Book recommendation: Murder, She Wrote: A Slaying in Savannah - Here we are for yet another Murder, She Wrote installment written by Donald Bain. This one was just as fun and engaging as previous ones I have read. Award...

All Night Long: Othello in the London '60s Jazz Scene - McGoohan as the ambitious Johnny Cousin.William Shakespeare's plays have provided the source material for science fiction films (*Forbidden Planet* *), *W...

The Doctor (1918) A Silent Film Review - A scientist in a fictional European capital works tirelessly on a cure for a deadly epidemic but is stymied by a jealous rival and mass panic as the diseas...

HOLLYWOOD URBAN LEGEND: RUSS COLUMBO - *URBAN LEGEND:* Did friends and family keep the news of crooner's Russ Columbo's death from his own mother until her death? *ANSWER:* Yes, that urban leg...

5 Fascinating Facts About Sophia Loren - 5 Fascinating Facts About Sophia Loren From a childhood marked by poverty and war to becoming one of the world’s most glamorous and celebrated movie stars,...

Semiquincentennial Movie Project #38: Children of the Corn - *The Semiquincentennial Movie Project *is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of...

The Unseen Contessa - Who hasn’t at least heard of Ina Garten’s cooking show, The Barefoot Contessa? No offense to any fans of hers, but I think Garten is overrated. She’s not...

Chartroose Caboose (1960) - A young couple (Molly Bee, Ben Cooper) planning to elope get picked up by Woody Watts, a retired train conductor (Edgar Buchanen), and spend the morning ...

Um Gosto de Mel (1961) / A Taste of Honey (1961) - Quando falamos de “New Wave”, a maioria dos cinéfilos pensa instantaneamente na Nouvelle Vague francesa e seu duo sagrado Truffaut e Godard. Mas houve...

Classic Movie 10: Peter Lorre Films - Classic horror has its own set of icons, with stars like Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and Christopher Lee serving as some of its most belov...

FILMS… Soft Top, Hard Shoulder (1993) - Driving home for an inheritance (and a dad's surprise birthday party) with a Chris Rea soundtrack... Take in the attractions of this road trip that goes ro...

“Trouble in Paradise” (1932): A Masterclass in Pre-Code Elegance and High-Stakes Deception - Directed by legendary filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch, *Trouble in Paradise* (1932) is a quintessential pre-Code romantic comedy starring Herbert Marshall, Kay ...

Western Songbirds’ Playlist, Part 1 - Rhonda Fleming singing Ain’t-a-Hankerin’ in Alias Jesse James The reception afforded our Western Songbirds, Part 1 post is gratifying. We were reluctant to...

Force of Nature (2024) - *I looked forward to seeing Force of Nature because I have read all three of the novels in Jane Harper’s Aaron Falk trilogy and because I have seen The D...

The Best Years of Our Lives: The 2026 TCM Film Festival – Part 2 - I’m telling you – time keeps on slipping (slipping, slipping) into the future. One day, I’m in L.A. at the TCM film festival, swooning over Carol Burnett, ...

‘Empire of the Ants’ (1977) – B-Movie Review — Part One - Whilst decluttering my home office, I ran across this review in one of my notebooks. I can’t believe I forgot to blog this weird little film. What’s worse ...

Cornered - Post-war angst and the struggle to adjust to a world which has undergone rapid change has formed the basis of many a film noir, probably too many to count....

From Hitchcock to Spielberg: Regal’s ‘Masterpieces’ series showcases classics - Regal Cinemas has programmed a September film series that is bringing movies from the classic film era back to the big screen along with films that fit und...

Silent Film Hidden Gems: 5 Overlooked Classics and My CMBA Interview - [image: Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan in The Kid (1921).] The Classic Movie Blog Association recently interviewed me for its *Reel Conversations* ser...

Changes - Bowie tribute.

⭐Directors: Douglas Sirk on Barbara Stanwyck - *“...more expressive than any actress I ever worked with. She had depth as a person. There is this amazing tragic stillness about her, and there is n...

'American Graffiti ' Still Rocks 1973 - *'American Graffiti' was George Lucas' love letter to coming of age in the early '60s.* I had only seen American Graffiti once before, and that's when th...

BING CROSBY - THE EARLY DECCA YEARS - Here is part three of an original production I did on the career and life of Bing Crosby...

Many Thanks to the Participants of The 8th Wonderful Ingrid Bergman Blogathon! - Recap for the 8th Wonderful Ingrid Bergman Blogathon's entries!

Gossip Friday: Gable the Gourmet - From August 1950: When the gourmets of Hollywood go out to entertain with food, and want to do it properly and impressively, they leave the menu to Chef Ro...

"Thunder in the East" (1952) - It's Alan Ladd's birthday :-) To celebrate, I have spent spare moments all day long screencapping this movie and writing up a long review of it. Here we ...

Stray Dog - STRAY DOG snarls right out of the gate in the opening credits with a disconcerting close-up of a feral canine, wide-eyed, panting and poised to snap jaws s...

