Taking advantage of a lull in our schedules, we meet for brunch on a sultry September Sunday. Why is it so hot when the first day of autumn has just passed? We lament our busy lives, the state of the world, and the fact that Halloween falls on a Tuesday this year.
Then it's up the street to our favorite movie theater! Thankfully the AC is working, the drinks at the counter are cold, and the ticket-taker is showing us a welcoming smile along with his usual biceps and tattoos.
Today's show is a 1936 thriller, The Mandarin Mystery!
Despite the Yellow Peril inferences of the title, this is actually an adaptation of Ellery Queen's The Chinese Orange Mystery, published just two years earlier. And despite the bait-and-switch, it's actually a good film.
The show over, we bid goodbye to the staff and wander out for a cold drink before going our ways to prepare for the week ahead...
Summer is slowly sliding into autumn, and August has been gentler and easier than July was. While the sun is bright and warm, the breezes are cool while we sit at a sidewalk table outside our usual restaurant, enjoying an afternoon meal, and trading tales of things we've done since last assembling, and of our hopes for the autumn ahead.
After splitting the bill, we walk up the street to that beloved old movie theater we love so well. The green-haired gal at the counter and the ticket-taker with the biceps and tattoos are glad to see us...
This afternoon's movie is the 1936 adventure Death in the Air!
What makes this interesting is that, along with ah hair-raising plot, there's also antiwar undercurrents here, in its look at the problems of shellshocked veterans. (The old radio show The Shadow did an episode, "The Silent Avenger," that was also strongly antiwar, with an open message about how society expects people to kill in war but then to conveniently forget their training and experiences once the war is over.) While not great, it's an overlooked gem and very enjoyable.
The sun's still in the sky as we leave....let's get a drink and relax before going our separate ways...
Oh lawdy, it's been hot lately! We're all dragging as we exit the restaurant after a light meal (and I'm grateful for Mark picking up the tab for me...I'll pay you back, I promise....). The heat and humidity are very oppressive, and it's only to get worse over the weekend.
Thankfully the theater is air-conditioned, the drinks are cold, and the ticket-taker has a new tattoo on those impressive biceps. We sink into our seats, stretching our legs, as the show starts.
Tonight's movie is the 1935 thriller "One Frightened Night"!
"One Frightened Night" is one of the more successful feature films from Mascot, a studio normally associated with low-budget serials, and the script was based on a preliminary treatment by Stuart Palmer, the author of the Hildegarde Withers mystery series.
Show's over! After a few friendly flirtations with the ticket-taker and the refreshment counter staff, we stagger out into the sultry night...let's go get something cold again....
It's been a rainy, dreary spring; the clear days are lovely but they're few and far between. For weeks at a time it's been chilly and drizzly. We shut ourselves away from the dank evening in that familiar old restaurant, bemoaning this disappointing season and how mold and mildew are everywhere.
Eventually, we make our way up the street to that old movie theater. That guy with the biceps and tattoos is taking tickets again, and the girl at the refreshment counter has a nice new dye job; that metallic green suits her, actually.
Tonight's show is a Canadian film from 1935, Secrets of Chinatown!
When the show's over, we slowly file out, chuckling among ourselves. It's not the best film ever, but it is fun to sit back with an oldie like this and just relax and immerse ourselves.
You all go ahead to the cafe for a drink....I need to have a word with the ticket-taker....I'll catch up....
We eschewed our normal mid-month movie date as it was Valentine's Day, and are meeting instead tonight. V-Day is such a terrible night for a friendly get-together; restaurants all have couples' specials, movie theaters are full of cooing couples, and sometimes you can't stand the bars and cafes.
Tonight is pleasant; rain is melting the snow, the air is warm with the promise of spring, and we're enjoying a good meal at our favorite place, where they're happy to see us, couples be damned.
After dinner, we wander up the street to that slightly shabby old movie house for the latest old chiller...1935's A SHOT IN THE DARK!
After the show, it's off to our favorite cafe, thankfully now devoid of cardboard hearts...
OK, so we can't get together for our monthly night at the movies because there's been a historic blizzard, with at least a couple of feet of snow covering the streets. We're all hunkered at home, in singles or in groups, but at least we all have power. Coordinating by phone and social media, we decide to all watch the same movie on cable. It's one of those old b/w mystery movies we love so much, and this time it's extra-special because it's "The Mysterious Mr. Wong" with Bela Lugosi!
Our interactions online are uproarious, as we each sample drinks and food in our own homes. Although it's not our monthly evening out, it's a pretty good replacement, and we plan to repeat this whenever we're all housebound...because they're saying these storms may come more frequently...
We take refuge from an unseasonably warm and uncomfortable December night in our favorite restaurant, with our usual lamentations of shopping and holiday bustle and the dreadful weather. The only thing worse than a bitter cold and snowy December is one that's unusually warm and springlike, oppressively humid, and carrying with it the threat of a blazingly, hellishly hot summer.
