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- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- “I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
- “I don’t really know why, but danger has always been an important thing in my life – to see how far I could lean without falling, how fast I could go without cracking up.” — William Holden
- “Some syllables are swords.” — Metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan
- “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- “All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” — Charlie Chaplin
- “As a cinematographer, I was always attracted to stories that have the potential to be told with as few words as possible.” — Reed Morano
- “Even though I’m writing about very dark material, it still feels like an escape hatch.” — Olivia Laing
- “It’s just one of the mysteries of filmmaking that sometimes you do something that you don’t even think it’s important, then it turns out to be.” — Lili Horvát
- “Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
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Tag Archives: Barbara Stanwyck
For International Women’s Day: Ladies I Love
I post edited versions of this every year. I add names. I take names off sometimes, not because I now dislike the person but just because I feel like it. I enjoy compiling it but it’s not just about enjoyment. … Continue reading →
Posted in Actors, Art/Photography, Directors, Personal, writers
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Tagged A.S. Byatt, Abigail Adams, Agnes Varda, Aline MacMahon, Amy Heckerling, Ann Savage, Anna Karina, Anne Frank, Anne V. Coates, Annie Proulx, art, Aubrey Plaza, Australia, Austria, Barbara Bel Geddes, Barbara Stanwyck, Barbra Streisand, Bette Davis, Bibi Andersson, Brazil, Britney Spears, Busby Berkeley, Camille Paglia, Canada, Carole Lombard, Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Bronte, Charlotte Rampling, China, Croatia, Diane Keaton, Dolly Parton, Drew Barrymore, Dubravka Ugrešić, Edie Sedgwick, Ellen von Unwerth, England, Etta James, Eve Babitz, France, Frances Farmer, Gena Rowlands, George Eliot, Georgia, Germany, Gloria Grahame, Golshifteh Farahani, Greta Garbo, Greta Gerwig, Harriet Andersson, Hediyeh Tehrani, Hong Kong, Ida Lupino, Ingrid Thulin, Iran, Ireland, Isabelle Adjani, Isabelle Huppert, Italy, Janet Malcolm, Japan, Jean Arthur, Jeanette Winterson, Jill Clayburgh, Joan Crawford, Joan Didion, Joan Jett, Joanna Hogg, Josephine Decker, Judy Garland, Julie Christie, Kate Lyn Sheil, Kay Francis, Keri Hulme, Kristen Stewart, Kristen Wiig, L.M. Montgomery, Laura Dern, Laurette Taylor, Leila Hatami, Lily Tomlin, Liv Ullmann, Louise Glück, Madeleine L'Engle, Madeline Kahn, Maggie Cheung, Maggie Smith, Marianne Moore, Marilyn Monroe, Martha Graham, Mary Oliver, Maud Gonne, Mélanie Laurent, Mia Hansen-Løve, Nancy Savoca, Natalie Portman, Nina Hoss, Nina Simone, Olivia Laing, Olympia Dukakis, Patricia Highsmith, Pauline Kael, photography, Poland, Rebecca West, Romania, Rosalind Russell, Russia, Sandrine Bonnaire, Shabnam Toloui, Shirley Jackson, Sophia Takal, South Korea, Spain, Supernatural, Sweden, Tana French, Taraneh Alidoosti, The Netherlands, Tiffany Haddish, Tina Turner, Tuesday Weld, Wanda Jackson, women directors
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106 Comments
“I’m not a yesterday’s woman. I’m a tomorrow’s woman.” — Barbara Stanwyck
A real actor’s actor. She was great from the start. She was tough and practical. She didn’t have to act that. She also had deep wells of feeling, and she didn’t have to reach. She could break your heart and … Continue reading →
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
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Tagged Baby Face, Barbara Stanwyck, Elvis Presley, film noir, Pre-Code
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8 Comments
December 2024 Viewing Diary
The Last Showgirl (2024; d. Gia Coppola) Pamela Anderson gives my favorite performance by a woman this year. I reviewed the film for Ebert. Dark Waters (2019; d. Todd Haynes) I love movies about rapacious evil corporations, and a dogged … Continue reading →
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
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Tagged Australia, Barbara Stanwyck, comedy, documentary, drama, Iran, Iranian film, Ireland, Jean Harlow, musicals, Nicole Kidman, Pre-Code, sex drama, short films, Taraneh Alidoosti, Tilda Swinton, true crime, women directors
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8 Comments
July 2023 Viewing Diary
