Previews of coming attractions...

And…we’re back.  I apologize for the longer than usual break in proceedings, but this is just to let you know that Another Old Movie Blog will return next Thursday, January 24^th. 

For the next two weeks we’ll take on a couple movies in which setting is primary to the telling of the story, and both based on novels. We’ll see how they adhere to the novel plot, how they stray, and how effectively they depict their settings. 

First up: “Parrish” (1961), which was filmed on location in Connecticut and offers us a lush look with a soap opera-type story about tobacco growing in the Connecticut River Valley.  
Starring Troy Donahue in a stunning array of red sweaters and windbreakers, he is ably supported by Connie Stevens leading the bevy of females chasing him, along with Claudette Colbert as his mom, and Karl Malden as the boss/stepfather from hell.  I’ve been wanting to cover this one for some time because it’s set and filmed in my backyard, and many of the filming locations are familiar to me.
 

Photo Luddy/Taylor Connecticut Valley Tobacco Museum

 

I’ll be tying this in with a post next Tuesday, the 22^nd on my New England Travels blog about commercial tobacco growing in this area.  Many people hereabout have been involved with or touched by tobacco growing in some way, including some of my family and friends.  One famous person who spent some time as a field worker in tobacco here was a young Martin Luther King, Jr., and we’ll look at Dr. King’s thoughts on the subject from his autobiography, and a letter he wrote home.  I hope you can join us next week on both blogs.

On the following Thursday, it’s a very different setting in “The Woman in White” (1948), a Victorian suspense story based on the famous novel by Wilkie Collins and shot with an irresistible nod to film noir.  It stars Alexis Smith, Eleanor Parker, Gig Young, and Sydney Greenstreet in one of his best roles.  How this film straddles the exceptional novel and how it deviates is fascinating.
 

 

“Parrish” illustrates its setting by filming on location.  “The Woman in White” is entirely a product of the studio and back lot. 

For the foreseeable future, I’ll be posting only once per week on Thursdays, but more often as schedule permits or blogathons dictate.

***

Classic Films and the American Conscience, my eBook collection of essays from Another Old Movie Blog is now also available from Barnes&Noble.com for your Nook, and continues to be sold on Amazon. 

 See you next week.