Ryan Stewart

Pauline Kael said CHARADE was the best film of 1963, but she was completely dismissive of HOW TO STEAL A MILLION, calling it “anemic” and “blah.” This is baffling to me. I think the latter is superior in every way, it might even be Audrey Hepburn’s best-directed film.

Halfway through the Peter Lorre biography. There’s a funny passage about how once he got onto the WB lot he was like “I am never leaving here” and just became a fixture. He would hang around, hosting discussions on mysticism and ESP and other random stuff he knew about.

Watching PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES. I can’t say I’m enjoying this. It’s like a mix of AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS and The Monkees TV show. Broad and goofy and missing the acid touch of a Billy Wilder. William Holden might as well be on stage with his endless monologuing.

Currently reading: The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, by S. Youngkin. Fritz Lang demanded & received final cut on M, telling the producer he would only make a film about a child murderer if he had final say over every aspect of production and no one was allowed to question him.

Watching ROMAN HOLIDAY. This has to be among the most mature romance films. There are no confrontations, no one gets angry about being lied to, but the lying does kind of silently take its toll. It helps them decide it’s better to just walk away.

My Criterion flash sale pick is PEOPLE ON SUNDAY. I remember in the Cameron Crowe book Billy Wilder said that he sees the film as a portrait of his youth in Berlin and that given the opportunity he wouldn't want to watch it again now. I thought that was interesting.

R.I.P. Richard Riehle. He's in the best scene in the best episode of Star Trek: TNG. He plays Picard's friend, Batai, in "The Inner Light" who returns at the end of the episode as his younger self to show Picard that this has all been a program running to keep their memory alive.

Watching HUSH (1998). Jessica Lange pulls a Jack Nicholson here, she's crazy from the first scene. Sadly, director Jonathan Darby (one and done) is no Kubrick. It's mostly amateur hour. Gwyneth gets to do the "finding the car keys in the sun visor" thing, so there's that.

Watching SECRET PEOPLE (1952): Scorsese likes this film. It's about an anti-fascist group planting bombs in 1930s Britain. They recruit Audrey Hepburn! The specifics are vague, but it's very WWII-coded, with white roses and Auden's "September 1, 1939" being quoted. I liked it!

Filled in a blind spot: ROBIN AND MARIAN. This is a very, very laid-back film. You're supposed to just luxuriate in the company of middle-aged Connery & Hepburn, and I did, but I was hoping for a bit more. I'd love to see the imaginary 1961 movie that this is a legacy sequel to.

Currently reading: The Haunted Screen, by Lotte Eisner. From her chapter on Pabst & Louise Brooks: "Pabst's remarkable evolution must be seen as an encounter with an actress who needed no directing, but could move across the screen causing art to be born by her mere presence."

Trying to decide if I want to read that 700-page biography of Peter Lorre. It's surprising to me that he never worked with Billy Wilder despite them being good friends and roommates. I think they ended up having a dramatic falling out that's discussed in the Cameron Crowe book.

Currently reading: Wasteland, by W. Scott Poole. About the origins of horror cinema after WWI. When THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI was released in Los Angeles in May, 1921, two thousand people marched to protest it, leading to "fistfights and egg throwing" until cops broke it up.

Reading about how Mikey Madison wanted to try something daring and (presumably) use facial prosthetics to actually resemble the real-life character she plays in THE SOCIAL RECKONING and they wouldn't let her. Sigh. If it was Christian Bale, they'd have been happy to let him.

Watching Ron Howard's NIGHT SHIFT. Imagine if Breaking Bad was a wacky comedy. They funnel the proceeds of their prostitution ring into a burger joint, but then they have the hookers storm the place and start jumping over the counter because it's a wacky comedy. Weird, but fun.

Watching John Madden's PROOF. A very nice little drama that would get nowhere near a theater today. I knew before looking that Ebert gave it four stars because we see various Chicago locations and it shows us how the characters get from one place to another, his favorite thing.

A collection of items owned by Stanley Kubrick is going to auction in London, including the axe Nicholson used in the Dick Hallorann murder scene in THE SHINING, the Grady sisters’ dresses, cloaks and masks from EYES WIDE SHUT, etc. It’s going on a roadshow before the auction.

Currently reading: Have You Seen? by David Thomson. Over 1,000 pages of stray thoughts about hundreds of films. In his blurb on John Huston's THE UNFORGIVEN he suggests that someone should write a book about this film to help it endure. Agree, in fact I wish he was that writer.