WHAT WE LEARNED FROM THE OSCARS

Oscar voters seemed to make a concerted effort to pass the love around between Sinners and One Battle After Another instead of a full-on sweep that would have evoked the dreaded "snub" criticism on social media. 

Whoever did the audio mix needs a lifetime supply of Debrox. 

The "Best Song" once again award went to something people will forget a week from now. 

Now that the Academy has gotten over its long-standing dismissal of horror movies as worthy of nomination (Sinners and Frankenstein -- two in one year!), maybe they can take notice of comedies. And don't whine, "But what about Shakespeare in Love, Terms of Endearment, Anora and Parasite?" Funny moments do not a comedy make. 

The Academy finally got the memo about how to present a decent "In Memoriam" segment, although TCM is still the champ and remembered Brigette Bardot.

After living in California for 60 years, Barbra Streisand still hasn't lost her Brooklyn accent or her knack for making everything about her. 

The under-40 attendees who laughed at the Basil Rathbone reference did so only because they thought it was a funny-sounding name the announcer just made up. 

Best Short Film presenter Kumail Nanjiani has apparently gotten over appearing in a flop movie that sent him to a therapist for three years. What a man!

Judging by the number of commercials for pharmaceuticals, either people in the industry are in need of meds or the at-home audience skews really old.

The broadcast director was too chickenshit to keep the camera on one of the winners when the microphone went down because Oscars don't make mistakes!

Someone close to Timothee Chalamet should have warned him to Google "Chill Wills + Alamo + Oscar Campaign" to learn how not to win the hearts and minds of Oscar voters. Oh, and to leave the Kardashian stepsister at home next time. 

Now that Jack Nicholson is retired, Leonardo DiCaprio has become the "cool guy" in the front row the hosts can make good-natured jokes about. But he will never be as cool as Jack Nicholson.

There are always a couple of movies I've never heard of except in relation to the Oscars, and this year's were The Secret Agent and Weapons. If you've seen either of these, drop me a line.

Only two of the "Best Song" nominees were performed and the damned show still lasted three and a half hours. 

Comedians and documentary makers have more courage than the mainstream press and most of Congress.

                                                              **************

To prove the ceremony can be presented in just over an hour, listen to this: 1945 Academy Awards Radio Broadcast

                                                                

ARTIFICIAL PHOTO INTELLIGENCE

 Last October, I wrote a piece about how my phone's camera app generated my photo into various caricatures. The point of it was to show how far from reality they were, making Al Hirschfield sketches look like George Hurrell photos in comparison.

Well, a lot can change five months. The app has taken its magic to the next step by creating photo-realistic imagery from existing photos. And my reaction has gone from This doesn't look like me to Why can't I look like this?

Just to make it more of a challenge, I used a selfie from a recent visit to the dentist:

Before continuing, thank you for your compliments on my big, beautiful teeth. I wanted to ease into this A.I. stuff gradually, so my first choice was the "vintage" style from the 1970s.

Boy, they really nailed that faded, Polaroid SX-70 look. Can almost smell the chemicals from here. Looks like something you'd find in a shoebox full of deservedly forgotten photos in the back of the closet. 

The first "new" look I wanted was "professional headshot". Outside of a print ad for Ipana, there didn't seem to be any use for a photo like that dental office shot. Yet here's what it spat out:

Hey! How'd they do that? Kind of looks like a guy who got into the tech boom 40 years ago and made a comfortable living along the way. Nice room, too. Now I understand why a casting agency recently sent an angry email to background actors warning, We know when you're submitting A.I. headshots. Knock it off or you won't get hired. If I didn't know me, I wouldn't have known this was A.I. imagery.

I used to do character modeling back in the day, specializing in computer nerds, delivery guy nerds, any kind of professional nerd you could think of. For a while my face was on a truck owned by a local office cleaning company. But now it was time to up my game and become a fashion model. Presto:

Yeah, baby! Somebody arrange for an airplane because this silver fox is ready for the runway! Love the thoughtful, hand-to-the-chin business -- reminds me of my idol, Jeff Goldblum. I have no idea what that thing is on my sweater, but who cares? If this doesn't land me in the Brooks Brothers catalogue, nothing will.

