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A Third June 15th, 2010 marked the Third Blogiversary for Out of the Past ~ A Classic Film Blog. I really wanted to do something big. A giveaway, a contest, a competition, blogathon, something, but life got in the way and so the blogiversary quietly passed me by. However, I want to take the op read more

Forbidden Hollywood The Pre-Code Era (1930-1934) When Sin Ruled the Movies by Mark A. Vieira TCM and Running Press Hardcover ISBN: 9780762466771 April 2019 252 pages Amazon — Barnes and Noble — Powells — TCM Shop "Pre-Code refers to the four-year period before the Production Cod read more

The festivities kicked off on Wednesday, the day before the 2022 TCM Classic Film Festival began. First up:Academy Museum of Motion PicturesWe trekked over to the Academy Museum for a pre-festival visit. I was very excited to visit as I'd heard great things since it officially opened in September of read more

Irving Thalberg and Norma Shearer on their wedding day. The month of June marks 5 years, count 'em 5 years, since I started Out of the Past ~ A Classic Film Blog. In June 2007, I had a desperate urge to start writing about classic movies. If I truly love something, I have to talk about it! I just h read more

Beat the Devil (1954) or 1953 according to some sources, is a Bogie adventure movie that is just plain bad. Available on Netflix Instant, Carlos and I watched this film last night and we are still not sure what it was about. I'll try my best to give you a synopsis. Bogie plays Billy Dannreuther, a m read more

Ida Lupino and Dana Andrews with director Fritz Lang After two decades of making films in America, director Fritz Lang was at his wits end. The 1950s was difficult time in the film industry. Television was a major rival for audience’s time and attention. For Lang, good opportunities were fe read more

The Essential DirectorsThe Art and Impact of Cinema's Most Influential Filmmakersby Sloan De Forestforeword by Peter Bogdanovich and Jacqueline StewartTCM and Running PressPaperback ISBN: 9780762498932344 pagesNovember 2021Amazon — Barnes and Noble — Powell's “Ultimately, the read more

For Polly Parrish (Ginger Rogers) in Bachelor Mother (1939), the New Year is off to a bad start before it even began. Around Christmas time she gets a note from her employer John P. Merlin & Son, a New York City department store, that her services will no longer be needed after the holiday read more

Hollywood Black The Stars, The Films, The Filmmakers by Donald Bogle TCM and Running Press Hardcover ISBN: 9780762491414 264 pages May 2019 Amazon — Barnes and Noble —Powell's “Hollywood Black presents a gallery of important talents, both in front of the camera and behind it R read more

Another year has come and gone and 2012 is just around the corner. This year was definitely a year of reading. I was fed up with having a superficial knowledge of classic cinema that I started diving into many biographies in search of more background information and context to add to my current ment read more

It's a cinephile's dream to unearth a trove of silent gems. Films unseen for many decades, written off as lost forever are brought to life again. When this event occurs usually one or two films are found in someone's attic or shed. Sometimes these discoveries happen in lands many miles away from bir read more

After finding the filming locations in Downtown Boston and Beacon Hill for The Thomas Crown Affair (1968),  Carlos and I headed to Cambridge, MA to find the cemetery from the film. Finding specific locations in cemeteries is more difficult than it seems. I personally have tried to find the grav read more

Anne Bancroft: A Life by Douglass K. Daniel University Press of Kentucky 408 pages September 2017 Hardcover ISBN: 9780813169682 Amazon — Barnes and Noble — Powell's "Personally and professionally, she was determined to live by her own terms." - Douglass K. Daniel If ever there was a w read more

Image Source Clara Bow was one of those mega-watt stars whose light burned bright in the silent film era. What makes an actress like Clara Bow a star? The x-factor and she had “it”. Now the x-factor isn’t one solitary thing. It’s a combination of things including personal read more

Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1944) The sub-genre of WWII housing shortage films has a following among classic movie enthusiasts. Add Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1944) to The More the Merrier (1943),  Government Girl (1944) and Standing Room Only (1944). You'll find this film is the read more

Charles Walters: The Director Who Made Hollywood Dance by Brent Phillips Hardcover, 368 pages ISBN: 9780813147215 November 2014 University Press of Kentucky Barnes and Noble Powell's IndieBound “He was born to dance.” – Brent Phillips on Chuck Walters When I started my classic read more

Hugh Hefner with Vivian Blane and Rita Hayworth at the Hollywood Sign fundraiser, circa 1978 Photo source: AP and Another Mag On a cold wintry day in 2015, I sat in a makeshift screening room of a Holiday Inn in upstate New York. It was the final Cinefest and one of the highlights of the show woul read more

We are past the first month mark so I'm sharing some entries for the 2013 Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge. Everyone can chose to read up to 6 books but if you read a total 6 and review them by September 15th, you are eligible to win a prize. The prize in question is your choice of any si read more

Ben Mankiewicz and Norman Lloyd at the Live at the TCM Classic Film Festival screening (Press photo) Today is Norman Lloyd's 102nd birthday. To celebrate TCM willl be airing the 2015 Norman Lloyd Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival. I was in the studio audience for that legendary interview. It read more

James Garner and his wife Lois Fleischman Clarke. Source: AP James Garner  1928-2014  I was very sad and somewhat shocked to hear of the death of actor James Garner. On screen, he was always charming and gave consistently good performances. And boy was he handsome! James Garner was read more