New Arrivals

From Criterion —

THE GIRL CAN’T HELP IT on Blu-Ray. Stephen C. Horne and I made a video essay for this one, extolling the wonders of Cinemascope and Gorgeous Lifelike Color By Deluxe.

CITIZEN KANE in 4K. This ports over a piece Randall William Cook, Timo Langer and I made for the Criterion website, exploring Orson Welles’ obsession with false noses.

The pile of discs I’ve worked on is now standing above eye level. When it gets to be taller than me, I may have to find a sheld for it, or start wearing heels, or something.

Fake Nose Media

ON THE NOSE, the video essay co-written by Randall William Cook and myself (and narrated by Randy) and edited by Timo Langer, is up on the Criterion channel. It’s about Orson Welles’ false noses, their purpose and meaning.

This is a relative epic at ten minutes (some of my Blu-ray extras are MUCH longer, but for watching on little screens, brevity is good). We decided to cut it FAST, for pseudo-Wellesian energy, and then had a struggle to find enough stills. But there’s a generous sampling of clips from Criterion’s releases, Welles’ own art, and a guest appearance by Randy’s authentic cast of the actual nose itself. You can’t pass THAT up.

You can read about the piece here.

Thanks to Kim Hendrickson.

The Rule of Three, or is it Four?

1. Wrote a sort-of-obituary appreciation of Dorothy Malone for The Chiseler. Here.
2. Made a video essay with Randall William Cook and editor Timo Langer on the many noses of Orson Welles which is up at Filmstruck, behind a paywall so I can’t link to it. Members can seek it out, though, it’s called ON THE NOSE. (Note: I only realised later that there’s a previous Fimstruck article on the subject, which quotes an even earlier piece from Shadowplay. But what it quotes is NOT TRUE. I was kidding! I was hoping people would realise that. I hate it when people take my jokes seriously, it makes them feel silly when they find out. But at the same time, I don’t want to make the gags more obvious…)
3. The magnificent Marilyn Ferdinand honours me by contributing a late entry to The Late Movies Blogathon. It’s about Colleen Moore’s version of THE SCARLET LETTER, and you can read it here.
4. And then I got carried away and wrote a sequel to the Dorothy Malone piece. Here.