Worked on writing for a while after I ate. Richard emerges out of the tunnel to find he's come out about five minutes from Match-Up. Marcia scolds him for coming in late. He doesn't mind. The discovery of the maps and the tunnel gave him the nucleus of an idea....
Headed off to work around 12:30. No trouble getting to or from there. It was merely cloudy, windy, and cool but not overly cold when I went out to pick up Uber. The ones going to and from work picked me up in 6 minutes, the latter despite it raining later in the evening and it being the tail end of rush hour.
Once again, work didn't start badly. In fact, we were so dead early on, I spent the first hour doing returns. Once we got to rush hour, things picked up considerably. We had so little help, we had to call people from produce and the deli to deal with the lines. And yes, people were still asking about water, despite the empty shelves and Philly declaring the water safe to drink until tomorrow afternoon. Once we actually got water in later in the day, they were buying up 6 and 7 packs at a time of it again, ignoring the fact that other people might have wanted it, too, and we only had a limited supply. Even the rain didn't stop them from coming. I barely got out on time.
Went straight into leftovers for dinner and Match Game '74 when I got home. The week with announcer Gene Wood and "Miss Kitty" from Gunsmoke Amanda Blake got kind of wild. In the first episode, a lady asked Gene to roll down his stairs for her daughter. After Richard helped the contestant with "Astro __" on the Head-to-Head, Gene grabbed Amanda for a kiss, Gary grabbed Brett, and Gene Wood looked like he was going to reach for Gene Rayburn at one point!
A very pretty contestant turned heads in the second episode, especially Richard Dawson's. The others were more than happy to help her with "Moving __" in the Audience Match. Gene Rayburn is more than a little annoyed that Dinah Shore, who was filming her talk show next door, had a marching band over that was making a lot of noise.
Match Game Syndicated continues the episodes Kirstie Alley appeared in as a contestant. Despite her playing very well, she seemed a little bored and actually a bit above it all. Robert Pine tried to help her in her first game with "__ Starter." Charles did better with "__ Paw" in the second round.
Finished the night with The Count of Monte Cristo on Kanopy. Robert Donat plays the title role in the 1934 film version of the Alexandre Dumas novel. Edmund Dantes is unjustly sent to prison by three men who conspire to take his job as a seaman and his fiancee Mercedes (Elsa Landi). In prison, he meets another man (OP Heggie) who was also imprisoned unfairly, and they escape. He bequeaths him a vast treasure, which he unearths with the help of pirates. The pirates also help him kidnap Albert (Douglas Walton), the son of Mercedes and the traitorous Mondego (Sidney Blackmer). Edmund appears to "rescue" him, getting him into society. He's determined to bring down the men who sent him to prison...but it's Mercedes who reminds him that revenge is a dish best not served at all, and sometimes, even the best of intentions can have unexpected and damaging consequences.
Shortened version of one of Dumas' most complicated novels works due to Donat's delicate and devious performance as Dantes. He's equally at home as the naive young sailor who innocently delivers a letter for his boss and the calculating Count who cares only about justice. This movie was such a huge hit in 1934, it made the studios see that swashbucklers could work in the sound era after they went out of style in the late 20's. It's still a bit on the talky side, with an unnecessary trial finale, but this is still recommended if you love Dumas, swashbucklers with French flair, or other versions of this story.
No comments:
Post a Comment