CMBA Profile: Apocalypse Later

CMBA profiles one or two of our classic movie bloggers every month. This week, we're featuring Hal Astell, from Apocalypse Later!

Apocalypse Later is a site with a lot going on. In addition to posting reviews, some quite in-depth, Hal covers a variety of events and festivals, often making appearances or running "mini-festivals" within established Cons, and even runs an Apocalypse Later Film Festival of his own. Under the imprint of "Apocalypse Later Press," he's published books on a variety of film related subjects: everything from Chaplin's years at Keystone to the work of buxom bombshell Tura Satana. Hal is nothing if not surprising, and also dedicated - the sheer volume of his work is overwhelming.

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CMBA Profile: Crítica Retrô

CMBA profiles one or two of our classic movie bloggers every month. This week, we're featuring Letícia Magalhães Pereira, or "Lê," of Crítica Retrô!
 

Crítica Retrô bills itself as "Classic Film with a Tropical Twist." Coming to us out of Brazil, it appears bilingually in Portuguese and English, and may give readers a cultural perspective we don't often see on the history of film. Despite her tender years (she tells us below she started the blog while still a teenager!), Lê offers us fascinating insights into movies older than her own parents.

She'd like you to take a look at a piece she did on Brazilian-born director Alberto Cavalcanti. She says, "I did a big research to write it, and could also have fun and improve my skills at working with info graphics with all the pieces I've done for the post." We agree that it's great fun and new information for most of us who thought we knew it all about classic film. You can read the post here.

Here are her answers to our questions:

What sparked your interest in classic film?

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CMBA Profile: Whimsically Classic

CMBA profiles one or two of our classic movie bloggers every month. This week, we’re featuring Kayla Rhodes, of Whimsically Classic.

Kayla, who writes the "Whimsically Classic" blog, describes herself as an "old soul," which may explain how she has so much to say about classic film. Her posts tend to be very detailed and informative, and her responses to our questions are no exception to her verbosity and wit. She would like readers to take a look at this post, her entry in last year's "National Classic Film Day" blogathon. She reviews her five favorite classic movie performers and shares why they mean so much to her. She also admits to using the opportunity to re-post favorite images of Errol Flynn and Gene Kelly, because, as she says, "If you can't post (and re-post) beefcake photos on your blog, where can you post them?" 

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CMBA eBooks Available on Amazon!

Last year, CMBA hosted two great blogathons: Underseen and Underrated and Banned and Blacklisted. We had a number of really fine entries for both events and these essays have been collected and edited by Annette Bochenek into two new ebooks available for purchase on Amazon and for free on Smashwords.

You may have seen them being promoted on Facebook at the CMBA Private Screening Room, but if not, here is some more detail about them.... please check them out!

Underseen and Underrated: Celebrating Lesser-Known Classic Films

This collection of ten essays turns the spotlight on rare films including Afraid to Talk ( 1932 ), Carrie ( 1952 ), Simon and Laura ( 1955 ), A Majority of One ( 1961 ), and Between the Lions ( 1977 ). John Greco, Patricia Schneider, Jocelyn Dunphy, and Ivan G. Shreve Jr. are among some of the contributors.

All proceeds from Amazon sales go towards the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Underseen-Underrated-Celebrating-Lesser-Known-Classic-ebook/dp/B0764K1GJN

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/751566

Banned and Blacklisted: Too Hot to Handle 

This collection of thirteen essays explores the films and actors who were affected by censorship, whether it be the result of the Hays Code, racism, or the McCarthy-era blacklist scare. Contributors to this ebook include Lara Fowler, Annette Bochenek, Danilo Castro, and Kellee Pratt among others.

All proceeds from Amazon go towards the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079NQ74VF/

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/788764

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CMBA Profile: Chaplin Film by Film

CMBA profiles one or two of our classic movie bloggers every month. This week, we’re featuring  Brian J. Robb, of Chaplin: Film by Film

Chaplin: Film by Film is a project after our own heart. On the centenary of the release of each of Charlie Chaplin's movies, blogger Brian J. Robb posted an homage to that film. This gave him a very busy 2014, but as Chaplin's output slowed down, Robb opted to surge ahead of him (he's all the way up to September, 1918, now!). In general, each post includes a synopsis, basic production information, stills, historical background, film analysis, and some excerpts from contemporary reviews. Whether you're a complete novice or a Chaplin expert, you're bound to learn something and have fun doing so. 

Brian would like you to take a look at this post, in which he discusses Chaplin's historic contract with Mutual Film Company for $670,000, which made him the highest paid film maker at the time. It's an original write up of a much-reported event, one that contributed to the rise of the Hollywood "star system" that followed. According to Brian, "It’s a nice, self-contained story covering a pivotal period in Chaplin’s professional and personal life, and a good jumping on point for readers keen to discover more about Chaplin, including his two years of filmmaking prior to that point and everything that followed from it."

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CMBA Profile: Classic Film Observations and Obsessions

CMBA profiles one or two of our classic movie bloggers every month. This week, we’re featuring Jocelyn Dunphy, of Classic Film Observations and Obsessions:

Classic Film Observations and Obsessions is the expression of one woman’s fixation on classic film. Jocelyn likes to focus on one actor, director, or theme in films and run through as many movies and as much reading as she can, until she moves on to another focus. In 2016, for example, she put a lot of time into Van Heflin, a one time winner of Best Supporting Actor who shows up in a surprising range of movies. More recently, she’s been looking at Werner Herzog, who she got to see live at a screening. When Jocelyn sinks her teeth into something, she doesn’t let go easily!

