Hello!

Recently posted to YouTube by Matthew B. Lamont, we can admire some arcane stop motion effect shots composited by the late David Allen: Stop-Motion Rarities: Taurus Test Footage (circa. 1964-65).

This is likely the same puppet seen in David Allen, David Stipes, Mark McGee & Dennis Muren’s Equinox, which saw an altered release in 1970.

Ha — revisiting my 2006 review of the Criterion Equinox disc shows that this short reel may have come from its extras. I also wrote that Chris Endicott is working on finishing The Primevals, an effort that’s still on-going, sixteen years later.

The Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival returns to Palm Springs next week, from May 12 to the 15th. The excuse to spend a few days in Palm Springs is a big draw for casual fest-goers and noir dogs alike. Sunglasses not included.

The draw this year — a post-pandemic return to form — is a chance to view the Film Noir Foundation’s latest restorations. John Reinhardt’s The Guilty is the return of a Cornell Woolrich adaptation, and Cy Endfield’s The Argyle Secrets has a wry political twist. A new appreciation at ‘Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings’ makes Argyle sound like a real hoot.

The festival will include a 35mm screening of the original theatrical cut of Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil. Full details are at the festival website.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson