Happy Fourth of July!

We hope American is having as great an Independence Day as we're having here at Shades of Gray! There might not be as many photos in this post as there have been in some previous years, but there's more to see in each one!

Here's Susan Hayward and Virginia Lee, making sure everyone knows what day it is!

And we have Marceline Day, Anita Page, and Gwen Lee re-creating a famous painting celebrating the War for Independence in their own unique way!

Meanwhile, David Bowie may be standing alone, but he's an Englishman lifting his glass to Old Glory!

But there's perhaps nothing as grand as Joan Marsh transforming herself into a living avatar of the Fourth of July--Sparky Boom-Boom!

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Happy Thanksgiving, Americans!

As we do every year on this Thanksgiving Thursday here at Shades of Gray, we're celebrating with breasts and legs... and Indians and Pilgrims and Turkey Dinners!

And what are we thankful for? We're thankful for everyone who's visited this blog over the past ten years... and we're extra thankful for those of you who keep coming back!

In celebration of Speak Like a Pirate Day

Yarr, me maties... here be pittures o' lady pirates and even some pirate booty shorts!

Maureen O'Hara

Kay English

Dorothy Sebastian

Wynn Gibson

Gwen Lee

Claudia Dell

Frances Drake (the most suitable lady pirate of all)

For more Talk Like a Pirate Day inspiration and goodies, be sure to check out this treasure chest full of novellas by Robert E. Howard, comics, roleplaying game scenarios, and some fiction vignettes from the host of Shades of Gray, Steve Miller! Click here for more!

Left behind by time: 'Julius Sizzer'

Julius Sizzer (1931)
Starring: Benny Rubin, Gwen Lee, Maurice Black, Matthew Betz, and Lena Malena
Director: Edward Ludwig
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Immigrant twin bothers (Rubin, in a dual role)--one innocent and naive, the other a notorious gangster-- are targeted for assassination by a rival gang.

So this is what films like "Hot Shots" and "The Naked Gun" will look like to viewers in 2068 when the contemporary pop cultural references the jokes are based around have all but faded from collective memory.

"Julius Sizzer" is a parody of gangster movies that derives its humor from puns, sight gags, recent immigrants to the United States mangling English and Yiddish, a smattering of literary and Shakespeare references, and an assumption that the viewer is familiar with "Little Caesar", which was a popular novel and hit movie from the day. For those who aren't familiar with the main target of spoofing here, this short film comes across as a mildly amusing bit of absurdist humor that uses old-time gangsters as a framework.

Whether you're familiar with "Little Caesar" or not, "Julius Sizzer" is fast-paced enough, and has enough gags that it'll keep you entertained throughout its 18-minute run-time. The title character and his weapon of choice are particularly amusing both times they come into play. Every actor gives a fine performance--and you can feel that Rubin and Lee are having fun as they butcher the English language in their scenes together.

My only major complaint with the film is that every character in the story gets a resolution but the treacherous gun moll, Cleo (played by Gwen Lee). After setting the films climax in motion, she just drops out of the story. Additionally, the scene where the innocent Sizzer brother is rousted by police detectives hoping to catch the wicked Sizzer brother goes on for just a little too long... but it's the only one that commits this error, so it's just a minor issue over all.

If you like the classic Abrahams-Zucker films referenced above, I think you'll enjoy "Julius Sizzer." When rating this film, I wavered between a Six and Seven rating. I ultimately settled on the lowest Seven, because, although flawed and out of its time, I found the film very entertaining.