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If you hear it’s a Preston Sturges film you know what to expect: Sharp comedy set at lightning pace, plenty of interesting dialogue, classic two-shots emphasizing all the good talk, ample visual slapstick, sharp comedy often delivered by major Hollywood stars and the director’s favored gang of superb character actors. In short a Sturges film […]
1930’s Hollywood was always on the lookout for “the next Garbo.” She wasn’t it. But Franciska Gaal (nee Franciska Silberspitz) was a talented cabaret songstress in Europe in the 1930’s, something that producer Joseph Pasternak noticed and developed, encouraging her to push on into movies in Germany and in the U.S. Her basic girlish charm […]
She “steals” several pictures, including by way of her turn as an oversexed countess in 1939’s The Women (quite a feat since the cast includes Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Joan Fontaine, Rosalind Russell and, sharing the photo below, Paulette Goddard) ……. …. and as the matronly Mrs. Bennett in 1940’s Pride and Prejudice. She could also mix it up […]
We decided to throw a party today and invite some of our favorite people. The only way to deal with all this quarantining is to drink up. We’ve invited a diverse bunch to our little soiree today. A few of our writer friends, Addison DeWitt and Waldo Lydecker, a few of our Southern friends, Blanche […]
How much did you know about his wives? Above is spouse No. 1…..Then (below) wife No. 2… Followed by scandal-ridden wife No. 3 (below)… And, finally, wife No. 4 (below). Each of these unions — which were short, averaging about four years — packed its own punch and proved that Tone was catnip to some good […]
He (on the right) had quite a career and a few famous wives. Today we return to our usual Monday to Friday format. And so the questions today and the answers tomorrow. First, this question: what was it with Franchot Tone and the women he married? Tone, an experienced stage actor who compiled a busy […]
Yes, Yes, we all know that Raymond Burr is most remembered today as a television star. Perry Mason and Ironside monopolized his principal professional identity. But classic movie lovers are likely to prefer the Raymond Burr that turns up in the some 10 film noir titles of the Forties and Fifties, showcasing the hulking (nearly 6-feet-2) […]
In the 1930s Opera Singers were trying their hand at movie stardom. It had started with the silents, believe it or not, when Jesse Lasky had signed opera star Geraldine Farrar to play Carmen in 1915! But when the talkies came it took some time for opera stars to transition to films. Then soprano Grace […]
Clint Eastwood has been around a long time and has reached the heights of almost every aspect of filmmaking. Star, Director, Producer. How much do you know about his early career? Question: When exactly did Eastwood make his movie debut, and what is the title of the movie? Can you also name the star of that […]
Two classic films, released 17 years apart, about alcoholism in America. How do they stand up? We’d say, reasonably well although our patience is still tested by movies about incorrigible drunks. Having said that, we like that each of these movies draws superb performances from solid casts, and an Oscar nomination for Jack Lemmon (always […]