By Movie StarAlfred HitchcockAudrey HepburnAva GardnerBarbara StanwyckBasil RathboneBette DavisBilly WilderBob HopeBoris KarloffBurt LancasterBuster KeatonCarole LombardCary GrantCharlie ChaplinClara BowClark GableClaudette ColbertDana AndrewsDeanna DurbinDebbie ReynoldsDoris DayElizabeth TaylorErnst LubitschErrol FlynnEsther WilliamsFranchot ToneFred AstaireFred MacMurrayGary CooperGene KellyGinger RogersGloria SwansonGrace KellyGreer GarsonGregory PeckGreta GarboHarold LloydHedy LamarrHenry FondaHoward HawksHumphrey BogartIda LupinoIngrid BergmanIrene DunneJack BennyJack LemmonJames CagneyJames StewartJane RussellJean ArthurJean HarlowJeanette MacDonaldJeanne CrainJoan BlondellJoan CrawfordJoan FontaineJohn FordJohn WayneJudy GarlandKatharine HepburnKay FrancisKirk DouglasLana TurnerLauren BacallLillian GishLon ChaneyLoretta YoungLouise BrooksLucille BallMae WestMarilyn MonroeMarion DaviesMarlene DietrichMary AstorMary PickfordMickey RooneyMiriam HopkinsMyrna LoyNatalie WoodNorma ShearerOlivia de HavillandOrson WellesPaul NewmanPreston SturgesRichard WidmarkRita HayworthRobert MitchumRudolph ValentinoShirley TempleSidney PoitierSpencer TracySteve McQueenTeresa WrightTyrone PowerVincent PriceVivien LeighWilliam HoldenWilliam PowellWilliam WylerWoody Allen By HolidayNew Year's DayPresident's DayValentine's DayEasterMother's DayFather's DayMemorial DayJuly 4thLabor DayColumbus DayHalloweenThanksgivingChristmasBlack History MonthWomen's History Month All Blogs4 Star Films (3457)50 Most Influential Disney Animators (58)A Person in the Dark (364)All Good Things (815)Backlots (412)Caf? Muscato (572)Caftan Woman (904)Carole & Co. (3081)Cary Grant Won't Eat You (484)Christy Putnam (77)Cinema Crossroads (42)Cinematic Catharsis (869)Cinematically Insane (268)CineMaven's Essays from the Couch (152)Classic Cinema Gold (319)Classic Film & TV Cafe (1249)Classic Film Freak (367)Classic Film Review (14)Classic Horror Campaign (257)Classic Movie Hub Blog (1862)Classic Movie Man (906)Classic Movies (3247)Classic Reel Girl (95)Comet Over Hollywood (1263)Creme de la Creme (31)Criterion Blues (770)Critica Retro (1416)Curtains (58)Durnmoose Movie Musings (1105)Film Reviews and Anything Else I Get Inspired by (5)Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone (161)Flickers in Time (2221)GlamAmor (586)Hitchcock Master (130)Hollywood Revue (532)Hometowns to Hollywood (757)How Sweet It Was (86)In The Good Old Days Of Classic Hollywood (154)Journeys in Classic Film (1765)Lady Eve's Reel Life (733)Le Mot du Cinephiliaque (945)Love Letters to Old Hollywood (150)MacGuffin Movies (362)Margaret Perry (165)Mildred's Fatburgers (201)Movie Classics (287)Movies Silently (1029)Noir and Chick Flicks (1998)Noirish (1273)Old Hollywood Films (651)Once Upon a Screen (420)Out of the Past - A Classic Film Blog (2144)Outspoken and Freckled (140)Phantom Empires (60)Please Go Away: A Katharine Hepburn Blog (456)Pop Culture ImagineMDD (103)Pretty Clever Films (1413)Reel Distracted (20)ScribeHard on Film (162)Serendipitous Anachronisms (82)Shadows and Satin (894)Silver Scenes - A Blog for Classic Film Lovers (1836)Smitten Kitten Vintage (48)Smum County (115)Stardust and Shadows (120)Studies in Cinema (118)Sunset Blvd (39)The Baz (158)The Best Picture Project (905)The Blonde At The Film (319)The Bogie Film Blog (147)The Cinema Dilettante (110)The Giddy Blog (152)The Great Katharine Hepburn (240)The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog (1622)The Jeanette MacDonald Blog (94)The Man on the Flying Trapeze (643)The Motion Pictures (791)The Movie Rat (746)The Old Hollywood Garden (437)The Stop Button (3203)The Timothy Carey Experience (1181)The Vintage Cameo (134)The Wonderful World of Cinema (578)Timeless Hollywood (73)True Classics (573)Virtual Virago (1617)Where Danger Lives (136)Wolffianclassicmoviesdigest (634)

Classic Movie Travels: Harry Spear Harry Spear was born Harry Sherman Bonner on December 16, 1921, in Los Angeles, California, to Joseph Bonner and Louise Spear. He was born at French Hospital in Los Angeles and initially resided at 5619 Fernwood Ave., Hollywood, California. His father served read more

