The Musk Movie -- October 26, 2026

npr.org

Alex Gibney's latest movie, Musk, disappeared from theaters and was blocked from buying ads on social media sites. Elon Musk is threatening to sue. I am going to see if I can find it on a streaming site.

High Treason -- October 25, 2026

listal.com

I have seen some strange movies recently. High Treason was one of them. It was made in 1929. Like Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail, it started being shot as a silent movie and became a talkie. Much of the silent footage was recycled with dubbing. The acting was enthusiastic. 

Gaumont-British made it in the UK, with a co-producer, the American company Tiffany.

High Treason was set in 1940, which the writers imagined as an advanced society with televisions and video phones, yet the hero commanded a squadron of biplane bombers. A cabal of arms manufacturers and other lowlifes stages a border incident threatening to start a war between the United States of Europe and the Empire of the Atlantic States. The Peace League tries to hold everyone back, but then the bad guys blow up a tunnel under the English Channel. The leader of the Pesce League solves the problem in an unexpected way.

There were many miniatures, especially showing the city and the channel tunnel. They were not as good as the miniatures in Hitchcock's later movies made in the UK.

Star Benita Hume later married Ronald Colman.

The movie was based on a play by Noel Pemberton Billing. I can't imagine how anyone staged it. 

Angela Lansbury 100 -- October 16, 2026

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Wildly talented actress, singer and dancer Angela Lansbury was born 100 years ago today, on 16-October-1925. She was one of the last links to old Hollywood. She could play good people and bad people, serious people and funny people, and animated tea pots.

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Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2026 -- October 12, 2026

mayorshengthao

My Italian-American mother would not like this, but I'm going to stop calling it Columbus Day and start calling it Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Sadly, she is no longer aware of what day it is.

Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day to everyone.

Here the City of Oakland and former Mayor Sheng Thao acknowledge that their city, like much of the Bay Area, is built "On Occupied Ohlone Land."

Hypnotized -- The Two Black Crows -- October 11, 2026

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Halloween is coming. I like to watch a few scary movies during the month of October. Hypnotized scared the heck out of me. 

George Moran and Charles Mack performed in blackface as The Two Black Crows. They were successful in vaudeville, records and radio. They were not successful in movies. 

Educational Pictures signed the act to do a feature and a series of short films. Comedy pioneer Mack Sennett directed.  Sono Art-World Wide Pictures, famous for its logo, released the film. I came across Hypnotized, which I had read about years ago, on YouTube.

Moran (the little guy) and Mack (the big guy) work as the crew for a low-grade circus owned by Charlie Murray. Marjorie Beebe, also in blackface, appeared as a maid. Wallace Ford and Maria Alba were performers. She was supposed to be Hungarian, but she spoke with her usual Spanish accent.

Maria Alba -- listal.com

The scenes in the circus are disjointed, but Wallace Ford, who loves Maria Alba, finds out that he holds a winning ticket in a sweepstake but has to go to London to collect. The whole circus, which is leaking money, winds up on the ocean liner with him. Moran appears to disappear at that point. I never noticed him on the ship.

A crooked hypnotist, played by Ernest Torrence has hypnotized both Mack and Ford. He wants the sweepstake money. All sorts of hard to follow things happen. 

This was a terrible movie, and not just because of the blackface. I suspect that there was supposed to more to the movie than they shot or released. 

To add insult to injury, the next thing that came up on YouTube was the cut-down two-reel version. It omitted the circus scenes entirely, so Moran did not appear at all. It was more disjointed than the feature.

White Zombie -- October 10, 2026

listal.com

Halloween is coming.

One of my favorite horror movies is White Zombie, produced and directed by the Halperin Brothers. Bela Lugosi as Murder Legendre chewed the scenery to shreds. The sets, many borrowed from Universal movies, had great atmosphere. Madge Bellamy gave her best performance in a talkie.

Where can I get a "Zombie Grip?"

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The Kennel Murder Case -- October 8, 2026

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Tuesday night we watched a favorite movie, The Kennel Murder Case. I was surprised to notice that I never wrote about it, or the main character, Philo Vance, in this blog. I am probably one of the few people alive who has read any of S S Van Dine's Philo Vance novels. I did not read The Kennel Murder Case. 

Director Michael Curtiz made The Kennel Murder Case in 1933. It was shot with many unusual angles. My wife loves the dogs, but the cat had no comment. 

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I liked the way Vance explained the murder by using two beautifully detailed models of the Archer house and the apartment house next door. Using diagrams or models was a regular feature in Van Dine's Vance novels.