2024-04-12 12:11
Serious Question: Is there such a thing as a domestic film noir? And: Can a film noir take place in the bright California sunshine? Here’s our query: In the 1951 “B” movie… Read More
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an irreverent blog of classic movies
2024-04-05 00:53
We (yours truly) adore the on-screen Joan Crawford. Was she the single greatest actress of her generation? Nope. Was she remarkable? You bet. With a 47-year Hollywood career, she understood… Read More
2024-03-29 13:00
Here’s an underrated “B” Crime Drama/Buddy Road Movie you might like: Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949). The film stars Howard Duff as a U.S. Treasury agent, and Dan Duryea as the… Read More
2024-03-16 13:05
Actress Mary Pickford, wildly famous during the silent era, developed a pattern early in her career. The pattern first became evident at the Biograph studio in 1909, when a 17-year-old Pickf… Read More
2024-03-03 17:00
Civilization is a funny thing. When citizens cooperate and follow the Rules, society has a turbulence-free sheen. Even when a nation is embroiled in a foreign war, its society can, more or l… Read More
2024-02-22 13:30
The misleading thing about the title of Earth vs. The Spider (1958) is this: A giant spider does not attack the entire planet. It attacks one American town. Naturally, it’s a relief to… Read More
2024-02-06 18:32
Well, just look at the things you find when you reorganize your movie collection. We (yours truly) had a burst of Organizational Efficiency last week and, as we sorted our DVDs – don&r&hell…Read More
2024-01-27 04:56
We should all have a career like W.C. Fields in The Dentist (1932). Of course, dentistry has its share of challenges, but we like the Set-Up that Fields’ character has created for hims… Read More
2024-01-13 15:30
Sometimes we think movie audiences in the early 1950s were a little spoiled. Hear us out. The early 1950s were a time of remarkable cinematic innovation, such as CinemaScope and 3-D, and fil… Read More
2023-12-28 20:55
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) is a monumental film. It’s a production that moves on its own Steam, where characters’ decisions seem to matter very little. A character may… Read More
2023-12-21 01:51
Well, we were going to share a frivolous, end-of-the-year post about the musical comedy, Holiday Inn (1942), starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. But then Astaire stole the movie, like he… Read More
2023-12-02 17:59
Has a Hollywood war movie left its thumbprint on you? For us, one such film was Apocalypse Now (1979), a haunting dreamscape in an exotic war zone. It confronted us with the reminder the wor… Read More
2023-11-23 13:00
Sometimes the world feels different when an influential person dies, and you grieve even though you never met said person. That was the case for millions on November 22, 1963. Two influentia… Read More
2023-11-18 11:21
Warning: Contains Spoilers Sometimes, in a movie, you can spot the Set-Up in the first few scenes. But a good filmmaker knows this, and uses it to build tension. That’s what we thought… Read More
2023-11-04 23:00
When we were in elementary school, there was a boy who was always in trouble. Today, we would assume the poor kid had ADHD, but he wasn’t diagnosed with such Back in the Day. We could… Read More
2023-10-23 20:00
We just watched a Western parody that’s a lot of fun in spite of itself. My Little Chickadee (1940) stars Mae West and W.C. Fields as two grifters who meet on a train and suddenly deci… Read More
2023-10-12 19:16
A few weeks ago, we visited an antique shop in the middle of Nowhere and, among low-tech housewares and sewing machines, we found a biography of classic Hollywood director Cecil B. DeMille:… Read More
2023-10-06 14:00
Depression-era Warner Bros. gangster movies are as much about reformation as they are about crime. You know the drill: A ruthless gangster/criminal is hammered with bad luck, and these circu… Read More
2023-09-23 23:52
We could not believe how unsettled we became when we saw the original version of the Victorian thriller, Gaslight (1940), from British National Films. Now, we’ve seen the more luxuriou… Read More
2023-09-16 13:55
Against our better judgment, we watched the ultimate campy biopic: Mommie Dearest (1981). This movie explores the troubled relationship between Classic Hollywood actress, Joan Crawford, and… Read More
