Welcome to BlogHub: the Best in Veteran and Emerging Classic Movie Blogs
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You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
Directors Named William: Wyler and Wilder
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Jun 2, 2012
“The last standing ovation I had was many years ago crossing the Atlantic on the Ile de France,” he said. “After dinner they showed Mrs. Miniver. They thought I was William Wyler.” –Billy Wilder on the reception he received at the AFI’s seminar for young directors in the 1970′s read more
Directors Named Howard: Hawks and Hughes
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on May 26, 2012
Notable for their distinct personalities, these two men who share a first name, were actually rather similar. (Although don’t tell them.) Howard Hawks attended Throop Polytechnic Institute (later Cal Tech) and Cornell to study engineering and flew during World War I. Howard Hughes was born in Texas read more
Best Picture Winners: The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on May 22, 2012
In 1936 The Great Ziegfeld, a biopic about Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. and his Follies, won the Oscar for Best Picture. Almost two decades later, in 1952, The Greatest Show on Earth, a Cecil B. DeMille brainchild won the prize. Both films claim greatness and showcase great showmen. Ziegfeld was played by read more
Buster Keaton’s Love Affair (with Trains)
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on May 15, 2012
Buster Keaton began his life on the road. Born Joseph Frank Keaton to medicine show-turned-vaudeville performers, he was performing on stage as a toddler. His early childhood memories are of traveling from town to town with his family. In his autobiography, My Wonderful World of Slapstick, Buster read more
AFI Top 100 Recap
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on May 7, 2012
In case you haven’t been watching the sidebar, here’s a quick update on my progress towards watching all of the AFI Top 100: X Citizen Kane A rich man dies and a news reporter goes back through his life to understand why his last word was “Rosebud.” Classic directed by and starring Orson Welles. read more
William Faulkner and Hollywood
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Apr 27, 2012
William Faulkner is known to most as a great American novelist, whose works high schoolers have to read and college students write dissertations on. Faulkner was also a screenwriter for the Hollywood studio system, working extensively with Howard Hawks. Faulkner married and his wife began having c read more
Supporting Actors: Thomas Mitchell
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Apr 20, 2012
The name Thomas Mitchell may not be instantly recognizable, but his list of credits should illicit a knowing “ohhh, that guy.” Mitchell was born in 1892 in New Jersey, to Irish parents. The on-screen persona he created was most definitely Irish, usually hard-drinking, stout, and usually one who read more
AFI Top 100: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Apr 12, 2012
Katharine Hepburn utters the title line about halfway through the movie when breaking the news to her husband (Spencer Tracy, in his last film appearance) that their daughter’s African-American fiancé’s parents are coming to dinner. The daughter (Katharine Houghton, Hepburn’s real-life niece) read more
Supporting Actors: Eric Blore
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Apr 5, 2012
Eric Blore began his career, like many classic actors, on the stage. Appearing in a minor role in Fred Astaire’s The Gay Divorcee, led to his being cast in the film version, co-starring Ginger Rogers. As a supporting actor, there is nothing better for your career than the backing of a more famous read more
Happy 70th Anniversary, Casablanca!
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Apr 2, 2012
Casablanca, Best Picture Winner and #2 on AFI’s Top 100 list, was a dark horse. No one working on the film had any idea the movie made for $850,000 would become a timeless classic. No one thought Humphrey Bogart could play a romantic lead. My favorite mis-under-estimation of Casablanca was by read more
PTSD on Film: Jimmy Stewart
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Mar 28, 2012
In concluding my PTSD on Film series, I have chosen to study two postwar films of an actor I greatly admire and respect, Jimmy Stewart. Jimmy Stewart was a hometown boy from Indiana, Pennsylvania, who starred in a string of romantic comedies in the 1930’s. In the 1940’s, he flew missions to France, read more
PTSD on Film: The Best Years of Our Lives
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Mar 18, 2012
The Best Years of Our Lives, William Wyler’s 1946 Oscar-winning picture, is the most honest and straightforward look at PTSD to come out of post-WWII Hollywood. It begins with the return of three soldiers: Al (Fredric March), an infantry officer, Fred (Dana Andrews), a bombardier, and Homer (Howar read more
PTSD on Film: Humphrey Bogart’s Ex-GIs
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Mar 9, 2012
Humphrey Bogart was born at the tail-end of 1899, a “last-century man,” as he always called himself, and joined the Navy in 1918 when he was kicked out of prep school. 1918 saw the end of the fighting in Europe, and Bogie missed WWI. He was shipped to Europe and ran troop transport ships back and read more
PTSD on Film: The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Mar 1, 2012
PTSD is associated in most Americans’ minds with soldiers returning from war, but the anxiety symptoms soldiers of early American wars experienced were not classified as PTSD until recently. WWI veterans were “shell-shocked,” a term which was even applied to returning WWII vets. PTSD, or post-traum read more
Oscar Nominees
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Feb 24, 2012
And now, the nominees! Oscars tomorrow. This is most definitely not a prediction, because I don’t want to attempt to judge current tastes. I do however, offer my opinions, as always. Best Motion Picture of the Year The Artist The Descendants Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close The Help Hugo read more
Golden Globes Predict the Oscars?
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Feb 16, 2012
According to the Hollywood Reporter (the trade publication of Leonard Maltin and Robert Osbourne), the Golden Globes get a D- in fortune telling. In the past twenty years, the Golden Globes (held before the Oscars in January) have only picked the same Best Picture winner as the Academy 55% of the t read more
“Miss Loy, I presume?”
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Feb 13, 2012
Manhattan Melodrama and the Second Greatest Hollywood Love Story Myrna Loy was born Myrna Williams in Montana, moving to California with her mother as a child. She dreamed of becoming a dancer, and when Grauman spotted her dancing at his Egyptian Theater, he gave her a screen test. Myrna played ba read more
Directors Named George: Stevens and Cukor
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Feb 10, 2012
George Cukor and George Stevens are probably the most modest directors of the studio era: an era not known for modesty or restraint. At that time big, pushy producers and directors ruled the roost, and when a starlet tried to buck the system, she (or he) was promptly put on suspension. Men were ma read more
Actors Named Montgomery Clift
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Feb 6, 2012
Surprisingly, there was more than one. Well, not exactly. But there were several classic movie actors with either Montgomery or Clift in their names… Clifton Webb Most notable role: Waldo Lydecker in Laura Webb was a mama’s boy. He lived with his mother until she died, when he was 71. His masterfu read more
AFI Top 100: Sullivan’s Travels
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Jan 31, 2012
“And I say this with some embarrassment, but I don’t want to make O Brother Where Art Thou.” It would take 60 years and two Coen Brothers to make O Brother Where Art Thou, but Joel Coen says on the DVD commentary that his 2000 film was the movie John L. Sullivan would have made at the end of read more