Category: article

  • Dark Cinema: 'Danger'-ous Noirs

    Creating an absolute definition of film noir is an elusive task; I've found over the years that a simplistic but revealing description of the era can be found in some of the frequently repeated words in the titles of the films themselves, some of which include 'fear,' 'night,' 'kill,' 'street,' 'big,' and 'danger.'Today, I'm taking a look at three 'danger' noir films from the classic era. Each one is worth checking out (or checking out again)!Appointment with D...

    Read more

  • The Old Corral: Hank - The Westerns of Henry Fonda

    That rangy walk, those steely blue eyes, that quiet drawl: Henry Fonda was ideally suited to Westerns. Born in the prairie city of Grand Island, Nebraska, in 1905, those roots equipped him to star in future Western movies. Whether as Frank James, Wyatt Earp or any number of other Western characters, Fonda became one of the most memorable Western leads of all.Fonda's early Western career was tied to that of John Ford. Though Fonda started acting in movies in 1935, Westerns -- or at...

    Read more

  • Silent Cinema: Friendship and Family in Silent Film

    Silent movies often feature sweeping romances but today we're looking at different kinds of love: friendships and the family dynamic. We'll look at a variety of families to see if this is true for silent films. Tolstoy wrote 'All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.'FriendsHere is a selection of silent films that explore various types and aspects of friendship.Before he directed All Quiet on the Weste...

    Read more

  • TV Time: Underrated Feel-Good Christmas Episodes

    After examining classic Christmas television episodes a few years ago in this column, then looking at family-oriented specials last year, I'd like to present some lesser-known but still potent examples of heartwarming holiday entertainment. So let's dive into the ClassicFlix catalog for some feel-good shows you might not have seen.(As always, spoilers ahead, but I will tell you now, all of these shows will make you feel warm and Christmas-y.)The Twilight Zo...

    Read more

  • Dark Cinema: Flawed Gents of Pre-Code, Vol. 2

    In my ongoing look at the less-than-stellar fellas populating the pre-Code world, I'm shining the spotlight today on Warner's 1931 film Night Nurse. The film stars the always-fabulous Barbara Stanwyck as the title caregiver, Laura Hart, who finds herself battling a variety of contemptible characters in her quest to save the lives of two young girls in her charge. There are a number of do-gooders in this, including Laura's pal and fellow nurse Maloney (Joan Blondell) and Dr. Bell (Cha...

    Read more

  • TV TIME: A Classic Television Thanksgiving

    Thanksgiving is a time to enjoy with family and other loved ones, so it seems like a shame that so many American households spend the day huddled in front of a TV set watching football. I think we should spend halftime huddled in front of a TV set watching classic Thanksgiving-themed episodes, at least.The 'Special Thanksgiving Episode' is not nearly as established as the 'Special Christmas Episode,' but plenty of classic shows commemorated the November holiday once. Let's take a ...

    Read more

  • The Old Corral: Hats Off to the Stetson

    There are three main ways to distinguish a cowboy: his horse, his gun and his hat. On foot in town, the gun and hat are still there; even if there's a gun ordinance in town and he has no pistol on his hip, in the saloon for example, you'll never separate him from his hat. When it all comes down to it, it's the hat that makes the cowboy.He wears it out of doors, indoors and in some movies, in the bath.All Western stars knew this. It was why, when they got a hat they lik...

    Read more

  • 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!

    Read more

  • Silent Cinema: A Celebration of Silent Baseball

    The age of silent movies coincided with some of the most exciting years in the history of baseball. Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb set records when the movies were moving to the west coast and feature-length films were being established as the dominant form of cinematic entertainment.Naturally, it was only a matter of time before America's pastime met the silver screen. Then, as now, sports movies were popular entertainment divided roughly into two categories: the films that starred the pl...

    Read more

  • TV TIME: Celebrate the season with The Munsters!

    Halloween is an ideal time to revisit one of television's greatest sitcom families, The Munsters. Though it ran only two seasons on CBS, the comedy about the unusual inhabitants of 1313 Mockingbird Lane is one of the most fondly remembered shows of its era and continues to thrive in reruns, streaming and DVD.At first glance a show about equivalents of Frankenstein's monster and Dracula living in suburbia, oblivious to their own status as 'monsters' to everyone else, seems like a k...

    Read more
Categories
Tag cloud
Recent entries
Archive