Well, dear readers, holy mother of pearl this week has flown by, like a gazelle in a wet suit. This week has gone by in an Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy. This week went by faster than a speeding bullet. In other words, what the HELL happened to this week? All I know is this: Today begins week four of writing Ye Olde Booke. The fact that I have written over 100 pages a week is quite astonishing to me, but then again I have been writing in an Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy. As I’ve said, I’m a) having a lot of fun writing, and b) want to get it down while all these memories are cascading out of my brain. In any case, yesterday was a day in which I did things. I got up early, smoothed out what I’d written the day before, added one two-page chunk, a story I’d forgotten to include, and then made some nips and tucks and some additions and fixes, not necessarily in that order. I then proofed the packaging for our new release, did a few fixes and then sent it off for approval, which came quickly. It is now on its merry way to the printers. I also made two tiny adjustments in our master, and that went off to the pressing plant. I then began my writing for the day. I wrote about ten pages, which took about three hours. Then I had to answer e-mails and have a few telephonic calls, including a long conversation with our very own Mr. Nick Redman. By that time it was almost three, and I toddled off to Hugo’s for some lunch, and then picked up a couple of small packages and some mail. I then came home, wrote another few pages (for a total of around seventeen), and then prepped everything for this morning’s official announcement of our new release. I then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Kitten With A Whip. Somehow I’ve missed seeing this film, even though I thought I’d seen every Ann-Margret picture from that era. Well, in a nutshell, Kitten With A Whip is instantly in my pantheon of awful movies – truly one of the worst written and directed films ever. The script is so unrelentingly stupid that I found myself screaming at the characters on the screen to stop behaving so stupidly. John Forsythe, whose house and world have been overtaken by Miss Ann-Margret as a very bad girl, at any point in the film could just call the police and end it, or after that’s too late, just drive away. Instead, he behaves as no human being would – he just allows things to happen for no reason other than the screenwriter wrote it that way because of extreme stupidity. The film’s running time of eighty-two minutes seems like four hours. Ann-Margret is at her vixenish best, Mr. Forsythe is a stick, and two of the supporting actresses in this film give two of the worst performances I’ve ever seen on the screen. The only music credit on the film is for Music Supervisor Joseph Gershenson. In reality, the film has a slew of composers, most notably Henry Mancini, whose cues for Touch Of Evil are used throughout the film. The transfer on this Universal DVD-R is passable. And the night before I finished watching another Universal DVD-R entitled Dragnet, a feature film version of the TV show, made in 1954. I’d never seen it, either. I actually didn’t think it was as good as the TV show, but I do love my Sergeant Joe Friday, and there are some great character actors, most of whom appeared regularly on the series. But here’s the interesting thing. First, the film, unlike the TV show, is in color, and the transfer is actually pretty good. But beginning with the prologue of the film, in which a man is shot point blank with a shotgun, I had the most curious sensation that this film, like Dial ‘M’ For Murder (made at the same time) was shot in 3-D but not released that way (remember, Dial ‘M’ For Murder was not shown in 3-D until the 1970s). As soon as the credits came up, the sensation grew because they looked exactly like 3-D credits looked back then. And then every single shot in the film has unnecessary things in the foreground, which they did in all 3-D films, to give the shots dimension and depth between foreground, middle ground, and background. A simple look at the original TV show will tell you that Webb did not direct that way. The capper is the final fight in the film, where punches are thrown directly into the camera, just as the man with the ping-pong ball batted it at the 3-D camera in House Of Wax (also made the same year by the same studio). Every shot of the fight is a 3-D shot, and again totally atypical of Webb’s directing style. So, I think I am the very first person to have made an important discovery. The question is, is there any remnant of the 3-D version left, or is there at least paperwork somewhere? I defy anyone to watch the film and not agree.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below whilst we all say in perfect unison, “Holy mother of pearl.”
Just who is pearl, anyway? And was her mother really holy? And if there was a holy mother of pearl was there a holy mother of beatrice? Or, if you’re going to tell me that it’s the kind of pearl that comes out of an erster, is there a holy mother of diamond?
Today, I shall be up at six in the morning to announce our new title. I have to do a couple of early morning errands, but once they’re done, I shall just write all the livelong day, with a break for lunch. Or, I may wait until the very late afternoon to sup. We shall see.
Tomorrow, I have to ship a bunch of packages, and she of the Evil Eye will be here, too. And then I may go see my old pal David Shire at his CD signing in the Bank of Bur.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, announce a new release, write, do errands and whatnot, write, and sup. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, various and sundried Kritzerland projects. DVD, bedroom has Flight Of The Red Balloon, which I am NOT enjoying at all, despite the cries of “masterpiece” all over the DVD package, and in the den, the DVD-R of Forty Pounds Of Trouble. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and let us all say one more holy mother of pearl and three hail marys, for all you marys out there.