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The Naked City (Jules Dassin, 1948)
Feb
10
Popsicles
A New York precinct. Across the street an ice cream vendor. Several kids are standing around the man's cart while one of them – a chunky monkey – leans against the nearest fire hydrant. A scruffy man in fedora walks past holding a Popsicle. DP: William H. Daniels; still photographers: Bert Anderson & Arthur “Weegee” Fellig.
“Another day, another ball of fire rising in the summer sky. The city is quiet now, but it will soon be pounding with activity. This time yesterday, Jean Dexter was just another pretty girl, but now she's the marmalade on 10,000 pieces of toast.”
– narrator
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Harvey (Henry Koster, 1950)
Apr
9
freebie: Easter Sunday
James Stewart is Elwood P. Dowd. An ordinary man with an extraordinary claim: his best friend is an invisible, six feet three and a half inches-tall #pooka – a mythological Celtic, shapeshifting creature – who in Mr Dowd's case resembles a rabbit called Harvey. Elwood's sister and niece, who also occasionally see the furry goblin, have their relative send to a sanatorium where the doctors and us viewers learn more about this curious case.
“Harvey and I sit in the bars… have a drink or two… play the juke box. And soon the faces of all the other people they turn toward mine and they smile. And they're saying, 'We don't know your name, mister, but you're a very nice fella'.”
– Elwood P. Dowd
Harvey, based on Mary Chase's #PulitzerPrizePlay with the same name, is guaranteed to bring a smile on your face, this humbug's scout's honour! Have a nice #Easter, CineMastodons!
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The Naked City [Homicide (Jules Dassin, 1948)
Feb
10
All The News That's Fit To Print Day
On a crowded subway train, a distraught young woman looks at the back of a newspaper. She may just have read the front, held up by someone offscreen. Headlines read YOUNG MODEL FOUND SLAIN IN BATHTUB. The prop newspaper uses too many typefaces at once. DP: William H. Daniels; still photographers: Bert Anderson & Arthur “Weegee” Fellig.
Filmed on location in New York City, with still photography by Arthur “Weegee” Fellig and others. Weegee was a press photographer known for his stark black-and-white crime scene #photography in the city's seedy underbelly.
“There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.”
– narrator
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Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932)
Jan
8
World Typing Day
Despite Flaemmchen – Joan Crawford in her breakout role – is introduced as a “little stenographess”, that's clearly a typewriter on her desk. DP: William H. Daniels.
“Grand Hotel… always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens.”
– Flaemmchen
