4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on January 9, 2019

I’ve been of the certain age where it seems like every friend you have is getting married in the next year. It’s an exhilarating time albeit expensive and a bit taxing (if you’re even able to go to all of them). But most of us wouldn’t trade the joy of...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on January 7, 2019

When you think of the combination of John Ford and John Wayne, it’s only normal to conjure up the quintessential western pairing. It’s true there are so many films that we could pay a nod to like Stagecoach (1939), The Searchers (1956), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1961), etc....   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on January 4, 2019

It occurs to me only someone with an outsider’s perspective would choose to make this movie, which is void of any typical Hollywood flair. No American would have thought in a million years to cast Harry Dean Stanton (a lifelong character actor) and Dean Stockwell (an all but forgotten child...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on January 3, 2019

The Song of The Thin Man is really and truly the swan song of the series and while I did enjoy most of the additions, there is a sense that it was time to end the franchise. The year is 1947. The war is over. Things have changed. It really...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on January 2, 2019

Sometimes it’s necessary to go back to the basics. We’ve been introduced to the social elite of New York and San Francisco, invited along to giant family estates, and frequented the race track and wrestling rings. It only makes sense that at some point we would finally be introduced to   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on January 1, 2019

Little Nick Charles Jr. is growing up and his loving daddy, in lieu of fairy tales, reads to his son about the horse races. Some things never change. Despite an unfortunate stereotyped-laden portrayal provided by Louise Beavers, the picture quickly settles into another enjoyable jaunt. In fact, it&   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 31, 2018

Parenthood hasn’t slackened the good-natured give and take between Mr. and Mrs. Charles or Mr. Charles drinking habit either. The only difference now is that Nick affectionately calls his other half “mommy” and they have a little more work getting their nurse to watch over the bab   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 30, 2018

The reason to watch The Thin Man series was never murder. Sure, like its predecessor, this follow-up has the pretense of a mystery plot but that’s merely a trifle in comparison to the return of Nick and Nora Charles. The novelty of this picture is no longer that it once...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 26, 2018

The premise is ludicrously simple. Ralphie wants a Red Rider BB Gun for Christmas. It’s his one aspiration. His sole desire in life. But of course, every conceivable adult simply dismisses him, their choice phrase being that mainstay of our modern lexicon, “You’ll shoot your eye o   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 25, 2018

Holiday Affair might be a bit of an oxymoron as far as Christmas movies go. It’s not too far off the truth to christen it an old-modern Christmas classic, at least depending on how you define your terms. It’s a Christmas picture that has all but sailed under the radar since its original   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 24, 2018

From its opening motif of a man nitpicking the arrangement of reindeer in a shop window, Miracle on 34th Street skates away on a delightful journey that evokes both fanciful whimsy and a liberal amount of holiday sentimentality. However, it also one of the finest examples and greatest purveyors of   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 23, 2018

One thing that can be said of Meet Me in St. Louis is that it captures the milieu of an era while simultaneously being quintessential Vincente Minnelli. Every man, woman, and child is dressed to the tee and enraptured by love and the grand promises of the World Fair full of...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 21, 2018

Once more we have the Hollywood rendition of Budapest that would turn up again in other pictures like Ernst Lubitsch’s Shop Around the Corner (1940). English is spoken perfectly and individuals generally act as we would expect them to in our neck of the woods. It’s simply their story an   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 19, 2018

We are inserted, presumably, into a war picture courtesy of William A. Wellman, situated in WWI trenches. The downpour is compounded by the constant hail of bullets as a group of men conduct a near suicide mission. One of the soldiers, Tom Holmes (Richard Barthelmess) proves his heroics on the batt   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 17, 2018

Not only is Employees Entrance a film made for the Great Depression, but it’s also a project that would have no life if it were not for the lax enforcement of the Production Codes at the time. The same could be said of its protagonist — if he can dare...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 15, 2018

The Bitter Tea of General Yen is no doubt a perplexing film to come at today but, in some respects, that makes the experience all the more gratifying. There’s still something within it 80 years on that will simultaneously rub up against our contemporary perspective while also surprising us wi   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 13, 2018

Apple Annie (May Robson) is one of the many impoverished individuals on the streets of New York City trying to eke by in the pits of the Depression. She makes a meager living as a fruit vendor. But appearances can be deceiving and Annie has long corresponded with and paid...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 11, 2018

Taxi! is indubitably parked in the pantheon of misquotes and few people probably realize it. Yes, this is the film where Warner Bros. tough guy James Cagney purportedly sneered, “You dirty rat, you killed my brother!” I remember hearing the line in everything from The Monkees to M*A*S*H   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 8, 2018

Even in its opening moments, Baby Face made my heart heavy. I look at Lily, this young woman played by Barbara Stanwyck and sadness wells up within me. Because her environment is so oppressive. Getting constantly pawed at and manhandled with a father who has no conception of love. Then, she opens t   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Film Fan on December 5, 2018

“Beware of False Prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing” – Mat. 8:15 The Miracle Woman is offered as a rebuke to anyone who, under the cloak of Religion, seeks to sell for gold, God’s choicest gift to Humanity —- FAITH.  There are title cards that open up   read more