“The recollections of one Michael Chambers, with appropriate flashbacks and soliloquy. Or more simply stated, the evolution of man, the cycle of going from dust to dessert, the metamorphosis from being the ruler of a planet to an ingredient in someone’s soup. It’s tonight’s “bill of fare,” from the Twilight Zone.” -Rod Serling, “To Serve Man”, The Twilight Zone (online here)

“The recollections of one Michael Chambers, with appropriate flashbacks and soliloquy. Or more simply stated, the evolution of man, the cycle of going from dust to dessert, the metamorphosis from being the ruler of a planet to an ingredient in someone’s soup. It’s tonight’s “bill of fare,” from the Twilight Zone.”

-Rod Serling, “To Serve Man”, The Twilight Zone (online here)

Stills via The Spiral Staircase (1945, dir. Robert Siodmak)

Stills via The Spiral Staircase (1945, dir. Robert Siodmak)


Stills from The Temptress (1926, dir. Fred Niblo, starring Greta Garbo)

Stills from The Temptress (1926, dir. Fred Niblo, starring Greta Garbo)

Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity (1946, dir. Billy Wilder) “Murder is never perfect. It always comes apart sooner or later. When two people are involved, it’s usually sooner. Sometime, somewhere, they’ve got to meet. Their emotions are all kicked up. Whether it’s love or hate, it doesn’t matter. They can’t keep away from each other. They may think it’s twice as safe because there are two of them. But it isn’t twice as safe. It’s ten times as dangerous. They’ve committed a murder. And it’s not like taking a trolley ride together where they can get off at different stops. They’re stuck with each other and they’ve got to ride all the way to the end of the line. And it’s a one-way trip and the last stop is the cemetery.”

Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity (1946, dir. Billy Wilder)

“Murder is never perfect. It always comes apart sooner or later. When two people are involved, it’s usually sooner. Sometime, somewhere, they’ve got to meet. Their emotions are all kicked up. Whether it’s love or hate, it doesn’t matter. They can’t keep away from each other. They may think it’s twice as safe because there are two of them. But it isn’t twice as safe. It’s ten times as dangerous.

They’ve committed a murder. And it’s not like taking a trolley ride together where they can get off at different stops. They’re stuck with each other and they’ve got to ride all the way to the end of the line. And it’s a one-way trip and the last stop is the cemetery.”

Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity (1946, dir. Billy Wilder)

Innuendo doesn’t get much better than this scene.

“I am a real ham. I love an audience. I work better with an audience. I am dead, in fact, without one.” -Lucille Ball (photo by Philippe Halsman, via pbs.org)

“I am a real ham. I love an audience. I work better with an audience. I am dead, in fact, without one.”

-Lucille Ball (photo by Philippe Halsman, via pbs.org)

Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz (via snap) “At times we were criticized for doing too much slapstick. I don’t believe in mild comedy, and neither does Lucy.” -Desi Arnaz

Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz (via snap)

“At times we were criticized for doing too much slapstick. I don’t believe in mild comedy, and neither does Lucy.”

-Desi Arnaz

Lee Van Cleef, Clint Eastwood, & Eli Wallach in The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly (1966, dir. Sergio Leone) “I am bringing back the action Western. The cowboy picture has got lost in psychology. There have been too many attempts to explain the motives of both the heroes and the bad men and to make them understandable and acceptable in modern terms. The West was made by violent, uncomplicated men and it is this strength and simplicity that I try to recapture in my pictures.” -Sergio Leone

Lee Van Cleef, Clint Eastwood, & Eli Wallach in The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly (1966, dir. Sergio Leone)

“I am bringing back the action Western. The cowboy picture has got lost in psychology. There have been too many attempts to explain the motives of both the heroes and the bad men and to make them understandable and acceptable in modern terms. The West was made by violent, uncomplicated men and it is this strength and simplicity that I try to recapture in my pictures.”

-Sergio Leone

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Ennio Morricone - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (main theme) (via The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Play count: 624

Hedy Lamarr in Ekstase (1933, dir. Gustav Machaty) In Ekstase, a 19-year-old Hedy Lamarr plays a young woman who finds out on her honeymoon that her husband is both impotent and cold. She decides to rectify the situation by finding herself a lover. Ekstase was highly controversial in its time due to two scenes - the first was a swimming scene, in which Lamarr displayed full nudity. The other scene, pictured above, featured Lamarr & her lover kissing on a bed before his head is seen to drop out of the bottom of the frame. Much writhing ensues, making Ekstase the first non-pornographic film to depict sexual intercourse & the female orgasm onscreen (as captured through Lamarr’s facial expressions). The scene can be seen here, courtesy of hedy-lamarr.org.

Hedy Lamarr in Ekstase (1933, dir. Gustav Machaty)

In Ekstase, a 19-year-old Hedy Lamarr plays a young woman who finds out on her honeymoon that her husband is both impotent and cold. She decides to rectify the situation by finding herself a lover.

Ekstase was highly controversial in its time due to two scenes - the first was a swimming scene, in which Lamarr displayed full nudity. The other scene, pictured above, featured Lamarr & her lover kissing on a bed before his head is seen to drop out of the bottom of the frame. Much writhing ensues, making Ekstase the first non-pornographic film to depict sexual intercourse & the female orgasm onscreen (as captured through Lamarr’s facial expressions).

The scene can be seen here, courtesy of hedy-lamarr.org.