A Broken Heart and a Glass Of Beer

New Beer Halls

2010-04-07T10:51:00.001-04:00

A comic strip about the current influx of New Beer Halls. Currently appearing in the latest issue of Ale Street News.

A Broken Heart and a Glass Of Beer: IMG_9262KB_BROOKLYN_BEER_NIGHT

2010-03-26T14:50:00.000-04:00

A Broken Heart and a Glass Of Beer: IMG_9262KB_BROOKLYN_BEER_NIGHT

IMG_9262KB_BROOKLYN_BEER_NIGHT

2010-03-26T14:48:00.001-04:00

IMG_9262KB_BROOKLYN_BEER_NIGHT, originally uploaded by barcadebrooklyn.

Sophie at Brooklyn Beer Night at Barcade

Turner Classic Movies & Sophie

2009-07-17T11:56:00.001-04:00

Turner Classic Movies & Sophie
Originally uploaded by maltydog

Sophie emjoys the classic film programming of TCM.

Rate Advocate Page

2008-08-12T10:34:00.003-04:00

Rate Advocate Page, originally uploaded by maltydog.

This comic strip is inspired by several sites that allow rating of beer.

In Memorium: The Beer Hunter

2007-11-14T11:17:00.000-05:00

This comic strip is a tribute to the great British beer writer, Michael Jackson, who passed away on August 30.

Beer Alert Page

2007-11-14T11:02:00.000-05:00

This comic strip is about my other website, The Beer Alert Page, which provides a quick rundown on draft selections at bars that are in the NYC area. There is a particularly busy thriving beer bars scene happening in my immediate neighborhood, the Northern Brooklyn area of Greenpoint/Williamsburg. Anyway, here is a quick run down on the site.

Salty Dog's Beer Tours

2007-11-14T10:53:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been over a month since my last post! I've been slacking. Hope to have more interesting stuff up soon. Anyway, here's a tour of some of the best bars in Belgium in five easy naps:

Dachshund Comic

2007-10-07T19:08:00.001-04:00

Dachshund Comic, originally uploaded by maltydog.

This comic strip commemorated the adoption of my dachshund-mix dog, Ludwig, five years ago.

Smisje Catherine the Great Imperial Stout

2007-09-19T15:57:00.000-04:00

This label, for the Regenboog Brewery in the outskirts of Brugges, is inspired by scurrilous rumors about the death of a certain Russian Empress.

Coney Island Brewery

2007-09-19T00:13:00.000-04:00

This Salty Dog comic strip is based on the idea of a brewpub in Coney Island, with beers based on sideshow characters. Who know, that may be what they end up doing there at this point!

Lay Lady Lady

2007-09-10T20:37:00.000-04:00

One of the odder Bob Dylan covers. This is by Pete Drake and His Talking Steel Guitar. Drake was a very popular session musician in Nashville in the 50's and sixties. He developed a "voice tube" which he used on this recording. Sounds a bit like Hal from 2001 is singing Dylan. This is from the CD For Pete's Sake from King, which is still available.

I want to put more music up on this blog sometime, but I have to find a good place to store the files.

The Poor Soul

2007-09-08T10:31:00.000-04:00

This post is part of the First Annual 2007 Slapstick Blog-a-thon organized by Film of the Year.

About a year ago Looser Than Loose released their “Ham, The Lost Magic of Lloyd Hamilton” DVD set. I purchased it as soon as it came out, and at the time, I posted a review on Alt.Movies.Silent and later on at silentcomedians.com.. With the Slapstick Blog-a-Thon weekend going on, I figured it was time to post it here, something I had been planning to do for quite some time anyway. And this time I can add some screen captures.
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After going through 5 discs in less than 24 hours, I am pleased to say they did a very impressive job. “Ham” Hamilton’s reputation with silent comedy buffs has been validated. Previous to this, I first saw MOVE ALONG on Herb Graff’s PBS show in the late 60's or early 70's, and loved it. Then I purchased a Blackhawk print of BREEZING ALONG which was quite mediocre and disappointing. A few years ago I picked up 2 Grapevine tapes (one including talkies), and there was some okay stuff on it, but I wasn’t blown away. But I always hoped to see some more really impressive films, because even in his less interesting movies, Lloyd Hamilton always had a unique, off-kilter personality and way of reacting that intrigued me.

Anyway, the set (which arrived 2 days after ordering on their website) consists of 5 discs, one of the early Ham & Bud shorts, 2 discs of Hamilton’s starring silent shorts, 1 disc of talkie shorts, and a disc of extras including various odds and ends. The bulk of the key stuff is on discs 2 and 3, and the set overall may be a bit of overkill, but I enjoyed the whole thing for the perspective it gave me of his entire career. With one exception, the prints were as good as can be expected for obscure films that were scattered all over the world, often remaining available only in 16mm. The sound tracks consist of vintage recordings from the time period of the films, and are very well mastered, and well integrated into the shorts...it’s not one of those cases where it just looks like somebody had their old jazz CDs on shuffle, as is sometimes the case. They did a superb job of it. I was impressed with the production and will definitely order stuff from Loose Than Loose again ( they also have a Larry Semon DVD set out).

Now as to the films themselves...well, Ham and Bud is still far from my favorite comedy team. Often the ideas behind the shorts are funny, often in a very sick way (The SAUSAGE FACTORY and PHONE CANNIBAL especially) but they do not seem especially well done, and Hamilton had not really found an interesting character. It was nice to see enough of them together that I had some kind of feel for the films but if this was all Hamilton had made we wouldn’t have much reason to remember him today. Aside from the two mentioned above, I also liked LOVE MAGNET, which was very absurd...an inventor creates a magnet which makes Women chase after the possessor. Ham and Bud each get one, and there is a chase seen where women from all over chase after the two of them. It almost seems like a precursor for the climax of SEVEN CHANCES.

The discs 2 and 3 as mentioned contain solo starring shorts. Disc 2 contains 3 complete 2 reelers, JONAH JONES, CAREFUL PLEASE and NOBODY’S BUSINESS. It also contains the first reel of an incomplete short NOTHING MATTERS, and a bonus Ham and Bud short. The 2 reelers are very funny, with a unique sense of humor and personality. I especially like the early scenes of Hamilton as a bill collector in CAREFUL PLEASE and the wonderful NOBODY”S BUSINESS, which begins with a very funny gag with Hamilton unknowingly walking around with a clothes rack attached to his coat (later borrowed by Dick Van Dyke for his silent comedy tribute, THE COMIC) and the spectacular lunch wagon/roller coaster scene which raps up the film. There is also as an extra the first reel of a short called NOTHING MATTERS, which ends abruptly just about the time Anita Garvin appears, unfortunately. Also as an extra is another Ham & Bud short.

Disk 3 includes the 2 reel surviving version of the feature film HIS DARKER SELF, which frankly is not very good. Then there is another superb short, CRUSHED, which has some wonderful scenes on a subway. After this there is MOVE ALONG, which is a great short as mentioned before, but unfortunately they did not have access to a good print, or even a bad one, and had to use a video source, so the picture quality is pretty low. There are extras of another, short fragment, HOOKED, and another Ham & Bud short.

Disk 4 includes talkie shorts. Hamilton is funny, and his voice is fine, but the storylines and gags are for the most part pretty weak, though there is some nice double exposure trick photography in DON”T BE NERVOUS. Also a Hollywood on Parade short featuring Hamilton as an extra, and another Ham and Bud Short.

Disk 5 is all extras....including 2 complete Ham and Bud shorts, the fragment of another, fragments of 2 solo starting shorts and a press sheet, a glass slide show and a photo gallery of Ham’s films. There is also an audio recording of the Lloyd Hamilton them played by Ben Model. Anyway, summing up the whole thing is a very nice package. There remains some highly-regarded solo shorts that still have to be issued (THE VAGRANT, A TWILIGHT BABY, GOOD MORNING) so we can hope there will be more DVDs later on. Also, hopefully Grapevine may see put to reissue the Hamilton shorts they had in VHS on better DVD copies.

At any rate, it is great to see the amazing quantity of silent materials that have beencoming out from different companies the last few years: Kino, Image/David Shepard, Lobster, Milestone, Laughsmith, ReelClassicDVD, Unknown Video, Sunrise) and now it’s a pleasure to add Looser Than Loose to the list. I never would’ve imagined 4 or 5 years ago that I would have multi-disc DVD sets of Charley Bowers, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, and Lloyd Hamilton!

Highly recommended!

Milt Gross: Cartoon Tour of New York

2007-09-04T14:52:00.000-04:00

More on Milt Gross. The link below takes you directly to the great ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. They have a complete copy of a wonderful booklet that Milt Gross did for the New York World's Fair in 1939. This is the cover, but to enjoy the full tour guide, click here. To check the main site, click on our links.

Count Screwloose - Wanted: No Master

2007-09-04T11:18:00.001-04:00

One of the great newspaper cartoonist Milt Gross's few forays into animated cartoons, Wanted: No Master, from MGM, 1939.

Fresh Lobster

2007-09-02T17:15:00.000-04:00

This weird animated film, starring Billy Bletcher, has been listed in various resources as having a date of 1928, 1934, and 1948. I have no idea which is right, but it is so weird it is timeless! I got this link from the Liketelevision website. The player is a little wacky.

LikeTelevision Embed Movies and TV Shows

Old Salty Barleywine 2002

2007-09-02T09:28:00.001-04:00

oldsalty2002 new, originally uploaded by maltydog.

This Heayweight Old Salty beer label was inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray. The Salty Dog sees his liver in his Mirror reflection.

Lanespotting, #7

2007-08-28T22:06:00.000-04:00

As a dog judge in the Disney film, The Ugly Dachshund, with Dean Jones, 1966.

Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli

2007-08-26T11:59:00.001-04:00

A great clip of the Hot Club of France from around 1938.

Old Wine in New Bottles

2007-08-24T15:06:00.000-04:00

It is always interesting to me how you can make use of some of the latest technology to access older media and technology. I love to watch DVDs of silent movies...in fact, there are more silent films in circulation now then there were when I was first interested in them 30 years or so ago. And with a DVD you get a nice soundtrack and if appropriate, color tints for no extra cost, unlike film prints from back then.

Another new way of accessing old Americana that I've just been getting into recent is Pandora.com, the free Radio station (or should I say stations) from the Music Genome Project. You type in a artist or a song you like, and the huge database of music, categorized in many different ways, is searched for songs that would make a good match as a streaming radio station. After this, you can add additional songs or artists as guidelines (they are called "seeds") and you also can give a thumbs up to especially appropriate song choices and thumbs down to songs that don't belong on that station. In addition, once you've created a few stations, you can instead of giving a simple thumbs down to a song, redirect it by saying, no it belongs on this other station.

A few hours of obsessive categorization in this manner, and you have all sorts of idiosyncratic stations to listen to. Today, as noted below, I have been listening boogie-woogie piano all day, yesterday I was listening to some country blues, some jazz guitar, and various old, weird, pre-blues musics. There are links at right to the stations I have set up so far, in about 4 or 5 days. You can listen to them without signing up, if you want to create your own stations, you have to sign up, but there is no charge.

I am finding it well worth while and am really enjoying listening to it. There are some styles of music I'd like to find more of, but the database is growing (over half a million songs so far), so I am hopeful it can continue. And if your taste in music is not as antiquarian and obscure as mine, I'm guessing you will have better luck finding stuff you like.

For what it's worth, this is an endorsement!

Boogie Woogie Dream

2007-08-24T12:28:00.001-04:00

I am in a boogie woogie mood, as I have been listening to my Pandora Boogie Woogie Station all morning. So I did a quick look at Utube for some nice boogie woogie footage, and found this great bit by Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons, Boogie Woogie Dream. And also figured out how to post a youtube clip directly to my blog while I was at it!

Approved for General Audiences

2007-08-24T10:45:00.001-04:00

Approved for General Audiences, originally uploaded by maltydog.

This is the comic strip in the current (August-September 2007) issue of Ale Street News. It is inspired by recent change in the motion picture ratings with reference to cigarette smoking in movies. I am waiting for Turner Classic Movies to put R ratings at the head of any movie with Bette Davis or Humphrey Bogart. Maybe they can put a disclaimer at the beginning saying they died of cancer! Click image twice for viewable size.

