Author: Cliff Weimer
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Classics 101: Eight Wonders, Twelve Movies - A History of King Kong
The original King Kong was one of the most ballyhooed of all motion pictures, and yet it’s quite the rarity: a film that lived up to all the hyperbole. It truly was – and remains – the Eighth Wonder of the World, moving the artistry and technology of filmmaking ahead in 60-foot strides. A monster hit in 1933 and subsequent re-re-releases, Kong has been remade and ripped off several times, which is no surprise. What IS surprising is most of the Sons of Kong ...
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Classics 101: Our Gang
When parents and grandparents ask me – and they often do – what’s the secret to turning young people on to the wonders of vintage black and white movies, I invariably answer “The Little Rascals!!!” (with just that level of enthusiasm, and sometimes I make the “okay” sign with my fingers and say “O-TAY”). Here’s how it’s always worked for me, ...
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Classics 101: A Primer on Serials Part II - Super Heroes Strike Back
WW2 brought a new type of action hero to the serial cinema screen: the patriotic G-Man battling enemy agents (at first, unnamed but obviously German; later, they wore so many swastikas you’d swear der Fuhrer had a “minimum bling requirement”). Sometimes, the good guys wore snap-brimmed hats and grey suits; sometimes, capes and tights and masks. But they were both equally heroic in the eyes of kids of the day.
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Classics 101: A Primer on Serials Part I
Difficult for us to appreciate these days, but once upon a time, there was a movie theatre in most every neighborhood and the films changed three times a week; you could go to the same theatre on Monday, Thursday and Saturday and see a completely different show, with a feature, newsreel, cartoon and various entertaining or educational short subjects. As a way of keeping audiences coming back (“I loved tonight’s Louise Fazenda movie but that Lupino Lane picture th...
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Classics 101: Answering Qs about Bs
Bob Hope, when Bing Crosby makes his first appearance in The Road to Utopia (1945): “Hey! I thought this was an A picture!” One of the reasons I began writing about films nearly 20 years ago was to answer the questions I was asked whenever the subject of “old movies” came up (which happens a lot in my circle), or to clear up misconceptions. And over the years, the #1 question/misconception that I’ve encountered ...
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Classics 101: Movie Comedy Teams
Once a staple down at the local Bijou, the movie comedy team has gone the way of the sing-along bouncing ball and newsreel, vanished into cinema history. These days, actors may team for a film or two but only in between their multi-million-dollar solo paychecks; no more than occasional co-stars, more akin to Hope & Crosby and Tracy & Hepburn than to Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, and Dr. Howard. In this installment of Classics 101, I thought it’d be fun to review some of the best work of the movies’ grea...
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Classics 101: Classics 101 vs. Sight & Sound
Every ten years, British Film Institute magazine Sight & Sound polls filmmakers and critics and compiles a list of “greatest films ever made”; it was this poll that installed Citizen Kane as the so-called greatest a few decades ago and then de-throned it in 2012, when it was replaced by Vertigo. Sight & Sound, asked what “greatest” means, responded, “We leave that open to your interpretation. You might choose the ten films you feel are most important to film history, or the ten that represent th...
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