Tonight's movie started out to be "Tarzan And The Leopard Woman", and it was really good, too. Tarzan was foiling a scheme hatched by The High Priestess of Zambesi, to have her followers kill all travelers on the road to their jungle village, in order to prevent it from being "civilized" by the English Commissioner of the region, who wishes to modernize Africa and turn the villages into shopping bazaars. She sends the members of her cult out on their mission, clothed in leopard skins. This will make it look like leopards are responsible for the kills, and will frighten away the businessmen.
Tarzan, though, isn't buying it. He inspects the bodies of the initial victims.
"Leopards not kill", he declares. He explains, in his Pidgin English, that leopards use their teeth to kill. On these victims there are only claw marks.
Man, I was watchin' the movie and really enjoying it. If you thought we were only gonna watch one Tarzan movie, you were dead wrong, lol. I had so much fun watching last night's "Tarzan And The Mermaids", that I knew I had to see another one. However, there was a slight problem with the viewing of "Mermaids". Every so often, the picture would freeze for a second or two and then resume playing. This happened just under the limit of being annoying, but it was close. But alas, with tonight's Tarzan, the gosh darned thing just kept sticking and sticking. Tonight's movie was on a different disc, too, and neither disc looked to be all scratched up. Sometimes, with library dvds, it looks like somebody either washed their car with the disc or made a peanut butter sandwich on it, but the three dvds in the Tarzan set all look pretty good, maybe a few minor scratches. They are those purple-dye discs that a lot of folks complain about, but I've played a lot of those and have never had a problem. I guess these Tarzan discs are defective though, unfortunately.
Doggonnit! I tried to hang in there because "Tarzan And The Leopard Woman" was jam packed with adventure. Cheetah had even stolen a snake charmer's oboe, or whatever the instrument is that those guys play. But yeah, Cheetah had swiped it and run off, and he was providing the movie's hijinx, trying to charm snakes on his own, with less than successful results. But the disc kept freezing. I ejected it two or three times and wiped it off, but that wasn't the problem. Finally, at the 53 minute mark, I had to throw in the towel. The darned thing was skipping every two seconds by that point. I had almost made it to the finish; the movie was only 72 minutes long, but the disc was not going to cooperate.
So, I saw about 5/7ths of "Tarzan And The Leopard Woman", and I will have to return to it another day. On a positive note - and I hope you are ready for this - we are gonna be watching a lot of Tarzan movies this year. As reported last night, I was skeptical at first, but after watching the first one, I changed my mind. These films are a blast, so get ready for an on again/off again Tarzan fest, sporadically throughout the year. Maybe I will just buy the collections. ////
Thank God, then, for "The Falcon". I had already sat though almost an hour's worth of freeze framing Tarzan, and had the rug pulled out from under me. I needed something to watch, so that the evening's motion picture viewing would not be in vain, and......it had to be short, because the hour was getting late.
"The Falcon's Alibi" was the answer. I am telling you, these 63 minute movies rule. Check some out for yourself (if you like old movies, that is). But if you do, try some of the short ones in the 63 to 72 minute range. Maybe start with Mr. Moto, my favorite of the bunch.
I have already written a ton, so I won't go into great detail about the plot of "The Falcon's Alibi". It involves jewel thievery, and is a bit slow to develop until midway through, when Elisha Cook Jr. and Jane Greer show up. They play a married couple, he a radio dj, she a popular local singer with a nightclub band. If you know Elisha Cook, he always played a Weasel or a Squealer, sometimes even a Psycho, but always a bad guy, so when he shows up you know something is about to go wrong. Ditto with Jane Greer. She was one of the 40s great beauties, and a good actress too, but was always cast as the troubled girl who can't choose good from bad. She could sing, too, and has a nice number in this movie. Jane Greer........wow.
But Elisha Cook........wow, he's a nutjob (and isn't he always?)
You know, I could go on a tirade about certain actors. And hey!, I haven't gone on a tirade in a while, eh? But I have always thought that there are a handful of actors who are probably psychos in real life, and should be locked up if they weren't making movies. Anthony Hopkins comes to mind, haha.
And Elisha Cook.
You can name your own personal psychos, but yeah......watch you some sixty minute films. ////
I am writing from home tonight, off work for several days. I'm beyond mega-tired, but I am having fun drawing and reading my books. Maybe a hike tomorrow if the godforsaken wind stops blowing.
I will take anything over wind. I despise wind. :)
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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