Being a fan of "old Hollywood", I had to try the "dramatic black & white" option. Was it possible that my dental selfie could do the job? You tell me:

Holy glamour lighting, Batman! I wish, wish, wish I looked like this. I mean, goddamn, look at that hair! The hand seems a little big, but still. This is the best photo never taken of me. If I weren't so mature, I'd send this to every woman I ever dated -- a small circle, TBH -- with the caption Look what you missed out on. Bet you got fat. But to repeat, I'm too mature. I also don't have their contact information.

Continuing to fool around with the app with different photos, two thoughts occurred to me. 1) A.I. is improving every 15 seconds. 2) Even though my wife said these "photos" were creepy and that I'm better looking in real life, I didn't believe her.

With each new image, I was getting more depressed. No matter what my wife said, I didn't want to look like me. I wanted to look like that. And that is a figment of my camera's imagination.

The lesson from my adventures in A.I.: For better or worse, for richer or poorer, I will always look like me. I might not like it, but it's gotten me this far. And if I ever need a pick-me-up, all that needs to be done is run an already decent photo in black & white mode:

Now all that's left is to figure out how to live in a black & white world fulltime. And find those women's contact information.

                                                                **************

THE YELLOW TAPE BLUES

Yorkville: Manhattan's own flyover country.

For an area I gladly consider the most boring part of Manhattan, my neighborhood of Yorkville has recently seen more action than Sarah Ferguson at a toe-sucking convention. Last weekend, part of it was blocked off for a total of 14 hours, thanks to right-wing idiots and would-be terrorists who don't even live here. 

Monday passed without incident, while Tuesday started out like a late spring morning. Temperatures promised to be hovering in the low 70s by lunchtime, perfect for a picnic my wife and I would share in Carl Schurz Park... until receiving a "Notify NYC" email reading "Due to police activity, expect traffic delays, road closures, mass transit disruptions, and a heavy presence of emergency personnel in the area of East End Avenue and East 88th Street in Manhattan." 

So that explained all those helicopters I'd been vaguely aware of hovering overhead for the previous half hour. Looks like the bomb squad's here again, honey!

Just another day in our bucolic neighborhood.

With trusty Android in hand, I walked east a half block, where I was greeted by yellow police tape shutting off East End Avenue from 84th Street to 88th. Cops, reporters and locals were milling about, all with expressions that read Here we go again. 

I asked one cop if he knew what was going on. He replied, "Yeah, but I can't tell you." He explained that he didn't want the nearby news camera to pick up any information with its boom microphone. This didn't prevent rumors flying around like unmanned drones -- one bomb found, three bombs found, even Donald Trump leaving office were all mentioned by people who in reality had no frigging idea what the facts were. My advice: listen to the cop who can't tell you anything.

You mean we're gonna have to walk all the way
to Central Park for lunch?

Our picnic would have to be postponed too, since all of Carl Schurz Park's 15 square acres were roped off as well. This was indeed a sad moment for the kiddies whose nannies bring them to its playground. On the other hand, I would have paid cash money to see the pickleball players get the heave-ho. You just knew those overgrown Ping Pong chumps probably threw a fit being denied their daily 30 minutes of glory.

"Hey, I'm down here!"

A reporter from WCBS-TV news was on the scene covering the... well, I was going to say "action", but there was really nothing to see other than flashing police lights and cops not answering our questions. 

This left the reporter to interview locals who wanted some screentime on the afternoon news. The hard-hitting questions I could hear being asked were along the lines of, "What do you think of this activity in your neighborhood?" and "Does this make you afraid?" And you just know she wanted people to answer the second question in the affirmative. Fear sells.

Mayor Mamdani might have to keep this
handy for future recycling. 

Unlike the weekend's drama, the lockdown was lifted in the midafternoon, as the "suspicious device" was not so suspicious after all. Whether it was just an empty soda bottle or something similar gussied-up as a bomb just for laughs depends on what news report you read or heard. 

By 4:00, Yorkville returned to its normal state of daily sameness. Although I'm unsure what that sameness really is now.

                                                           *************

TOWN HALL FOR DUMMIES

Oh yeah, these guys' opinions are
definitely worth my time.

 At a time when cultural, political, and religious divisions are driving us further
apart, it's good to know that there's something, anything, that has brought many Americans together. It's just a damn shame it's so stupid.

