Here's a heads-up for all of you Noir fans: JOHNNY O'CLOCK, a superb Columbia noir thriller from 1947 airs this Friday night (4/27) at 9:30 pm (PST) / Saturday morning (4/28) at 12:30 am (EST). This film was Robert Rossen's directorial debut. Rossen directed relatively few films during the course of...

Anne, I've been struggling with the exact same emotions for the past several days, so you're not alone. And I'm sure there are others who feel the exact same way. Some of the posters who became thickly embroiled in that latest fiasco (including and somewhat especially myself) probably did so with th...

An updated reminder regarding a personal obsession: One of the absolute best "B" noir films is going to be a part of the upcoming 10-title Film Noir box set coming from Warner Home Video in late July. I'm refering to DECOY, the insanely great 1946 Monogram film starring Jean Gillie, Robert...

Absolutely the worst? Most boring? Most pretentious? Easy. FORBIDDEN PLANET. Makes the entire Ed Wood oeuvre look spectacular by comparison. From the director (Fred Wilcox) who gave us LASSIE COME HOME (which is far more entertaining and exciting than FORBIDDEN PLANET). I have NEVER understood FP's ...

I'd have to list the Preston Sturges films THE LADY EVE and PALM BEACH STORY at the top, followed closely by Hawks' BRINGING UP BABY and Mitchell Leisen's MIDNIGHT starring the wonderful Claudette Colbert.

I really love this film too. Interesting to note that Laird Cregar's character, the jealous and zealous cop Ed Cornell was named after...that's right, Cornell Woolrich. The orginal story's author, Steve Fisher was a well-known pulp mystery writer at the time, thus a literary contemporary of Woolrich...

I really enjoy most all of the Universal horror titles from the 1930s and 40s. The first wave of great ones like FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA, THE INVISIBLE MAN, THE MUMMY, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE WOLF MAN, etc are all remarkable in so many ways. But my most favorite Universal horrors are the lower bert...

O'Reilly is a disgrace, a truly evil enemy of the people. Olbermann does a brilliant job of exposing Bill-O on his nightly Countdown news program on MSNBC.

I mostly enjoy 1950s Cold War era science fiction, my two favorites being INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) and THEM! (1954). Both are extremely frightening (especially when viewing for the first time!) and both benefit from excellent scripting, tight direction and performances that don't stretc...

Hi - The French film you're thinking of is PURPLE NOON from 1960. Directed by Rene Clement (from PH's novel "The Talented Mr. Ripley") it is, in my opinion far superior to the Matt Damon film from a few years back. Highsmith is one of my favorite novelists, but films adapted from her works...

In the film course I'm teaching this semester on "message movies" from the Hollywood studio era we watched FURY this past Tuesday evening. The majority of the students had no idea who Fritz Lang was (sadly) but after an introductory discussion about Lang and his desperate flight to America...

Here's a link to a fascinating article on Timothy Carey called "Timothy Carey: Saint of the Underground." Hope you enjoy it!

http://www.5minutesonline.com/ft/timothy%20carey2.htm

I just recently finished reading the book LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG: THE WILD RIDE OF MAKING REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE by Lawrence Frascella and Al Weisel. In it, the authors provide a painstakingly thorough account of the behind the scenes machinations of one of the 1950s most influential films. Apart from ...

Vallo, you make an interesting point about Timothy Carey in Kubrick's film THE KILLING (1956). Apart from the overall bizarre delivery of his lines, there is the startling moment when Carey utters the dreadful "n" word (to the attendant in the race track parking lot). Unsettling as it is, ...

It's been decades since any of them have seen the light in syndication, sadly enough. I liked Sugarfoot (Will Hutchins) the best as a kid (it had the coolest theme song and rarely strayed from its tongue-in-cheek formula). Cheyenne had Clint Walker who was pretty great in his tight-lipped way but Br...