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My friend in Israel and I have often synchronized our watching, through the magic of DVD on my end and, ahem, other means of obtainment on his. In this way, I've introduced him to REMEMBER LAST NIGHT (first viewing for both of us), THE APARTMENT, THE SCARLET CLUE (which sadly he did not enjoy outside of Birmingham and a few other moments; in retrospect choosing a Monogram as his introduction to Charlie Chan may have been unwise, though it's how I first met the honorable detective), and sundry others. Recent weeks, we've been doing Kolchak: NIGHT STALKER, which impressed me more this time. I've always preferred STRANGLER, mostly due to the more overt humor and the supporting cast and also preferring the different angle to another vampire tale, but STALKER is an effective drama, solid direction (the autopsy scene is especially nicely handled), good pacing, a poignant ending, and effective quick sketches of characters like the FBI agent and the three contrasting, buldozing officials (who became more interchangeable in the series; here, there's the bullheaded sheriff Akins, yes, but also the canny politican DA and Charles McGraw in a small role as the weary police captain, who's the only one of the bunch who comes across like he's just trying to do his job against impossible circumstances and doesn't have any specific axe against Kolchak). STRANGLER remains a hoot (including the punchline) but also actually characterizes a couple of the victims, so one sympathizes, and even the villain's situation is a sort of classic "mad scientist, when altruism goes awry" scenario. Darren McGavin of course remains brilliant.

The series, we're doing it in order when personally I'd rather skip around (we did two yesterday). The first episode was a dull rehash of the two movies, but the Zombie episode remains fun (in the 1970s, voodoo zombies used public transport to reach their victims). Yes, TV quality and silly at times, often intentionally, but no other program ever offered the spectacle of Jim Backus as a motorcycle salesman who, halfway through his spiel on a Japanese model, suffers WWII flashbacks. And I will forever treasure that. 

Oh, I also watched and thoroughly enjoyed AUSTRALIA last week. I should write about it elsewhere, maybe Gatsby thread, since I'd like to discuss it with Ken. It definitely seemed to have a three part structure to me, and packed more in the first 11 minutes than many films do in the first half hour. I haven't seen much Luhrmann (beyond STRICTLY BALLROOM years ago, and then in bits, while at a hotel), but I was impressed by how effectively he used editing and crosscutting as an actual storytelling device, compared to countless movies which either don't know how to edit at all, or where quick cuts are just headache inducing to show off the director's background in music videos or a digital trick or somesuch.

Maleva's neither Arlene nor Maria Ouspenskaya, but Alfie Bass?!?! I feel so disillusioned.

Oh, I knew that. But the possibility that he's Carol Channing remains. We've never seen the two of them together, after all.