The director, Tay Garnett, was an interesting character - an aviator, an independent, an adventurer who would hop on his ship and sail around the world whenever he was in between picture assignments. He wrote a marvelous book of anecdotes later in life and movies like TRADE WINDS and CHINA SEAS (35 ...

This past week I saw MONEYBALL and KILLER ELITE at the local cineplex and thoroughly enjoyed both of them. MONEYBALL is fun and absorbing as it charts the business dealings behind the scenes of a modern day sports franchise. It's script (co-written by Aaron Sorkin) displays wit and candor at it tear...

MikeBSG wrote: I thought Astaire's "audition" dance through Menjou's office was utterly terrific. It is one of my favorite Astaire routines.

Supposedly on one of the takes Astaire got a little too enthusiastic pretending to rap his cane off of Menjou's noggin and almost knocked him out.

The only Fuller film to ever hold my attention all the way through was THE BIG RED ONE (80). All of his films from his 'hey day' always suffered from inconsistent acting and low production values, although the man definitely had talent.

The "box office poison" label had nothing to do with the studios. It was a movie publication's 1938 survey among theater exhibitors over which top stars do not draw at the box office. Hepburn had not had a hit since ALICE ADAMS (35) . BRINGING UP BABY (38) bombed horribly when it was first...

I've just been discovering this series during this past summer across the pond here in Phoenix, AZ on our local PBS station.
He is as acerbic as Hugh Laurie's "HOUSE". I must have a soft spot for cranky MD's.

I've always liked this photo so much, but I never really realized how much their distinct personalities were written on their faces here. Groucho looks so shy and uncomfortable, Harpo looks like he is more able to roll with the punches. The Brother's real life personalities were basically incorpora...

ROBERT BENCHLEY (1889 - 1945)[/quote]

A brilliant mind. Great comic actor. Hilarious essayist.

She is very good in the 1934 version, but unfortunately she is paired with John Boles and consequently has no one to play off of. Which is rather important in a story of repression. I find Scorsese's version heartbreaking thanks to the playing of the two lead, Pfeiffer and Day-Lewis. It is all very ...

Once Grant got out from under the bosum of Mae West and before he met up with Leo McCarey, he set off at Paramount starring in a bunch of these minor comedies ( THIRTY DAY PRINCESS (34), KISS AND MAKE-UP (34), LADIES SHOULD LISTEN (34) ) that are rarely shown but were all pivotal in helping him deve...

Getting back to Sidney Franklin, Thalberg always treated him as a special case and liked to assign him more prestige productions. He never made more than two films a year during the earlier talkies and as the Thirties went on Franklin would spend a couple of years on a project. When Thalberg died Ma...

"Pelham" is a fine, neatly assembled caper film, a genre I very much enjoy. The cast, as you say, is wonderful. The story spellbinding. I wouldn't even be surprised if the remake is good. I haven't seen it. But how can you go wrong with a plot like that? The remake suffers from the eterna...

Although Poitier realized that as his star ascended he would be thrust into the 'Jackie Robinson' role, he looked at the situation with a more clinical eye. He never wanted to be known as one of the great Black actors of his generation. He wanted to known as one of the great actors who happened to b...

What separates the great comedians from the merely good ones is that their comedy hits a higher plain - whether intentional or not. It's no accident that writers and critics have waxed philosophically over the artistry of a Chaplin, Keaton, Langdon, Laurel & Hardy, Fields...etc. These are clowns...

It's a marvelous short that acts as a grand coda to a long career because it is so essentially Keaton. Buster loved playing the stranger in a strange land, but his fundamental Americanism always compelled him to adapt to his new surroundings -such as his clothes changing running gag from PEST FROM T...