I will be partaking in The Stewart Granger Blogathon hosted by Maddy Loves Her Classic Films, so please watch this space!
Author: palewriter2
I adore classic, James Bond and horror films and it's so lovely to be able to speak to other people about it.
Laughing at the Silver Moon: Carole Landis in Moon Over Miami
After struggling to be recognised in Hollywood for several years, the beautiful Carole Landis was cast in One Million B.C. by Hal Roach and launched into stardom. Moon Over Miami, in which she stars opposite fellow popular pin-up, Betty Grable, and Don Ameche and Robert Cummings, was her fifth film after she had made a name for herself. This… Continue reading Laughing at the Silver Moon: Carole Landis in Moon Over Miami
Riding for Glory
Lone Star (1952) is the second of three films that Ava Gardner and Clark Gable starred in together, which include The Hucksters (1947) and Mogambo (1953). Unlike in those two films, Ava has no rival for Gable's affections in Lone Star, and she is quite decidedly the female lead, with Belulah Bondi the only other woman in the film. Both Ava… Continue reading Riding for Glory
My Top 15 Classic Film Discoveries for 2018
I'd like to preface this by saying that although I've been a classic film fan since I was a small child, I've only been active in the classic film Twitter community since the end of last year, and I only started my blog this year. So I still have many films to discover. And while… Continue reading My Top 15 Classic Film Discoveries for 2018
It Just Is Fittin’
Hattie McDaniel, born on the 10th of June 1893, is one of the most famous black performers to ever live. She was born in Wichita to former slaves, Susan and Henry McDaniel, and was the youngest of their thirteen children. She began songwriting, and performing in her brother's minstrel show when she was a teenager,… Continue reading It Just Is Fittin’
A Mother’s Memory
Born in 1889, Marjorie Burnet Rambeau started her stage career at the age of twelve. Before that, she had performed in saloons, singing, dancing and playing the banjo, whilst dressed as a boy. Her mother made her cross dress in order to avoid the avarice advances of men in Nome, Alaska, which at that time… Continue reading A Mother’s Memory
Putting on the Hits
Sextette (1978) is based on Mae West's 1961 play of the same name, which was also her last stage performance. At the time of the film’s release, Mae was eight five years old, although for her entire professional career Mae had claimed she was seven years younger than she actually was; so there have been… Continue reading Putting on the Hits
Picking up the Pieces
Random Hearts (1999) is based on the Warren Adler novel of the same name, which was written in 1984. The novel in turn was based upon a real airplane crash in 1982, which was dubbed "Airplane Florida", where a Boeing 737-222 crashed into the Potomac river and caused the death of seventy five people. When reading… Continue reading Picking up the Pieces
Smooth Talker: Alan Ladd in Film Noir
Alan Ladd had his start in film noir at the age of twenty nine, when he starred as the contract killer, Raven, who had been made rather than born a killer, in This Gun For Hire (1942). Although he was not the lead nor Veronica Lake's romantic interest in the story, the film would catapult him to… Continue reading Smooth Talker: Alan Ladd in Film Noir
Can’t Buy Me Love: Richard Burton in The VIPs
The first of their eleven onscreen pairings, The VIPs was released at the start of the global frenzy and obsession regarding Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor's tempestuous and scandalous love affair. Even though it was the start of their mega film brand, it often falls by the wayside in favour of more critically acclaimed films such as Cleopatra, which… Continue reading Can’t Buy Me Love: Richard Burton in The VIPs
Pale Writer 