The Stalking Moon
  • The Stalking Moon
  • Cracked Leather Armchair
  • The Small Screen
  • About Me
    • Cool things About Japan
    • Travel Recollections
    • Contact me

Taking a (Slight) Blog Break

2/27/2014

 

Apologies for the dearth of posts lately, folks. My little boy Kenji had open heart surgery recently (he came through it like a champion and is doing well), and with all the 10-12 hour days spent at the hospital, keeping him company as he recovers - well, let's just say I've been too tuckered out to muster up much energy to write. He's still got a few more weeks to go before the doctors will let him go home, so I can't promise anything of note until mid-March, when I will at least be contributing a piece for the Sleuthathon, being hosted by Fritzi Kramer at Movies Silently. The event should provide lots of diverting reading, with a bunch of contributors covering a veritable smorgasbord of amateur sleuths, private eyes, crusading reporters and the like. I'll be talking about three super fun, quick moving gems from MGM, featuring the husband-and-wife bookseller-turned-detective duo Joel and Garda Sloane: Fast Company, Fast and Loose, and Fast and Furious (1938-1939). And who knows, something else might pop up before then. So please check back in a bit, and thanks again for stopping by!
Picture

Circus World (1964)

2/6/2014

 
Picture

I've been wracking my brain, but I can't ever remember going to an actual, honest-to-God circus. I vaguely recall a circus coming to the fairgrounds at my hometown, sometime back in my grade school days in the 1970s, with flyers and perhaps even tickets being passed out to students. For whatever reason, I never pestered my parents to take me, and so never got a chance to see a real live circus, which in a way, makes me just a teensy bit sad. The traditional circus, with its big tent, popcorn and peanuts, sawdust rings, elephants, barely-tamed big cats, clowns and high-wire acts and prancing ponies, seems a dying art now. (There is still the Cirque de Soliel, of course, but as physically amazing as those performers are, it just ain't the same thing.) Luckily there are movies out there like Circus World to remind us of the heyday of this venerable form of entertainment, when kids and their parents packed the stands when the circus came to town. Circus World is far from the best movie John Wayne ever made, but despite its many flaws, it does deliver some excellent big-top thrills.

Like El Cid, The Fall of the Roman Empire and 55 Days at Peking, Circus World is another of those massive roadshow epics produced by Samuel Bronston, financed by Hollywood studios but filmed primarily in Europe. Circus World is arguably the least of the above movies in quality, but ironically is the one with by far the best-preserved film elements (King of Kings, another earlier Bronston release, also looks gorgeous in hi-def.) Circus World is out on a Region B Blu-Ray in Europe and looks amazing sharp and colorful, as does the HD presentation frequently shown on NHK in Japan.


Picture
Long a big John Wayne fan, I remember catching this one on VHS many years ago, where its 2:20 : 1 aspect ratio  was hacked and slashed almost beyond recognition. (Circus World was filmed in an ultra widescreen process called "Super Technirama 70" and then advertized and shown at numerous Cinerama engagements, though it wasn't actually filmed with Cinerama cameras). I don't remember thinking much of the movie back then, but seeing it now, in its proper widescreen glory, all spic and span and looking its best, helps bring a little of the luster back. I don't think it numbers among Wayne's worst films, as some commenters on IMDB do, rating it alongside Jet Pilot and The Conqueror - unduly harsh, in my opinion. It does fall far short of its potential, however, and is overlong, often slow, with perfunctory characterization and rather flat melodrama bogging down the second half. But as a physical production it's still pretty impressive, and the restored transfer finally gives audiences the chance to really see the large scale of everything, including shots incorporating all three rings of the circus, the enormous circus tent like a cavern above the action, often filmed in long shot to give the audience a sense of depth and distance.

Like the previous year's Wayne film, Hatari!, there isn't much of a plot to speak of here, just a thin clothesline upon which to hang various circus acts and romantic shenanigans. Unlike Hatari!, though, Circus World is distinctly lacking in the action department, as well as missing the core, lovable group of professionals for Wayne to bounce off of, that helps make the former film such entertaining company. Wayne has proven himself time and again to be a top-notch reactor, but he's not given a lot to work with here. He's still the best thing about the picture, along with the nifty circus acts interspersed throughout.


