39/2471. Alcatraz Island (1937)
According to IMDB, "This was the first film set in the prison on Alcatraz Island," and it spends a lot of time showing us how high-tech the prison was for its day. Otherwise, it's a pretty standard prison story.

40/2472. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
I got the feeling that everyone involved wanted to get together and make a Beetlejuice movie, they just weren't sure what the plot should be. It's quite a narrative mess, which is okay enough for those who relish Tim Burton's trademark take on horror. I admit that I was very much charmed by the unexpected climactic musical sequence built on Donna Summer's "MacArthur Park." (I assume the superior Richard Harris version was too slow to dance to?)

41/2473. Force of Arms (1951)
"Force of Arms" is not a great title for a hybrid "war is hell" romance mash-up. But William Holden is, as always, real good as the Joe struggling through his PTSD.

42/2474. The Case of the Black Cat (1936)
If you spend this entire Perry Mason movie waiting for the black cat to show up, you'll miss out on everything else: there is no black cat. It's actually the housekeeper's cat, and even then, it's mostly just a plot device to get Mr. Mason involved in the eventual court case.

43/2475. The Set-Up (1949)
This is a very, very good boxing movie that covers all the usual bases (love of the sport, gambling rings, corruption, long-term damage, etc.) that also manages to play out in real time. Recommended (assuming you can stand watching grown men hit one another in the face over and over).

44/2476. The Case of the Howling Dog (1934)
Perry Mason fans on the Internet say this is the best Perry Mason movie, and they might be right. I mean, at least this case has a howling dog. [Note: I watched this movie back in 2018 and had totally forgotten it. So that probably tells you how memorable it really is.)

More to come.

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Welcome to June, the 18th annual Wriphe.com Superman Month!

I'm typing this without my left index finger, which I cut while washing my car. (I'll never make that mistake again. Stay dirty, car!) My injury made me wonder when was the first time in comics we actually see Superman bleeding. So I went looking.

As you can see in the above panel from his two-page origin story published in Superman #1, Summer 1939, Superman's skin was essentially impenetrable from the get-go, so the opportunities for him to visibly bleed have always been few and far between.

If those aforementioned bursting shells led to any bloodshed, it was always hidden by smoke and debris. When Superman needed to give blood to save Lois Lane's life in 1940's Superman #6, he had to give the doctor a hand. Literally.

But that wasn't technically an injury, so I kept looking for something that could hurt Superman that wasn't Superman.

Magic was an early weakness (bloodlessly stealing Superman's powers multiple times in 1942), but Kryptonite wasn't introduced into the comics until 1949 in Superman #61. (Like many elements of the Superman mythos, Kryptonite first appeared in 1943 on the Adventures of Superman radio show.) It usually just made Superman weak and fall down. He doesn't even scrape his knees.

March 1960's Action Comics #262 would introduce Superman's immediate weakness under a red sun. In that issue Clark Kent gets stung by a bee for the first time. Two years later, a bare-knuckle boxing match against Lex Luthor on the planet Lexor under a red sun would give Superman a face full of bruises, but still no visible blood. This might be because beginning in 1954, the Comics Code Authority strictly forbid showing, among many other things, "All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism, masochism." Bloodless injuries were no longer optional.

Action Comics #49, June 1942

The code would relax beginning in 1971, and by the time Superman was beaten to "death" by Doomsday in 1993's Superman #75, blood was everywhere. (The 90s were a violent time.) Unfortunately for Superman, the Code was nowhere to be found on the cover of 1978's All New Collectors' Edition #C-56, better known as "Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali." In that issue, following a different boxing match under a red sun, Superman gets beaten so badly by Ali that he bleeds all over his pillow. If there's a lesson here, it's probably that Superman should give up boxing.

For whatever reason, that bloody pillow was removed in a re-colored 2010 reprinting. But that's okay. I'm sure it wasn't the first time Superman unwillingly bled on panel anyway. Because after four (delightful) hours of looking through comics and comics websites, I found this sequence in 1976's Superman #297:

Ouch! Be careful where you put those fingers, Superman.

