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Have you ever asked a classic film fan how they became an admirer of classic cinema? Many of them can't provide a definitive answer--like so many things in life, their love of classic films just evolved over time. For others, though, the answer might be one life-altering film experience. Or, it coul read more

For the past five years, the Classic Film & TV Cafe has published a list of holiday gift ideas recommended by our staff. Click here to view previous years' recommendations. After each gift idea below, we have included the retail price in U.S. currency. Please note that--with a little web researc read more

Although Hammer Films remains best known for its horror films, the studio frequently dabbled in other genres. In fact, it achieved solid success with historical adventures about Robin Hood, pirates, and smugglers. Its most ambitious adventure yarn was She (1965), an adaptation of H. Rider Hagga read more

1. Frankie Avalon learned to play the trumpet as a child--and was very good at it. He played trumpet for singer Al Martino (Johnny Fontane in The Godfather) when the crooner visited Philadelphia. That led to an audition for an agent and an appearance on The Jackie Gleason Show. 2. On his web site, read more

Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962). In the best of his 1960s family comedies, James Stewart plays Roger Hobbs, a successful St. Louis banker who has spent too much time in the office. His plans for a quiet vacation are dashed when he learns that his wife Peggy (Maureen O'Hara) has invited the en read more

This Land Is Mine (Sunday, 6:15 AM EST) - When the Nazis invaded France during World War II, acclaimed filmmaker Jean Renoir relocated to the United States. Renoir, son of the Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir, had already completed what would become his masterpiece, 1939's Rules of the Game read more

The classic status attributed to Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo (1959) has always puzzled me. While it's a solid, well-done Western, it doesn't rank with the best Westerns of the 1950s (e.g., Shane, The Hanging Tree, 3:10 to Yuma, the Anthony Mann-James Stewart collaborations, etc.). It's also no read more

1. James Robertson Justice's most famous role was as Dr. Lancelot Spratt, the blustery chief surgeon at St. Swithin's Hospital in the British Doctor movies. He first appeared as Spratt in 1954's Doctor in the House, with Dirk Bogarde playing handsome medical student Simon Sparrow. Justice played Spr read more

While TCM's weekend schedule includes the usual quota of well-known classics (e.g., Red River, Gold Diggers of 1933), here are two lesser-known films worth checking out: Cornered (1946), Sunday, 12:00 AM EST (that's midnight Saturday). This sharp, downbeat post-World War II revenge tale r read more

Confession: I sometimes get the plots of Bob Hope's three My Favorite movies mixed up. While recently viewing My Favorite Brunette again, I kept waiting for the scene where the baddies give Bob truth serum--with predictably silly results. However, that classic bit is from My Favorite Spy w read more

This is our 5th edition of this type of quiz. The rules are easy: Name each film below based on our vague description. Be sure to include the question number with your response. Please don't answer all the questions so others can play, too. There is one film that is the single best answer  read more

What's Halloween without a post on classic fright films? This year, we are paying homage to the best horror films made specifically for television. And since this is a classic movie blog, all of our choices were broadcast no later than the 1980s. Hey, that's the classic era for made-for-TV movi read more

James Mason as Watson and Christopher Plummer as Holmes. The 1970s featured two revisionist takes on Sherlock Holmes: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes was released in 1970 and Murder By Decree appeared at the end of the decade. While neither film is wholly successful, they each boast a lot read more

The villain appears in a pre-title sequence--but he's masked. Dr. Peter Tompson's medical practice in a small Cornish village has not gone well--that will happen when 13 patients die suddenly within a year of one's arrival. The baffled physician writes a letter to his former medical professor, Sir read more

In 1959, Hammer released The Mummy, another remake of a Universal classic, to follow The Curse of Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula (aka Dracula). Like its predecessors, The Mummy was a stylish, gothic rendering filled with action, shocks and topnotch performances from Peter Cushing and Christopher read more

This review isn't about Charo and The Concorde...Airport '79. I originally intended to review The Concorde...Airport '79 in this column. I actually watched that debacle because of its notoriety as an awful movie. After all, Roger Ebert included it in his book I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie&n read more

One could argue that the first episode of the original Hawaii Five-O TV series was the "pilot" broadcast on CBS on September 20, 1968. While the pilot certainly established the show's premise--and introduced Wo Fat, its most famous villain--it was still a trial run. When the series was given th read more

1. He appeared in four of American-International's Beach Party movies: Muscle Beach Party (1964); Bikini Beach (1964); Pajama Party (1964); and Beach Blanket Bingo (1965). So how did that happen? Rickles' agent was Jack Gilardi, who was then married to Annette Funicello! Our favorite is Muscle read more

As the holidays approach, the Cafe's staff is always on the lookout for unique gift ideas for classic film and TV fans. A great recent find, Star Trek: The Art of Juan Ortiz, is sure to delight fans of the original Star Trek TV series. In his oversized 112-page book, Ortiz has designe read more

In this new game (for the Café anyway), we provide three cast members of a famous film and you name the movie. How easy is that?  Of course, in some cases, we tried to make it challenging by selecting lesser-known supporting players such as Whit Bissell and Richard Anderson (both of whom appear read more