Writer at Work: Mary Astor
Mary Astor is almost one-stop shopping for a classic film buff. She started working in her teens and was the sole support of her greedy, abusive parents, whom she eventually had to sue for her independence, so she checks that box (see Jackie Coogan, Baby Peggy, Dickie...
Day 6: Order in the Court! The Classic Courtroom Movie Blogathon concludes (in extra innings)?
Oyez, oyez! Welcome to Day 6, the final day of our courtroom extravaganza! In the first five?days we saw, among others, posts on Hitchcock worth knowing better (The Paradine Case), lynching (Fritz Lang?s?Fury), Louise Brooks?s Lulu in?Pandora?s Box,?Kramer vs. Kramer,...
TCMFF 2016 Sunday: Church: Sirk, Chaplin, Ford, Minnelli, Final Wrap and Coda
And so we come to the last day of TCMFF 2016. I was already feeling it on Saturday, and of course Saturday?s events and pace and the least sleep yet went a long way toward creating a detour from my still excited but increasingly weary mind and my mouth, which began to...
TCMFF 2016: Recap of Saturday, Day 3: Vitaphone, Reiner, Gould, Karina
From my comfortable perch back at my friend?s house in North Hollywood, ?the intensity, mad dashes, glorious experiences, and occasional frustrations of TCMFF 2016 seem rather remote, Gentle Reader, but at this time a little over one?week ago I was watching?Dead Men...
Announcing Order in the Court!, the Classic Courtroom Movies Blogathon
What do?Duck Soup,?Anatomy of a Murder,?The Story of Temple Drake, and?Adam?s Rib?have in common? Whether dramas, comedies, or tragedies, they?re all courtroom movies. What?s your favorite? Second Sight Cinema?and?Cinemaven?s Essays from the Couch?are pleased as punch...
Rising from the Ashes: Buster Keaton?s Most Amazing Stunt
Remember: If it bends, it?s funny. If it breaks, it isn?t. ?Lester (Alan Alda),?Crimes and Misdemeanors There was nothing funny about it when Buster Keaton broke. Keaton?s fall is legendary. Most of the time it?s told sketchily, and too often as if it were the end.?As...
Lonesome (1928): ?A ?Coney Island of the Mind’?
This post was written for the epic Criterion Blogathon sponsored by?Criterion Blues,?Silver Screenings, and?Speakeasy, running from November 16-21 with more than 170 entries (!). Do yourself a favor and check out the roster?it?s amazing, it?s colossal, it?s? really...
Happy Valentine?s Day weekend! Welcome to the You Must Remember This?A Kiss Is Just a Kiss blogathon!
We?re live! Welcome to the?You Must Remember This? Blogathon! Kisses blistering and chilled, delirious and hard-boiled, Judas kisses, cartoon kisses, and of course the kiss-off? Here?s our Valentine?s Day celebration of screen kisses. New entries will be posted as...
Dickie Moore (1925-2015), Lost and Found
Where all parents are strong and wise and capable, and all children are happy and beloved? ?H.I.,?Raising Arizona It?s an intense little face. The Cupid?s Bow mouth and tiny, turned-up nose sit beneath large, dark, deeply?serious eyes. Dickie wasn?t just cute, he was...
The General (1926): Split-second timing, decades ahead of his time
In 1926 Buster Keaton, one of the most successful comedians in Hollywood, released?The General,his eighth feature. It was a masterpiece, now considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made. But things were different in 1926, and in the wake of the film?s...