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Subject: MT VOID, 03/29/24 -- Vol. 42, No. 39, Whole Number 2321
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THE MT VOID
03/29/24 -- Vol. 42, No. 39, Whole Number 2321

Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
Sending Address: evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
All material is the opinion of the author and is copyrighted by the
author unless otherwise noted.
All comments sent or posted will be assumed authorized for
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To subscribe or unsubscribe, send mail to eleeper@optonline.net
The latest issue is at <http://www.leepers.us/mtvoid/latest.htm>.
An index with links to the issues of the MT VOID since 1986 is at
<http://leepers.us/mtvoid/back_issues.htm>.

Topics:
         Middletown (NJ) Science Fiction Discussion Group
         Mark's Picks for Turner Classic Movies in April (comments
                 by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
         This Week's Reading (Encyclopedia Britannica)
                 (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: Middletown (NJ) Science Fiction Discussion Group

Apr 4 WHO? [ROBO MAN] (1974) story (1955) & novel (1958)
   by Algis Budrys
   story:
   <https://sciencefiction.loa.org/biographies/budrys_who.php>
   novel:
   <https://www.hoopladigital.com/ebook/who-algis-budrys/11561866>

===================================================================

TOPIC: Mark's Picks for Turner Classic Movies in April (comments
by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)

In the early days of the 1960s, British filmmakers felt the tight
grip on the public's morals loosen just a bit.  One place where the
new British attitudes could be observed was in the movies.  In A
TASTE OF HONEY a very ordinary-looking woman (the excellent Rita
Tushingham) escapes her lower-middle-class life and goes to live
with social outcasts.  It was banned in several countries for
various reasons; according to Wikipedia, Tushingham said in 2020
that "a lot of the reaction was 'People like that don’t exist'--by
which they meant homosexuals, single mothers and people in
mixed-race relationships.  But they did."  It is part of a British
social realist movement known as "kitchen sink realism".

[A TASTE OF HONEY (1961), Wednesday, April 17, 12:00 PM]

[-mrl/ecl]

And some comments on some other films:

Other films of interest include:

For Shakespeare's birthday (April 23) we have:
<PRE>
8:00 AM    ROMEO AND JULIET (1937)
10:15 AM    HAMLET (1948)
1:15 PM    A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (1935)
3:30 PM    HENRY V (1944)
6:00 PM    THRONE OF BLOOD (1957)

Is TCM having a theme of blackface and racial stereotypes this
month?   We have:

THE TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON (1956): A combination of
progressiveness (interracial romance) on one hand, and racial
stereotypying and yellowface (Marlon Brando as a Japanese) on the
other.

TOUCH OF EVIL (1958): Charleton Heston portraying a Mexican police
officer.

GONE WITH THE WIND (1939): And speaking of racial stereotyping, ...

On the positive side, there are:

THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1959): A somewhat more nuanced
portrayal of race, though it still came in for criticism.  (One
critic noted that since Mel Ferrer was only slightly lighter than
Harry Belafonte, it somewhat soft-pedaled the question of
interracial relationships.)

THE UGLY AMERICAN (1963): Brando plays an American in this one,
leaving the Asian roles to Asian/Asian-American actors.

Also running are:

BEN-HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST (1925) and BEN-HUR (1959):  In my
opinion, the silent film version has a more exciting chariot race
scene than the 1959 Charleton Heston remake.  (It is followed on
April 1 by a half-dozen classic, but lesser seen, silent films.)

CIMARRON (1960): Again, I think the "big scene"--in this case, the
Oklahoma land rush--is better in the older, 1931 version, which
also shows up occasionally on TCM.

MY FAVORITE YEAR (1982) and THE PRODUCERS (1967): Two
"behind-the-scenes" films, one about television, the other about
the theater.

THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY (1982) and VICTOR/VICTORIA (1982):
Two films that feature--in very different ways--cross-dressing
(which probably means there are states which want to ban them).

[-ecl]

Other films of interest include:

MONDAY,  April 1
6:00 AM    Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
8:30 AM    The Big Parade (1925)
11:15 AM    The Unholy Three (1925)
1:00 PM    The Cameraman (1928)
2:30 PM    The Crowd (1928)
4:15 PM    The Broadway Melody (1929)
6:00 PM    Flesh and the Devil (1926)
8:00 PM    Grand Hotel (1932)

WEDNESDAY,  April 3
8:15 AM    The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956)
11:30 PM    A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

SUNDAY,  April 7
6:00 AM    Two on a Guillotine (1965)

TUESDAY,  April 9
4:15 AM    Cabin in the Sky (1943)
8:00 PM    Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

WEDNESDAY,  April 10
1:30 AM    The Seventh Victim (1943)
3:00 AM    The Vanishing (1988)
8:00 AM    Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

THURSDAY,  April 11
8:00 PM    My Favorite Year (1982)

FRIDAY,  April 12
2:15 AM    The Producers (1967)
3:45 AM    The Great Dictator (1940)

SUNDAY,  April 14
8:00 PM    Gone With the Wind (1939)

TUESDAY,  April 16
12:15 AM    Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
2:15 AM    Ben-Hur (1959)
6:00 AM    A Carol for Another Christmas (1964)
9:00 AM    Touch of Evil (1958)

THURSDAY,  April 18
1:30 AM    The Ugly American (1963)

FRIDAY,  April 19
2:30 AM    Simon (1980)

SATURDAY,  April 20
12:00 PM    The Magic Flute (1975)
6:15 PM    The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)

MONDAY,  April 22
6:00 AM    Forbidden Planet (1956)
7:45 AM    Cimarron (1960)
10:15 AM    Doctor Zhivago (1965)
11:00 PM    2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

TUESDAY,  April 23
3:45 AM    Network (1976)

TUESDAY,  April 23
8:00 AM    Romeo and Juliet (1937)
10:15 AM    Hamlet (1948)
1:15 PM    A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
3:30 PM    Henry V (1944)
6:00 PM    Throne of Blood (1957)
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