What I Couldn’t Tell Tag Gallagher

Victor McLaglan in John Ford’s THE INFORMER christens John Ford expert Tag Gallagher.

On a related note, please head over to The Forgotten. Because it’s Thursday.

Inn Trouble

Claude Autant-Lara’s L’AUBERGE ROUGE is unrelated to Jean Epstein’s earlier film of the same name. Now that we’ve got that sorted out, you can head over to The Forgotten and see what the fuss is about. Upon seeing the Autant-Lara, Fiona immediately added it to her favourite films list. We’re also dying to learn anything we can about the anonymous actor cast as the movie’s monkey.

The film is a variant on the Sawney Bean legend, and apparently based on a true case of serial-killing innkeepers in France. The comedy is black, the snowscapes are white, and Fernandel is looking a little off-colour.

The Merkel Worker

The Forgotten returns after Cannes fortnight, with a terrific movie of the pre-code era, suggested by regular Shadowplayer La Faustin — BEAUTY FOR SALE.

Above, Una Merkel strikes a suggestive pose. Which reminded me of something another regular Shadowplayer had mentioned. Mark Medin informed me that Merkel can be seen topless in a stag film of the twenties which is quoted in Kevin Brownlow and David Gill’s majestic and otherwise largely non-pornographic documentary series Hollywood.

Here she is –

Beyond a strong (facial) resemblance and the fact that the nudie cutie star can actually act, we can’t PROVE it’s her, I guess. But it definitely is her. Glad to report that the film is innocuous and inoffensive, and hopefully served as an alternative to the casting couch rather than a development of it.