Three Beautiful Things 07-31-2022: Debbie Drives to Portland, I Watch Videos About Movies, I Watch How Two Movies End

1.  Debbie blasted off this morning for Portland and then she'll buzz to Eugene on Monday. She'll be gone until just past the middle of the month. She arrived at Patrick and Meagan's apartment this afternoon and had, as far as I can tell, a smooth trip.

2. I am hosting Monday's family dinner and needed to buy some groceries. After I returned home and cooled down and napped, I almost decided to take a day off from Vizio University. 

I couldn't do it. 

I did a little clicking around at criterionchannel.com and found some short lectures to listen to.

I thoroughly enjoyed three presentations given by Imogen Sara Smith. Her presentation on the movie career of director Henry King was especially illuminating after I'd seen The Gunslinger. I wanted to hear more from Smith. I listened to her and Eddie Muller discuss Double Indemnity and its sizable contribution to 1940s and 50s film noir. Their conversation was not only smart, but I loved the way they encouraged one another's insights by building on what the other said. By the end, they had collaborated to create a detailed and enlightening reading of this stellar movie. I then discovered another conversation involving Imogen Sara Smith, this time with Farran Smith Nehme, a film critic and historian frequently featured on Criterion's commentary videos. (I follow Nehme on Twitter.)  They discussed the history of the Columbia movie studio's production of noir movies. I will return to this conversation. Many of the movies they discussed are unfamiliar to me and I'd like to, at the very least, affix the titles in my mind. 

3. I continued clicking around and I stumbled upon a Criterion description of the 1986 London-based movie Mona Lisa has being "noir-infused". Mona Lisa has been a favorite movie of mine for about thirty-five years and I wanted to learn more about what its director, Neil Jordan,  its producer, Stephen Woolley, and its leading actor, Bob Hoskins had to say about the film and I watched videos featuring them.

Having listened to commentary on both Mona Lisa and Double Indemnity, I clicked on each of them and watched the last ten minutes of each movie just to remind myself of how they ended and how those endings were photographed. My regard for both movies grew as I watched them end and as I further contemplated the comments I'd listened to via the superb Criterion videotaped presentations of the people I mentioned earlier. 

It was a splendid evening at Vizio University!