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Reviews
Kansas City Confidential (1952)
A Treacherous Game of Chess Played with the Butt-End of a Snub-Nose .38
Few films are woven with the intricate narrative dynamics of this classic, if under appreciated, noir drama. Every nuanced detail in the narrative exposition, actors' performances, cinematography, and editorial pacing contributes toward a mounting arc of unrelenting tension. Under Phil Karlson's exceptionally cogent direction, with his palpable treatment of physical violence counterpointed by his attention to minute but meaningful background gestures, this production transcends its B-movie origins to attain a cinematic stature of rarified atmosphere.
Not to be missed.
Funny You Should Ask (2017)
Good for a Half Hour of Laughs & Chuckles
Yes, for those old enough, this show invites comparisons with Hollywood Squares. I'm not a game show fan, but I liked Hollywood Squares and watched it as often as I could (it was a daytime show, and I usually had a day job).
'Funny You Should Ask' can be considered a lower-budget variation of the Hollywood Squares theme, but with six comics providing multiple answers every show, there's plenty of opportunity for hilarious mirth. And they deliver.
Two competing contestants, always a male and a female, try to choose the correct answer provided by the panel of comedians. General topic questions, ranging from culture and society to history and science, are posed, and the comics give a funny answer as a first response, then give their final answer, which may be either true or a bluff.
What is so challenging about the questions is they cover such a wide variety of specialized and esoteric topics, so that often the most logical answer is false and the most bizarre answer is true. Yet, the better-learned contestants will have better odds at winning because correct answers can sometimes be deduced from the questions.
The progressive 3-tiered structure of the show is interesting because each episode provides the chance for serious come-from-behind winning dynamics.
Jon Kelley is as good as game show hosts can get. Perfect for this program.
Hopefully, this show will endure and grow, with the winning purses increasing over time, as well.
Studio One: The Laugh Maker (1953)
an additional clue
Following the insights of the other reviewers into the unfavorable similarities that may exist between them, a further connection between the character, Jerry Giles, and the actor portraying him, Jackie Gleason, is that their names share the same initials. This likely was not an accident, and probably was recognized by the participants in the production.
20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
1.37:1 or 1.85:1?
This is a clarification as to whether "20 Million Miles to Earth" was shot for a 1.37 or 1.85 frame (as discussed by other reviewers here).
First, by 1957 it was routine in the U.S. to shoot movies in the full 1.37 Academy frame even though they were intended for matted (cropped) widescreen projection in theaters. The full Academy frame was exposed in the camera, but the viewfinder had line markings defining the widescreen frame (usually 1.85), so that the camera operator could frame the action within the widescreen space, but avoid unwanted content (studio lights, microphone booms, etc.) in the full frame space. This is called the 'shoot & protect' technique.
During theatrical projection, the widescreen aperture plate would matte the frame to obtain a widescreen format (usually projected with a shorter focal length lens to get a larger image). When such movies were broadcast on television, the 'full' 1.37 frame would be reverted to so to match the then standard 1.33 (4:3) TV screen. The extra space above and below the 1.85 frame would fill out the TV screen, but, it contained no vital, relevant information. This approach was normal for most non-anamorphic widescreen movies from the mid-1950's onward.
While anamorphic widescreen movies (CinemaScope, or just Scope) had nearly half their frames cropped off when panned & scanned for the 4:3 TV screen (thus justifying full-frame letterbox versions), the 'full' 1.33 video versions of cropped-1.85 movies do not provide any additional pertinent visual content. They were made available only to appease viewers who disliked letterboxing.
There is still a lot of 'shooting & protecting' of some kind going on today (especially in broadcast television), but the introduction of flat panel widescreen TV's has rendered much of the issues discussed above more or less resolved.