Director WILLIAM ASHER has passed on. He is best known for his TV work on shows like BEWITCHED (he was married to Elizabeth Montgomery at the time), I LOVE LUCY and THE TWILIGHT ZONE. In features he is best known for Directing a number of the 60s 'Beach Party' movies.

His film THE 27TH DAY was scheduled for the Marathon three times. It's first showing at SF/8 was one of the most pleasant Marathon surprises for me. It's not a great classic by any means, but a solid B effort with interesting and thoughful aspects. Years later, it was booked for SF/24. The print arrived. The schedule was set. And, then, on the day the projectionist noticed that the studio had sent its master Negative! Fortunately, this was noticed before the precious celluloid was projected. (This snafu led to the infamous DARK STAR on a rented VHS videotape projection). The proper 35mm print was shown the next year at SF/25. THE 27TH DAY was issued on Warner on Demand DVD last year (almost certainly utilizing the master print we could have scratched or damaged that fateful day!!)

Hey, I like 27TH DAY - a lot. Sure, it doesn't have "modern production values" and the plot is off the rails kooky. That's why I like it so much. Give me a 27TH DAY over an action movie in Sci-Fi guise like BATTLESHIP, TRANSFORMERS TROIS etc. anyday. Great double feature with the nutso RED PLANET MARS!