Author: DOuG pRATt

War Wary

Looking at the previous post, with Vera Lynn and the aircraft behind her, it reminded me of something, then Turner Classic Movies happened to show what it was. A Matter of Life and Death, from 1946.

I wrote about this movie here over ten years ago. Back then just getting a few minutes of it captured and posted as a Flash Video was a big pain, but now YouTube has a complete copy. As with most every Powell/Pressburger production, aka The Archers, it’s fantastic and strange, with striking visual designs.

Richard Attenborough, looking unbelievably young, appears early on. There’s a motorcycle ride starting at 38:45 into the video that was quite obviously borrowed by David Lean for the opening of Lawrence of Arabia.

To the Victor Go the Spools

With the passing of Dame Vera Lynn at 103, World War II slips a little bit further away from living memory. Thanks to magnetic tape recording — an invention perfected in Nazi Germany — this 1950’s re-recording of Lynn’s “We’ll Meet Again” sounds as though it could have been made yesterday.

I should see if Vera Lynn ever commented on this use of her signature song.

Walkering Distance

As I have mentioned before, I grew up in Connecticut surrounded by cartoonists. Unfortunately, I didn’t begin to realize that until shortly before my family moved to Massachusetts. What might have been if we hadn’t moved!

Mort Walker passed away a couple of years ago, and his sons continue the family business. Brian Walker’s studio is only two miles from where I lived as a kid.

Reveille – A Family Legacy In Comics from Dave Walker on Vimeo.

A tip o’ the ol’ DogRat toupee to Mark Evanier, who recently featured this video on his NewsFromME blog.