Criss Cross Your Heart

Steve's the addict and Anna's the crack
Though she's bad she is good in the sack
He's the bee, she's the honey,
But she's sweet on the money
He gets mad, she keeps pulling him back.

Steve Thompson (Burt Lancaster) is a sucker for Anna Dundee (Yvonne DeCarlo) in Criss Cross (Robert Siodmak, 1949).

Torch Song Eulogy

The torch that you carry's still burning
A scorching, once-married-to yearning
But there's always a cost
To retrieving love lost
When your former cares more for your earning.



Burt Lancaster carries a nuclear torch for ex-wife Yvonne DeCarlo in Criss Cross (1949). Wouldn't you?

Criss and Make Up

With the Mrs he'd torridly fight
It was vicious with horrible spite
Now recalling each breakup,
How post-brawling, they'd make up,
Mr misses their warring each night.

Burt Lancaster cant forget ex-wife Yvonne De Carlo in Criss Cross (Robert Siodmak, 1949). Title by the goodbye earl, David Cairns.

Cross Over and Out

As the sands through the hourglass sift
Back to Anna his thoughts always drift
In the past with his ex
He has passionate sex
And his glands get a powerful lift.

Burt Lancaster has ex-wife Anna (Yvonne De Carlo) on his mind in Criss Cross (Robert Siodmak, 1949).

Rhumba of the Beast

You stare at the woman you covet
You don't care that she told you to shove it
You'll know what a flirt is
When she rhumbas with Curtis
It tears at your heart but you love it.

David Cairns



Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo and Tony Curtis in Criss Cross (Robert Siodmak, 1949). Watch them dance to Esy Morales and his Rhumba Band playing "Jungle Fantasy" on Youtube.

Vertebra-Burner

The theories espoused by V. Price,
May be right but they sure aren't nice,
When you tingle with fear,
Face the spinal frontier,
Or he'll fracture your back in a trice.

David Cairns


Today is the birthday of Vincent Price, seen here with Darryl Hickman in William Castle's electrifying thriller,  The Tingler (1959). 

Dawn's Early Bite

When it's night he goes hunting for strays
And on frightened young honeys he preys
But poor Dracula's whipped--
Cant get back to his crypt--    
And ignites from the sun's deadly rays.




Lon Chaney Jr. is the late Son of Dracula (Robert Siodmak, 1943), the one film where the count is a patsy. Enjoy your Vampire Weekends.

Death Be a Lady Tonight

Her name's Kitty, and guys want to pet her
She's a hit in her tight fitting sweater
But this deadliest doll
Is the dread femme fatale,
And her victims can't die any deader.


Ava Gardner sinks her claws into Burt Lancaster in Robert Siodmak's The Killers. Title by Norm Knott, who's good cat people.

Pillow Stalk

Though you know killer goons will be coming
In your soul there's a wound that is numbing
You just lie in your bed--
You can't die if you're dead--
Shot with holes, though, you'll soon be succumbing.

Burt Lancaster has lost his will to run from The Killers (Robert Siodmak, 1946). Thanks to David Cairns for plugging the holes.

You Made Your Bed, Now Die in It

Like a sucker who's lost his last bet,
Out of luck, you lie covered in sweat
Now they open your door,
And you know what's in store...
A dead duck, though you've only just met.


Burt Lancaster is waiting for The Killers (Robert Siodmak, 1946).

The Brasher Baboon

Though he lends him a halfback-like heft
Of all depth Monty's Marlowe's bereft
Neither Bogie nor Powell,
He should throw in the towel
Though at tossing his hat he's quite deft.

As Phillip Marlowe in The Brasher Doubloon (John Brahm, 1947), actor George Montgomery is more brawny than brainy. But man, can the fellow flip his fedora.

The Bad Swede

Though the Killers have come to your room,
'Twas a filly who summoned your doom
A sweet miss so perfidious,
That each kiss was insidious...
So lie still while they lower the boom.



The Swede is the unseen Burt Lancaster, awaiting his fate at the hands of The Killers (1946), William Conrad and Charles McGraw.

Kitty Kitty Bang Bang

The killers are coming to call
They're milling about in the hall
It started with Kitty,
Black-hearted and pretty:
Worth a million, she wanted it all.

William Conrad and Charles McGraw were The Killers (Robert Siodmak, 1946), but Ava Gardner loaded the guns.

Slay Misty For Me

First a bat then he'll turn into mist,
Then a rat that your girl can't resist
To his crypt she will crawl
Once he's sipped she's in thrall
The guy's Dracula, don't get him pissed.

Lon Chaney, Jr. is Count Alucard, aka the Son of Dracula (Robert Siodmak, 1943), coming between Louise Allbritton and Robert Paige. Sdnekeew eripmav is Vampire Weekends spelled backwards.

Cast-Backwards

From an alley this spectre will slink
Grab a gal's slender neck for a drink
He is famously cursed...
Has his name been reversed?
Count Alucard...heck, do you think?