Lanespotting #6

2007-08-21T21:00:00.000-04:00

With Anthony Quinn in City for Conquest, 1940.

Smisje Blonde

2007-08-17T11:52:00.001-04:00

Smisje Blonde, originally uploaded by maltydog.

Smisje Blonde beer label made for Regenboog, near Brugge, Belgium.

The Salty Dog in Beer Paradise, Part 4

2007-08-17T11:04:00.000-04:00

The fourth and final chapter of the Beer Paradise strip. As with the others, click twice to get full size version.

Belgium2Brooklyn

2007-08-16T16:31:00.000-04:00

Another beer poster, for the Belgium2Brooklyn Belgian Beer Festival, at Mugs Alehouse, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Wildwood Flower

2007-08-14T22:52:00.000-04:00

Merle Travis, Joe Maphis and Larry Collins, on Ranch Party. Posted on Youtube by Gatorrock786

Salty Dog in Beer Paradise, Part 3

2007-08-14T22:45:00.000-04:00

Part 3 of the beer geeks in beer paradise strip.

Lanespotting #5

2007-08-14T21:38:00.000-04:00

A color, widescreen shot from The Carpetbaggers, 1964, with George Peppard.

Salty Dog in Beer Paradise, Part 2

2007-08-13T10:50:00.001-04:00

Here is a continuation of the beer geeks in beer paradise strip.

Salty Dog in Beer Paradise, Part 1

2007-08-10T23:48:00.000-04:00

This is the first of a 4-part series commemorating a beer geek's visit to beer paradies, aka Belgium. More to follow. Click twice to get full readable size.

Really the Country Blues

2007-08-10T23:36:00.000-04:00

A session from the 1960's blues rediscovery period that I stumbled onto on YouTube. Furry Lewis and Bukka White, two original 1920's country blues performers who were still capable of making wonderful music nearly 40 years later, filmed the same evening performing...the Bukka White performance ends a little abruptly.

Furry Lewis:

Bukka White:

Celebrity Endorsements of the Past

2007-08-07T12:48:00.001-04:00

Buster Keaton for Simon Pure Beer, early 1960's.

Washington Merry-Go-Round

2007-08-05T14:37:00.003-04:00

Washington Merry-Go-Round, 1932, 75 minutes. Director: James Cruze, Writers: Maxwell Anderson (story), Jo Swerling. Cast: Lee Tracy, Constance Cummings, Walter Connolly, Alan Dinehart, Arthur Vinton, Arthur Hoyt, Berton Churchill, Frank Sheridan, Clay Clement, Clarence Muse.

Note: Spoilers follow.

I have been wanting to see Washington Merry-Go-Round for years, since reading about it in various books about “socially relevant” films of the classic Hollywood era. Set in Washington, DC, the film details the story of a naive young man who is elected congressmen, and finds himself combating corrupt politicians. A friendly, dignified Senator who befriends and mentors him turns out to be the pawn of a big political boss, who is unelected to any office himself. Familiar plot, right? A dry run for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Interesting in itself, but especially interesting in that the naive young man is played by Lee Tracy.

Lee Tracy? For those who are not familiar with him, Lee Tracy, whose heyday in films was in the precode era, was not the kind of actor you would think of casting as a naive hick. He made his name on Broadway as the original Hildy Johnson in the first production of Front Page, and his film career generally consisted of fast-talking newspaper man, press agents, and carnival barkers. Today he seems like nothing less than a visual and audible cross between James Cagney and W.C. Fields. He combines Cagney’s bantam strut and rat-a-tat high speed delivery with Fields’ bulbous nose (like Fields, at least partly due to massive consumption of alcohol) and nasal sonorousness. And he always gave the impression of spending most of his energy trying to put something or other over on whomever he was talking to. Not to put a fine point on it, the man never radiated integrity.

So I was very curious to see how he would fit in this sort of part. Anyway, the film was recently shown on Turner Classic Movies last week, and I finally got around to seeing it recently. Well, he would never be believable as a total neophyte, so the character was not written as one, at least not all of the time. From the beginning of the film, Tracy comes off as a extremely naive and completely cynical at the same time. It sounds like a it could be an interesting, complex part, but really, it was just inconsistent.

Tracy is Button Gwinett Brown, descendant of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, who has never held political office before being elected congressman. In the beginning of the film it is established that Tracy got into office with the help of a crooked local political boss, "Honest John" Kelleher. But unlike a Capra film, Tracy knows this. He used crooked political bosses to get into a position of power. Then he believes he can use that power against them. After a "meet-cute" scene with Tracy and Constance Cummings, and some scenes establishing the corrupt power of Boss Norton, Tracy arrives in town, checking out some local sites of Washington, DC via some very badly-done rear projection. After dismissing the hand-picked secretary from Kelleher, Tracy runs into a wartime pal, who is part of a group of bonus marchers, the true-life veteran's group that marched on Washington to receive a bonus from their World War I service to provide relief at the height of the depression.

Tracy's wonderfully delivered but completely incoherent speech to them sums up the film's point of view, or lack of it. First, he points out that he was put into office by totally corrupt means, that none of the "good people" voted for him, only people whose votes were for sale, because the government is totally corrupt. Then he says he plans on double-crossing the bosses who sent him here, on behalf of "the people." Then he says those people, including the bonus marchers he is speaking to at that moment, are all a bunch of self-centered grafters who care nothing about the honest working of government, just about their own handouts. Then he says that most of the government employees, from top to bottom, are actually honest, and that the bonus marchers should all go home and "tell the people" and go out and vote. At this point, the crowd of bonus marchers are pretty pissed at him, and the scene ends in a quick fade out...you might wonder if he is about to be strung up by the crowd, but since the film continues after this, we can assume that did not happen.

Congressman Button starts at his job receiving a letter from a dead man. The dead man in question had been a prohibition officer who committed suicide rather than continue to serve the real political boss of Washington, Edward Norton, played by Alan Dinehart in a oily manner familiar to viewers of films like Jimmy the Gent. In some of the more interesting revelations in the film, we find that Norton has made much of his money from illegal liquor, and he is also involved in using the marines to foment revolution in a Central American country in order to protect his business interests. These are much more specific and realistic crimes than you will find from the crooked political bosses in Frank Capra's films of a few years later.

So Brown makes his first and last speech in congress, attacking a crooked appropriation bill for a memorial to General Digger "An old scoundrel who stole the land from the Indians." It's typical of the contradictions of the film that despite his low opinion of the political system, Brown thinks making this speech will actually make a difference. It's a very odd scene, where Brown is applauded by congress, who chant "Down with General Digger" and ask Brown for his autograph. It is apparently a strange form of ridicule, and Brown is depicted in the newspapers the next day as a disruptive "boy congressman." He is also promptly kicked out of congress via a recount engineered by Kelleher and Norton.

He nevertheless continues on his self-righteous crusade, attacking the only two people who have befriended him since arriving in Washington, Walter Connolly as Senator Wylie, and Constance Cummings as his granddaughter Alice. To Connolly, he points out Norton's subtle method of long-term bribery: losing card games. It turns out that Senator Wylie is a bought man who doesn't know he is bought.

Things start to speed up. Norton proposes marriage to Alice Wylie. Meanwhile, the Senator finally realizes he's been bought--by seeing that Norton has "lost" a hand where he actually had four aces. Incensed, he tells Norton he will do whatever he has to to stop him. Which turns out not to be much. Senator Wylie's secretary is actually in Norton's employ and promptly poisons him. As Norton hovers over Alice Wylie during the funeral, it appears she will marry him.

Meanwhile, were is Button Gwinett Brown?

At this point we have reached the same problem that often occurs in Capra's "serious" films. We have established a system so corrupt, a boss so powerful, that there is no way that the hero can ever triumph over him. So there has to be some cheating in the script. The type of cheating they do here is particularly indicative of the time the film was made.

Before the last two scenes described, there is a scene of Brown, meeting once more with the bonus marchers, who for some reason don't toss him out, but now agree he was right that it was pointless for them to petition Washington for their bonuses, But he has another job for them. He enlists them in a secret vigilante army.

This is one of the many films from this period with a whiff of fascism surrounding them. Even crime melodramas like This Day and Age and slapstick comedies like The Monkey's Paw hint that in the depths of the depression, with years of inaction or feeble action from the government, that the only way to solve the problems in this country might just be to follow the lessons of Europe, and toss all legalisms away and get tough. The most extreme version of this would be in the amazing Gabriel Over the White House, where President Walter Huston's shutting down of congress and establishment of martial law is not seen as a criminal usurpation, but an act of God.

But just to play to both sides of the aisle, it turns out that Norton is an incipient fascist himself, who suddenly starts ranting about how the country needs a strong man to take the law into his own hands, mentioning Mussolini and Stalin, but not Hitler, as this was still 1932. So we have a vaguely-fascist private army facing a would-be fascist dictator

So Brown's army captures Norton, and he finds that he has been followed for weeks, as these war veterans gathered evidence against him. It turns out Wylie's secretary has confessed to his murder, and Norton's ordering of it. Somehow we suspect the confession was granted under duress.

Tracy gives Norton one chance; giving him the same gun that the Prohibition agent used at the beginning of the movie, he gives Norton the chance to commit suicide, we he takes. Aside from a brief reconciliation between Brown and Alice Wylie, that is the end of the film. We don't know what Brown or the army does about the problems facing Washington. Hopefully, they don't march on the capital, but it's hard to see Lee Tracy as the leader of a Putsch. But at this point the film, wobbly throughout, has finally gone off the deep end.

There are many things to like about this film; Tracy in this period was always incredibly watchable, a really exciting actor who manages to sweep you along with him even when his character makes no sense. The supporting cast, Connolly, Cummings, Dinehart and others, are all fine. James Cruze, who was nearing the end of a career that was much more prominent in silent films, directs with great speed and dash, aside from the awkward rear projections mentioned earlier.

This was an interesting film, but a disappointing one. The early thirties was a great period both for Lee Tracy (see his dynamic, sardonic performances in films like Blessed Event, Half-Naked Truth and Bombshell) and hard-hitting socially relevant films (in addition to others mentioned above, there was Heroes for Sale, Wild Boys of the Road and many others), but this combination of both categories is a miss.

Lanespotting #4

2007-08-04T11:45:00.001-04:00

With Betty Grable, as Keating, the Florist, in I Wake Up Screaming, 1941.

Salty Dog 3000

2007-08-04T11:38:00.000-04:00

Future trends in beer. Double-click twice for a viewable size image. This was one of my first color comic strips, so the colors are not as detailed or subtle as I would prefer later on.

Lanespotting #3

2007-08-04T10:34:00.001-04:00

Here's Charles Lane in a nice, unbilled bit as a drunk in a bar harassing saloon singer Marie Windsor in the B noir film, The Sniper (1952).

Split Thy Skull 2006

2007-08-01T11:25:00.001-04:00

This Split Thy Skull Poster was inspired by the work of Georgio de Chirico. The eerie landscape of previous posters suggested it.

Too Much Sugar for a Dime

2007-08-01T11:21:00.000-04:00

A great clip of Merle Travis including Speedy West and Eddie Kirk in his band and some nice between-song patter.

British Noir, 1: Hell is A City

2007-07-27T20:07:00.000-04:00

Hell is a City, 1960, 96 minutes, Hammer Films, Starring Stanley Baker, Maxine Audley, John Crawford, Vanda Godsell, Charles Houston, Peter Madden, Warren Mitchell, Donald Pleasence, Joseph Tomelty, Billie Whitelaw. Cinematography Arthur Grant, Editor James Needs, Original Music Stanley Black, Written by Val Guest from a novel by Maurice Procter, Produced by Michael Carreras, Directed by Val Guest.

Recently I picked up the book Hardboiled Hollywood, by Max Décharné at the library for some easy reading on the subways. The book analyses the background of a dozen or so gangster movies, films noir, etc.. Per the title, most of the films were made in Hollywood, but there were 2 chapters on British Films (the author lives part of the time in London). The first was Hell Is a City, which I had really never heard of before. It is a hard-boiled British police procedural starring Stanley Baker, with Donald Pleasance and Billie Whitelaw in the cast, directed by Val Guest (best known for the science fiction films Quartermass and the Pit and The Day the Earth Caught Fire) and shot on location in Manchester. Made by Hammer Films, who are much more well known for their horror films from the same period, but who did quite a few crime films as well. Sounded like something worth checking out. As it turns out, there are copies of a DVD (with commentary by the Director) going for sale at Amazon resellers for under three dollars, which came out to about $5.50 with shipping. So who could say no to that?

