So Cal Arts & Entertainment
Eddie Muller’s “Dark City”
Eddie Muller has made TCM’s Noir Alley must-see TV #1. Figured I could skip the flick last weekend since I’d already seen it, and just watch his intro/outro. Right? That strategy might work elsewhere, but the host with the most makes the introduction so damn...
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“Closely Related Keys” in Long Beach, Playwrights Festival in Brea
You can never be quite sure what you’re going to get when you go see a play by Wendy Graf, but you can be sure it’s going to be something of substance. Hands and legs inside the car and buckle your seatbelt, it’s going to take you for quite a ride—if the four plays of...
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Lombard on Blu-ray, Siodmak-Wilder gem, lost Horton shorts
So many vintage films on home video, so little time. An obscure little film like “The Man In Search of His Murderer” (available from Kino on Blu-ray) could easily get lost in the shuffle. And that would be a real pity. For this offbeat black comedy with overtones of...
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Silent star Billy Haines bio drama in Beverly Hills, Lynn Nottage’s “Sweat” in Anaheim
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which boasted “more stars than there are in heaven” in the so-called golden age of Hollywood, went to extraordinary lengths to conceal the private lives of its stars from the public in the 1920s and ‘30s. They would “fix” speeding tickets and...
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Lois Weber’s “Sensation Seekers,” Valentino’s “Little Devil”
Kino Lorber has gone into overdrive in recent months, pumping out more vintage films on Blu-ray than I can cast an eyeball on. Happily they haven’t ignored lovers of silent film, with a noteworthy Lois Weber twofer among their recent releases. Weber, perhaps the...
read moreFrom Europe to the US: Baltics’ “In the Crosswind,” Hungary’s “Preparations…”
Films from the Baltics get short shrift among foreign language films released in the U.S., so it’s especially satisfying to trumpet the arrival of an extraordinary drama about the Soviet Holocaust (premiering on Film Movement Plus June 11), timed to commemorate the...
read more“The Producers,” silent “Waxworks” and Ruan Lingyu biopic in 4K
The last time I saw “The Producers”(1968), the original version of Mel Brooks’ first and funniest feature film, the writer-director himself prefaced it with a hilarious introduction at the first TCM Classic Film Festival but the film itself did not look good. Happily,...
read moreVintage Bob Hope and lost silent “Chicago” on Blu-ray
From vaudeville and radio to movies, television, and far flung outposts across the globe, Bob Hope had one of the longest and most successful careers in show biz. His reputation has faded in the generation since his death at the age of 100 in 2003—even his namesake...
read moreIrish Rep’s Winter Festival, new plays in Orange County
If you haven’t checked out Irish Rep Online’s Theatre @ Home Winter Festival, you’re missing out; happily, it’s been extended through March 7. This series of original digital productions created by Irish Repertory Theatre during the shutdown includes some of the best...
read more“Laurel OR Hardy” on Blu-ray, Hershey Felder in “Before Fiddler”
Laurel and Hardy fans haven’t fared too badly during the pandemic. We’ve certainly had plenty to watch. First “The Definitive Restorations”—worth the price of admission for the bonus materials alone—and now “Laurel OR Hardy” (available on Blu-ray from Flicker Alley)....
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