Independence Day movies: Exuberant all-white all-Iowan marching band + lovely and talented Joan Leslie + racist British imperialism salute.
-
4th of July Movies: From our dystopian present to John Paul Jones + Benedict Arnold and other complex American Revolutionary War figures.
-
Howard Keel height of career as a result of sleeper blockbuster that helped to revive his Hollywood standing after three consecutive MGM musical flops.
-
MGM musicals box office struggle: Howard Keel Hollywood woes included 2 prestigious star vehicles that *should* have succeeded. Could his career be saved?
-
Howard Keel: Actor-singer embodied brawny American manliness in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals of the 1950s such as Annie Get Your Gun + Show Boat.
-
Machiko Kyo. Japanese star Machiko Kyo was seen in several of the most widely admired cinema classics of the 1950s, including Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, Kenji Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu, and Teinosuke Kinugasa’s…
-
Kay Francis. Kay Francis revisited: One of the brightest & most underrated Hollywood stars of the 1930s Kay Francis is the star of the day (April 9) on Turner Classic…
-
John Boles. Actor & singer John Boles remembered On March 4, Turner Classic Movies is remembering actor-singer John Boles, a name that even the majority of film historians and connoisseurs…
-
Magnificent Obsession Book: Movie fans’ outrageous history from Hollywood screenwriters + gay porn actors to coal miner’s sons + D.W. Griffith players.
-
Movie Buff: Author Anthony Slide discusses neglected area in film history - the humorous and/or tragic lives and times of film fanatics + collectors.
-
Updated: Following a couple of Julie London Westerns*, Turner Classic Movies will return to its July 2017 Star of the Month presentations. This evening, July 27, Ronald Colman can be…
-
‘Under the Volcano’ screening: John Huston’s ‘quality’ comeback starring daring Albert Finney As part of its John Huston film series, the UCLA Film & Television Archive will be presenting the…
-
Ronald Colman: Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month in two major 1930s classics Updated: Turner Classic Movies’ July 2017 Star of the Month is Ronald Colman, one of the…
-
How to Be a Latin Lover: Ricardo Cortez leading ladies and marriage to drug-addicted Hollywood star plus directing Dalton Trumbo socially conscious drama.
-
Latin Lover Ricardo Cortez was 2nd Valentino and 1st (and best) Sam Spade: Interview with biographer re: actor who worked with Griffith, DeMille + Capra.
-
Ricardo Cortez: Latin Lover from Manhattan Jewish family was the perfect Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon and Paramount’s threat to Rudolph Valentino.
-
Fourth of July movies: A few recommended titles that should help you temporarily escape current global madness Two thousand and seventeen has been a weirder-than-usual year on the already pretty…
-
(See previous post: “Gay Pride Movie Series Comes to a Close: From Heterosexual Angst to Indonesian Coup.”) Ken Russell’s Valentino (1977) is notable for starring ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev as…
-
Turner Classic Movies’ 2017 Gay Pride film series comes to a close this evening and tomorrow morning, Thursday–Friday, June 29–30, with the presentation of seven movies, hosted by TV interviewer…
-
Here’s a brief look – to be expanded – at Turner Classic Movies’ June 2017 European Vacation Movie Series this evening, June 23. Tonight’s destination of choice is Italy. Starring…
-
More ‘Gay Hollywood’ movies: Montgomery Clift & Anthony Perkins On the day a U.S. appeals court lifted an injunction that blocked a Mississippi “religious freedom” law – i.e., giving Christian…
-
Turner Classic Movies continues with its Gay Hollywood presentations tonight and tomorrow morning, June 8–9. Seven movies will be shown about, featuring, directed, or produced by the following: Cole Porter,…
-
Edgar G. Ulmer movies on TCM: ‘The Black Cat’ & ‘Detour’ Turner Classic Movies’ June 2017 Star of the Month is Audrey Hepburn, but Edgar G. Ulmer is its film…
-
Considering everything that’s been happening on the planet in the last several months, you’d have thought we’re already in November or December – of 2117. But no. It’s only June.…
-
Submarine movie evening: Underwater war waged in TCM’s Memorial Day films In the U.S., Turner Classic Movies has gone all red, white, and blue this 2017 Memorial Day weekend, presenting…
Howard Keel musicals: Box office ups and downs emblematic of genre’s erratic appeal in 1950s Hollywood as a result of dramatic socio-economic changes.
The Women remake: Critics derided + moviegoers were indifferent to writer-director Diane English’s defanged + declawed all-star all-female feminist comedy.
Jimmy Edwards: Conservative gay British comic known for spanking schoolboys with his cane in TV series + later outed is discussed with biographer Slide.
Antihero Ricardo Cortez: Best movies and roles during Pre-Code and silent eras + Oscar-Winning Cinematographer brother Stanley Cortez.
(See previous post: Fourth of July Movies: Escapism During a Weird Year.) On the evening of the Fourth of July, besides fireworks, fire hazards, and Yankee Doodle Dandy, if you’re…
‘Making Love’: Groundbreaking romantic gay drama returns to the big screen As part of its Anniversary Classics series, Laemmle Theaters will be presenting Arthur Hiller’s groundbreaking 1982 romantic drama Making…
Canadian-born actress Alexis Smith (born 1921) would have turned 96 years old on June 8. Turner Classic Movies is celebrating her birthday by presenting nine of her movies, mostly during…