I’m glad I did, it is a nice crime story, with very good performances by Baker, Pleasance, Whitelaw and John Crawford (an American living in England at the time) who plays an escaped convict who returns to Manchester to get some loot from the robbery that put him in prison in the first place. He has also said when arrested that he would have revenge on Baker for arresting him in the first place. Baker is a detective with a miserable home life; he constantly argues with his wife, at one point saying she should justify her existence by having a couple of kids! Whitelaw is an old girlfriend of Crawford’s, now married to Pleasance. Soon after escaping, Crawford leads a robbery of a payroll being delivered for Pleasance, and in the course of the robbery a woman working for Pleasance is killed Complications ensue, but I am not going to discuss the entire plot as it is worth discovering on your own.

This film is well shot, with lots of great atmospheric location work in Manchester, including some scenes in a local pub and a nice rooftop chase scene at the end. The film aside from whatever plot machinations are going on, gives you a nice feel for life in the times, and a very particular feel for the Manchester location.

The commentary track by Guest and Ted Newsom is entertaining, though Guest as writer-director, is a little self-serving, claiming ideas were his that came from the book. For example, he says the book was set in Canada, this despite author Maurice Procter’s history as a police inspector in Manchester before turning to writing. But overall, it was good to here from his point of view on the film, while he still had a chance to tell it. There is also an alternative ending to the movie, which was actually from the book, but was not used in the released film.

All in all, well worth checking out.

Sweet Sue

2007-07-24T16:11:00.000-04:00

Dave Apollon with his Philippine string band and some amazing mandoling playing.

Spent Grain

2007-07-23T16:59:00.000-04:00

This Salty Dog comic strip is inspired by an episode of The Twilight Zone, the episode where the couple wakes up in a deserted town which turns out to be a childs' toy set. It appeared to me while brewing a batch of beer that the mash tun looked like a desert landscape. Click to enlarge to readable size.

The Floradora Boys

2007-07-22T09:21:00.001-04:00

1929: Weird musical bit featuring the former silent comics Lloyd Hamilton, Lupino Lane, Ben Turpin and Hienie Conklin. For more great stuff, check out http://thirdbanana.blogspot.com/

A Hard Day's Night

2007-07-21T16:58:00.000-04:00

Peter Sellers performs Laurence Olivier as Richard the Third reciting A Hard Day's Night.

The Weizenheimer Kids

2007-07-21T13:58:00.001-04:00

A Salty Dog comic strip that kids comic strip history, with this Katzenjammer Kids knockoff that theorizes on how such and odd ingredient as Isinglass (fish bladders!) became a common ingredient in the making of beer, for clarification. Click on image for full, readable size.

Lanespotting #2

2007-07-21T13:52:00.000-04:00

Here he is in an unbilled appearance as an Amarillo Radio Operator in the Richard Barthelmess-starring Central Airport, from 1993.

Many a Slip

2007-07-20T16:43:00.000-04:00

Another Charley Bowers short.

Charley Bowers - Many a slip
Uploaded by Quiche

The Kate Smith Show, April 23, 1952

2007-07-20T15:50:00.000-04:00

Hank Williams, Anita Carter, Roy Acuff, and even a bit of chatting by June Carter Cash. This long clip was posted by Gatorrock78 6 on Utube.

Wood Aged Beer

2007-07-20T11:34:00.001-04:00

Salty dog comic strip on wood-aged beer. Click on for full readable size.

Celebrity Endorsements of the Past

2007-07-20T10:38:00.000-04:00

T for Texas

2007-07-20T10:29:00.000-04:00

Jimmie Rodgers from his only short film, The Singing Brakeman, 1929.

Celebrity Endorsements of the Past

2007-07-20T10:26:00.000-04:00

Tony Hancock egg commercial, early 60's.

