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The Major and the Minor (1942) I’m not sure you could make a picture like The Major and the Minor (1942) today, and given the Lolita undertones of the story that might be a good thing, although writer and director Billy Wilder couldn’t have predicted the arrival of Nabokov’s controversial novel read more

Classic Movie Travels: Louise Fazenda Louise Fazenda Louise Fazenda was born on June 17, 1895, in Lafayette, Indiana. She was the daughter of Joseph Fazenda and Nelda Schilling Fazenda. Louise was born in the ground floor northwest room of her maternal grandparents’ house on North Salisbury read more

Monsters, by their very name, are supposed to be monstrous. Perhaps hideous like The Hideous Sun Demon, or beastly like Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.  Just throw an exclamation point on the title like Them! or Tarantula! so we know something terrible is coming. Just give us a monster – it’s why read more

The Lonely Man (1957) It’s been a few months since my last full-length film Western review, so in this month’s column I’m reviewing The Lonely Man (1957), which was just released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber Studio Classics. I had no previous familiarity with The Lonely read more

Silent Superstars: The Classy Bebe Daniels Often overshadowed by the major names like Clara Bow or Louise Brooks, Bebe Daniels is mainly familiar to fans of old Hollywood. But back in the 1920s she was one of the era’s brightest stars, and she and husband Ben Lyon were one of Movieland’s read more

Classic Movie Travels: Clarine Seymour Clarine Seymour Clarine Seymour was born on December 9, 1898, in Brooklyn, New York, New York. She was born to Albert and Florence Seymour, a wealthy Methodist couple. Her father ran a ribbon manufacturing business until 1916, when an illness forced him t read more

Quoteable Noir: Part 2 Back in 2019, I kicked off the new year with some of my favorite quotes from some of my favorite noirs. So much has changed in our world since then – but one thing that’s remained the same is the awesome lines that can be found in the films of classic noir. Because one read more

A werewolf walks into a bar and …. No, that’s not a joke. It’s the opening scene of a 1956 low-budget film with the straightforward and generic title of The Werewolf. And if you’ve seen other werewolf films, you’ll guess right away that the disheveled and anxious man who stumbles into read more

Silver Screen Standards: On Dangerous Ground (1951) Deep frost permeates Nicholas Ray’s 1951 noir classic, On Dangerous Ground, freezing both the soul of its protagonist and the stark winter landscape that dominates the second half of the film. Both constitute the “dangerous ground” of the read more

1950 Westerns In this month’s column, as we turn the corner into the new year, I want to particularly focus on several Westerns celebrating their 75th anniversaries in 2025. 1950 was a key year in the Western genre. Important new directors emerged on the scene, and their films demonstrat read more

The Top 10 (Possible) Hit Films of 1924 As 2024 is drawing to a close, I’m reminded that a number of iconic silent films are now 100 years old: Sherlock Jr, The Thief of Bagdad, Greed. These kinds of milestones always spark my curiosity: were these films as popular back then as they are today? read more

In Appreciation for Frank Chambers I’ve been a fan of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) for as long as I can remember – it was one of the first noirs I ever saw as a child. (I recall that I didn’t initially understand what the title meant – and how thrilled I was when I finally figured read more

In Piranha, thousands of tiny fish – already known for their carnivorous appetites – go bonkers for human flesh after being genetically modified by the government. Among the film’s stars are Barbara Steele, Kevin McCarthy, Bradford Dillman and Dick Miller. Matinee has a William Castle-type read more

Silver Screen Standards: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) While I’ve never had any interest in diamonds, I do enjoy watching Marilyn Monroe sing about them in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), the Technicolor film adaptation of the 1949 stage musical based on Anita Loos’ flapper era novel. Monroe’s read more

Classic Movie Travels: Dinah Shore Frances “Fanny” Rose Shore was born on February 29, 1916, to Anna and Solomon Shore in Winchester, Tennessee. She had a sister, Elizabeth, who was eight years older. When Fanny was eighteen months old, she suffered from polio. After extensive care, an exerci read more

Western Film Book Library – Part 9 It’s time for another survey of books on Western movies! This month’s column is prompted in large part by the publication of an important new book, The Cavalry Trilogy: John Ford, John Wayne, and the Making of Three Classic Westerns by Michael read more

The Growing Pains of (Very) Early Cinema It’s easy to assume that “moving pictures” burst onto the scene in the late 19th century all at once. We often imagine that pop culture history can be neatly sliced into “before cinema” and “after cinema,” positive that the traditional forms read more

Thankful Noir Noirvember and Thanksgiving season. The weather is getting cooler and the leaves are continuing to turn and fall. So, what better time to pull up a chair, grab a cup o’ cider, and join me as I serve up a heaping platter of noir-related goodies that I’m thankful for? Here goes read more

My Favorite Wife (1940) I’ve shown a lot of comedies to my lifetime learners over the years, but I’ve rarely heard an audience laugh as uproariously as they did during a recent screening of My Favorite Wife (1940), which we watched as part of a series featuring Cary Grant. The peals of laughter read more

As classic movie fans, we’ve all had those “wow” moments with actors we may not expect to see in a film as in “Wow! Is that (fill in the blank) …” Or “Wait – I think that’s …” This usually happens in their early films and it’s always fun to make that connection. One of my read more