During a "town hall" event sponsored by CNN and Variety, Timothée Chalamet told host Matthew McConaughey, "I don't want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it's like, 'Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this anymore.' All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there."

Yes, I know what it means.

Before continuing, let's take a brief detour. First, "town hall" event used to refer to political candidates offering their views on current events and taking questions from interested voters, not actors campaigning for Oscars the way seriously ill people look for kidney donors. 

Nor were they co-sponsored by showbiz periodicals known for wacky headlines. Nor were the hosts acclaimed for saying, "Alright, alright, alright!" And what's the deal with "Timothy" spelled like a 17th-century French aristocrat, complete with the accent acute? 

Let's get back to the controversy that followed. Yes, CONTROVERSY. An offhand comment made by a 30-year-old actor who looks 14 and is currently dating Kardashian stepsister caused the kind of reaction one usually sees only when the Vice-President of the United States endorses racist, antisemitic, and sexist jokes.

OK, I can understand opera and ballet companies getting into the mix. But somehow this anger has spread throughout the country, the world, even as said world is literally going up in flames.

America's most trusted news source.

Yesterday, the yentas on The View decided it was time to gin up some publicity three weeks after the rickety train left the station. And while I didn't watch it -- I was busy doing something more important, like watching snow melt -- I'm certain The View audience clapped like the Central Park Zoo seals waiting for mackerel from their keepers. 

How many operas and ballets have The View hosts attended? How many can their audience members even name? View host Sunny Hostin says Chalamet is vapid and shallow for his opinion. Yet she's a lawyer whose side hustle is appearing on a series that could be considered Meet the Press for day drinking housewives.

Now I'm all for distracting oneself from the constant flow of bad news with anything that doesn't lead to DUIs or mass shootings. (I suggest pre-code pictures, but you knew that already.) But this? An opinion by a guy who proves the old cliche that actors need a script before opening their mouths? 

Hey, I thought everybody loved the opera!

An opinion, by the way, is more accurate than people realize, according to this recent piece
from the New York Times. If the hosts of The View really care about opera so much, they ought to pony up some of their money for the next performance of Pagliacci. It's about a clown, so they could relate.

                                                               ***************

UPPER EAST VIOLENCE

"Excuse me, could you keep it down, please? We're
having our luncheon."

While my wife and I were
having a pleasant lunch of soup and sandwich on Saturday afternoon, there was a full-scale riot going on three blocks away -- and we had no idea. Maybe because the Upper East Side isn't known for anything more violent than disputes over who plays pickleball next.

What could go wrong? 

This could have been avoided if our idiot president hadn't pardoned the criminals who tried to assassinate various Congresspeople a few years back. Jake Lang would have been behind bars instead of deciding it would be cool to lead a "Stop the Islamification" march in a city he couldn't find on a map of New York City. 

Lang, who describes himself as more right-wing than Nazis, must have known his little parade would bring out a larger counter-protest -- which was the whole idea. Start a riot outside the home of the Islamist Mayor of Jew York! 

Yow, who does he hate first? While my heart was with the counter-protestors, it doesn't mean there weren't some bad bananas in the bunch.

Meet Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, two junior members of the ISIS fan club who decided that a protest wouldn't be a protest unless they threw a homemade bomb into the crowd near the direction of Gracie Mansion, which, to remind you, is occupied by a Muslim couple. This is why we can't have nice things.

My neighborhood was locked down from 86th to 89th Streets between East End and First Avenues as the police searched the area for more bombs. With none found, the area was re-opened around 7:30 p.m., a full eight and a half hours following the start of the day's action. That's all, folks!

Hah! That's what we thought.

The bomb squad is considering opening a branch
office in my neighborhood.

The following afternoon, East End Avenue was closed again, this time from 83rd to 79th, with the bomb squad once more on the scene. This time, I was aware of what was going on and got to see for myself part two of our weekend of terrorist activities. 

A "suspicious device" (read: bomb) was seen in a car parked a block or two away, likely linked to the two wannabe terrorists, and leading to a partial evacuation of the area. Living outside the perimeter of the crime scene allowed us to stay inside and have dinner in peace -- other than the sirens on the ground and helicopters flying overhead. People were allowed back to their homes by 8:00 that evening.

Please note that the assholes who caused this trouble -- Jake Lang, Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi --are all out-of-towners. God, these fucking tourists.

