later in the film, where it looks absolutely terrible and totally like the mistake it is. I’ll be re-purchasing the older DVD (which I sold, stupidly), and selling this one. All one need look at is the costume ball – the original transfer had eye-popping color – the new one has color – yellow, and too much of it. I then watched the second motion picture on DVD. I’d only intended to begin it, but it was so good I had to watch the whole thing – I simply was glued to the screen (no mean feat). I don’t really know how I missed seeing this film on its original release, and then subsequently on home video. The film is entitled High Plains Drifter, and stars Mr. Clint Eastwood, who also directed. It’s just a wonderful little film – mean, ugly, funny, weird, and just mesmerizing. One sees the influence of Mr. Leone, of course, but it’s quite a different type of film. Mr. Eastwood plays an enigmatic person who rides into the town of Lago. His motives for being there become clearer as the film goes on. The film has a wonderful supporting company, and good photography courtesy of Bruce Surtees, and a really interesting script by Ernest Tidyman (you’d be shocked how many of the imdb idiots basically say that it’s Clint’s story and script). There’s also a supremely weird score by Dee Barton that really works with the film. I don’t know if this is a new transfer (it’s part of an Eastwood box that’s just coming out), but it’s gorgeous and couldn’t really be better.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because, while there might be more to write about in this here section, as the Gershwins put it, I can’t be bothered now.
Have I mentioned that I can’t be bothered now? Today is going to be a day of dealing with some annoying business regarding the alumni show, but deal with it I must. I also have a rehearsal with Miss Joan Ryan in the afternoon, and various and sundried errands to attend to.
Tomorrow, I’ve got a really important lunch, and we’ll need excellent vibes and xylophones for the entire day – I’ll remind you tomorrow.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, deal with annoying business, rehearse, drive about in my motor car, and, at some point, sup. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers, and as for the rest – well, I can’t be bothered now.