So, I guess I won't be doing my usual Criterion round-up for the past month since, well, I dropped my laptop on Thursday and have to overnight it tomorrow for repairs. Naturally, I had been planning to back it up the same day but hadn't yet gotten to it. Here's hoping I'll eventually get it working again.

In the meantime, just popping in on the Math Greek's MacBook (aargh, Macs) to say that it looks like there aren't quite as many films expiring in July as last month and they are pretty much restricted to the entirety of just a few large collections: (written by) Frances Marion, (title designs by) Saul Bass, and (directed by) Jean-Luc Godard. Unfortunately, these are all collections with stuff I had added to my list, but I'll at least have made some progress on my queue by the end of the month instead of rushing to see films I only sort of want to watch.

So, July priorities are as follows:
Marion: The Wind, Stella Dallas, The Big House, The Champ
Bass: The Big Knife, The Big Country, Seconds, The Human Factor
Godard: Vivre sa vie, Bande à part, 2 ou 3 choses..., Week-end
3 x Nicole Holofcener: Friends with Money, Lovely & Amazing, Please Give

The Saul Bass collection is somewhat of an odd beast in that some of the title designs weren't particularly notable, but a number of the films looked good when we went through the collection as a whole just watching the credits so we have been going back through it slowly over the last few weeks. One of my favorite discoveries doing that was Walk on the Wild Side (early Jane Fonda). They don't have much to do with the film, but the credits have some of the best cat photography I've ever seen.

In any case, my expiring priorities all seem very doable except for the fact that they just added a Western Noir collection that I want to watch ASAP. Two of my favorites genres together at last! The collection includes a few films that I've been dying to see but couldn't get anywhere, namely, Blood on the Moon, Lust for Gold, and Rancho Notorious, but everything looks good to me there and I think it makes sense to watch them as a group. The other upside is that the Math Greek hasn't seen most of them either so he is almost as eager to watch them as I am.

Walk on the Wild Side is one of my fav Bass credits, and it's also a famous theme which was done and re-done by jazz dudes for years. As for the movie itself: Stone Butch Barbara Stanwyck! Capucine!

Blood on the Moon is my favorite Noir/Western. EM and I used to call it Plaid on the Moon (you'll see once you note the costuming choices). Rare Robert Preston role before Music Man.

Wasn't Preston mainly a theatre guy?

Wasn't Preston mainly a theatre guy?

He did a ton of theatre, but his filmography has him making movies ever year from 1939 to 1963. He did a lot of Westerns in the 40s.

Robert Preston

"There's nothing worse than an old queen with a headcold."

And also, "Greetings, Starfighter!"

• Tries to "Love" Beverly's post*

I remember, from YEARS ago, an interview with Robert Preston in which he talked about getting the Harold Hill role. He kept telling his agent he wasn't a singer and his agent pressured him to audition. Preston went to the audition and was asked to perform the "oh we got trouble" patter song ... and the rest is history.

Does anyone else remember him in "Semi Tough"? it had send-ups of various therapies and there was a scene in which he's had all his office furniture removed because he'd been advised that "creeping" (crawling) was the solution to everything. There was also an exquisitely satirical take on rolfing (with Burt Reynolds as the subject).

I'd love to have seen that interview. His enthusiasm and humor were for me the most compelling things about him.

And I misquoted, above. The correct line is, "Oh god. There's nothing more inconvenient than an old queen with a head cold. A-CHOO!"

Not sure if this is the right place for it, but the Smart Bitches have a review of the Will Ferrell Eurovision movie. It has embedded clips and such. The reviewer had some things she liked, some she didn't and is specific.

I really enjoyed The Old Guard, even though I found a lot of the tropes pretty predictable. I knew Booker was going to betray them; that Quyen (sp?) was going to come back as a villain; that Copley was going to second-guess his loyalties.

I would like to know when Nile had time to redo her hair between getting picked up by Andy and when they went to London...