2023-09-08 14:00
Once upon a time we worked with a soft-spoken fellow who was calm in demeanor and unflappable in a crisis. He took things In Stride, especially when it came to the boss who had a tendency to… Read More
2023-08-28 14:00
We recently saw Anastasia (1956), an engaging story loosely based on actual events. Ingrid Bergman plays Anna Anderson, a troubled woman who claims to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia, the you… Read More
2023-08-19 13:00
“Adulterous passion…often had dark consequences. The adultery film is, in this way, a horror film.” So writes film historian Anthony Balducci in the introduction to his ne… Read More
2023-08-02 15:00
Perhaps you’ve heard of Nick and Nora Charles, the husband-and-wife sleuthing team of The Thin Man movies. On the face of it, they’re an unlikely pair. Nick (William Powell) is a… Read More
2023-07-14 20:10
Get this: Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel, Anna Karenina, has been adapted to the screen over 20(!) times. Tolstoy’s novel, depending on the publisher, usually runs 800+ pages, with… Read More
2023-06-30 23:08
Four years after Jenny Dolly died, Twentieth Century-Fox released a musical based on her life with her sister, Rosie. The pair, identical twins born in 1892, emigrated to the United States f… Read More
2023-06-17 09:38
On the face of it, The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947) is a film about Thomas Mitchell’s obsession with the colour of Van Johnson’s pants. Seriously. In the first two acts of this f… Read More
2023-06-10 02:01
Well, we’d never thought we’d say this, but here we are all the same: There’s such a thing as too much Ina Claire. We saw this normally fab actress in the pre-code comedy… Read More
2023-05-25 01:36
One of the mandatory books we studied in high school was William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Our poor English teacher. She had a time of it, trying to engage us in Shakespearean langu… Read More
2023-05-06 18:47
A national cinema was established when Mozambique declared independence from Portugal in 1975. The goal of the National Institute of Cinema (NIC) was to record and promote everyday Mozambiqu… Read More
2023-04-29 12:24
One of the grittiest films of the 1970s – a decade noted for gritty films – is the dystopian sports movie Rollerball (1975). This bleak sci-fi tale, directed by Norman Jewison an… Read More
2023-04-21 06:57
Sometimes the best Hollywood stories are the ones off screen. Take, for example, the uneasy partnership between director Alfred Hitchcock and producer David O. Selznick that – in spite… Read More
2023-04-14 14:00
Sometimes it’s hard to concentrate on a film when it’s set in a stunning location. We were mulling this over when we saw the western drama River of No Return (1954), starring Rob… Read More
2023-04-07 13:29
Our pal, Sally Silverscreen of the marvelous 18 Cinema Lane, tagged us with the “Flaming Hot…5 Reasons Why” Tag, where participants select five characters from film and/or… Read More
2023-03-31 13:33
The Warner Bros. crime/gangster dramas of the 1930s could almost be a film genre of their own. They were brisk, economical movies soaked with cynicism and Cruel Irony. The dialogue was fast… Read More
2023-03-12 12:02
The 1920 comedy, One Week, stars Buster Keaton and Sybil Seely as a freshly-married couple who build a Do-It-Yourself prefabricated house. The couple receive the house as a wedding gift, and… Read More
2023-03-01 23:09
Danny Kaye, we owe you an apology. We never were a fan of your films. We thought you were Too Much, and you seemed, to us, cloying in your efforts to be silly. Your boundless energy wore us… Read More
2023-02-22 22:56
We’ve been re-thinking the title of this post, namely the “so bad it’s good” part. Bride of the Monster (1955), directed by Ed Wood, is a sci-fi/horror flick about (y… Read More
2023-02-14 03:14
Spoiler Alert: This review of Roman Holiday (1953) is rife with spoilers and reveals the ending. Roman Holiday was Audrey Hepburn’s first starring role in a feature film. She plays a p… Read More
2023-02-01 22:33
A Hollywood actress recently claimed there were no female action stars before 2012, the year she was hired to star in a series of films that, we’re to believe, shattered the woman-as-a… Read More
