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Publicists declare each film release “Great.” But what about films with GREAT in the Title? What’s the first film that comes to mind? The Great Train Robbery? After all that’s considered the first film (with a plot) that was ever released. There are dozens of films with Great in the title but we naturally are […]
Here’s a tale of two actresses who responded very differently to the blandishments of one Johnny Stompanato (in mug shots above.) Who he? Please read on. First, we must marvel yet again at how close were the links between the movie studios in the Forties and Fifties and organized crime. The big studios today are run as […]
Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee. That of course is a song lyric from the 1978 musical Grease. Sandra Dee, who wasn’t in Grease, represented the wholesome girl next door, and the song satirizes that image. Sandra didn’t mind. In fact, she got a kick out of her mention. In any case, song denotes that the teenage star […]
A few weeks ago, on Dec. 2 to be exact, we featured a blog about Sandra Dee. And, frankly, we were pleasantly surprised by the relatively large volume of reader interest generated. We suspect our faithful followers would probably appreciate more, and we’re here today to give it to ’em. Thus our Sandra Dee Monday […]
Dave Kehr, formerly of the The New York Times, hit on something when he questioned why one of our favorite films is pretty much the standard bearer of Christmas movies. Kehr once wrote: With its bleak, film-noir imagery and barely suppressed undertone of suicidal despair, Frank Capra’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ (1946) has somewhat mysteriously assumed an unshakable […]
Tonight we all await Santa. But some of us will stil watch old, classic films. Which ones to choose? There are the old standbys — It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, The Bishop’s Wife, the various versions of A Christmas Carol. There are the “newer” classics — films such as The Holiday, The […]
Louella was short, dumpy and unattractive, a three-times married Catholic who delivered innumerable Hollywood “excloooseeves” (as she pronounced it) for the Hearst publishing empire and its Los Angeles Examiner flagship. Orson Welles was her bete noir. Hedda, an ex chorus girl and character actress, was better looking — tall and thin, and elegant of appearance who barked out questions like […]
There he is above, with Jean Simmons, in yet another epic. Victor Mature made at least four of these elephantine Biblical spectaculars, thus appearing in some of the most popular movies of the Forties and Fifties. We prefer in in the sprinkling of fim noirs in which his durable performances were sometimes upstaged by the […]
One of our favorite classic movie anecdotes goes as follows: A post-retirement Victor Mature found himself in an elevator at a high-end New York City department store. In walked two well-dressed women of a certain age. Isn’t that Victor Mature?, asked one woman. The other woman responded: Victor Mature! Isn’t he dead? From the rear of the elevator, […]
Although she is best remembered for her role in the sci fi classic Forbidden Planet, Anne Francis co-starred in one of Joe’s favorite films, Susan Slept Here. And although she was only 2 years older than Debbie Reynolds, who starred in the title role opposite Dick Powell, Anne played the older woman. Francis started her […]