SCHEDULE UPDATE... 31 DAYS of OSCAR Blogathon

The winners, the losers, the snubs, the back stories, the gossip, the players and the games…this time it’s all about Oscar!
We’re back – Kellee (@IrishJayHawk66) of Outspoken and Freckled, Paula (@Paula_Guthat) of Paula’s Cinema Club and Aurora (@CitizenScreen) of Once Upon a Screen – hosting a new, mammoth blogathon event.  To coincide with Turner Classic Movie’s (TCM) 31 Days of Oscar it’s a February filled with fabulous tales and screen wonders.  But this one is not just for classic film fare, we want to see and hear it all from the golden man’s more than eighty-year history, including this year’s nominees.
The details:
- Submit one entry or ten on any of the following due dates throughout the month to any of the hosts either on comments or by email:

January 31

February 7

February 14

February 21

February 28

We’ll promote entries for an entire week after each due date.
-       Submissions should include as much information about you as possible: First name, Twitter tag, link(s) to your site(s) and email address.
-       If you have a preferred submission date, please make a note of that as well.  However, we welcome all submissions on any of the dates specified.
Aurora and I so love Paula’s blogathon banner we told her to stop at only one…

We encourage you to proudly display this banner on your site and cannot wait to hear from you. As the excitement builds…HAPPY BLOGGING!
BE SURE to tune in to TCM all month long to watch and learn about the films and players that made history. And now for the SCHEDULE...

FEB 1-7: (Kellee of Outspoken & Freckled will host)

• Vanessa of  "Stardust" ... http://bwallover.blogspot.ca
• Aurora of  "Once Upon A Screen" ... http://onceuponascreen.wordpress.com
• Lindsey of  "The Motion Pictures" ... http://themotionpictures.net
• Pete of  "Furious Cinema" ... http://furiouscinema.com
• Kevin aka  "Jack Deth"... (hosted by) http://paulascinemaclub.com
• The Gal Herself of  "One Gal's Musings" ... http://onegalsmusings.blogspot.com
• David of  "Be Careful! Your Hand!" ... http://becarefulyourhand.blogspot.co.uk
• Ratnakar of  "Seetimaar- Diary Of A Movie Lover" ... http://seetimaar.wordpress.com
• Ruth of "Silver Screenings" ... http://www.silverscreenings.org
• Murtaza of "A Potpourri of Vestiges" ... http://www.apotpourriofvestiges.com 

FEB 8-14: (Aurora of Once Upon A Screen will host)

• Jessica of  "Comet Over Hollywood" ... http://cometoverhollywood.com
• The Gal Herself of  "One Gal's Musings" ... http://onegalsmusings.blogspot.com
• The Lady Eve of "The Lady Eve's Reel Life" ...  http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/
• Paula of  "The Daily Maine" ... http://dailymaine.blogspot.com/
• Fernando of "Committed to Celluloid" ... http://fernandorafael.wordpress.com/
• Kellee of  "Outspoken & Freckled" ... http://www.kelleepratt.blogspot.com
• Ivan of "Thrilling Days of Yesteryear" ...  http://thrillingdaysofyesteryear.blogspot.com/
• Samuel of  "Be Careful! Your Hand!" ... http://becarefulyourhand.blogspot.co.uk
• Ruth of "Silver Screenings" ...  http://www.silverscreenings.org
•  Ratnakar of  "Seetimaar- Diary Of A Movie Lover" ... http://seetimaar.wordpress.com

 FEB 15-21: (Paula of Paula's Cinema Club)

• Marlee of  "Spoilers" ... http://www.picturespoilers.wordpress.com
• The Gal Herself of  "One Gal's Musings" ...  http://onegalsmusings.blogspot.com
• Le of  "Critica Retro" ... http://www.criticaretro.blogspot.com
• Joel of  "Joel's Classic Film Passion" ... http://www.joelrwilliams1.blogspot.com
• Paul of  "Lasso The Movies" ... http://www.lassothemovies.com
• Karen of  "Shadows and Satin" ...http://www.shadowsandsatin.wordpress.com
• Patricia aka "Paddy" of  "Caftan Woman" ... http://www.caftanwoman.blogspot.com
• Ruth of "Silver Screenings" ... http://www.silverscreenings.org
• Rich of Wide Screen World ... http://www.widescreenworld.com 

FEB 22-28: (Aurora of Once Upon A Screen)

