The adventures of a professional screenwriter and sometimes film festival jurist, slogging through the trenches of Hollywood, writing movies that you have never heard of, and getting no respect. Voted #10 - Best Blogs For Screenwriters - Bachelor's Degree
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This is a great new documentary series called HITCH 20 that I am a "guest expert" on. The series looks at the 20 TV episodes directed by Hitchcock, and they did a special episode... starring me! Of course, I have my own books on Hitchcock... HITCHCOCK: MASTERING SUSPENSE LEARN SUSPENSE FROM THE MASTER! Alfred Hitchcock, who directed 52 movies, was known as the “Master Of Suspense”; but what…
Well Of Doom The spider web fills the screen, it's Boris Karloff's THRILLER! Season: 1, Episode: 23. Airdate: February 28, 1961 Director: John Braham Writer: Donald S. Sanford based on a story by John Clemons Cast: Ronald Howard, Henry Daniell, Torin Thatcher, Richard Kiel. Music: Jerry Goldsmith being awesome. Cinematography: Lionel Lindon. Producer: William Frye. Boris Karloff’s Introduction:…
ALL THE LOSERS IN HOLLYWOOD... Over a decade ago I got a call out of the blue from a director I had never worked with (and never heard of) who said I came highly recommended as a screenwriter... but never told me who recommended me. We met in a coffee shop across from the DGA. He was this charismatic guy, almost as tall as I am, and was wearing a formal vest - which is unusual for Los Angeles. He…
The plague keeps mutating... LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964) Starring: Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia, Emma Danielli. Written by: Richard Matheson (as Logan Swanson) and William Leicester. Directed by: Sydney Salkow. Produced by: Robert Lippert (owner of a movie theater chain in the Bay Area!) Okay, I am a huge fan of the Richard Matheson novel I AM LEGEND, even though I haven't read it in years. I first…
Since Hitch's Birthday was last week, how about one of the stars of THE BIRDS remembering the making if the film? Veronica Cartwight is one of my movie crushes, and I first saw her in this movie when I was a kid. As an adult, she's the quirky actress in ALIEN and the 70s INVASION OF THE BODYSNATCHERS and WITCHES OF EASTWICK and GOIN' SOUTH and so many orher movies and TV shows. Always interesting…
Dialogues With Death The spider web fills the screen, it's Boris Karloff's THRILLER! Season: 2, Episode: 11. Airdate: December 4, 1961 Director: Herschel Daughtery Writer: Robert Arthur. Cast: Boris Karloff, Norma Crane, Ed Nelson, William Schallert, George Kane, Jimmy Joyce, Estelle Winwood. Music: Morton Stevens. Cinematography: Bud Thackery. Producer: William Frye. Boris Karloff’s Introduction:…
Since I was in Las Vegas last month and haven't run this in a couple of years... My buddy Van Tassell and I hung out a couple of years ago after seeing the movie FORBIDDEN POWER at a film festival in Las Vegas. I think Van is my oldest friend - I've known him since I was 18, and when I go home for the holidays we grab beers and see movies. Whenever anyone filmed a movie in the San Francisco Bay…
PETULIA (1968) Directed by: Richard Lester. Written by: Lawrence B. Marcus. Starring: Julie Christie, George C. Scott, Richard Chamberlain, Joseph Cotten. Director Of Photography: Nic Roeg. Music: John Barry. The British Invasion of the sixties extended to film, and two of my favorite movies are from UK directors who came to the USA in the late sixties to make films that partially take place in…
Happy Birthday, Sir Alfred Hitchcock! Hitchcock's birthday was Yesterday (the 13th)! What movie did you watch to celebrate? James Allardice wrote all of the intros for Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Alfred Hitchcock Hour, plus wrote the Hitchcock lead trailers for his films up until 1966 when he died. The Hitchcock intros were witty and dark and their own little stories which usually started with…
Yesterday was Hitch's Birthday! What did you watch to celebrate? Before we were trying to guess who the singing celebrity was in the Goat costume, we were just trying to guess who the celebrity was on WHAT'S MY LINE - a version of "20 Questions" where a panel of blindfolded semi-celebrities (often chosen for their ability to say funny things off the top of their heads) tried to guess the…
Mark Of The Hand The spider web fills the screen, it's Boris Karloff's THRILLER! Season: 1, Episode: 4. Airdate: 10-04-1960 Director: Paul Henreid (“Casablanca”). Writer: Eric Peters based on a novel by Charlotte Armstrong (“The Unsuspected”). Cast: Mona Freeman, Jessie Royce Landis, Shepperd Strudwick, Rachel Ames, Judson Pratt. Music: Pete Rugolo. Cinematography: John L. Russell (“Psycho” and…
I read a blog entry on another blog with the 20 Greatest Long Takes In Movies and was surprised that they left this one out. Many of those long takes in movies are kind of stunts - they usually just set the scene or show scenery instead of tell the story. The opening from TOUCH OF EVIL and the whole damned film of ROPE are the exceptions. But how many long takes are not just showing the story -…
Forgot to run this for Father's Day... THE GREAT SANTINI (1979) Director: Lewis John Carlino. Writers: Lewis John Carlino based on the novel by Pat Conroy Starring: Robert Duvall, Michael O'Keefe, Blythe Danner, Stan Shaw. I was joking around about Father’s Day movies on twitter and suggested this film... then realized that this may be one of those films which has fallen through the cracks and…
Hitch explains his Three Editing Techniques in this interview, using his favorite film SHADOW OF A DOUBT as his example. In addition to camera angle, framing and composition, movement, and lighting - the juxtaposition of images (editing) is a critical part of telling a story on film. All of these shots need to cut together, and be cut together in a way that helps to tell the story. Kuleshov's…
SEASON 2!!! THRILLER: The Return Of Andrew Bentley The spider web fills the screen, it's Boris Karloff's THRILLER! Season: 2, Episode: 12. Airdate: December 11, 1961 Director: John Newland Writer: Richard Matheson, based on a story by August Derleth Cast: John Newland, Antionette Bower, Philip Bourneuf, Oscar Beregi, Reggie Nalder. Music: Morton Stevens. Cinematography: John F. Warren. Producer:…
