Classic Film Freak Posted by Greg Orypeck on November 5, 2015

Share This! “ . . . NOT FAR FROM NEW ORLEANS, THERE STILL EXIST, IN STRANGE SOLITUDE, THE BAYOUS OF LOUISIANA . . . ” By various means, by rowboat, motorboat or rather inexplicably appearing at the front door, seven people arrive at a spooky old mansion among cypress and...   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Orson De Welles on October 29, 2015

Share This! “Why can’t I get Potsdam station on the telephone?” “Maybe because it isn’t there anymore!” -Hotel Manager to Hermann Plottke (Alan Hale) With all the streaming services and MOD companies out there, it still strikes me funny some of the movies that are   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Greg Orypeck on October 22, 2015

Share This!Remember: A world without string is chaos. The setup is simple—two not-so-bright brothers inherit a rundown string factory and an old mansion. The essential element of conflict, so important both in drama and comedy, is pretty basic here—an enterprising rodent intent on frustrating the br   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Orson De Welles on October 15, 2015

Share This!HE’D BET ON ANYTHING! Forgotten for decades until TCM resurrected him, Warren William was once one of the leading stars in the Hollywood sky. Though now known primarily as one of Errol Flynn’s pre-Captain Blood efforts, 1935’s Don’t Bet on Blondes is from start to finish William’s v   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Greg Orypeck on October 8, 2015

Share This!It seemed that no screen sleuth was so sacred in his role that he couldn’t be played by any number of other actors. Whether large or small, when beginning any survey of those innumerable private detective film series of the 1930s and ’40s, it must be remembered that there...   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Orson De Welles on October 1, 2015

Share This! Here she is…Miss Public Enemy No. 1! Though acclaimed by most at the film that catapulted star Joan Blondell to the national scene, Blondie Johnson is at best an average movie. Though billed as the next entry in Warner Brothers’ long line of gangster classics and containing hints...   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Greg Orypeck on September 24, 2015

Share This! “I can watch people’s eyes, and they can’t see mine.” — Penny Appleby’s (Susan Strasberg) explanation as to why she wears sunglasses Although founded in 1934, the most representative of the Hammer horror films are those made between the mid-1950s and the 1970s—excesses of blood, a somewh   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Orson De Welles on September 17, 2015

Share This! The jungle movie was a staple in the early years of Hollywood, perhaps even rivalling the Western for a brief time period and peaking with the successful Tarzan series. Lost amid the churn of the early 1930s is White Woman, an interesting pre-code stew of a film. White...   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Greg Orypeck on September 5, 2015

Share This! “Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!”—— Dr. Mortimer (Lionel Atwill) to Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) Now, with the 2015 release of Mr. Holmes and a new, if older Sherlock Holmes in Ian McKellen, it seems appropriate to look back seventy-five years, to an earlier   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Orson De Welles on September 3, 2015

Share This! A Swinging Fun-Romp that Fractures the Frontier! One of the fun things about watching older films is seeing how society has changed and each generation puts their own particular stamp on their respective cultural output. In film this is most noticeable in a few areas, though never has...   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Greg Orypeck on August 21, 2015

Share This! “But you have retired, Holmes. We heard you are living the life of a hermit among your bees and your books in a small farm upon the South Downs.” —— Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes in His Last Bow (1917) Dr. John Watson, companion and off-and-on sharer of...   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Orson De Welles on August 20, 2015

Share This! The spectacular rise of a woman in a man’s world! The late 1940s and early 1950s were a time of great social stress (even if most of it is forgotten now in the greater challenges which were overcome later). Women had gotten their first widespread taste of mainstream...   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Greg Orypeck on August 13, 2015

Share This! “One more regret at my age won’t make much difference.”—— Mayor Frank Skeffington (Spencer Tracy) The 1958 The Last Hurrah was kind of a last hurrah of its own, among the last gatherings of the John Ford clan—the director’s lovable Irishmen and a host of his favorite supporting...   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Orson De Welles on August 6, 2015

Share This! What well-known lawyer just secured a divorce for a well-known woman – just married that well-known wife? Joan Blondell was one of the stalwart stars of the 1930s, especially the pre-code years. Never one to cause a scene (at least at the studio) she often times did over...   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Orson De Welles on August 6, 2015

Share This! What well-known lawyer just secured a divorce for a well-known woman – just married that well-known wife? Joan Blondell was one of the stalwart stars of the 1930s, especially the pre-code years. Never one to cause a scene (at least at the studio) she often times did over...   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Greg Orypeck on July 30, 2015

Share This! “My purpose is madness.  It’s the only way you can really tell what happens in war.  By lying, you can open the door a little crack on the truth.”—— Private Benjamin (Al Freeman, Jr.) If you happen to wander into Castle Keep by accident, or by some ill-fated...   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Greg Orypeck on July 30, 2015

Share This! “My purpose is madness.  It’s the only way you can really tell what happens in war.  By lying, you can open the door a little crack on the truth.”—— Private Benjamin (Al Freeman, Jr.) If you happen to wander into Castle Keep by accident, or by some ill-fated...   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Orson De Welles on July 23, 2015

Share This! Frank Fay is an actor whose name has never been used here in the past and it’s rather doubtful that his name will come up again anytime soon after this reflection. He’s the star of 1931’s God’s Gift to Women and he is the gift, such as it...   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Orson De Welles on July 23, 2015

Share This! Frank Fay is an actor whose name has never been used here in the past and it’s rather doubtful that his name will come up again anytime soon after this reflection. He’s the star of 1931’s God’s Gift to Women and he is the gift, such as it...   read more

Classic Film Freak Posted by Greg Orypeck on July 16, 2015

Share This!“Aargh, matey!  Them that dies will be the lucky ones!”—— Long John Silver (Robert Newton) in one of his less endearing moments Laurence Olivier?  Spencer Tracy?  Anthony Hopkins?  Who’s the greatest film actor, you think?  Marlon Brando?  Robert De Niro?  Humphrey Bogart?  Add your own c   read more