The Forty-Year-Old Version: Not to be confused with Judd Apatow’s directorial debut The Forty-Year-Old Virgin, auteur filmmaker and actress Radha Blank’s New York City-set feature debut depicts a woman’s unusual…

Nazi movies: “Third Reich” propaganda films were often disguised as comedies, dramas, and musicals promoting the German ethos and “way of life.” Curiously – or rather, eerily – these Nazi…

Examples of Theocracy: Since the early days of filmmaking, theocratic rule – in its many forms – has often been depicted on screen. Cinema & TV examples of theocracy range…

Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe: Husband and wife from 1956 to 1961, the Broadway playwright and the Hollywood star collaborated on one major project, the ill-fated modern-day Western The Misfits…

2020 Venice Film Festival Awards: Nomadland, with Frances McDormand, wins Golden Lion. If recent history is any indication, Chloé Zhao’s low-budget socio-psychological road movie is about to become a North…

Oscar diversity: Women – including two lesbianish characters – form the core of the 1950 Best Picture winner All About Eve. But would the Broadway-set classic have met the new…

Belfast movie: Kenneth Branagh has begun shooting the semiautobiographical indie drama – “my most personal film,” as per the screenwriter-director – set in the turbulent Northern Ireland of the late…

Robert Pattinson in The Batman: COVID-19 scare. Pattinson’s positive result has halted filming of the latest reboot of DC Comics’ Batman, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, and first…

Arthur Askey: For decades, the British comedian was a vaudeville, radio, and television celebrity in his home country. Never an international name, Askey was also featured in a handful of…

John Barrymore: At first a reluctant actor, this member of the renowned Drew and Barrymore families made his stage debut at age 18 in an early 20th-century play starring his…

Barbara Stanwyck: Busy Hollywood actress known as a “consummate professional,” Stanwyck never took home a competitive Academy Award even though, over the course of her 35-year film career, she delivered…

Playwright Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible (1953) – about the witchcraft trials held in late-17th-century Salem – as a political allegory against the HUAC hearings held in mid-20th-century Washington, D.C.…

Morris Engel: Little Fugitive filmmaker. Influenced by Italian neorealism, naturalistic documentaries/docudramas, and late silent era releases like Paul Fejos’ Lonesome, Morris Engel’s no-star, no-plot, no-frills Little Fugitive remains one of…

Arthur Miller movies include adaptations of All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, and A View from the Bridge. One of the most influential 20th-century American playwrights, Miller…

Dan O’Herlihy: A one-of-a-kind Best Actor Oscar nominee during Hollywood’s studio era (for Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, 1954), Irish-born performer Dan O’Herlihy enjoyed a film and television career spanning half…