2023-01-26 02:39
When you consider the obstacles filmmakers face, it’s a wonder movies get made at all. Look at Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur (1942), a wartime thriller about a California munitions… Read More
2023-01-11 14:00
This post is reblogged from the fab Realweegiemidget Reviews, and it was originally published on October 19, 2022. When Gill suggested a blog post “swap”, we (yours truly) jumped… Read More
2023-01-07 00:44
This is classic Hollywood character actor Eve Arden. She’s a nice-looking dame, but notice the smirk tugging at her lips, and her gaze – beneath those oh-so-arched eyebrows &ndas&hell…Read More
2022-12-28 22:53
Movies, especially modern movies, changed for us when we saw Casablanca (1942) the first time. That’s not to say we don’t like modern cinema; indeed, we were treated to some real… Read More
2022-12-15 17:18
OK, we know A Christmas Story (1983) isn’t a heist movie. But, with a few tweaks, it could be. The film is set during the holiday season in the early 1940s. It centres on Ralphie (Pete… Read More
2022-12-08 17:00
Just so you know, we watched the 1978 schmaltz-fest, International Velvet, so you won’t have to. You’re welcome. In case you’re wondering, the film is about a newly-orphane… Read More
2022-12-02 15:02
A film we (yours truly) loved as a child was Snowball Express (1972), starring that bankable Disney celebrity, Dean Jones. In Snowball Express, Jones inherits a Colorado ski resort from a lo… Read More
2022-11-24 15:00
Sometimes you want to see movie characters with pure motive – no layers, psychology, or (shudder) backstory. Now, by “pure motive” we mean All Motive, as in, Good or Evil… Read More
2022-11-18 03:21
One of the best things about 1950s sci-fi/horror flicks is their strangeness. Usually the monsters/aliens come from a strange world unlike our own, and they learn quickly that humans are a f… Read More
2022-11-08 20:44
The fascinating thing about historical police investigations, we think, is the way investigators were able to catch criminals without the use of modern surveillance technology. Old-timey inv… Read More
2022-10-12 12:03
You know the old saying: What goes Up, Must come Down. Sadly, there’s no escaping this situation. It applies equally to baseballs, financial bubbles, and political careers. Especially… Read More
2022-09-29 12:34
We live in an age where there’s little wiggle room for transgression, even if you unknowingly commit an Offence. However, to be fair, every era enforces its societal standards, along w… Read More
2022-09-23 11:57
Sometimes films succeed, despite an enormous “As If” factor. For example, As If there are people in spandex who fly around and fight crime, or a mysterious tropical island with a… Read More
2022-09-14 12:24
If you’re burdened with self-serving politicians (are there any other kind?) you know how vexing they can be. At best, they are expensive and frustrating; at worst, they’re expen… Read More
2022-09-08 01:40
When Hollywood film star Marion Davies was a Very Big Deal in 1923, she made a period costume comedy for Cosmopolitan Productions that was one of the highest-grossing films of the year. Now… Read More
2022-08-17 12:09
A few months ago, the fabulous Tony at Movie Fan Man included us in “The Five Films on a Desert Island Tag”, and if you’ve ever tried to narrow down your favourite movies t… Read More
2022-06-25 14:21
Of course you’re wondering about the MGM lion, because who isn’t? Today, we’re going to take a quick look at that famous ferocious lion, but, before we do, let’s quic… Read More
2022-06-17 13:42
There are many theories about why countries go to war. Some are pretty twisted (leaders go to war when there’s a surplus of unemployed young men), while some are horribly misguided (we… Read More
2022-06-11 14:11
We (yours truly) cannot resist Disaster Movies. No matter how implausible, and never mind any gaping plot holes, we must see how the Disaster will play out, and how survivors will Overcome… Read More
2022-06-02 22:07
We’ve all done it: We have a brilliant idea, but we fumble the execution of our own ingenuity. We were ruminating on Squandered Opportunities when we recently watched the Western-theme… Read More
2022-05-19 00:06
