Classic Film & TV Cafe Posted by Rick29 on April 15, 2024

Yvette Mimieux with one of the chimps. We've been on a Disney movie run at the Cafe, revisiting some of the studio’s lesser-known live action films. There have been some pleasant surprises (Emil and the Detectives) and a few major disappointments (Dick Van Dyke wasted in Never a Dull Moment).   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on December 22, 2020

The first time I watched Libeled Lady (1936), in the midst of my stunned teenage discovery of Jean Harlow, was on a well-worn VHS I’d borrowed from the library. What a gigantic shift it was to see it on a new Blu-ray from Warner Archive; it looks and sounds so...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on August 29, 2017

When I was in undergrad, I discovered the existence of Secret Agent. I was on a thirties Hitchcock kick and a Maugham kick. The idea of a Hitchcock Maugham adaptation? Should be something. At the time–sixteen years ago–Secret Agent was a major disappointment. I’ve still got an interest in Maugham...   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on August 11, 2017

Quartet opens with what turns out to be a questionable introduction from source story author W. Somerset Maugham. In the rather stodgy introduction to the film–featuring adaptations of four personal favorites from Maugham’s extensive bibliography–Maugham indentifies adjectives critics have given hi   read more

The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on February 26, 2017

With the summer 1982 release of The Thing, John Carpenter finally fully arrived in Hollywood; he’d made a studio picture. And he didn’t come alone. He brought cinematographer Dean Cundey, who shot all of he and Debra Hill’s films, and at least three from Escape from New York: editor Todd...   read more

Silver Scenes - A Blog for Classic Film Lovers Posted by The Metzinger Sisters on May 26, 2016

In the early 1950s, during a charity night performance for the Hollywood Episcopal Church, Jane Russell took the stage with three other women - Beryl Davis, Connie Haines, and Della Russell ( no relation to Jane ) - and performed the spiritual classic Do Lord. They were such a hit...   read more

Silver Scenes - A Blog for Classic Film Lovers Posted by The Metzinger Sisters on May 26, 2016

In the early 1950s, during a charity night performance for the Hollywood Episcopal Church, Jane Russell took the stage with three other women - Beryl Davis, Connie Haines, and Della Russell ( no relation to Jane ) - and performed the spiritual classic Do Lord. They were such a hit...   read more

Classic Film & TV Cafe Posted by Rick29 on September 24, 2015

Released in 1948, Quartet was the first of three anthology films based on W. Somerset Maugham short stories and introduced by the author on screen. The follow-up films were Trio (1950) and Encore (1951). In each of these films, the short stories were treated as stand-alone productions, in that the...   read more

The Timothy Carey Experience Posted by Marisa on September 2, 2014

Today’s pic takes another look at the McCloud episode “Fifth Man in a String Quartet,” first airing on February 2, 1972. Timothy’s unnamed apartment super shows McCloud (Dennis Weaver) around the apartment of a musician accused of murder. Tim definitely was at his heaviest i   read more

Noirish Posted by John Grant on November 15, 2013

Although I’ve been charged with including too many borderline noirs in the Encyclopedia  (odd for an encyclopedia to be accused of encompassing too much rather than too little!), in fact quite a few of the entries I wrote I decided later to reject. Some of those then got stuck back...   read more

Café Muscato Posted by Muscato on May 10, 2009

A varied group, today, of four people united only in having been conceived in the waning days of summer and born nine months later on the same date.Pioneering aviatrix Harriet Quimby was the first woman to fly the English Channel. Why don't you know that? Probably because she had the...   read more