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Anita Page in Under Eighteen (1932)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Apr 15, 2012
Under Eighteen tells the story of Margie Evans (Marian Marsh), a young seamstress struggling through the effects of the Depression and tempted to emulate the “smart girls” who use their feminine wiles to snag the finer things in life. As the film opens, Margie is helping to prepare her older sister, read more
TCM Pick for April: Film Noir
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Apr 7, 2012
Unlike the sparseness of April’s pre-Code offerings on TCM, the channel is fairly bursting at the seams this month with first-rate film noir features! In fact, I was hard-pressed, initially, to come up with my pick. Would it be Gilda, a sentimental favorite as one of my first-seen and most-lov read more
TCM Pick for April: Pre-Code
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Apr 3, 2012
The TCM pre-Code pickings are slim in April, y’all. I didn’t have a whole lot to choose from, but there is a morning filled with Kay Francis pre-Code features on April 6th, and of these, I managed to find my pick of the month: Guilty Hands (1931), starring Lionel Barrymore, Madge Evans, and the read more
A Noir Banquet: The Dark Page and The Dark Page II
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Mar 18, 2012
Start saving your pennies. At $95 each for a two-volume series, The Dark Page and The Dark Page II: Books That Inspired American Film Noir, are pricey, but they’re worth every cent. The first thing to recommend these massive tomes is the catchy and inventive name (wink, wink)! But there’s so much read more
Quotes in Pre-Code: The Office Wife (1930)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Mar 17, 2012
In this first-rate pre-Code feature, Dorothy Mackaill stars as Anne Murdock, a typist who is elevated to the position of personal secretary to the company head, Lawrence Fellows, played by Lewis Stone. On her first day of the gig, Anne is summoned by her former supervisor, J.P. McGowan (Hobart Boswo read more
Truth is Stranger Than Fiction (and sometimes they’re one and the same!)
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Mar 15, 2012
So I was flipping through the September 7, 1953, issue of Time magazine the other day – you know, the one with Audrey Hepburn on the cover (she’s such a delightful sprite, isn’t she?) – when I came across a write-up in the “National Affairs” section of the publication. In the news for the read more
TCM Pick for March: Film Noir
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Mar 11, 2012
In my humble opinion, Richard Widmark was one of the greatest actors of his era. He was outstanding in his film debut, Kiss of Death (1947), as the manically giggling, woman-in-a-wheelchair-shoving hood Tommy Udo, and he was just as memorable in No Way Out (1950), Road House (1948), Don’t Bother to read more
Gone Too Soon: Steve Cochran
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Mar 10, 2012
The following post is my entry in the Gone Too Soon Blogathon presented by Comet Over Hollywood. Take some time to read these great entries! You only owe it to yourself. With his swarthy good looks and tough-guy demeanor, Steve Cochran was a natural for the hoods and cutthroats he so often portrayed read more
TCM Pick for March: Pre-Code
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Mar 4, 2012
Jean Harlow and Lee Tracy create comedy gold. Jean Harlow had a gorgeous face, a knockout body, a head full of striking white-blonde hair, and a flair for comedy – and she demonstrated them all to great advantage in Bombshell (1933), my favorite Harlow film. In addition to Harlow, this movie serves read more
Top 10 Reasons Why I Love Double Indemnity
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Feb 22, 2012
Double Indemnity is my favorite film noir. There. I’ve said it. Aside from its superb writing, awesome acting, and gorgeous cinematography, this film holds a very special place in my heart because it was the first film noir I ever saw – long before I knew what film noir was. I’ve seen it literally read more
The 7 x 7 Link Award!
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Feb 19, 2012
You know what I say (every now and then) – better late than as late as I was the last time I acknowledged an award! I am popping my buttons, floating on air, and just plain tickled to pieces to share the news of my second blog award! Last month, my pal Kristina over at Speakeasy (and our most awesom read more
Frankly, My Dear . . . It’s Classic Movie Survey Time!
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Feb 16, 2012
And now for something completely different! By pure serendipity, I happened upon a fun survey by Rianna over at the totally delightful blog, Frankly, My Dear. I’ve thought about completing other surveys that I’ve seen, but never seemed to get around to it. But this time, I was determined (even read more
Femme Noir Discoveries . . . or, How I Got My Big Break
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Feb 13, 2012
Ever wonder how some of the stars of noir got their big breaks on the big screen? Read on! Ida Lupino took the gig intended for her mother. Ida Lupino (Roadblock, Private Hell 36, On Dangerous Ground) Lupino’s big break in films came in 1932 when she was cast in Her First Affaire. It was her mother, read more
The Liebster Blog Award!
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Feb 5, 2012
My motto (sometimes) is “better late than really, really late.” With that in mind, I am pleased as punch to announce that a few months back (October, to be exact), Shadows and Satin was gifted with a Liebster Blog award from Jill at Sittin’ on a Backyard Fence. Thank you, Jill, for read more
TCM Picks for February: Film Noir
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Feb 4, 2012
I have a great fondness for a number of Alfred Hitchcock features – Rebecca, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, Dial M for Murder. But Strangers on a Train (Warner Bros., 1951) is right up there at the top. So it was a no-brainer to select it as my must-see noir airing on read more
TCM Picks for February: Pre-Code
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Feb 2, 2012
I’m pleased to launch a regular feature here at Shadows and Satin – TCM Picks – in which I recommend my top pre-Code and film noir selections airing in the coming month on Turner Classic Movies. For my inaugural edition of TCM Picks, I offer, for your consideration, The Guardsman (1931), on read more
LAMB Acting School 101: Pre-Code Joan in Our Blushing Brides
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Jan 29, 2012
Dorothy Sebastian, Joan Crawford, and Anita Page. I love Joan Crawford’s pre-Code work. She was in so many memorable features from this era – Possessed, Grand Hotel, Letty Lynton, Sadie McKee. But I think my favorite is Our Blushing Brides. It’s got so much going for it. Entertaining performances read more
A Great Lady: Remembering Patricia Neal
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Jan 19, 2012
Patricia Neal was talented, striking, ambitious, versatile, alluring. But, perhaps, above all, Patricia Neal was endurance personified. The willowy, husky-voiced actress was an Oscar, Tony, and Golden Globe winner, and appeared in such noteworthy films as A Face in the Crowd, The Day the Earth Stood read more
The Origins of Double Indemnity: A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Jan 11, 2012
If you don’t know about the real-life 1927 case that inspired James M. Cain to write Double Indemnity (and The Postman Always Rings Twice, for that matter), pick up A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion by Ron Hansen (Simon and Schuster, 2011). In fact, whether you know everything or nothing about the read more
John Ireland: Outside of the Norm
Shadows and Satin Posted by shadowsandsatin on Jan 6, 2012
John Ireland was not your standard movie actor – his background, his looks, his Hollywood career, and his life behind the screen all represented an individual who was outside the realm of the norm. During Ireland’s Hollywood heyday, he was seen in such classic fare as My Darling Clementine (1946) read more