"THE PUBLIC EYE" (1992) Photo Gallery

Below are images from the 1992 neo-noir film, "THE PUBLIC EYE". Loosely based upon New York photographer Arthur "Weegee" Fellig and directed by Howard Franklin, the movie starred Joe Pesci and Barbara Hershey: 


"THE PUBLIC EYE" (1992) Photo Gallery

"LIFE WITH FATHER" (1947) Review

"LIFE WITH FATHER" (1947) Review

Warner Brothers is the last studio I would associate with a heartwarming family comedy set in the 19th century. At least the Warner Brothers of the 1940s. And yet, the studio did exactly that when it adapted Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse's 1939 play, "Life With Father", which happened to be an adaptation of Clarence Day's 1935 novel. 

If I must be frank, I am a little confused on how to describe the plot for "LIFE WITH FATHER". But I will give it my best shot. The movie is basically a cinematic account in the life of one Clarence Day, a stockbroker in 1880s Manhattan, who wants to be master of his house and run his household, just as he runs his Wall Street office. However, standing in his way is his wife, Vinnie, and their four sons, who are more inclined to be more obedient of their mother than their father. You see, Vinnie is the real head of the Day household. And along with their children, she continues to demand that Mr. Day overcome his stubbornness and make changes in his life. 

Thanks to Donald Odgen Stewart's screenplay, "LIFE WITH FATHER" focused on Mr. Day's attempt to find a new maid; a romance between his oldest son Clarence Junior and pretty out-of-towner named Mary Skinner, who is the ward of his cousin-in-law Cora Cartwright; a plan by Clarence Jr. and second son John to make easy money selling patent medicines; Mrs. Day's health scare; Mr. Day's general contempt toward the trappings of organized religion; and Mrs. Day's agenda to get him baptized. Some of these story lines seem somewhat disconnected. But after watching the movie, I noticed that the story lines regarding Clarence Junior and John's patent medicine scheme were connected to Clarence Junior's romance with Mary and Mrs. Day's health scare. Which played a major role in Mrs. Day's attempt to get her husband baptized. Even the baptism story line originated from Cousin Cora and Mary's visit.

Many would be surprised to learn that Michael Curtiz was the director of "LIFE WITH FATHER". Curtiz was not usually associated with light comedies like "LIFE WITH FATHER". Instead, he has been known for some of Errol Flynn's best swashbucklers, noir melodramas like "MILDRED PIERCE", the occasional crime drama and melodramas like the Oscar winning film, "CASABLANCA". However, Curtiz had also directed musicals, "YANKEE DOODLE DANDY" and "FOUR DAUGHTERS"; so perhaps "LIFE WITH FATHER" was not a stretch for him, after all. I certainly had no problem with this direction for this film. I found it well paced and sharp. And for a movie that heavily relied upon interior shots - especially inside the Days' home, I find it miraculous that the movie lacked the feel of a filmed play. It also helped that "LIFE WITH FATHER" featured some top notch performers.

William Powell earned his third and last Academy Award nomination for his portrayal as Clarence Day Senior, the family's stubborn and temperamental patriarch. Although the Nick Charles character will always be my personal favorite, I believe that Clarence Day is Powell's best. He really did an excellent job in immersing himself in the role . . . to the point that there were times that I forgot he was an actor. Powell also clicked very well with Irene Dunne, who portrayed the family's charming, yet manipulative matriarch, Vinnie Day. It is a testament to Dunne's skill as an actress that she managed to convey to the audience that despite Clarence Senior's bombastic manner, she was the real head of the Day household. Unlike Powell, Dunne did not receive an Academy Award nomination. Frankly, I think this is a shame, because she was just as good as her co-star . . . as far as I am concerned.

"LIFE WITH FATHER" also featured excellent performances from the supporting cast. Jimmy Lydon did a wonderful job portraying the Days' oldest offspring, Clarence Junior. Although Lydon was excellent portraying a character similar in personality to Vinnie Day, I found him especially funny when his Clarence Junior unintentionally project Mr. Day's personality quirks when his romance with Mary Skinner threatened to go off the rails. Speaking of Mary Skinner, Elizabeth Taylor gave a very funny and superb performance as the young lady who shakes up the Day household with a burgeoning romance with Clarence Junior and an innocent remark that leads Mrs. Day to learn that her husband was not baptized. Edmund Gwenn gave a skillful and subtle performance as Mrs. Day's minister, who is constantly irritated by Mr. Day's hostile stance against organized religion. The movie also featured excellent performances from Martin Milner, ZaSu Pitts, Emma Dunn, Derek Scott and Heather Wilde.

Another aspect of "LIFE WITH FATHER" that I found admirable was its production values. When it comes to period films, many of the Old Hollywood films tend to be on shaky ground, sometimes. For the likes of me, I tried to find something wrong with the production for "LIFE WITH FATHER", but I could not. J. Peverell Marley and William V. Skall's photography, along with Robert M. Haas' art direction, and George James Hopkins' set decorations all combined to the household of an upper middle-class family in 1885 Manhattan. But the one aspect of the film's production that really impressed me was Marjorie Best's costume designs. Quite frankly, I thought they were beautiful. Not only did they seem indicative of the movie's setting and the characters' class, they . . . well, I thought they were beautiful. Especially the costumes that Irene Dunne wore. 

As much as I had enjoyed "LIFE WITH FATHER", I could not help but notice that it seemed to possess one major flaw. Either this movie lacked a main narrative, or it possessed a very weak one. What is this movie about? Is it about Clarence Junior's efforts to get a new suit to impress Mary Skinner? Is it about Mrs. Day's health scare? Or is it about her efforts to get Mr. Day baptized? I suspect that the main plot is the latter . . . and if so, I feel that is pretty weak. If this was the main plot in the 1939 Broadway play, then screenwriter Donald Odgen Stewart should have changed the main narrative. But my gut feeling tells me that he was instructed to be as faithful to the stage play as possible. Too bad.

I see now that the only way to really enjoy "LIFE WITH FATHER" is to regard it as a character study. Between the strong characterizations, and superb performances from a cast led by Oscar nominee William Powell and Irene Dunne, this is easy for me to do. It also helped that despite the weak narrative, the movie could boast some excellent production values and first-rate direction from Michael Curtiz. You know what? Regardless of the weak narrative, "LIFE WITH FATHER" is a movie I could watch over and over again. I enjoyed it that much.

"Double Emnity" (R) - Prologue

"DOUBLE EMNITY"

RATING: R - Violence, adult language and sexual situations.
SUMMARY: An old enemy with designs for the Staff of Aingeal returns to make trouble for Cole and Olivia. AU Season Six. Set after "Weekend in Carmel".
FEEDBACK: - Be my guest. But please, be kind.
DISCLAIMER: Cole Turner, The Charmed Ones, Chris Halliwell, and Darryl Morris belong to Constance Burge, Brad Kern and Spelling Productions. Olivia McNeill Turner, the McNeills, Artemus, Prax and Cirhan are thankfully, my creations.

NOTE: This story is a follow-up to "Staff of Fire". Spoilers also include from the story, "Torn Duty" and the Season 6 episode, "I Dream of Phoebe".


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"DOUBLE EMNITY"

Prologue

San Francisco, California

The pale blond-haired man came to a stop next to the water cooler inside one of the seventeenth floor offices of the Magan Corporation. Just as he leaned forward to fill a small paper cup with water, he spied two men emerging from an elevator.

The neat suits that the two visitors wore allowed the blond man to immediately surmise that they were not attorneys or businessmen. Quite frankly, the pair's clothing looked as if it had been purchased off the rack, instead of personally tailored. This told the blond man that the visitors were not typical kind that usually appeared in this office.

At last, the blond man thought. Something worthwhile to investigate. During his past three weeks of employment with the Magan Corporation, Byran Deighton aka Cirhan thought he would never stumble across anything of interest to investigate. He had spotted a member of the Khorne Order every now and then. Fortunately, none of them had recognized him. Yet. Cirhan had even seen Prax, a daemon who had once been assistant to the Khorne Order's former leader, Artemus, until the latter ended up banished to the Stygian Abyss by the old Source. But these sightings had not been worth reporting to the Gimle Order.

