Welcome to BlogHub: the Best in Veteran and Emerging Classic Movie Blogs
You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936, Frank Capra)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 13, 2015
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is astoundingly (and rightfully) confident. Director Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin don’t shy away from anything in the film–Capra’s more than willing to go with sentimentality, but the film isn’t often sentimental. Even when Jean Arthur’s read more
Doctor Zhivago (1965, David Lean)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 10, 2015
When Doctor Zhivago got to its intermission, I assumed director Lean would keep things moving as fast in the second half as he did in the first. These expectations were all high melodrama. Instead, the post-intermission section of Zhivago feels utterly detached from the first, even though there are read more
The Scarecrow (1920, Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 8, 2015
The Scarecrow opens with a lengthy practical effects sequence. Buster Keaton and Joe Roberts are roommates and they have an elaborately designed “concise” home. It’s like IKEA’s dream, only with manually pulled ropes instead of some kind of remote control. (There’s als read more
Animal Crackers (1930, Victor Heerman)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 6, 2015
After initially teasing some kind of narrative, Animal Crackers gives it up and embraces not just being a stage adaptation (hope I don’t forget to talk about that aspect) but also a series of sketches. Not just comedy sketches, but also musical ones. The film takes place over a day. It starts read more
On the Waterfront (1954, Elia Kazan)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jul 3, 2015
On the Waterfront is relentlessly grim until the strangest moment in the finale. As the film finally reaches the point of savage, physical violence–it opens with the implication, but not the visualization of such violence–a supporting character (familiar but mostly background) makes a w read more
Lolita (1962, Stanley Kubrick)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 29, 2015
The first half of Lolita is a wonderful mix of acting styles. There’s James Mason’s very measured, very British acting. There’s Shirley Winters’s histrionics; she’s doing Hollywood melodrama on overdrive but director Kubrick (and Winters) have it all under perfect cont read more
The Grapes of Wrath (1940, John Ford)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 26, 2015
The Grapes of Wrath starts in a darkened neverland. Director Ford and cinematographer Gregg Toland create a realer than real Oklahoma for protagonist Henry Fonda to journey across. The locations and sets aren’t as important as how Fonda (and the audience) experience it. It’s actually ra read more
Convict 13 (1920, Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 24, 2015
Convict 13 has some undeniably funny stuff in it, but directors Keaton and Cline rely almost entirely on physical comedy. By physical, I mean actors doing choreographed comedy. Sometimes it’s Keaton, both for the smaller sequences and the larger, or Joe Roberts as a gigantic, revolting prison read more
The Kid (1921, Charles Chaplin), the director’s cut
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 22, 2015
Some time after the halfway point in The Kid, it becomes clear the film isn’t going to end badly for its leads. Charlie Chaplin is the tramp, Jackie Coogan is his ward (a tramp in training). Chaplin, as a director, is fairly restrictive. Most of the action takes place on a few streets, primar read more
Tarzan and His Mate (1934, Cedric Gibbons)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 21, 2015
For a film called Tarzan and His Mate, Johnny Weissmuller’s Tarzan doesn’t get much to do. He spends the film rescuing Maureen O’Sullivan (which is one of the more frustrating aspects of the film–she doesn’t exhibit any jungle survival skills until the finale) from a v read more
[Stop Button Favorites] Episode 5 | The People That Time Forgot
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 20, 2015
An audio commentary for Kevin Connor’s 1977 film, “The People That Time Forgot,” produced by Max Rosenberg for American International Pictures. Synced to the iTunes HD video. Subscribe on iTunes MP3 Download read more
[Stop Button Modells] THWAPP! PLOP! THWACK! THUNK! FLRBB!: The People That Time Forgot
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 20, 2015
An audiovisual essay concerning Kevin Connor’s 1977 film, “The People That Time Forgot,” produced by Max Rosenberg for American International Pictures. read more
Henry V (1989, Kenneth Branagh)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 19, 2015
Director (and adapter) Branagh splits Henry V into three sections. They aren’t equal, they don’t match the act changes (usually); Branagh lets photographer Kenneth MacMillan open up the film to (outdoor) light while Patrick Doyle’s score becomes essential. The first outside, dayli read more
One Week (1920, Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 17, 2015
One Week is pretty much perfect. Directors Cline and Keaton structure the short beautifully. It takes place over a week, the passage of days torn off calendar pages, as newlyweds Keaton and Sybil Seely set up their home. Literally, set up; they’re constructing their own pre-fab and things go read more
Little Big Man (1970, Arthur Penn)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 15, 2015
Little Big Man is episodic. It has to be. Director Penn knows he can’t reveal the tragedy of the film right off because it’d be unbearable but he also can’t avoid it. The film starts in a bookend with an incredibly aged Dustin Hoffman beginning to recount the story; he do so out o read more
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985, Danny Steinmann)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 13, 2015
Someone–whether it be the writers, director, producers, studio, composer, whoever–someone tried really hard to make Friday the 13th: A New Beginning a comedy. It fails miserably, but the attempt is interesting if not admirable. Wait, it’s not because of the composer; Harry Manfred read more
[Stop Button Modells] The Best on VHS: Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 13, 2015
An audiovisual essay about Danny Steinmann’s 1985 film, “Friday the 13th: A New Beginning,” produced by Timothy Silver for Paramount Pictures. read more
The Lady Eve (1941, Preston Sturges)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 12, 2015
Preston Sturges has a great structure to The Lady Eve. The first part of the film–the majority of the runtime–has wealthy oddball Henry Fonda returning home on a ship and falling in love with Barbara Stanwyck. Makes sense, as she’s wonderful, only she (and her father, Charles Cobu read more
[Stop Button Lists] The Ten Best Movie Marketing Campaigns Ever
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 11, 2015
source: WhatCulture Stop Button Lists is a new feature. When I thought of it, I wanted something flexible. Possibly scalable, definitely flexible. The first week’s post discussed a top ten list from thirty-five years ago, last week’s post looked at home video releases; those same films read more
Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953, Jacques Tati)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 9, 2015
A certain amount of Mr. Hulot’s Holiday is pure slapstick. Except it’s slapstick through director Tati’s decidedly careful lensing. Tati holds the shot on the slapstick punchline a beat too long, giving the viewer time to consider the joke, the punchline, and his or her amusement. read more