Year: 2007

Credit Due, Not Yet Paid

Now that Mark Evanier has clarified the issue of on-screen credits for the creators of Spider-Man, let’s go back to the first Spidey movie. As expected, it’s worded exactly the same way.
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Something I haven’t noticed before is the first Spider-Man movie has an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, only tiny bit wider than HDTV’s 1.77:1. The second movie is much wider — or shorter, depending on how you consider it — at 2.35:1.

Spider-Man’s Co-Creator Gets His Due

Spider-Man was not created solely by writer Stan Lee. As correctly credited in all three movies, artist Steve Ditko co-created the character.
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I feature some panels of Ditko’s distinctively eccentric, compelling work here and here. Thanks to Mark Evanier, I know that tomorrow the BBC will be showing a Steve Ditko documentary. I’m hoping it makes an appearance on BBC America. If not, I’ll have to scrounge around the Internet, the way I did to find the BBC Petula Clark documentary.

IMPORTANT NOTE: On Newsfromme, Mark Evanier corrects me on the subject of screen credits. Thank you, Mark!

By the way, anybody who’s visiting here thinking I’m the same Doug Pratt who puts out The DVD-LaserDisc Newsletter, I’m merely a subscriber. That Doug Pratt is over here.

The Original Brassy Dame

In my post about the 1934 movie Tarzan And His Mate I mention the Hays Office Production Code. A lot of movies that are today considered pre-Code were actually produced after the code was written in 1930, but before it was enforced. One of the movies that wouldn’t have held up to the code’s restrictions was an early Barbara Stanwyck picture, Night Nurse, from 1931.
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Movies from the 1930’s are fun to watch. Seeing them on TV while growing up in the 60’s, they seemed to be not just from another era, but almost from another planet. I love their tone, the mannered style of acting, and the high contrast “in-your-face” humanity of the themes and dialog.

One of the very best forgotten movies of the early 30’s is American Madness, directed by Frank Capra. I posted it a year ago using an embedded Windows Media player, which has the advantage of chapter stops. At some point I’ll get around to adding playlists to the Flash video player.