Armored Car Robbery (1950) - Time once again to open the Film Noir Files, the monthly post I do with Karen of Shadows & Satin. We each choose a noir to talk about that’s on this month’...

Nie życzcie mi powodzenia (2026) - Szczera, oparta na subtelnym i niewymuszonym poczuciu humoru, a do tego pełna szacunku opowieść o nastolatce próbującej pogodzić się z chorobą matki i ty...

Things to do While Awaiting an Execution - One of the most awkward social occasions is what to do whilst awaiting an execution. There are the women who knit, as Charles Dickens described in A Tale o...

What I Watched in August - An overview of what I watched in August outside of Summer Under the Stars (you can see my thoughts on each movie using my Summer Under the Stars tag). [T...

What Really Makes a Film Noir? The Noir Rorschach Test - Let’s be clear: film noir isn’t a genre. Westerns, war movies and horror films are all genre pictures with motifs that signal the kind of film you’re watch...

September Presentations - Dr. Annette Bochenek loves to take Hometowns to Hollywood on the road–in person or virtually–to offer fun and engaging presentations about Hollywood’s Gold...

Pre-Code Movies on TCM in September 2026 - Ah, the fall! What a wonderful time of year. I’m on my third month of living in Colorado, and now I can finally transition away from having to wear shorts....

Louise Brooks Retrospective at La cinémathèque française - La cinémathèque française in Paris is mounting a major retrospective of the films of Louise Brooks which is set to take place later this month, from Sept...

197. THE 39 STEPS, 1935 - A non-stop thrill ride by the Master of Suspense "The 39 Steps" While studying film directing in college, twice a week I’d head to Philadelphia’s Roxy Thea...

Mildred "Fierce" - The shoulder pads, as if she’d mugged a linebacker. The thick eyebrows, which resembled two comatose caterpillars. The damning charges, in a memoir and a m...

Movie of the month: Wanda (dir. Barbara Loden, 1970) - In rural Pennsylvania, an unhappy housewife named Wanda (Barabara Loden) leaves her husband and children to take to the road. Her wanderings are listless a...

Self-Promotion is Hard: September 1926 - One hundred years ago this month, Grace Kingsley had casting news about people from all kinds of backgrounds: James Pierce, a former football player for In...

An Oscar for Ingrid Bergman! – Gaslight (George Cukor, 1944) - My review of George Cukor's Gaslight (1944), a film for which Ingrid Bergman won her first Oscar! Continue reading →

Film Noir, Classic Hollywood merchandise and more… - Summer’s nearly over and there’s a lot to catch up on! My Substack, The Losers of Film Noir, is still going strong, thankfully. My last post, about Claude ...

Anastasia 1956 – Ingrid Bergman’s Hollywood Comeback! - Ingrid Bergman is one of my top actresses so when the Ingrid Bergman Blogathon came back around, I knew I wanted to dive into one of her performances I h...

BOYER . . . CHARLES . . . BOTD - Charles Boyer with his 1935 Packard, c. 1935 ​As today marks the birthday anniversary of Charles Boyer, born August 28, 1899, I want to share a compilation...

Charulata(1964) - Charulata(The Lonely Wife) is my favourite film from the great Indian director Satyajit Ray. With the exception of directors such as Hitchcock, Chaplin, Ku...

Ann Blyth - Summer Theatre - Before summer ends, here's another memory of summer theatre from long ago. Lovely Ann Blyth, whom we lost earlier this summer, stars as Maria in *The ...

Princess Mononoke (1997) - “The Forest Spirit gives life and takes life away. Life and death are his alone.” One of the most beautiful things about Princess Mononoke is the magnitude...

Season Three Episode Thirteen --- The Long Goodbye - Lucky episode 13. We’ve come to the end of the train tracks of our season of film noir. Fate has led us here and dropped us — we’re not responsible for whe...

The Mask 1961 Sunday Nite Surreal “I tried to stop, I can’t, I don’t want to! - Put the Mask On…Now!: Glimpses into the Abyss: Descent and Desire, Depth and Despair – The Mask (1961) “I MUST EXPERIENCE THE GREATEST ACT OF THE HUMAN MIN...

Quel Rêve: Beauties of the Night (1952) - A sunny day. A house in the country. A music lesson. On the wall by the piano where the daughter of the family (Yannick Malloire) is dutifully executing he...

Announcing: The Return Of The Silent Movie Day Blogathon! - Hello everyone, I hope you’ve been enjoying the ‘Merica themed posts so far this summer! Let’s kick off August with some happy news–the Silent Movie Day bl...

Panic in Year Zero: Father knows best - "You keep your gun handy. Our country is still full of thieving, murdering... patriots."

Summer Under the Stars 2026: TCM Festival Highlights - It has been quite a while since I visited with you on Once...

Blanche Grady - Incredibly beautiful, with a superb figure, Blanche was a sought-after model, working with prestigious photographers and modeling for publications like Vog...

Losing Her Mind in Africa: THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951) - Despite Kate Hepburn’s reputation for relishing a good challenge and competitively pushing herself towards personal excellence, she couldn’t have possibly ...