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102/2268. Hide in Plain Sight (1980)
James Caan directs James Caan in a movie that could do with a little less verisimilitude. It's based on the true story of a man whose wife goes into witness protection hiding with their son. In a movie full of cops, gangsters, and lawyers, we spend a little too much time with Jimmy being frustrated with his day job and new dog.

The color on this is bad because it was taken from the trailer on YouTube. I assure you, in the actual movie, the Coke is red.

103/2269. Killer McCoy (1947)
Working title: Mickey Rooney, professional boxer! He fights men! He picks up women! He spends a lot of time in cars! The film has a fun script could work... with someone else in the starring role. I just cannot believe that tiny Rooney could beat a man to death in a boxing ring.

104/2270. Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1969)
The most striking thing about this thriller (which has an aborted pregnancy at its center) is that it was scored by John Williams. Ok, fine, the abortion angle is pretty striking, too, especially when the stalker starts insisting that his ex-girlfriend kill her new baby as penance. Actually not a bad thriller.

105/2271. The Password Is Courage (1962)
Dirk Bogarde as charming war hero! I'd caught the opening act of this movie some time ago, and it was a delight to finish it off. I'd swear this was the basis for Hogan's Heroes.

106/2272. Damn the Defiant! (1962)
Dirk Bogarde as ruthless child torturer! In this case, the show is stolen by Alec Guinness as the captain of the HMS Defiant... and the boy's father. I was actually bored by the action scenes, but the melodrama was pretty engrossing.

More to come.

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I've been very depressed for the past few weeks, and I'm not really in the mood to try and think up something interesting to talk about here on the blog. So let's talk about movies I've watched instead.

88. (1742.) The Sand Pebbles (1966)
You think things are bad now? Look at how much worse they were when this takes place in the 30s, as the colonial-minded US was caught in the Chinese Civil War with hardship and death on all sides as personified in Steve McQueen's protagonist. Or the 60s, when the movie was made amid the growing troubles in Vietnam and race relations on the home front. Maybe life just always has and always will suck.

89. (1743.) Kid Galahad (1937)
It's impossible to make a film about boxing without including a corrupt boxing promoter. Or, in the case of this film, two (played by Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart). In the end, everyone gets what's coming to them. In this case, that means bullets.

90. (1744.) Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939)
This is a retelling of an actual FBI case against a Nazi propaganda plot against America that mostly involved convincing white working-class Americans that other races deserve the boot. Of course, that's never been a hard sell in America.

92. (1746.) Lust for Life (1956)
Full credit to Kirk Douglas's star power for surviving an entire movie as a completely unlikable mental patient. I mean, I might know some people *exactly* like Van Gogh, and I would never watch a movie about them.

Ok, hold on. I'm being too negative, aren't I? Let's try something lighter. How about an animated movie created by the same people who made the 1964 stop motion Christmas classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?

93. (1747.) Mad Monster Party? (1967)
It's crap! Heh. Actually, it's just not very good. It's supposed to be a comedy, but the timing is just awful. I have to believe that this is the fault of the uncredited editor, who simply must not have understood the art of telling jokes. Otherwise, it's got some fun art design and interesting animations, and it very obviously had to be a key influence on the creation of the thematically-similar (but vastly superior) Nightmare Before Christmas.

95. (1749.) Filmed in Supermarionation (2014)
The topic of mid-60s animation is a key theme in this documentary of the studio that created the British Thunderbirds television show. The documentary is a good oral history of an era of television that we will never see again. I found it very interesting, if a bit bittersweet. But these days, bittersweet may be the only sweet there is.

More to come.

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Movies to start December!

105. (1043.) The Squall (1929)
Californian Myrna Loy plays a racist stereotype of a European gypsy doing terrible gypsy things, which mainly consists of seducing stupid men. I found it completely believable. (Damn sexy gypsies! *shakes fist at sky*)

106. (1044.) The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again (2016)
I don't get it. I don't understand the point of remaking a movie exactly like its predecessor. This remake went out of its way to look and sound sound like the original (which it openly references at point, such as a crack about Meatloaf for dinner). The music was over produced, and for a film celebrating deviancy, everyone is just too damn pretty. The polish here only shows how much more creative the original was. Watch that instead.

