The Internet Movie Data Base (IMDb) credits Edward Everett Horton with a quotation that pokes fun at his career as a character actor in films: 'I have my own little kingdom. I do the scavenger parts no one else wants and I get well paid for it.' Horton was modest. It is left to the vintage film buff to insist that Horton and his fellow character actors created their kingdoms with inimitable acting skills; that what he called parts no one else wanted were parts that very few actors could pull ...
Read more2020 will mark the true centenary of Alfred Hitchcock's entrance into the British film industry, as a title card illustrator. But to honor a man who often compressed and distorted time in his films, we can celebrate the Hitchcock century now. Hitch is with us as much as when he was alive and active, crafting his whimsical celebrity as the master of the macabre. Now we see him in the round, and there are few reputations as secure. He would savor the acclaim and the critical r...
Read more'How can you watch those old movies?' Film buffs get this from family, friends, and co-workers, but we're mesmerized by the entertainment that our grandparents and great-grandparents enjoyed. Happily, there are films from 60, 70, and 80 years ago that have retained their appeal for a mass contemporary audience. Among them, we have Buster Keaton's masterworks, Laurel and Hardy, Frank Capra's populist comedies, Universal's horror classics, and the cycle of stylish crime dramas from the 40s and ...
Read moreThe top American movie experience of the 1970 Christmas season was the communal cry at screenings of Love Story. Few who saw this film in its first run have forgotten the groans, muffled sobs, and the rustling of pack after pack of Kleenex as the film neared its ending. It wasn’t over until audience members acknowledged each other’s reddened eyes as they groped their way to the exits. This was a group experience with roots. Veteran fans in Love Story’s audience remembered the studio era, when...
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