MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on September 26, 2011

The Train (1965)      Actors today cannot really get away with playing foreign characters and not using the appropriate accent. That was not so in the past when performers were hired for other qualities –perhaps box office draw or other ability to fill the role– besides their vocal skil   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on September 22, 2011

Dinner at Eight (1934)      I did not know going into Dinner at Eight just how depressing it was going to be. The presence of Jean Harlow and Billie Burke in particular among the all-star cast had me expecting a comedy, as it seems dinner-centered movies are apt to be....   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on September 21, 2011

Sex and the Single Girl (1964)      Both Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis have been actors of only moderate interest to me, but after viewing Sex and the Single Girl, I’m changing my tune. This wonderful joke on married and single life and male and female standards plays both leads to...   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on September 20, 2011

Tit for Tat (1935)      Poor Oliver Hardy. Just when I’ve been lulled into thinking Stan Laurel is the greatest thorn in his side, he opens up shop next to an even greater problem. In the 1935 short Tit for Tat, the men establish an electronics sales store next to...   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on September 19, 2011

Piccadilly Jim (1936)      I was nearly jumping for joy last week upon discovering the movie Piccadilly Jim because not only does it star love-of-my-life Robert Montgomery but it is based on a P.G. Wodehouse story, an author I greatly admire and one capable of cute romance with an abundance...   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on September 16, 2011

     I have very recently changed my tune about Marilyn Monroe after reading a post on Backlots about how she was horribly typecast into all those roles I hate. Although my better understanding of the star does make me more accepting of her work, I still do not expect to pursue her dumb...   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on September 15, 2011

A Day at the Races (1937)      Why is it that Marx Brothers movies are crafted in a way that they could nearly be classified as musicals? Although the men themselves offer no notable vocal talents, their movies often had supporting actors who might go off on a song or two....   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on September 13, 2011

Torch Song (1953)      Oh, Torch Song, how can I describe thine flaws; let me count the ways. Your star is dreadful, your plot full or sorry similarities to All About Eve, and your racist musical number far outdated.      One would have thought that Joan Crawford’s return to MGM for...   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on September 11, 2011

The Blue Angel (1930) The Marlene Dietrich of the German-made Der Blaue Engel is almost unrecognizable as the Dietrich that would reign supreme in Hollywood in the decades to come, and yet it was through this film that the prominent image of later years would begin to take shape. The deep speaking   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on September 9, 2011

They Made Me a Fugitive (1948)      I do not watch enough film noir, but that is not to say I do not love it. I am not sure how I wound up recording the British They Made Me a Fugitive but I am glad I did. I found it a visually striking...   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on September 8, 2011

Shanghai Express (1932) When Joseph Von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich came together to make a movie, it in nearly all cases would place the heroine in an exotic setting. Von Sternberg, who was responsible for bringing Dietrich to Hollywood through the German production The Blue Angel, nearly recre   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on September 7, 2011

Virtue (1932)      How do you make Carole Lombard look like a prostitute/ex-prostitute? Give her some dark eyeliner. One would not suspect from viewing most of the contents of Virtue that Lombard’s Mae is meant to be a reformed hooker as her style of dress and manner suggest anything but. In   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on August 29, 2011

     Moviegoers had no lack of detective/murder mystery movie plots to entertain them in the 1930s and 1940s and perhaps the story lines of The Saint movies offered nothing particularly unique, but George Sanders in embodying Simon Templar surely did. The Saint Strikes Back was the first of a handf   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on August 27, 2011

Romeo and Juliet (1936) Romeo and Juliet (1936)      I have been avoiding the various incarnations of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” for a number of years based on the conclusion that the story is far too compelling and therefore horribly depressing. My aversion, to put it simpl   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on August 24, 2011

Above Suspicion (1943)      At first blush, Above Suspicion seems to be a spy comedy of sorts, given its star of Fred MacMurray and original casting of William Powell and Myrna Loy. As the plot progresses, however, the audience finds itself steeped in the treacherous landscape of Nazi espionage.      read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on August 22, 2011

The Misfits (1961)      I have never been sold on Marilyn Monroe as anything but a ditz with an outrageous body. In the handful of pictures I have seen, she always comes off as ignorant and naive so that I feel no option but to assume this is how she was off-screen....   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on August 19, 2011

Picture Snatcher (1933)      In an era of tough guy, gangster James Cagney characters, the actor took a reprieve from his criminal work that became a signature for Warner Bros. during the 1930s and played a legitimate working man in Picture Snatcher, at least partially.      Cagney manages to live   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on August 10, 2011

Mr. Arkadin (1955/1962)      Citizen Kane was the only film over which Orson Welles had absolute control. It was his first screen endeavor, but because it caused so much controversy and upset numerous parties, studios refused to give such outright power to the man again. Although Mr. Arkadin feels   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on August 9, 2011

Saratoga (1937)      I had mentioned when reviewing Jean Harlow’s Platinum Blonde that it was odd to see the sexy, sassy gal playing a high-society dame, but in Saratoga that same sort of part fits a bit more comfortably on the star. She is like usual paired opposite Clark Gable...   read more

MacGuffin Movies Posted by RBuccicone on August 8, 2011

Keeper of the Flame (1942)      In 1942, audiences going to see a Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn movie surely expected to encounter some on-screen romance, but although Keeper of the Flame denied movie-goers of those light-hearted dramatics, it did pack a wallop otherwise. The movie had traces of   read more