                                                               ***********

THE EARLY SHOW, PT. 65

Frank Capra makes his Early Show debut, an honor he likely would have refused, while Bela Lugosi, Walter Huston, and Edward G. Robinson return to join an antediluvian vaudeville act in their first (and last) appearance. 

THEY LEARNED ABOUT WOMEN (1930): Here's a story you've never seen before: two lifelong friends are torn apart by a no-good dame. The twist: the friends are professional baseball players who moonlight as vaudeville entertainers. Or the other way around, it's never made clear.

One doesn't watch a picture like They Learned About Women for entertainment any more than archeologists explore pyramids to find a new place to live. It's strictly historical study, for this is the only feature starring Gus Van & Joe Schenck -- in their time (c. 1915-1930) the most popular singing duo in show business, who are now as au courant as the allosaurus. 

And here's where it gets fascinating for nerdy amateur showbiz historians. Put aside for a moment that Van has the face of a human bulldog, and Schenck possesses the voice of Neil Sedaka turned up to 11. They are great at what they do if -- and this is important -- you remember what audiences enjoyed a century ago, like harmony as loud as the lead voice, or songs featuring dialect humor. They Learned About Women feature three of the latter: African-American (despite the potential offense, a fantastic number you can watch here), Irish, and Italian, (You can find Van & Schenck shorts where they do their "tributes" to Jews and Chinese as well.)

Not all the music in They Learned About Women is culturally unacceptable in the 21st century; it's artistically unacceptable as well, although I enjoyed them tremendously. Without Van & Schenck, They Learned About Women would be an exercise in ennui. It's best to fast-forward through the "drama" and go straight to the songs -- IF you have any interest in the kind of pop music that was already going out of style by the time of the movie's release (Schenck himself died six months later). Don't miss leading lady Bessie Love's jazzy solo "I Got Me a Real Man", either. She's kind of a hot mama in her own innocent way.

BONUS POINTS: Authentic footage of the old Yankee Stadium is featured in the climactic ballgame. 

AMERICAN MADNESS (1932): For a director remembered for uplifting movies, Frank Capra had a pretty cynical (meaning accurate) eye for corruption, unbridled capitalism, and the sheer idiocy of the average American. His movies' tacked-on happy endings are nothing more than fairytale codas meant to make you forget the reality you just experienced. 

American Madness may be the first entry in that quasi-genre, and is definitely better than its forgotten status would have it. It also plays like the blueprint for It's a Wonderful Life, seeing that it focuses on a down-to-earth bank president facing a hostile takeover and a hostile clientele when hysterical rumors lead to a run by panicked depositors. 

Walter Huston, as usual, knocks it out of the park as Thomas Dickson, the big city bank president with a heart of gold and a knack for seeing the good in everybody -- even when one of them, cashier Cyrill Cluett, engineers the bank's robbery to pay off a debt to a gangster. Pat O'Brien is Matt, a colleague who believes Cluett is fooling around with Dickson's wife, winds up being the prime suspect in the robbery. But it's Huston who's the star of the show; his casual chit-chat and gangly walk suggest a friendly small-town businessman who goes by his gut feeling when it comes to loaning money. He's the boss you've always dreamed of having yet has never existed in real life. 

Strangely, American Madness feels at times more like a Howard Hawks picture, with realistic overlapping dialogue and fast paced action, leading an eye-popping climax with what looks like the biggest group of extras since the Babylon scene in Intolerance.  Brimming with humor, drama, and outright misanthropy, American Madness is the work of a moviemaker still questioning the so-called wisdom of both the ruling class and middle class. 

BONUS POINTS: American Madness is one of the last movies to feature the credit DIRECTED BY FRANK R. CAPRA. Maybe he dropped the "R" because it didn't have the same ring as Darryl F. Zanuck or Louis B, Mayer. 

THE DEATH KISS (1932): Gangsters are setting up a hit. As the target exits a nightclub, their moll gives him an unexpected kiss, allowing the hitmen to ready, aim, fire. CUT! It turns out we're on a movie set. As the director arranges for a second take, the crew realizes the actor was killed for real. Is Alec Baldwin on the loose again?

Cheap joke aside, The Death Kiss is actually quite a decent picture, reuniting the stars of the previous year's hit, Dracula: Bela Lugosi, Edward Van Sloan, and David Manners. Disappointingly, Lugosi, as studio manager Joseph Steiner, doesn't have a lot to do other than seem awfully anxious to pin the murder on the leading lady, who had been divorced from the now-dead actor. Van Sloan (as director Tom Avery) merely wants the set locked down, while Manners (wisecracking scriptwriter Franklyn Drew) wants to find the real killer since he's in love with the sexy suspect, as all scriptwriters are.

For a Poverty Row production from Sono Art-World Wide (the abhorrent Lucky Boy and Peacock Alley), The Death Kiss is a quite the meta-mystery in that it gives a behind-the-scenes look at the picture business, making good use of the equally-low-budget Tiffany Studios (where The Death Kiss was filmed) as we visit the sound stages, screening room and back lot. And typical of "inside" movies of the time, the guy running the studio is a malaprop-slinging Jewish caricature. (His response upon hearing about the murder of his star: "Oy, that's going to cost me a fortune!"). Figuring out whodunnit is beside the point; The Death Kiss is a fun watch, with some clever camerawork and familiar character actors helping to speed things along -- literally. You won't realize until the end that it all takes place in one day.

BONUS POINTS: As with The Vampire Bat, The Death Kiss uses the occasional hand-tinted sequences for cheap but interesting effects, especially when a movie reel goes up in flames. And did you know that the iceman often slid his delivery into the icebox through a special door in the wall of the house? The things you learn in old movies!

NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES (1948): Sometimes a movie can make you rethink
your admiration of an actor (like Robert de Niro in most movies not directed by Martin Scorsese). Night Has a Thousand Eyes, on the other hand, increased my appreciation for Edward G. Robinson.

Its story isn't anything new, A phony showbiz psychic named Triton acquires a sudden gift (if you can call it that) of real prognostication which eventually sets off a chain of events that prevents the death of one person and causes the death of another --an idea previously explored in The Clairvoyant with Claude Raines. And as with The Clairvoyant, Night Has a Thousand Eyes deliberately makes you wonder if the tragic climax was inevitable or caused by the psychic's own actions: a cop-out ending to please the censors, I'd say. 

None of this negates my belief that Edward G. Robinson was the best of the major tough-guy actors of his time, including Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney. Because while those two gentlemen are great at what they do, Robinson goes one step further by creating enormous empathy for characters like Triton. You can picture Robinson in, say, The Caine Mutiny or White Heat, but neither Bogart nor Cagney could have starred in Night Has a Thousand Eyes -- or Scarlett Street, The Woman in The Window, Tales of Manhattan, and other dramas where Robinson shows a side painful in its melancholy. Kind of lost in the shuffle among the "classic" Robinson movies, Night Has a Thousand Eyes needs a million more viewers.

BONUS POINTS: William Demarest has a rare "straight" role as Police Lieut. Shawn, occasionally cracking wise as a sop to his fans.

                                                        *************

ZOHRAN OVER TRUMP

In the weirdest political courtship since James Carville and Mary Matalin (or Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler, depending on your feelings toward the men in question), Mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump were on the same page concerning two New York issues. Issues that, theoretically, should have put them further apart than Jelly Roll and Joan Baez. 

The first of Mamdani's asks was for help in getting $21-billion in grants for affordable apartments and -- get this -- a new neighborhood in the Sunnyside section of Queens. I didn't even know you could build a new neighborhood, but that's why I'm not a mayor or real estate developer. Well, there are other reasons, none having to do with the Epstein files (where the real estate developer is mentioned over 1,000 times).

How did it go? According to Mamdani's press secretary Joe Calvello, “The president was very enthusiastic about this idea." Maybe Trump's addled mind thought the housing would be used to imprison people with non-white skin color. But let's be optimistic and take him at his (usually misanthropic) word.

Their voters would ask, "What's not wrong with
this picture?"

Aware that Trump is a sucker for positive headlines and phony awards, Mamdani sweetened the deal by gifting him with a mock-up of a New York Daily News front page paying fealty with “Backs new era of housing" and “Trump delivers 12,000+ homes, most since 1973.” You can see by the photo how both men felt about this folderol. Or, as it's called now, performative politics.