July was busy. I bought a new car. My old one basically disintegrated around me, so much so that the mechanic didn;t even want me to drive it home from his shop. I found a new apartment, and the market … Continue reading →
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
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Tagged Barbara Stanwyck, Clifford Odets, comedy, documentary, drama, film noir, Fritz Lang, Italy, Marilyn Monroe, Orson Welles, women directors
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22 Comments
February 2023 Viewing Diary
Reboot (2022) Allison and I watched it together when I was in New York for the first half of this month. I adore this series and am so bummed it wasn’t picked up for Season 2. We had a blast … Continue reading →
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
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Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Aline MacMahon, Aubrey Plaza, Australia, Barbara Stanwyck, biopic, Boris Karloff, Brad Pitt, Busby Berkeley, Charlotte Bronte, comedy, Douglas Sirk, drama, Emily Bronte, England, film noir, France, Fred MacMurray, Ginger Rogers, Gold Diggers of 1933, Greta Garbo, Hugh Grant, Hungary, Ireland, Joan Blondell, Joan Crawford, John Barrymore, Kay Francis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Loretta Young, Madonna, Mervyn LeRoy, musicals, Pre-Code, Quentin Tarantino, reviews, William Powell, William Wellman, women directors
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18 Comments
Plato’s cave, and etc.
Stunning shot from Douglas Sirk’s All I Desire
“Emotional problems”
From Douglas Sirk’s There’s Always Tomorrow (1956), a romantic drama, featuring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray as old lovers, reunited 20 years later. They are both successful in their careers. He has a wife (Joan Bennett) and three children (two … Continue reading →
Posted in Movies
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Tagged Barbara Stanwyck, Douglas Sirk, Fred MacMurray, romantic drama
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2 Comments
January 2022 Viewing Diary
Crossfire (1947; d. Edward Dmytryk) Went on a little Robert Mitchum kick, thanks to the Criterion Channel. Crossfire came out the same year as Gentleman’s Agreement, and both films deal with anti-Semitism, which was very much on American minds at … Continue reading →
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
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Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, art, Asghar Farhadi, Barbara Stanwyck, Cary Grant, documentary, drama, Elvis Presley, film noir, Gloria Grahame, historical drama, Iranian film, Ireland, Isabelle Huppert, Jane Austen, Jean Arthur, Jean Harlow, Joachim Trier, Joan Fontaine, Johnny Flynn, literary adaptation, Mary Astor, Mildred Dunnock, musicals, Peter Bogdanovich, Richard Widmark, Robert Mitchum, romantic drama, Steven Spielberg, Sweden, thrillers, William Powell, women directors
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14 Comments
Podcast: Watch With Jen: a Pre-Code discussion!
Had so much fun appearing as a guest on Jen Johans’ podcast, Watch With Jen, for a discussion of Pre-Code films, the Wild West of Hollywood in between (roughly) the years 1930 and 1934. I pitched a couple of ideas, … Continue reading →
Posted in Movies
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Tagged Aline MacMahon, Ann Dvorak, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Howard Hawks, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Joan Blondell, Miriam Hopkins, podcast, Pre-Code, William Wellman
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3 Comments
June 2021 Viewing Diary
La Notte (1961; d. Michelangelo Antonioni) Pauline Kael included La Notte in her infamous essay titled “The Come-Dressed-As-the-Sick-Soul-of-Europe Parties”. Now you can debate her on this opinion – and I think she’s off (although I think it’s a hilarious title). … Continue reading →
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
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Tagged Alain Delon, Ann Dvorak, Barbara Stanwyck, Bill Murray, Bill Pullman, Billy Wilder, Boris Karloff, Charles Laughton, Christian Petzold, comedy, coming of age, crime movies, documentary, drama, France, George Clooney, Germany, horror, Howard Hawks, Ireland, Italy, Jack Black, Jack Lemmon, James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Joan Blondell, John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, Mexico, Pre-Code, short films, Sofia Coppola, Syria, Tom Cruise, true crime, William Wellman, women directors
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11 Comments