BK, dear, I just want you to know I've read the notes, but I can't think of a single question for today's topic. But I didn't want you to think I was avoiding the subject because I hadn't read the notes. Oh, no. Because I have read the notes and I do always read the notes, and I think everybody should read the notes, as said notes are swell.
OK. NETFLIX: well, it's happening. I thought it would happen and it is beginning to happen, damn them, damn them all to hell. I had read that the more active your account is (and also the longer you are a member), the more "short wait" and "long wait"s you get for movies on your queue. And here we are, not quite out of our Free Trial Period (which ends April 3) and already there is a Short Wait for "The Ladykillers" (Peter Sellers and Alec Guinness), but a Long Wait for "Back to the Future" (which has only been available on DVD for the past 15 months).
This phenomenon is, of course, attributable to the fact that the more rentals you receive in a month, the more money you cost them (postage both ways is included in the monthly subscription fee). So it is of course to their advantage to slow down said rentals in any way possible.
That said, I still intend to stay with them because the fact remains that in the last 10 days we have seen 4 movies (and have 2 more on the way), all but one of which are completely unavailable at the local level (HK, foreign, and classic films). Since our local Blockbuster costs $4.50 a pop, we've already received our money's worth. Besides, as long as stuff on our list like "Once Upon a Time in China" and "A Man and a Woman" and "Nothing Sacred" is listed as being available "NOW" (not to mention the ouevre of one Miss Doris Wishman), "Back to the Future" can go to H-E-double hockeysticks.
Incidentally, for all the Lana Turner "Imitation of Life" fans, I highly recommend viewing the '30s version, which I saw yesterday for the first time. Starring Claudette Colbert and Louise "Somebody bawl fo' Beulah?" Beavers, it's quite different and quite good. Of course, the film provides a very anachronistic view of racial relations, but that's one of the things I like about it. It's surprisingly complex, and whether the complexity is intentionally or incidentally there doesn't really matter to me.
And oh! Has anybody seen Hitchcock's "Foreign Correspondent" with Joel McCrea? I've been flogging myself since I missed taping it off TCM yesterday, and I was wondering if it's worth digging up a copy of the OOP tape. I'm a McCrea fan, if that helps tip the scales at all.