Here’s one of the crazy things that happened in 1948. Shortly after WWII, the German capital of Berlin was divided into four sections, controlled by foreign countries, namely, the Unit… Read More
2022-05-12 23:45
Break out the champagne! It’s National Classic Movie Day on May 16 and we hope you’ll find some time to celebrate. Rick at Classic Film and TV Café is our host, and he&rsq&hell…Read More
2022-05-04 15:36
You may know the story of The Secret Garden by British-American novelist Frances Hodgson Burnett. The story takes place before WWI, when a newly-orphaned girl is shipped from her home in Ind… Read More
2022-04-29 01:52
What is the worst vacation you’ve ever had? And: What made it miserable? Was it substandard accommodation? Too much time with annoying relatives? Sometimes horrible vacations can make… Read More
2022-04-21 03:17
Are you a fan of classic Hollywood actress Gloria Swanson? Maybe you’ve seen her in the 1950 drama, Sunset Boulevard, as an aging silent film star living a reclusive life in a creepy G… Read More
2022-04-14 01:47
Okay, this is an unpopular opinion, and you have every right to disagree with us. We (yours truly) are unreasonably annoyed with the drama Our Town (1940), because it tries to pull a Fast On… Read More
2022-04-07 01:23
Tea for Two (1950) is a Song-and-Dance celebration about losing money in the 1929 stock market crash. What, you don’t think economic collapse is a good subject for a musical? The film… Read More
2022-03-18 09:10
If you’re in the mood for a film about a woman with an outsized personality – and who isn’t? – then we have a treat for you. The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) is a mu… Read More
2022-03-11 22:03
We all know how it goes in a Haunted House movie. We, the audience, can clearly see the house will be Trouble at the beginning of the film, but all signs of it are lost on the characters. &l&hell…Read More
2022-03-03 18:42
Of course you know the Wilhelm Scream, arguably one of the most famous stock sound effects in Hollywood. The scream has been used in at least 400 movies and television series, usually when a… Read More
2022-02-24 03:02
Here’s the thing about movies that are So Bad They’re Good. They usually have a ridiculous plot, yet there’s an earnestness about them that endear you. Sometimes the plots… Read More
2022-02-17 23:19
We’re fascinated by movies about corrupt policemen. However, we like these films Only If the officer in question gets What’s Coming, because a corrupt cop, as you know, represent… Read More
2022-02-11 02:43
What are we to make of the 1950 melodrama, September Affair? Joan Fontaine and Joseph Cotten star as two Americans vacationing in Italy who meet on a return flight from Rome to New York. The… Read More
2022-02-03 02:22
The highest-grossing film in 1982 was a sci-fi flick about a tiny alien stranded on earth, and the three children who help him return home. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, directed by Stephen Sp… Read More
2022-02-03 02:22
The highest-grossing film in 1982 was a sci-fi flick about a tiny alien stranded on earth, and the three children who help him return home. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, directed by Stephen Sp… Read More
2022-01-22 00:58
We just watched The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), and we can’t stop thinking about it. This thriller, directed by Alfred Hitchcock in his pre-Hollywood career, is about a family vacati… Read More
2022-01-18 05:00
On a recent shopping trip, we rummaged through a discount bin of DVDs and found several $5 copies of the WWII-era comedy Christmas in Connecticut (1945). We were delighted and dismayed. We w… Read More
2022-01-13 02:45
Well, this is a bit embarrassing. A few lovely bloggers have nominated us for blogging awards in the past two years, and we’re only just now thanking them. With the hope that this real… Read More
2022-01-06 02:46
We (yours truly) are pretty vocal when we dislike a movie’s ending. We have endless ideas about how filmmakers could have brought the film to a better conclusion – and just never… Read More
2021-12-18 22:43
There’s an odd ending to the 1956 western satire, Pardners, starring the comedy duo Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. As the words “THE END” appear on screen, Martin and Lewis p… Read More
2021-12-10 01:57
