Day #21,686

Movie #1285 (#105 this year): Sha Ji(1970,Mitsuo Murayama)

Pretty good Hong Kong movie made by a Japanese director.
The attempt here is to duplicate Hitchcock and it's not a bad try. It could probably pass as a Chabrol.
Note: I don't see anything on the IMDB website about why Mr Murayama moved to Hong Kong to direct. However, his very first Japanese movie was "The Transparent Man vs. the Fly Man" - that could be a clue.

Day #21,685

Walk km 4493-4500: Thurlow/seawalk(south)/Stanley Park/seawalk(north)/Thurlow/Pender/Bute/Robson

birds
aprox km 4497 Lost Lagoon

Movie #1283 (#103 this year): The Sin Ship(1931, Louis Wolheim)

This ain't much of a movie but gee it was swell! That's how they talk in this movie.
Louis Wolheim (the ship's captain) rents out his boat to a minister and his wife so he can rape the wife. This is pre-code! When he makes his move, the wife (Mary Astor) convinces him that he should clean his soul - and he falls for it. You see, Mary isn't really a minister's wife, she and her "husband" are a couple of bank robbers on the lam. The whole plot is so goofy that it hooked me right from the get go. And of course Mary Astor emotes like crazy while Louis Wolheim must be the ugliest leading man ever.

Movie #1284 (#104 this year): Runaway Bride(1930, Donald Crisp)

Is that the Donald Crisp who became a character actor? Might have been a good move. The direction on this one ain't so hot although he does get a few excellent night scenes.
The whole thing looks weird - they don't make movies like this any more.
The acting is positively dismal, except for Mary Astor who is her usual vivacious self.
I just checked the IMDB on Donald Crisp. Seems he was quite the director in the silent movie days. He directed 71 silent movies (starting in 1914) and one talkie. The talkie was "Runaway Bride" and it was the last movie he ever directed.

Day #21,684

Walk km 4477-4482: running errands
Walk km 4482-4493: Science World to English Bay (and return) with Meetup group

Meetup walkers
aprox km 4487 English Bay

Movie #1282 (#101 this year): Smart Woman(1931, Gregory LaCava)

Mary Astor

Here's a movie that makes no sense. Mary Astor's been away in Europe and on returning home finds that her nitwit of a husband has taken up with a golddigger. Instead of being thankful that she's gonna get rid of the lug, she instead tries to win him back! And unfortunately, succeeds.
Delightful drawing room comedy except you keep hoping that Mary will come to her senses.

Movie #ReWatch (#102 this year): Midnight(1939, Mitchell Leisen)

I totally forgot that I'd seen this before. It's like "Smart Woman" on steroids. Sparkling comedy with Claudette Colbert as a penniless American in Paris who manages to get high society to believe that she's a Baroness. Mary Astor gets a supporting role and John Barrymore is a delight as Astor's husband. And written by Billy Wilder! Who would have guessed that he had it in him to write something this good.
Billy Wilder trivia: his brother is W Lee "Phantom From Space" Wilder!

Day #21,683

Walk 4463-4477: 29th Ave Station to Granville Island with Meetup group and then home.

Meetup group crosses the street
aprox km 4473 Great Northern Way

Day #21,682

Walk km 4453-4463: to Army&Navy (shopping) then Haro/Thurlow/seawalk/Stanley Park/back alley/Denman/Robson

a goose
aprox km 4460 Lost Lagoon

Movie #1281 (#100 this year): Shock (1946, Alfred Werker)

Standard plotline of witness to murder not being able to convince anyone of what she saw. Instead, they think she's nutso so they bring in a doctor (who's the murderer) to help her.
Lynn Bari makes an extemely sexy personification of evil.

Movie: Fearless Hyena(1979, Jackie Chan)
I paid good money for this (99 cents) but the last 14 minutes are missing. Even in the beginning Jackie Chan was making goofy kung-fu movies. Bruce Lee meets the Marx Brothers.