Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...

I sincerely hope that all you classic movie geeks out there have visited the Basil Rathbone blog, The Baz. If you haven't, check it out immediately. That's an order. Well, it's at least a recommendation that you should all be thankful for me to share with you. Aiight?

Being absolutely crazy about Basil Rathbone myself, the total dedication and devotion from Neve R is heart warming. But the best thing about Neve and her Rathbone work is her humor. Because, as one in all honesty has to admit... not everything in Basil Rathbone's repertoire is brilliant. More often than you would wish, Basil is the creamy toffee in the middle of a lollipop made of cow excrement.

I just read Neve's post on the strange, homoerotic, next-to-impossible-to-locate-any-damn-copy-of The Mad Doctor (Tim Whelan, 1941), and I was very amused. It's a clever little analysis, focusing on the, well... gayness of it all. You can't deny the meaning of the classic fallic symbol: the cigar. Read the blog post and watch the screenshots yourself, over here: "The Mad Doctor (Redux)"

And if you want to get an idea of just how pathetically nerdy I am, I will confess something to you. It's not like I have any pride anyway.

I found this YouTube clip, created and uploaded by Neve. If I understood it correctly, it was her contribution to some kind of bromance contest. (How lovely doesn't that sound, by the way?) And here's my confession: It gave me goosebumps, and I even shed a few salty tears into my weak, cold cup of coffee. I love Basil Rathbone. Really nice work, Neve. The pace is perfect, the film clips wisely chosen. If you can make even one weird, crazy film nerd moved to tears with a cliché song like "You're My Best Friend", you've succeeded!

Update: Yeah, I totally misunderstood. Neve just led me to find this lovely work of art. Love her anyway, though. Haha.