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- “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
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Tag Archives: Charles Vidor
“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
November 2024 Viewing Diary
Stranger Things, Season 2, episodes 5, 6, 7 (2016) Continuing the very slow “binge” watch with my niece Lucy, and having so much fun. She gets such a kick out of showing it to me. She knows every moment and … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Charles Vidor, comedy, documentary, drama, Edna O'Brien, film noir, Iranian film, Ireland, Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges, Mohammad Rasoulof, Paul Schrader, Richard Gere, Rita Hayworth, romantic drama, sci-fi, Sidney Lumet, women directors
28 Comments
For Film Comment: On Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
It was a pleasure to write about 1955’s Love Me or Leave Me – and the two towering performances by Doris Day and James Cagney – for Film Comment.
January 2018 Viewing Diary
Supernatural, Season 7, episode 10 “Death’s Door” (2011; d. Robert Singer) What an extraordinary episode of television. It’s funny: I too block out what happened in that kitchen in Bobby’s childhood. I forget it almost every time. Those actors playing … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Charles Vidor, Chile, documentary, Dogfight, Doris Day, Fredric March, James Cagney, Japan, Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Kurt Russell, Norma Shearer, Paul Thomas Anderson, Paul Verhoeven, Sebastián Lelio, Supernatural, women directors, X-Files
13 Comments
“The Long Shadow of Gilda“: My Essay Up on Criterion
The Criterion Collection’s release of Charles Vidor’s Gilda came out this week. You can order it here. Special features include: commentary track by critic Richard Schickel, interview with Film Noir guru Eddie Mueller, plus a couple of wonderful heart-warming clips … Continue reading
Coming Soon: Gilda on Criterion
The Criterion Collection release of Charles Vidor’s Gilda will be available on Criterion in Blu-Ray on January 19, 2016. You can pre-order here. The release includes an essay I’ve written about the film. Some other great special features, too!
October 2015 Viewing Diary
Moontide (1942; d. Archie Mayo – and an uncredited Fritz Lang) And John O’Hara wrote the screenplay. How I love this film. Ida Lupino plays a suicidal girl, rescued from the waves by Bobo (a to-die-for Jean Gabin). Bobo is … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Australia, Channing Tatum, Chantal Akerman, Charles Vidor, Claude Rains, documentary, England, France, Gena Rowlands, Gilda, Guillermo del Toro, Ida Lupino, Iran, Iranian film, Ireland, Joe Berlinger, John Ford, John Sturges, John Wayne, Kristen Wiig, Maureen O'Hara, Mexico, Nicholas Ray, Peter Weir, Poland, Ridley Scott, Rita Hayworth, Supernatural, Thomas Mitchell, William Wellman
70 Comments
Announcement: The Criterion Collection’s January Release: Gilda (1946)
So this has been percolating for a couple of months, but wanted to hold off saying anything until Criterion made the announcement. Criterion just announced their January 2016 releases and one of them is the classic twisted noir/movie-musical Gilda, the … Continue reading
September 2015 Viewing Diary
I got a pretty big writing assignment this past month, with a deadline of October 5. So I’ve been working hard, researching, as the below list will probably show. Not ready to talk about it yet, still working on the … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies
Tagged Agnes Varda, Alan Ladd, Anna Karina, Canada, Charles Vidor, Charlton Heston, Claude Chabrol, Dana Andrews, documentary, Doris Day, Elizabeth Taylor, England, France, Fred Astaire, Fritz Lang, Gilda, Gloria Grahame, Guillermo del Toro, Iran, Iranian film, Irene Dunne, J. Miller Tobin, Jafar Panahi, James Cagney, Jean-Luc Godard, John Wayne, Laura Dern, Maggie Smith, Marilyn Monroe, Mélanie Laurent, Mexico, Otto Preminger, Out of the Past, Paul Thomas Anderson, Ramin Bahrani, Rita Hayworth, Robert Mitchum, Supernatural, Terrence Malick
159 Comments
Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly: “Put Me to the Test”
From Cover Girl (1944). Directed by Charles Vidor (same director as Gilda). Starring Gene Kelly and Rita Hayworth. It is, putting it mildly, NOT a film noir. It’s a musical comedy, having to do with high-fashion, Broadway, class differences, Brooklyn … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies
Tagged Charles Vidor, dance, dance movies, musicals, Rita Hayworth
5 Comments