To deepen my knowledge of the silent era on the European continent, I created the European Silent Cinema Project. I review two European silent films each year starting in 1895 and ending in 1930. Visit the project’s main page for a comprehensive list of …
Continue Reading2023 Classic Film Reading Challenge To-Read List
Another year, another round of classic film-related summer reading. Luckily my new apartment has a lovely balcony and front yard so I will finally have a cozy place to enjoy the summer weather while reading all about classic films. With a special focus on book-to-movie …
Continue ReadingBarbara Stanwyck in Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theatre
For five seasons in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Dick Powell hosted and produced his own Western television show. Officially named Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theatre, most of the episodes were loosely based on the popular Western novelist Zane Grey who Powell had …
Continue ReadingThe Third Genius Speaks: Ranking Harold Lloyd’s Sound Films
Of the three silent clowns, Lloyd’s sound career is the least discussed. Keaton’s MGM talkies stand as an example of Buster’s loss of creative and personal control and yet another example of MGM mishandling its comedic talent. Chaplin, after waiting a decade before diving into …
Continue ReadingThe Sign of the Cross (1932): DeMille’s Pre-Code Epic
With only a small handful of Easter related films, DeMille is easily the director most associated with the holiday. A lot of that has to do with the longevity of his 1956 remake of his silent epic The Ten Commandments which ABC has aired on …
Continue Reading2023 Best Picture Nominees & Classic Film Double Features
This weekend’s 95th Academy Awards celebrates the best of 2022 films from big-budget blockbusters to small independent films. Even if the Academy in recent years has spent less time celebrating the classic films it rewarded in years past to cut down on the ceremony’s running time, …
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