Hello!  Lots of goodies today.

The new Noir City Magazine is really a worthy item — it has more quality content than most books on noir, plus great writing and terrific graphics. The new Editor-in-Chief Imogen Sara Smith has really gone to town on this ish.

The emphasis in this issue No. 38 is True Crime… various articles look back at the inspirations for ripped-from-the-headlines noir thrillers. Eddie Muller does an exhaustive round-up, while John Wranovics covers Roger Touhy, Gangster, Vance McLaughlin delves into The Night of the Hunter and Rachel Walther looks back at Dog Day Afternoon. Plus articles on even more exotic noir titles.

We’ve seen this before, but contributor Michael McQuarrie forwards a hot link to a complete scan of the TV booker’s catalog for the 1957 Shock! film package.

This TV distribution of classic Universal horror changed the face of film fandom. Forrest J. Ackerman must have taken one look at this and decided the time was right for a national magazine dedicated to movie monsters . . .

This one’s easy. Are you crazy about vintage Space Opera, and happen to be within striking distance of UCLA and Westwood?

If so, be aware that on November 19 the UCLA Library will present a special screening of the 1936 Universal serial Flash Gordon, fully restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

It’s all thirteen chapters, which comes to a whopping 4 hours and five minutes of “menacing iguanas shot in slow-motion, spaceships with smoking tailpipes, and a galaxy pre-colonized by Earth-bound Orientalism.”

All this and Buster Crabbe too!

And finally, favorite avant-garde filmmaker Godfrey Reggio strikes again. We’re linking to this trailer for its own sake: the famed director of Koyanniskatsi returns with another typically indescribable show, a ‘spiritual documentary,’ perhaps?

Oscilloscope’s trailer for Once Within a Time certainly packs a graphic impact. The music is by Philip Glass; Godfrey Reggio’s co-director is Jon Kane.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson