BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: FILM #11

TONY PERKINS & THE PLACE HE NEEDED TO ACT FROM

“When I did Catch-22, I worked with Tony Perkins, 
who was a delightful, kind, and literate man. For
 some reason the moment he appeared before a 
camera things became painful for him. Just before
 the word ‘action,’ Tony would unfailingly say, 
‘Oh God, where did I go wrong.’ It was the place 
he worked from. He needed, for whatever reason, 
a sense of shame, or discomfort, or self-judgment
that took him to the place he felt he needed to 
act from.”*

Alan Arkin. An Improvised Life: a memoir 
( Detroit: Thorndike Press, 2011)

*Is it possible that Tony Perkins was simply being 
humorously ironic?

FILM REVIEW OF THE DAY OF THE DOLPHIN

“The most expensive Rin Tin Tin picture ever made 
with a gimmick the Rin Tin Tin pictures never stooped 
to: the dolphins here are dubbed with plaintive, 
childhood voices and speak in English.”

 “Goings on About Town in The New Yorker (January 7, 1974)
**

ON THE DOLPHINS IN THE DAY OF THE DOLPHIN


“The trained dolphins who played Alpha and Beta were actually named Buck (for screenwriter Buck Henry) and Ginger (for dancer Ginger Rogers). On the next to the last day of filming, when their parts were done, they escaped and never returned.”

IDMB trivia
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WOODY GUTHRIE ON THE GRAPES OF WRATH

“Seen the pitcher last night  ‘Grapes of Wrath,’ best cursed pitcher I ever seen. ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ you know is about us pullin’ out of Oklahoma and Arkansas, and down south and out, and driftin’ around over the state of California, busted, disgusted, down and out, and lookin’ for work.”

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FROM THE EMMY AWARD WINNING FILMMAKER
NELSON BREEN

Bless you most of all for the reproduction of the Life cover featuring Julie Christie, (BLOG POST: CELEBRITIES) whom I first met in 1985 in connection with a documentary I wrote and she was going to narrate on refugee women for the UN. She was staying at a friend’s apartment in the Apthorp & she greeted me at the door with a big smile and a blast of exhaled cigarette smoke. “I just quit smoking today,” I said, waving the smoke away with my hand. “Why would you do that?” she asked, taking a deep drag on the Marlboro in her hand, and continuing to chain smoke for the next couple of hours we were together. When I returned home to my wife Dana and infant son, she grimaced & said: “Well, that didn’t last long, did it? I could smell the cigarette smoke on you while you were still outside.”

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TIPS ON FILM REVIEWING 

"I always watch for the caterer but he goes uncredited. Makes a good case study for a film class of how things can go wrong. "

RICHARD GID POWERS

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MOVIE MAD

Anne Shirley –
Surely
You must have seen her in Murder, My Sweet.
No, you haven’t? Ah well, no sweat.
**

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA

“… he has made a lot of money: first in the film business and then, spectacularly, in the wine business. His second fortune has allowed him to spend most of his time here now, he said, reading things like the 18th-century Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the longest books ever written. “They spend their time inventing poetic names for things,” Coppola told me about the characters in the novel. “For example, if I were to say hello to you, I should have met you on the Steps of Friendly Greetings and greeted you there. And when I say goodbye to you, I should take you into the Pavilion of Parting. And it's the sort of attitude of making everything in life beautiful and a ritual of a kind. And you can do it! I'll say goodbye to you in the Pavilion of Parting— you'll never forget it.”

BY ZACH BARON
February 17, 2022 in THE GQ online =--gqdtory.com

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From MURRAY SUID founder of MobileMovieMaking Magazine https://mobilemoviemaking.com/about/

I have my own Bogdanovich story. He showed “Targets” 
at an American Film Institute conference in 1968—
in Santa Barbara. The majority of attendees hated 
the movie and were vocal in their criticism. It was 
brutal. Finally, Bogdanovich’s wife Polly Platt 
stood up and berated the audience for attacking 
her husband. It was a very emotional scene. 
Bogdanovich later dumped Polly and married Cybill 
Shepherd. I wonder if Polly regretted defending
 Peter.

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KNOW YOUR ENEMY –WWII PROPAGANDA FILM

Skillful American propaganda film from World War II
`Know your enemy – Japan' is an American propaganda film from 1945. It was directed by Frank Capra on behalf of the US War Department. The film is made up of sequences from documentaries with narration and music. There are bits that clearly are re-constructions of past events but are presented as though they are real news footage. Animated sequences exist. Walter Huston and Dana Andrews do the narration. The film is 60 minutes long. It was shown to allied soldiers serving in the Pacific region during World War II.
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ON THE DOCUMENTARY VAL --ABOUT VAL KILMER

"I'm glad to report, is not the better part of Val. Watching this documentary is like having Dorian Gray give you a guided tour of his attic."

Anthony Lane. "Settlers and Val" in The New Yorker (July 26,2021)
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JOYCE KILMER & VAL KILMER: HOW TO REMEMBER 
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO

Joyce Kilmer,
Val Kilme
The first wrote "Trees". The Other one
Co-starred with Tom Cruise in Top Gun.

LJP