Cirhan's mentor from the Gimle Order, Marbus, had given him the task of spying on the Magan Corporation. Ever since the older daemon's nephew, the half-mortal Belthazor, had discovered a connection between the Magan Corporation and the Khorne Order, Cirhan's superiors have been interested in the evil order's activities. In reality, that interest first began with the Khorne Order's attempt to manipulate the Charmed Ones into killing Marbus, who also happened to be a member of the Gimle Order's Council. Then other events followed. The Khorne Order tried to destroy the Whitelighters Realm. Just over two months ago, the evil order nearly got its hands on the Sword of Halane, a magical object that belonged to another Gimle Order council member. Following the last incident, Marbus ordered Cirhan to seek employment with the Magan Corporation and learn its secrets.

Cirhan swallowed the water in one long gulp. Being inconspicuous as he possibly could, the daemon returned to his desk and opened one drawer. Inside laid an object shaped like a small black tube. It happened to be a small, Chinese miniature camera that had been given to him by Marbus. Cirhan dismissed the use of a camera as nonsense from a spy movie for mortals, until Marbus insisted that he use it.

To ensure that he would not attract unwanted attention, Cirhan quietly aimed the camera's lens at the two visitors and snapped an image. Several minutes passed before a third person emerged from another elevator. Cirhan recognized the figure as a mortal named Cedric Lloyd, one of the corporation's top attorneys. Once more, the daemon aimed his small camera. He snapped a photograph of Lloyd greeting the not-so well-dressed visitors. Then he quickly shoved the camera back inside his desk and tried to look as serene as possible.

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Manhattan, New York; Alternate Dimension

The door to the three-bedroom condominium slammed shut, causing Olivia McNeill to glance up. She set aside the bottle of Dragon's Blood, wiped her hands and left the kitchen. "What the hell?" she demanded. The redhead saw her live-in lover march toward the liquor cabinet. She frowned. "Cole?"

The dark-haired half-daemon shot her a grim smile. "Olivia. You want a drink? I was about to prepare one for myself."

"No thanks." Noting the grim expression on Cole's face, she sighed. "Okay lover, what is the problem now?"

Holding a glass of bourbon, Cole replied caustically, "What do you think . . . is the problem? Her. I was forced to spend the afternoon with that damn bitch, again. For the first time in over two months, I ran out of excuses to avoid fucking her." He sighed, before taking another swig of bourbon. "If only you had your hands on that staff," Cole added, "we wouldn't be in this mess. Hell, the entire Source's Realm wouldn't be."

Olivia could do nothing but grimace at the memory of her failure to acquire the Aingeal Staff, last summer. About a week after her distant cousin, Keith McNeill had passed away, her second psi ability had manifested - pyrokinesis. It was Cole who informed her about the legend behind the Aingeal Staff and how only McNeill pyrokinetics were the only ones qualified to wield its power. Aside from herself, only two other McNeills had recently manifested a fire ability - Dennis McNeill and Fiona McNeill Craig. According to a warlock, both had failed to win possession of the staff. Which led Olivia to conclude that she had been destined to become the staff's new bearer. Only her self-righteous family had ensured that she would never possess it.

A month following her discovery of Cousins Fiona and Dennis' failures to possess the staff, Olivia came up with the idea to steal it from an alternate dimension. Using an amulet she had acquired from the Anduin Marketplace, Olivia planned to travel to an alternate dimension and replace her double before the Aingeal Staff ceremony. The scheme almost worked. But it ended in failure due to a group of fellow warlocks she had hired to kidnap the other Olivia McNeill . . . and the intervention of her mother, Cecile Dubois, Cousin Jamie McNeill and one of the Charmed Ones.

"I don't suppose you could make another attempt to steal the staff from an alternate dimension, could you?" Cole pleaded.

Olivia sighed. Cole must be truly desperate to make such a demand. And to be honest, she felt an inclination for another attempt to acquire the staff. If only she knew of the staff's whereabouts in this dimension. Olivia glanced at the kitchen. She had been in the midst of preparing a vanquishing potion . . . for Cole's next meeting with the Source. Only she had little assurance of its success than she did of making another attempt to get the Aingeal Staff. "All right," she said. "I'll do it."

