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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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- Maddy on “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
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- sheila on “For I am of the seed of the WELCH WOMAN and speak the truth from my heart.” — Christopher Smart
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- Bryce on The Books: “Nine Stories”- ‘The Laughing Man’ (J.D. Salinger)
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Tag Archives: James Cagney
“I never retired.” — Doris Day
“I like joy; I want to be joyous; I want to have fun on the set; I want to wear beautiful clothes and look pretty. I want to smile, and I want to make people laugh. And that’s all I … Continue reading
“A good director must be able to inspire whoever he was coaching so that the actor would live the scene. Make-believe must become reality.” — Raoul Walsh
It’s his birthday today. Raoul Wash directed a number of great films (in a career as vast as his, the names stick out), but one also thinks of the great PERFORMANCES in these great films, often from actors who were … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Ida Lupino, James Cagney, Raoul Walsh, Roaring Twenties, White Heat
4 Comments
“In the 20s, you were a face. And that was enough. In the 30s, you also had to be a voice. And your voice had to match your face, if you can imagine that.” — Joan Blondell
It’s Joan Blondell’s birthday today. I am sure I saw Joan Blondell in her 1930s movies when I was a kid, although maybe not the Pre-Codes. That would come later. My real introduction to her, though, came through her performance … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Busby Berkeley, Elvis Presley, Gold Diggers of 1933, James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Mervyn LeRoy, WWI
15 Comments
“I have an idea that the Irish possess a built-in don’t-give-a-damn that helps them through all the stress.” — James Cagney
It’s his birthday today. One of my favorite actors. From Who the Hell’s in It: Conversations with Hollywood’s Legendary Actors, by Peter Bogdanovich: He was different from most of the great stars of the golden age in that he often … Continue reading
September 2022 Viewing Diary
The Deep End (2022; d. Jon Kasbe) I’m into cults but I actively avoid woo-woo, so somehow Teal Swan escaped my radar. Well, she’s on my radar NOW. This Netflix doc is extraordinary because Teal Swan participated in it, she … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Baz Luhrmann, comedy, documentary, drama, Elvis Presley, England, film noir, Hal Wallis, Ida Lupino, James Cagney, John Garfield, Marilyn Monroe, musicals, New Zealand, Olivia de Havilland, Raoul Walsh, Rita Hayworth, Thomas Mitchell, true crime, westerns, women directors
29 Comments
August 2021 Viewing Diary
Pig (2021; d. Michael Sarnoski) I wish I could write at length about some of these. I just don’t have the time these days. I absolutely loved Pig, about an isolated woodsman-truffle-hunter (Nicolas Cage) whose beloved truffle pig is stolen. … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Aline MacMahon, Ann Dvorak, backting, Belgium, Bette Davis, comedy, documentary, drama, film noir, France, Golshifteh Farahani, Howard Hawks, James Cagney, Jean Arthur, Jim Jarmusch, Joan Blondell, Marion Cotillard, Mervyn LeRoy, musicals, Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Pre-Code, Richard Linklater, Robert Mitchum, Supernatural, surfing, William Carlos Williams
44 Comments
Mirrors #9
I’ve decided to post these as they come up: a continuation of my ongoing collection of (mostly) men looking at themselves – and having private moments – in the mirror. Here’s James Cagney in Picture Snatcher, about a former gangster … Continue reading
She’s got legs. And she knows how to use them.
The Crowd Roars (1932) Viva Las Vegas (1964) Joan Blondell – whose legs we see in the first grab – lived long enough to appear – very entertainingly – in an Elvis movie (Stay Away Joe, 1968). She and Elvis … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Ann Dvorak, Ann-Margret, Elvis Presley, Howard Hawks, James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Pre-Code, Viva Las Vegas
5 Comments