Author: Laura Grieve
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Remembering the 2017 TCM Classic Film Festival
The 2017 TCM Classic Film Festival has come and gone, leaving behind countless happy memories of great films enjoyed with wonderful friends...and to top it all off, nitrate!This year's festival was dedicated to the late Robert Osborne, with tributes to Mr. Osborne preceding Thursday evening's films. His gracious presence was remembered and strongly felt throughout the festival, as I believe it will be for years to come.Regular TCM hosts Ben Mankiewicz, Tiffany Vazquez, Eddie M...
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Susan Hayward: The Tough Chameleon
Oscar-winning actress Susan Hayward was born in Brooklyn nearly a century ago, on June 30, 1917. Originally named Edythe Marrenner, Susan grew up in New York -- where, incidentally, she became lifelong friends with a boy named Ira Grossel, later known as Jeff Chandler.After graduating high school in 1935, Susan became a model and before long was off to Hollywood. She worked her way up the ladder from bit roles to supporting parts, with her career finally taking off to new heights in t...
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June Allyson: America's Girl Next Door
The delightful June Allyson was born in the Bronx, New York, on October 7, 1917. She overcame a hardscrabble childhood and a years-long recovery from a freak injury to emerge as a sunny and cheerful star at MGM.June was raised by a single mother after her father walked out. At the age of eight she was crushed after a tree limb fell on her when she was riding a bike; she spent years in a brace but eventually recovered and learned to dance. She appeared in a series of musical shorts...
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A Visit to the 2016 Lone Pine Festival
The 27th Lone Pine Film Festival took place Columbus Day weekend in Lone Pine, California, where hundreds of Western movies and TV shows have been filmed over the course of nearly a century.This was the third consecutive year I've attended the fest, and it was just as enjoyable as the previous two. Each Lone Pine Festival includes movie screenings, location tours, panel discussions, and book signings. This year even featured a stunt demonstration in the famed Alabama Hills!
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A Compelling Character: Edmond O'Brien
Oscar-winning actor Edmond O'Brien was born in New York just over a century ago, on September 10, 1915.O'Brien made his Broadway debut at the age of 21 and four years later made his film debut opposite Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939). He continued to work in theater, including starring as Mercutio opposite Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in a 1940 production of Romeo and Juliet, and also appeared in a handful of other f...
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Disney's Hidden Gems
Everyone's familiar with Disney's best-known films, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to Cinderella (1950) to the studio's newer classics The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991).There's a rich library of somewhat lesser-known but very worthwhile Disney films to explore beyond the most famous titles, some of which will be fondly remembered by film fans, while others may be completely unfamiliar.There are so...
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100 Years of Olivia de Havilland
One of the great stars of American cinema, two-time Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland, celebrates her centennial birthday on July 1, 2016.Olivia de Havilland was born in Tokyo. Her sister, Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine, was born the following year, in October 1917.The girls relocated with their mother to Northern California when they were very young. Olivia was spotted in a college production by director Max Reinhardt, who cast her in his stage and film versions o...
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A Trip to the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival
After months of anticipation, it's hard to believe the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival is over! The festival ran this year from April 28th to May 1st and was a truly remarkable weekend filled with memorable experiences.There are so many things happening simultaneously at the festival; I wish I could do it all over again, choosing some of the marvelous things I had to regretfully leave off my schedule. Somehow each festival is better than those which came before, quite a feat for TC...
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Make Your Own TCM Classic Film Festival
The TCM Classic Film Festival returns to Hollywood beginning April 28, 2016 and running through Sunday, May 2nd. For many classic film fans, the TCM Classic Film Festival is one of the highlights of the movie year. I've written about the festival here previously, most recently in 2015.The TCM festival is a one-of-a-kind experience, a chance to enjoy movies on the big screen, with filmmakers and historians present to add context to each film screened. Attending is a terrific goal f...
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April Fools' Comedies Worth Chuckling Over
With April Fool's Day approaching, what better time of year to take a look at some favorite comedies? Here's a list of ten of the comedies I enjoy most. Some of these films aren't well known, but they're each wonderfully entertaining and deserving of discovery.If You Could Only Cook (1935) - This is a Depression-era charmer starring Jean Arthur as an unemployed young woman who meets dashing Herbert Marshall on a park bench. She assumes from his dejected attitude h...
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