Relief gleamed from Cole's blue eyes. "If you need any help, I'll be more than happy to accompany you," he added.

"No," Olivia replied with a shake of her head. "It's not necessary. In fact, I don't think it's a good idea. Especially with the . . . 'Source' maintaining a close eye on you." She reached out and unfastened one of the buttons to Cole's brandy-colored shirt and planted a light kiss on the exposed patch of skin. "We don't want them aware of what we're up to, do we?" She kissed his chest, again.

Cole inhaled sharply. "No, we don't." He paused, while Olivia unfastened the remaining buttons on his shirt. "Do you have any idea which dimension you plan to visit?"

Olivia raised her lips from Cole's chest. She recalled her trip to Scotland, last June. "Yeah, I have a pretty good idea. Only this time, I'll be making a visit to San Francisco."

End of Prologue

Banoffee Pie

Below is an article about the English dessert known as Banoffee Pie: 


BANOFFEE PIE

While watching an episode of the British television series, "THE SUPERSIZERS . . .", one particular dish caught my attention for the first time - namely a dish called Banoffee Pie. The latter is a dessert pie made from bananas, cream and toffee from boiled condensed milk. The mixture is placed on either on a pastry base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter. Some versions of the recipe also include chocolate, coffee or both. The name of the dessert is a construct from the words "banana" and "toffee" and is spelled "banofee".

The creation of Banoffee Pie is credited to Nigel Mackenzie (who passed away last year), owner of The Hungry Monk Restaurant in Jevington, East Sussex and the restaurant's chef, Ian Dowding. The pair claimed to have created the dish in 1971 or 1972 by changing an American recipe for "Blum's Coffee Toffee Pie". They created a soft toffee by boiling an unopened can of condensed milk for several hours. After trying other changes that included the addition of apple or mandarin orange, Mackenzie suggested they use banana and eventually, both realized they had made their dessert. 

The dessert proved to be so popular with The Hungry Monk's customers that Mackenzie and Dowding never took it off the restaurant's menu. Mackenzie and Dowding's recipe was published in their 1974 cookbook, "The Deeper Secrets of the Hungry Monk" and reprinted in their 1997 cookbook, "In Heaven with The Hungry Monk". Dowding has claimed that his "pet hates are biscuit crumb bases and that horrible cream in aerosols". The dessert was Margaret Thatcher's favorite dish to cook. The recipe for Banoffee Pie was adopted by many other restaurants throughout the world. In 1984, a number of supermarkets began selling it as an American pie, leading Mackenzie to offer a £10,000 prize to anyone who could disprove their claim to be the English inventors.

Below is a recipe for Banoffee Pie from the Epicurious website:


Banoffee Pie

Ingredients

2 cups canned sweetened condensed milk (21 ounces)
1 (9-inch) round of refrigerated pie dough (from 15-ounce package)
3 large bananas
1 1/2 cups chilled heavy cream
1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
Special equipment: a 9-inch pie plate (preferably deep dish)


Preparation

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F.

Pour condensed milk into pie plate and stir in a generous pinch of salt. Cover pie plate with foil and crimp foil tightly around rim. Put in a roasting pan, then add enough boiling-hot water to reach halfway up side of pie plate, making sure that foil is above water. Bake, refilling pan to halfway with water about every 40 minutes, until milk is thick and a deep golden caramel color, about 2 hours. Remove pie plate from water bath and transfer toffee to a bowl, then chill toffee, uncovered, until it is cold, about 1 hour.

While toffee is chilling, clean pie plate and bake piecrust in it according to package instructions. Cool piecrust completely in pan on a rack, about 20 minutes. Spread toffee evenly in crust, and chill, uncovered, 15 minutes.

Cut bananas into 1/4-inch-thick slices and pile over toffee.

Beat cream with brown sugar in a clean bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds soft peaks, then mound over top of pie.

Cooks' notes:
• Toffee can be chilled up to 2 days (cover after 1 hour).
• Toffee-filled crust can be chilled up to 3 hours.

"TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY" (1979) Photo Gallery

Below are images from "TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY", the 1979 television adaptation of John le Carré's 1974 novel. Directed by John Irwin, the miniseries starred Alec Guinness as George Smiley: 


"TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY" (1979) Photo Gallery

"DR. NO" (1962) Review

"DR. NO" (1962) Review

This 1962 movie marked the cinematic debut of EON Production's James Bond franchise, created by Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. Sean Connery also made his debut in this film as the MI-6 agent, James Bond. Although many critics and fans consider film as one of the more impressive in the franchise, I honestly cannot say that I share their opinion.

Based on Ian Fleming's 1958 novel, "DR. NO" begins with the murder of MI-6 agent Strangeways and his secretary by a trio of assassins in Jamaica. Fellow MI-6 agent James Bond is ordered by his superior, "M", to investigate the agent’s death and eventually stumbles upon a plot by Dr. Julius No, an agent of the criminal organization SPECTRE, to disrupt the U.S. space program for the Chinese Republic. 

As I had stated earlier, I have never considered "DR. NO" as one of the more impressive entries of the Bond franchise. In fact, it is one of my least favorite Bond movies of all time. The main problem I had with "DR. NO" was the schizophrenic script written by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather that featured an unbalanced mixture of genres. I suppose they had no choice. After all, they simply wrote a close adaptation of Fleming's novel. And Fleming never struck me as the world's greatest novelist. The story began as a mystery thriller, as Bond tried to figure out who was behind Strangeways' death. Unfortunately, the movie transformed into a fantasy-style adventure when Bond and one of his CIA contacts, Quarrel made their way to Dr. No's Crab Key Island in order to disrupt the villain's plot. A part of me wish that Young and the screenwriters had made changes in Fleming's story. 

The stilted dialogue peppered throughout the movie only made matters even worse for me. The worst line came out of the mouth of former beauty pageant winner, Marguerite LeWars, who portrayed a photographer working for SPECTRE. It is so bad that I will not even repeat it. Even Connery was guilty of spewing some wooden dialogue. In fact, his performance seemed as uneven as the movie’s story and production style. In many scenes, he seemed to be the epitome of the smooth British agent. And in other scenes – especially with Jack Lord, who was the first actor to portray CIA agent Felix Leiter – he came off as gauche and wooden. Mr. Lord, on the other hand, gave a consistently polished and performance as the sardonic Agent Leiter. Much has been made of Ursula Andress’ performance as "Bond Girl No.1" Honey Ryder – especially her famous first appearance when her character emerges upon a beach. Frankly, I have never been able to sense the magic of that moment. I hate to say this, but I did I find Andress' presence in the movie particularly impressive. Not only was her character irrelevant to the story, she did not really aid Bond’s attempts to defeat Dr. No. 

I first became a fan of Joseph Wiseman ever since I noticed his sly and subtle performance as a 1960s gangster in the Michael Mann TV series, "CRIME STORY". But I was not that impressed by his Dr. Julius No, a character that simply bored me to tears. I might as well say the same about Anthony Dawson’s performance as SPECTRE agent, Professor Dent. Many fans have been waxing lyrical over a scene featuring his death at Bond's hand. Personally, I found Bond's actions unprofessional. The MI-6 could have easily drugged the SPECTRE agent, remove any inconvenient cyanide pills and have the authorities "question" him. Instead, Bond killed him in cold blood . . . and lost any chance to get more information from Dent. Moron. "DR. NO" can boast first-class performances by American-born John Kitzmiller as the exuberant Jamaican CIA contact, Quarrel. And Zena Marshall gave a solid, yet subtle performance as Professor Dent’s Eurasian secretary and SPECTRE agent, Miss Taro. It is only too bad that the producers and Terence Young could not find genuine Eurasians for both the Dr. No and Miss Taro roles. But I guess that would not have been possible in 1962.

"DR. NO" featured some beautiful photography of Jamaica from cinematographer Ted Moore. Monty Norman not only provided a first-rate musical score, he also delivered the original "James Bond" theme. However, some of the movie's flaws – namely the uneven script and direction by Terence Young, along with the wooden dialogue, makes "DR. NO"vastly overrated in my eyes. But what can I expect from a movie that consistently threatens to put me to sleep two-thirds into the story?