Douglas (Dougie) Slocombe (1913-2016)

 

Douglas, or Dougie, as he was known to his friends and co-workers, Slocombe passed away yesterday in West London, where he lived with his daughter, following complications from a fall. He had just celebrated his one hundred and third birthday earlier in the month.

Probably best known for shooting the first three Indiana Jones films with Steven Spielberg as director, I know him better for all the amazing work he did at Ealing Studios. What he shot there at that famous West London studio reads for me like a personal Greatest Films of All Time list: Hue and Cry, Dead of Night, It Always Rains on Sunday, Saraband for Dead Lovers (Ealing's first crack at luscious English Technicolor), The Man in the White Suit, The Titfield Thunderbolt, The Lavender Hill Mob, and, of course, Kind Hearts and Coronets, which he personally believed to be the finest screenplay he had ever read. (He will not get any argument from me on that score.)

He also shot Julia, Guns at Batasi, The Italian Job, The Lion in Winter, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, Jesus Christ Superstar, Rollerball, Never Say Never Again, and The Servant.

Speaking to the BBC last year, Slocombe recalled working under the Ealing Studio mogul, Sir Michael Balcon, as well as filming on location in a city still scarred by bomb damage.

"I think I'm the last man standing," he said. "All the major technicians and the producers and directors are gone - and that famous repertory company of actors and actresses."

One of my favorite stories about Slocombe is how he shot in camera a half dozen members of the D'Ascoyne family, all played by Alec Guinness, using multiple exposures over a period of a few days. Since the lighting had to be the exact same for every exposure, and the camera could not be moved even a millimeter, he slept in the studio to make sure everything went correctly.

Slocombe, himself, was also a perfect gentleman, who was extremely generous with his time, talking to interviewers about his work and process numerous times, even in his later years.

I only wish I could be at Stage Six in Ealing right now to raise a pint in his honor.

Mr Slocombe is survived by his daughter, Georgina.

 

 

 

 

 

 

-- Ardent Henry

 

Prediction for the South Carolina Democratic Primary

For the I'm With Her crowd February 27 can not get here fast enough. Finally Hillary Clinton will get the type of result that her campaign needs (and deserves.)

Moreover, Ms Clinton has the opportunity here to win a slightly smaller than three to two ratio of the delegates. She would have to win by at least eighteen percentage points to achieve that, which is right where I am calling this race: HRC 59% Sanders 41%.

The TradMedia will shrug their shoulders and continue to laud Sanders' insurgent 'revolution',  "She was supposed to win in South Carolina" they will say, but Clinton supporters and the campaign will at last have some wind behind them as they head in to Super Tuesday. They will enjoy some of those plane rides, too, now.

March 1. That is where all of this really really gets serious.

Ciao,

Ardent

Prediction for Democratic Caucus in Nevada

This contest is a bona fide pick 'em, or toss up. I could very well be wrong regarding the winner, but whoever does prevail, I am sure it will be by a razor thin margin.

Which also means that even if Clinton wins, it will be viewed by the TradMedia as a devasting loss. It will be another tough tough week for the I'm With Her folks until South Carolina on the 27th.

And so despite the Clinton folks frantically moving the goalposts in Nevada (and irking Harry Reid in the process), I am picking Hillary Clinton to win the popular vote in Nevada by the thinnest of margins, 51% to Sanders' 49%.

Note, too, that Sanders could well earn more Nevada delegates (not counting super delegates here) than Clinton due to the caucus process. That is exactly what Obama did to Clinton in 2008.

 

 

 

Mwah,

Ardent Henry

 

This Is What We Do

In the exceptional and absolutely must be seen documentary, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, there is a witness who is describing the Chicago Police's assassination of Fred Hampton, and she says (I am paraphrasing) that the police had made a terrible mistake by not locking the flat up, and sealing the "crime scene".

I am here to tell you there was no mistake made. The Chicago Police and Hoover and the FBI left that house open on purpose. They were sending a message to all the black folks and Black Panthers, in Chicago, and throughout the country and the world: "This is what we do," they said, "To uppity negroes."

Everyone, please take a couple of hours out of your busy lives, and watch Stanley Nelson's timely and important documentary. You will be better for it.

 

 

 

-- MDS

 

Nevada GOP Caucus Prediction

Nevada, for both parties, is going to be very hard to predict. Good polling, or any polling, for that matter, is remote and precious.
Regardless, as far as the GOP is concerned, I see no break in Trumpmentum. I have Trump winning big again, and scaring the living daylights out of the "establishment".
Will Robotron, Kasich, and Jeb! be forced to say nice things about Planned Parenthood just to stay in this thing?