107. (1045.) Beloved Infidel (1959)
A film based on F. Scott Fitzgerald and his romance with gossip columnist Sheilah Graham. I watched it to learn a little more about the final years of the great novelist, but it might as well be yet another remake of A Star is Born, with Graham in the up-and-comer role.

108. (1046.) The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933)
This is another early Myrna Loy movie. She's a (badly dubbed) singer who falls for (real life) boxer Max Baer. It's got a bit of a Rocky vibe, where the romance is more important than the boxing, even to the boxer.

109. (1047.) Night Flight (1933)
Myrna Loy has a very small part in this as the wife of a pilot. That's okay. Clark Gable has an equally small part as a pilot (though not her pilot). The main plot involves a couple of Barrymores. It's not as great as it wants to be, but it's hardly bad.

More to come.

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Let's catch you up on movies I've watched so far in April. Don't worry. It's a short list.

35. (973.) Zootopia (2016)
Is this what Disney has been reduced to? The studio has mastered the prerequisite cute, anthropomorphic animals living in a fairy tale world, but they really need to consider investing in some accomplished writers. Every scene in this movie makes the scene that preceded it make absolutely no logical sense. That may be forgiven in a comedic romp or an adventure fable, but this movie wants to be a detective story with a very dark heart, a kid-friendly Chinatown. If you go see it, leave your brain at the door.

36. (974.) Admission (2013)
I'll let you in on a little admission of my own: I almost never watch a movie in one sitting anymore. I think it took me a week to get through Admission. It's got its funny moments, but in general, it's an uncomfortable study of flawed people muddling through life. Think of it as a glossy women's magazine's attempt at a crafting a Woody Allen movie. The highlight of the film was the denouement, a frank reminder that we are all tested every day to find our own answers to life's tough questions, questions with no answer key. Then the film immediately squanders its own message by fading to a black screen with the definitive words "The End." I guess life doesn't go on.

37. (975.) Abar (1977)
Believe it or not, this is a blaxplotation super hero origin story! (Is this the first on-screen black super hero?) The hero, Abar, begins the movie as a community organizer who just wants to maintain the separate but equal peace that exists when the races stay in their place and ignore each other. By the end, he's an invulnerable superman with the power to — well, that's not really clear. The film was made on a shoestring by people who had no idea what they were doing and with actors who — welll, actors isn't really the right word. However, the dialog certainly has its moments — well, at least for the first two acts. Best line in the film (delivered by the hero during a bizarre wild-west dream sequence): "My friends call me Deadwood Dick; but my enemies call me Smart Black Nigger." That's Blazing Saddles quality satire right there.

38. (976.) Designing Woman (1957)
I like sultry Lauren Bacall and flinty Gregory Peck, but I felt this romantic comedy wasted their talents. The film builds itself on a comedy of errors in which the chauvinist male lies to hide his past and the silly woman becomes irrationally jealous. All of these problems could be solved by a single, rational conversation, but the worst bit is that the movie's climax is build on a wholly separate subplot about a crooked boxing promoter trying to kidnap — and kill! — the wife only to have her saved by a Broadway dancer. (I'm not going to lie, the climax is a lot of fun. Far more fun than everything that came before it.) Maybe I should just stop watching anything that falls into the "romantic comedy" category.

More to come.

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Final batch of movies from May:

97. (844.) The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969)
These sorts of fluff westerns were growing extinct by the late sixties as they were replaced by darkly revisionist anti-hero dramas. This film is keenly aware that it represents an outdated set of mores, and wears that chip proudly on it's shoulder. I found it to be quite an enjoyable piece of popular entertainment.

98. (845.) The Harder They Fall (1956)
Bogart's last film retreads the ground of so many "boxing-is-corrupt" films that came before (and since). But Bogey is still a star capable of bringing a good depth of character to a fallen man who rediscovers his moral compass too late. I liked it.

99. (846.) The Long Goodbye (1973)
I liked this even more. This is the other 1970s neo-noir I watched this month (Night Moves was the other), in which nothing is ever what it seems, including the hero. Elliot Gould's Phillip Marlowe is barely recognizable compared to previous iterations. If you can let that go, it's a worthwhile mystery.

