24 Frames: Psycho

First things first, I have to give "propers" to the blogsite Moon in the Gutter and it's author Jeremy Richey, the hardest work film blogger in show business. His feature Images From My Favorite Film inspired this new feature, 24 Frames. To he, who is taking the month off, I say thank you.

The origin of the feature's title is derived from the fact that in projected film, 24 frames equals one second of screen time. To kick off the feature, let's stick with the Psycho theme that started the first week of Horror Month.

For over twenty years I've been using Psycho as my ad hoc answer whenever someone asks me to name my favorite film of all-time. Is it still? Honestly, I don't know, I am not the fervent list maker some of my fellow cinephiles are. What I do know is that since I was a very young age, I have loved it, it was one of the first black and white films I ever saw (not counting Wizard of Oz), it was one of the first horror classics I saw and it was the first film where I was aware of the presence of a filmmaker.

I tried to limit the number of seminal images most people associate with Psycho here, but that proved to be a difficult task. There is a reason those shots have became classic and they still contain their potency. I could have done 24 frames of the shower sequence alone, the best example of the combination of flawless storyboarding, shot composition and editing used for maximum emotional and cinematic power. I hope you enjoy this feature and catch a few shots that you might not have noticed on your first few viewings of the film.

Here now is 24 frames or one second of Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock. Cinematography by John L. Russell)

Posterized: The Psycho Series

Here are the posters for every film in the Psycho series, and since I am feeling generous, I will even include those for Gus Van Sant's much maligned, and I would say justifiably so, although I am tempted to give it another chance one of these days, 1998 remake.

Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)












Psycho II (1983, Richard Franklin)



Psycho III (1986, Anthony Perkins)


Psycho IV: The Beginning (1991, Mick Garris)


Psycho (1998, Gus Van Sant)

Trailer of the Moment: Alfred Hitchcock Gives Us a Tour of the Bates Motel

Possibly the most famous trailer in cinematic history, the trailer for Psycho breaks all conventions. It's over six minutes long, compared to the 2-3 minutes standard length. It's hosted by the director himself, something I cannot imagine anyone other than Hitchcock at the height of his TV success as host of Alfred Hitchcock Presents could ever get away with; even today's most recognizable directors like Steven Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino probably will never be tasked with being the sole marketing image of their own studio made films. And it manages to have no actual footage from the film (that's Vera Miles not Janet Leigh at the end) but is completely full of spoilers as Hitchcock in his usual droll gallows humor nature cheekily describes or hints at every sinister plot point.

And in case you're wondering about the end, where we're told that "no one will be admitted after the film starts", cinema goers generally came into pictures whenever they felt like it and would stay until they caught the rest of the film at the next showtime, then leave at the time. Psycho is often credited with changing the culture of how people watched films.

Now let's join the fabulous Mr. Hitchcock as he escorts us on a tour of the set of his new film, Psycho!

October is Horror Month at Colonel Mortimer Will Have His Revenge!

And Norman Bates can hardly speak he's so excited!


Join me all month long for a celebration of the macabre with horror themed version of your favorite Colonel Mortimer features (okay favorite may be too hyperbolic, but they are the only features I got!) as well as a review or two!

Exclamation points!!!!

Posterized: The Roger Corman Edition

This will be a collection of selected posters that highlight Roger Corman's producing and directing oeuvre, a complete chronicling of the man's prolific career would result in the largest blog entry known to mankind. Between 1955 and 1970 alone the man directed fifty films!

The films, years of release, Corman's capacity on the project and some notable co-contributors are listed. The involvement Samuel Arkoff and James Nicholson, his frequent co-producers, is assumed.