NEVADA GOP CAUCUS 23 FEB 2016

Trump 31%

Cruz 19%

Jeb! 18%

Rubio the Robot 15%

Kasich 12%

Carson 5%

Ciao,

Ardent

GOP South Carolina Primary Prediction

It is going to get tougher picking these Primaries because there are so many states happening over the next three weeks, and for a lot of these states the polling is either non-existent or crappy or both. But I am going to keep going anyway. Today I am predicting a win for Donald Trump in South Carolina on Saturday, 20 February 2016. I think Jeb! will oust cratering Rubio the Robot for third.

Here it is:

20 Feb 2016 South Carolina Primary

Trump 35%

Cruz 21%

Jeb! 16%

Rubio the Robot 13%

Carson 8%

Kasich 7%

Digby, at her blog, Hullabaloo, is totally right. Eventually Jeb, Robotron, and Kasich are going to have to set their sights on Trump and/or Cruz. Otherwise Trump could have this wrapped up by next month. The "establishment" candidates are going to actually have to win some states if they want the nomination.

Love you all,

Ardent

A Verse for Her

Oh, iCarly

You are a nasty piece of work

Where next will your grifting be?

Chris Christie, on the other hand, did at least one good thing before he ended his deluded and dubious quest. He pole axed Marco Rubio in to next month, and might very well have ended young Marco's political career.
Is Gilmore still in this thing? I think Carson has got to be the next to drop, after South Carolina.

Ciao,

Ardent

First

A story, and then a couple of quick thoughts on what I think is the finest film of the year, and one of the best films of this new century.

The story goes: I went to see Carol on my own. Took BART to MacArthur and then walked to Piedmont. (Went to three different bookstores, by the way, bought a cool old pocket paperback of The Crying of Lot 49, Antonia Fraser's Marie Antoinette biography, and Kingsley Amis' Girl, 20.) When I stepped in to the theater, it was a matinee on a Saturday, I realized that of the two dozen folks there, I was the only dude. There was a dyke couple at the back who had obviously seen the film before, as they laughed at inappropriate times. It was as if they already had inside jokes about the film amongst themselves. There was scattered applause at the end of Carol.

I did not applaud. I leaned forward in my seat, shook my head, and said aloud, "Wow."

That last shot.

But it is more than that. Every element, from the score, to the art direction, to the cinematography, to the acting, to the script, etc, ... is absolutely perfect.

One of my favorite parts of the film is the way the script and direction fetishize some of Carol's clothes and belongings, making them sensual exotic magical tokens to a world that Rooney Mara's character, Therese, is desperate to explore.

And that last shot.

Mwah, ...

Howard Hawks on Line One for You, Sir

Spotlight is a fine film that is actually better at home than it is in the theater.  But as for one of my favorite blogger's contention that Spotlight is the greatest newspaper movie ever made, I would tell him that Howard Hawks, Cary Grant, and Rosalind Russell would like to have a word.  

-- Ardent Henry

Lending Library

We are building a lending library here at work, which is a cool thing to do, by donating books from our own personal collections. A team member here, who is quite familiar with my passion for reading and books, asked me what I was planning on donating, and I reluctantly but honestly told him that I was loathe to part with any of my books right now.
Which I guess makes me look like a real jerk. But the fact of the matter is that I never just put a book away. It should always be available to me for whenever, and for whatever reason, I should need to consult it again.
All of my books are reference books, it seems.



-- Ardent Henry

Posted with Blogsy

Beasts of No Nation

Is perhaps not as great or as important as it might think it is, while at the same time still being very worthwhile.  And, though this was no Jane Eyre, I am still a big champion of Cary Fukunaga, and will always look forward to his future projects.  Fukunaga is kind of a one man band prodigy type.  He writes, directs, and shoots his pictures.  Insane.

Can we just acknowledge that Idris Elba is one of the finest actors on the planet?  You can see and feel the motivation for each one of his acting choices.  Even the slightly off pitch ones translate in an odd and satisfying way.  And, he really did get screwed by the Academy this time around, but that's just par for the course for that organization.  

-- Ardent Henry

Pretty funny.

I watched both the CNN Forum and the MSNBC debate over the past two days, and I was very happy to notice that Hillary Clinton was most definitely not the Antichrist! 

What a relief, right?



-- Ardent Henry

I watched The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Today before I came to work.  And, I have to say, it made me pretty uncomfortable.  I understand it is based on a true story, and I can understand why the Mom resolved the situation with her daughter the way the she did.  They only have each other, and Minnie, the daughter -- who was played with incredible swagger and bravery by Bel Powley -- is still a child.

I hope everything worked out for this family in real life.  I relish difficult or upsetting movies, but this was one that I might not ever watch again.  It is not bad.  The film is very well done with some fantastic acting performances, but in the end, I guess it is just not my type of film personally.  





-- Ardent

fauxluxe is back very very soon, kids.

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