A couple of days ago I watched this Elia Kazan directed film about the damming of the Tennessee river, and the US government's attempts to move people off their land before their homes were flooded. It was set in 1934. I didn't think it was perfect - it sometimes looked as if parts had been edited o...

Oh, I like Why Worry! That's the one where he plays a hypochondriac who ends up in the middle of a South American revolution, isn't it? Recently, I've watched The Jazz Singer and The Primitive Lover. I found the first more historically interesting than anything else; and the shift between speech and...

Years ago I remember seeing Glenn Close in a comedy called Maxie (made about 1985, I think), in which she played a modern woman possessed by the ghost of a dead 'twenties flapper. Ruth Gordon was in it as well, playing the flapper's friend. I recall being distinctly embarrassed by Ms Close's attempt...

I quite often watch musicals, but don't always think it's worth starting up a thread for each individual film - so I thought I'd start up a more general thread as in the Silent Film/Pre-codes forum. Well, last night I watched the second of Fred Astaire & Rita Hayworth's films together: You Were ...

I'm a big Crawford fan, especially of her post- Mildred Pierce films. Even though some of those pictures may be aesthethically bad or over the top, they're nevertheless great fun. I mean, if you're at home alone one rainy night and need something to go with your popcorn, round up Torch Song , Femal...

Maybe I'm misremembering this from something I've read, but isn't it true that Technicolor, at least in it's early days, required a greater number of lights for the scene to be illuminated properly? A colour film was meant to be bright and dazzling - e.g.: the 20th Century Fox and MGM musicals of th...

I've just been watching The Coming of Amos (1924) with Rod La Rocque. Not a very good print - Televista, I think - but a really fun film. La Rocque is his usual comically charming self - he plays an Australian sheep farmer whose mother's dying wish was that he visit the French Riviera to acquire a b...

I couldn't see a thread devoted only to Joan Crawford, so I thought I'd start one up. Although I've always enjoyed Mildred Pierce, I'd never really seen that many JC films - Humoresque, Grand Hotel, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, Johnny Guitar, but all a good few years ago. Then recently I rented t...

charliechaplinfan wrote:I'm planning to read Kevin Brownlow's Mary Pickford Rediscovered and revisit all the Mary films I have.

I have this book - it's beautifully produced, with dozens and dozens of really exceptional photographs. Plus the usual Kevin Brownlow expertise. I'm sure you'll love it, charliechaplinfan!

Thanks for all these great pictures, Mongo. Having just seen William Demarest in his middle-aged heyday in Sullivan's Travels, it was very interesting to see him as a young man.

I'm really enjoying these Christmas pictures - it's the first thing I look at every day. Thanks for posting them, moirafinnie.

I've just been watching - via youtube - Joan Crawford's last silent film, Our Modern Maidens (1929). It was no masterpiece, but I enjoyed it a lot. It had a sound effects and music soundtrack, which was quite odd at times; the voiceless actors listening to the radio, for example. The last Joan Crawf...

I've recently seen this actress in three films, and was quite struck by her - especially as I'd never heard of her before this year. First, I saw her in Call Northside 777 (1948), where she was the supportive wife of James Stewart's crusading journalist - not a particularly interesting role, but she...

Eastwood turned downright old about ten years ago. This reminds me of a review programme I saw a few years ago. The panel was talking about The Bridges of Madison County - and one of the critics acidly said of Clint (who as the director had modestly cast himself as an enigmatic hunk sweeping Meryl ...

I was watching Joel McCrea again the other day in Sullivan's Travels. He's so great in that film paired with Veronica Lake. In many ways, I prefer him to Cary Grant in comedies - he's so subtle and understated - very natural and likeable. Looking at his credits, I realize I haven't seen him in that ...