Have you been watching the amazing new original documentary series on Turner Classic Movies called The Power of Film? This riveting six-part series explores some of the most popular and memorable American films of all time. New episodes will premiere every Thursday night through February 8. As read more

Lone Pine Locations It’s hard to believe, but it’s been a full year since this column last spent time looking at Western locations outside Lone Pine, California. As many readers will be aware, hundreds of Westerns were filmed in the Alabama Hills and other areas surroundi read more

A Closer Look At: The Big Parade (1925) Renée Adorée and John Gilbert In 1928, the great star John Gilbert wrote in an article for Photoplay: “Have any of you ever gone through an experience at school, or at college, or while in love, or while on a farm, or in the mountains, or exploring, read more

Ripped From the Headlines – While the City Sleeps (1956) Most classic movie fans are well acquainted with the Barrymore acting clan, which began with Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew, and continued down the line to Drew Barrymore. Sandwiched somewhere in there was John Drew Barrymore – John read more

Silver Screen Standards: Storms and Silence in The Spiral Staircase (1946) Gothic atmosphere churns tempestuously in Robert Siodmak’s 1946 mystery, The Spiral Staircase, with a terrific storm in the natural world that mirrors the psychological turbulence experienced by both heroine and killer. read more

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) This month it’s back to Tombstone with a look at Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957). Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a first-time watch for me, part of my ongoing series of reviews of Wyatt Earp films. Five years ago I cover read more

Jessica Borthwick, A Forgotten Front Lines Filmmaker We’re all familiar with the adventurous silent era cameramen who coolly took their equipment into dangerous situations, whether by trekking Arctic tundras or crossing broiling deserts. The excitement of capturing actual life led many to take read more

Noir Nook: No Femme Fatale Required Film noir movies have numerous characteristics in common – voiceover narration, flashbacks, use of shadows and light, unusual camera angles, anti-heroes, and, of course, the ever-popular femmes fatales. All noirs, of course, don’t have all of these traits read more

The House on Telegraph Hill (1951) Set in its own modern day in the wake of World War II, The House on Telegraph Hill (1951) merges elements of the female Gothic and film noir to present a gripping story about survival, deception, and maternal devotion with a rich subtext for viewers to ponder af read more

Classic Movie Travels: Mary Kornman Mary Kornman Mary Kornman was born Mary Agnes Evans on December 27, 1915, in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Her parents were David Lionel Evans, a railroad manager, and Verna Comer. Eugene Kornman, cameraman for Hal Roach, married Verna and adopted Mary. Soon enoug read more

Final Resting Places, A Tribute to Western Filmmakers This month we’ll be again paying tribute to Western filmmakers as we visit their Southern California gravesites. We’ll begin by honoring several Western directors. The prolific George Sherman began his career in ’30s ̶ read more

Silents are Golden: Chaplin’s Year At The Keystone Film Company In August 1913, Charlie Chaplin wrote a letter to his brother Sidney to share some exciting news: “I have had an offer from a moving picture company for quite a long time but I did not want to tell you until the whole thing was read more

Noir Nook: Shadows in the Victorian Age Western noir. British noir. Sci-fi noir. Neo-noir. So many types of noir these days. And there’s a new one – new to me, at least: Gaslight noir. I recently discovered this category of films on the Criterion Channel, where they were curated by film read more

Silver Screen Standards: Jane Eyre (1943) I’ve spent the fall of 2023 swimming in the wake of Jane Eyre, both the original 1847 novel by Charlotte Brontë and the 1943 adaptation starring Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles. I’ve been teaching a class about the novel for one lifetime learning program read more

Classic film fans know what it’s like to sit through a movie that’s all scratched up or crackles and pops; that’s too hard to see and too difficult to hear. Yet we take it in stride because we know it’s the only way to see movies that have suffered from decades of deterioration. read more

Classic Movie Travels: Jack Benny Jack Benny Bejamin Kubelsky was born in Chicago, Illinois, on February 14, 1894, to Meyer and Naomi Kubelsky. Meyer worked as a saloon owner and haberdasher, emigrating to the United States from Poland; Naomi emigrated from Lithuania. Though Kubelsky was born read more

Western RoundUp: Showdown (1963) Showdown (1963) is part of the new Audie Murphy Collection III from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Showdown starring Audie Murphy, Kathleen Crowley, and Charles Drake I shared news of this summer’s Murphy Blu-ray releases here in July, and a fe read more

Silents are Golden: 12 French Silent Film Recommendations Thanks to pioneering inventors like the Lumière Brothers, who famously held the first public showing of motion pictures in Paris on December 28, 1895, France is often considered the birthplace of cinema. And beyond producing early cameras read more

Horror films can sometimes be too much even for the most fervent fan. Maybe it’s a scene so gross that you close your eyes. Or the minute you realize there’s a demon involved, and you change the channel (devil movies are a huge no for me). Perhaps there’s a scene so terrifying read more