True story: Years ago we were invited to perform stand-up at a club for the filming of a local television special. But we Chickened Out because we were too scared and inexperienced. We wonde… Read More
2021-12-09 04:21
So we were invited to contribute to this anthology: Our pal Sarah of Lemon Shark just released this second volume of The Shadows We Breathe anthology series, and we gleefully jumped aboard w… Read More
2021-12-03 02:33
OK, first: Who was Charles Lane? He was a classic Hollywood character actor, with ever-present glasses and suits, and his characters often looked like run-of-the-mill office workers. But the… Read More
2021-11-25 02:42
Dear Friend, Today is the 10th Anniversary of our blog. We can hardly believe it. Ten years ago, we published our first post…and several weeks after that we received our first “… Read More
2021-11-11 02:13
Today’s topic is Distractions. Do you have any distractions in life? We do; we’re shamelessly distracted by anything Bright and Shiny. Once upon a time, though, before the onslau… Read More
2021-11-04 01:23
On the face of it, the 1946 holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life doesn’t seem like a Food Movie. The film is, on the whole, an examination of a man’s thwarted attempts to… Read More
2021-11-04 01:23
On the face of it, the 1946 holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life doesn’t seem like a Food Movie. The film is, on the whole, an examination of a man’s thwarted attempts to… Read More
2021-10-28 01:56
Well, this was kind of a mind-blower. One of our favourite films is 5 Fingers (1952), starring James Mason. It’s a spy thriller loosely based on a true story, as recounted by L.C. Moyz… Read More
2021-10-20 14:47
Today we had a conversation with a 10 year-old boy hawking a product for his school fundraiser. He opened with: “This is the product we’re selling, and here are the Facts about i… Read More
2021-09-29 11:26
In the 1910s and 1920s, one of the biggest stars in Hollywood was a Canadian named Gladys Marie Smith. We all know her better as Mary Pickford. Pickford was as Smart As They Come regarding t… Read More
2021-09-22 23:31
We love movies that celebrate bigness, as in: Big hats, big clothes, big hair. The bigger the better, in our opinion. So we were thrilled to see the British historical adventure, Fire Over E… Read More
2021-09-14 13:00
It was playwright Oscar Wilde, of course, who said, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” You may agree with Mr Wilde, or not, but it’s fun to see this idea… Read More
2021-08-26 15:32
If you didn’t know The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) was loosely based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, you would’ve guessed it anyway. The film, a dissection of a doomed ma… Read More
2021-08-19 12:49
What are we to make of the 1937 screwball comedy Topper? This crazy flick stars ultra glam thespians Cary Grant and Constance Bennett as a wealthy, fun-loving couple who are so free-spirited… Read More
2021-08-19 12:49
What are we to make of the 1937 screwball comedy Topper? This crazy flick stars ultra glam thespians Cary Grant and Constance Bennett as a wealthy, fun-loving couple who are so free-spirited… Read More
2021-08-06 12:20
We humans have an abounding admiration for Science. We insist Scientists work in our best interests, and, happily, they’ve provided us with some marvellous discoveries, such as electri… Read More
2021-07-21 19:17
If you look at the list of boxing movies on Wikipedia, you might be surprised to see how many have been made. Every decade since the 1890s has seen a new crop of boxing films; the oldest lis… Read More
2021-07-14 11:24
The guts it would take to marry a real-life European Prince. It would mean leaving all you know – your home, your family, your country. In 1956, when she was 26 years old, actress Grac… Read More
2021-07-14 11:24
The guts it would take to marry a real-life European Prince. It would mean leaving all you know – your home, your family, your country. In 1956, when she was 26 years old, actress Grac… Read More
2021-06-25 11:41
The biggest movie in 1922 was Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood, and yes, that is actor/producer Douglas Fairbanks‘s name in the actual title of the film. They say it was the most expens… Read More
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