Danielle Darrieux in ‘La Ronde.’ Film icon Danielle Darrieux turns 100: Longest ‘star career’ in movie history? Screen legend Danielle Darrieux is turning 100 today, May 1. In all likelihood,…
Yvonne Monlaur: Cult horror movie actress & Bond Girl contender was featured in the 1960 British classics Circus of Horrors & The Brides of Dracula. Actress Yvonne Monlaur dead at…
Comedy actress Alice Howell on the cover of film historian Anthony Slide’s latest book: Pioneering funky-haired performer “could have been Chaplin” – or at the very least another Louise Fazenda.…
Christian movies: Starring Nicolas Cage, the widely panned 2014 apocalyptic thriller Left Behind was a box office bomb – unlike (relatively) recent popular “faith movies” such as Heaven Is for…
Rebecca 1940: Joan Fontaine as the “successor” and Judith Anderson as the creepy lesbian housekeeper, madly in love with her deceased mistress. ‘Rebecca’ 1940: Alfred Hitchcock Best Picture Oscar winner…
Women’s suffrage movie Mothers of Men: Dorothy Davenport becomes a judge and later State Governor in socially conscious thriller about U.S. women’s voting rights. Are females too emotional to be…
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried: Paul Richter as the tragic dragon-slaying hero of medieval Germanic mythology – with a bit from Homer’s Iliad thrown in. ‘Die Nibelungen’: Enthralling silent classic despite complex…
‘Play Misty for Me’: Rabid fan Jessica Walter makes life terribly difficult for disc jockey Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood + ‘Harry Potter’ = ‘The Decline of Western Civilization’? The Packard…
TCM presents the life story of (a not gay) John Nash, starring Russell Crowe: In the phony ‘A Beautiful Mind,’ director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman wash the gay…
Olivia de Havilland in ‘The Heiress.’ Olivia de Havilland vs. Warner Bros. (See previous post: “Olivia de Havilland Turns 99: Warner Bros. Legal Fight Changed U.S. Labor Law.”) In 1942,…
Ernst Lubitsch movies: Subtle, sophisticated ‘Touch’ all but gone from contemporary filmmaking. Ernst Lubitsch movies: The forgotten, passé ‘Touch’ Ernst Lubitsch and William Cameron Menzies were Turner Classic Movies’ “stars”…
William Cameron Menzies. William Cameron Menzies movies on TCM: Murderous Joan Fontaine, deadly Nazi Communists Best known as an art director/production designer, William Cameron Menzies was a jack-of-all-trades. It seems…
Abe Vigoda dead or alive? The Godfather actor became a pop celebrity in the U.S. following greatly exaggerated reports of his death. ‘The Godfather’ actor Abe Vigoda dead at 94:…
Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, and Ingrid Bergman: The ‘Notorious’ British (Hitchcock, Grant) and Swedish (Bergman) talent. British actors and directors in Hollywood; Hollywood actors and directors in Britain: Anthony Slide’s…
Michel Galabru and Louis de Funès in the comedy ‘Le gendarme et les gendarmettes’: No ‘affection’ for his movies. ‘La Cage aux Folles’ actor Michel Galabru dead at 93: Embodiment…
Ben-Hur movie: Ramon Novarro starred in the silent version, at the time the most expensive film production and the biggest worldwide blockbuster in history. ‘Ben-Hur’ movie: Semi-biblical epic starring Ramon…
Marion Cotillard naked and doomed: Psycho shower scene scream that turned Janet Leigh into a film icon. Marion Cotillard naked & screaming in ‘Psycho’ shower scene A few years ago…
Marjorie Lord actress ca. early 1950s: Mother of Oscar-nominated performer. Actress Marjorie Lord: Best remembered for long-running hit TV series ‘Make Room for Daddy’ Stage, film, and television actress Marjorie…
Kitty Gordon: Silent film star with the ‘most beautiful’ and most heavily insured back. Rediscovering a long-forgotten silent film star: Kitty Gordon It seems almost unthinkable that there are still…
Pat O’Brien: Actor was James Cagney’s partner in eight Warner Bros. movies. Pat O’Brien: Actor was Hollywood’s prolific ‘Resident Irishman’ & favorite priest Remember Pat O’Brien? In case you don’t,…
Norma Shearer movies: Hollywood’s early ‘liberated woman’ remembered. A top movie star of the 1920s and 1930s, Norma Shearer was known as the ‘Queen of MGM.’ Norma Shearer movies: Early…
West End stage actress Constance Cummings also appeared on Broadway and in Hollywood and British movies. West End theater star: Constance Cummings in ‘Saint Joan,’ Shakespeare (See previous post: “Constance…
Hell’s Kitchen: Soul stew image likely from the 1922 Benjamin Christensen horror classic ‘Häxan / Witchcraft Through the Ages.’ Day of the Dead post: Cinema’s Top Five Scariest Living Dead…
Top Ten Scream Queens: Barbara Steele, who both emitted screams and elicited same, is in a category of her own. Top Ten Scream Queens Halloween is over until next year,…
Maureen O’Hara: Queen of Technicolor. Maureen O’Hara movies: TCM tribute Veteran actress and Honorary Oscar recipient Maureen O’Hara, who died at age 95 on Oct. 24, ’15, in Boise, Idaho,…
Dana Andrews movies: Complex film noir actor excelled in both major and minor crime dramas. Dana Andrews movies: First-rate film noir actor excelled in both classics & minor fare One…
Merle Oberon: ‘Exotic’ and mysterious star of British and American cinema was a victim of the ‘Marion Davies Syndrome.’ Merle Oberon movies: ‘Exotic’ and underrated actress with mysterious past is…
Ben-Hur 1959 with Stephen Boyd and Charlton Heston: TCM’s ’31 Days of Oscar.’ ’31 Days of Oscar’: ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and ‘Ben-Hur’ in, Paramount stars out Today, Feb. 1, Turner…
A history of sound in film: Hal Roach looks on as technicians install Vitaphone equipment in his studio screening room, ca. 1928. (Click on the image to enlarge it.) A…
Sight and Sound: Directed by Marcel L’Herbier, L’Inhumaine features Jaque Catelain and Georgette Leblanc in a great-looking (Fernand Léger sets) mix of science-fiction and sex melodrama. Marcel L’Herbier silent ‘L’Inhumaine’: Sight and sound…
Danièle Delorme: Pioneering woman director Jacqueline Audry’s muse would eventually become a pioneering female movie producer. Remembering pioneering woman director’s muse and pioneering woman producer Danièle Delorme Danièle Delorme, who…
Constance Cummings: Actress went from minor, long-eyelashed Hollywood leading lady in Harold Lloyd and Frank Capra movies to starring in West End plays by Eugene O’Neill, Noël Coward and William…