Monday, July 23, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
My latest artistic masterpiece!
It's the cover image for "Bathtime in Bear Creek," an RPG/fiction product that's part of the ROLF! line from NUELOW Games. Assuming everything goes smoothly, it will on sale tomorrow at the NUELOW storefront on the Onebookshelf.com websites.
(Some day, I should to a gallery post devoted to ME!)
(Some day, I should to a gallery post devoted to ME!)
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Picture Perfect Wednesday:
Your Guess is As Good As Mine
Your Guess is As Good As Mine
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
The Groucho Monthly
Starting a new series... hilarious clips featuring the great Grouch Marx. I'm kicking it off with outtakes from the "You Bet Your Life" series. (This was inspired by a post on Boingboing.net.)
The June Collyer Quarterly:
Happy Fourth of July from June!
Happy Fourth of July from June!
With a hat that is undoubtedly a violation of all sorts of fire codes--even in the 1920s--June Collyer joins Milla Jovovich as a recurring and regular face here at Shades of Gray.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Great adaptation of 'The Tell-Tale Heart'
The Tell-Tale Heart (1941)
Starring: Joseph Schildkraut and Roman Bohnen
Director: Jules Dassin
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
A young man (Schildkraut) murders his abusive employer, but is then himself driven insane by his own guilty conscience.
This 1941 short film is a superb adaptation of the famous Poe short story. It is not only faithful to the mechanical elements of the plot, but the director manages to convey the psychological horror aspect of the original story more effectively than most others who have taken a stab at bringing the tale to film. The biggest change is that this adaptation alters the relationship between the characters from the story, but it results in Schildkraut's character being more sympathetic and results in a stronger movie.
Much of the film's success can be credited to the performances of Joseph Schildkraut, as the tormented protagonist of the story, and Roman Bohnen, as the abusive, eventual murder victim. However, an even bigger part of its success can be credited to the sound design. The sound of titular "tell-tale heart" ends up permeating every aspect of the film's final few minutes, even the soundtrack music. It's a great example of how close attention to sound can build suspense and horror as effectively as camera angles and lighting. (And this film benefits from excellent cinematography as well.)
The murder scene is perhaps the film's only real weakness. The killing basically happens off-screen, and, while artfully done, I think the director might be leaving just a little too much to our imagination. I think he was trying to avoid over-used B-movie cliches like shadows on the wall and such, but the murder just didn't seem to have the same intensity as the scenes that led up to it, nor those that followed. It is almost like a lull just past the film's halfway point.
This 1941 version of "The Tell-Tale Heart" is included as a bonus feature on the "Shadow of the Thin Man" DVD along with a vintage cartoon. The combination lets you stage an old-time movie experience, with two shorts before the main feature. (This is the case with most of the "Thin Man" DVDs... the extras on the discs are almost as fun as the main features. They are excellent added value if you pick up the Thin Man boxed set. Which I recommend that you do if you like classic comedies and mysteries.)
Starring: Joseph Schildkraut and Roman Bohnen
Director: Jules Dassin
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
A young man (Schildkraut) murders his abusive employer, but is then himself driven insane by his own guilty conscience.
This 1941 short film is a superb adaptation of the famous Poe short story. It is not only faithful to the mechanical elements of the plot, but the director manages to convey the psychological horror aspect of the original story more effectively than most others who have taken a stab at bringing the tale to film. The biggest change is that this adaptation alters the relationship between the characters from the story, but it results in Schildkraut's character being more sympathetic and results in a stronger movie.
Much of the film's success can be credited to the performances of Joseph Schildkraut, as the tormented protagonist of the story, and Roman Bohnen, as the abusive, eventual murder victim. However, an even bigger part of its success can be credited to the sound design. The sound of titular "tell-tale heart" ends up permeating every aspect of the film's final few minutes, even the soundtrack music. It's a great example of how close attention to sound can build suspense and horror as effectively as camera angles and lighting. (And this film benefits from excellent cinematography as well.)
