Classic and James Bond films unite
Whilst most people think of James Cameron’s blockbuster when anyone brings up the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the Roy Ward Baker, Rank distributed film, A Night To Remember, put in place many of the things that would later make Cameron’s film what it was. Cameron was influenced in his crafting of the film by… Continue reading Tragedy for the masses: A Night to Remember (1958)
I am incredibly excited about this particular Blogathon because not only is it dedicated to one of my favourite genres, costume films, but it’s also the first Blogathon that I am cohosting with the wonderful Paul from Silver Screen Classics. This is bound to be a wonderful two days of reading about some of the… Continue reading The Bonnets and Bustles: Costume Blogathon has arrived!
Dark Passage is Bogie and Bacall's penultimate film together, coming after To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep. It's a film that seems to divide their fans and those who enjoy film noir, due to its subjective camera perspective for the first half of the movie, as well as Bogie's more subdued performance.… Continue reading A tangled web: Agnes Moorehead in “Dark Passage” (1947)
The Dr Kildare movies only came on my radar fairly recently, as I was more familiar with the Richard Chamberlain series than with the nine films that starred Lew Ayres as the titular Dr Kildare and Lionel Barrymore as his cynical, but secretly caring, mentor, Dr Gillespie. Dr Kildare is a young doctor who wants… Continue reading A Grump With A Heart of Gold: Lionel Barrymore as Dr Gillespie
The year that Mannequin had its nationwide release, Joan Crawford was featured on the list of actresses termed as "Box Office Poison". It was a list that featured Katherine Hepburn, Kay Francis, Norma Shearer and John Barrymore, to name but a few. It was a list that is now largely seen as being inaccurate, or… Continue reading The Working Man: Spencer Tracy in “Mannequin” (1937)
The story of Anastasia, the supposed last living member of the Russian royal family, is famous the world over. The hope that one last symbol of pre-Communist Russia exists/existed, is one that has lived on in the collective imagination for a long time. Twentieth Century Fox made the film twice, once in 1956 and again… Continue reading The Last Romanov: Anastasia (1956)
This review contains major plot point spoilers. Don’t read any further if you haven’t seen the film. Frenzy is, in my humble opinion, Hitchcock’s most intense and disturbing film. Because it was made long after the production code had folded, it has all the graphic imagery that the 1970s, with its lack of overarching censorship,… Continue reading The intensity of “Frenzy” (1972)
Jeopardy (1953) is the kind of film that exists on a star's filmography and gets overshadowed by bigger, better known fare. When you think about Barbara Stanwyck's career, you immediately think of Double Indemnity, The Lady Eve or Baby Face. You don't think about, because you probably don't know about, a modestly budgeted film noir,… Continue reading A Matter of Time: Barbara Stanwyck in “Jeopardy” (1953)
Hooray! The day for our wonderful Queen of the Silver Screen and Sass, Barbara Stanwyck, to be celebrated, has arrived! So without further ado, let's get into the lovely entries from our awesome participants! First up we have Kevin, who writes about Stany and Capra's work together. Then Lê writes about Barbara's performance in one… Continue reading The Queen of Sass: Barbara Stanwyck Blogathon has arrived!
Olivia de Havilland has been in some of the most iconic films of all time, from Gone With The Wind, to The Snake Pit and The Heiress. But in 1955 she starred in a film that despite having an almost all star cast, including Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, Broderick Crawford, Charles Bickford and Gloria Grahame,… Continue reading Love and Medicine (Not Necessarily in that Order): Olivia de Havilland in “Not As A Stranger” (1955)
Pale Writer 