4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on January 11, 2022

Pre-earthquake San Francisco was ripe for the Hollywood treatment, and there were a number of films to tackle this era including San Francisco or Barbary Coast. Frisco Jenny is more than at home in the same company. In the opening moments, the camera follows a constable into the local watering...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on January 6, 2022

“Have a little faith will yuh? There’s a great big plan that we don’t get. But the fella that’s made the plan knows what it’s all about.” Safe in Hell leans into its title as fire literally crackles behind the opening credits.  The story’s origins begin on   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on January 4, 2022

There’s an underlying sense that The Other Men’s Women was a primitive picture and yet it has a plucky energy as if it doesn’t know any better. Warner Bros. was at the cutting edge of talking pictures and Vitaphone wasn’t exactly old hat. The medium was still in its relative   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 31, 2021

One immediate takeaway from Luchino Visconti’s Italian epic Rocco and His Brothers is its gorgeous, swoon-worthy black & white that’s absolutely magnificent. It shares hallowed ground with films such as The Grapes of Wrath or The Godfather where the palette does yeoman’s work   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 29, 2021

It’s a slippery slope when you begin to consider the attractiveness of women in films because the conversation can get needlessly superficial. All I will say about Claudia Cardinale is that God was very good to her. But beyond her immaculate beauty, the joyous discovery of Girl with a Suitcas   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 27, 2021

If you need only one scene to be indicative of everything Big Deal on Madonna Street exemplifies as a caper comedy, the opening scene puts it out on a platter, ready for consumption. A shrimpy man with a mustache waits on the street corner as a lookout while another named...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 25, 2021

The Shop Around The Corner samples a Hollywood-style Hungary that nevertheless establishes it as a much humbler, quieter picture than seasoned Lubitsch aficionados might be accustomed to. It’s subsequently one of his best efforts for this very reason. There’s an intimacy to it, recallin   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 23, 2021

Christmas in Connecticut functions as a fine way to cap off 1945, a year full of jubilation and relief for the American public. The war was finally over! Given this context, the setup might feel familiar. A sailor who was shipwrecked out at sea in the Pacific was rescued. Now...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 21, 2021

Under their collaborative umbrella, The Archers, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger formed one of the most mystifying and extraordinary partnerships within the annals of British cinema history. Black Narcissus is just one of the many enchanting jewels in their collective crown. Part of the accla   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 18, 2021

“You don’t love me. You just think I’m some kind of animal you trapped.” Forgive me if you disagree, but Marnie has wrapped around it the full confidence of Alfred Hitchcock with all his trick and thematic ideas. Its use of visuals to cue the action. The intensity of both...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 16, 2021

Idyllic is the word for The Trouble with Harry, and it positively crackles with the autumnal delights one can only know in locales where the seasons give way one to another. Alfred Hitchcock’s filmography boasts many opulent and gorgeously shot sequences, but Trouble With Harry might have som   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 14, 2021

It’s true that “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” However, dress it up with murder and life becomes a series of stages and varying performances you’re putting on for different audiences — trying your best to play your audience —   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 9, 2021

Assume what you will, but After Hours is the Scorsese movie that feels most firmly planted in the 1980s. It’s of its time and functions quite differently than what we have come to expect from him. Mind you, this is hardly a criticism. More so, it shows his range and...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 7, 2021

“Better to be king for a night than shmuck for a lifetime.” The opening moments of The King of Comedy, as iconic star Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis), is ushered to a waiting car surrounded by the chaotic frenzy of thrill-seekers, capture the essence of celebrity in the modern age. Jerry...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 4, 2021

For being such an influential piece of Science Fiction storytelling, I must admit I have very little history with Frank Herbert’s Dune. I was aware of David Lynch’s adaptation, and I’ve recently been dipping my toes into the impressive mythos of the original novel.  It works in archetypes that feel   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 2, 2021

“Must we submit to this three-ringed circus in the guise of drama?” – Porter Hall Carole Lombard is a comedienne of unequivocal talents. My guess is that it lies in that extra special dial she had. Yes, she was a Hollywood glamour girl and stylist of the 1930s — married...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 30, 2021

“All the songs sound alike these days.” The title of this movie inadvertently made me think of the Dinah Shore number “I’ll Walk Alone.” Granted, the title is slightly different, and it was birthed out of the WWII context where soldiers left their sweethearts behind to   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 27, 2021

The draw to Desert Fury must begin with its intriguing cast running the range of personalities. John Hodiak and Wendell Corey (in his film debut) are driving into town. There’s this sense that their relationship is familiar but they feel like out-of-towners, somehow bringing a ting of noirish   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 25, 2021

The beauty of a picture like this comes with the efficiency of the drama with a prison breakout occurring under the opening credits. Soon we learn a notorious, shadowy criminal named Kluger has broken out of Folsom prison. The convict once vowed to kill both the detective and district attorney...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on November 23, 2021

Felix Feist is a relatively obscure figure today and the only reason I’ve come to him has to do with two B films he was attached to, The Devil Thumbs a Ride and The Threat released two years later. As a Southern Californian, I might obtain more glee out of name...   read more