The second issue centered on the arrest of Columbia University student Elimina Aghayeva by -- who else? -- ICE goons. In a rare moment of not condemning or mocking a person with a name he couldn't pronounce, Trump agreed with Mamdani that it wasn't a good idea and had her freed a few hours later.

I repeat: Donald Trump freed from ICE custody a foreigner with a funny name on the request of the Socialist Mayor of New York from Kampala, Uganda. What kind of a world are we living in?

When hardcore Mamdani supporters ask their hero How can you work with that terrible person?, he can reply, That's how you get shit done sometimes. You don't like it? Vote for Adams next time. 

When hardcore MAGA screams, Why did you help that Commie mayor with tax money and freeing a foreigner from ICE, Trump can reply, Look, I just bombed Iran!

                                                            ******************

PARSING THE KING

 The official press release, followed by the translation:

I HAVE LEARNED: The coppers gave me a heads-up three hours ago.

WITH THE DEEPEST CONCERN: Concern that the royal family is about to go the way of the Hindenburg.

THE NEWS ABOUT ANDREW MOUNTBATTEN-WINDSOR: Notice I didn't say "my brother"? Pretty clever, right?

AND SUSPICION OF MISCONDUCT IN PUBLIC OFFICE: Because emails and photographs aren't really evidence, are they? 

WHAT FOLLOWS IS NOW THE FULL, FAIR AND PROPER PROCESS BY WHICH THIS ISSUE IS INVESTIGATED IN THE APPROPRIATE MANNER AND BY THE PROPER AUTHORITIES: Now that my mother and I can no longer cover up for Andrew's crimes.

IN THIS, AS I HAVE SAID BEFORE, THEY HAVE OUR FULL AND WHOLEHEARTED CO-OPERATION: After we spent over 15 years hiding it and threatening anyone who asked about it.

LET ME STATE CLEARLY: THE LAW MUST TAKE ITS COURSE: After over 15 years of preventing it.

AS THIS PROCESS CONTINUES, IT WOULD NOT BE RIGHT FOR ME TO COMMENT FURTHER: Bloody hell, leave me alone! 

MEANWHILE, MY FAMILY AND I WILL CONTINUE IN OUR DUTY AND SERVICE TO YOU ALL: Just don't ask what our duty and service is outside of covering up family messes, avoiding taxes, and eating quail for lunch.

                                                 ******************

GONE WITH THE WINDSORS

 

That's the least of his problems.

As the world's most famous sex predator/ pedophile/ traitor who isn't named Trump lives the good life in the English countryside on the taxpayer's dime shilling, bad news continues to rise like acrid smoke from the town dump.

One of the latest pieces of burning trash: whenever Mumsie was out of town, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor would swoop in and use Buckingham Palace as his personal knocking shop (British slang for brothel). The codename he gave his "dates" was "Mrs. Windsor". As in, when giving a heads-up to the security detail, "Mrs. Windsor will arrive shortly, please let her in and show her up."

Which one had the worst taste?

The real ex-Mrs. Windsor didn't mind. Not as long as Jeffrey Epstein kept paying her bills. Her feelings for Epstein wavered from familial ("Thank you Jeffrey for being the brother I have always wished for") to something more, er, personal ("Xx I am at your service . Just marry me"). Not that it would ever happen. Even Jeffrey Epstein knew where to draw the line. And he's the guy who thanked an Arab CEO for providing him with "torture videos"!

Not surprisingly, Andrew Mountbatten- Windsor and his former wife continue to be the object of derision, loathing, and ridicule. And that's from people who like the Royal Family.

That's no joke. I've noticed an odd thing among the right-of-center hosts of the "breakfast programmes" and "chat shows". They report with justifiable disgust that the family has been covering up Andrew's behavior for at least 15 years. 

"But then again, who hasn't fibbed now and then?"

But even when admitting they've had it with the whole lot, the hosts add, "But I support the Royal Family" or "But I am a monarchist." It's like saying, "Even though it's terrible how the hitman accidentally shot innocent bystanders, I still support the Gambino crime family."

Yet to me it's the Corleones  who come to mind, albeit with some differences. Queen Elizabeth was the Godmother, no question, calling the shots and paying off the right people. You did not cross the Godmother. 

Charles is the eldest, and like Sonny Corleone has a hot temper. He cheated on his first wife, too. As for another similarity --  in the novel, [Sonny's wife] allows – and is grateful for – his infidelities because she is unable to take the size of his penis -- that's up for debate. A debate I want no part of.

