I Just Watched...

[Lorna]

(Gonna be singing HANDS ON YOUR HIPS etc. the rest of the day.)

[Allhallowsday]

My favorite is when HARVEY KORMAN buys a movie ticket... "Student?" "...Are you kidding??" "Pain in the..."

[HoldenIsHere]

i caught BLACK ANGEL (1946) this morning- a 1946 Universal noir

a HIDEOUSLY TACKY PIECE OF JEWELRY plays a MAJOR PART IN THE PLOT. Seriously, JOAN RIVERS wouldn't hawk this thing on QVC back in the day if you were holding a gun to MELISSA'S HEAD just off-camera.

Gosh, I've missed you, LHF!

[Lorna]

i caught BLACK ANGEL (1946) this morning- a 1946 Universal noir

a HIDEOUSLY TACKY PIECE OF JEWELRY plays a MAJOR PART IN THE PLOT. Seriously, JOAN RIVERS wouldn't hawk this thing on QVC back in the day if you were holding a gun to MELISSA'S HEAD just off-camera.

Gosh, I've missed you, LHF!

AW THANK YOU.

I'M GONNA RIP ON THIS BROOCH (that appears in the 1946 film BLACK ANGEL) SOME MORE.

I did a GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH FOR IT, and got no specific result, but it is a BROOCH that is largely composed of what APPEARS TO BE a THREE INCH HEART SHAPE IN THE CENTER that is made of PASTE or GLASS or possibly STRAWBERRY FLAVORED CANDY. believe it or not, I WOULD BE OKAY(ish) WITH THIS were it not for the fact that it is described as being LINED WITH RUBIES (and maybe set in gold.)

say what now?

and while this BROOCH is a major plot point- it is unironically referred to as being valuable and expensive- and not, you know, A WAY OF SMUGGLING 24 kt GOLD AND RUBIES UNDER THE disGUISE OF A cheap PIECE OF COSTUME JEWELRY THAT SCREAMS "YES, I KNOW IT'S UGLY!!! BUT HE MAKES ME WEAR IT. I KNOW NOW THAT I SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT AS A MAJOR RED FLAG AND NOW I CAN'T ESCAPE!!!!!!!!"

I literally googled "WERE RUBIES WORTHLESS FOR SOME REASON IN THE 1940'S??" after I did the image search.

it really, really reminded me of those GEL BATH SOAPS that are shiny and shaped like SHELLS AND HEARTS AND WHATNOTS.

oh GOD, it was LILY MUNSTER levels of TACKY.

Long story short (too late), IMAGINE HOW MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN (for those of you who saw BLACK ANGEL) if instead they had done a SOLID ONYX ANGEL PENDANT to tie in with the title.

I don't get mad at cheap jewelry, I get MAD at TACKY jewelry.

[Lorna]

and then, JUNE VINCENT shows up in this, and shows you HOW TO DO COSTUME JEWELRY

[Lorna]

AND THIS:

[Lorna]

Lorna, I hadn't read your post before I wrote a similar one in the Noir Alley section. If you wanted to, you could see the Wallace Ford character as having a crush on Dan Duryea. I agree that it felt like some of Ford's scenes had been cut.

warning, things get slightly spoilerish for BLACK ANGEL (1946)

You know, that's funny, I DID NOT SEE WALLACE FORD's character as being GAY! but I think that is largely because I'll always see him as PHROSO in FREAKS- kindly, amiable, non-judgmental, he and I share a birthday IRL, and I kinda see the world in the same way, albeit from a good-size variation in height: WOW, THERE IS A LONG SHOT of WALLACE FORD and DAN DURYEA walking together down the hall of DURYEA'S apartment building and WALLACE FORD looks like one of THE FOUNDING MEMBERS OF THE LOLLIPOP GUILD- like 4'11 at most.

EDIT: LONG STORY SHORT (too late) WALLACE FORD JUST SEEMS LIKE THE SORT OF GUY WHO WOULD DELIVER YOU HOME WHILE YOU WERE 100% UNCONSCIOUS WITH 0% ULTERIOR MOTIVE ON HIS PART.

(provided he could carry you, that is)

WALLACE FORD was also born in ENGLAND!

sorry, where was I?

