Welcome to BlogHub: the Best in Veteran and Emerging Classic Movie Blogs
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You can rate and share your favorite classic movie posts here.
High Noon (1952, Fred Zinnemann)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 11, 2018
High Noon is a film all about courage and cowardice, so it’s appropriate the film starts with the most courageous thing it’s ever going to do and it does a few. It commits to its theme song. Not a piece of music from Dimitri Tiomkin, but a country song (written by Tiomkin, lyrics by Ned Washington, read more
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 10, 2018
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp runs two and three-quarters hours and takes place over forty years. The former’s passage is sublime, the latter’s is subtle. Directors Powell and Pressburger bookend the film in the present, then flashback. The lead at the start of the film is James McKechnie. read more
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936, Albert Herman), Chapter 11: The Ship of Peril
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 8, 2018
The Ship of Peril features the single most surprising thing about The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand so far. They actually shoot some of the chapter on a ship. Not all of it–like when the rough and tumble crew are below deck, it’s obviously not a ship, but there are at least a half dozen read more
Experiment Perilous (1944, Jacques Tourneur)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 8, 2018
Experiment Perilous is a strange film. Not the plot–well, some of how the plot is handled–but the strangeness comes from the result of how the film is executed. It’s a Gothic family drama set in twentieth century New York City without a lot of the family. There’s a flashback sequence, but Perilous read more
You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown (1975, Phil Roman)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 7, 2018
Most of You’re a Good Sport, Charlie Brown is a motocross race. There are a bunch of kids in the race–organized by Peppermint Patty (Stuart Brotman)–but the only two racers who matter are Charlie Brown (Duncan Watson) and Snoopy, “disguised” as The Masked Marvel. The race is beautifully plotted. read more
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936, Albert Herman), Chapter 10: A Desperate Chance
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 6, 2018
While he’s lost his advantage (apparently) by the cliffhanger, master detective and frequent dimwit Jack Mulhall bumbles his way into a win in A Desperate Chance. Because he’s got her house bugged (with a camera, natch), he’s able to see Mae Busch get conned and go to… rescue her? Not clear read more
Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (1975, Phil Roman)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 5, 2018
There’s not a lot of story in Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown. It’s almost Valentine’s Day and Charlie Brown (Duncan Watson) is anxious to receive some valentines. Meanwhile, Linus (Stephen Shea) has a crush on his teacher, much to the chagrin of Sally (Lynn Mortensen). Those plots are it. Everythin read more
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936, Albert Herman), Chapter 9: Evil Eyes
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 4, 2018
Evil Eyes, despite all evidence to the contrary, actually seems like it might be doing something new with Clutching Hand. After an amazing cliffhanger resolution where instead of assaulting Ruth Mix, the clutching hand of the unseen Clutching Hand takes a paper she’s reading. She’s terrified, but read more
The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988, Nicholas Corea)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 3, 2018
The Incredible Hulk Returns is severely lacking. It’s severely lacking pretty much everything. Despite being set in and filmed in Los Angeles, the movie looks generic and constrained–director Corea has a truly exceptional aversion to establishing shots. The interior shots often have a different read more
The Other Side of the Wind (2018, Orson Welles)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 2, 2018
The Other Side of the Wind opens with two very ominous notes. Well, two and a half. The first is a text card explaining the film’s history, but not much about its resurrection. For example (and here’s the half ominous note), was it director Welles’s idea to do multiple aspect ratios? It makes read more
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936, Albert Herman), Chapter 8: A Cry in the Night
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Nov 1, 2018
A Cry in the Night refers the the cliffhanger of this chapter. Not the cliffhanger resolve at the open, which is another terrible Clutching Hand resolve, but the one in the very last scene. It’s not clear it’s night out. The cry is more of a scream. Whatever. After the cliffhanger resolution at read more
Captain Voyeur (1969, John Carpenter)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 31, 2018
Captain Voyeur starts better than it finishes, which is too bad since it gets better as it goes along. Writer and director Carpenter opens the short with a long tracking shot of some boring workplace. Excellent black and white photography from Joanne Willens (save two shots later on) makes the open read more
It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown! (1974, Phil Roman)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 30, 2018
Easter Beagle has a really strong script from Charles M. Schulz. Everything is balanced just right. It’s not balanced equally. The proportions are just right. Besides the lovely musical sequences–where Beagle goes for being lovely and graceful (lots of dancing Snoopy, set Vince Guaraldi, some read more
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936, Albert Herman), Chapter 7: The Invisible Enemy
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 29, 2018
The Invisible Enemy does indeed feature an invisible enemy. Sort of. It’s the shadow of the Clutching Hand, who despite being the villain for the entire serial, is mentioned with surprise when Jack Mulhall reads another of the Hand’s threatening notes. On one hand (no pun intended), it& read more
The Witch (2015, Robert Eggers)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 28, 2018
The Witch is very creepy. It has to be. There’s a lot of scary music, done to scary effect. Cuts to black and the like. Ominous forest. Cut to black. Very creepy. Whether or not it’s scary is another matter. It’s somewhat disturbing. But it’s set in the seventeenth century and it’s serious. read more
It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown (1974, Phil Roman)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 27, 2018
It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown opens with this adorable five minute Woodstock sequence. He builds a new nest, then goes and takes a swim in a bird bath. A storm comes in–whatever its faults, Mystery does have some rather ambitious animation for a “Charlie Brown” special–the tranquil clouds read more
The Return of the Incredible Hulk (1977, Alan J. Levi)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 26, 2018
The Return of the Incredible Hulk is the second pilot movie for the subsequent “Incredible Hulk” TV series. It aired three weeks after the first pilot, which featured the origin of the Hulk–scientist Bruce Bixby turns himself into green-skinned musclebound grotesque Lou Ferrigno thanks to gamma read more
The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936, Albert Herman), Chapter 6: Steps of Doom
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 25, 2018
Steps of Doom almost opens with a good cliffhanger resolve. It definitely has a couple surprises to it, which the chapter does nothing with after revealing them–even though both beg further explanation–and gets into another bar fight at the waterfront. It raises a third question, just before the read more
My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown (1989, Jim Sheridan)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on Oct 24, 2018
My Left Foot is told in flashback. There’s the present–kind of glorified bookends–when Christy Brown (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a successful adult and flirts with his nurse (Ruth McCabe)–and then the past, which recounts Brown growing up poor, with cerebral palsy, in 1940s Dublin. Hugh O’Conor read more