The murder scene is perhaps the film's only real weakness. The killing basically happens off-screen, and, while artfully done, I think the director might be leaving just a little too much to our imagination. I think he was trying to avoid over-used B-movie cliches like shadows on the wall and such, but the murder just didn't seem to have the same intensity as the scenes that led up to it, nor those that followed. It is almost like a lull just past the film's halfway point.
This 1941 version of "The Tell-Tale Heart" is included as a bonus feature on the "Shadow of the Thin Man" DVD along with a vintage cartoon. The combination lets you stage an old-time movie experience, with two shorts before the main feature. (This is the case with most of the "Thin Man" DVDs... the extras on the discs are almost as fun as the main features. They are excellent added value if you pick up the Thin Man boxed set. Which I recommend that you do if you like classic comedies and mysteries.)
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Remembering when these characters were in comic books worth reading....
 |
| Ghost Rider racing Batgirl, by Bud Budiansky |
 |
| Ghost Rider, by Dave Simon |
 |
| The Batman Family, by Alan Davis |
 |
| Dr. Doom & Catwoman: Caught in the Act, by John Byrne |
 |
| Batgirl & Spider-Woman, by John Byrne |
 |
| The Batman Family, by John Byrne |
Friday, June 22, 2012
Hitchcock silent movie is light and bubbly,
like name-sake
Champagne (1928)
Starring: Betty Balfour, Gordon Harker, Jean Bradin, and Ferdinand von Alten
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
A headstrong, spoiled heiress (Balfour) violates the wishes of her Wall Street-tycoon father (Harker) and runs off to Paris to be with the man she wishes to marry (Bradin). When her father later tracks her down, he brings the bad news that the market crash had cost them both their fortunes. When her paramour appears to turn his back on her once she is poor, the girl decides that she will earn money to support both her and her father. But will her dangerous combination of over-exuberance and naivete lead her to disgrace--or possibly worse at the hands of a vaguely sinister mustachioed man who keeps entering her life (Von Alten)?
"Champagne" is a fun little comedy with a central character that is either too unfamiliar with how miserable life can get, or too full of energy, to let down-turns deter her from being happy and trying to make a go at whatever she sets her mind to. Watching Betty Balfour's Poor Little Rich Girl earnestly bumbling her way through an attempt at making a living is both funny and charming, and this character makes an otherwise fairly uneventful story and film lots of fun to watch.
Another very entertaining aspect of the film are simply the performances of some of the actors. Ferdinand von Alten as the mysterious stranger who may or may not be a danger to our heroine is particularly fascinating, because while he does all the scowling and gesturing of your standard melodramatic silent movie villain, there's something about the way he carries himself and some of his actions that makes the viewer wonder exactly what he is about as the film unfolds. (And this "who is that guy, and what is he after?" is set up very nicely with a bit of business near the beginning where both he and the girl receive telegrams while on-board a trans-Atlantic liner. He is visibly annoyed by whatever his telegram says, but we don't learn what the message was until much later. But we can see that his interest in the girl seemed to increase after they both got their telegrams. It's a nice mystery that remains in play until nearly the very end of the film.)
It is easy to observe that Alfred Hitchcock went on to make many movies far better than this one, but not many comedies as fun as this. Fans of Hitchcock should check it out--especially if you see it in some of those low-cost DVD budget packs along with some of his other early films--as contains a number of interesting visual flourishes. I hope the version you end up watching has a better music track than the one I viewed... my copy has randomly selected classical marches and waltzes that are very inappropriate and mood-destroying on more than one occasion. However, once I muted the TV and put on Mike Oldfield's "Ommadawn" and "Five Miles Out," I had a soundtrack that worked much better.
