Recent content by Henry Gondorff

I saw the first show of the opening day at the Savoy in Boston. It was the long version and some sections felt like a slog to me. I caught it about 4 weeks later when it spread to the nabes and it was noticeably lighter. I'm not a serious devotee and don't have knowledge of how judicious the...

I feel the need to emphasize that the Somerville Theater is a gem in the community and does some excellent current and retro programming. Their equipment is top-shelf and every presentation is superbly executed. It's only the structural parameters that impose a suboptimal image in the main...

Coolidge Norelco AAII projectors are at practically zero degree pitch and aligned with screen center owing to the booth being at floor level - as compared to Somerville's extremely steep projection angle from rear of balcony with attendant keystoning, image clipping and focus deficiency. Don't...

The Coolidge Corner Theater is infinitely preferable with a far superior projected film image.

It's on tonight. Charlton Heston said that Yul Brynner gave the best performance in the film. He also had the best dialogue: "I will not make him a martyr for you to cherish. No phantom will come between you and me in the night. Yes, my sweet, I will let him live. Dead, you alone would possess...

I saw the picture when it was first released and a couple of 35mm IB prints since then. It had the beautiful rich Technicolor look you fully expected from Disney films of those years. A huge expenditure of work and money went into the production of Darby O' Gill. Disney had it photographed by...

You are not in the minority. The majority of critics felt Frenzy was one of Hitchcock's best latter-day efforts. I think many who say they dislike the film are not actually offended by the graphic depiction of rape and murder so much as that Hitchcock chose to employ it. There seems to be a...

That's Hildyard!

I've never been entirely certain of the ownership of The Big Fisherman. It appears to have been an independent production produced by Rowland V. Lee (Son Of Frankenstein) which had a distribution deal via Buena Vista, not released under the Disney imprimatur nor necessarily owned by them. The...

Mr. RAH: Kindly forgive my apparent obtuseness if your comment was meant in jest. That, and a subsequent comment suggesting that Mr. Sharpe (or the "other guy") had a speech impediment, appeared to mischaracterize a fine actor.

Albert Sharpe, who played Darby, deliberately spoke in a heavy Irish brogue dialect as befit the character. Connery said Sharpe was wonderful in the part. As to getting more work, Sharpe was a member of the Abbey Players, played Finian McLonergan in the original broadway production of Finian's...