Classic Movies Posted by KC on March 10, 2016

The swooning sadness of romantic yearning hangs over I Confess like a lonely specter. Not what I expected from an Alfred Hitchcock film, especially one featuring a priest and the Catholic church. This lesser known drama from the master of suspense is a departure for the director in many ways,...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on March 8, 2016

Hollywood on the Spot Crimes Against the Early Movie Stars Patrick Downey 2015 From the time there were movie stars, there were also criminals who preyed upon them. Particularly during the Depression, the high concentration of wealth in Hollywood was tantalizing for those looking for an easy buck,   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on March 3, 2016

Image Source Merle Oberon was one of the most unpredictable actresses in classic Hollywood. She was worthy of her stardom, and always interesting to observe, but her performances could be wildly uneven. When she had the right director, or a great story, she was a unique delight: elegant, romantic   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on March 1, 2016

Elizabeth Taylor: A Private Life for Public Consumption Ellis Cashmore Bloomsbury Academic, 2016 Most people go to the movies to watch characters do things they could never dream of doing themselves, let alone living with the consequences. Elizabeth Taylor behaved that way in real life; the drama s   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on February 24, 2016

I found a real-life story more terrifying than any fiction...this is it!--Alfred Hitchcock The downbeat, but moving The Wrong Man was Alfred Hitchcock's only film to be based on a true story. It is also perhaps one of his most personal films, focusing more intensely on the director's mistrust of...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on February 20, 2016

Detour (1945) My Winnipeg (2007)   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on February 18, 2016

Unless the world learns the lessons these pictures teach, night will fall, but by God's grace we who live will learn. In 1945, army cameramen documented the liberation of Nazi concentration camps across Germany and areas of Poland that were annexed by the Germans during World War II. Their mission   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on February 11, 2016

While many silent film stars struggled, or chose to retire at the dawn of the talkies, a stream of stage stars descended on Hollywood to pick up the slack. These performers had to tone down their act and stop projecting to the back row, but they were for the most...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on February 9, 2016

Groucho Marx The Comedy of Existence Lee Siegel Yale University Press, 2016 Though he made his name inspiring laughs, Groucho Marx's comedy was often more brutal than it was humorous. Witty yes, but with such a dark view of humanity that his wisecracks always feel like arrows whizzing past your   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on February 2, 2016

It wouldn't take much to transform Roughshod (1948) and Station West (1948) into city-set noirs. Just take away the horses and add a pool of light from a streetlamp. These newly-released westerns from Warner Archive have the wisecracks, gangsters, and even the stars of the genre. Roughshod has a mo   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on January 28, 2016

While Our Gang comedies may not be thought of as only appropriate for children's entertainment, we do tend to view them as a family friendly option. Whether that is actually so depends on what you watch and what kinds of conversations you want to have with your kids. If you...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on January 26, 2016

Hollywood Café: Coffee With the Stars Stephen Rea Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2016 Publish date: January 28 Once I recovered from a dorky burst of giggles inspired by the idea of a coffee table book about coffee, I found that I enjoyed the breezy and surprisingly informative Hollywood Café: Coffee W   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on January 22, 2016

I recently had the opportunity to view a trio of family-friendly films from Warner Archive. Anne of Green Gables (1934), My Pal, Wolf (1944) and The Littlest Hobo (1958), each have their distinct charms and were fun to watch. In a smoothly-execited, if jam-packed RKO production, the first novel i   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on January 19, 2016

Helen Twelvetrees Perfect Ingénue: Rediscovering a 1930s Movie Star and Her 32 Films Cliff Aliperti 2015 Though I've only seen two Helen Twelvetrees films, I was fascinated by Cliff Aliperti's biography of her life. There wasn't anything in her work in Millie (1931) and State's Attorney (1932) that   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on January 12, 2016

Ziegfeld and His Follies: A Biography of Broadway's Greatest Producer Cynthia Brideson and Sara Brideson University Press of Kentucky, 2015 Though he only produced two films himself, movies would have been much different without the influence of legendary Broadway producer Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.. Th   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on January 10, 2016

Image Source My philosophy of comedy is a man in trouble. There but for the grace of God go I. -Jerry Lewis Quote Source   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on January 7, 2016

In a time where laughs didn't come easy, Hollywood found ample material for humor in the World War II era housing shortage. The mini-genre met with varying success, from the entertaining but laugh deficient Government Girl (1943) starring Olivia de Havilland to the bona-fide Frank Capra classic The   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on January 5, 2016

Sharon Tate: A Life Ed Sanders Perseus Books Group/ DeCapo Press, 2016 We are lucky to have had Sharon Tate for the brief 27 years she lived. She hardly began to fulfill her potential before her death, but she never wasted a moment, quickly finding screen success and demonstrating a...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on December 31, 2015

It can be heartwrenching to be a classic movie fan. So many of the stars you love are gone, and you must say goodbye to more every year. It makes you even more grateful for any connection you may make with them, be it a signed photo, a public appearance,...   read more

Classic Movies Posted by KC on December 29, 2015

I enjoyed the eclectic mix of film books that I read this year, from bios and a memoir to an entire volume dedicated to one film, and yet another about a film that was never even finished. While I know that Sinatra was best known for his singing, I had...   read more