Hello!

This is an article forwarded by Joe Dante, about a screening/lecture series that most of us will miss. The article is fascinating in itself.

From IndieWire on June 26, 2026, writer Jim Hemphill describes the spell cast by Guillermo del Toro in his lecture series at the Academy Museum. Fresh thinking on Alfred Hitchcock is not easy to come by. Even the brief quotes given here express how knowledgeable, insightful, and articulate del Toro is.

The series is in motion now … when it is finished, del Toro will have covered Hitchcock’s Notorious,  Shadow of a Doubt,  North by Northwest,  I Confess,  and  Frenzy.  It sounds like a dream date for old-fashioned film students.

We got a good reader response from last Saturday’s Buster Keaton short subject, an informercial for a housing tract.

We’re intrigued by the fact that these ‘humble’ assignments don’t diminish the stature of the all-time top filmmaker, not one bit. He’s still Brilliant.

Michael McQuarrie tracked down more proof that Mr. Keaton didn’t stand still when studios weren’t calling.

We think these TV spots are really creative. They go for variety — the first has Buster as a mailman, and the vocations advance from there.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson