Uncouth Reflections

Notes on “Turn Back the Clock”

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes:

tracy

I had an okay time with this rather flimsy and almost Capraesque Lee Tracy film about an Average Joe who gets to relive the recent past. Because he knows what’ll happen, he makes himself into a financial success even as, Cassandra-like, he’s disregarded by his peers when he predicts the future. There’s a near-great moment when Tracy gives a speech to troops preparing to be shipped off to the First World War. Instead of invoking Honor and Country, he dwells on the trenches, the mud, and the industrial-scale death — all the bad things that, unbeknownst to these kids, lie in wait. Unfortunately, screenwriters Edgar Selwyn and Ben Hecht pull their punch; the bit teeters and falls over before it can have much of an impact. Tracy, whose gin-puffed face and spindly huckster’s brio evoke both Dickens and Twain, is more fun to watch than just about any actor I can think of. His hands, always moving, seem keyed to some unheard melody — it’s like he’s conducting his own performance. I shit you not, the Three Stooges turn up in totally straight roles as a group of harmonizing singers. The movie’s available on Warner Instant.

Related

A nice intro to Tracy. If you’re interested in his work, I recommend starting with “Blessed Event,” “Bombshell,” and “The Half-Naked Truth.”

Posted in Movies, Performers | Tagged Ben Hecht, Edgar Selwyn, Film, Lee Tracy, movies, performers, Three Stooges | Leave a comment

Nothin’ Beats a Noir Dame: Hazel Brooks in “Sleep, My Love”

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes:

Considered a failure by director Douglas Sirk, SLEEP, MY LOVE is a decent enough noir for fans of the genre. The film concerns a brittle New York blueblood, played by Claudette Colbert, who is being gaslighted by her husband, played by Don Ameche. Although based on a novel, the script is half-baked — there are superfluous characters (Keye Luke and his newlywed wife, for example), scenes that go on too long, and convenient coincidences. On the other hand, the daffy plot becomes part of the fun, especially given that it uses drugs, hypnosis, and WASP fear of psychiatry to push things along. Don Ameche still has the alpha bad boy charm that Lubitsch used a few years prior in HEAVEN CAN WAIT.

But the highlight for me was Hazel Brooks as the femme fatale who ensnares Ameche. She isn’t given much to do other than scheme and sashay about in tantalizing outfits, but hey, who am I to complain? When Alberto Vargas created his glamour girl he used Brooks’ legs as a model.

Bizarro trivia: Brooks was married to legendary production designer Cedric Gibbons, designer of the Oscar statute. Gibbons’ nephew is Billy Gibbons, lead singer and guitarist for ZZ Top. (Btw, Brooks liked old dudes. She was 19 when she married the 51-year-old Gibbons. They remained married until Gibbons’ death at age 67, after which the 40-year-old Brooks got hitched with a 58-year-old Beverly Hills surgeon.)

SLEEP, MY LOVE can be streamed for free to all Amazon Prime subscribers or on YouTube.

Posted in Movies, Performers, Sex | Tagged Alberto Vargas, Billy Gibbons, Cedric Gibbons, Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, Douglas Sirk, Film Noir, glamour, Hazel Brooks, Hollywood, Pin-Ups | 3 Comments

Linkage

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes:

British tax payers are still paying off debt from the First World War. Worth it?
So now I have to leave Facebook to get a Facebook message?
Did your favorite documentary make this list of the best documentaries?
Should we wipe all evidence of these allegedly racist movies from the face of the Earth? Or at least make them very hard to see? (By the way, I think this guy misreads the ending of “Apocalypto.”)
PC scold campaign backfires. The people refusing to play along don’t seem all that “ignorant” to me. My guess: White folks’ reaction to these shirts is evidence that, deep down, they wish they had more of a group identity.
What group is more insufferable, perpetually victimized pro movie critics or angry, over-protective fanboys? Generally, I scoff at critics who bitch at the rabble and their frightful lack of couth. But I don’t have much sympathy for the nerdlinger hordes and their over-concern about the critical reception of their beloved superheroes. Who gives a shit what Critic X thinks of Aquaman? And who gives a shit about Tomatometers? In the immortal words of William Shatner: Get a life.
Touching. Who says animals don’t have feelings?
Just how awful is Woody Allen for making movies about white people? And when is Wes Anderson going to get this treatment?
How to square our overlords’ hyper-concern with sexual harassment and rape culture with the drive to create “gender-open” restrooms? A funny thing from the piece: The idea that, by making restrooms “gender-open,” college administrators will prevent them from being used for gay hookups. Oh, we’re discriminating against gays now?!
When someone does something that offends you, is your first reaction to get them fired? If so: What the fuck is wrong with you?
Armond White on one of my favorite contemporary movie figures.
Just how much like Hitler is “Idiocracy”?
So all that stuff about Hitler hating Jesse Owens was U.S. propaganda?
Jack Donovan on maintaining male spaces.
I had a great time making fun of the narrator of this documentary on eels. “A fish that had once been an accident on my hook began to wedge itself in the crevasses of my . . . imagination.”
If she’s okay with it, what’s the big deal?

