A Pinter Duet: The Lover and Ashes to Ashes - Harold Pinter (1962 & 1996)

Escape - The Ring of Thoth with Jack Webb (8-11-1947)

Violent Cases - Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean (1987)

Violent Cases - Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean (1987)

The Penalty - Lon Chaney (1920)

Lon Chaney in one of the early roles that marked him as a 'maimed' actor. The baroque logic that moves from debilitating injury to vengeful anarchic mastermind is compelling. Art plays a huge role in this villains life, using it to manipulate and humiliate women. Posing for a bust of 'Satan After the Fall' is a masterful stroke by the writers. Chaney's house of crime is filled with secret doorways, creepy peepholes, sweat shops and underground caches lending an early air of the Legion of Doom's hideout.

The Rainmakers - Wheeler & Woolsey (1935)

A vintage poster from King Kong (from RKO, just two years previous), blinds Woolsey in a dust storm. Overly long train chase scene.

The Immortal Story - Orson Welles (1968)

An excellent complement to F Is For Fake, exploring the telling and retelling of a story never meant to be real. A story whose embodiment precludes the telling. Welles is immobile throughout except for the crucial moment when he choreographs his story into existence.

An opalescent shell slips from Welles' dying fingers and rocks on the floor in the final minutes, echoing the opening scenes of Citizen Kane.

A Canterbury Tale - Powell & Pressburger (1944)

screened with commentary

Persepolis - Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi (2007)

Screened at the Kendall Square

There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson (2007)

Is 2007 the year of movies for atheists?

Screened at the Somerville Theater

Campbell Playhouse: The Glass Key - Orson Welles (2-10-1939)

An Airman's Letter to His Mother - Michael Powell (1941)

The wandering camera tour of the room reminds me of Renoir's tour of Erich von Stroheim's castle room in The Grand Illusion.

Rememberting Niels Bohr - Glorianna Davenport and Richard Leacock (1985)

Ravens, Siskins and Grosbeaks - Massachusetts Audubon Birding Trip

Added Pine Grosbeaks and Evening Grosbeaks to the life list

Juno - Jason Reitman (2007)

Preston Sturges rises from the grave in Diablo Cody's dialog. Wisecracking dame and geeky guy play out Heaven Can Wait via The Lady Eve, asking the question: at what age does it become acceptable? Everything turns out okay, but unfortunately the guy most like me turns out to be the heavy.

Screened at the Somerville Theater (on the big screen)

The Crowd Roars - Howard Hawks (1932)

Klezmer - Joann Sfar (2006)

Coward - Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (2007)

Copenhagen - Michael Frayn (2007)

At the American Repertory Theater

I Killed Adolf Hitler - Jason ( 2007)

You Bet Your Life - Groucho Marx (3-5-1952)

Somerville, MA is mentioned in the quiz questions!

Somerville City of Lights - The Somerville Arts Council (2006?)

Bob and Ray 8-26-1948

Putney Swope - Robert Downey, Sr (1969)

Far out! Love the fake advertisements (years before Saturday Night Live started doing the same thing)

Let Us Be Perfectly Clear - Paul Hornschemeier (2006)

The Public Enemy - William Wellman (1931)

Suspended in Language - Jim Ottaviani and Leeland Purvis (2004)

Fantastic introduction to the life and thinking of Niels Bohr.

MOME - Fall 2006

The Fat Man - Murder Sends A Christmas Card (1950s)

Based on the Dashiell Hammett character

"Weight? 237 pounds. Fortune? Danger!"

You Bet Your Life - Groucho Marx (1-4-1950)

The secret word is "tree".

Groucho picks on a spinster, but gets his comeuppance when he tries to belittle a retired admiral who witnessed the Japanese surrender.

Bob and Ray - 8-19-1949

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #1-#7 - Stephen King et. al. (2007)

Artwork closer to religous iconography than cartooning impedes the flow of the story, turning this book into an illustrated novella.

Donovan's Reef - John Ford (1963)

Charlie Wilson's War - Mike Nichols (2007)

Well acted. Got a little preachy at the end. Interestingly humorous and sarcastic despite the relatively somber material.

Screened at the Somerville Theater

Panic in the Streets - Elia Kazan (1950)

Jack Palance!

By George! - The Komplete Daily Komic Strips of George Herriman (2005)

Collects Baron Mooch and Gooseberry Sprig strips from 1907-10. Strips were much more anarchic in terms of writing and artwork at that time.

Published by Spec Productions

The Man From Alamo - Budd Boetticher (1953)