Swamp Women (1955, director-his directorial debut)



Not of this Earth (1957, producer-director)

Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957, producer-director)

A Bucket of Blood (1959, producer-director) [stars Dick Miller]

Little Shop of Horrors (1960, producer-director) [starring Jack Nicholson]

The Pit and the Pendulum (1961, producer-director) [starring Vincent Price and Barbara Steele, written by Richard Matheson]

Premature Burial (1962, producer) [starring Ray Milland, Hazel Court and Dick Miller, assistant director: Francis Ford Coppola]

The Terror (1963, producer-director) [starring Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson and Dick Miller, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, location direction by Monte Hellman, screenplay by Jack Hill]

X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes (1963, producer-director) [starring Ray Milland and Don Rickles]

Dementia 13 (1963, producer) [co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, his debut, co-written by Jack Hill]


The Wild Angels (1966, producer-director) [starring Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern, edited by Monte Hellman, Peter Bogdanovich was the director's assistant]

The Trip (1967, producer-director) [starring Peter Fonda, Susan Strasberg, Dennis Hopper, Bruce Dern and Dick Miller, written by Jack Nicholson

Bloody Mama (1970, producer-director) [starring Shelley Winters, Robert DeNiro, Bruce Dern, Scatman Crothers]
Boxcar Bertha (1972, producer) [starring Barbara Hershey and David Carridine, directed by Martin Scorsese]

Caged Heat (1974, producer) [written and directed by Jonathan Demme, his directorial debut, cinematagrophy by Tak Fujimoto, music by John Cale!]

Cockfighter (1974, producer) [directed by Monte Hellman, starring Warren Oates and Harry Dean Stanton]

Big Bad Mama (1974, producer) [starring Angie Dickinson, William Shatner and Tom Skerritt]

Death Race 2000 (1975, producer) [directed by Paul Bartel, starring David Carradine and Slyvester Stallone]

Hollywood Boulevard (1976, producer) [directed by Allan Arkush and Joe Dante, his directorial debut]

Jackson County Jail (1976, producer) [starring Tommy Lee Jones and Howard Hesseman]

Eat My Dust (1976, producer) [starring Ron Howard, set decoration by Bill Paxton!]

Grand Theft Auto (1977, producer) [starring and directed by Ron Howard, his directorial debut, edited by Joe Dante]

Piranha (1978, producer) [directed and edited by Joe Dante, co-written by John Sayles, music by Pino Donaggio, make-up effects by Rob Bottin]

Saint Jack (1979, producer) [directed and co-written by Peter Bogdanovich, starring Ben Gazzara]
Rock N' Roll High School (1979, producer) [starring PJ Soles and The Ramones, cinematagrophy by Dean Cundey, second unit direction by Joe Dante and Jerry Zucker]

Humanoids From the Deep (1980, producer) [starring Vic Morrow, music by James Horner]

Battle Beyond the Stars (1980, producer-director) [starring Robert Vaughn, George Peppard, John Saxon and Sybil Danning, co written by John Sayles, music by James Horner, art direction by James Cameron, assistant production manager Gale Anne Hurd]

Deathstalker (1983, executive producer)

Chopping Mall (1986, executive producer)

Summer Camp Nightmare (1987, executive producer) [starring Chuck Conners] Not one of Corman's more notable films, but I remember watching it a lot via a VHS tape I recorded off HBO during one summer (87 or 88)

Congratulations to Roger Corman, 2010 Honorary Oscar Recipient

This year's Honorary Academy Award could not go to a worthier recipient than writer-producer-director-actor-entrepreneur-independent distributor Roger Corman, who was the most influential presence in American film from the 1950s through the early 80's in regards to the talent that he utilized and developed early in their career (Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert DeNiro, Jack Nicholoson, et cetera), his independent, quick, and cheap fly by the seat of his pants shooting style and providing exploitative, but always fun and never mean-spirited, fodder for the drive-ins and grindhouse cinema screens. It's rather tragic that in the last few decades the landscape of film distribution has shifted to the point where there is no longer room for the likes of Corman.



Congratulations as well to Lauren Bacall and Gordon Willis, both of who have, like Corman, never received an actual award. That's right, the cinematographer of The Godfather parts I and II and Manhattan, to name the most notable of a long distinguished career, has never won an Oscar, pretty much all the proof you need of the award's overall irrelevance in the grand scheme of things. Hell, he wasn't even nominated for any of those three listed films.