After our meal, we head up the street to that romantically rundown movie house we go to so much. Tonight's show is a lovely old black & white mystery movie MURDER ON THE CAMPUS.
The thrills and chills of the old movie's twists and turns are a potent antidote to the cynical, cookie-cutter, trying-too-hard-to-be-heartwarming holiday fare we can't escape from.
Our spirits raised, we head up the street for a final drink before parting for the night...and to exchange some small presents, just for fun....
We're in the midst of a late-spring heat wave, with sky-high temperatures and humidity to match. Folks are breaking out the linen clothes, the short sleeves, the summer dresses, and even the white shoes, and Memorial Day isn't here yet.
Our dinner at the familiar old restaurant is a light one, and conversation largely revolves around what we plan to this summer. Some are planning visits to conventions, or major vacations here and there, while a few are planning a long weekend at a quiet spot near the sea.
Once dinner is over, we wander up the street to that charming old movie house...
To match the sultry weather, we have the tropical setting of 1934's "Picture Brides," a classic B-movie thriller.
After the show, we head up the street, hoping for a cold drink at that little cafe....
It's a holiday weekend, and we've dug ourselves out from under the snow to meet for dinner and a movie. We laugh over our meals, telling tales of Valentine's Day misadventures and the horrors of the ongoing winter. The owner treats us to dessert, and we tip lavishly.
Down the street is our favorite movie theater, slightly shabby but still lovely, with comfortable seats and an eccentric selection. Tonight's is no exception.
First up is a delightful short from Segundo de Chomon, 1908's "The Frog."
It's followed by the nifty 1932 murder mystery, "Tangled Destinies."
After the show, we drift down the street for a drink at our favorite cafe...it's been a fun night and it's not over yet...
I actually went to the video store and RENTED some movies...and just in time, as it turns out my local video rental store is closing forever. (Just after I decided to move to Baltimore, too. And my favorite club, DC's Red Palace, just announced it's closing after the new year. I might as well move.)
Anyway, first up is Stanley Donen's 1966 thriller Arabesque.
This was a follow-up to another Donen work, 1963's Charade, a dazzling comedy-thriller starring Carey Grant and Audrey Hepburn, along with Walter Matthau, James Coburn, and George Kennedy. Charade is a minor classic and well worth seeking out. It's in the public domain but the Criterion disc is worth the cost. Arabesque is an attempt at a comic spy thriller in the same vein, but does it work?
David Pollock (Gregory Peck) is an expert on Egyptian hieroglyphs who is asked to translate what appears to be a coded message from a spy network. Pollock infiltrates the organization of the mysterious Beshraavi (Alan Badel, who is frequently mistaken for Peter Sellers in the role) and falls in with Beshraavi's mistress Yasmin (Sophia Loren), who may or may not be on his side.
OK, the worst up front: Gregory Peck, as wonderful as he is, is not Carey Grant and is not the greatest comic actor (something he purportedly admitted readily on the set of this movie). But Sophia Loren was at the peak of her beauty, and her natural wit and style shine. It's got Mancini music and Loren in Dior dresses, and enough excitement to keep one's interest. I enjoyed it, although it's definitely a cut below other works by the same director.
For a sample, here's the main credits:
Next up was something more recent: the 2010 independent film Cold Weather.
Doug (Chris Lankenau) is a forensic-science student home from school, taking some time off to re-evaluate his life. He moves in with his sister Gail (Trieste Kelly Dunn), gets a job in a Portland ice factory where he befriends Carlos (Raul Castillo), and then is excited when his ex-girlfriend Rachel (Robyn Rikoon) visits Portland on business. But then things get weird when Rachel disappears...
Cold Weather takes its time; the first third is just about setting up the characters and atmosphere. These are slackers, to be sure, but also have regular workaday lives and the give-and-take of their relationships and especially the budding friendship between Doug and Carlos actually make for good watching. When the mystery does kick in, it's rather low-key...but at the same time, since the movie has so firmly established the characters as regular folks in a normal world, it actually is exciting because it's how we can see ourselves handling this. Plot twists that would be nothing in a Sherlock Holmes movie are major here.
What's REALLY fun for me is watching how characters handle the mystery. Doug is a fan of Holmes and goes off to buy a pipe to help himself think; naturally, it doesn't work and he has to find his own way. And a couple of times characters are at a loss for what to do in a given situation, times when heroes of big-budget movies and slick novels would have everything figured out.
It does end rather abruptly, but then you realize that the movie isn't as much about the mystery as it is about the relationships, especially between Doug and Gail, and they're firmly on the way to fixing their broken connection by the end, and that's what matters.
Writer/director Aaron Katz deserves kudos; this is a delightful little film that mystery buffs like me can relate to; we often wonder how we would handle a real mystery coming our way, and this shows what it would be like. And the relationships in the movie are refreshingly REAL and relatable. Seek this one out, folks.
