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…
Actress Carol Lynley: Why the dramatic career downturn? The 1970s were a problematic decade for Hollywood film actresses; still, it’s hard to understand why her post-The Poseidon Adventure movies mostly…
Despite her Best Actress Academy Award win, Joanne Woodward never became a major box office draw. No matter. Woodward was one of the best film actresses of the 20th century,…
The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet An encore presentation of John Huston’s 1941 Best Picture nominee The Maltese Falcon, will be presented by the…
The Prisoner of Zenda 1937 with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. vs. Ronald Colman. A moderately popular leading man in the early 1930s, mostly as either obnoxious or lackluster “heroes” in forgettable…
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in The Prisoner of Zenda 1937. The son of silent screen superstar Douglas Fairbanks and a middle-league – and generally lackluster – leading man in the first…
Jack Palance in Shane. Philip French in The Guardian: “From the start, the movies welcomed into their midst the mustachioed villain of Victorian melodrama, leaving subtler antagonists to literary fiction…
Mary Astor. Classic film festival Cinecon: Lots of rarities + pre-scandal Mary Astor & Mary Miles Minter There’ll be rare movies aplenty at Los Angeles’ mini-film festival Cinecon. For starters,…
The Grandfather movie: As the titular – irascible, proud, prejudiced – abuelo in José Luis Garci’s period family drama, veteran Fernando Fernán Gómez memorably discovers it’s never too late to…