Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 31, 2012

Marion Morrison became John Wayne. During the studio system era, film actors and actresses changed their names for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they chose new names for themselves, but often names were selected for them by studio executives and directors. The studios exerted at least partial   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 31, 2012

One thinks of Shirley Temple as a perpetual child, tap dancing her little heart out in those short dresses and pin curls. It comes as something of a surprise, then, to see her as a teenager in The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947), but it's a pleasant surprise. She's a...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 31, 2012

Marion Morrison became John Wayne. During the studio system era, film actors and actresses changed their names for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they chose new names for themselves, but often names were selected for them by studio executives and directors. The studios exerted at least partial   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 30, 2012

Certainly one of the top ten classic movies on almost any list, The Wizard of Oz (1939) has never ceased to attract new fans, and it remains the definitive adaptation of L. Frank Baum's classic novel, despite many contenders to that title both before and after. Its winning combination of...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 30, 2012

Certainly one of the top ten classic movies on almost any list, The Wizard of Oz (1939) has never ceased to attract new fans, and it remains the definitive adaptation of L. Frank Baum's classic novel, despite many contenders to that title both before and after. Its winning combination of...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 30, 2012

Certainly one of the top ten classic movies on almost any list, The Wizard of Oz (1939) has never ceased to attract new fans, and it remains the definitive adaptation of L. Frank Baum's classic novel, despite many contenders to that title both before and after. Its winning combination of...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 28, 2012

Most children love the circus; there's something magical about seeing the performers there in the ring, moving in their own world of spotlights and sawdust. Classic movies have visited that world many times, and some of Hollywood's most iconic stars have run away to join the circus on the silver...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 28, 2012

You'd think a star-studded costume comedy like Casanova's Big Night (1954) would have everything it needed to be a huge success, but it never quite comes together. Perhaps it's Bob Hope's awkward brand of humor that doesn't quite suit the material, or the embarrassment of seeing heavyweight characte   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 28, 2012

Most children love the circus; there's something magical about seeing the performers there in the ring, moving in their own world of spotlights and sawdust. Classic movies have visited that world many times, and some of Hollywood's most iconic stars have run away to join the circus on the silver...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 28, 2012

You'd think a star-studded costume comedy like Casanova's Big Night (1954) would have everything it needed to be a huge success, but it never quite comes together. Perhaps it's Bob Hope's awkward brand of humor that doesn't quite suit the material, or the embarrassment of seeing heavyweight characte   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 28, 2012

Most children love the circus; there's something magical about seeing the performers there in the ring, moving in their own world of spotlights and sawdust. Classic movies have visited that world many times, and some of Hollywood's most iconic stars have run away to join the circus on the silver...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 28, 2012

You'd think a star-studded costume comedy like Casanova's Big Night (1954) would have everything it needed to be a huge success, but it never quite comes together. Perhaps it's Bob Hope's awkward brand of humor that doesn't quite suit the material, or the embarrassment of seeing heavyweight characte   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 24, 2012

Horror is a genre that encompasses many things. Although today's horror films tend to focus on the explicit nature of graphic violence, classic horror films often eschew such overt terrors for the subtler approach, suggesting that things unseen are far more terrible than anything we could actually b   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 24, 2012

Horror is a genre that encompasses many things. Although today's horror films tend to focus on the explicit nature of graphic violence, classic horror films often eschew such overt terrors for the subtler approach, suggesting that things unseen are far more terrible than anything we could actually b   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 24, 2012

Horror is a genre that encompasses many things. Although today's horror films tend to focus on the explicit nature of graphic violence, classic horror films often eschew such overt terrors for the subtler approach, suggesting that things unseen are far more terrible than anything we could actually b   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 23, 2012

Frank Capra’s favorite themes are all in play in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), which stars lanky Gary Cooper as a typical Capra hero, an all-American everyman standing in opposition to a corrupt and selfish world. Equal parts social commentary and romance, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town sets the...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 23, 2012

Directed by Charles Walters, Summer Stock (1950) is the third and final pairing of Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, two of the greatest musical performers of all time. Many classic movie fans regard it as the best of their pictures together, not only because of their own performances and songs...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 23, 2012

Spoiler alert! This essay discusses the ending of the film at length. Viewers who want to be surprised by the ending should not read this post until after they have seen the movie for themselves. Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1955 French thriller, Les Diaboliques (also known as Diabolique), is   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 23, 2012

Frank Capra’s favorite themes are all in play in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), which stars lanky Gary Cooper as a typical Capra hero, an all-American everyman standing in opposition to a corrupt and selfish world. Equal parts social commentary and romance, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town sets the...   read more

Virtual Virago Posted by Jennifer Garlen on August 23, 2012

Directed by Charles Walters, Summer Stock (1950) is the third and final pairing of Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, two of the greatest musical performers of all time. Many classic movie fans regard it as the best of their pictures together, not only because of their own performances and songs...   read more