Articles

Dark Cinema: Ladies in Exotic Exile

Sex, crime, drugs, alcohol, and a young woman who is vulnerable to it all, put them in an isolated location, add a little heat, and morals melt away. At least that seemed to be the way studios reasoned in the pre-Code era. Never before or since have so many glamorous ladies found themselves in such exotic screen peril than in the steamy, lurid dramas made during this period. These movies tend to be bleak, but they are also packed with fascinating characters and provide a great showcase for th...

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Apes, Earthquakes, and Jello Horses: Special Effects Landmarks in Sound Films

Five years separate the premieres of The Jazz Singer (1927), with its brief but irresistible sequences of Al Jolson's singing, from Love Me Tonight (1932), a miracle of score synchronization, fluid camera, and optical effects. In the early sound period, the major studios hired more technical advisers and, for certain effects-filled films, began to accept higher ends in production costs and schedules.At their best, the results are startling. In thi...

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Apes, Earthquakes, and Jello Horses: Special Effects Landmarks in Sound Films

Five years separate the premieres of The Jazz Singer (1927), with its brief but irresistible sequences of Al Jolson's singing, from Love Me Tonight (1932), a miracle of score synchronization, fluid camera, and optical effects. In the early sound period, the major studios hired more technical advisers and, for certain effects-filled films, began to accept higher ends in production costs and schedules.At their best, the results are startling. In thi...

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Silent Cinema: The Best Silent Films You've Never Heard Of

Today we are going to be taking a look at the runners-up, the also-rans. The silent movies that are wonderful and enjoyable, perhaps very popular in their day (and probably known to silent film buffs) but don't seem to get the same amount of attention as their more famous siblings.Pandora's Box, The General, Metropolis, The Gold Rush... This article is not about them. It's about stepping off the beaten path and maybe discovering something magical.

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The Old Corral: Here Comes Santa Claus (And The Cowboy And The Indians)

The Cowboy and the Indians (1949) Directed by John English Produced by Armand Schaefer Cast: Gene Autry (Gene Autry), Sheila Ryan (Doctor Nan), Frank Richards (Smiley Martin), Hank Patterson (Tom), Jay Silverheels (Lakohna), Claudia Drake (Lucy Broken Arm), Georgie Nokes (Rona), Charles Stevens (Broken Arm), Alex Frazer (Fred), Clayton Moore (Luke), Iron Eyes Cody Gene Autry wore a lot of hats, and not just in the literal sense....

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TV TIME: Classic Christmas Episodes

Even though the 'holiday shopping season' now begins right after Halloween, it flies by more quickly each year. I loved all the Christmas episodes and specials on television as a kid, but they somehow made the wait even more agonizing. Today it's all a blur, but at least with DVD I can slow down and get a dose of yuletide cheer whenever I need it. Let's examine some of the best Christmas episodes of the classic television era, a simpler time when the medium focused more on telling...

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Santa's Surprises: 12 Overlooked Christmas Classics

'Tis the season for watching Christmas movies! There's something extra-special about the holiday classics we enjoy year after year. Beyond the pleasures of the films themselves, over time the movies also become wrapped up in our heightened memories of the holiday season as we remember sharing them with family and friends. For many of us, the season doesn't feel complete until we've watched Holiday Inn (1942), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), The Bish...

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Classics 101 - Presenting Alfred Hitchcock, Part 3: The Selznick Years

On March 4, 1939, with Jamaica Inn finished, Hitch loaded Alma, Pat, and assistant Joan Harrison on the ship bound for New York, leaving England and establishing permanent residence in the U.S. After a brief tour of the country and a stop in Cuba, the Hitchcock's arrived in California in April and Selznick advised Hitch that his proposed Titanic film was temporarily shelved and his first U.S. film would be Rebecca. The making of the Daphne du Maurier adaptation i...

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TV TIME: Exploring Batman - Season 1

Since this is one of the most eagerly anticipated TV-on-DVD releases in the history of the format, I'll say right off the bat (please consider that awful pun an homage) that Warner Home Video delivers with Season 1 of the 1966 Batman series! It gives us what we've never had: All 34 uncut episodes in great quality. Nearly 50 years after its debut, the program holds up as lively entertainment and dazzling eye candy. When this set arrived, I loaded the first disc just to do a quick chec...

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TV TIME: Looking at Batman - Season 1

Since this is one of the most eagerly anticipated TV-on-DVD releases in the history of the format, I'll say right off the bat (please consider that awful pun an homage) that Warner Home Video delivers with Season 1 of the 1966 Batman series! It gives us what we've never had: All 34 uncut episodes in great quality. Nearly 50 years after its debut, the program holds up as lively entertainment and dazzling eye candy. When this set arrived, I loaded the first disc just to do a quick chec...

