“If you’ve gone to many picture shows, particularly back in the early days of the business, you’ve seen it happen once or twice. The film will hit the screen like a still. Then it looks like someone is punching a live cigar butt through it from the back.
That’s caused by not having the film rolling while the arcs are on. Because those arcs are just like a blast furnace, and nothing burns as easily or faster than film.”
—Jim Thompson, Nothing More than Murder, 1959. The burning still is used to great effect at the end of Two-Lane Blacktop, directed by Monte Hellman and starring James Taylor, 1971.
GOOD CATCH. ‘JIM THOMPSON’..new guy to track down.
A great guy, a “dime-store Dostoeyevski” according to someone. I found Ominbus 2, a collection of five of his stories, at a London bus stop. And, just for mentioning it, now it is yours! (Mail to be forwarded).