Jack Carson, International Man of Mystery
First, pick a Jack. Jack #1: Sad Sack Jack Never nominated, he worked a lot but wasn’t taken seriously, was given few chances to stretch beyond comedies. He was a depressive who drank too much and was awkward and distant in intimate relationships. Died at 52, weeks...
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...
Of Monocles and Mystery: Charles Douville Coburn
He’s one of the preeminent character actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and, like Sydney Greenstreet and Marie Dressler, among the small club of performers who started hugely successful movie careers around age 60, which at the time was not “the new 50,” it was...
Love Letters: Dear Thomas Mitchell
"I didn't know I was that good" ?what you said upon accepting your Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Stagecoach (1939) Dear Tom, or Dear Kid Dabb (Only Angels Have Wings, 1939) ...Diz Moore (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939) ...Doc Boone (Stagecoach, 1939) ...Clopin...
Love Letters: Dear Mr. Rains
Dear Mr. Rains, Or perhaps I should say Dear Captain Renault, ...Jack Griffin (The Invisible Man), ...Alex Sebastian (Notorious), ...Adam Lemp (Four Daughters), ...Prince John (The Adventures of Robin Hood), ...Nutsy (Moontide), ...Senator Paine (Mr. Smith Goes to...
Marsha Hunt: Living Well Is the Best Revenge
Last month, in October of 2017, Marsha Hunt began her 101st transit around the sun. She continues to grace our increasingly graceless planet, and while we were always lucky to have her, she seems even more precious now, when we are really in the soup. Miss Hunt is...
Sublime and Underseen: Peter Ibbetson (1935)
Yes. We do love each other. We?ve loved each other all our lives, and there isn?t anything anyone can do about it.? ??But?it isn?t real.? ?Who is to say what is real and what is not real? We?re dreaming true, a dream that is more than a dream.? ?Peter, listen...
A Viewer’s Guide: How to Watch Grand Hotel (1932)
Grand Hotel, always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens. courtesy Pre-Code.com Grand Hotel took home the Best Picture Oscar for MGM in 1933, beating another MGM release,The Champ, as well as Samuel Goldwyn’s Arrowsmith, Fox’s Bad Girl, First...
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: 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...