Lon Chaney, Jr. is Count Alucard, aka the Son of Dracula (Robert Siodmak, 1943). "Sdnekeew eripmav" is Vampire Weekends spelled backwards.

Running Out of the Past

Both the past and the mileage stop here
From that bastard self-styled, I am clear
Having run my last yard,
I have won--not Gerard--
And at last I can smile without fear.

David Janssen walks away with Diane Baker in the epilog to the final episode of The Fugitive. Fugitive Fridays has also stopped running--for now. Image source: Dvd Talk.

The Manhood Nude Too Much

Hitchcock planned all his shots in advance
Couldn't stand leaving squat up to chance
Had command and control
When a camera'd roll
But could not keep his plots in his pants.

Hitchcock and Hedren on the set of The Birds. Title by the man who's stewed too much, David Cairns. This wraps up our week-long tribute to the master of suspense and sexual harassment. Please consider making a donation to The National Film Preservation Foundation.

Hitch Mock

On his Hitchcock Presents, Hitch's wit
made the little suspense show a hit
With his dry British cheek
all his sponsors he'd tweak
Though they bitched they had sense not to quit.

Norm Knott

Today is the last day of the For the Love of Film blogathon. May we suggest that you sponsor the National Film Preservation Foundation?

Rope-a-Dopes

UPTOWN KILL

Willing partners in murder and sex
Throw a party that renders them wrecks
When their victim's un-crated
They're convicted and fated,
And the rope starts entwining their necks.

David Cairns




GAYS INTO THE ABYSS

Hitchcock stretched a continuous shot
Till two necks had been caught in a knot
This pair thought it peachy
To dare to be Nietzsche,
But perfected their plotting was not.

Surly Hack



John Dall and Farley Granger are given more than enough Rope (Alfred Hitchcock, 1948). Please help to make a rediscovered bit of Hitchcock history available to the public by donating to the National Film Preservation Foundation. Learn more about the For the Love of Film blogathon at This Island Rob, Self-Styled Siren  and Ferdy on Films.

The Jailbirds is Coming

He knew guilt and the fear of arrest
As his films all so clearly attest
Back when Alf was a lad
He was jailed by his dad,
And he built a career on the jest.

One of Hitchcock's favorite anecdotes was the one about his father, who, having caught young Alfred committing some minor offense, asked a policeman friend to lock him in a cell to teach him a lesson. We hope you have learned the lesson that the legacy of film needs to be preserved, and we ask that you consider making a donation to the National Film Preservation Foundation.



Credit for the clever title goes to con man David Cairns.

Imitation of Strife

As the master, Hitch earned world renown
Now these bastards are burgling his crown
There's Clouzot and Chabrol,
Who are both rather droll,
But Bill Castle's a certified clown.


Henri-Georges Clouzot, Claude Chabrol and William Castle were all directors of psychological suspense thrillers, and rightly or wrongly their work is often labeled "Hitchcockian". Title by our severed head writer, David Cairns. Welcome to day 5 of the week-long Hitchcock blogathon, For the Love of Film. Please help the cause by giving to the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Vertigo-a-Gogo

It's the height of this artist's expression
Just a flight up the stairs from confession
From the tip of the top

A precipitous drop
To a frightening arc of obsession.



James Stewart and Kim Novak in Alfred Hitchcock's very personal Vertigo. Thanks to David and Norm. Image source: Tripod. This verse is only a small part of the For the Love of Film blogathon. Please consider donating to the eminently worthy National Film Preservation Foundation.

The Trouble With Vertigo

For the past couple of weeks I've been suffering from bouts of vertigo. It's been murder, but even more disappointing has been the fact that Kim Novak hasn't appeared.

I confess, every morning I descend the thirty nine steps to my rear window, part the torn curtain and, spellbound, look longingly for her. I search south by southeast as well as north by northwest. Even on my way to work I search the faces of strangers on a train hoping that I will find the young and innocent visage of Ms. Novak. If she is aboard, the lady vanishes before I can espy her.

Without a shadow of a doubt, I'm at the end of my rope. In fact, I'm in a bit of a frenzy. I even have my suspicion that her absence might be a family plot. Who, I wonder, can be the saboteur?

Jeez, I sound like some kind of a psycho, don't I? I'm telling you, man, this obsession is strictly for the birds.


Please help out the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Casting Couch Potato

He was fond of the Goldilocks-tressed
Quite beyond casting roles, was obsessed
Once a hottie would sign
Hitchcock got out of line
'Cause the blondes he controlled he liked best.

Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren on the set of The Birds. Please consider donating to The National Film Preservation Foundation. 

Notorious Basterd

Though he's standing, he's scarily slanted
And the cam'ra is daringly canted
Something's truly askew
But from whose point of view?
One more damsel's been Carily Granted.



That's Miss Ingrid Bergman of course, watching Cary Grant's brilliant, topsy-turvy introduction in Notorious (1946). Please consider donating to The National Film Preservation Foundation during the week-long FOR THE LOVE OF FILM blogathon, which this year is tilted in the direction of the one and only Alfred Hitchcock.