Tag Archives: classic film
STREAMING SATURDAYS: Celebrating the Armistice Day Centennial with the Anti-War Classic JOURNEY’S END
Welcome to another edition of Streaming Saturdays, where we embed free films for you to watch right here! In honor of the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day—which marked the close of was to be The War to End All Wars—we bring you Journey’s End. The most powerful war movie I’ve ever seen, it’s also the least bloody—maybe because …
I’ve Fallen into Classic TV and I Can’t Get Up
Greater love hath no husband than to tell his wife about a Murder She Wrote marathon. “It’s running all day Saturday and Sunday,” Tim tells me wearily, thereby consigning himself to another room for pretty much two solid days. But my trip to Cabot Cove comes at a price—and I don’t just mean the alarmingly high …
BRIEF ENCOUNTER: The Rain, the Sane, And Mainly Lots of Pain
When I was invited to join the “April Showers” celebration of rainy movie scenes, the first one that came to mind wasn’t something like this… or this… or this. You see, I’m Irish. So of course I thought of this doomed, guilt-ridden duo. The scene in Brief Encounter where Laura (Celia Johnson) tears through the wet streets after …
Auntie Joan (Crawford) Explains It All for You!
Don’t say nothin’ bad about my Joanie. Not long ago, in need of a tonic on a stifling summer day, I reread the closest thing we have to her autobiography, the wildly entertaining Joan Crawford: My Way of Life. On the cover, firmly gripping her pair of poodles, she looks like a terrified hostage trying …
MoMA Presents “Leo McCarey: Seriously Funny,” Covering the Undersung Director from the Silents Onward
“I only know I like my characters to walk in clouds, I like a little bit of the fairy tale. As long as I’m there behind the camera lens, I’ll let somebody else photograph the ugliness of the world.” —Leo McCarey If you’re anywhere near New York this month, prepare to walk in the clouds. …
TINTYPE TUESDAY: Classic Film Stars Let Their Freckles Fly Free!
Welcome to another edition of TINTYPE TUESDAY! In April 1976, George Hurrell wrote to Joan Crawford, his friend of almost half a century, asking her to say a few words for a book about his work. With it, he sent a 1930 photograph, his favorite of the thousands they’d shot in 33 sessions together. “I’ve always …
Joel McCrea and Jean Arthur “Stoop” to Conquer in THE MORE THE MERRIER
In Sullivan’s Travels, Preston Sturges made a convincing case that comedy is often the best balm for tragedy. But for his friend and colleague George Stevens, the horrors of World War II left him with little capacity for comedy when he returned home from the front lines. From 1943 to 1946, Stevens covered the war in Europe for the Army …
TINTYPE TUESDAY: Keaton, Valentino and Nazimova, Ready for Their Arthur Rice Close-Ups
Welcome to another edition of TINTYPE TUESDAY! When you think of classic-film portraits, who pops to mind? George Hurrell, Clarence Bull, Ruth Harriett Louise? What about Arthur Rice? When it comes to recognition, Rice seems to have been left largely on the cutting-room floor. But his work was nothing short of stunning, capturing in still life …
Please Join Us for the Backstage Blogathon!
I’m thrilled to be co-hosting another blogathon with the fabulous Fritzi at Movies Silently! And this one premieres in—gasp!—2016. Which is much closer than you think. On that cheery note, please join us January 15-18 for the Backstage Blogathon! What’s it about? Well, the entertainment industry has always loved looking in the mirror, and we’re going to …
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