After a nearly two year battle with various health issues, Deb is finally back to her old self. Her check up yesterday indicated that she is on a good path. This opens up the world of travel for us, so watch this space in the next month or so to see where we might be headed (Europe or UK), if there is enough jet fuel to take us there and back. We are excited to be able to have choices again, though sadly New Mexico will still have to wait until at least the next president of the US comes on board.
We have had so much rain of late that outdoor walking has not been feasible. More rain is the way tomorrow, but then it should dry out enough for us to walk the local trail again. We've had some decent if warm walks so far, with two segments left to tackle of the seven segment trail. Wildflowers are beginning to appear and we came across several impressive stands of trout lilies.
In PC gaming news we are currently working on two games. Return To Zork is a very old game, and almost impossible to figure out. We are doing this oldie but goodie with a walkthru, enjoying the jokes and the primitive scenery. "Want some rye? 'Course ya do."
The other game is the much more dark and serious Zork Nemesis, one of my all-time favourite PC games from yesteryear. We are attempting this one on our own, though my notes from my last time (year 2000) are coming in handy. It's amazing that these old games can still run on new machines and Win 11, thanks to Steam and other platforms. They are also very inexpensive. More on these as we go along.
In movie news there are a few to report, including a short film. First the features. Guilty Bystander is a 1950 b & w film directed by Joseph Lerner. This is a great little B noir starring Zachary Scott as a washed up former police detective, Max Thursday, living in a seedy flophouse and drinking himself into oblivion. The story about a kidnapped little boy (his son) is almost an aside compared to the characters and locations (NYC) in the film. This is an amazing film with many unforgettable moments, including the gangster boss with a bad ticker who shouldn't be getting too excited over anything. This one is worth another viewing, but it's leaving Criterion for now. Hopefully it will return.
An unforgettable film can work two ways. The above film is unforgettable in a good way, while the next film would rather be forgotten but likely cannot. The World's Greatest Sinner is pretty much a one man effort, directed by and starring Timothy Carey. It is a b & w film from 1962 and features one of the creepiest leading men ever put on film. Carey quits his job as an insurance salesman (I don't blame him there) and becomes a sort of populist preacher. His mantra is that every man is a god, especially himself. He begins by shouting his message at gathering places and eventually gets a small following of fellow wackos. He leaves his wife and kids and becomes more and more popular until he has achieved full cult status. He uses women, some as young as 14, and becomes so full of himself that there can be no turning back. His life becomes one big parade of sleaze and lies, until its ultimate conclusion. The film was fully restored and can be seen better than it ever was when new. The music is by a young man calling himself Zappa (!). Carey also wrote for Kubrick (The Killing and Paths of Glory). Highly not recommended, it is still a film one should see (Does that make sense).
King of the Night is from 1975 and is a Brazilian film directed by Hector Babenco. Here is the Criterion blurb:
Héctor Babenco’s first feature traces the descent of Tertuliano (Paulo
José), a once-promising aspiring lawyer, into a life of decadence and
amorality on the bohemian fringes of São Paulo as he falls into
tempestuous relationships with several women, including a sex worker
(Marília Pêra). Tracing both Tertuliano’s slide into self-destructive
hedonism and São Paulo’s changing social landscape from the 1920s to the
1970s, KING OF THE NIGHT is a striking first expression of Babenco’s
career-long concern with life on the margins.
Tertuliano is as sleazy and low as the character from the above film, Sinner. He chews through women, making demands of them while he lives a more carefree life. He is particularly harsh on his favourite girlfriend, a singer and prostitute whom he lives with for a time. But he spares no mercy for three sisters his mother wants him to meet. He drives the youngest insane, marries the middle one and eventually murders her after tormenting her for far too long, then has sex with the eldest at his wife's funeral, taking her in the kitchen while guests wait in the living room for coffee. He ends up paying for his sins, spending 15 years in prison and then working jobs such as carrying advertising signs up and down the street and handing out pamphlets. At the end he is in a retirement home when who should come marching in but the first love of his life. They then live happily ever after at the home together. If you enjoy watching despicable characters parade through a film, this one has your name on it. Enjoy.
The final feature is from our DVD collection "Chilling Classics" and is called I Bury The Living. From 1958 it sounds as if it might be a trope-filled horror, but it's actually a neat little noir starring Richard Boone. As an influential town business man he must take over directorship of a cemetery for a year, a job that is passed around among town leaders. The film centers around a wall map of the cemetery and plots. It is filled with pins, black for people already buried and white for those who bought plots but haven't needed them yet. When he mistakenly sticks two black pins into plots that should have white ones, the two people are killed in an accident. He wonders if it was chance, and sticks another black pin into a white plot. Same result. The film has been compared to a longer Twilight Zone episode. Up until the very stupid (and impossible) ending, this is a very effective and well directed film. With a much better ending this could have truly become a cult classic. As it is it's still worth a view.
Lastly comes a nifty short film that I wish had been made into a feature. The Hedonists is a 2016 film from China with a running time of 26 minutes. Three miners are laid off from their job when their mine closes down. Being eternal optimists they try out for some new jobs. This very funny look at job searching makes for a gem of a film. First they try out as bodyguards for a big crime boss. That doesn't go so well, especially as their middle ages seem to define them. Next they try out for actors in a pageant in a new complex that will welcome tourists for historical reenactments. As it turns out they aren't quite in tune with their boss. A lovely film, and the three characters are welcome heroes of this short film.
Mapman Mike
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