Oh, didn't you love THE GUARDRAILS RIGHT NEXT TO THE DOOR OF DURYEA'S ROOM??? Nothing says "A hopeless drunk LIVES HERE" like guardrails by your bedroom door- WHICH CAN BE latched from the outside.

the little bit DURING THE FLASHBACK with the PERVY LITTLE LANDLORD asking for HIS PAYMENT OF A QUARTER was DELIGHTFULLY LURID!!!!!

i imdb'd WALLACE FORD and he had a steady career- although there was a definite slump in the early 40's (the war, I imagine) where he appeared in THE APE MAN. it was mostly decent stuff after that, but whether he was a big enough "name" to be a red herring for anyone but us FILM FREAKS who knows? I'm just glad they made who they made the killer in the end because that took SOME GUTS on everyone's part to do.

[Lorna]

[Lorna]

PS- I JUST NOW REMEMBERED THAT I MIS-REMEMBERED THE ENDING OF THE BLUE DAHLIA AS HAVING THE ENDING IT SHOULD HAVE HAD AND NOT THE ENDING IT DID HAVE.

THE ONE where BENDIX is the killer, but the HAYES OFFICE wouldn't allow an ex-GI to be a killer, so they made it the HOUSE DICK. I give the makers of BLACK ANGEL all the more credit for their ending because they COULD HAVE ABSOLUTELY MADE WALLACE FORD THE KILLER no problem as his character was a civilian and not a Serviceman....unless time with THE LOLLIPOP GUILD qualified him as A VETERAN.

[Dargo]

...and while this BROOCH is a major plot point- it is unironically referred to as being valuable and expensive- and not, you know, A WAY OF SMUGGLING 24 kt GOLD AND RUBIES UNDER THE disGUISE OF A cheap PIECE OF COSTUME JEWELRY THAT SCREAMS "YES, I KNOW IT'S UGLY!!! BUT HE MAKES ME WEAR IT. I KNOW NOW THAT I SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT AS A MAJOR RED FLAG AND NOW I CAN'T ESCAPE!!!!!!!!"

...I don't get mad at cheap jewelry, I get MAD at TACKY jewelry.[/b]

This comment of yours here Lorna, has reminded me of one of my favorite Dick Van Dyke Show episodes titled "Empress Carlotta's Necklace"...

[Bronxgirl48]

There must have been a sadistic programmer who slipped into The Barrymores line-up today as we were "treated" to the 1941 PLAYMATES, with Jack in his final film looking literally like death warmed over (indeed, he'd be gone the next year) and sharing screen time with Kay Kyser, Patsy Kelly and Lupe Velez. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cringe. Just the expression on poor Barrymore's bloated face as he gets his first glimpse of Ish Kabibble might be worth the (dubious) price of admission.

Cab driver: "Kyser's gone highbrow!"

In order to secure a radio contract, John Barrymore's agent (he plays himself unfortunately) Patsy Kelly sets up a USO benefit with Keyser and his orchestra at the helm in order to give her special client favorable publicity. Kay wants to act on stage with The Great Profile who coaches him on finer aspects of the thespian arts. This includes a sad, poignant scene of Barrymore reciting some Shakespeare. Singer Ginny Simms is very impressed as is the rest of the gang.

Psychedelic "delights" include a sleeping Kay's insecurities revealed in bizarre dreams which include Barrymore's contorted, in-his-cups kisser imprinted on a bull in some Mexican arena and Lupe Velez screaming in Spanish.

Lord...have...mercy.

[Allhallowsday]

^ I saw a speck of that today... so little no BARRYMORE. Perhaps that was best. I saw ISH KABIBBLE.

Last night I watched FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL. I love ANDY McDOWELL... still funny, there is a lot going on.
Damn it is predictable with a "stiff in a skirt..." Mixed bag for political correctness...

[Swithin]

^ I saw a speck of that today... so little no BARRYMORE. Perhaps that was best. I saw ISH KABIBBLE.

Last night I watched FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL. I love ANDY McDOWELL... still funny, there is a lot going on.
Damn it is predictable with a "stiff in a skirt..." Mixed bag for political correctness...

I saw Four Weddings and a Funeral for the first time recently and enjoyed it very much. Great cast. I always like James Fleet. I saw him in London a few weeks ago, in the audience at the Sondheim tribute revue.