Jocelyn would like you to take a look at this post, from the centennial of the birth of actor Robert Mitchum. It’s another example of her going in depth into the workings of an actor who fascinate her. It’s a review of the 1973 Mitchum movie “The Friends of Eddie Coyle,” a lesser-known movie she was lucky enough to see screened in a theater in Boston. She tells us of the post, “I think it captures my own voice well, in how I logged my own reactions to the movie.  I think those who read it will get a good sense of who I am as a blogger and film enthusiast.” We would have to agree!

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CMBA Profile: Louise Brooks Society

The CMBA profiles one of our classic movie blogs each month. This month we're featuring Thomas Gladysz, of the Louise Brooks Society:
The Louise Brooks Society is one of the most prolific and professional of the blogs in CMBA. Almost every day, there are updates on the site, and the writing and information is top-notch. It's a blog with a very specific focus - a silent film goddess with a short career but an iconic image. Author Thomas Gladysz has been running the society for over twenty years now, and he never seems to run out of things to say or images to share Louise and her world. 

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CMBA Profile: Classic Movie Man

The CMBA profiles one of our classic movie blogs each month. This month we're featuring Stephen Reginald, of Classic Movie Man

A look at Classic Movie Man is like being invited to a great film festival. Stephen Reginald, the writer of Classic Movie Man, posts news about local screenings in Chicago, meetups, and presentations he's giving, and his love of classic film comes across in everything he writes. One section, "The Film Club," is dedicated specially to these kinds of local events. Stephen has also lectured on classic movies at the Facets Film School, and this article in Chicago Magazine makes it sound like these discussions were too fun to miss out on.

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CMBA Profile: Second Sight Cinema

The CMBA profiles one of our classic movie blogs each month. This month we're featuring Lesley from Second Sight Cinema.

 “Second Sight Cinema” is a blog with an attitude. Its writer, Lesley Gaspar, isn’t afraid to tell you her opinions, and she has the erudition to back them up with facts. Don’t show up to her class if you haven’t done the reading! But, if you’re here to learn, her posts will give you detailed accounts of films and personalities you thought you already knew, and you’ll come away with new information (and sources!) that will give you plenty to chew on. When Lesley writes up a film, you can be sure she’s researched it thoroughly and deeply. With all of that sheer knowledge, her feelings and passion for the cinema come through strongly as well.

A great example of her writing can be seen in her post “Disembodied: Waldo Lydecker, the voice in the Dark in Laura (1944)” which was her contribution to the “Great Villain Blogathon” of 2016. While using the bad guy as its lens, the article is really an in-depth discussion of nearly every aspect of the film. She takes issue with one of the heavyweights of film criticism, Roger Ebert, and is so convincing it’s hard to believe anyone would disagree.

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BANNED and BLACKLISTED, the 2017 CMBA FALL BLOGATHON

The Classic Movie Blog Association’s fall blogathon, Banned and Blacklisted, ran from November 15 -19. Participating CMBA members blogged on the broad ranging subject of banned films and blacklisted actors, writers, directors and others in the business of making movies. 

Contributing blogs are listed below on the dates their pieces posted.Please be sure to check out all their fine work - just click on entry titles (in bold) to go to each post:

Wed. November 15 

Backlots: Judy Holliday and the Hollywood Blacklist: Testimony to SISS, 1952
Caftan Woman: The Bohemian Girl (1936)
Film Fanatic: Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) 
Thrilling Days of Yesteryear: Salt of the Earth (1954)

Thurs. November 16
Another Old Movie Blog: Hollywood Fights Back, a Radio Protest
Classic Film & TV Cafe: Family Discord in Edward Dmytryk's Broken Lance (1954)
Critica Retro: Dalton Trumbo's Screenplay for The Brave One (1956)
Lady Eve's Reel Life: Fascism, Nationalism and the Banned Films of Marlene Dietrich
Twenty Four Frames: Censorship, The Pawnbroker (1965) and Me

Fri. November 17h
4 Star Films: Reign of Terror (1949), an Allegory of the Blacklist
Hometowns to Hollywood: Baby Face (1933)
The Movie Night Group: Golden Boy (1939) and the Blacklist
Old Hollywood Films: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Sat. November 18 
Film Noir Archive: Force of Evil (1948)
Outspoken and Freckled: Crossfire  (1947)
A Person in the Dark: Not Coming to a Theater Near You: Films Banned by State Censorship Boards
A Viewers Guide to Classic Films: Unconquerable Mae West: She Done Him Wrong (1933)

Sun November 19
Classic Film Observations and Obsessions: The Film Collaborations of Luis Bunuel and Hugo Butler in Mexico
Once Upon a Screen: Elia Kazan's Pinky (1949) 
Second Sight Cinema: Marsha Hunt: Living Well is the Best Revenge
Silver Screen Modes: Rififi: The Great Noir Caper
Stars and Letters: Lucille Ball's Brush with the Blacklist

 

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