Lanespotting

2007-07-20T09:47:00.000-04:00

Charles Lane, character actor in over 250 movies and hundreds of television shows, died July 9 at 102 years old. He was one of the last survivors of the San Francisco Earthquake. Many of his appearances were as a tight-fisted banker or miser of one kind or another. Here he is a posed still from one of his more well-known films, It's A Wonderful Life.

Celebrity Endorsements of the Past

2007-07-20T09:29:00.000-04:00

So Two Dogs Sit Down at a Bar...

2007-07-20T09:22:00.002-04:00

Swamp Root

2007-07-19T23:37:00.000-04:00

Okay, after that, some happy music. Once again (it was here and then disappeared), Harmonica Frank Floyd in the original recording of Swamp Root, Sun Records, Memphis Tennesse, 1950's.

For more Harmonica Frank, check out this great blog, Big Rock Candy Mountain.

The Saddest Music in the World

2007-07-19T23:26:00.000-04:00

There is some pretty sad music in Guy Maddin's film of that name, with Isabella Rosellini as the Beer Baroness with a glass leg full of beer, but I submit that this is the one of the saddest songs that was ever recorded (in France in 1934), released on CD as part of a compilation of French Accordion Musette music from Fremeux and Associates, Accordeon 1925-1942, Vol. 2. The singer is Edgar Detrait, who can actually yodel sadly. The accordianist is someone named Grock. Actually someone told me once it sounds like Edith Piaf Yodelling, and I can see the connection.

Shut Up and Drink Your Beer

2007-07-18T22:54:00.000-04:00

Here is Luke Will's Rhythm Busters' recording of "Shut Up and Drink Your Beer," a philosophy I am often in sympathy with...this is from the compilation album Stompin' Singers and Western Swingers, Disc #3: It Ain't Far to The Bar from Proper Records.

More Charley Bowers

2007-07-18T16:34:00.001-04:00

A clip from "It's a Bird" (1930), the only acting appearance by Charley Bowers in the talkies, though this clip centers on the amazing metal-eating bird.

Charley Bowers

2007-07-18T15:42:00.001-04:00

A typically disturbing image from Charley Bowers.

't Smisje Kerst

2007-07-18T15:20:00.001-04:00

This label was done for a Christmas (Kerst) beer done by the Regenboog brewery, right outside of Brugge, Belgium. The original recipe was actually adapted from a batch of homebrew I made. The whole story of the brewing is here. (You will need Acrobat Reader)

Palette Fatigue

2007-07-18T15:00:00.000-04:00

Turner Classic Movies Alert

2007-07-18T14:23:00.002-04:00

Saturday, July 21 at 7:38 a.m., Turner Classic movies will be showing Buzzin' Around, a 1933 Vitaphone short starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, his nephew Al St. John, and Pete the Pup, formerly with the Our Gang comedies.

Buzzin' Around was one of 6 comeback shorts that Arbuckle did after being offscreen for over a decade after the scandal that most people today remember him for (despite his being found not guilty 3 times in court). Unfortunately, the comeback did not do him much good, as Roscoe Arbuckle died of a heart attack a few months after this film was released.

The film was shot on location in Brooklyn, and includes some great location shots near the Avenue M subway station. As far as I know, this is the first time any of the Arbuckle talkie shorts have been shown on Turner Classic Movies, though back in the day that TNT showed old films there were shown then.

Anyway, there is a nice write-up about vintage shooting on the NYC subways at this site from which the great frame blow-up of Al, Roscoe and Petey at left comes from. So set your Tivo, DVD-Rs or VHS recorders for this.

Another great site devoted to Roscoe Arbuckle is Arbucklemania.

To find out what shorts are being squeezed into the TCM schedule between their regular films, check out the forum on TCM's website.

Split Thy Skull 2007

2007-07-18T13:17:00.000-04:00

A Dali-Esque Pastiche for Mugs Ale House Barleywine Festival

Harold Lloyd Tribute

2007-07-18T13:09:00.001-04:00

Done for a Leuven Beer Festival.

In Her Mind's Eye

2007-07-18T12:58:00.000-04:00

Poodle and Dachshund - Sophie and Ludwig (my two dogs)