Saturday, February 25, 2012

Let's Go To The Movies

I've decided to institute a new format to our weekly Saturday serials by adding a cartoon, a comedy short, and a feature each weekend.


In this July 1946 Paramount Newsreel, we see highlights from the American League's 12-0 annihilation of the National League in that year's Baseball All-Star Game, as well as film footage of a deadly B-17 crash near Holyoke, Massachusetts that claimed the lives of 25 GIs, and Howard Hughes' near-fatal crash of his experimental XF-11 airplane. 





Next, a Paramount 1946 Noveltoon entitled "The Stupidstitous Cat," which introduced Buzzy the Crow to the Famous Studios roster.


With animation by Graham Place and John Walworth, story by Carl Meyer and Jack Ward, scenics by Anton Loeb, and musical arrangement by Winston Sharples, this cartoon, which involved a superstitious cat who was hoping that eating fresh crow meat would give him good luck, was directed by Seymour Kneitel.





Next, a 1938 Educational Pictures two-reel comedy (distributed theatrically by 20th Century-Fox) starring Willie Howard in "The Miss They Missed."  Produced by Al Christie, written by Billy K. Wells, and photographed by George Webber.





Next, "The Raider Strikes," the opening chapter of our 1941 Universal Pictures serial, Sea Raiders with the Dead End Kids and the Little Tough Guys.  Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Bernard Pulsey, Hal E. Chester, Joe Recht, William Hall, John McGuire, Mary Field, Edward Keane, Marcia Ralston, Reed Hadley, Stanley Blystone, Richard Alexander, and Ernie Adams were featured in the cast.  With original screenplay by Clarence Upson Young and Paul Huston and  photography by William Sickner (ASC), and with Henry MacRae as associate producer, this 12-chapter serial was directed by Ford Beebe and John Rawlins.





And now, our feature presentation:


Hedy Lamarr stars in "Dishonored Lady" (Mars Films Inc., a United Artists release).  In this one, Hedy (whose production company made this picture) plays the role of a girl with a past, who would by cleared of a murder charge by her psychiatrist.  John Loder, Dennis O'Keefe, Paul Cavanagh, William Lundigan, Natalie Schafer (of future Gilligan's Island fame---or infamy), and Morris Carnovsky are also in the cast.  With photography by Lucien Andriot and music by Carmen Dragon, this 1947 film, with screenplay by Edmund H. North (based on Edward Sheldon's play) was produced by Jack Chertok and directed by Robert Stevenson.


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