• Marlee of  "Spoilers" ... http://www.picturespoilers.wordpress.com
• Patricia aka "Paddy" of  "Caftan Woman" ... http://www.caftanwoman.blogspot.com
• Iba of  "I luv cinema" ... http://www.iluvcinema.com
• Michael of "It Rains, You Get Wet" ... http://www.le0pard13.com
• Nikki of  "All Things Classic Film" ... http://www.allthingsclassicfilm.wordpress.com 
• Kay of "Movie Star Makeover" ... http://www.moviestarmakeover.com/blog
• Ruth of  "FlixChatter" ... http://www.flixchatter.net
• Le of  "Critica Retro" ... http://www.criticaretro.blogspot.com

MARCH 1-7: (Kellee of Outspoken & Freckled)

• Lindsey of  "The Motion Pictures" ... http://www.themotionpictures.net
• Greg of (Citizen Screenings will post) ... http://www.citizenscreenings.wordpress.com 
• Jenni of  "Portraits by Jenni" ... http://www.portraitsbyjenni.wordpress.com
• Paula of   "Paula's Cinema Club" ... http://www.paulascinemaclub.com
• Aurora of  "Once Upon A Screen" ... http://www.aurorasginjoint.com
• Nikki of  "All Things Classic Film" ... http://www.allthingsclassicfilm.com
• Ruth of  "Silver Screenings" ... http://www.silverscreenings.org

 All the above scheduled participants will post their blog entries at the beginning of their scheduled week on their sites as listed. Then, the designated "hostess-with-the-most-ess" will promote throughout the week. Scheduling is subject to change and updates (including posts on bloggers' specific topics and links) will be broadcast by all three hosts- so be sure to check in for more details to come! Thanks for joining us on the red carpet!!

Duck and Cover... and Pass the Popcorn!

Recently, I attended a local event sponsored by Kansas Public Radio's Retro Cocktail Hour, Cinema A Go-Go: Atomic Age Nightmares. It was a deliciously campy evening of radioactive cinema shown at my favorite local art house theater, Liberty Hall. The double feature included Spencer G. Bennet's THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE (1960) and Anton Guilio Majano's ATOM AGE VAMPIRE (1963). For a special treat, they added a short feature, an industrial film from the United States Office of Civil Defense: "Survival Under Atomic Attack" (1951). 

To say this government short film on how to survive a nuclear attack and subsequent fallout is ridiculously naive is an understatement. Which is exactly why it was so uproariously funny. At first it comes across as rather depressing, to ponder the very real and horrific atomic attack on Japan. But then you're quickly swept up in the 50's perfection household stereotype. It gets laugh out loud funny with certain fallout 'pointers' like putting up dark shades on your windows (as the blast flashes in the background), and simply washing out your hair to rid yourself of that nasty radioactive dust. They summarize by optimistically assuring the audience that by following these handy tips, all be perfectly okay.

Next up, came our first feature-length film, THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE (1960). It starts with a naval crew on a top-secret mission on the high-tech nuclear-powered submarine, the Tiger Shark, to resolve mysterious disappearances of several ships and submarines close to the North Pole. They soon discover a challenging alien foe deep in the arctic circle waters via a deep sea flying saucer. The cheesiness abounds from the low budget special effects (note the high ceilings in the sub) to the forced conflict of its two main characters- the 'career military' traditional commander and the young pacifist scientist. Surprisingly, this conflict is utilized as a platform for a bit of ideological discussion. If you choose to enjoy the camp of this flick in a 'Mystery Science 3000' approach as many did, you will also note there are silly sexual innuendos everywhere, including an improbable love scene at the beginning between the commander and a platinum blonde (also known as girlfriend to Frank Sinatra at the time). There's a wealth of character actors and my favorite part is the cyclops-styling alien creature.

CAST:

Arthur Franz... Lt. Cmdr. Richard 'Reef' Holloway Dick Foran... Cmdr. Dan Wendover Brett Halsey... Dr. Carl Neilson Jr. Tom Conway... Sir Ian Hunt Paul Dubov... Lt. David Milburn Bob Steele... CPO 'Grif' Griffin Victor Varconi... Dr. Clifford Kent Joi Lansing... Julie Selmer Jackson... Adm. Terhune Jack Mulhall... Justin Murdock Jean Moorhead... Helen Milburn Richard Tyler... Frogman Carney Kenneth Becker... Frogman Powell Sid Milton... Yeoman Chester Tuttle For our final feature, Anton Guilio Majano's ATOM AGE VAMPIRE (1963) closed out the nuclear-powered evening. I didn't like this one as much as I did the first. But it was a fun romp nonetheless. The title is a bit misleading if you ask me. "Atom Age Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" would be more appropriate. It's an odd plot but it's obvious much was lost in translation with the dubbing. It starts with a beautiful platinum blonde (gee, I see a pattern here) whom due to a tragic car accident, awakens with severe facial scarring in the hospital. Her vanity overcomes her so she seeks refuge with a mad scientist and his gorgeous assistant instead of alerting her beau of her new look or whereabouts. Turns out, this scientist studied the effects of nuclear attack of burn victims of the Japanese citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He's created a special serum that reverses the skin's damages when activated by radiation. With a leap of faith and a dose of magical elixir, she emerges as beautiful as before the accident. The scientist falls in love with her- she who is the result of his miraculously successful experiment; and out of love with his assistant. As you can imagine, this doesn't sit too well with the assistant who also grows concerned that the experiment is not as successful as her boss had envisioned. As the scarring starts to appear again on our plutonium, err, I mean platinum heroine and as our scientist runs out of his serum, he falls deeper into madness into a desperate attempt to recreate his solution and salvage his miracle. He goes on a killing spree of young women, starting with his jealous and beautiful assistant. He takes to experimenting on himself which gradually turns himself into a more and more hideously scarred monster. Keeping up so far? Yeah, me neither. But despite the incredulous plot, it was a blast.

CAST:
Alberto Lupo... Prof. Alberto Levin
Susanne Loret... Jeanette Moreneau
Sergio Fantoni... Pierre Mornet
Franca Parisi... Monique Riviere

Hope you enjoyed my atomic journey as much as I did. I love these B-movie Sci-Fi classics from the 50's and early 60's. I've always been drawn to the atomic age from a design perspective too. I live in a mid-century home in the midst of a neighborhood filled with gorgeous examples of mid-century modern design. I even belong to a group of other atomic-age architecture lovers called "Lawrence Modern". For you fellow atomic age movie lovers... enjoy!

DJANGO UNCHAINED and My Love of Westerns

I recently went to see Quentin Tarantino's DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012). Twice. I enjoyed it that much. In seeing this film, I couldn't help thinking about the western genre and my attraction to this film genre over the years.

As a youth I was introduced to and enjoyed classic film, and this included westerns. I recall John Wayne films being amongst the first. I was specifically drawn to those directed by John Ford and Howard Hawks. All those iconic frames in striking contrast of shadows and light and profiles in doorways, across deserts and in canyons... especially all those gorgeous landscape scenes of Monument Valley. And spaghetti westerns- oh how I loved those raw yet exquisitely stylish Sergio Leone films. It made me feel like I was at home, somehow. I guess my rustic childhood and the fragrant scent of sagebrush in Taos, New Mexico influenced me in this way. But what also influenced me from my impoverished yet beautiful southwestern roots experience was a passion for social justice.

There are some key essentials that makes a western a western. 1. Right triumphs over wrong. 2. The protagonist hero has an unwavering thirst for justice by any means and 3. the style and background is always unfettered and beautifully rustic; be it "wild old west", southwest, or otherwise. My childhood was the perfect prep course for appreciating westerns. And DJANGO UNCHAINED hits all these marks and then some.
 


With DJANGO UNCHAINED, Quentin Tarantino tackles the obvious moral cancer of slavery. Westerns need the elemental theme of right vs. wrong in the most simple, clear-cut and back-and-white sense. Slavery of African Americans in early American history is the perfect fit for this yet somehow so many westerns of past have failed to tackle this well-suited topic. The issue of slavery rivals few others in social justice historical struggles (other than say, Hitler's Holocaust as depicted in INGLORIOUS BASTARDS (2009) or the near genocide of American Indians, although that reality of the true enemy was often turn-table flipped around on film).

Jamie Fox's Django as the lead protagonist plays the perfect crusader against social injustice. He is believable, bigger-than-life forceful, and empathetic. But this film takes a new twist in adding a supporting sidekick role that parallels, if not supersedes, our protagonist hero role in Christoph Waltz's Dr. King Schultz. Waltz's Dr. Schultz is loyal, clever and profoundly moral. There are so many extraordinary performances in this film (Jamie Fox, Leo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson...) and Waltz is at the top of the heap. Django and Dr. Schultz make a force-of-nature team in battling the moral injustices of their time via sharp-shooting and battling wits in a violent world. 

DJANGO UNCHAINED does a fine job in including the final element of the western in style. But Tarantino goes one further in adding direct nods to the spaghetti western genre. He adds the realistic component of violence and a signature musical score with an editing edge that recalls the Sergio Leone vibe. While I love westerns for my own reasons, I hope you'll go see DJANGO UNCHAINED and appreciate it for your own reasons... like that it's just SO Damn good.