Another reason to watch the film, particularly for those of you who may be politically minded and prone to buy into some of the oh-so-clever and edgy caricatures that left-leaning politicians and pundits are drawing of certain American politicians and business people, is for a look into exactly how old and tired that caricature is. Hitchcock uses the Shifty, Manipulative Wall Street Tycoon stereotype in this nearly 85 year old film... and it had been around for a few decades even then. And if you still don't recognize how lame it is to be trotting out that old horse at this late date, maybe you can at least learn from a guy who used it in a creative and intelligent fashion and one-up the cleverness of the not-so-terribly-clever who keep reposting the same captioned photos to Facebook over and over with something that's truly witty. (Seriously. I wouldn't mind the hoary old class-warfare tropes of the 1920s and 1930s if someone would be clever about it. Please... someone save my Facebook account from drowning in banal and rehashed cliches.)
Starring: Betty Balfour, Gordon Harker, Jean Bradin, and Ferdinand von Alten
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
A headstrong, spoiled heiress (Balfour) violates the wishes of her Wall Street-tycoon father (Harker) and runs off to Paris to be with the man she wishes to marry (Bradin). When her father later tracks her down, he brings the bad news that the market crash had cost them both their fortunes. When her paramour appears to turn his back on her once she is poor, the girl decides that she will earn money to support both her and her father. But will her dangerous combination of over-exuberance and naivete lead her to disgrace--or possibly worse at the hands of a vaguely sinister mustachioed man who keeps entering her life (Von Alten)?
"Champagne" is a fun little comedy with a central character that is either too unfamiliar with how miserable life can get, or too full of energy, to let down-turns deter her from being happy and trying to make a go at whatever she sets her mind to. Watching Betty Balfour's Poor Little Rich Girl earnestly bumbling her way through an attempt at making a living is both funny and charming, and this character makes an otherwise fairly uneventful story and film lots of fun to watch.
Another very entertaining aspect of the film are simply the performances of some of the actors. Ferdinand von Alten as the mysterious stranger who may or may not be a danger to our heroine is particularly fascinating, because while he does all the scowling and gesturing of your standard melodramatic silent movie villain, there's something about the way he carries himself and some of his actions that makes the viewer wonder exactly what he is about as the film unfolds. (And this "who is that guy, and what is he after?" is set up very nicely with a bit of business near the beginning where both he and the girl receive telegrams while on-board a trans-Atlantic liner. He is visibly annoyed by whatever his telegram says, but we don't learn what the message was until much later. But we can see that his interest in the girl seemed to increase after they both got their telegrams. It's a nice mystery that remains in play until nearly the very end of the film.)
It is easy to observe that Alfred Hitchcock went on to make many movies far better than this one, but not many comedies as fun as this. Fans of Hitchcock should check it out--especially if you see it in some of those low-cost DVD budget packs along with some of his other early films--as contains a number of interesting visual flourishes. I hope the version you end up watching has a better music track than the one I viewed... my copy has randomly selected classical marches and waltzes that are very inappropriate and mood-destroying on more than one occasion. However, once I muted the TV and put on Mike Oldfield's "Ommadawn" and "Five Miles Out," I had a soundtrack that worked much better.
Another reason to watch the film, particularly for those of you who may be politically minded and prone to buy into some of the oh-so-clever and edgy caricatures that left-leaning politicians and pundits are drawing of certain American politicians and business people, is for a look into exactly how old and tired that caricature is. Hitchcock uses the Shifty, Manipulative Wall Street Tycoon stereotype in this nearly 85 year old film... and it had been around for a few decades even then. And if you still don't recognize how lame it is to be trotting out that old horse at this late date, maybe you can at least learn from a guy who used it in a creative and intelligent fashion and one-up the cleverness of the not-so-terribly-clever who keep reposting the same captioned photos to Facebook over and over with something that's truly witty. (Seriously. I wouldn't mind the hoary old class-warfare tropes of the 1920s and 1930s if someone would be clever about it. Please... someone save my Facebook account from drowning in banal and rehashed cliches.)
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
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