Keep smirking while you can, Fredo. Michael's
having none of it.

Andrew is Fredo, the imbecile with the slutty wife and an inability to do his job

correctly. All he focuses on are women, to the detriment of his family's "reputation", who continually have to clean up his messes.

This leaves William as Michael Corleone: the "good" son who was vaguely aware of what was going on, but never took part in the crimes themselves, and made his family proud. It's only when he took over the family, he started cleaning house. 

You remember what happened to Fredo, right? William is polishing his ring even now. Pucker up, royals, the fun is about to begin!

 

                                                               *******

THE EARLY SHOW, PT. 64

There are actually actors you've heard of here. I must be slipping.

BEHIND THE MAKEUP (1930): Thanks to copyright expiration laws, a treasure

trove -- make that a pile -- of movies released in 1930 are appearing on YouTube every day. Most of them have been forgotten, and for good reason. But any starring William Powell is always a good bet, for he stands out in his early talkies like an ICE agent at a Quinceanera. But in a good way!

Still transitioning from character actor to leading man, Powell is Gardoni, a comedic entertainer from Italy stuck in New Orleans (why? how?) who teams up with third-rate vaudevillian Hap Brown. Even if you've never seen another movie in your life, you know what's coming. Gardoni steals Hap's material, his girlfriend Marie, and money, but eventually gets dumped by his sidepiece named Kitty. Drowning in gambling debts, Gardoni drowns himself for real, allowing Marie to return to Hap. Frankly, had I been that sap Hap, I'd have said "No sloppy seconds for me, lady!" and let her wallow in misery for the rest of her life.

Powell, per usual, towers over his co-stars, even with an Italian accent that sounds like... William Powell doing an Italian accent. As for his comedy partner/romantic rival, Hal Skelly's Hap doesn't come across well; you feel more contempt than empathy for allowing himself to be humiliated. Same with Fay Wray as Marie. Sure, Hap is a third-string vaudevillian, but how can she not see through Gardoni's "amore mio" routine? 

Likely the best thing to come out of Behind the Makeup was teaming William Powell with Kay Francis for the first of several times. Francis gives Kitty her usual chilly rich bitch style, taking delight in wooing Gardoni and ditching him for a millionaire. It's interesting to see Powell in the rare role of a rejected lover -- Myrna Loy never threw him overboard at MGM. As much as I like Powell, I say good for Kay Francis for giving what Gardoni deserved. Now if Hap had only done the same to Marie.

BONUS POINTS: Someone at Paramount's promo department played it cute, billing William Powell third in the posters and lobby cards, but second in the "cast of characters". 

FAST AND LOOSE (1930): The title of the goofy romantic comedy Fast and Loose seems to refer to the characters' behavior, their way with the truth, and the story itself: Spoiled rich kids fall in love with people beneath their class. Rich mother panics, rich father investigates for himself. Most of them wind up in the clink after a police raid at a restaurant. Stern talking-to, followed by love and kisses all around. You've seen it before, and are probably asking, So what?

This what. While Fast and Loose is predictable, the dialogue is... on the witty side. Sophisticated. Very often chuckle-worthy, going from Not bad to Hey, this is some funny stuff! The people credited with the original source material and screenplay are unfamiliar, but the "Dialogue by" goes to Preston Sturges. Ah ha, that explains it!

In only his second screen credit, Sturges is already displaying his talent for writing upscale dialogue that the average moviegoer could appreciate. Fast and Loose flirts with pre-code situations and conversations while never quite crossing the line -- or if it does, it's so subtle that many people wouldn't quite notice. And as with every Sturges movie I've seen, there's one moment that had me laughing loud and long, causing me to miss several subsequent lines of dialogue. It concerns the use of the word "cremated", which gives you a sense of what I find funny.

Oh, there's a cast, too. Miriam Hopkins (in her first feature), Carole Lombard, and Frank Morgan are the famous faces; they and the forgotten Charles Starrett, Ilka Chase, Barry O'Moore, and Henry Wadsworth all do a splendid job with Sturges' words. Had he written and directed Fast and Loose in the 1940s, it would have starred Veronica Lake, Joel McCrea, William Demarest, Rudy Vallee, and Eve Arden. It would have been even funnier, but the Fast and Loose that we have is more than good enough. 

