Jimmy Stewart. ‘Jimmy’ Stewart: Unlikely Hollywood star enjoyed decades-long career in a variety of genres The personification of all-American aw-shucksiness – of the sort you find only in bad movies and bad literature – James Stewart, fondly remembered by some as “Jimmy Stewart,” was one…
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Melvyn Douglas. Melvyn Douglas: From suave leading man to Hollywood’s top female stars to first-rate dramatic actor Unlike Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn, or Gary Cooper, Melvyn Douglas couldn’t exactly be considered a handsome, matinee idol type. Unlike Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, or Spencer Tracy,…
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The Music Man with Robert Preston and Shirley Jones: Independence Day movies. Numerous Hollywood musicals have attempted to capture that elusive, reality-averse quality known as “Americana-ness” – e.g., Yankee Doodle Dandy, Meet Me in St. Louis, In the Good Old Summertime, On Moonlight Bay, By…
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John Paul Jones with Robert Stack: 4th of July movies. Although every sign indicates that 2019 is the new 1984, those in the U.S. shouldn’t fret: TCM’s 4th of July movies will transport viewers to the distant past, when there was no climate crisis (or…
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Howard Keel at the height of his career in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, with Jane Powell. In his autobiography, Only Make Believe: My Life in Show Business, Howard Keel refers to the making of Stanley Donen’s 1954 sleeper blockbuster Seven Brides for Seven Brothers…
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Howard Keel MGM musicals: Texas Carnival publicity shot with Esther Williams. In his MGM musicals of the 1950s, Howard Keel was almost always paired with small, girl-like leading ladies – Betty Hutton, Kathryn Grayson, Ann Blyth, Jane Powell – which at times made the broad-shouldered,…
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Howard Keel musicals at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: Box office roller-coaster ride. Brought to Hollywood in 1948 to star in MGM’s then popular musicals, stage performer Howard Keel seemed poised to reach major stardom after the impressive international success of his first movie at the studio, George Sidney’s…
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Howard Keel publicity shot ca. 1950. A prominent name in Hollywood musicals in the first half of the 1950s, Howard Keel was seen – and heard – as baritone-voiced, larger-than-life characters in a quintet of the best-liked entries in the genre: Annie Get Your Gun,…
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Lillian Gish: The Birth of a Nation actress enmeshed in Bowling Green University controversy. Should Lillian Gish be labeled a racist because at age 21 she had one of the lead roles in D.W. Griffith’s landmark – and to this day contentious – 1915 Civil…
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Bibi Andersson in The Seventh Seal. Remembering international arthouse cinema icon Bibi Andersson: Frequent Ingmar Bergman actress & four-time ‘Swedish Oscar’ winner International arthouse cinema icon Bibi Andersson, a blonde beauty best known for her 14 collaborations with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman – 11 big-screen features…
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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 Movies, which is presenting 10 of her films. One of the biggest Hollywood names of…
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The Women remake with Meg Ryan. In the old Margalo Gilmore (on Broadway, 1936), Norma Shearer (1939), and June Allyson (1956) role, 1990s Hollywood Sweetheart Meg Ryan plays a materially comfortable but romantically discomfited Wife & Mom in Diane English’s 2008 The Women reboot. Writer-director…
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Magnificent Obsession book by Anthony Slide. Whereas Lloyd C. Douglas’ 1929 Magnificent Obsession book dealt with a playboy’s urge to restore the eyesight of the woman he had accidentally blinded, Anthony Slide’s latest explores the lives and times of movie buffs. Now, are Twilight, The…
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Valentino with Rudolf Nureyev and Michelle Phillips. Ken Russell’s 1977 Rudolph Valentino biopic Valentino is based on the dubious 1966 bio (“Was he a great lover – or a sham?”) penned by Chaw Mank and Brad Steiger. A coal miner’s son and self-proclaimed psychic, Mank…
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Jimmy Edwards. Best known for his radio and television work – Take It from Here in the former medium; Whack-O! in the latter – British comedian Jimmy Edwards was seen, mostly in small parts, in about a dozen features from the late 1940s to the…
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Solo: A Star Wars Story with Alden Ehrenreich. The 10th live-action feature in the now 41-year-old Star Wars movie franchise, Solo: A Star Wars Story attempts to explain the background of Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) – first portrayed by Harrison Ford back in 1977. Veteran…