There were a lot of Hollywood talents from the studio era whose names were associated with the “factory” aspects of that time:  making one film after another of varying quality, jumping from genre to genre, producing “good Hollywood fare.”  The output of these industry creatives tended to be lumped together, the good with the bad, [...]

I was an adolescent — and the day was cold and sunny — when I went to a Saturday matinee of Richard Brooks’ THE HAPPY ENDING. That day and that movie came back to me as I read that Jean Simmons died. I haven’t seen it since (the film might not have aged well) but [...]

Star vehicles can be a twonky trip when you know zip about the star it’s carrying.  Worshipful costuming, dramatic entrances and exits, and deifying lighting plans can help you interpret what kind of characters this actor generally plays, what fantasy audiences project upon him.  Indeed, few things illuminate Marshall McLuhan’s axiom that “the medium is [...]

“No matter when one lives in Hollywood, one brings one’s own mental furniture along.”      – Otto Friedrich,  journalist / cultural historian The final (and rarest) episode of Jacques Demy’s Lola film trilogy has made its home video debut this month.   Unlike the first two, MODEL SHOP was in English and shot in Southern California. [...]

In the book Intermission, Anne Baxter’s memoirs of leaving Hollywood — running away with her new husband to live on a ranch in the Australian bush — the first chapter finds Baxter in a pink bikini, relaxing on the sandy bank of a river near Sydney after completing her work on the movie SUMMER OF [...]

The Fourth of July weekend was the epicenter of the new film releases: major studio films are timed to be released in June, July and December. Lots to choose from but, for me and a friend, the agreed-upon movie to catch during the holiday was Michael Mann’s PUBLIC ENEMIES. I once heard the great experimental [...]

This Sunday, Turner Classic Movies will be screening George Cukor’s MY FAIR LADY. To enhance the experience, you might want to take a look at a think-piece I published on the movie at this blog’s parent site, PostModern Joan. The piece can be found here.

It’s December, when I celebrate the birthdays of two divae: Maria Callas and Deanna Durbin. Callas — the Prima Donna Assolutissima — reignited the tradition of diva worship in the arts, and due to the cult-like following she engendered, she created a generation of crossover between film directors and opera directors. The first of the [...]

I recently viewed a mid-century curiosity called MANFISH starring gorgeously sculpted B-Movie leading man John Bromfield, featuring a haggard Lon Chaney Jr., and “introducing Barbara Nichols.” Miss Nichols had previously had experience in early TV and a non-speaking role in the Otto Preminger / Robert Mitchum / Marilyn Monroe movie RIVER OF NO RETURN, but [...]