Searching for a secret in “The Searchers”

There’s a notion that the great, old movie directors who got their start in the silent era had something more to offer, because of their experience telling stories visually. John Ford is one example who’s often cited, and with good reason.

Watch the first five minutes of The Searchers. There’s a deep, dark secret in here that explains the entire movie. The answer will be published automatically on Monday at 4 pm ET.
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Bose Wave MP3 Test

You may recall that a while ago we had to replace our defective Bose Wave that broke after only six weeks of light use. It cost us $25 to ship it back, which bugged me, but so far the new one has been working all right. Yet I remain wary, because I’ve seen “disc error” flash a couple of times when ejecting a disc.

Until now I hadn’t tested the MP3 playback of the Wave. So I burned a data CD with five hours of high quality MP3 files. You’ll never guess what’s on it. 😉
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/OCT/BoseWaveMP3.flv 440 330]

The Petula Clark/Steve Ditko Connection

Was Petula Clark ever featured in an American comic book? Yes, but it wasn’t a very good one, and I’d be surprised if she even knew her picture had been used.

Charlton Go-Go, 1967

The comic was a short-lived title called Go-Go, and it was an attempt by bottom-rung comics publisher Charlton in 1966-1967 to do a humor comic. Charlton was where Steve Ditko, Spider-Man co-creator and artist, went after leaving Marvel Comics in 1966. Ditko had previously done work for Charlton, before joining the Mighty Marvel Bullpen.

Pet ‘n’ Chips

A release date has finally been announced for the DVD of Petula Clark’s 1969 film, Goodbye, Mr. Chips. It’s January 27, as noted on Pet Net and the Petula Blog.

I’ve posted a few clips of Chips, but it’s been — yow! — over a year since the last one. Here’s another sneak peek at the movie. You’ll see Sir Michael Redgrave, father of Vanessa and her sister, Pet’s friend Lynn.

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The scene with the tension created by the presence of a brash, younger woman in the midst of a boarding school, reminds me of the real-life story of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman, as told by Brian Sibley in his book Shadowlands.