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Dark Cinema: Holiday Noir

The season of good cheer can be as dark as it is merry. It is a time of crowded stores, a hectic pace and maybe even a bit of loneliness. Sometimes a heartwarming holiday flick just doesn't fit the mood. The antidote? A healthy helping of noir. Check out these films that view the holiday season from the dark side: They Live...

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Silent Wonders: Early Landmarks in Special Effects

The farther back one pursues a love of vintage films, a theme becomes increasingly clear: the speed of technology. Cinema was driven by rapid advances in photography, set design, and props. Consider first the format of commercial films: coin-operated peep shows in 1894, public exhibition of short films in 1896 (some of them clips of a minute or less), a popular narrative film (The Great Train Robbery) in 1903, a charming cartoon, Gertie the Dinosaur, in 1909, and feature fil...

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Silent Cinema: Paris in Silent Film

Ask anyone to name the cities with the greatest cultural impact and Paris likely makes the list. Hollywood loves Paris as much as anyone, and that love goes all the way back to the silent era. Of course, no two filmmakers are going to see a city in the same way and this is where things get interesting. We are going to be looking at the assorted ways Paris was portrayed in silent film. Those Wacky Middle Ages The most lavish films set in Paris take the ...

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Dana Andrews: Son of a Preacher Man

Dana Andrews was born Carver Dana Andrews on New Year's Day, 1909, in Mississippi. He was a preacher's son, one of a large family which would eventually include his little brother, actor Steve Forrest, who was born William Andrews when Dana was 16. Dana came to California in the early '30s, intent on being an actor. He worked in a variety of jobs, and in the mid-'30s a pair of Van Nuys businessmen he knew took the unusual step of 'investing' in Dana, supporting him while he took a...

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Five of a Kind: The Odd Life of the Dionne Quintuplets

If the Dionne quintuplets had been born today, they would have been reality television stars or a YouTube sensation. However, there's nothing in modern life that can compare to the sensation the girls created when they became the first recorded quintuplets to live beyond infancy. Yvonne, Annette, Cecile, Emilie and Marie Dionne were born to poor farmer, Oliva-Edouard, and his wife Elzire in the village of Corbeil, Ontario, Canada in 1934. Arriving two months early, it was assumed ...

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Classics 101 - Presenting Alfred Hitchcock: Part 2, the British Masterpieces

In the first part of this retrospective; we tracked young Alfred Hitchcock through his earliest films. In 1934, he purchased the rights to Bulldog Drummond's Baby (but not the Bulldog Drummond character) and began fashioning one of his most famous thrillers.'I think you'll find the real start of my career was The Man who Knew too Much.' - Alfred Hitchcock Non-stop fun and much closer to what the director would give us from now on than what he'd given ...

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TV TIME: Horror Icons on the Small Screen

Like many stars of the golden age of Hollywood, some of the most notable horror icons of the era eventually transitioned to television. I won't argue their best work was done on the small screen, but there is a lot of enjoyable material from them on DVD. Let's examine some of the classic television appearances of these legendary performers. One legendary movie monster who is not a regular on the tube is Bela Lugosi, who is of course Dracula in the 1931 Universal ...

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The Old Corral: The Lone Ranger in 'The Ghost of Coyote Canyon'

The Lone Ranger was ABC's top-rated show throughout its original run, and the network's first big success of the 1950s. Of course, the character had been around since his radio debut in 1933, created by George Trendle and Frank Striker. And while the show, novels, comics and movie serials were big hits, it was the TV show, starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, became a true phenomenon. For many of us, Clayton Moore is the Lone Ranger, the same way Sean Connery is J...

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Zero at the Bone: Chilling Moments in Classic Films

My article title comes from Emily Dickinson; it is how she described the feeling of coming upon a snake as it slid past her in the grass. It is a feeling film makers have produced in willing audiences since the silent days. With its sensory presentation, film is the perfect medium for the thriller. While we often date the modern thriller from the premiere of Psycho in 1960, movies had been scaring the socks off people for half a century. In 1910, in fact, there was a one-reel Fra...

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Easy Living at the Lone Pine Film Festival

The 25th Lone Pine Film Festival took place in Lone Pine, California, in early October, providing film fans with a very special time in an area where hundreds of classic-era movies were filmed. Although I've been to the charming little Sierra town of Lone Pine on many occasions, this was my first visit to the festival, and I can't underline enough what a good time I had. Anyone who loves classic films, especially Westerns, will want to put the Lone Pine Film Festival on their 'mus...

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