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A few times recently I’ve been very close to being the only person, or party, in a theater for a particular showing of a film. In fact, a film I mentioned last week, Creature, may have been the last time that happened as it got a much wider release than should’ve been possible, and thus, read more

Billie Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970), she toured the United States and Europe with her father, the singer and clown Billy Burke. Billy Burke She returned to America to perform on Broadway: Mrs. Dot, Suzanne, The Runaway, The "Mind-the-Paint" Girl, and The Land of Promise from read more

Today is when we celebrate fatherhood in all shapes and forms. Carole Lombard's relationship with her own real-life father, Fred C. Peters, was rather complex (when he died in 1935, she declined to attend his funeral, saying she didn't want to make a scene but perhaps indicative of his being out of read more

John Barrymore is a sergeant in the Russian army who dreams of winning an officer’s commission. But he hits a snag in the form of Camilla Horn, an imperious princess who seems to stumble him at every turn. Stripped of his rank, John goes a little mad and decides the Bolsheviks kind of have a read more

Any film, feature or short, can be boiled down to a ‘what if’ question. This one humorously explores the notion of pinpointing the exact moment in time wherein the seeds of homophobia were first planted. Viewer discretion is advised as it does contain adult language. read more

Known for its German Expressionist-inspired visual style, film noir is a hybrid of gangster flick and detective mystery with an often pessimistic look at the greater social problems. Noirs are usually set in dark, crime-riddled cities — places that come alive in the night; crawling with gangs read more

This week marks Out of the Past's 6th Blog Anniversary! I would like to celebrate by hosting a 2013 Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge. Your challenge, if you choose to accept, is to read up to 6 classic film related books this summer. You can read 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 books total but your ch read more

The Amateur Gentleman (1926) Status: Missing and presumed lost This Richard Barthelmess vehicle was based on the 1913 novel of the same name by Jeffery Farnol. The novel told the tale of the son of a prizefighter who tries to break into English society in the Regency era. The silent era was not ov read more

My History With Opera I cannot claim that I have a foundation in opera. Nor can I claim, as I can with ballet, that I have a very active appreciation of it. What my history with this artform is, in all likelihood, not unlike that of most people. Pieces that were featured in Looney Tunes shorts eith read more

Constance Talmadge is a lovely American heiress who travels to England disguised as a frump in order to ward off fortune-hunting men. Ronald Colman is a penniless aristocrat who falls for Constance and impersonates a physician to get a closer look. Chaos ensues. Of course. It’s a romantic com read more

Far From the Madding Crowd (1915) Status: Missing and presumed lost If ever there was a tale to showcase leading men, this is it. Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel features three juicy parts for the boys: The flashy playboy, the mature stalker and the solid (and stolid!) suitor-in-waiting. There is a read more

Ethel Clayton (November 8, 1882 — June 6, 1966), screen debut came in 1909, in a short called Justified. On the stage she performed mainly in musicals such as The Ziegfeld Follies(1911). Clayton, may have been a talented singer, but went unused in her silent screen performances. In 1912 s read more

“The Postman Always Rings Twice”: 5th Film in “High Heels and Fedoras” series at Daystar Center June 11, 2013 Tuesday, June 11, 2013 6:30 p.m. The Venue 1550 at the Daystar Center 1550 S. State Street The Postman Always Rings Twice was one of the top box office hits of read more

D.W. Griffith delves into the American Revolution in this early Biograph adventure film. An American courier is trying to deliver an important message to General Washington. He seeks refuge with his family but is soon found out and shot. His family must try to deliver his message and save themselve read more

This week’s short film piggy-backs off last week’s train theme. When I read this fascinating blog post about how the silent film got so closely identified with a woman being tied to train tracks, and why that might not be so accurate, there was a link to one short that’s a famous e read more

“The Postman Always Rings Twice”: 5th Film in “High Heels and Fedoras” series at Daystar Center June 11, 2013 Tuesday, June 11, 2013 6:30 p.m. The Venue 1550 at the Daystar Center 1550 S. State Street The Postman Always Rings Twice was one of the top box office hits of read more

Maria Riva (born December 13, 1924). Maria Elisabeth Sieber was born in Berlin, the only child of actress Marlene Dietrich and film production assistant Rudolf Sieber (and later Paramount Pictures director of dubbing, Paris, France). In 1930, at age five, she moved with her mother to Americ read more

Previously I had written about the conundrum of when to turn off a film. However, if there is one mark of delineation I drew there it’s that Netflix has somewhat changed my approach to that whole question. With Netflix, or any other service that gives you movies at the touch of a button, the t read more

Catherine Boyd (Meg Ryan) is an intelligent, educated woman who wants nothing more than for her intelligent, educated boyfriend James Moreland (Stephen Fry) to finally marry and start a family with her. When Catherine and James run into car trouble one day, they’re assisted by an auto mechanic read more

***An apology to those following the blog. An early unfinished draft of this post appears to have escaped into the wild and may have shown up in some of your readers. Unfortunately, stuff like that happens, I suppose, but I do apologize. This is that actual post as intended. Again, I’m sorry f read more