BONUS POINTS: Miriam Hopkins resembles a 1970s model with her frizzy hair, while the pre-glamorous Carole Lombard is unexpectedly cute and innocent. 

LET US LIVE (1939): At the risk of being accused of heresy, I've never been a big Henry Fonda fan, He usually strikes me as flat and chilly, with cold, steely eyes that signals a hot temper seething underneath. 

Well, you can forget that for now, because the forgotten drama Let Us Live knocked me out of my chair thanks to Fonda's astonishingly emotional performance as Brick Tennant, who, along with his friend Joe, is wrongly sentenced to death row for murder. An upbeat, patriotic guy, engaged to his girlfriend Mary, Brick gradually loses his faith in the law, justice, and America itself as the public, the police, and the D.A. are hellbent on killing the two men even when Mary finds proof of their innocence. Only Lt. Everett, the original cop on the case, believes her, as they race the clock to prevent Brick and Joe from going to the chair.

Fonda's transformation from optimist to bitter cynic is remarkable in its believability. While Alan Baxter's Joe was already a skeptic, Fonda is shocked that everything he believed in America was a lie, making Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

look like a MAGA production (It also lays the groundwork for two future Fonda classics, The Grapes of Wrath and The Wrong Man.) Even the happy ending really isn't happy after all, because it's quite clear that the once-sanguine Brick has been changed forever, and nor for better. 

Credit needs to go to director John Brahm and his technical team for their splendid work with Let Us Live's proto-noir cinematography and lighting. A round of applause as well for Maureen O'Sullivan as Mary (this is the best acting of hers I've seen), and Stanley Ridges as the death-happy D.A. As with his other roles, it took me a few minutes to realize it was him -- he's absolutely the most underrated character actor of his time. And let's give Ralph Bellamy a pat on the back as Lt. Everett just because his character is essential to proving the guys' innocence. Let Us Live comes highly recommended from this movie dork. And it runs only 68 minutes!

BONUS POINTS: You'll get lockjaw from saying, "Oh, that guy!" due to all the recognizable character actors. In addition to the perennial Charles Lane, there's Byron Foulger, Dick Elliot, Henry Kolker, Charles Trowbridge, Clarence Wilson, John Qualen, Sam McDaniel...

CLIMAX!: "NO RIGHT TO KILL" (8/9/1956): It seems to be go-to idea for movie and TV writers: when in doubt, churn out an update of Crime and Punishment. If you're unfamiliar with the details -- other than there was a crime followed by punishment -- the TV Guide outline on the right will suffice.

John Cassavetes was still riding high on the previously discussed live TV play Crime in the Streets as a juvenile delinquent. His performance here as the doomed wannabe writer Malcom McCloud is more age-appropriate but less believable. He seems way too smart to declaim his grandiloquent dialogue ("I shall leave!") even though his character probably would likely speak that way to prove he's more intellectual than his Greenwich Village neighbors. Cassavetes is also saddled with direction that screams I killed the pawnbroker!, which only arouses the suspicion of District Attorney Profear when they meet at a party. (Just how McCloud has a friend who knows the D.A. goes unexplained.)

The two main costars come off better than Cassavetes because they're better fits for their roles. Terry Moore makes her cliched character of the dumb but kindhearted waitress sympathetic and kind of believable. She can't help feeling something for McCloud, who's different from the grabby guys who populate her restaurant. (Climax! host Bill Lundigan reminds us that Moore "appears through the courtesy of 20th Century-Fox and is currently starring in Between Heaven and Hell, a 20th Century-Fox production in Cinemascope". Thanks for appearing on the 15-inch TV screen, Terry!)

No offense to John Cassavetes, but Robert Harris comes out on top as D.A. Porfear. Without anything but a gut feeling to go on, the sly, witty Profear gradually allows McCloud to confess without using the third-degree. I will bet a C-note that Harris patterned his performance on that of Edward Arnold, who played the role in the 1935 version of Crime and Punishment opposite Peter Lorre. While Cassavetes is the draw today in No Right to Kill, Harris is the one you wind up remembering.

BONUS POINTS: The commercials for the 1956 Chryslers are impressive, seeing there are up to five on stage at one time, and have pretty cool windows, too! 

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