FIFTY YEARS AGO TODAY
Fifty Years Ago Today was Saturday, October 13, 1973…All 122 passengers and crew on
Aeroflot Flight 964 were killed when the Tu-104 jet crashed during its approach to Domodedovo
Airport in Moscow. An electrical power failure on the aircraft disabled its navigation system. The
jet struck power lines roughly 10 miles from the runway while tilted to the left at a 70° angle.
Among those killed was Lieutenant General Fyodor Bondarenko, Chief of the Soviet Union's
anti-aircraft missile defense….The first father-son combination in major league U.S. sports was
unveiled as ice hockey legend Gordie Howe was joined by his sons Marty Howe and Mark
Howe for the Houston Aeros' opening game in the World Hockey Association against the Los
Angeles Sharks.
“Half-Breed” by Cher was still top of the charts… Cher - Half-Breed (Official Video) [HD]
Myself--still in the middle of the run of GUYS AND DOLLS. That is all. Wish I had some photos
to share. Wish I had some photos just for my own remembrance sake, but no. There are a
couple of newspaper publicity photos around here somewhere, but they are almost worthless
in the original. Trying to reproduce them here would only make it worse.
On TV that night: STARLOST, EMERGENCY, NBC SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES (THE
ANDERSON TAPES), HEE-HAW, MASH, ALL IN THE FAMILY, MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW,
BOB NEWHART SHOW, CAROL BURNETT SHOW (“Eydie Gorme and Paul Sand in a salute
to old time movie serials, Tarzan, the Cisco Kid, and the Wolfman.”), ABC SUSPENSE MOVIE,
GRIFF. On channel 41’s FRIGHT NIGHT, The Fearmonger hosted viewings of THE
MYSTERIANS and THE SPIDER WOMAN STRIKES BACK.
I’ve loved Barbara Steele since that Saturday afternoon in 1961 when I sat, utterly rapt, in the
dark and crumbling confines of The LeRose Theater, getting my first look at BLACK SUNDAY.
Or maybe I fell for her even earlier, when I first saw the image of her spike-dented but still
beautiful face in Famous Monsters magazine.
Whichever…despite this helpless infatuation, other than BLACK SUNDAY and THE SHE
BEAST, I can never remember which of her Italian Gothics is which. It’s “The Barbara Steele
Confusion” (“The Barbara Steele Confusion” to be sung to the tune of “Crystal Blue
Persuasion”):
Tommy James&the Shondell_Crytal Blue persuasion
So I’m really interested to see
THE HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK
…just so I’ll know which movie this is.
The movie gets off to a strong horror film beginning--digging in a cemetery at night, opening
a coffin, caressing a beautiful corpse. Oh, yeah. Bring it on…
I love how all the fancy-schmancy guests crowd around to hear the hostess’s droning,
sleep-inducing, and highly discordant piano playing…
Babs looks gorgeous (of course), but may be working a bit too hard at that acting stuff…
I was shocked when some character mentioned being in London. I don't think I've ever seen
a movie which felt less London-ish than this, including LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and THE
SEVEN SAMURAI…
Robert Flemyng is really sweating his way through that acting himself…
Never ceases to amaze me how a single match can illuminate an entire wing of the old
dump…
Flemyng's fake sideburns do provide occasional amusement. So that's something…
This is muy Gothicky, got a bunch of the old standard spooky castle bits, but an almost total
lack of originality or subtlety. You could almost call this Stoic Horror. There's no action, no
movement, no life or interest in the dialogue. No wonder Babs and Bob are straining at
Thespis's chain. They are about all that's there…
What teensy bits of interest there are all arrive in the last three minutes of this movie…
Awww, it’s basic and not bad to look at, but it’s so very unspecial. Maybe this is
another DVD to dump.
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