A Hidden Jewel-Lady Lion Tamer In Thigh Boots

This story began when somebody uploaded this picture to flickr. If you have any sense of who I am, you can imagine that my eyes bugged out of my head and I my body immediately switched to Super-Search Mode (similar to Fight or Flight, but for internet boot hobbyists) I uploaded this picture to Google Image Search, which allows you to provide an image and it will return matches (often in a larger resolution) and give links to places where the image has appeared. An uncropped version of this publicity still was once uploaded as a e-bay auction and was from a movie called  Fixer Dugan (1939).

Now I know a little bit about boots in movies and this was a new one to me. I quickly learned the lady lion tamer was the lead female role and with a few more clicks discovered that a decent TV rip had been uploaded to a private torrent tracker that specializes in obscure movies. Thankfully I'm a member in good standing of this tracker (which is source of many of the pre-2005 movies I trim for our enjoyment).  Sadly the torrent was without seeders, but a well placed bribe of easily earned credits awakened the original uploader. Within a day the movie was on my hard-drive, where it languished for almost 4 months.

It's easy to skim through a movie, see that it was filmed in Florida in July, buzz through it to make sure  Corinne Alphen doesn't sing any songs in thigh boots and then hit the delete button. Short single scenes (like Ms Alphen in Spring Break) are also easy, a few snips and you're done. A movie featuring a great pair of boots throughout is a time consuming edit. I first did a rough version that was about 20 minutes long, but waaaayy too loose of an edit to be enjoyable (also above zippyshares 200mb limit). And this movie had a number of slow fade transitions which can wreak havoc with lossless keyframe based editing (more on that in another post). It's also not uncommon for a clip with lots of edits to lose audio-sync or for the editor to crash just as you were getting ready to save. All told, I'd say just the  edit took me around 45 minutes, which is about 40 minutes longer than usual. And laziness on my part is why a lot of my best stuff (esp 50's era Italian action movies with LADY PIRATES) is still sitting, untrimmed, on a well backed-up harddrive.




http://www64.zippyshare.com/v/36109891/file.html
Fixer Dugan (1939) does not disappoint. Peggy Shannon plays a wonderfully spunky and smart lion tamer in great black leather  thigh high boots over snug white pants and worn with a military style jacket.  This movie might not beat out The Plainsman (1936) for bootiest pre-war movie, but it's in the conversation.