Ann Blyth (1927/1928-2026) - This evening, The Hollywood Reporter broke the sad news that Ann Blyth passed away yesterday, Wednesday, June 24, at the age of 98. Some other sources had ...

How You Know Your Friends Know You - Two water bottles arrived for me today, with a movie camera on front and quotes on the back. This is one is, of course, a quote from my favorite actress,...

Three Strangers (1946) - Premiered January 23, 1946: THREE STRANGERS, starring Sidney Greenstreet, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Peter Lorre. Directed by Jean Negulesco (The Mask of Di...

“Screen Guild Theater”: Hollywood Radio Series - Of all the drama anthologies from old time radio, Screen Guild Theater was one of the most varied and unique radio shows. Every week, Hollywood actors came...

BREATH (Kim Ki-duk, 2007, South Korea) - Kim Ki-duk has a way without words. *BREATH* is exhaled into the cold mo(u)rning air, its life quickly fading and becoming intangible. Yeon is apathet...

Pre-Code Girl Summer Line - Just in time for summer, I've launched a new design in the Spellbound with Beth Ann Threadless shop. Check-out my Pre-code Girl Summer line! The post Pre...

La Poison (1951): A Venomous Comedy - This post is my contribution to the CMBA 2026 Spring Blogathon "Make 'em Laugh." Not long ago I was discussing *The Banshees of Inisherin* in a film gro...

The Awful Truth 1937 - Tonight's Cary Grant fix is by way of the excellent screwball comedy, 1937's The Awful Truth. Also starring Irene Dunne and Ralph Bellamy, directed and ...

Somewhere in Time (1980) - Director: Jeannot Szwarc Writer: Richard Matheson, based on his novel *Bid Time Return* Stars: Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer In...

Woman Under the Influence, A (1974) - “Mabel is not crazy; she’s unusual.” Synopsis: When a construction worker (Peter Falk) finds himself unable to handle the increasingly unconventional beh...

Painful Pilots: "Dream Wife" - It started with a martian. The success of *"My Favorite Martian,"* which premiered on CBS in the fall of 1963, kicked off a parade of supernatural sitcoms...

Employees' Entrance: The Monsters We Make - This is my entry in *The Classic Movie Blog Association Early Shadows and Pre-Code Horror Blogathon*. Click *HERE* for more monstrous fun. This store is ...

Coming Up Shorts! with… The Little Rascals: The Restored Silents, Volume 1 - Welcome back for another full post of Coming Up Shorts! This time, I’m going with the Hal Roach theatrical shorts featuring The Little Rascals, and some of...

BLOGGER’S NEWS - It was on September 14, 2017 that I was one of eight speakers at the first one-day conference dedicated to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. The conference was...

Buster Keaton’s Cops and Laurel & Hardy 1928 Year Two - Buster Keaton’s masterpiece Cops (1922) is one of his seven films inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry as a work of “enduring impor...

Silent Cinema Of Latin America; Pt.1 Mexico - [image: imageedit-1-8609976754] Reading any standard film history of the silent era one would easily get the idea that the early days of film were limite...

“Sarah Jane—Don’t!” - This is an entry for “Cry Me a River,” the CMBA 2025 Spring Blogathon. Note: If you’re new to Imitation of Life, you might want to start with a viewing or ...

Book Review: The Carry On Companion, by Robert Ross - The Carry On Companion by Robert Ross is a reasonably comprehensive look at a British comedy institution, the Carry On films. Beginning with Carry On Serge...

Cinematic Blindspots — 1945 in Film - Happy 2025, classic film fans! I’m beyond delighted to head into this new year as I have so much to look forward to, particularly the upcoming birth of my ...

Audio Commentary for 1933's THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN - This past summer I was honored to be asked by Sony to record the audio commentary for *The Bitter Tea of General Yen* (1933). This feature is part of t...

2024 Holiday Gift Guide - The holiday season is upon us once again and the countdown to Christmas is underway! As you plan to gather with friends and family over the holidays, let...

Sailing the Golden Era seas - Come aboard, Aaron Spelling is expecting you! * Published specifically for The Spellingverse Blogathon hosted by Gill at Realweegiemidget Reviews. * ¤¤¤ I ...

Eternally Marilyn - photo by Milton Greene Like so many summer days in Los Angeles, this one began as a balmy and sunlit morning. It would grow warmer and sunnier, but the l...

Publication Day - Not movie related but… TRANSGESSIONS, my latest collection of short stories is out now as an eBook and paperback. You can order your copy here. If you like...

Dear "Ginge", Love Fred: Fred and Ginger's Correspondence - For one of cinema's most beloved screen partnerships, we don't know a whole lot about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers's offscreen relationsh...

“His Name is Engraved in the Ripple Hall of Fame” — Season One, Episode Ten: Springtime in the Ghetto (April 19, 1974) - As the episode opens, Florida is at her sewing machine, working on a new slipcover for the living room sofa. The whole household is abuzz as the family pre...

A Question of Integrity - *"All of the films that I've made are about the country I live in and grew up in... And I think if you're going to put an artist's eye to it, you're goi...

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