Paul C. Dobbs
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steadytiger.bsky.social
Paul C. Dobbs
@steadytiger.bsky.social
Living on Sydney Greenstreet
Haunted by Ida Lupino
Immigrant
송강호는 내 부조종사다
All the old Lee and Herring Fist of Fun shows are on YT. Golden. "Einstein's theory of relativity states that time moves more slowly if you spend it with your relatives"
January 8, 2026 at 6:24 AM
January 6, 2026 at 5:17 PM
Cruel Train (1996) is La bête humaine against the dread & tension of the London Blitz, which is a bit like putting Tabasco sauce on a vindaloo. I can’t think of a story less in need of added heat. It’s also written & shot to squeeze out every last drop of hurt and it stays at that pitch for 100 mins
January 6, 2026 at 4:04 PM
I broke my finger hopping onto a pair of underpants. They had to pin the bones together, was honestly not sure I'd ever play guitar again
What's the most ridiculous way you ever hurt yourself? I got out of the tub, skidded in water and tripped over the toilet. Ankle sprain.

😅
January 6, 2026 at 12:09 PM
Reposted by Paul C. Dobbs
First watch: Apache (1954). A Hecht-Lancaster Productions film directed by Robert Aldrich, and the first of two Westerns he did that year starring Burt Lacaster, the other being Vera Cruz. Burt plays one-man war-machine Massai, “the last Apache warrior”, who repeatedly escapes his white captors 1/3
January 6, 2026 at 7:40 AM
Well I can never resist this. Top 10 guitarists, top of my head

Neil Young
Keith Richards
James Honeyman-Scott
BB King
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmie Vaughan
Dave Gilmour
Lee Ranaldo
Thurston Moore
Rick McCollum
Who are your top 10 all-time favourite guitarists? Off the top of my head…

Neil Young
Greg Ginn
Tony Iommi
Ron Asheton
Tom Verlaine
Dr Know (Bad Brains)
Bert Jansch
Richard Thompson
J Mascis
Keith Levene
Who are your top 10 all-time favorite guitarists? Real quick off the top of my head..

Mick Ronson
Robert Fripp
Ritchie Blackmore
Brian Robertson
Roddy Frame
Danielle Haim
Lindsey Buckingham
Mick Taylor
Richard Oakes
Rory Gallagher
January 6, 2026 at 3:54 AM
La bête humaine (1938), and Human Desire (1954). Orson Welles said making a movie was like having a big train set, but Jean Renoir and Fritz Lang got to play for real here. They both fetishise trains, tracks, wheels, levers, pistons… the sooty glamour of steam, the scary diesel behemoths of the 50s
January 5, 2026 at 9:07 AM
Reposted by Paul C. Dobbs
If you like Antonioni and have a million hours to spare, why not read all 52 parts of my 284,000-word analysis of Red Desert? There are references to 115 other films and 190 non-film sources, so it's only about half as monotonous as it sounds...
Everything That Happens in Red Desert
Contents and bibliography
www.slowmovingpictures.org
January 5, 2026 at 6:58 AM
Very sad to see the passing of Ahn Sung-ki, 'the Nation's Actor'. Only 74, but he has been around forever. He was in The Housemaid, aged 8, and a string of classics since then. Farewell to a great one
January 5, 2026 at 5:19 AM
Reposted by Paul C. Dobbs
Ida Lupino playing quoits at home during time off from filming Paramount’s “Artists and Models” (1937)
January 4, 2026 at 11:53 PM
Reposted by Paul C. Dobbs
Ida Lupino in a Paramount publicity shot, 1936.
January 4, 2026 at 11:58 PM
In 1947 RKO remade Le jour se lève (1939) as The Long Night. They also tried to buy up and destroy all copies of the original film, for reasons which aren't clear to me. Interesting to watch the two versions of this love quadrangle side by side: one is a tragedy, the other is a melodrama…
January 2, 2026 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Paul C. Dobbs
December 31, 2025 at 5:25 PM
My 2025 reading diary. Reading Korean reminds me of my childhood, when I read books that were above me that I couldn't understand, but read on anyway cos I just liked reading. I feel guilty reading in English now. I can't really go back back to it till my Korean reading is faster and not-shit
December 31, 2025 at 5:33 PM
I used to have my own little house in Warrington. On New Years Eve I used to tell my family I was going out with mates, told my mates I was seeing family, then I'd sit in on my own with a bottle of Scotch watching films. Best New Years ever, did it six years running
December 31, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Paul C. Dobbs
First watch: La Vérité (1960). Shown on Arte as a tribute to the recently departed Brigitte Bardot, this Henri-Georges Clouzot courtroom drama has long been on my watchlist. Less a whodunit than a whydunit, as Dominique Marceau (Bardot) is on trial for the murder of her former lover. 1/5
December 30, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Reposted by Paul C. Dobbs
Crime and Punishment (Josef von Sternberg, 1935)
DoP: Lucien Ballard
December 30, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Lawman (1971). An absorbing, thoughtfully scripted western, great work from Lancaster, Ryan, and Cobb, plus a dozen more great faces in support. Lots of psychology and moral questioning, horribly bleak and upsetting at the end. Worth putting up with Michael Winner’s endless wobbly zooms for
December 29, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Paul C. Dobbs
This scene from Christmasy melodrama All That Heaven Allows is comprised of two moving shots, both achieving different goals to represent Cary's loneliness, then shock.

See our Substack next week for a full breakdown of how it works so effectively.
December 27, 2025 at 11:01 PM
My playing style has always centered around twatting the guitar as hard as possible but last night in Banana Bar I bust the A string on a bass guitar. Don't let them tell you it can't be done
December 28, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Reposted by Paul C. Dobbs
The Mask of Dimitrios (1944) Greenstreet & Lorre star in this adaptation of Eric Ambler's classic espionage story, which sees Lorre's novelist on a quest through the murky world of pre-War Balkan intrigue in order to unravel the mystery of the late & unlamented Dimitrios

1/4
December 27, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Reposted by Paul C. Dobbs
December 27, 2025 at 12:00 PM
The Coachman (1961). Blue collar everyman exploited & abused by the horse-owning bourgeoisie. I'm shouting, "Organise! Go on strike!" But this is post-war Korea, so none of that. It could certainly have bitten harder on the politics, but it goes instead for a homely sentimentality that I quite liked
December 27, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Reposted by Paul C. Dobbs
No matter our beliefs, Jesus’ message of opening our hearts to those who are different from us has never felt more important than this Christmas.

I want to wish everyone celebrating in London and around the world a very Merry Christmas.
December 25, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Paul C. Dobbs
Review of Sapphire (1959), Victim (1961) & Life Ruth (1962) from the creative team of Basil Dearden, Janet Green & Michael Relph on LetterBoxd

(Because Bluesky won't provide me, history's greatest martyr, with a 'save draft' function)

letterboxd.com/lessmarberry...
LesSmarberry’s reviews
LesSmarberry’s reviews
letterboxd.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:27 PM