The worthy Spider reminded me of this classic. I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't actually seen it yet. I plan to rectify that as soon as the little people who keep pounding on my door either get tired or starve to death and leave me in peace.
Someday I may blog about my single experience with Satan's lawn clippings. It involved three other guys, a badly abused Fiat and a snowy gravel road. Oh, and a lot of teenage stupidity. I can't believe we survived.
Showing posts with label Friday Film Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Friday Film Day. Show all posts
Friday, April 03, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Friday Film Day: Know for Sure
The day before Valentine's and Friday the Thirteenth. An irresistible opportunity to get in touch with my inner cynic. After all, the initials "VD" stand for more than just a holiday.
This little atrocity was originally a WWII propaganda film. It features a pretty well-known cast of character actors, all uncredited, directed by Lewis Milestone and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. Of particular note is the reliably excellent Ward Bond, who would again prove himself willing to humiliate himself on celluloid for the war effort. Greater love hath no actor...
The version you're about to see is the one that was edited for use in schools, with all the icky graphic stuff cut out. I remember seeing similar films along about the seventh grade, punctuated with some very descriptive side material from my teacher's military days. Those were the classes where they took all the girls off into another room, so he didn't soft-pedal anything for his all-male audience. You never saw a bunch of 12-year-old boys cross their legs and cringe so hard.
So remember, boys and girls... when the romance begins to blossom this Valentine's Day, don't just hope for the best... know for sure!
This little atrocity was originally a WWII propaganda film. It features a pretty well-known cast of character actors, all uncredited, directed by Lewis Milestone and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. Of particular note is the reliably excellent Ward Bond, who would again prove himself willing to humiliate himself on celluloid for the war effort. Greater love hath no actor...
The version you're about to see is the one that was edited for use in schools, with all the icky graphic stuff cut out. I remember seeing similar films along about the seventh grade, punctuated with some very descriptive side material from my teacher's military days. Those were the classes where they took all the girls off into another room, so he didn't soft-pedal anything for his all-male audience. You never saw a bunch of 12-year-old boys cross their legs and cringe so hard.
So remember, boys and girls... when the romance begins to blossom this Valentine's Day, don't just hope for the best... know for sure!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Friday film day: The Mighty Columbia River
Except for a long, miserable five years in Seattle and a couple of years in Idaho when I was very little, I've never in my life lived more than a half hour from the Columbia River. That's my river.
This little educational film from Coronet was made at about the time my grandfather was working on the McNary Dam - his first job out of college. I understand (I haven't seen it yet) that there's some good footage of Celilo Falls. I'm not old enough to remember when the falls were there, but my mom does. Strange to think the river looked so different just a decade before I was born.
The first time my Lovely and Brilliant Wife came north to visit, she and the kids flew into Portland and we drove up to Moses Lake. As we wended our way through the Gorge, she commented that that certainly was a long lake alongside us. When I told her it was a river, she flat didn't believe me. No river could be that big.
Ricki, spit out that gum this minute! Maggie, no giggling. Ken, stop dipping the girls' pigtails in the inkwell. Everybody quiet? Lights out and here we go!
This little educational film from Coronet was made at about the time my grandfather was working on the McNary Dam - his first job out of college. I understand (I haven't seen it yet) that there's some good footage of Celilo Falls. I'm not old enough to remember when the falls were there, but my mom does. Strange to think the river looked so different just a decade before I was born.
The first time my Lovely and Brilliant Wife came north to visit, she and the kids flew into Portland and we drove up to Moses Lake. As we wended our way through the Gorge, she commented that that certainly was a long lake alongside us. When I told her it was a river, she flat didn't believe me. No river could be that big.
Ricki, spit out that gum this minute! Maggie, no giggling. Ken, stop dipping the girls' pigtails in the inkwell. Everybody quiet? Lights out and here we go!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Friday film day
pdated Update: The autoplay problem is fixed, using a different videoplayer from the Archive.
Update: My Lovely and Brilliant Wife saw this and pointed out certain... shall we say, relevancies to political events. Honest, I just grabbed it as an example of the genre. Any resemblance to current events is mostly coincidental.
Those of us over a certain age (I never thought I'd euphemize myself that way!) will remember the educational grade-school films that we usually watched on Fridays when we were too antsy for the teacher to make us do anything more serious.
The Internet Archive, where I get the full-length movies from, also has a couple of collections of those old educational films from the 40s on up into the 80s. Countless of us learned about science, history and venereal disease through these films.
These weren't videotapes, boys and girls. There was no such thing then. This was actual celluloid film, 16 millimeter, threaded* through an actual projector and shown on a white reflective screen that pulled down like a window shade behind the map of the United States and in front of the chalkboard. You can ask your parents what a chalkboard was.
The stuff we watched was often 20 years old or more (this one's from 1946, I believe), but it didn't matter, because it was a film! It was almost like watching a movie right there in school! If we happened to learn something from it, well, what the heck? In a time with three TV networks and single-screen movie theaters (and VCRs years down the road), this was a treat.
Can't you just hear the projector clicking in the back of the room, and smell the fragrances wafting down the hall from the cafeteria?
(*Yes, I was the kid who knew how to thread the projector. Surprised?)
Update: My Lovely and Brilliant Wife saw this and pointed out certain... shall we say, relevancies to political events. Honest, I just grabbed it as an example of the genre. Any resemblance to current events is mostly coincidental.
Those of us over a certain age (I never thought I'd euphemize myself that way!) will remember the educational grade-school films that we usually watched on Fridays when we were too antsy for the teacher to make us do anything more serious.
The Internet Archive, where I get the full-length movies from, also has a couple of collections of those old educational films from the 40s on up into the 80s. Countless of us learned about science, history and venereal disease through these films.
These weren't videotapes, boys and girls. There was no such thing then. This was actual celluloid film, 16 millimeter, threaded* through an actual projector and shown on a white reflective screen that pulled down like a window shade behind the map of the United States and in front of the chalkboard. You can ask your parents what a chalkboard was.
The stuff we watched was often 20 years old or more (this one's from 1946, I believe), but it didn't matter, because it was a film! It was almost like watching a movie right there in school! If we happened to learn something from it, well, what the heck? In a time with three TV networks and single-screen movie theaters (and VCRs years down the road), this was a treat.
Can't you just hear the projector clicking in the back of the room, and smell the fragrances wafting down the hall from the cafeteria?
(*Yes, I was the kid who knew how to thread the projector. Surprised?)
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