Michael Curtiz Articles

Joan Crawford (right, in Daisy Kenyon) is Turner Classic Movies' next "Summer Under the Stars" star. On Monday, August 22, TCM will be showing 13 Joan Crawford movies, in addition to Peter Fitzgerald's documentary Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star, narrated by Anjelica Huston. (Curiously, Crawford is nowhere to be found in any of the 40+ films directed by Anjelica Huston's father, John Huston.) [Joan [...]

John Garfield, Joan Crawford, Humoresque John Garfield is Turner Classic Movies' "Summer Under the Stars" star on Friday, August 5. TCM will be presenting twelve John Garfield movies, in addition to the 2003 documentary The John Garfield Story. There will be no TCM premieres — but don't blame TCM for that. Garfield was a Warner Bros. star and Warners' movies belong to the Time Warner [...]

Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman on the poster of Michael Curtiz's Casablanca CASABLANCA Review Part VII – Comparisons to Other Great Cinema Classics Film critic Andrew Sarris claimed that Casablanca was, "the most decisive exception to the auteur theory," but he was wrong — and wrong for several reasons. First, auteur theory generally applies toward films or filmmakers that are great, and while Casablanca has been [...]

Dooley Wilson, Humphrey Bogart in Michael Curtiz's Casablanca CASABLANCA Review Part VI – Lack of Great Themes As I've shown, there are many flaws in Casablanca's narrative; among them the fact that it is melodrama — driven by plot, not character development. All the characters react to what the plot dictates; the plot does not organically flow from their personae. Now, before you claim, "But [...]