Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 30, 2014

Hollywood is naturally the Mecca of every classic movie fan, but for many of us visiting in person is difficult, if not impossible. I have been reading lucky travelers' blog posts and admiring photos of the Walk of Fame for years, but last week I finally got to check Hollywood...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 19, 2014

The darkest and most iconic of John Ford's Westerns, The Searchers (1956) also presents cowboy legend John Wayne in one of his most psychologically complex roles as a man whose attitudes and decisions clearly place him on the losing side of history. Ford offers all of the elements that serve...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 19, 2014

The darkest and most iconic of John Ford's Westerns, The Searchers (1956) also presents cowboy legend John Wayne in one of his most psychologically complex roles as a man whose attitudes and decisions clearly place him on the losing side of history. Ford offers all of the elements that serve...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 19, 2014

The darkest and most iconic of John Ford's Westerns, The Searchers (1956) also presents cowboy legend John Wayne in one of his most psychologically complex roles as a man whose attitudes and decisions clearly place him on the losing side of history. Ford offers all of the elements that serve...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 18, 2014

Fritz Lang directed Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956) quite late in his career, almost forty years after he got his start making silent films in Germany, but this courtroom noir has a lot in common with the director’s earlier pictures, especially in terms of suspense. Like M (1931), Fury (1936)   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 18, 2014

Fritz Lang directed Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956) quite late in his career, almost forty years after he got his start making silent films in Germany, but this courtroom noir has a lot in common with the director’s earlier pictures, especially in terms of suspense. Like M (1931), Fury (1936)   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 18, 2014

Fritz Lang directed Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956) quite late in his career, almost forty years after he got his start making silent films in Germany, but this courtroom noir has a lot in common with the director’s earlier pictures, especially in terms of suspense. Like M (1931), Fury (1936)   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 15, 2014

As the third and final Ray Harryhausen movie to feature the legendary hero, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) arrives fairly late in the special effects icon’s canon; his last feature, Clash of the Titans (1981), would come just a few years later. While Harryhausen, working as both...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 15, 2014

As the third and final Ray Harryhausen movie to feature the legendary hero, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) arrives fairly late in the special effects icon’s canon; his last feature, Clash of the Titans (1981), would come just a few years later. While Harryhausen, working as both...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 15, 2014

As the third and final Ray Harryhausen movie to feature the legendary hero, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) arrives fairly late in the special effects icon’s canon; his last feature, Clash of the Titans (1981), would come just a few years later. While Harryhausen, working as both...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 12, 2014

King Kong (1933) gave rise to a whole host of subsequent gorilla movies, beginning with The Son of Kong (1933), but Mighty Joe Young (1949) merits special attention because it marks the feature film debut of one of the greatest innovators in special effects history, Ray Harryhausen, who worked on...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 12, 2014

King Kong (1933) gave rise to a whole host of subsequent gorilla movies, beginning with The Son of Kong (1933), but Mighty Joe Young (1949) merits special attention because it marks the feature film debut of one of the greatest innovators in special effects history, Ray Harryhausen, who worked on...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 12, 2014

King Kong (1933) gave rise to a whole host of subsequent gorilla movies, beginning with The Son of Kong (1933), but Mighty Joe Young (1949) merits special attention because it marks the feature film debut of one of the greatest innovators in special effects history, Ray Harryhausen, who worked on...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 11, 2014

Given its focus on the settling of Oklahoma and the founding of Tulsa, The Oklahoma Kid (1939) almost certainly has its fans in the Sooner State, but for the most part this Warner Bros. Western is a fairly routine oater, with plenty of stock characters and plot elements to amuse...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 11, 2014

Given its focus on the settling of Oklahoma and the founding of Tulsa, The Oklahoma Kid (1939) almost certainly has its fans in the Sooner State, but for the most part this Warner Bros. Western is a fairly routine oater, with plenty of stock characters and plot elements to amuse...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 11, 2014

Given its focus on the settling of Oklahoma and the founding of Tulsa, The Oklahoma Kid (1939) almost certainly has its fans in the Sooner State, but for the most part this Warner Bros. Western is a fairly routine oater, with plenty of stock characters and plot elements to amuse...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 8, 2014

With Robert Ryan as his punching bag protagonist, director Robert Wise delivers one of film noir’s most staggering blows with The Set-Up (1949), an unsparing revelation of boxing’s dark side and the bloodthirsty nature of the crowd. Playing out in real time, The Set-Up follows Ryan&#8217   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 8, 2014

With Robert Ryan as his punching bag protagonist, director Robert Wise delivers one of film noir’s most staggering blows with The Set-Up (1949), an unsparing revelation of boxing’s dark side and the bloodthirsty nature of the crowd. Playing out in real time, The Set-Up follows Ryan&#8217   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 8, 2014

With Robert Ryan as his punching bag protagonist, director Robert Wise delivers one of film noir’s most staggering blows with The Set-Up (1949), an unsparing revelation of boxing’s dark side and the bloodthirsty nature of the crowd. Playing out in real time, The Set-Up follows Ryan&#8217   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on March 4, 2014

James Whale is best remembered today as the director of horror films like Frankenstein (1931), but he also made the 1936 adaptation of Show Boat, the successful Kern and Hammerstein musical based on Edna Ferber’s novel. It was neither the first nor the last big screen rendition of the story;...   read more