Saturday, August 13, 2005

Recommended Reading

Frank Rich says the War in Iraq is over...George W. Bush just doesn't know it yet. I don't think I agree with this article but it may be more premature than wrong.

• Posted at 10:59 PM · LINK

Morning Updates

Tom Wolper informs me that the "Rue Brittania" storyline won't be on the third volume of Rocky & Bullwinkle DVDs since it's already on the second. So ignore what I said about that. In fact, while you're at it, ignore what I say about everything.

Vince Waldron informs me that the Aero Theater out in Santa Monica is running a Billy Wilder series and will be screening Ace in the Hole on August 25. It's all part of the American Cinematheque project, which screens classic films there and at the Egyptian in Hollywood, and which I keep forgetting to keep an eye on. Last July 25, they ran 1776, followed by a panel discussion with William Daniels, Ken Howard and the film's director, Peter Hunt. I would have liked to be there for it but I only found out about it just now when I set up the link to their calendar. In a few weeks, both theaters are presenting Terry Gilliam's movie, Brazil, and they're running the European cut, which is ten minutes longer than the version released in this country.

• Posted at 10:30 AM · LINK

Not (Yet) Coming on DVD...

I had a brief happy moment (about ten seconds) yesterday afternoon when I was looking at a list of upcoming DVD releases and saw Ace in the Hole. Turned out it was not the Ace in the Hole made in 1951 by Billy Wilder. It was a new documentary of the same name about Saddam Hussein.

Someone ought to put out the Wilder film, which starred Kirk Douglas and Jan Sterling, and was also released under the title, The Big Carnival. It was a cynical endeavor...one of those movies where you honestly can't find anyone to root for. Douglas plays a reporter who has sunk from the Big Time to working a dead-end beat at a rinky-dink New Mexico newspaper. When he stumbles across a mine disaster, he sees his chance to promote the accident into a story of national interest, and does so. In a time when every missing Caucasian woman is cause of 24/7 cable news coverage, the movie's message is more timely than ever before.

I have a tape from the one time I've seen it run on cable, but I'd really like a DVD. Surely someone who reads this website has the power to make that happen.

• Posted at 12:26 AM · LINK