Cinecon 45 Report - Well, here I am at home, back on the computer, and another Cinecon has come and gone (it all goes by so fast!) - I had a great time, as usual. Now here's the bad, nothing to do with Cinecon, just circumstances - - first, the weather was horribly hot for most of Cinecon (which is typical for Labor Day weekend, but yucky nevertheless). Second, I had to go home at four o'clock on the Saturday afternoon to attend a family obligation, so had to miss two films showing that evening I *really* wanted to see - the pre-code Afraid to Talk (1932) and silent film with Lon Chaney Broadway Love (1918) (I'm sad) - (I also missed The Last Bandit (1949) and Nightmare (1942), but since that was the late film I probably would have missed it anyway). Third, and this is the first time this has happened in the fifteen years I have been to Cinecon, I started getting a cough on Sunday but felt fine (I have had a sore throat for the last week plus, but attributed it to the bad smoky air that has been at my house from the wildfires) - on Monday morning I still felt fine but the cough was getting worse - by Monday afternoon, it seemed I had caught a fast-moving bug as I started to feel sicker and sicker as the afternoon went on until I finally just had to go home and miss the last movie (When I got home I tried a cure for myself - two Martinis and a shot of Slivovitz (white lightning!) - I'm sick, but not horribly bad today - it may have helped!). Here's a couple of good things - 1. the Egyptian Theatre, where all the screenings took place, didn't seem quite as freezing cold this year. 2. I didn't fall asleep during a single movie (and there is usually one each Cinecon).
My favorite silent film of the weekend (and I am very partial to the silents - I wouldn't mind if Cinecon screened nothing but silent movies!!): Good Time Charley (1927) starring Warner Oland - this was really good. Second favorite film: I also quite enjoyed Paid to Love (1926) starring handsome George O'Brien, Virginia Valli, and William Powell. I really did like all the silents screened except for, and now we get to my least favorite silent film shown, which was Spuds (1927), just not funny - too bad. My favorite talkie films were: Lover Come Back (1931), lots of pre-code fun, The Miracle Man (1932), a good watch, and Hatter's Castle (1942), Robert Newton's scary voice from this film is still in my head. Luckily, there was no real dud for me this Cinecon, but my least favorite talkie was: actually, the first feature film shown on the Thursday evening, Flame of Calcutta (1953) - though the Technicolor looked really nice, this just didn't catch me.
Here's this year's amusements or oddities as seen or heard on Hollywood Blvd - - the weird: there was a man who may have been homeless walking along with this bird hat thing on his head and he was sort of right behind me making these weird bird squawk noises (moved along faster to get away from him). The funny (well, not really): walking behind me at one point was a tourist man and his son - the son was reading all the names off the Walk of Fame stars as they walked along - at one point the kid said "Terence Stamp". Loud, Obnoxious Dad: "What did you say the person's last name is?" Kid: "Stamp, dad, Stamp". Dad: "Did you say Stamp?! Stamp? What sort of name is that for a guy to get stuck with, dude?! Stamp! What's his first name, Postage?!". Okey dokey. (Note: it starts to get kind of annoying walking along Hollywood Blvd with all those movie star tour bus guys pushing their leaflets and asking "Wanna take a tour?" every five feet! Musso and Frank's is one of my favorite restaurants, but think I'll be avoiding Hollywood for awhile).
The Cinecon bathroom phenomenon continues. Long lines at the men's room, no wait in the ladies's room. I heard women in the restroom commenting a number of times, quite happily, on this - while grumbles were heard while walking by the men's room line (sometimes snaking almost to the lobby). The only event I have ever been to where this happens.
Things I learned at Cinecon: 1. Some people don't seem to know how to turn off a cell phone. 2. Women seem to lose their memory when something shocking happens - like their husband has another wife, or they get beat up by a couple of con artists. 3. I find myself appreciating the comedy of Shemp Howard more and more as the years go by - I start laughing the moment he comes on screen now. 4. George O'Brien, though not exactly my personal "type", has got *It*. 5. Charley Chase is great (but I already knew that!). 6. Slut means "The End" in Swedish.
Full reviews coming for the films I saw over the weekend. Reviews are being posted on the Cinecon 45 page here.
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