Coming Attractions.

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Coming Attractions.

May 17, 2018 by Toby

Was looking for images for a couple posts I was working on and found an ad where they played as a double feature (in Long Beach in December of 1953).

Posted in 1953, 3-D, Audie Murphy, Columbia, Fred F. Sears, Lee Van Cleef, Nathan Juran, Phil Carey, Russell Johnson, Universal (International), Wallace Ford | 14 Comments

14 Responses

on May 17, 2018 at 4:55 pm | Reply Laura

City of my birth! My dad could have gone to one of these theaters for this film. My Grandpa used to take me to the Towne for Disney movies in the ’70s.

Best wishes,
Laura
on May 17, 2018 at 5:37 pm | Reply Patricia Nolan-Hall (@CaftanWoman)

I could go for that.
on May 17, 2018 at 10:18 pm | Reply Texican

A Lee Van Cleef double feature.
on May 19, 2018 at 7:01 am | Reply john k

I’ve just posted some ultra exciting Clint news over at Toby’s
Hannibal 8.
It’s such a cool little blog where anything (almost) and everything goes.
Quiet frankly,I’m getting fed up being more or less the sole contributor
these days,wheres Richard Oravitz,Where’s Jerry where’s Mike Richards…
I could go on and on.
I guess a lot of you will have heard the Clint news..it’s all over cyberspace
and as a long time fan I’m ultra excited….wonderful to see The Man back
in front of the camera.
- on May 19, 2018 at 8:08 pm | Reply Toby
  
  Thanks for plugging TH8. The funny thing about it is, that while the comments are few, the views are climbing steadily.
  - on May 20, 2018 at 4:54 pm | Reply Mike Richards
    
    Mike has been on holiday in wonderful Edinburgh, no cowboys, but plenty of kilts!
on May 19, 2018 at 10:43 am | Reply Bert Greene

This is sort of 50s-westerns related, albeit in a different medium: A book has come out reprinting the western comic-strip “Casey Ruggles,” by Warren Tufts, which ran from 1949-55. I just received it recently and started reading it. Really nice westerny artwork, done in a pretty adult style. More violent than one might expect, too. The book includes both b&w dailies and color Sundays, up to 1951. A nice, high-quality hardback book. I think I’m going to enjoy this.

Disappointed to apparently learn this morning that a film I’d always wanted to see, the 1934 version of Zane Grey’s “West of the Pecos” (RKO) with Richard Dix is regarded as a ‘lost’ film. I didn’t know that. I’d corresponded with a friend who was also a fan, like me, of the film’s leading lady, Martha Sleeper, a talented and appealing actress who made a lot of film appearances, but never really seemed to get the breaks. I knew the film was a rare/unavailable item, but I never realized it wasn’t extant.

Enjoyed the Kino “The Half Breed” and “The Good Bad Man” (1916) double-feature disc with Douglas Fairbanks. Antique stuff, for sure, but quite enjoyable. Biggest surprise was seeing in the latter film, stalwart western character-actor and villain Charles Stevens, looking impossibly young as a henchman menacing bright-eyed Bessie Love. It never fails to amaze me just how far back some of these familiar western actors go, like Stevens, Bud Osborne, Bob Kortman, Frank Lackteen, Lafe McKee, etc. Virtually the dawn of film itself, it seems.
on May 19, 2018 at 4:14 pm | Reply gcwe1

Bert ,speaking of Richard Dix,I recently requested TOMBSTONE : THE TOWN TOO TOUGH TO DIE from Kino but was told it was owned by Universal ,so the chances of it getting a DVD release are probably slim ,so I’ll have to settle for a DVDr. Does anyone have COUNT THREE AND PRAY with Van Heflin?I thought I had it but a search of my collection came up with nothing.
- on May 19, 2018 at 6:41 pm | Reply Bert Greene
  
  I’d love to see “Tombstone” (1942) and all those Pop Sherman westerns like “American Empire,” “The Kansan,” “Buckskin Frontier,” “Silver Queen,” etc., remastered and released on blu. I’m guessing that their public-domain status works against them. We’ll probably be doomed to the same ancient 16mm transfers for all eternity.
  
  I didn’t really know who controls or maintains the original print elements, especially since most of these films were shifted over to UA for distribution, even though they were originally Paramount product. They always seemed to be in a different tv-syndication package, alongside a few others like the comedies “The Crystal Ball” (1943) and “Young and Willing” (1943). ClassicFlix was planning on releasing the former, but I think those plans were dropped due to elements issues.
on May 21, 2018 at 6:16 am | Reply john k

COUNT THREE AND PRAY was released recently on DVD by Sidonis,France.
Sidonis discs have “forced” French subtitles on the English language
version which is a total pain.
I’d buy a Blu Ray of TOMBSTONE, THE TOWN TOO TOUGH TO DIE
in a heartbeat. The film like all pre 1949..ish Paramount titles is now owned
by Universal. With the demise of the Universal Vault series the only hope is
possibly Koch,Germany…get on their case!!
Koch soon will release the vintage Universal Western WHEN THE DALTONS
RODE on Blu Ray.
Another Sherman/Dix vintage Paramount title on my “most wanted” list
is Selander’s THE ROUNDUP which also stars Preston Foster and
Patricia Morison. Patricia passed away recently at the grand age of 103.
Laura has produced a lovely tribute that some of us have already
commented on.
- on May 21, 2018 at 7:12 am | Reply gcwe1
  
  John K,I contacted my contact at Sidonis about COUNT THREE AND PRAY and he said they are waiting for element issues to be sorted out ,but why they had it on Amazon Fr and other sites ,I don’t know .I asked him about this and should get an answer soon,so I’ll keep you posted.I will get on to Koch about TOMBSTONE:THE TOWN TOO TOUGH TO DIE ,but getting a BLU RAY let alone a DVD released would be a miracle.However ,if the release of a numbert of silent westerns getting released,anything can happen.
on May 21, 2018 at 11:12 pm | Reply walter

Bert Greene, was it possible to to see the real Wyatt Earp in THE HALF BREED? Director Alan Dwan said Earp was in the movie. He was supposed to have been filmed as an extra in a bar scene where he was standing with a group of men. Earp would have been 68 years old at the time. Tall man wearing a moustache. Of course, this could be just a tall tale told by Dwan, but maybe not. William S. Hart and Tom Mix were pallbearers at Earp’s funeral in 1929.
- on May 22, 2018 at 8:09 am | Reply Bert Greene
  
  Well, Walter, I certainly looked. A lot of colorful characters in the saloon scenes, including a number of old duffers (almost all seemed to have a beard). But I sure couldn’t spot or identify Earp. It’s entirely conceivable he might have been in that crowded mix, in the far background, though. Or, like you said, a possible tall tale. I’ll have to leave it to someone more expert than me to solve the mystery. Do we have it nailed down as a fact that Earp at least visited the set during filming?
on May 22, 2018 at 2:56 am | Reply Jerry Entract

I love reading the extraordinarily interesting detail surrounding early westerns from Bert and Walter. So much to learn, so much to enjoy…..

I’m a big Richard Dix fan too. Those Harry Sherman westerns starring Dix are hugely enjoyable and certainly deserve restoration. Sadly, we may have a very long wait. For me, happily, several of these, including “TOMBSTONE” were aired in the UK years ago by the BBC and I recorded them. No comparison with a BluRay restoration but possibly the best pq that exists currently. I especially like “THE CHEROKEE STRIP” and “THE KANSAN”.