Well, dear readers, I’ll think about it tomorrow. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I’ll think about it tomorrow. What am I, Scarlett O’Hara all of a sudden? And yes, I finished watching the Blu and Ray of Gone With The Wind, which I have retitled Gone Was My Evening. I first saw Gone With The Wind when I was in summer camp circa the late 1950s. They just took us all to some movie theater (I can see it clearly in my head but cannot figure out which theater it was other than they had a weird little room at the back of the auditorium from where you could watch the movie. Back then, I loved almost everything, movie-wise, but I most assuredly did not love Gone With The Wind. It made me fidget, made me antsy, and I could not wait for it to end, and yet it just kept going, like the Energizer Bunny. Over the years I saw it several more times during various reissues, at revival houses, and I even owned an IB Tech 16mm print. And even though I knew that some consider it the greatest film ever made, I still didn’t like it. Part of the reason was that I just didn’t “get” the characters. I could not understand why anyone would like Scarlett O’Hara, surely one of the oddest leading characters in any film ever made – spoiled, willful, obnoxious, stubborn – not the qualities I enjoy in a leading character. I liked Rhett better, sort of, but not much. And I hated Ashley Wilkes and Melanie frequently set my teeth on edge. My favorite was Belle Watling, played by the divoon Ona Munson. And I liked that Superman was one of the twins at the beginning. So, I sort of dreaded having to watch the new Blu-Ray, but felt I had to. I had the last special edition DVD set, which I’d only looked at briefly – I thought that it didn’t look very good. And I’d run the opening of the Blu-Ray when I first got it, and the opening scene did not give me much hope – I thought it didn’t look especially sharp and I thought there was way too much yellow. But, last night I dove in and after that first scene, the transfer, for me, improved amazingly, so much so that I actually got caught up in the movie itself, more than I ever have before. Mind you, I still don’t love it or even like it much, but I did enjoy it this time around. The first thing I noticed is that there really isn’t all that much wind in Gone With The Wind. There are some breezes, though. Vivien Leigh is wonderful as Scarlett, and Gable is a perfect Rhett. The overdone yellow really only happens blatantly in a couple of scenes, where the actors’ skin tones look like they have jaundice. But the majority of the transfer is really beautiful and very sharp, with excellent contrast, and I’m pretty certain that it must look like what the film looked like back in 1939. The occasional yellowish cast is certainly justified in the interior scenes where the source lighting is from candles. But the décor and costume color is quite lovely and the sharpness is astonishing at times. If you’re a fan of the film, the Blu-Ray is a must-have. I’ve also been watching the latest set of The Three Stooges shorts – all featuring Shemp. I always liked Shemp, and while some of these aren’t really very strong, occasionally I just get giddy with laughter at their antics. The transfers look quite nice – I haven’t gotten to the widescreen shorts yet, but am looking forward to them. One of the widescreen shorts, Goof On The Roof, should actually be in Academy ratio. They assumed that because it was released in December of 1953 that it should have been widescreen, and the fact is that part of that assumption was correct – the short WAS shown in widescreen. Had they done further research, however, they would have found that it was actually filmed in November of 1952, six months before Columbia would start shooting everything in widescreen. Then it sat on the shelf for a year, hence the confusion. Anyway, I’m having fun and am really looking forward to the next and final set, which will at long last present the final Stooges shorts with Joe Besser, which I haven’t seen since their original release.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because if we don’t we’ll all have to think about it tomorrow.
Today, she of the Evil Eye will be here bright and early and also early and bright and I shall jog and then be gone with the wind for a few hours. Once I return, all I have to do is work on the liner notes. Otherwise, the day and evening are mine all mine. I’m also getting a lot of Kritzerland supplies such as envelopes, ink for the printer, packing tape, and 18 copies of the latest version of the Nudie Musical script so that in the next few weeks I can do a private table reading to make sure we’re happy prior to coming to New York to do our staged reading. I shall, of course, have to eat something amusing at some point. Yesterday, I ate something amazing – my beloved number one at Langer’s, along with two latkes, when I lunched with Mr. Barry Pearl. He continues his good fortune and just booked another show, which will take him through January. He’s had a very good year.
Tomorrow I have no plans other than to perhaps have a dinner meeting with our very own Miss Alet Taylor. Next week is quite busy.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, I must do some errands and whatnot and hopefully pick up a package or three, I must eat something amusing, and I must relax and watch motion pictures on Blu-Ray. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your all-time favorite comic short films? You know, the Stooges, Keaton, Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Joe Doakes, all of those types of things, including comic shorts without those types of comedians. For example, I love the Ingmar Bergman spoof, The Dove. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and as for me, I’ll think about it tomorrow.