100. (847.) The Killing (1956)
You never know what you'll get with writer/director Stanley Kubrick. In this case, you get a tightly wound crime caper, presented slightly out of order, Pulp Fiction-style. Highly recommended.

101. (848.) Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
Not so highly recommended. It's really just 2 hours of watching Robert Redford squint at mountains. When it's not uncomfortable to watch, it's damn boring.

102. (849.) The Big Red One (1980)
I watched this by accident because Tivo recorded this instead of whatever I had requested. I'm not upset about the switch. There is a great movie hiding somewhere underneath this lackluster cinematography and inexperienced acting. Very often, that's the sort of movie I enjoy most.

More to come.

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On the drive to Miami, Trey and I occupied ourselves with the Sports Illustrated Trivia Game: Multi-Sport Edition. According to the tin, "you'll find questions for all ages and levels of trivia knowledge." This is true, assuming that "all ages" means "over 30 years old" and levels of trivia knowledge" means "sports-loving shut-in." Here's a sample question:

Name the Broadway play about Rugby that appeared on the 1973 cover of Sports Illustrated."

Despite having nothing about to do with boxing, that question about "The Changing Room" appears on the "boxing" card. Technically, that's not even a sports question, so how about another?

Who finished as the runner up behind John Daly in the 1991 PGA Championship?

Of course, everyone knows that the answer to that question is Bruce Lietzke, right? Wikipedia tells me that second place finish was Lietzke's best finish in a major ever, so how dare I not know his name! Maybe I should stick to football questions.

The Chicago Bears routed the Washington Redskins in the 1940 NFL Championship Game. What was the score?

Okay, fine. Whatever.

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While I'm about the last person that you would expect to hear spouting theology or philosophy (I'm too damned secularly cynical to spend much time with intangibles such as hypothetical situations or metaphysical postulations), but sometimes things happen which make even me wonder "why?" In this particular case, that thing was the discovery of this cover:

But it's not quite the "why" you think it is. I understand the obvious "why." This is Action Comics #456, cover dated February 1976, so it was released around December 1975. It just so happens that the biggest grossing movie of 1975 was, as you can probably guess, Jaws. No big surprise there. Superman never misses a chance to get in on the action. He's dealt with all of the great political and social events of the 20th century, from nuclear proliferation to illegal aliens (from space, 'natch) to women's liberation to the Olympics (of space, 'natch). Why just a few short years after this issue, Superman will enter the ring with World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali (in space, 'natch).

Now the odd part of this all, and what makes me wonder "why," is that I decided that I liked that Action cover so much, I was going to use it in today's blog post. And then a brief research turned up the fact that Jaws was originally released on June 20, 1975, exactly 33 years ago today. Great Caesar's Ghost!

Now, was this a happy cosmic coincidence? Did I know, perhaps subconsciously, that Jaws was released on June 20 before I started prepping this blog entry? In any event, I'm sure I'll never know because I'm not going to investigate. No one has ever said, "I'll solve the fundamental workings of the entire universe, and then I'll understand aliens, ghosts, and Celene Dion," without rounding the bend. It's the investigation of situations like these that lead to mad scientists and super villains, I tell you.

Oh, and don't worry about Superman. He's been effortlessly beating up sharks since 1939. His boat is already plenty big enough, so to speak.

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Remember the television Incredible Hulk series? I watched an episode tonight where David Banner finagled himself a job as an orderly at an insane asylum. Now, you would think that would require background checks before a drifter who mumbles his last name (which always starts with a "B," that way David, a genius with degrees in physics and medical science, won't forget what his last name is supposed to be each week while still remaining "incognito") could get a job with no references or qualifications. Maybe you can work as a mechanic, short order cook, handyman, electrician, grocer, laboratory technician, gardener for an elementary school, boxing trainer, bartender, unlicensed driver, truck loader, nanny, store clerk, sports reporter, oil rigger, janitor, or choker setter without proving your qualifications, but I think it takes a little more to work for a hospital. At least I would hope that it would.

David, David, David. *sigh*

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