PictureThe luminous Claudia Cardinale
Wayne stars as Matt Masters, head of a successful circus in America (the time period is unstated, but going by the fashions, likely sometime in the early 1900s). He decides to take his troupe on a tour of Europe, against the better judgment of his right-hand man, Cap Carlson (Lloyd Nolan, who stepped in when David Niven backed out over rewrites of the script reduced the size of the role). Cap remembers all too well the disaster that befell Matt's company the last time they went to Europe, some 14 years earlier, when one member of the high-wire act, the Alfredo Brothers, fell to his death. Lili (Rita Hayworth), the wife of the dead man, ran off in despair, leaving her young daughter, Toni, alone. Since then, Matt's raised Toni as his own, and now she's grown up into the gorgeous, va-va-voom form of Claudia Cardinale. Matt, who was in love with Lili, thinks it's about time to head back to Europe to try to track her down, for both Toni's sake and his own.


Read More

Book Review: Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration

2/3/2014

 
Picture
In case you might have missed it, over on my Books page I recently took a look at Scott Tracy Griffin's terrific book all about Edgar Rice Burroughs' world famous creation, Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration - The Stories, The Movies, The Art. Anyone interested in the Ape Man's exploits in novels, comics, movies, television, radio, Edgar Rice Burroughs himself, fantastic art or just plain old-school jungle adventure should definitely seek this one out. For more, please swing on over to the review by clicking here or on the Cracked Leather Armchair header on the masthead above.

    Picture

    Videophilia!

    Opinionated ramblings about new and old  movies (mostly old, as that's the way I like 'em!)

    Picture

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Blogs of Note

    Stuart Galbraith IV's World Cinema Paradise

    Movie Morlocks (TCM's Classic Movie Blog)

    50 Westerns from the 50s

    Riding the High Country

    Sweet Freedom

    Tipping My Fedora

    Thrilling Days of Yesteryear

    Silver Screenings


    Laura's Miscellaneous Musings

    Classic TV and Film Cafe

    Just a Cineast

    She Blogged By Night


    Chess, Comics, Crosswords, Books, Music, Cinema

    Out of the Past -
    A Classic Film Blog


    Pretty Sinister Books

    They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To

    In So Many Words...

    Greenbriar Picture Shows

    Flix Chatter

    My Love of Old Hollywood

    Tales of the Easily Distracted

    Another Old Movie Blog

    Lasso the Movies

    Kevin's Movie Corner

    Films From Beyond the Time Barrier

    Carole & Co.

    Rupert Pupkin Speaks

    Caftan Woman

    Vienna's Classic Hollywood

    The Lady Eve's Reel Life

    ClassicBecky's Brain Food

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Hey! 
    Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed below, to be informed of new postings!

