After retiring from boxing, American Sean Thornton returns to Ireland and buys the home where he was born. It’s a town so stereotypically Irish that you almost expect to see actual leprechauns singing at the pub. Sean makes an immediate impression upon the locals, but no one is more impressed than Mary Kate Danaher, a …
I was one of those that grew up associating The Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond’s 1980 “Love on the Rocks” hit-spawning (but otherwise stinky) version. I knew nothing of the original 1927 film other than it was supposedly the first talkie, and (said in hushed tones) there was… blackface. Now that Neil Diamond’s film has …
For anyone young enough to picture the 1950s as one extended Leave it to Beaver episode, I would respectfully refer you to the film noir classic Sunset Boulevard. It’s as dark and twisted as anything we’ve seen in the last sixty years, and it still holds up amazingly well. It’s a dark comedy, a romance, …
Of all the Disney classics, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has to be one of the hardest to dissect from a critical perspective. As Disney’s first feature length animated film, it is an undeniable feat in film history. The animation itself is beautifully done, completely charming, and every bit impressive as it was in …
In The Wild One, Marlon Brando was the original “rebel without a cause” (as this film came out a year before James Dean’s film). Brando plays Johnny, the leader of a motorcycle gang, who cruises into a small town with his pack of hooligans and pretty much terrorizes the folks. When a local girl asks …
Anyone who knows me knows that I love love LOVE Gone With the Wind. The book, the movie, the Classic Hollywood glamour, and yes, Scarlett O’Hara herself, one of the great film characters of all time, a woman you both love and love to hate. I recently got to see the restored film on a …
Get blown away by the classic again: Gone With the Wind is 75! Read More »
This summer marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I, or the Great War, as it was known at the time. It was a modern war that coincided with the explosion of early Hollywood filmmaking, leading studios to pluck the thrilling stories of war to portray on the big screen to thrill …
World War I is honored in new DVD box set from Warner Bros. Read More »
Out in the Old West, there was a disproportionate amount of men to women. The men came seeking adventure and fortune, and the few women that followed them were often “business ladies” of their own sort, if you know what I mean. By the time these men wanted to settle in the West, pickings were …
George Stevens the director may not be a name you recognize, but you do know his films. There is the classic Western Shane. Or how about the smoldering tragic romance A Place in the Sun starring Montgomery Clift and young Elizabeth Taylor. Or the rip-roaring Cary Grant action film Gunga Din. Or the first comedy …
Mary Haines (Norma Shearer), wife and mother, is basically a saint. She cuddles with her daughter (also named Mary) as they coo over pictures from her honeymoon, explaining how love is different when you are an adult (totally grossing out the kid). Yeah, adult love is different all right. Mary’s Park Avenue friends are already …