@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society 07/25/25 -- Vol. 44, No. 4, Whole Number 2390
Table of Contents
Middletown (NJ) Public Library Science Fiction Discussion Group:
August 7: KING KONG (1933) & novel by Delos W. Lovelace (1932) https://archive.org/details/kingkong0000love/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/kingkong0000love_g9k9/mode/2up
There is a possibility that this and all future meetings will be canceled due to lack of suitable equipment. [-ecl]
Picks for Turner Classic Movies for August (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper):
April may be the cruellest month, at least according to T. S. Eliot, but on TCM August is the "boringest" month. I think the scheduling team thinks everyone is at the beach and not watching TCM. So they seem to have a rather bland line-up; even the classic movies are those that have been run many times before.
But I have still found a film to recommend: the 1936 SHOW BOAT, directed by James Whale (known for several classic Universal horror films) and starring Paul Robeson, whose singing is the main reason you should watch this film.
(My mother actually had a preference for the 1954 remake, which Turner is also running. You could watch both and decide for yourself.)
[SHOW BOAT (1951), Monday, August 4, 10:00PM]
[SHOW BOAT (1936), Sunday, August 31, 6:00PM]
Other films of interest include:
SUNDAY, August 3 8:15 AM Green Mansions (1959) 6:00 PM Wait Until Dark (1967) Monday, August 4 10:00 PM Show Boat (1951) THURSDAY, August 7 5:15 PM Long Day's Journey Into Night (1982) TUESDAY, August 12 4:30 PM Captain Sindbad (1963) WEDNESDAY, August 13 11:30 AM Being There (1979) FRIDAY, August 15 12:45 AM Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) FRIDAY, August 15 10:00 AM Angels in the Outfield (1951) 8:00 PM Psycho (1960) 10:00 PM Touch of Evil (1958) SATURDAY, August 16 4:30 AM Night of the Lepus (1972) SUNDAY, August 17 12:00 PM Portrait of Jennie (1948) MONDAY, August 18 8:00 PM Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) 10:00 PM The Night of the Hunter (1955) 11:45 PM Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) SUNDAY, August 24 2:15 AM The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956) 8:00 PM Fail Safe (1964) 10:00 PM The Best Man (1964) FRIDAY, August 29 7:30 AM The Smiling Ghost (1941) 10:30 AM The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945) 2:00 PM The Woman in White (1948) SUNDAY, August 31 3:45 PM A Guy Named Joe (1943) 6:00 PM Show Boat (1936)
[-ecl]
Movie Non-Reviews (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper):
I've been bingeing various films and TV shows lately, which I'm not reviewing here, but I did want to mention. I just finished re-watching THE LORD OF THE RINGS (the extended version), but in six sessions of two hours each, rather than three sessions of four hours each. (That each part is split fairly evenly over two discs helps here.) I also watched THE GATHERING STORM and INTO THE STORM (along with several other films about Churchill: CHURCHILL, DUNKIRK, and DARKEST HOUR). I highly recommend the commentaries on THE GATHERING STORM and INTO THE STORM, which are full of historical detail about Churchill and the period in general. I will warn you that while THE GATHERING STORM is fairly straightforward, INTO THE STORM jumps back and forth between the period from the beginnings of the war to V-E Day on the one hand, and the 5 July 1945 election on the other. It's probably easier for Brits to follow than for we colonials. [-ecl]
This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper):
As noted above I've been bingeing movies, so my reading is down. I did finish THE WORLD OF JEEVES by P. G. Wodehouse (Harper Collins, ISBN 978-0-060-15968-9), the complete collection of the thirty-four short fiction pieces about Jeeves. (Actually, there seem to be thirty-five short stories; for some reason "Extricating Young Gussie" is omitted. There are also eleven novels.) These are best read having Stephen Fry's and Hugh Laurie's voices in your head (IMHO).
I also read JOURNAL OF A RESIDENCE ON A GEORGIAN PLANTATION 1838-1839 by Frances Anne Kemble (available in more editions than you can shake a stick at, and also in Project Gutenberg, under the name Fanny Kemble). Kemble was an abolitionist Englishwoman who married an American who turned out to be a slave-holder. But while she clearly opposes slavery, she is also quite negative towards black people, and her descriptions are not what you would call "politically correct", "woke", or even "polite". (Her descriptions often use words like "wooly" or "dusky", and the N-word shows up in her descriptions as well as in the speech of the black people she talks to.)
Not surprisingly, she and her husband divorced (in addition to their differing views on slavery, he was repeatedly unfaithful and an inveterate gambler), and when he was almost bankrupt, he sold 436 men, women, and children in what was until very recently thought to be the largest single such sale in the United States. (An auction of over 600 people in 1835 was discovered only a few years ago.)
Not a pleasant read, certainly--Kemble is fairly explicit in the conditions and treatment of those ensalved--but part of our history nonetheless. (I should add that some people, including descendants of some of the slave holders and managers, have disputed her descriptions.) [-ecl]
Evelyn C. Leeper
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
Quote of the Week:
What does the 'B." in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for?
It stands for "Benoit B. Mandelbrot".
-- unknown
Go to our home page