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Shadows & Satin and Speakeasy are hosting The 1947 Blogathon featuring posts on some of the greatest films that were released in 1947. Be sure to head on over to their sites to read about all the great '47 films. But don't hurry there just yet! First, read our review on Danny Kaye's best post-wa read more

Shadows & Satin and Speakeasy are hosting The 1947 Blogathon featuring posts on some of the greatest films that were released in 1947. Be sure to head on over to their sites to read about all the great '47 films. But don't hurry there just yet! First, read our review on Danny Kaye's best post-wa read more

Shadows & Satin and Speakeasy are hosting The 1947 Blogathon featuring posts on some of the greatest films that were released in 1947. Be sure to head on over to their sites to read about all the great '47 films. But don't hurry there just yet! First, read our review on Danny Kaye's best post-wa read more

I recently watched three very different takes on the 1960s crime thriller now available on DVD from Warner Archive. Once a Thief (1965), The Secret Partner (1961) and Signpost to Murder (1964) tread similar ground, from bleak situations to twisty plots, but each film has its own unusual character. read more

Just last week I called the biopics on Lifetime “low-hanging fruit.” The fact that the network was moving forward on the umpteenth Marilyn Monroe biopic failed to inspire confidence, not just from me but Marilyn Monroe biographer Carl Rollyson. With trepidation I sat down to find out abo read more

It was either write a book or sell the jewels in order to make ends meet, and Ava Gardner chose to write a book. But she couldn’t do it on her own. She hired Peter Evans to listen to stories of her life, and to ghostwrite the book for her. In a series of lengthy interviews — some in pers read more

The secret in Santa Vittoria is where a million bottles of wine are stashed, a mundane plot for a WWII comedy, right? Director Stanley Kramer, whose work expressed the hilarity and devotion to pride (see It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World), crafts a comedy mired in darkness but able to discover t read more

One of the most unique animated features in the digital animation era is The Secret of Kells.  Made by the Irish film studio, Cartoon Saloon, it tells a fictional story about the origin of the Book of Kells.  The Book of Kells is one of the most prized artifacts of early Irish history, dating back read more

Nobody knows what is true and what is false about me anymore. I'm not sure that I know myself anymore. (105-106) I admit that when I asked for Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations last Christmas I was enticed by the advertising lure that these were secret conversations, so secret that they read more

Haldane of the Secret Service ~ Harry Houdini (1923) 5/31/2014 12 Comments   Harry Houdini.  It seems that everyone knows that name;  it evokes images of mystery and magic,  of locks, and chains, an read more

Haldane of the Secret Service ~ Harry Houdini (1923) 5/31/2014 12 Comments   Harry Houdini.  It seems that everyone knows that name;  it evokes images of mystery and magic,  of locks, and chains, and daring.  It has always read more

Cinematic Episodes is another cross-medium post wherein the link between cinema and another medium is explored. I have written about adaptations, films in books, characters in comics and other arts hitting the big screen. However, I recently have started to consider some of the technical, and in som read more

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (Steven Spielberg, 2011) Since 1981, the year the first Indiana Jones was released, Steven Spielberg's hero has been reference to the little Belgian journalist. Spielberg who did not knew Tintin at the time bought the albums and was imme read more

It’s Los Angeles in the 1950s and the GI Bill-fueled migration from city to suburb is in high gear. An opening shot of a vast (but shockingly empty) freeway system sets the scene. A gorgeous young couple in a late-model Chrysler cruises out of town. They smile as they pass billboard after bill read more

It’s Los Angeles in the 1950s and the GI Bill-fueled migration from city to suburb is in high gear. An opening shot of a vast (but shockingly empty) freeway system sets the scene. A gorgeous young couple in a late-model Chrysler cruises out of town. They smile as they pass billboard after bill read more

Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations by Peter Evans and Ava Gardner Simon and Schuster Hardcover, 304 pages July 2013 ISBN 9781451627695 Barnes and Noble IndieBound Powell's In 1986, actress Ava Gardner suffered a stroke. Two years later she found herself in some financial difficulty and decid read more

Dean Stockwell, Margaret O'Brien and Brian Roper in The Secret Garden (1949) The Secret Garden (1949) is a delightful adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel of the same name. Of the three adaptations I've seen of The Secret Garden, this one is my favorite (although I'm also partial read more