MOVING ON

I'm thankful to 2 friends (John Brunas and Madeline Roesch) who helped pave the way for me to get to watch and appreciate the value of this 1935 movie from Universal Studios. John provided much interesting background about the movie, which I supplanted by reading pages of a movie book he co-wrote [Universal Horrors (The Studio's Classic Films, 1931-1946)]. James Whale, the director that inspired the main character in the biopic "Gods and Monsters" on his life, worked on this movie as a sequel to the 1931 "Frankenstein," and who first directed the First World War play "Journey's End" in London's West End (which in 2006 was brought on Broadway again but failed dismally in the box office; I saw a lot of viewers who were walking out even before the end of its First Act when I saw it courtesy of another friend). Just at the start of summer, I watched this movie with other film enthusiasts at Bryant Park, with my friend Madeline. The rains t...

We thought it would be raining harshly last night, but we took the risk and went on our way to wait and watch "Psycho," Alfred Hitchcock's (as remade by Gus Van Sant in 1998) disturbingly well crafted black and white movie made in 1960. Bryant Park's 15th year Summer Film Festival, as spearheaded by HBO, ended last night with the screening of this pre-eminent film among a tradition of suspense movies that try to catch our fancy and hidden fears that lie deep within ourselves. The park last night was not crowded, as many might have thought the screening would be canceled due to bad weather. However, those brave souls who persisted got rewarded with another fascinating experience of a free screening of a well-dissected film known for bringing out primal fears out in the open. All in all, the weather seemed to have joined in making the screening experience more scary than usual. We even had to open the umbrella from time to time as the rains continuously threatened to s...