Our regular commentor, Graham Hill, is constantly chiding our readers saying more of you should comment on our posts. We’d just like to say that it is not entirely your fault that your comments don’t get posted, or if they do they are lost in the backlog of years of articles! This is how the […]
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Author: JoeMorella
Unsung and Underrated — JANE RANDOLPH
As you probably know by now, we are partial to classic movie talents often overlooked by established cineastes and critics. Today we offer — Jane Randolph. Don’t yawn, and please hear us out. If she did nothing else, the Midwestern born and bred Randolph deserves a special place in classic Hollywood’s wholesome femininity sweepstakes for […]
Films for Halloween — And ‘Boo’ to You T
In between giving candy to the neighbor’s kids you movie buffs might want to watch a film on Halloween. You have your favorites. We have ours. Joe’s not much into horror films but his favorite scary movie IS a classic, The Birds. He finds that Alfred Hitchcock film more frightening than any so called “slasher” flick. […]
PETER LORRE — The Jolly Prankster of ‘Ca
What are the words most often evoked by the characters he played? Refugee? Spy? Lunatic? Murderer? Perhaps. But what about prankster? We are here today to expose another facet of this marvelous actor — born Lazlo Loewenstein in Hungary in 1904. That is, that Peter Lorre was an inveterate practical joker. That may come as as […]
Revisiting HEDY LAMARR — In The Raw
She is, yet again, making some news. That’s because of the 2017 release of Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, Alexandra Dean’s fascinating historical documentary forcefully presenting the view that Hedy in fact was a intellectually gifted woman and pioneering inventor — in addition, of course, to being one of classic Hollywood most renowned sexpots. In […]
Re-Introducing CHARLES McGRAW — ‘Tough B
— Forensic technician holding bloodied coveralls: ‘Whoever wore these got plugged. Note the hole.’ […]
JEAN GABIN Quiz — The Answers
How much did you know about France’s all-time premiere film star? Did you know that he — Jean Gabin — graces an official postage stamp issued by the French post office in 1998, two years after his death at age 72. And that he has portrayed the marvelous Inspector Maigret on the big screen in […]
JEAN GABIN: ‘Lili Marlene’ Adored Him —
Leave it to the French to produce a movie star who didn’t look like a movie star. (But note those eyes.) Having said that, we should hastily add that the guy pictured above — Jean Gabin — is France’s biggest movie star ever. Before you shrug your shoulders, you should appreciate that Gabin once gave […]
The Power of COOPER — And, Incidentally,
Sergeant York was the mega hit of 1941. It was seen by over 35% of the people in the U.S. Think of it. That’s more than a third of the entire population at the time. And it’s not hard to see why. There’s the story: the biopic of perhaps America’s most decorated war hero in […]
AWESOME ! — TOP TEN CLASSIC MOVIES
Who knows how it will fare in thirty years? — Orson Welles, 1983, on Citizen Kane. Joe was depositing […]