Posted in Linkathons | Tagged Adolph Hitler, Armond White, Dwayne Johnson, Jack Donovan, Jesse Owens, PC, racism, Woody Allen | 22 Comments

Diagram Du Jour

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Eddie Pensier

Eddie Pensier writes:

Pretty much.

By Courtisane. Link thanks to Andrew Langer.

Posted in Humor, Music | Tagged humor, Opera | 2 Comments

Think Globally Travel Locally

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Fenster

Fenster writes:

It is possible in some of our larger cities to approximate international travel without the need to purchase expensive (and environmentally unfriendly!) airline tickets. And I am not talking Disney-style simulacra, but more of the real thing, or as close to the real thing as possible in a world that increasingly looks to blur the distinction between the real and the hyper-real.

New York is one such city. I travel in and out of the New York area a lot for a couple of nights at a time. I enjoy travel but I am not partial to hotels all that much. In the old days of the 1980s or 1990s that might mean B&Bs. Now it increasingly means outfits like Airbnb. Sure, Airbnb has its risks but the structure of the site does a good job at managing the killer risks, like killer or otherwise reprobate hosts and guests. Generally speaking the worst that is likely to happen is that a place will be less clean than the pictures indicated or that the host is slipshod in getting you the key. To me those are OK trade-offs for meeting new people and seeing parts of the metropolitan area up-close, as a short-term resident.

So recently I decided to use my New York trips to visit Portugal and China, using Airbnb to penetrate neighborhoods short on other kinds of accomodations. The stand-ins for these international locales were, respectively, the Ironbound district of Newark, New Jersey and Flushing, Queens.

Continue reading →

Posted in The Good Life, Travel | Tagged Flushing, Ironbound | 9 Comments

Trans Viewing: “Beautiful Darling” and “Becoming Chaz”

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Paleo Retiree

Paleo Retiree writes:

For no particular reason, The Question Lady and I spent a couple of recent evenings watching docs that we found on Netflix Instant about trans people. The first one was about a transvestite while the second concerned a female-to-male transsexual.

Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Sex | Tagged candy darling, chaz bono, cher, documentaries, documentary, gender, movies, sex, transgender, transvestite | 27 Comments

Movie Poster Du Jour: “Citizen Kane”

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes:

For the first big re-release, in 1956.

Posted in Commercial art, Movies | Tagged Citizen Kane, Film, Movie Posters, movies, Orson Welles | Leave a comment

Sunday Jazz Selection

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Fenster

Fenster writes:

Paul Bley, Ida Lupino.

Posted in Music, Performers | Tagged Ida Lupino, Paul Bley | Leave a comment

Showtune Saturday: “Whatever Lola Wants”

Posted on August 2, 2014 by Eddie Pensier

Eddie Pensier writes:

Your hot leggy redhead of the day. Gwen Verdon in “Damn Yankees”. Pretty damn sexy for 1958, or anytime, to be honest. Bob Fosse choreographed, of course.

Posted in Movies, Music, Performers | Tagged damn yankees, gwen verdon, showtune saturday, whatever lola wants | 1 Comment

Naked Lady of the Week: Eugenia Diordiychuk

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes:

Our friend Will S. suggested this moody Ukrainian lovely a while back. And a great suggestion she is. She seems to really enjoy posing. I hope so, anyway, as she’s been doing it for 10 years now, under names like Katie Fey and Jenya. A decade of nude modeling . . . that’s pretty impressive. Here’s hoping her looks continue to hold up.