Articles

Dark Cinema: Gable and Crawford - The Great Pre-Code Love Affair

'Our relationship was private, between us. It was a glorious affair, and it went on longer than anybody knows. It was sublime...' -Joan CrawfordHepburn and Tracy. Bogart and Bacall. Crawford and Gable? You don't hear those last two names paired as much as those before them. Their partnership isn't nearly as legendary, most likely because none of the eight films they made together were true classics. But there was no hotter pair in pre-Code films, and this was partly becau...

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Magic Moments with Bette

In hindsight, it is surprising that Bette Davis was ever a box office star. For an eight year span in the '30s and '40s, she was queen of the Warners lot, and her vehicles made a lot of money. Never really a glamour star, although Variety's review of The Man Who Played God (1932) called her 'a vision of wide-eyed blonde beauty,' not a strong comedy player, although she took part in the raucous slapstick of The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941), she was also a limited singer, although...

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The Hills Are Alive...With the TCM Classic Film Festival

For four days in Hollywood, classic film fans the world over converge to enjoy a series of film screenings and panels as part of the TCM Classic Film Festival. The festival recently wrapped up its sixth annual festival March 29th and I was there to enjoy the fun, films, and insanity that comes from watching movies on very little sleep and a diet consisting of Crispy M&Ms and coffee. Everyone who attended experienced something different, but here's a brief rundown of screenings and panels ...

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TV TIME: Tax Tips from Classic TV

Income tax season is one of the most stressful times of the year. The pressure of the looming April 15th filing deadline often brings out some of the most duplicitous, underhanded, and unethical behavior imaginable -- and that's just from the government. (This would be a good time to mention to Uncle Sam that I am a loyal and prompt taxpayer.) However, like many of us, I find the process overwhelming.Fortunately, we have help. If television can teach us how to survive being strand...

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Robert Ryan: The Man With Two Personas

While he was especially known for playing troubled, tortured characters, off the screen there was a far different Robert Ryan. Born in Chicago, Illinois, on November 11, 1909, and a Dartmouth graduate, Ryan was a quiet, introspective man was committed to his family and community. He married Jessica Cadwalader in 1939, a union which would last until her death from cancer in 1972. Beginning in 1946 the Ryans had three children in a span of five years, Tim, Cheyney, and Lisa.One of t...

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Silent Cinema: Seven Reasons to Love Silent Movies

Let's be honest, silent films do not have the best of reputations. Often dismissed as corny, cliched and ridiculous (usually by people who have never actually seen one), silent cinema has gotten very little respect. Fortunately, the tide is turning, and more and more film fans are discovering how vibrant and intriguing these movies really are.Of course, watching silent films is still not a common hobby. In fact, the most common question I get is, 'How did you start watching those?...

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Classics 101 - Presenting Alfred Hitchcock, Part 5: The Transatlantic Years

1947: Mr. Hitchcock and his partner, Sidney Bernstein, have a deal with Warner Bros. for distribution of product from their independent unit, Transatlantic Pictures. To produce the films, though, they needed ample financing, and to make this endeavor work they also needed (a) big stars, and (b) inexpensive story properties. They took care of (a) with verbal commitments from Hitchcock friends Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman; floating their names around got bankers' attention. For (b), a variety ...

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Dark Cinema - Belita: Noir Ice Queen

Beautiful, haughty, serene--the actress, ballet dancer and ice skater Belita often seemed to be living in her own melancholy world. She was like a disappointed debutante, carving out a lonely existence among people more ordinary than she. The multi-talented star made her name as a child ballerina and competitive ice skater, but she is also remembered today for the eleven films she made in bit, supporting and feature roles.Among the best of these films is a trio of noirs she made f...

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The Old Corral: The Old Corral Heads To Old Tucson

If you're a fan of Western movies, chances are good a few of your favorites were shot at Old Tucson Studios -- 'Hollywood in the Desert.' The location is very well represented on DVD and Blu-ray. Here are a few points of interest.Arizona (1940)In 1938, Columbia Pictures built a replica of 1860s Tucson on a site adjacent to the Tucson Mountains and owned by Pima County for the movie Arizona. In just 40 days, workers built more than ...

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The Name Game: Monumental Movie Trivia

About 30 years ago, George Carlin came on The Tonight Show and had Johnny Carson laughing helplessly with a bit on old movies. The premise was when you see a crowd scene in an old black and white movie; odds are everyone in the scene is now dead. A bit morbid, but Carlin tapped into the back alleys of speculation movie fans love.When a film festival runs a film featuring an infant, it's a guaranteed conversation topic when the film ends. 'That baby that Constance Bennett ...

