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Valeska Suratt Valeska Suratt Valeska Suratt was born on June 28, 1882, in Owensville, Indiana, to Ralph and Anna Suratt. When Suratt was six years old, her family relocated to Terre Haute, Indiana. By 1899, she dropped out of school to work at a photography studio, later moving to Indianapoli read more

Lone Pine Film Festival 2024 I had an amazing time again this year at the annual Lone Pine Film Festival held in Lone Pine, California. This was the 34th festival, of which I’ve attended around 10. As has become our habit in recent years, we arrived in town a day ahead of the four-da read more

Noir Nook: Noir’s Scariest Characters October is a month for ghosts and goblins, bats and jack-o’-lanterns, black cats and skeletons. Not necessarily the characteristics that come to mind when one thinks of film noir. But there’s one thing that’s common to both October and noir – scary read more

House on Haunted Hill (1959) I fell in love with the wacky low-budget horror films of the 1950s and 60s as a kid, when public domain chillers aired late at night and I secretly stayed up to watch them on the tiny black-and-white TV in my room. I didn’t pay much attention to the filmmakers behind read more

A Closer Look At “London After Midnight” (1927) It’s probably the most famous, most sought-after lost silent film of all time: London After Midnight (1927), starring the screen legend Lon Chaney and directed by the macabre-minded Tod Browning. Despite constant attempts to track it dow read more

Turning 80 is a big deal for anyone – or anything for that matter and that includes movies. We’ve lost thousands of films through the decades and never for a good reason. Some because they were shot on highly combustible nitrate film, others from neglect, because of old age or even be read more

Audrey Meadows Audrey Meadows Audrey Cotter was born on February 8, 1922, in New York, New York, as the youngest of four children (two girls and two boys). Her parents were Reverend Francis James Meadows Cotter and Ida Miller Taylor, who worked as Episcopal missionaries in Wuchang, Hubei, Chin read more

“B” Movie Western Sampler It’s time for my annual “B” Western sampler! In 2022 and 2023 I shared reviews of short “B” Westerns I watched while traveling. Once again my portable DVD player and “B” Western discs accompanie read more

The Wild Frontier of “Inceville” “When the movies were young,” as the saying went, filmmakers’ heads were swimming with possibilities. Motion pictures cameras could take footage anywhere a tripod could rest, so why not take advantage of it? Outside the usual confines of the stage, anything read more

Uncommon Ladies of Noir: Rhonda Fleming Rhonda Fleming was known as “The Queen of Technicolor.” As such, she’s not necessarily the first femme who comes to mind when you’re talking noir. With her titian locks, she was a standout in films like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court read more

Blithe Spirit (1945) Supernatural comedy is one of my favorite movie genres any time of year, but I’m especially drawn to it once the first Halloween decorations start to materialize. After a recent viewing of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), I remembered that its leading man, Rex Harrison, also read more

They were cute little honey bees – just one or two fluttering around the walkway by my back stairs. Not an unexpected sight on a warm summer day and, knowing the importance of the pollinators, I left them alone. I should have looked closer. A few weeks later there was a swarm – OK, maybe read more

Ann Rutherford Ann Rutherford Therese Ann Rutherford was born on November 2, 1917, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Her parents were John and Lucille Rutherford. Her mother was a silent film actress, while her father was an operatic tenor. When Rutherford was an infant, her family reloc read more

Westerns for Young Viewers Recently a longtime Twitter pal sought recommendations for traditional Westerns for her 11-year-old daughter to try. An enjoyable discussion with several people ensued, and I got to thinking that if I fleshed out my thoughts it would make a nice Western RoundUp topic read more

Noir Nook: International Femmes Film noir movies may be, generally speaking, set in urban American cities, but many of its inhabitants hail from the other side of the world. This month’s Noir Nook takes a look at the lives and careers of three noir dames who bring a bit of international flair to read more

Hollywood’s crowning achievement is its greatest enigma Here’s some exciting news for The Wizard of Oz fans (and who isn’t :)) Coming Soon! Mysteries of Oz: 85 Questions Answered is a new documentary from AMS Pictures that explores the magic, music, and myths surrounding the read more

Slapstick By The Sea: 8 Edwardian Comedy Shorts The women may not have worn bikinis and the men might not have gone around shirtless, but Edwardians enjoyed a sunny day at the beach just as much as we do today. By the 1910s the best beaches abounded with beautiful resorts, and seaside amusement read more

Living up to your family legacy can be tough. You can spend your life trying to meet the high expectations of your parents or following in the family business that is often at the expense of your own dreams. As tough as that is for humans, think about the difficulties for monster kids like Dr read more

Leave Her to Heaven (1945) The mingling of film noir and melodrama can yield strange but beautiful fruit, as it does most memorably in 1945’s Leave Her to Heaven, adapted by Jo Swerling from the 1944 novel by Ben Ames Williams and directed by John M. Stahl. Gene Tierney, always exquisite and usua read more

Wini Shaw Wini Shaw Wini Shaw was born Winifred Lei Momi on February 25, 1907, in San Francisco, California, to James Edmonds Shaw and Esther Pua Kinamu Stephenson. She was of Hawaiian and Irish descent, and the youngest of thirteen children. Shaw began her time in the entertainment industr read more