Classic Movies Posted by KC on October 17, 2017

The MGM production of the Learner and Lowe musical Brigadoon (1954) is a mixed bag, overwhelmed by inelegant artifice, but not without its moments of misty magic. Cyd Charisse, Gene Kelly and Van Johnson lead a pleasantly quirky cast, directed by Vincente Minnelli. The film is now available on Blu-r   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on October 11, 2017

Anne Bancroft: A Life Douglass K. Daniel University Press of Kentucky, 2017 Though she acted for decades, on the stage, screen and television, Anne Bancroft will forever be known as Mrs. Robinson. That role in The Graduate (1967) ensured her immortality. A best actress Oscar for The Miracle Worker   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on October 3, 2017

It's long baffled me that Rod Taylor isn't more revered by classic film fans, because as an actor and as a star, he had everything. Handsome, versatile and just as talented as the other top actors of his era, he could have coasted on swoon appeal, but always had a...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on September 22, 2017

A new wave of Katharine Hepburn flicks recently released on DVD from Warner Archive drew me to a pair of titles that, while not among her most celebrated, were of interest to me because of their unusual quirks. Sylvia Scarlett (1935) and Undercurrent (1946) vary in critical, box office and...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on September 14, 2017

Cow Country is an essentially unremarkable, but pleasing western. It was made as one among many simple programmers, but star Edmond O'Brien is a reassuring presence and Peggy Castle steals the show with a bracingly memorable scene. The film is now available on DVD from Warner Archive. Those who ar   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on September 11, 2017

Ever since its establishment in 1988, each year the National Film Preservation Board at the Library of Congress selects 25 American-made films to add to the National Film Registry. The group strives to pick "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films," in the hopes of recognizing n   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on September 6, 2017

John Wayne, German. It doesn't make sense on paper, nor does it on the screen. In The Sea Chase the All-American cowboy doesn't seem remotely European, but he is reliably heroic as a morally sturdy naval officer in this sturdy war drama. He even makes you buy that Lana Turner,...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on August 29, 2017

Living Like Audrey: Life Lessons From the Fairest Lady of All Victoria Loustalot Rowman & Littlefield, 2017 Victoria Loustalot's new lifestyle guide for Audrey Hepburn fans is a pleasant compilation of photos, quotes, biography and insights into the life of the beloved actress. While there is n   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on August 16, 2017

Stan Brakhage Interviews Suranjan Ganguly, ed. University Press of Mississippi, 2017 I would rather think of myself as someone leaving a snail's trail in the moonlight than someone sitting and consciously making an art. -Stan Brakhage One of the most influential experimental filmmakers, Stan Brak   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on August 10, 2017

The posters and trailer for the 1960 spring break romp Where The Boys Are are so relentlessly cheerful, that it's a bit disorienting to find that while there are certainly laughs in this beach bound flick, it also covers some dark territory. From the insensitive and entitled to the criminally...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on July 31, 2017

William Faulkner in Hollywood: Screenwriting for the Studios Stefan Solomon University of Georgia Press, 2017 William Faulkner was different from literary greats like F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck who came to Hollywood chasing a big paycheck and then struggled to adapt. The novelist not o   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on July 13, 2017

A mid-seventies car race comedy is a tad out of the time range I typically cover at A Classic Movie Blog, but I was curious to see the post-code progression of films like The Great Race (1965) and It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). I also desperately needed...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on July 11, 2017

For the past few years, in addition to writing reviews for A Classic Movie Blog, I have also shared my takes on the latest releases for the film rental site ClassicFlix, which has recently shifted its operations to disc sales. As there is no overlap between the titles I review...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on July 6, 2017

Seven Days in May (1964) was director John Frankenheimer's follow-up to The Manchurian Candidate (1962), meant to be another unsettling portrait of power and politics. Given today's political climate though, it is striking how relatively sane everyone seems in this story of an attempted military tak   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on June 29, 2017

After months of subscribing to podcasts that I never listened to on my PocketCast app, I finally settled in to listen to a few. Now I'm addicted! I love the personal, intimate feel of a great podcast and of course I have been especially interested in shows focused on movies....   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on June 27, 2017

The Loved One takes a look at the superficial rot in society and gleefully flashes a pair of fangs. This satire of Hollywood, the funeral industry and grand gestures hiding devious acts jabs at corruption and greed. It's full of cameos, some performed by actors who for the most part...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on June 22, 2017

In the weeks since I participated in the Flicker Alley giveaway for the three disc DVD/Blu-ray set Early Women Filmmakers: An International Anthology, I've spent a lot of time watching and rewatching the films in this set. Considering there are twenty-five varied entries here, from full-length films   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on June 20, 2017

Movie sexism in the sixties is often a difficult terrain to travel, no matter how much the filmmakers think they have empowered their female lead, there is inevitably a man behind any happy ending. I found much of this nature cringe about in The Wheeler Dealers, but James Garner and...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on June 15, 2017

Filmmaker Bill Morrison's Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016) drifts through the past with bittersweet grace. To attempt to describe it as a documentary is to limit the extent of its creativity. It does document the ebb and flow of life in a Yukon Territory gold rush town, but with a...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on June 13, 2017

He was buried with seeds and came back as a tree monster! How to describe From Hell it Came (1957)? It stars an angry, creakily mobile tree. The mood: a little Wizard of Oz (1939), a lot of Robot Monster (1953) and a hint of zombie and Godzilla radiation action....   read more