Misterios de Ultratumba / BLACK PIT OF DR M

Written by Joe D on October 29th, 2021

Here for Halloween we have a Mexican Horror film that is being screened at RED CAT, the theater under Disney Concert Hall here in Los Angeles.

And here as second half of our Halloween double bill is the Aztec Mummy!

Happy Halloween!

Gumby and Pokey In The Dough

Written by Joe D on October 20th, 2021

                                                                                       Art Clokey and his pal Gumby

Here is a surreal Fairy Tale in Stop motion Claymation that freaked me out as a young kid. Gumby always had elements of strangeness. There’s one about Indians thats also pretty deep. These were made by Art Clokey, who I hear tell, dropped LSD and became a free love hippie type , abandoning his middle class family and chasing teen aged chicks, at least so the legend goes.

                        Sneaky Pete Kleinow

One of the animators on Gumby was the amazing Sneaky Pete Kleinow, who later went on to animate the Terminator metal monster in the first Terminator film. He also did the Pilsbury dough Boy, Poppin Fresh, a lot of commercials. But he was also an amazing pedal steel guitar player! Check out his playing on Frank Zappas Waka Jawaka album, Outstanding. And he played on a lot of C&W records, plus he was a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers. What an unsung genius!

Illustrious Corpses

Written by Joe D on October 9th, 2021

I read that they were re-releasing this film in a limited release,stating in NYC. So I figured I’dcheck it out. It is directed by Fransesco Rosi ,a very creative,political filmmaker. I’ve seen a few of his other films, Salvatore Giuliano, Hands Over The City, The Swindlers. All very good and all shot by the great camerman Gianni DeVenanzo. This one however was not.Gianni died unexpectedly at age 46,but his operator Pasqualino DeSantis did shoot this film.And he did a great job,beautiful. (In my opinion no one comes close to Gianni when it comes to moving the camera around moving protagonists,the sense of space you get is magical. )

Illustrious Corpses stars the great acor Lino Ventura,a real presence on the screen. He is a real movie star. He didn’t want to act,he had to be talked into it by his friend Jaques Becker for Touchez Pas La Grisbi. And it paid off very well for him and for us,the film watchers! So thanks Jaques Becker! Also on hand are Max Von Sydow and Fernando Rey, icons of Bergman and Bunuel.  The great Piero Piccione provides the score and the editing is by Ruggerio Mastroianni, brother of Marcello! Anyway the entire movie is on Youtube. The only problem I had was with the sound level, it keeps changing, quiet for dialog, loud for musical sequences. But watch it! It is a great movie! I think my favorite of Rosi’s so far. I still have a lot of his films to see, a thought I find very reassuring.

Alice Coltrane

Written by Joe D on October 4th, 2021

Here is a video of the great Alice Coltrane playing her harp, which her husband John Coltrane gave her. It cost &50,000, some of his profits from A Love Supreme. Alice is ba spiritual musical master, she forged her own direction in music and founded an Ashram in Los Angeles. An amazing woman and a great artist. She is also the great aunt of contemporary musicia Flying Lotus. Check out her albums, she had a long creative history with Pharoah Sanders as well, another giant on the jazz scene.