Articles

Hammer Prime: The Best of Bray Horror

The history of Hammer Studios is fascinating but convoluted; a production company in the 1930s, then a distributor, then a production company again that subsisted on a series of low-budget comedy, drama, and science-fiction pictures partially financed by U.S. producer Robert L. Lippert, who also supplied second-tier American stars like Brian Donlevy and Cesar Romero in return for American distribution rights. Hammer got UK rights to Lippert films, and the sci-fi offerings, including Rocke...

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Trick or Treat: Nine Classic Horror Films

Halloween rivals Christmas in terms of the amount of films one can consume in celebration. Each year in October I do my best to take in as many chilling, spooky, and frightening films as I can. I've done it so often I've instituted themes, just so I can try to find newer films to add to the canon. In this inaugural discussion, I'll list nine mainstays of my Halloween viewing that, I hope, you'll enjoy. Now you won't see the requisite Dracula's and Frankenstein's; these will take you off the b...

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Dark Cinema: Fatal Noir Femmes

There's a lot to love about film noir. The oh-so-quotable dialogue. The shadowy, rain-swept, urban locales. The edge-of-your-seat plot twists.But one of the best things about noir is the femme fatales. Beautiful, mercenary, conniving, intelligent, sexy, and always out for number one, the femmes of film noir were -- as my mother would say -- a whole 'nother thing. Film noir is practically brimming with these fierce femmes; like any noir lover, I have my favorites, and I have my rea...

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The Old Corral: The Career of Dick Foran

It's with great pleasure we welcome Warner Bros.'s Dick Foran Western Collection, a terrific, long overdue four-disc, 12 feature film DVD box set. Produced in 1935-1937 these B-Westerns are not only entertaining but historic in that they were made simultaneously with the man who began the singing cowboy craze at Republic, Gene Autry.Because Gene was just beginning his meteoric rise to fame, Foran's westerns aren't so much in competition with Autry's, even though they run ...

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Strange Science Serials, Chapter III: Maniacs from Space!

After three attempts by Ming the Merciless to either enslave the Earth, destroy all human life on it, or otherwise make a nuisance of himself, our planet was relatively safe for the next several years (WW2 notwithstanding) until 1945, when -- no doubt suspecting we would be an easy target following the worldwide conflict that had just ended -- Mars invaded the earth led by one of Ming's successors in The Purple Monster Strikes (1945).A famous astronomer, Dr. Cyrus Layton,...

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Norma Shearer 101: The Overview

Norma Shearer is on the short list of MGM's iconic actresses, sharing a rarefied stratum with Garbo, Crawford, Harlow, and Garland, but she is the least remembered out of all them. Non-buffs know little or nothing about her. For decades her films were seldom screened or broadcast. Yet she was a top box office draw in early sound and had one of the best-managed careers of the studio era. TCM and DVD reissues have brought her triumphs back to us, and her fans today are as ardent as those who id...

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TV TIME: 50th Anniversary of Television's Best Season

We often hear how brilliant television is today, but this is the 50th anniversary of one of the most remarkable years the medium ever had. The 1965-1966 season was loaded with classic programs, legendary performers, and memorable characters. While it's certain that nothing like Game of Thrones was around in 1965, I sure don't see anything like My Mother the Car right now.In retrospect, 1965 was a significant year in television history for two main reasons. One is...

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Uncovered Classics, Vol. 2: Musicals

Here's another collection of movies which may not be especially well known but provide a great deal of viewing enjoyment.This time around my list is focused on musicals. You won't find Singin' in the Rain (1952), The Band Wagon (1953), or other beloved top-shelf classics on this list, but instead a collection of titles which are either not as well known or are deserving of reappraisal.These may not be perfect films, but they all deliver tremendous ent...

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Silent Cinema: Essential Shorts 1896-1914

About one hundred years ago, the American film industry experienced an upheaval that was arguably more important and game-changing than the switch to sound which came over a decade later. Since the beginning, motion pictures had been, well, short. From a few seconds in the 1880s to 10-30 minutes in the 1910s, the movies were slowly getting longer but they were not yet commonly feature-length.(The first feature film is generally reckoned to be The Story of the Kelly Gang, ...

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Dark Cinema: Character Spotlight - Mae Clarke in Waterloo Bridge

I would venture to say all movie fans have their favorite screen performances. Mae Clarke's portrayal of Myra Deauville in 1931's Waterloo Bridge is one of mine. In this first-rate feature directed by James Whale, Clarke infuses Myra with equal parts moxie, pathos, and charm, creating a character who is, for my money, one of cinema's most memorable.Set in England during World War I, this pre-Code film tells the story of Myra -- a chorus girl who turns to prostitution when...

