Laura — A classic film noir, beautifully done, with some nice DVD extras. I’ve always liked Waldo Lydecker’s acerbic bon mots and I envy his bathroom. (He writes newspaper columns in his bathtub, using a swing-arm typewriter holder, and the whole space looks bigger than my living room.)

Laura
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Also on the disc are two Biography specials, one each for stars Gene Tierney (heart-breaking, especially regarding the story about the selfish fan whose German measles maimed Tierney’s daughter) and Vincent Price (playing a weak-minded deadbeat, not his usual scary guy), and two commentaries (although one must be very interested in the film to enjoy Rudy Behlmer reading production memos).

Raffles — David Niven is perfectly cast as the classic gentleman thief, falling in love and tweaking Scotland Yard detectives. It’s a shame that the film is so mediocre. I suspect the innate conflict between “wanting to support law and order” and “wanting to give the hero a happy ending” couldn’t be resolved in any satisfactory way. The slow pacing suits the picture of another time and place, with weekend house parties among the titled set.

Doctor Who: The Green Death — Oh my gracious! I found this cheap at a going-out-of-business Suncoast, and I vaguely remembered seeing the last episode when I was younger. It was terrible! It was made in 1973, so the special effects (giant maggots! glowing green fungus!) are laughable, and the whole thing is a diatribe against mining companies ruining the enviroment and the smart, nice commune dwellers who fight them and the big evil computer (the B.O.S.S.) trying to take over the world through mind control. The Doctor gives it a basic logical contradiction which it can’t cope with, just as you’ve seen in most science fiction of this era.

Doctor Who:
The Green Death
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I liked Jo, but her spunkiness too often became stupid. The men yell when she’s clumsy and only want her to fetch tea, so she goes off by herself to capture a maggot, putting herself in terrible danger so they can rescue her. The Doctor (Jon Pertwee, whom I used to like) dresses up like a milkman and then a cleaning lady (!) to sneak into the evil corporation. The commune inhabitants are always talking about how wonderful their magic fungus is; they cook it up different ways and it tastes just like steak or soup or whatever. And the whole thing goes on forever!

Until the end, when the lead scientist suddenly proposes to Jo after she saves his life by nursing him off his deathbed with mushroom dust. She leaves the show to marry him and go traveling to save the world. (The actor and actress were dating in real life at the time, too.) I rather envy her packing skills, though. Earlier in the show she heads off to Wales with only a big fuzzy white coat and a rucksack, yet she pulls all kinds of cute outfits and lots of jewelry out of that one bag.

Someone Like You
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Someone Like You — I bought this cheap only because it features Hugh Jackman in his underwear. Unfortunately, he puts on a fake American voice, and the whole movie is like that — it takes the unique elements it has (like Marisa Tomei as the best friend) and makes them mediocre and interchangeable with everything else out there. The alternate scenes make me want to say “thank you” to the editors for keeping them out, since they’re pointless.

Remington Steele Season 1 — Ending this month with another Laura. I’d watched this DVD set once already, but since it was all over the weekend when I had food poisoning, I wasn’t sure how much of it I remembered.

Remington Steele
Season 1
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Turns out, more than I thought, but since it’s my favorite TV show, I didn’t mind the reruns. The scary part is, now I want to sit down and watch it all again. I think I’m becoming obsessed, because not only do I plan on taking notes this time through (for a possible fansite), I’m also seeking out fanfiction for more stories with the characters.

Most of it focuses, of course, on Remington and Laura finally doing it. (Confidential to SG: No, there weren’t any threesomes with Doris. Thanks SO MUCH for THAT thought.) Some of it wasn’t too bad, either, although given the time that’s passed since the series first ran, I also found a lot of 404 links. And heck, I’d rather read a charming little piece in which he proposes to her over Christmas (after reading the Grinch to her sister’s kids) than watch the second season opener again. When that episode isn’t acting as an Acapulco travel brochure, it’s a tryout reel for Brosnan as Bond … and a ridiculous one at that. Plus, the reasons for keeping the two apart become ever more unbelievable.

That’s the problem with shows that are good at “will they or won’t they” … after a while, all that teasing without release becomes painful.

And hey, if any of my readers know where I can get a copy of the production of Stop the World I Want to Get Off starring Zimbalist and Peter Scolari, I would be very very grateful for the help. The copies on Amazon start at $280, which seems a bit much to scratch that itch.