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Felix Bressart was the quintessential ‘little guy.’ He was born in East Prussia in Germany (and carried the heavy accent his entire life) and began acting in 1914. In 1928 he moved from the stage to the screen. American audiences, however, first saw him in Ninotchka, as one of the three Russians read more

I’d like to write a quick note about my series of posts on ‘Supporting Actors.’ So far I’ve profiled Paul Henreid, Eric Blore, Thomas Mitchell, Sam Levene, Donald Crisp, Eleanor Parker, and Hitchcock regulars John Williams, Thelma Ritter, Barbara Bel Geddes, and Hume Cronyn. You’ll notice read more

You guys. I’m going to graduate school. My friends like to say I’m “majoring in movies,” and then they add “thank goodness” or “finally.” I know, I talk about almost nothing else. But technically, I am going back to school to get a Master’s in Media Studies. Then the question is, “What’s read more

So, what did I see this summer? Unfortunately, I did not see as many outdoor movies as I would have liked – for some reason it kept raining here in New York. I did, however, manage to see: Dracula (1931) with a live score composed, conducted, and performed by Philip Glass.   So Philip Glass read more

Screwballs went with the studio system. They came into their own 1933-1934, peaked late 30’s to early 40’s, but after the war and the end of the decade, lost their mojo. Most of the films I’ve profiled over this summer were made between 1934-1943, a decade long period when contract stars still read more

“For classic movie lovers, TCM’s annual Summer Under the Stars month-long programming event is like Christmas, the Oscars, the Super Bowl, and every Hollywood red carpet gala rolled into one. For 31 days, fans are treated to an embarrassment of cinematic riches – a collection of films featuri read more

“For classic movie lovers, TCM’s annual Summer Under the Stars month-long programming event is like Christmas, the Oscars, the Super Bowl, and every Hollywood red carpet gala rolled into one. For 31 days, fans are treated to an embarrassment of cinematic riches – a collection of films featuri read more

“For classic movie lovers, TCM’s annual Summer Under the Stars month-long programming event is like Christmas, the Oscars, the Super Bowl, and every Hollywood red carpet gala rolled into one. For 31 days, fans are treated to an embarrassment of cinematic riches – a collection of films featuri read more

“For classic movie lovers, TCM’s annual Summer Under the Stars month-long programming event is like Christmas, the Oscars, the Super Bowl, and every Hollywood red carpet gala rolled into one. For 31 days, fans are treated to an embarrassment of cinematic riches – a collection of films featuri read more

In my summer of screwball, I’ve been meaning to write about Love Crazy. It was one of the fourteen films William Powell and Myrna Loy made together, including the Thin Man series, between 1934-1947. Love Crazy was number 10, released in 1941, from their home studio MGM. Jack Conway, director of Lov read more

The Public Menace was not the only film to use the popular backdrop of gangsters to send up love and romance. The love story in It All Came True is almost peripheral to the story and less central to the action than the gangster-in-hiding plot. Tommy Taylor (Jeffrey Lynn) is an aspiring composer, read more

Two of my favorite bloggers, Aurora of Once Upon a Screen and Annmarie of Classic Movie Hub Blog are teaming up to host a blogathon on Dynamic Duos, and this post is my contribution. Libeled Lady features four of MGM’s top-grossing stars of that time: Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy, and Wil read more

This post was originally written as my contribution to the What Price Hollywood? Blogathon, hosted by Kristen of Journeys in Classic Film and Pat of 100 Years of Movies – which was unfortunately canceled. However, I still wanted to post this! Stand-In stars Leslie Howard two years before Gone With read more

In addition to being part of my Summer of Screwball, this post is also my contribution to Movies, Silently‘s spontaneous Funny Lady Blogathon. Screwball comedies might be smart and funny, but sometimes a comedy isn’t all laughs. Gangster films, rolling off of Warner Brothers’ production line read more

Screwballs weren’t just smart about women and feminism, they were pretty smart about life too. In You Can’t Take It With You, it’s right there in the title. The heavy-handedness is to be expected, and the film is still enjoyable. Jean Arthur receives top billing in You Can’t Take It With You read more

The marriage plot is a device going back to Shakespeare. A reductive method of teaching Shakespeare posits that “if it ends in a marriage, it’s a comedy.” Reductive because Richard III has some funny bits, but that’s not a comedy, but As You Like It ends in marriages and is less laugh-out-loud read more

I think Jean Arthur is just great. She’s always smart, cute, funny, and stubborn. She manages to be attractive without playing a prostitute (Jean Harlow in Red Dust is what I’m thinking of), and she manages to keep up with the man without becoming, how shall I say this, mannish (His Girl Friday). read more

Whew, so here in New York, I have no idea what happened to spring. All of a sudden it was hot & humid, and it was summer in New York. While I get very cranky when I’m overheated (or just anytime the humidity is out of control), I love summer in New York because there’s more FREE thi read more

I kept waiting for Mr. Lucky to be something else. The movie stars Cary Grant, so I was expecting some of his usual goofy-suave demeanor, but it begins like a noir. A misty shipyard, two sailors talking, a dame walks to the edge of the pier. Grant’s character, before he appears, is referred to as read more

The Lady Vanishes and Berlin Express were made ten years apart, but both feature trains speeding across Europe. Not an uncommon device, a lot of films use it: James Bond or Murder on the Orient Express, for instance. Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes was made in 1938 in England and set preceden read more