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Classics 101 - The Four Clowns: The Boy with the Glasses

In the first two parts of this silent comedian series, we discussed how little regard studios and most filmgoers had for 'old-time silent movies' throughout the 1930s and 1940s; that changed on September 5, 1949, when Life magazine, one of the most popular publications in the nation, published a James Agee cover story entitled Comedy's Greatest Era. This installment of Classics 101 will take a look at the third of Agee's Four Clowns, Harold Lloyd.Lloyd's is one of the gre...

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Vintage Groucho? You Bet Your Life!

Contestant: I'm a cartoonist...I'm working on a comic strip.Groucho: If you want to see a comic strip, you should see me in the shower.You Bet Your Life was on radio from 1947 and a TV series from 1950 to 1961. Groucho Marx resisted the concept at the start. After a legendary career with his brothers on stage and in films, the role of quizmaster seemed paltry. It must have looked like a career downturn.But Groucho ...

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TV TIME: Golf on Classic TV

Many folks find summer an ideal time to head outside and enjoy a round of golf. I've never been one of those people; the last time I played, it took me 3 tries to get the ball past the windmill and into the clown's mouth. The television stars of yesteryear certainly liked the pastime, though. Legend has it that Bing Crosby turned down the iconic role of Lieutenant Columbo because filming the series would interfere with his golf game. Fred MacMurray negotiated a shooting schedule on My Thr...

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Silent Cinema: Common Silent Mistakes

Silent film is an art like no other, but it also has a few complications that can snare unwary newcomers. Today, we are going to talk about some of the common mistakes made by new silent film viewers and easy ways to avoid them.Underestimating the size of the silent eraThe silent era is generally reckoned to have lasted from the mid-1890s to 1930, later if you count the 1930s silent films from Asia and Europe. With three to four decades of films to cho...

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Uncovered Classics, Vol. 1: Westerns and Noirs

Everyone loves familiar classic movies starring beloved stars whether it's Bogart, Stanwyck, Gable, or Davis.That said, one of the great pleasures of being a classic film fan is coming across an unfamiliar film which leaves the viewer exclaiming 'Good movie!' as it draws to a close.Such movies may not be perfect, but they deliver a great deal of entertainment value with memorable moments. What follows is a list of a dozen lesser-known film noir and Western ...

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The Old Corral: Joining The Royal Canadian Mounted Police

I'm very happy to see VCI releasing the four seldom seen 40-45 minute 'streamliner' Westerns released by Screen Guild/Lippert in 1946-1947 as part of their Royal Canadian Mounted Police series. All four starred former Hopalong Cassidy sidekick, Russell Hayden.In 1945 Robert L. Lippert, a West Coast theatre chain owner, formed Action Pictures and released three low budget features filmed in Cinecolor. These films eventually saw release through Screen Guild, a new ...

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Classics 101: Klassics for Kids

Classic movie fans aren't born (unfortunately); they're made, either by those of us lucky enough to discover Turner Classic Movies or another similar channel (are there any others left?) that programs films older than Home Alone for the kids, or though the love and encouragement of caring parents who understand that vintage cinema is as rich a part of our heritage as great novels. You read to your kids (don't you?) so why not sit down with them to enjoy classic films as well? Sure, y...

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Dark Cinema: Noirs You Should Know

Double Indemnity. Laura.Out of the Past. The Postman Always Rings Twice. Gilda.Features such as these can almost always be found on 'best of' lists for film noir, and I'd venture to say most film lovers (even those who aren't noir devotees) have seen each of them at least once.But what of the great noirs that are unheralded and, all too often, unseen? There are countless first-rate pictures from this dark and shadowy era tha...

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How to Throw a Vintage Movie Party

Movies are for sharing. There are buffs that coordinate parties around specific films, from food and drink to decor; that's one step away from the obsessive level at which the guests come dressed as film characters and the family dog is renamed Pard or Toto or Asta. At a more casual level, vintage films can set a style and tone for a party, the extra shot of espresso that leads to mixing and conversation. Show The Women, for example. Not the pointlessly P.C. 2008 version, but the rau...

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TV TIME: The Many Faces of William Shatner

Here's how big an icon William Shatner is: If you wiped his most famous role out of existence, one of the most popular characters in television history, he would STILL be one of the biggest icons the medium has ever known. In addition to his unforgettable performances as Captain James T. Kirk, the 84-year-old Canadian stars in two of the most memorable Twilight Zone episodes, 'Nick of Time' and 'Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.' In fact, his post-classic-era work is arguably enough to make ...

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