Movies
Double Danger (1938) D: Lew Landers. S: Preston Foster, Whitney Bourne, Donald Meek, Cecil Kellaway, Samuel S. Hinds. Inoffensive but mostly charmless B picture about police commissioner Hinds inviting his two prime suspects for “The Gentleman,” a renowned jewel thief, to his suburban estate for the weekend. Foster and Bourne are the suspects and ostensible romantic leads. Simultaneously too busy and not busy enough during its hour-long runtime. The opening social engineering heist is the highlight.
Lost in America (1985) D: Albert Brooks. S: Albert Brooks, Julie Hagerty, Michael Greene, Donald Gibb, Garry Marshall. Dissatisfied yuppie couple Brooks and Hagerty decide to leave L.A. in a Winnebago, dropping out like in *Easy Rider* (which they may have misunderstood), only to discover life’s not so easy on the road. Some fantastic, funny sequences and outstanding cameos (Marshall’s best performance ever and Donald Gibb’s a hoot). They just run out of story too early.
Radio Patrol (1932) D: Edward L. Cahn. S: Robert Armstrong, Russell Hopton, Lila Lee, Andy Devine, Sidney Toler. Peculiar mix of early talkie, stock footage extravaganza, toxic masculinity primer, B copaganda picture following the latest (integrated) police academy class in an unnamed city. By the finish, only forty percent survive, done in by dopers and dirty cops. Director Cahn doesn’t believe in second takes; his cast needs them, especially thanks to the mawkish melodrama. Hopton’s exceptionally sturdy.
The Saint In Palm Springs (1941) D: Jack Hively. S: George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, Paul Guilfoyle, Jonathan Hale, Harry Shannon. Lackluster outing survives thanks to Sanders, who’s actually more bored than everyone else. He’s in PALM SPRINGS to deliver some valuables to Barrie (who’s returning but as a different love interest) and runs into old pal Guilfoyle, now the resort detective. Not predictable only on a technicality. The script requires Sanders to be dim; he obliges, the picture suffers.
Sea Fog (2014) D: Shim Sung-bo. S: Kim Yun-seok, Park Yoo-chun, Han Ye-ri, Lee Hee-jun, Yeom Hye-ran. Portentous “based on a true story” (well, adapted from the play based on the true story) about a desperate fishing boat captain (Kim Yun-seok) who takes a job trafficking people from China. Unfortunately, his boat’s a deathtrap and his crew’s mostly misogynistic sociopaths. Solid production, some strong acting; also, a bewilderingly ill-advised romance subplot and shallow finish.
Waltzes from Vienna (1934) D: Alfred Hitchcock. S: Edmund Gwenn, Esmond Knight, Jessie Matthews, Fay Compton, Charles Heslop. Histrionically acted, stagy play adaptation about Johan Strauss II (Knight) getting the chance to be his own composer thanks to rich lady Compton liking the cut of his jib, musically and physically. Shame she’s got a husband (Vosper), and he’s got a girlfriend (Matthews). Plus angry dad Gwenn figures in. Boring, though director Hitchcock does try to stay amused.
Comics
Watson’s Sketchbook, Vol. 2 (2025) OGN WA: Lee Knox Ostertag. Ostertag covers a lot in Volume 2, concluding with the Reichenbach Falls affair, but it’s a windy road to that point. Holmes and Watson get their tenderest moments–and, as Ostertag observed previously, all reads naturally. It’s more of a comic this time around, too, less sketching, more fully formed narrative. With fantastic characterizations and lovely relationships. Fantastic work.