The Spring 2024 CMBA Blogathon: Screen Debuts & Last Hurrahs

 

The CMBA Spring Blogathon is here! 

This blogathon celebrates the first tentative steps onto the screen or behind the lens, as well as the grand finales of artistic voyages, for actors/actresses, directors, cinematographers, editors, and fashion designers.

Monday, May 20:

• Realweegiemidget Reviews Films, TV, Books and More: Michael Caine/Glenda Jackson The Romantic Englishwoman & The Great Escaper
• 4 Star Films: The Last Hurrah - Stars Spencer Tracy and James Gleason's final film.
• silverscreenmodes: Gene Tierney
• Taking Up Room: Robin Williams
• A Person in the Dark: James Cagney in "One, Two, Three"
• Shadows and Satin: Kirk Douglas in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
• Louise Brooks Society: Louise Brooks - debut
• Cary Grant Won't Eat You: Van Heflin's debut in A Woman Rebels
• The Classic Movie Muse: Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy -Naughty Marietta (1935): 
• Once Upon a Screen: Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in Alien 1979

Tuesday, May 21: 

• Box Office Poisons: Grace Kelly's Last Hurrah
• Twenty Four Frames: Martin Scorsese - Who's That Knocking At My Door
• Critica Retro: Clara Bow
• The Everyday Cinephile: Josef von Sternberg’s - The Salvation Hunters 1925

Wednesday, May 22:

• Silent-ology: Robert Harron
• The Silver Screen Affair: Cedric Gibbons
• Cinematic Scribblings: Federico Fellini - The White Sheik 1952
• Classic Film Observations & Obsessions: Cecil B. DeMille - Last Hurrah
• Nitrate Glow: Stanley Kubrick's debut feature Fear and Desire
• Hamlette's Soliloquy: Bobby Darin in "Come September" (1961)

Thursday, May 23:

• Lady Eve’s Reel Life: Art and Life: Autumn Sonata (1978), Ingrid Bergman’s Final Film.
• Another Old Movie Blog: Richard LeGrand - Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943)
• I Found it at the Movies: Burt Lancaster in Field of Dreams 1989
• Whimsically Classic: Robert Montgomery's directorial debut - Lady in the Lake 1947
• Speakeasy: Laird Cregar
• Watching Forever: Ann Harding

Friday, May 24:

• Outspoken & Freckled: John Garfield 
• A Vintage Nerd: Doris Day
• The Last Drive In: Teresa Wright in The Little Foxes 1941
• Louise Brooks Society: Louise Brooks in Overland Stage Raiders 1938
• Once Upon a Screen: Jack Lemmon in It Should Happen to You 1954
• Silver Screenings: Douglas Fairbanks in The Private Life of Don Juan

CMBA Profile: TAKING UP ROOM

 

Each month, the CMBA profiles a classic movie blog written by one of our members. This month, we are featuring Rebecca Deniston, who writes at TAKING UP ROOM. 

1. Why do you blog? 

I love film, but I also love to write. It's definitely a compulsion. To be honest, blogging was something I wanted to do for a long time but had no idea what to write about. That all changed when I got basically ghosted by a publication I used to write book reviews for, and I was so ticked I started Taking Up Room just to have a place to post what would have been my current review. I don't think it was exactly revenge because my former editor didn't know what I was doing, but more like a sudden redirection.

2. Besides classic movie blogging, what are some of your other passions? 

Oh, my word, there are so many. I'm a Christian, I love cooking, history, reading, the beach, hanging out with friends, piano, singing, music of all kinds, my family, museums, Seinfeld, Gilmore Girls, Christy (the book and the Kellie Martin series), Shakespeare, Tolkien, L.M. Montgomery, C.S. Lewis, and travel. For starters. Whew.

3. If you could program a perfect day of classic movies for TCM, what would be the seven films on your schedule?

I have a series on Taking Up Room called "During World War Two," which is about Hollywood's response to the war, movies made during the war, stars who served, and so on, so I think my theme would be "Women In the War." The seven films would be So Proudly We Hail!, The Doughgirls, Since You Went Away, Pin-Up Girl. Keep Your Powder Dry, Journey For Margaret, and The More, the Merrier.

4. What is a classic movie that you love, but most people don't know about -- and what do you love about it?

Wow, that's a hard choice. The thing I've noticed about movie blogging is that I'm usually not the only one to have heard of a particular film, which is a nice feeling, really. If I had to pick, though, it would probably be 1942's The War Against Mrs. Hadley. Yeah, another World War Two movie. It's not on DVD or any streaming service, although TCM shows it sometimes, and the Lux Radio Theatre version is widely available. What I like about it is that it is pure Second World War propaganda, but in an interesting time capsule kind of way. It's about a woman named Mrs. Stella Hadley who tries her hardest to pretend the war isn't happening, but circumstances are against her. Those who have read my blog for a while know I've mentioned this movie several times, but what I haven't said is that I'm hoping someone with some influence at Warner Bros. will see my blog and get Mrs. Hadley on DVD already.

5. What is something that most people don't know about you? 

I started learning to write, embroider and bake all at the age of six. That was a busy year.  :-)

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We thank Rebecca for participating in our Q&A profile and encourage you to visit TAKING UP ROOM.