When I realized that both Method Acting and the Shadows of Russia were being explored on Monday and Wednesday nights respectively for the next few weeks on TCM, all I could think was:

“Why, oh, why, isn’t character actor Vladimir Sokoloff around to sit down with Robert Osborne for a chin wag on these two fascinating topics?”

Such is our fate. As latter day observers of both cultural phenomena, we may ponder the origins of The Method as well as the sometimes wondrous (and just plain odd) movies that emerged from American perceptions of Russian history in the 20th century.

For Sokoloff, these topics were part of his life. He had trained at the Moscow Art Theater as a youth, seen the Russian Revolution sweep the world he’d grown up in aside,  become a prominent actor in German silents during the Weimar years, moved on to a career in France when the Nazis came to power, and finally landed on his agile feet in America.

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It’s time to stagger into the new year with eyes thrust forward. No more list-making and list-arguing and dwelling on the decade that was. Let us break free from our immediate history and nostalgia’s uncomfortably warm grip to embrace the rambunctious year to come. We’re going to squeeze out its tender juices one month at a time, with a touch too much enthusiasm that will emit a pungent, ripe scent of dreams yet to be dashed. Yes, these are the images I will rush to imbibe in the first quarter (and a bit more) of 2010:

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Elvis Presley would have been 75 years old on this Friday, January 8. During his lifetime, Elvis conquered many arenas of entertainment, from the recording industry to television to the movies; after his death, he became an icon of both the best and worst of 20th-century pop culture, from rock ‘n’ roll innovator to victim of show-biz excess.  Of the thousands of photos and clips of Elvis as the notorious 1950s rock ‘n’ roller, the clean-cut leading man, or the Vegas superstar, none show him past the age of 42—the age at which he died in 1977. As with Monroe, Garland, or Dean, it is downright eerie to contemplate Presley as a senior citizen; I prefer to remember all of these icons in their prime.

LOGO FOR KATZMAN'S VICTORY PICTURES

To celebrate Elvis’s 75th birthday, TCM has programmed an entire day of Presley movies, which encompass all phases of his career. Jailhouse Rock represents the notorious Elvis the Pelvis era, while Elvis on Tour and Elvis: That’s the Way It Is chronicles the King during the Vegas years. The rest of the films are those much-derided vehicles from the 1960s in which Presley most often played a handsome race-car driver, airplane pilot, or boat captain passing through some vacation spot or exotic locale. Elvis’s flicks have gotten a bum rap over the years, but I appreciate them as light and breezy representations of 1960s fads, crazes, and trends. For example, the colorful location work in Blue Hawaii, the prototypical Presley vehicle, shows off the beauty of America’s newly adopted 50th state, while Girl Happy celebrates the 1960s teen ritual of vacationing in Florida over Easter break.

Still, there is no denying that the Presley filmography includes several misfires and clunkers, and I couldn’t help but notice that two of his most scorned musicals, Harum Scarum and Kissin’ Cousins, are scheduled for the less-than-prime-time slots of 6:15am and 7:45am on January 8. These two movies share in common the same producer—Sam Katzman, who was dubbed the King of the Quickies because of the extremely short production schedules he preferred.  Actually, “King of the Quickies” was only one of many nicknames given to Katzman. He was also known as the Schlockmeister (because of the low-budget, low-brow nature of his movies), Jungle Sam (because he produced the Jungle Jim series as well as titles like Jungle Moon Men), and the Bossman (because no matter who directed or starred in his films, Katzman was definitely in charge financially and creatively).  Despite his reputation for producing schlock, I like and appreciate many of Katzman’s quickies for reasons only movie lovers can understand.

KATZMAN SURROUNDED BY HIS STARS

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The screen-grab above doesn’t do the shot justice. Too dark. But, still, you can (barely) see the shine on Harold’s shoes as he walks down the stairs (on film it’s all much clearer). The way Pablo Ferro arranges the title sequence below the shoes gives you a visual sense of the feet dangling above the words; which is perfect since that is exactly what the audience is walking into for this opening scene. Ferro’s no slouch, having done title sequences for the likes of Kubrick (on Dr. Strangelove and A Clockwork Orange)  and many others (ie: Beetle Juice, L.A. Confidential, Men in Black, Good Will Hunting, etc., etc., and still quite busy, with the pending Howl to add to the resume). I have often thought that you can tell within seconds when a film is going to be good or bad based on the very first impression, and Harold and Maude is one of those films that confirms said notion. It has an economy of style that engages you immediately and then zips by at a quick clip while somehow giving the  main characters exactly the right amount of time to breathe. Everyone else involved in the production put in work that is also in top form; and I can’t even begin to deduce how many Cat Stevens fans were made thanks to his soundtrack.  READ MORE

Roberto Rossellini cinephiles can rejoice in the good news that his influential war trilogy – ROME OPEN CITY [1945], PAISAN [1946] and 1948’s GERMANY YEAR ZERO (the films that established him as “the Father of Italian Neorealism) – are due for release this month as a DVD box set from The Criterion Collection. Available for years in inferior public domain prints and poor video transfers, these films will finally receive the restored, high-definition digital transfers they deserve. Linked thematically to this trilogy, however, is a latter Rossellini film, ERA NOTTE A ROMA [1960, aka ESCAPE BY NIGHT], which, unfortunately, has never enjoyed the reputation or respect of this seminal trilogy. This past week I had the opportunity to revisit it again (I first saw a 16mm print of it from Films Inc.) and I am still baffled by the movie’s low profile since its original release and its 2008 re-release on DVD from Lionsgate as part of the Roberto Rossellini 2-Disc Collector’s Edition (which also includes DOV’E LA LIBERTA…? (1954, aka WHERE IS FREEDOM?).       READ MORE

Look deep into the heart of a true cinephile and you’ll find not only a long list of movies he or she is dying to see and hasn’t but another equally long, if not longer, list of movies he or she is dying to see that were never made.  READ MORE