A Savage Omission

Maybe I missed her, what with the constantly moving camera, the pull-backs and wide shots and weird angles, and Queen Latifah taking up half the frame half the time, but I didn't see Ann Savage in the "In Memoriam" tribute at the Oscars. What gives? No love for "Vera"?

Not cool, Academy. Not cool. I was kinda hoping for a little Noir moment in the montage, a little Richard Widmark, followed by Evelyn Keyes, then Ann Savage, and then Jules Dassin to round it out. Instead, Ann was missing, and the other three were interspersed throughout instead of grouped together as they should have been.

I don't know why I keep expecting the people in Hollywood today to be geeky film lovers like me, but every year I keep tuning in to the Oscars to hear if the people in the audience will cheer wildly for old timers from the Golden Age -- like Nina Foch and James Whitmore this year -- and every year I'm disappointed.

Here's to Ann!

It's quarter to three. . .

I've had "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" stuck in my head all day. So what do I do when I want to post something but don't feel like writing something? YOUTUBE! I typed in the song on youtube just for fits and giggles to see what would come up, and amidst the usual Frank Sinatras and Billie Holidays I found someone I never expected: Ida Lupino.

And yeah, this is Ida actually singing. I did not know she could sing, and if IMDB is to be trusted, she plays the piano too. Crazy, man. But as cool as this clip is, it bums me out because it's a movie I've never seen, and never knew I wanted to see until I first found this clip and found out the movie existed. Noir in a road house with Richard Widmark and Celeste Holm and Cornel Wilde, and Ida as the torch singer? Where have you been all my life Road House (1948) directed by Jean Negulesco!

Clip (with Spanish subtitles! Son las 02:45. . .)