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January 24, 2008:

WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, when it rains it pours. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, when it rains it pours and vice versa and also versa vice. And let me tell you, yesterday we had some fierce rain for about two-and-a-half hours, and in that short period of time the streets in my neighborhood were flooded with water – heaven only knows what would happen if we had five hours of fierce rain. Methinks that on certain streets cars would be floating away. Of course when it rains drivers completely lose their sanity and common sense and it’s shocking to watch them act as if they’d never seen rainfall or driven a car. In any case, when it rained it poured and thankfully I only had to drive in it for about five minutes, but let me tell you those five minutes were like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Speaking of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, yesterday was a nice little day. I got up early, Xeroxed pages, took them to my muse Margaret, then came back home and wrote a page before leaving for lunch with cousin Lori. It was a delightfully delightful lunch, stories were shared, photos were shown, food was eaten, and it was really fun catching up with her. After lunch, I picked up a couple of packages, then came home and wrote three more pages. I then got the call from muse Margaret, who really liked all the new pages, and only had a couple of really minor comments, both of which I fixed. Her reaction to this particular book has been wonderful, which is one of the reasons I’ve been having so much fun with it and why it’s been going so fast. She loves getting fifty pages every week – the way it’s worked before is that she’d get thirty pages every two or three weeks, and it breaks the reading momentum. I’m down to the last 100 pages or so (at least as I’m projecting ahead and knowing what’s left to do) and I could be finished with this in a couple of weeks. I then was pretty tired so I sat on my couch like so much fish and listened to the rain on the roof go pit-pit-a-pat, pit-pit–a-pat.

Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Ship Of Fools, from the novel by Katherine Anne Porter, written by Abby Mann and directed by Mr. Stanley Kramer. I’d actually never seen the film all the way through, just a handful of scenes. It’s a real old-fashioned Hollywood yak-fest, but a very entertaining one with the kinds of performances one just doesn’t see anymore. These actors had voices and they didn’t whisper and think they were being “real” because they were whispering – no, they spoke like normal people speak, and therefore were much more real than today’s actors. The performances that are the heart and soul of the film belong to Oscar Werner and Simone Signoret, and both are lessons in great screen acting and actors today should be forced to sit with their eyes pried open like Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange and watch what real acting is all about. And then there’s Vivien Leigh and Lee Marvin, both of whom are great. The supporting cast is wonderful, especially Michael Dunn. It’s a very long film but my interest didn’t flag, and Mr. Kramer’s direction is fine. The musical score is by Ernest Gold – it’s very sparse, with most of the music in the film being source music played by bands. But the main title is a corker and the love theme is absolutely stunning. The DVD is a bit of a travesty, an open matte transfer of a 1:85 film. Why Columbia would do that this late in the DVD game is anyone’s guess, but whoever did it should have his butt cheeks fired. On top of that, it’s just a very standard-looking image, when it should look incredible. This film is included in the new Stanley Kramer box set, but be warned, it’s the same open matte transfer.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really cannot sit at Ye Olde Computer for much longer as my back is a complete wreck and no one will come over and fix it. Damn them, damn them all to hell.

Have I mentioned that when it rains it pours? I have no idea if we’re in for more or not. We shall see.

Today, I shall be writing, meeting with Mr. Kevin Spirtas to make a work schedule, writing, doing errands and whatnot. Tonight, I must try and not sit on my chair for too long, so that my back can stop hurting.

Tomorrow, the Preminger festival resumes, and I shall be seeing Hurry, Sundown, Bunny Lake Is Missing, The 13th Letter, Advise and Consent and one other, I think.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write, meet, eat, write, do errands, write, and sit on my couch like so much fish and watch a DVD. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite all-star films – you know, those films with an all-star cast of glittering film legends? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, as we wait to see if it rains and if, when it rains, it pours.

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