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The Maverick Queen (1956) Barbara Stanwyck is a favorite of many classic film fans, myself included. Over the years I’ve reviewed a few of her films here after seeing them for the first time: The Furies (1950), The Violent Men (1955), and Forty Guns (1957). The Maverick Queen (1956) One read more

Classic Movie Travels: Jim Nabors Jim Nabors James Thurston Nabors was born on June 12, 1930, in Sylacauga, Alabama, the son of Fred Nabors, a police officer, and Mavis Pearl Newman Nabors. He was raised in the small central Alabama community alongside two older sisters: Freddie Mae and Annie read more

Modern technology is crazy, isn’t it? It feels like it can take over the world – perhaps not right away but we can see it coming. We welcomed advancements that helped us, but is it going too far? I recently had to jump out of the way of a robotic floor cleaner at a grocery store. Don’t read more

Pre-Code Films with Film Noir Flavor Next to film noir, my favorite type of classic movie is pre-Code – films released roughly between 1929 and July 1934, before the strict enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code (also known as the Hays Code). The Hays Code represented a set of censorsh read more

Man Hunt (1941) I discovered the existence of Man Hunt (1941) while searching for classic movies about close encounters with Nazis, and as soon as I learned about it, I knew I needed to see it for myself. Adapted from Geoffrey Household’s 1939 novel, Rogue Male, Man Hunt is one of several anti-Na read more

The American Revolution On The Silent Screen America (1924) It’s fascinating to see how American silent filmmakers portrayed events from U.S. history. Just think how much closer they were in time to events that are practically mythical to us today. In 1915, the Civil War had taken place only read more

Classic Movie Travels: Rosalind Byrne Rosalind Byrne Rosalind Loretta Mooney, later know as Rosalind Byrne, was born on February 19, 1904, in St Marys, Ohio, to William and Mary Mooney. Her parents were prominent members of the community and her father worked as a judge. Tragically, he passed read more

Bend of the River (1952) Bend of the River (1952), starring James Stewart and directed by Anthony Mann, is not just one of my favorite Westerns, it’s one of my very favorite films. Readers with long memories may recall I wrote about Bend of the River here way back in 2018, in my introducto read more

A Closer Look At Wings (1927) Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers, Clara Bow, and Richard Arlen References to Wings (1927) are most commonly trotted out during awards seasons, as a bit of obligatory trivia answering the question: “What was the first movie to be given the Oscar for Best Picture? read more

Call me a cephalophile. Or an octo-enthusiast. Either one speaks to my obsession with the octopus in film. It is such a dramatic creature with those eight elongated tentacles that even a brief appearance can jolt a movie awake. An octopus lurking in a cave is like a killer in a closet. “Run!” read more

Noir Nook: Darkest Noirs One of the features of film noir that I love most is the sheer “darkness” of the plots, characters, and themes. The darker, the better, in fact – no happy endings for me! This month, at the Nook, I’m shining the spotlight on two of my favorite films noirs which read more

Silver Screen Standards: The Devil Doll (1936) There’s nothing standard about the wild plot of the 1936 horror film, The Devil Doll, with its miniaturized zombie killers, mad scientists, use of drag as part of an elaborate scheme for revenge, and extensive special effects work showcasing its titu read more

California Gold Country Western Locations From Iverson Ranch to Lone Pine, Moab to Kanab, Corriganville to Pioneertown, I love visiting Western movie locations! This spring a road trip took us to California’s “Gold Country.”  St. James, Sonora We spent a day in the little towns read more

Georges Méliès Amongst The Stars Mankind dreamed of going to the moon and flying through the stars long before the actual rocket ships were invented. And at the turn of the 20th century, these dreams had a distinct tinge of Victorian whimsy. Poetry, fantasy stories, and the popular stage traditio read more

Stranger than Fiction – Part 2(Leon Ames and Ruth Roman) “Truth is stranger than fiction,” Mark Twain once informed us, “but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn’t.”  This month’s Noir Nook serves up the next installment in my series that looks read more

The “national day” trend of recent years can be fun. National Doughnut Day (June 5) is something I celebrate every day, but I do take advantage of doughnut specials offered for this day. National Go Barefoot Day (June 1) is a big no for me (I always wear my socks), but you can go ahead and take read more

Courage and Cowardice in High Noon (1952) They say good help is hard to find, but Gary Cooper’s frontier marshal in High Noon (1952) experiences a life and death example of how difficult it is to get people to show up for you, even when it’s in their own best interest to do so. The iconic Western read more

Final Resting Places It’s time for another of my periodic tributes to Western filmmakers through sharing visits to their final resting places. This is one of the ways I reflect on what each person’s work has contributed to the Western genre, giving all of us many happy hours of entertainment. read more

A Closer Look At The Wind (1928) Lillian Gish, The Wind In 1927, cinema was famously experiencing a time of transition from the silent to talkies, kickstarted by the popularity of Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer (1927). Directors and stars would soon be faced with a decision, whether deliberate read more

Oh, the horrors of 1950s B-movies. And I’m not talking scary good, but scary bad. So many of the creative ideas for monsters were never realized because of low budgets and ridiculously short shooting schedules. Viewers accept that the creatures in these films might look cheap and even laughable, read more