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.
How to Sleep (1935, Nick Grinde)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 23, 2011
How to Sleep isn’t just a funny little short featuring a man who can’t get to sleep, mostly because he keeps doing stupid things, but it’s also an interesting look at how a personality works on film. Robert Benchley wrote the film, he hosts the bookends as though it’s a serious scientific explorati read more
The Elephant Spider (1967, Piotr Kamler)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 18, 2011
Even though The Elephant Spider clearly takes place in a three dimensional world, it’s hard to think of it working if the animation weren’t so two dimensional. The short takes place around the Big Bang… probably before. A poor creature called the Elephant Spider spends its life walking in one read more
21-87 (1964, Arthur Lipsett)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 16, 2011
The title credit card of 21-87 is a human skull and the second clip (the film is a collection of somewhat unrelated clips edited together) is of an autopsy. It’s hard not to think about mortality while watching it, especially once the accompanying soundtrack—usually interviews unrelated to the clip read more
Moving (1988, Alan Metter)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 15, 2011
I really wish–even though the cameo is great–Morris Day wasn’t in Moving. If he weren’t, one could make the argument all the terrible people are white and all the good people (basically Richard Pryor and his family) are black. But Day shows up for a funny moment. Oh, and bad read more
Gross Anatomy (1989, Thom E. Eberhardt)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 12, 2011
Gross Anatomy is harmless and diverting. It’s got some good performances–Christine Lahti is fantastic, Matthew Modine barely does any work and is solid as the lead. The supporting cast has some bright points (Alice Carter and John Scott Clough), but it’s also got Daphne Zuniga. No read more
The School for Postmen (1947, Jacques Tati)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 11, 2011
There’s a lot of physical humor in The School for Postmen. Not falling down or stumbling or whatnot, but Tati setting up elaborate physical action–for example, a bicycle getting away from its rider, who gives chase. Tati plays the rider, a provincial postman, who shortcuts the bicycling read more
The Face Behind the Mask (1938, Jacques Tourneur)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 9, 2011
Until seeing The Face Behind the Mask, I had no idea there really was a mystery man in an iron mask. I’ve seen at least two of the movie adaptations, maybe three, and am aware of the source novel… I just had no idea it was based in some kind of fact. MGM calls the short a “histori read more
It’s Not Just You, Murray! (1964, Martin Scorsese)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 4, 2011
It’s hard not to watch It’s Not Just You, Murray! without keeping Scorsese’s subsequent career in mind. The film’s got some moments out of Goodfellas, but also a couple where one wonders if Francis Ford Coppola saw the short before he made the Godfather films. Not to mention Scorsese ends the read more
So You Won’t Squawk (1941, Del Lord)
The Stop Button Posted by on Aug 2, 2011
So You Won’t Squawk opens with a lot of expository dialogue, only not from Buster Keaton. For the first few minutes, Keaton’s treated like he’s in another silent. Except, of course, his actions are much more restrained. He’s goofing around while decorating… not too exciting. Of course, read more
Several Friends (1969, Charles Burnett)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 26, 2011
Several Friends is in four parts. The first part has nothing to do with the rest, except Eugene Cherry appearing in it. It’s four friends sitting in a car talking. Burnett’s composition is great, but his dialogue is even more impressive. For ninety percent of the film, Burnett’s d read more
The Dentist (1932, Leslie Pearce)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 21, 2011
The first third of The Dentist takes place on a golf course, without establishing W.C. Fields is a dentist. He talks about having to get back to his office, but it’s not clear. It doesn’t matter, as Fields being a belligerent golf jerk is funny. When it does get to the dental practice, Fields’s read more
Max Sets the Style (1914, Max Linder)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 14, 2011
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a silent comedic actor ever mug for the camera quite as much as Max Linder. In Max Sets the Style, he’s a bumbling (we assume… it’s never clear) fellow on his way to a party. It might be a wedding, but it seems more like a party. It’s unclear. After setting his read more
Into the Night (1985, John Landis)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 13, 2011
Into the Night is so strong, even Landis’s bad directorial impulses can’t hurt it. One impulse, casting a bunch of directors (including himself) in roles, only fails in the case of Paul Mazursky. Mazursky has a reasonably sized supporting role and he gives a terrible performance. The other bad impu read more
The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross (1964, Don Siegel)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 7, 2011
Don Siegel can compose no matter what ratio, so his shots in The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross are all fine. There’s a lack of coverage and the edits are occasionally off, but it’s a TV show (an episode of “The Twilight Zone”); it’s expected. And Siegel does get in the occasional fantastic read more
Hollywood Extra Girl (1935, Herbert Moulton)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jul 5, 2011
At the surface, Hollywood Extra Girl is just a promotional tie-in to Cecil B. DeMille’s The Crusades. The short’s lead, Suzanne Emery, was an extra in The Crusades and the short suggests she might make it in Hollywood just because of that inclusion. According to IMDb, she did not. But the short read more
New York Portrait: Chapter I (1979, Peter B. Hutton)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jun 28, 2011
It takes three minutes for something to “happen” in New York Portrait. The first three minutes are just static scenes, unless one want to count the smoke coming out of a stack. Portrait might be better titled, New York Establishing Shots. With the exception of a lengthy–for the sh read more
The Scribe (1966, John Sebert)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jun 23, 2011
The Scribe isn’t totally silent, but Buster Keaton is throughout. While he’s old (Keaton died soon after the film, an instructional short finished shooting), he and the filmmakers don’t make it obvious. There’s some stunt footage where it’s obviously not Keaton—flying around, hooked on a read more
Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965, Honda Ishirô)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jun 22, 2011
So… Godzilla dances in Invasion of Astro-Monster. He also boxes a little. Unfortunately, the boxing part does little to liven up the last half, which is incredibly tiring. The dancing comes earlier—though not by much, but enough to “help.” Godzilla doesn’t appear in the film until the middle read more
Rodan (1956, Honda Ishirô)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jun 20, 2011
The end of Rodan makes the monster’s death tragic—there are two Rodans (giant pterosaurs) and one commits suicide after its mate dies in volcano fumes. Even more tragic is the Japanese defense force hounded these big dumb birds until they intentionally attacked populated areas and those volcanic read more
Deadhead Miles (1972, Vernon Zimmerman)
The Stop Button Posted by on Jun 17, 2011
Deadhead Miles is a piece of great seventies filmmaking. It’s not a great film, but a great piece of filmmaking. The distinction’s important. Most of the film is about a peculiar truck driver, played by Alan Arkin, and his adventures after picking up a hitchhiker, played by Paul Benedict. Arkin’s read more