G A L

Gorilla at Large (1954) is a 3-D Technicolor B-movie murder mystery, featuring a delicious Anne Bancroft (The Girl in Black Stockings, The Miracle Worker, The Graduate), Cameron Mitchell (They Were Expendable, House of Bamboo, The Toolbox Murders), Lee J. Cobb (Thieves' Highway, The Man Who Cheated Himself, Our Man Flint), Raymond Burr (Bride of the Gorilla, A Cry in the Night, Godzilla), Peter Whitney (Blues in the Night, The Big Heat, In the Heat of the Night) and our very own Lee Marvin (The Big Heat, Shack Out on 101, Point Blank). Actress Charlotte Austin, who plays Cameron Mitchell's girlfriend, was also in (swear to God) both Monkey Business (1952) and Queen of the Gorillas (1958). And small actor Billy Curtis, who plays a midget, also played midget parts in The Wizard of Oz (1939), The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), and High Plains Drifter (1973). Gorilla at Large was filmed in 3D at Long Beach, California's Nu Pike Amusement Park. YouTube has a trailer and a sexy scene.

And then there's this walk. . .

A Little Lilli Palmer

Lilli Palmer

Kreamy Kathy

Kathryn Grant

1962 Queen of the Nile Swimsuit Edition

Life magazine's Paul Schutzer photographed this Paris model in a "Cleopatra look" bathing suit and cap in 1962.


Yikes!

1959 Queen of the Nile (on TV)

Piper Laurie in General Electric Theater's April 1959 production of Caesar and Cleopatra with Maurice Evans.

1959 Queen of the Nile (on stage)

Susan Strasberg as Cleopatra in the 1959 stage version of Caesar and Cleopatra with Franchot Tone.

Kitchenettes 3

Kitchenettes 2

The Princess and the Pit

Rona De Ricci in The Pit and the Pendulum (1991).

Zoot Suit Babies

Also see Eisenstaedt dolls and Hollywood and Vine, 1944.

Resemblances

Okay, so I'm watching this movie, right?
It's about this grumpy old guy. In the past he's killed a lot of men. The old guy is sick. In fact, he's dying. He meets this kid who's clueless and immature. He also meets a woman who's related to the stupid kid. The woman's presence seems to make the old guy less crusty and more human. At the same time, the old guy teaches the clueless kid to grow up and fly right. Near the end, the old guy gets his life in order and gets his hair cut. He's preparing for a showdown. The old guy goes out in a blaze of glory instead of letting his illness kill him.
Here's the question:
Am I watching John Wayne in The Shootist (1976) or Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino (2008)?
. . .
In other news, I finally saw Quentin Tarantino's 153-minute Inglourious Basterds, which I understand he cut down from 190 minutes (Thanks, Dude!) and which I will certainly watch again, once he's edited it down to a manageable 105 minutes. My favorite character, of course, is Brad Pitt's Lt. Aldo Raine, mainly because he doesn't regurgitate reams of dialogue. I also note how much actress Diane Kruger resembles Lilian Harvey. For a much more positive take on the film, see Kim Morgan.