Meanwhile...

James Wolcott puts the news in proper perspective:

"Gee, I hope they find that "missing pregnant mom" soon, otherwise we'll never find out how the war in Iraq turns out. . Every available set of expert eyeballs is required to resolve this case before America goes mad with apprehension.

"Update: With the somber discovery of the victim's body, the cable-news reporters are diving into the depths of every puddle of information. "You didn't know Jessie but you saw her at church--what was she like?" asked one sob sister. Fox News host Julie Banderas was on her righteous steed, as if she possessed a 360-degree 3-D perspective on the case and was irate that fate had dared to defy her promonitory hindsight and allow the accused killer to coach kids' soccer. Meanwhile...

James Wolcott
June 23, 2007,

Arrowsmith

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On his blog, James Wolcott says, "Self-Styled Siren has a marvelous tribute to John Ford's Arrowsmith, recently shown on TCM." I read it, and it's surprising. Arrowsmith has belonged to those long-forgotten films, and it's good to read Siren's tribute to it. Here's a snippet below.

"The film seems to grow more visually sophisticated as it progresses, though the Siren has no idea if it was shot in sequence. The superb, Metropolis-like views of New York give way to the the Caribbean islands and the most beautifully shot scenes in the movie, as a misty, Defoe-like procession of biers and mourners continually moves past the doorway of Arrowsmith and his wife. Later, there's an extraordinary shot of a doomed Helen Hayes sinking into a cane-back chair to smoke a cigarette, as light slants through a shutter and around her hair. Here Ford is already working out his vocabulary, and despite its many flaws, that is the best reason to see Arrowsmith."

Read the entire piece at Siren, now included on my blog roll. (Sinclair Lewis wrote the novel, and he too has been denigrated over the years. The reading group I'm in won't touch him with a ten-foot pole. Too bad).