Welcome to BlogHub: the Best in Veteran and Emerging Classic Movie Blogs
You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on May 6, 2013
I was unenthusiastic to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey. When Room 237 came out, as well as accompanying articles, I started digging into Stanley Kubrick’s work more, and came across 2001 again. I’d started watching it a year or so ago, but had gotten five minutes into the movie, with gorillas hopping read more
Lincolns (1939 and 2012)
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Apr 29, 2013
Daniel Day-Lewis’ Lincoln was highly raved (as it should be) for its intricacies of character (we got hints during the filming that he was ‘making the voice softer than most interpretations’), but overall, Spielberg’s Lincoln was flat. (Another review for another time.) Other Lincolns have come read more
Les Miserables (1935 and 1998)
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Apr 19, 2013
Les Miserables is a hard novel to adapt into a film. The book itself is gargantuan to hold; even in tiny print, English translations run at least 1,000 pages. Try compressing that into a two-hour film. Then add singing. The stage musical, opening in 1987 on Broadway, has no spoken dialogue; it is a read more
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Apr 12, 2013
What, indeed. I am not a horror movie person. I did enjoy Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness, but you will not see me at a theater watching the new Evil Dead. No way. So I’ve shied away from classic horror or ‘scary’ movies as well, but that was somewhat of a mistake. The difference between modern read more
Lately
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Apr 5, 2013
Life gets in the way sometimes, y’know? I had grand illusions of continuing to post once a week, and of even scheduling posts I’d written in advance. No dice. But the good news is, I’ve started a Tumblr! And committed to posting once a day! …Right. It will mostly be an amalgam of this blog and read more
An Offering of Apology
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Mar 2, 2013
I apologize for my lack of recent posts with this utterly enchanting snippet I came across in James Curtis’ new biography of Spencer Tracy: I think “something interesting about Connecticut” may be understating it a little… Adam’s Rib was the first Tracy- read more
My Annual Oscar Rant
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Feb 22, 2013
Let me just say – I have a lot of FEELINGS about this. As one of my other film friends put it, ‘this is my Super Bowl.’ So while I’m feeling all emotional and vulnerable, here’s who I think should win, mixed with who’s going to, and generally my opinions. Which occasionally make me sad, read more
The First Annual Muse Awards
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Feb 13, 2013
This post is on Oscars of days gone by – gleefully dedicated to the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon, hosted by Paula, Kellee, and Aurora, three of my favorite bloggers and tweeters. Women at the Oscars usually get the short end of the stick. And I’m not even talking about Kathryn Bigelow and the atroci read more
The Real Deal: Hoagy Carmichael and Oscar Levant
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Feb 4, 2013
So many talented musicians worked in Hollywood during the Studio Era, unknown to the movie-going public, but Hoagy Carmichael and Oscar Levant were two talented musicians who worked in front of the camera as well. Hoagy Carmichael was a small-town boy from Indiana, lanky with a lackadaisical style read more
Song of the Thin Man (1947)
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Jan 27, 2013
As little as is known about Manny Klein, who dubbed Monty Clift in From Here to Eternity, even less is known about the anonymous clarinet players behind Don Taylor and Keenan Wynn’s characters in Song of the Thin Man. Song of the Thin Man was the sixth in the series starring William Powell and Myr read more
You like me! You really, really like me!
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Jan 17, 2013
Or, how I received the Liebster Award. It almost goes without saying how I honored I am to be Liebstered, but I am going to say it. Repeatedly. I sort of like the ‘generational’ idea of this award – Paula and Kellee awarded it to Aurora, Aurora passed it on to 11 other bloggers, including Annmarie read more
From Here to Eternity (1953)
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Jan 9, 2013
I’ve posted on From Here to Eternity before, but focusing on Deborah Kerr and her outstanding performance. Another outstanding feature of the film was the trumpet-playing by Montgomery Clift’s character, Prewitt. From the jazz in the club to the sorrowful taps, the playing is impeccable. While Mont read more
Young Man with a Horn (1950) (3)
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Jan 2, 2013
I love jazz. My dad will chalk it up to making me listen to smooth jazz on Sunday afternoons, which is partly true. I love classic trumpet jazz of Miles Davis. 40’s jazz from old movies. So when there’s a great classic movie with a jazz score, I’m over the moon. Young Man with a Horn was one such read more
Jazz Behind the Scenes
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Jan 2, 2013
I love jazz. My dad will chalk it up to making me listen to smooth jazz on Sunday afternoons, which is partly true. I love classic trumpet jazz of Miles Davis. 40’s jazz from old movies. So when there’s a great classic movie with a jazz score, I’m over the moon. Young Man with a Horn was one such read more
My Movie Alphabet (2)
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Dec 14, 2012
I came across this blogathon on Twitter and fell in love. Because of my great fondness for lists and for putting things into boxes, I was super excited to create my own movie alphabet and challenged myself to use only classic films and actors. Surprisingly, this was not as easy as I thought. I ado read more
Nothing will ever be the same
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Dec 2, 2012
There are three pieces of art that have had a profound impact on me. One performance, one play, and one film. I work for a theatre company. When not watching or writing about classic movies, I work in theatre. I was in my first play at the age of 8; it is what I love. Recently, an acquaintance told read more
Veracity: Twelve o’Clock High
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Nov 18, 2012
Twelve o’Clock High is probably the most truthful of these three, because it used actual combat footage and defied the Air Force and insisted upon portraying an officer (a general!) in mental collapse. Gregory Peck plays a strict brigadier general brought in to whip a bombing group, the 918th, in read more
Veracity: The Men
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Nov 11, 2012
The Men was made 1949-1950 and is most notable for being Marlon Brando’s film debut. Because Brando was a Method actor, of the truest sense, he spent weeks in a wheelchair, in Birmingham Veterans Hospital in Van Nuys,California. He observed the men and participated in their therapy and daily acti read more
Veracity: They Were Expendable
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Nov 4, 2012
They Were Expendable tells the story of a PT boat squadron, who feel left out of the war. PT boats are small and not long-range like carriers, and as such, were not used initially in important missions. This film centers on a squadron leader, Robert Montgomery, trying to prove the usefulness of hi read more
Veracity in War on Film
Spoilers Posted by Duke Mantee on Oct 28, 2012
The truth about war is that it is bound up in our lives. It is reflected in our books (War by Sebastian Junger for instance, is the first title that springs to mind), our films, our national identity, our sports, our politics, our family, and our religion. It affects all areas of our lives. What is read more