Classic Hollywood

When it comes to Christmas movies, there are “Christmas Movies,” and there are “Movies that take place around Christmastime, but actually have nothing to do with Christmas.” The Apartment is the latter. Including just a little bit of holiday fun, and a New Years party, this film finds our heroes struggling to navigate love and life.  Continue reading The Apartment (1960)

STRANGE CARGO

Strange Cargo is a strange movie. It was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency and banned in several cities throughout the north and south. Released in March of 1940 Strange Cargo was the last movie pairing of Joan Crawford and Clark Gable. Clark’s character; Verne, a prisoner in a Penal Colony in the Guianas, is dark and foreboding. He is not a model prisoner; thirty days in solitary,…

Christmas in July just wouldn’t be the same without some cheesy holiday romance to add to a hot hot summer. And in honor of Janet Leigh’s birthday ( July 6), we just had to pick this holiday gem as a reminder of why Classic Hollywood films are sometimes just better. Holiday Affair ( 1949) “Anything Can Change a Life that’s Ready to be Changed”. This pearl of wisdom comes oddly from what I…

The pre-curser to The Lion in Winter was nominated for 12 Oscars, Edward Anhalt received the Oscar for Best Screenplay ‘Becket’. Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole were nominated for Best Actor for their Becket performances, Peter Sellers for Dr. Strangelove, Anthony Quinn for Zorba the Greek. They all lost out to Rex Harrison for his ‘My Fair Lady’ performance. In ‘The Lion in Winter’ after…

I’ve been in a medieval mood lately, it’s March, it’s Oscar month at TCM as well as in Hollywoodland. The Oscar’s were on March 12th and for two weeks we’ll be talking about this years show until another news cycle delegates them to history. March is also women’s history month. What does this have to do with The Lion in Winter…everything. I confess I needed a score card watching this 1968…

What better way to chill out after all of the craziness of Trick or Treating than to kick back and watch the madness of Arsenic and Old Lace. This hilarious must see Warner Brother’s film is a traditional Holiday movie here at Classic Hollywood. What isn’t there to love about this film…Directed by Frank Capra, with the screen play written by the twins Julius J and Philip G Epstein contract…

What does this uncivil, civil trial have to do with Classic Hollywood? Everything… After getting sucked into the drama of the Depp/Heard trial I was surprised to hear Depp compare his and Heard’s burgeoning romance and age difference to Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in their first movie together ‘To Have and Have Not’(1944). Their nicknames for each other were: Steve and Slim after Bogart…

‘The Yearling’ (1946)

is set in1878 Lake George, Florida and based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel written by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. MGM owned the rights to the novel and Clarence Brown director of National Velvet (1944) was chosen as Director of the film. Clarence Brown discovered Claude Jarman Jr lead child actor in the movie after visiting several schools in the south searching for the perfect Jody. The…

Paddy Chayefsky was a visionary. His 1976 movie NETWORK prophesized what we are living through today in the news media. Rarely do Rochelle and I write about 1970’s movies here on Classic Hollywood but since this is Oscar month at TCM I’ve broken that rule. I had never watched NETWORK until recently. At the time NETWORK was released I was a homemaker helping to raise three children under the age…

Is a strange movie, it was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency and banned in several cities throughout the north and south. Released in March of 1940 Strange Cargo was the last movie pairing of Joan Crawford and Clark Gable. Clark’s character; Verne, a prisoner in a Penal Colony in the Guianas, is dark and foreboding. He is not a model prisoner; thirty days in solitary, ninety lashes in…

The movie (1944), directed by Robert Siodmak, is a crime film noir. I have never seen even a snippet of this movie before. If you are a noir buff and get a chance to watch it I highly recommend it. It features some of the usual noir suspects; Thomas Gomez, Elisha Cook Jr. with Ella Raines as the secretary out to prove her boss innocent of murdering his wife.

It has a topsy turvy cast as Thomas…

As a longtime fan of TCM the month we wait for all year long is finally here: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS month. This year’s lineup doesn’t disappoint with a kick off day featuring Barbara Stanwyck. I’ll admit I have watched all of the films on Barbara’s lineup except for BF’s Daughter. The other films are ones I have seen numerous times but every time I watch them I always find something fresh or new…

Olivia de Havilland 1916~2020

TCM began the month of July 2020 with a celebration on July 1st of Olivia de Havilland’s 104th Birthday. We end the month with a tribute to an actress with sixty-one acting credits to her name. She did it all: Romantic Comedies, Drama, Period Pieces, Noir, Westerns, Horror, Disaster Movies, and best of all she shared countless stories in documentaries and interviews about the movies and the…

If you are curious about the life of actress Louise Brooks and her movies 1925-1938 this is the book you should be reading. Lulu in Hollywood is a compilation of articles written by Louise in the 1960’s/1970’s for ‘Film Culture, London Magazine, Image, Sight and Sound’. We love Julian Fellows here at Classic Hollywood and silly me I assumed (even though the title of the movie was The Chaperone)…

ONCE UPON A TIME…

in Hollywood, is a Quentin Tarantino movie. We don’t normally Post about Quentin Tarantino movies on this Classic Hollywood blog, but months ago my son recommended the film to me. I put a hold on the DVD at the local Library (I was number 500 plus on the hold list).The DVD became available this past weekend.

I love writing about Silent Movie’s, 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s movies, those are the movies I…