Well, dear readers, thanks to Walmart’s not doing anything despite being given all the information that they needed to preclude the fraudulent charges from going through, the charges went through and the money has once again been deducted from my paypal account. So, now I’ll have to fill out whatever stuff they need and hopefully I’ll have it back within three or four days – at least, that’s what they said it would take. Otherwise, I had a rather pleasantly pleasant Sunday. I had a good night’s sleep, I did a four-mile jog, I did some writing, and I had a turkey sandwich and a small order of onion rings. Then I came home, answered e-mails, and had some telephonic conversations. Then I had a very sweet visit from Melody and her dad. They picked up some sheet music for the next Gardenia show – it will be Melody’s first time there as a regular cast member rather than a one-song performer. She gets to do three songs, and I’ve given her some really fun ones. I also showed her a little of the footage from the New York shoot, especially the episode she’s in and she and her dad were howling with laughter, always a good sign. She knew instantly that we would be able to shoot her in such a way that no one will ever know that most of the cast was on one coast and she’s on another – and that’s the magic of the movies. I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD, one of those movie on demand things from MGM. This motion picture was entitled My Gun Is Quick, a cheapie Mike Hammer film from 1957, I think. Made after Kiss Me, Deadly (and I, The Jury), My Gun Is Quick is not a country mile in the league of Kiss Me, Deadly, which is one of the great noirs of all time. Instead we get a cheap-looking, poorly-directed Mike Hammer movie starring Robert Bray (introducing Robert Bray it says, even though he’d been working for more than a decade). Bray is reminiscent of Richard Crenna, looks-wise, and he’s okay at Hammer, but doesn’t really wear the tough guy comfortably. There are some nice sleazy shots of sleazy downtown LA and a long sequence on the LA freeways of 1957, but it just doesn’t really add up to anything very interesting. In fact, the best thing about it is its title – My Gun Is Quick. I just love that title. In fact, I may have to write a song entitled My Gun Is Quick, a ballad of unrequited love. Transfer was decent.
I then watched a documentary on Blu and Ray entitled Cameraman – The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff. Cardiff was a brilliant cameraman and it’s wonderful to have a film celebrating his art. He’s in quite a lot of it (he died two years ago), as are other filmmakers and cameramen. It’s short and sweet, and there are lots of examples of his genius. Most of the clips are from his two masterpieces, Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes, and because those come from the recent restorations released on Blu-Ray, they look great. The other clips range from decent to very poor, so they don’t do Mr. Cardiff any favors by presenting examples that simply don’t look as they should. Cardiff himself is self-effacing and charming. For me, Black Narcissus is perhaps the greatest color film ever made, and I’ve seen it any number of times and it’s just a miracle and a marvel of ingenuity in its brilliant use of color, shadow, and light. Today, it would all be done in a computer and would be completely artless, just like most of today’s films.
After that, I did a press release for the next Gardenia show, and did a little more writing. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I shall get up early and call paypal and do whatever I have to do to get the ball rolling so I can get my money back. I’m then having lunch with the wonderful fellow who’ll be editing the web series. After lunch, we’ll come back here and watch all the footage, so we can choose the takes he’ll be using. I’ve already made some notes in that regard, so it should take a couple of hours but will make his job much easier and save us a lot of time down the line. After that, I’ll do errands and whatnot, hopefully pick up the way overdue important envelope and maybe a package, do some banking, and then I have a work session with Miss Vicki Lewis and Miss Joan Ryan and Mr. John Boswell. So, a long day.
Tomorrow, I have a ton of stuff to do, and the rest of the week will be work sessions, writing, lunches, picking up packages, getting ready for the LA shoot, and trying to lock down camera and sound. And I’m sure we’ll be shipping Divoce, Italian Style towards the end of the week.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, call paypal, do the four-mile jog, lunch, look at footage, and have a work session. Today’s topic of discussion: What your favorite color films – the ones where you feel the photography is just artful and spectacular and is one of the main reasons the film works so well? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall sing my new hit song, My Gun Is Quick.