NIGHTMARE ALLEY (Goulding, 1947)

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(Directed by Edmund Goulding from a script by Jules Furthman based on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham; starring Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray, Helen Walker, and Mike Mazurki. Released 09 October 1947; watched fri/20230120 via Criterion Blu-Ray. )

While (I'm loathe to base my notes on a film on a fleeting comparison between it and its remake) GDT's version had a more powerful final third (mercifully devoid of the Zanuck-required hope for redemption that hampered this version's finale), that not only does Goulding's telling have none of the fat of Stan's backstory – his motivation for being such a shit is immaterial – but features commanding, visceral – and possessed of none of the sense of homage that took me out of 2021's story (exceptions being Rooney Mara and Richard Jenkins) – performances from Power (who played it as though he had everything to lose), Joan Blondell, Ian Keith, and Helen Walker (and Mike Mazurki, still my favorite on-screen Dick Tracy villain, 1945's Splitface) makes it, for me, the best. Wish I'd seen this one first – the Blu's been on my stack since it came out, months before GDT's landed in theaters, so I only have myself to blame.

links/20230123

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Trying to get in the habit of the occasional linkblog-gy posting here if only for myself…

BATMAN: THREE JOKERS (Johns/Fabok, 2020)

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(Written by Geoff Johns with art by Jason Fabok and Brad Anderson. Released August-October 2020 via DC Comics Black Label; my complete reading list, from 2013 to the present, lives here)

While he wrote one of my favorite recent Bat-variants – the Thomas Wayne Flashpoint Batman (though it was Azzarello’s work that made him a favorite) – and the central conceit of THREE JOKERS is intriguing (any opportunity to see the Joker in his first, “Criminal,” iteration is a win for me – and I LOVE that it hurts him to laugh), Geoff Johns writing Batman triggers some weird cognitive dissonance for me: it's a phenomenon I've yet to explain – perhaps fodder for a future maundering – but one that is, nonetheless there, clouding my view of any of Johns's efforts with the Bat.

While it may have clouded my view, it didn't hamper my enjoyment: THREE JOKERS is a solid yarn with some particularly affecting sequences delivered in stunning detail by Fabok interspersed with some that felt like afterthoughts– in particular, Barb and Jason's "moment" and its impact deserved more time and more depth than Johns afforded it; I can't decide if it was out of a fear or discomfort of "going there" and all that it could entail (a veritable goldmine, I think), or a desire to cram a whole bunch of ideas into a far-too-lean package.

Definitely worth a read though its brevity was a disservice to both its impact and staying power.

with intention, perhaps

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As per usual, January has shaped up to be the month that I decide what the next year MIGHT look like. Here's what I'm aiming for:

  • Two PRESS (A) TO START releases – one in May, the second in November. Ideally, will keep this schedule moving forward. (Now that I've got Japanese Stab-binding (via power drill) figured out, I'm ready to have FUN with these.)

  • One long-form release. This might be part of PRESS (A) (issue three?) – as was LAST CHRISTMAS – or a standalone.

  • Comics, comics, comics (yet to decide if The Informalities go into the zine or stay digital. If it's a one-pager, probably digital and wide; longer in PRESS (A)?)

  • I'd like to get back to a daily text posting here. Not sure what form that will take. Attendance Cards function as my morning starter / status, and I'm too weary by the end of the day to post anything. I also consider all of the day's postings as a single post – the stream of time being an integral component. Maybe something like this will have to do, the Postscripts, etc, that daily textual something without making it a daily thing? I don't know. Still thinking on this. Probably too much. Perhaps I overestimate the value of my text to anyone but myself.

  • But I guess by publishing this I'm starting it, starting something, IDK

More if / as I know it.