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Silent Cinema: From Russia to Paris

Russian film enjoys a reputation among fans of silent cinema that is on par with the best works of France and Germany. Casual fans would be forgiven for thinking the Russian film industry did not exist at all before the Revolution since most of the famous films were created after the rise of the Soviet Union.Nothing could be further from the truth. For a full decade before the collapse of the monarchy, Russian actors and directors were creating films of intelligence and beauty. An...

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TV TIME: When TV Characters Go on TV

Before there were hundreds of channels and thousands of reality programs filling them, it was kind of a big deal to be on television. Sure, there were plenty of opportunities for starry-eyed amateurs to appear on the small screen, but it was still enough of a special experience that those who made TV shows could create fun stories by putting their characters on programs in their own fictional universes. How do our favorite characters respond to opportunities to be on the tube? Let's ...

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Be My Valentine: Ten Films for Your Post-Valentine's Viewing

As Valentine's Day comes to a close, thoughts turn to left-over chocolates, flowers...and perhaps, in the case of classic film fans, romantic movies.Everyone has their favorite romantic classics, from Gone With the Wind (1939) to Now, Voyager (1942) to Casablanca (1942). Beyond those familiar films, there are many lesser-known romantic movies which are worth checking out. Below are ten suggestions of favorite lesser-known romantic films. They...

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Classics 101: The Four Clowns - Chaplin

It's hard to believe, especially amongst us movie lovers, but once upon a time in America, silent films were considered to be worthless as entertainment, useless as history, and of little or no interest to film fans. Nitrate stock is highly flammable and expensive to store safely, and studios felt they were worth more for the silver in their nitrate then they were for theatrical (or later television) sales.As early as 1931, studios were already destroying prints, including negativ...

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Dark Cinema: Breaking the Typecasting Mold

During the studio age, stars were all about persona. They'd find their type, whatever thrilled audiences, and for the most part they'd stick to it throughout their careers. Call it typecasting, or playing to strengths, but very few performers were able to completely break away from the images that brought them fame.One big exception is Dick Powell. He started his screen career as a boyish crooner, and he was wildly popular as the lead in a series of kaleidoscopic Busby Berkeley mu...

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'It Only Cost a Dime:' Seniors Remember the Golden Age of Movies

When senior citizens (I like the phrase 'seasoned citizens') remember the movies of their youth, they focus on the dime it cost to enter the dream palace.I've been quizzing my elders about their movie memories since the late 60s, when the one o'clock matinee movie on TV got me hooked on the black and white era. Here are some of the stories they told me.One man who grew up in Lima, Ohio, in the Depression, told me how he saw three shows for fifteen cents. 'On Saturday, ...

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Silent Cinema: Films for the Silent Novice

So, you want to try out these crazy silent movies but you don't know where to start. Never fear, help is on the way! Here is a small list of field-tested movies I have successfully used to introduce people to the exciting world of silent film.First, a quick explanation: Thanks in part to the 2011 motion picture Hugo, Georges Melies has returned to the consciousness of viewers who may not even like classic or silent films in general. Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton never...

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TV TIME: More Joan and Margie From VCI

Following the enormous success of I Love Lucy after its premiere in 1951, television viewers saw a batch of other sitcoms driven by female characters that got into equally wacky situations each week. Unfortunately, most of these women aren't nearly as well remembered as Lucy is today. VCI Entertainment's recent DVD releases of two of these programs, I Married Joan Collection 3 and My Little Margie Collection 3, are welcome additions to all classic television enthusi...

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Claudette Colbert: Star and Mentor

Claudette Colbert, an elegant star adept at both comedy and drama, was born in France on September 3, 1903.Colbert's family moved to the U.S. when she was young. By her early 20s she was acting on Broadway, where she found particular success in the 1927 production The Barker, costarring Walter Huston and her future first husband, Norman Foster.Colbert's film career began that same year, and by the early '30s she was the star of such films as Ernst Lubitsch's

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Classics 101 - Must-See Cinema: Foreign Films

Classicflix boasts a beautiful array of excellent foreign-language films in its library, but they don't get talked about much. That's a shame because an understanding and appreciation of world cinema should be a part of every movie lover's experience.Growing up in Ohio, I didn't see a lot of foreign films; my impression of the ones I did see was that they were bleak, dark, dull and depressing, filled with poverty-stricken characters who drone on and on in voiceover while going thr...

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