Classic Movies Posted by KC on February 2, 2018

It’s interesting the many ways a film can pay tribute to the classic age of Hollywood. As proof of this there is Night Moves (1975) and The Man with Two Brains (1983), two flicks which are completely different in tone and structure, but share affection for classic Hollywood genres. The...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on January 26, 2018

Google has always made a practice of acknowledging classic film in its popular doodle art, but lately, it seems like there have been many more cinematic tributes. And I love it! This week's Sergei Einstein sketch amusingly made the filmmaker into a dashing cutie. Here's the real deal:   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on January 17, 2018

Has Edward G. Robinson ever performed badly in a film? I don’t think the possibility was in his DNA. He is one of the most reliable stars of the studio age, making classics sing and elevating lesser films with an inborn understanding for character and performance. In a pair of...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on January 10, 2018

Live Cinema and Its Techniques Francis Ford Coppola Liveright Publishing Corporation/W.W. Norton & Company, 2017 When Live Cinema and Its Techniques landed on my doorstep, I approached it with personal interest, though skeptical that it would be of interest to the readers of A Classic Movie Blo   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on January 3, 2018

I’ve appreciated Warner Archive’s strategy of packaging lesser known flicks in thematically arranged sets. It’s a great way to rediscover forgotten titles and get exposure to movies that, while worth a look, might not be of enough interest to justify individual release. With the re   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on December 31, 2017

This was an especially inspiring year of reviewing film books at A Classic Movie Blog. I learned a lot and found so many new areas I wanted to explore, thanks to a truly marvelous selection of new releases. It wasn't easy to pick favorites, but this batch stood out because...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on December 27, 2017

Backwards and In Heels: The Past, Present and Future of Women Working in Film Alicia Malone Mango Publishing, 2017 I’ve been an admirer of film reporter and critic Alicia Malone ever since she came across my radar as a presenter for the FilmStruck streaming service. If you want to cover...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on December 24, 2017

The Christmas spirit always truly envelopes me when I hear Deanna Durbin sing Silent Night. I watch this scene from Lady on a Train (1945) every year, because it gives me a feeling of peace that I feel should be a part of the season, but because of the chaos...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on December 22, 2017

Auntie Mame (1958) is an outrageously charming film. It insists on your love. Against all odds it even charmed my Taylor Swift-loving skeptical tween. As she sat there howling at Rosalind Russell attempting and failing to master the complexities of a telephone switchboard I felt the awe of a true...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on December 20, 2017

We’ll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife of Hollywood’s Most Beloved Movie Noah Isenberg W. W. Norton & Company, 2017 Few films have won the unanimous acclaim of the classic to end all classics Casablanca (1942). While the World War II era romantic drama has had   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on December 15, 2017

Ever try watching a double feature that is two versions of the same story? I did it at a film festival once. It was a screening of the silent Chinese film Cave of the Spider Woman (1927) and its glossier go-go remake The Cave of the Silken Web (1967). What...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on December 6, 2017

I recently had the chance to check out a pair of pleasantly entertaining 1939 rarities making their debut on DVD from Warner Archive: Full Confession, with Victor McLaglen and Beauty for the Asking, staring a pre-hilarious Lucille Ball. While it is understandable that this slight pair got lost in th   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on November 22, 2017

You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet: Interviews with Stars from Hollywood’s Golden Era James Bawden and Ron Miller University Press of Kentucky, 2017 One of the saddest things about the passing of writer and TCM television host Robert Osborne was that the entertainment world lost one of i   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on November 17, 2017

Myrna Loy and William Powell co-starred in thirteen films, and they are by far most popular for playing the adorably debauched Nora and Nick Charles in the Thin Man series. While this is understandable, the pair create the most effervescent of screen couples as hard-drinking, merry spouses, it is a   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on November 8, 2017

Warner Archive has not forgotten its promise to keep pre-code fans satisfied, despite the end of its Forbidden Hollywood series. These six titles are only part of the new DVD releases from the era; I will have more to share in a future post. Broadway Babies (1929) For a while...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on November 3, 2017

Hank & Jim: The Fifty Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart Scott Eyman Simon & Schuster, 2017 What you learn is never what’s said. It’s what’s done. -Jane Fonda I’ve always felt that platonic relationships don’t get enough attention from biographe   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on November 1, 2017

The Japanese-American co-production of The Green Slime (1968) never makes claims for greatness, but delivers plenty of wacky amusement. This film has the unusual honor of being featured in the first episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and that distinction tells you everything you need to know ab   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on October 27, 2017

Seduced by Mrs. Robinson: How The Graduate Became the Touchstone of a Generation Beverly Gray Algonquin Books, 2017 I had a great time reading Seduced by Mrs. Robinson, a new book by Beverly Gray that traces the production of Director Mike Nichol’s classic film The Graduate (1967) on its   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on October 25, 2017

The Illustrated Man (1960) is trilogy of terror-tinged sci-fi tales drawn from Ray Bradbury’s eighteen story anthology of the same name. Rod Steiger stars as the titular tattooed drifter in a framing story with Robert Drivas and then-wife Claire Bloom, and in various roles in the stories which   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on October 19, 2017

Wayne and Ford: The Films, The Friendship and The Forging of an American Hero Nancy Schoenberger Doubleday Books/Nan A. Talese, 2017 John Wayne and John Ford are legends of American cinema. Both together and apart they made some of the most magnetic films Hollywood had to offer, but it is...   read more