I for one am looking forward to Thelma Todd. She's a hottie who also knows how to be a pal. I just watched her in Monkey Business and Horse Feathers with the Marx Brothers. I thought it was telling that, rather than being treated like a sex object--or the butt of jokes--as most women are in the earl...

Hey you guys, I missed you. I've been on a super hero bender--got the bug watching the Justice League cartoon with my kids, and then had to watch all the episodes I could get my hands on. This was followed by a Wonder Woman TV show chaser. But that's a different blog now isn't it? Last night I was l...

If I ever "suddenly turned gay," I'd blame Cary. From the days of his unimpeachable elegance in the late thirties, to that grizzled misanthrope in Father Goose, I can't think of a film in which he was "off." (Perhaps you can direct me to one). Has anyone else read the essay he wr...

Hey how's everybody doing? I was having an issue with my internet connection, then I just got all out of rhythm for a while there. Thanks for those photos of Mary Astor, Moira. I've got to see that film with Van Heflin! Mary is such a great beauty...and then you have that voice...brimming with warmt...

Thanks for the heads up! There are a couple of those "Educational" titles in the big Kino box set. (Love that moniker). Those are the ones that teach you what not to do when you have dangerous-looking props and a couple of gag men hanging around...unless, of course, you spent your childhoo...

PBS aired a documentary a while back that chronicled the immigration of Jewish (and other) artists from the film industry who were getting out of Germany in the 30s. It's really well done. They cited several UFA alumni who came over and got work making B films in Hollywood. By the end of the war, th...

Noir's not my cup of tea usually, but I recently watched Murder My Sweet and loved every minute of it. Dick Powell is brilliant, but I'm sure that's yesterday's epiphany for the rest of you guys. I posted because I wanted to ask MichiganJ what "DD" stands for. I'm always looking for a good...

I seem to remember that Tone's character saw Davis' character in a play...and that her performance changed his life...and that he couldn't believe that someone who had inspired him so deeply could be just a bitter and empty shell of a person... They seemed very careful to remind us of that every tim...

My daughter-in-law is a fledgling classic film fan..and she's fascinated by Norma Shearer. I, however, find it difficult to summon my enthusiasm to match her's. When Norma's on screen, I find myself tuning out her theatrics and paying more attention to her game lil' chassis. (Yes, I'm a pig). Thank ...

jondaris wrote:Madam Satan is one of my all time favorite films.

When I first read about that film, I became obsessed with getting it, and ended up paying over 70 dollars for a shrink-wrapped VHS tape. There ... I said it. I feel much better now.

For me, watching DeMille's later pictures is like watching Chaplin's films from the forties on. Both were pioneers of the medium, and certainly had a role in shaping it, but their cinematic work continued on as a sort of solitary species.

I'm just glad that we've been able to develop this thread without resorting to the term "goat gland."

What's even stranger is that, to my two younger kids--who are 9 and 11--the world has always had a full compliment of silent films at its fingertips. When I was their age, you might be able to catch a snowy, washed out print on UFH with a grating Wurlitzer music track--and once in a blue moon at tha...

I love him in that cameo. He's natural and contemporary. His films are quite the opposite, aren't they?

Oh Heavens. Maurice Chevalier and Jeanettte MacDonald are the principals, with a supporting cast including C. Aubrey Smith (love him), Charlie Ruggles, and Myrna Loy. And remember too that Chevalier and MacDonald played opposite one another in some earlier Paramount musicals directed by Ernst Lubits...