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    10 Best
    1960s Sci-Fi
    1970s Sci-Fi
    20 Million Miles To Earth
    50 Years Of James Bond
    70s Crime Films
    7 Faces Of Dr. Lao
    Abbott And Costello
    Abbott & Costello
    A Boy And His Dog
    Air Force
    Alan Ladd
    Alien
    A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)
    Attack Of The Crab Monsters
    Bad Guys
    Basil Rathbone
    Beneath The 12-Mile Reef
    Bernard Herrmann
    Bite The Bullet
    Black Belt Jones
    Blade 2
    Blogathons
    Boris Karloff
    Brides Of Dracula
    British Empire In Film Blogathon
    Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter
    Carole Lombard
    Caroline Munro
    Cary Grant
    Cecil B. DeMille
    Charade
    Charles Bronson
    Charles Coburn
    Charlton Heston
    Christopher Lee
    Circus World
    Claudette Colbert
    Clint Eastwood
    Clint Walker
    Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
    Colossus: The Forbin Project
    Dark Of The Sun
    Dark Shadows
    Deadlier Than The Male
    Desk Set
    Dirty Harry
    Disaster Movies
    Dog Soldiers
    Donovan's Reef
    Dorothy Malone
    Douglas Sirk
    Dr. No
    Elmore Leonard
    Ernest Borgnine
    Fantastic Voyage
    Fast And Furious
    Fast And Loose
    Fast Company
    Four Frightened People
    From Russia With Love
    Garden Of Evil
    Gargoyles
    Gary Cooper
    George-montgomery
    Giant Of Marathon
    Gladiator
    Gordon Scott
    Gregory Peck
    Halloween
    Hammer Horror
    Hardboiled93338e779d
    Hard Times
    Has Anybody Seen My Gal
    Haywire
    Heat
    Henry Fonda
    Hold That Ghost
    Hombre
    Horror
    Horror Express
    Hot Potato
    House Of Wax
    Howard Hawks
    How The West Was Won
    I Love A Mystery
    Il Postino
    Isle Of The Dead
    It! The Terror From Beyond Space
    I Walked With A Zombie
    James Bond
    James Coburn
    James Stewart
    Jaws
    Jim Brown
    Jim Kelly
    John Carpenter
    John Cassavetes
    John Ford
    John Garfield
    John Wayne
    Katherine Hepburn
    Key Largo
    Kirk Douglas
    Lee Marvin
    Legend Of The Lost
    Lives Of A Bengal Lancer
    Love Before Breakfast
    Marilyn Monroe
    Memorable Movie Dads
    Mickey Spillane
    Mirage
    Monster On The Campus
    Musicals
    My Man Godfrey
    Mysterious Island
    My Top 25 Films
    Night Of The Grizzly
    Once Upon A Time In The West
    Only The Valiant
    Open Range
    Pandorum
    Paranoiac
    Paul Newman
    Peter Cushing
    Phase IV
    Phenomena
    Poltergeist
    Rampage
    Randolph Scott
    Raquel Welch
    Raw Meat
    Ray Harryhausen
    Ride Lonesome
    River Of No Return
    Robert Aldrich
    Robert Mitchum
    Robert Wagner
    Rock Hudson
    Rod Taylor
    Roy Scheider
    Sean Connery
    Shotgun
    Silent Running
    Sleepy Hollow
    Sophia Loren
    Soylent Green
    Spencer Tracy
    Starman
    Sterling Hayden
    Steve Mcqueen
    Steve Reeves
    Stewart Granger
    Tarzan The Magnificent
    The Abominable Dr. Phibes
    The Andromeda Strain
    The Awakening
    The Badlanders
    The Big Country
    The Birds
    The Black Scorpion
    The Black Swan
    The Blob
    The Body Snatcher
    The Cat And The Canary
    The Crawling Eye
    The Creature From The Black Lagoon
    The Dark Knight Rises
    The Devil Rides Out
    The Expendables 2
    The Face Of Fu Manchu
    The Falcon
    The Fearless Vampire Killers
    The Fog
    The Getaway
    The Ghost Breakers
    The Girl Hunters
    The Gorgon
    The Great Escape
    The Hole
    The Invisible Man
    The Last Of The Mohicans
    The Last Sunset
    The Late Show
    The Laughing Policeman
    The Leopard Man
    The Lone Gun
    The Long Goodbye
    The Man With The Golden Gun
    The Mark Of Zorro
    The Matrix
    The Mechanic
    The Monster That Challenged The World
    The Night Strangler
    The Omega Man
    The Outfit
    The Princess Comes Across
    The Shining
    The Shootist
    The Thing
    The Thing From Another World
    The Tingler
    The Uninvited
    The Wild Bunch
    The Wild North
    Thomas Mitchell
    Thunder Bay
    Tom Conway
    Tony Randall
    Trollhunter
    Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil
    Two-Minute Warning
    Tyrone Power
    Underrated Detective/Mystery Movies
    Val Lewton
    Vincent Price
    Walter Matthau
    Went The Day Well?
    Westerns
    Westworld
    William Powell
    William Wyler
    Ww2
    Yvonne De Carlo

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • The Stalking Moon
  • Cracked Leather Armchair
  • The Small Screen
  • About Me
    • Cool things About Japan
    • Travel Recollections
    • Contact me