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The Top 10 (Possible) Hit Films of 1924 As 2024 is drawing to a close, I’m reminded that a number of iconic silent films are now 100 years old: Sherlock Jr, The Thief of Bagdad, Greed. These kinds of milestones always spark my curiosity: were these films as popular back then as they are today? read more

In Appreciation for Frank Chambers I’ve been a fan of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) for as long as I can remember – it was one of the first noirs I ever saw as a child. (I recall that I didn’t initially understand what the title meant – and how thrilled I was when I finally figured read more

In Piranha, thousands of tiny fish – already known for their carnivorous appetites – go bonkers for human flesh after being genetically modified by the government. Among the film’s stars are Barbara Steele, Kevin McCarthy, Bradford Dillman and Dick Miller. Matinee has a William Castle-type read more

Silver Screen Standards: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) While I’ve never had any interest in diamonds, I do enjoy watching Marilyn Monroe sing about them in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), the Technicolor film adaptation of the 1949 stage musical based on Anita Loos’ flapper era novel. Monroe’s read more

Classic Movie Travels: Dinah Shore Frances “Fanny” Rose Shore was born on February 29, 1916, to Anna and Solomon Shore in Winchester, Tennessee. She had a sister, Elizabeth, who was eight years older. When Fanny was eighteen months old, she suffered from polio. After extensive care, an exerci read more

Western Film Book Library – Part 9 It’s time for another survey of books on Western movies! This month’s column is prompted in large part by the publication of an important new book, The Cavalry Trilogy: John Ford, John Wayne, and the Making of Three Classic Westerns by Michael read more

The Growing Pains of (Very) Early Cinema It’s easy to assume that “moving pictures” burst onto the scene in the late 19th century all at once. We often imagine that pop culture history can be neatly sliced into “before cinema” and “after cinema,” positive that the traditional forms read more

Thankful Noir Noirvember and Thanksgiving season. The weather is getting cooler and the leaves are continuing to turn and fall. So, what better time to pull up a chair, grab a cup o’ cider, and join me as I serve up a heaping platter of noir-related goodies that I’m thankful for? Here goes read more

My Favorite Wife (1940) I’ve shown a lot of comedies to my lifetime learners over the years, but I’ve rarely heard an audience laugh as uproariously as they did during a recent screening of My Favorite Wife (1940), which we watched as part of a series featuring Cary Grant. The peals of laughter read more

As classic movie fans, we’ve all had those “wow” moments with actors we may not expect to see in a film as in “Wow! Is that (fill in the blank) …” Or “Wait – I think that’s …” This usually happens in their early films and it’s always fun to make that connection. One of my read more

Valeska Suratt Valeska Suratt Valeska Suratt was born on June 28, 1882, in Owensville, Indiana, to Ralph and Anna Suratt. When Suratt was six years old, her family relocated to Terre Haute, Indiana. By 1899, she dropped out of school to work at a photography studio, later moving to Indianapoli read more

Lone Pine Film Festival 2024 I had an amazing time again this year at the annual Lone Pine Film Festival held in Lone Pine, California. This was the 34th festival, of which I’ve attended around 10. As has become our habit in recent years, we arrived in town a day ahead of the four-da read more

Noir Nook: Noir’s Scariest Characters October is a month for ghosts and goblins, bats and jack-o’-lanterns, black cats and skeletons. Not necessarily the characteristics that come to mind when one thinks of film noir. But there’s one thing that’s common to both October and noir – scary read more

House on Haunted Hill (1959) I fell in love with the wacky low-budget horror films of the 1950s and 60s as a kid, when public domain chillers aired late at night and I secretly stayed up to watch them on the tiny black-and-white TV in my room. I didn’t pay much attention to the filmmakers behind read more

A Closer Look At “London After Midnight” (1927) It’s probably the most famous, most sought-after lost silent film of all time: London After Midnight (1927), starring the screen legend Lon Chaney and directed by the macabre-minded Tod Browning. Despite constant attempts to track it dow read more

Turning 80 is a big deal for anyone – or anything for that matter and that includes movies. We’ve lost thousands of films through the decades and never for a good reason. Some because they were shot on highly combustible nitrate film, others from neglect, because of old age or even be read more

Audrey Meadows Audrey Meadows Audrey Cotter was born on February 8, 1922, in New York, New York, as the youngest of four children (two girls and two boys). Her parents were Reverend Francis James Meadows Cotter and Ida Miller Taylor, who worked as Episcopal missionaries in Wuchang, Hubei, Chin read more

“B” Movie Western Sampler It’s time for my annual “B” Western sampler! In 2022 and 2023 I shared reviews of short “B” Westerns I watched while traveling. Once again my portable DVD player and “B” Western discs accompanie read more

The Wild Frontier of “Inceville” “When the movies were young,” as the saying went, filmmakers’ heads were swimming with possibilities. Motion pictures cameras could take footage anywhere a tripod could rest, so why not take advantage of it? Outside the usual confines of the stage, anything read more

Uncommon Ladies of Noir: Rhonda Fleming Rhonda Fleming was known as “The Queen of Technicolor.” As such, she’s not necessarily the first femme who comes to mind when you’re talking noir. With her titian locks, she was a standout in films like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court read more