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- November 2024 Viewing Diary
- “I have trouble working off things that are too preconceived, like storyboards.” — Terrence Malick
- “I thought girls in their teens might like to read [Anne of Green Gables], that was the only audience I hoped to reach.” — L.M. Montgomery
- “I have ever hated all nations, professions, and communities, and all my love is toward individuals.” — Jonathan Swift
- “Look in thy heart and write.” — Sir Philip Sidney
- For Busby Berkeley’s birthday: Remember My Forgotten Man and Sucker Punch
- “Well, if I can’t be happy, I can be useful, perhaps.” — Louisa May Alcott
- Exeunt, pursued by hundreds of beavers. Literally.
- “Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius.” — poet/engraver/visionary William Blake
- For Liberties: Edna O’Brien: Documentary of A Writer and A Star
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Tag Archives: Gloria Swanson
June 2024 Viewing Diary
Sunset Boulevard (1950; d. Billy Wilder) I had so much fun discussing Sunset Boulevard with the audience after the screening at Jacob Burns Film Center. I’ll be doing another one in August, after Billy Wilder’s The Apartment. The audience was … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged action movies, Billy Wilder, comedy, film noir, France, Glen Powell, Gloria Swanson, Meryl Streep, New Zealand, Richard Linklater, romantic comedy, romantic drama, short films, Steven Spielberg, Sunset Boulevard, Thomas J. Wright, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, war movies, William Holden, women directors
12 Comments
From Lillian Gish to James Dean: My Interview with Dan Callahan
I had a lot of fun interviewing Dan Callahan about his new book The Art of American Screen Acting, 1912-1960. It’s now up at Slant Magazine: Mystery of Screen Acting: An Interview with Dan Callahan.
Posted in Actors, Books, Movies
Tagged Bringing Up Baby, Cary Grant, friends, Gloria Swanson, Greta Garbo, Holiday, Humphrey Bogart, interviews, James Cagney, James Dean, Joan Crawford, Josef von Sternberg, Katharine Hepburn, Kim Stanley, Lillian Gish, Louise Brooks, Marlene Dietrich, Marlon Brando
6 Comments
The Books: The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town, edited by Lillian Ross; ‘A Marquise at Home’, Author Unknown
Next up on the essays shelf: The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town (Modern Library Paperbacks), edited by Lillian Ross As I mentioned, The New Yorker comes out periodically with collections of essays, grouped under different … Continue reading
Holden’s Death Scene In Sunset Boulevard:
Holden has to be shot three times – stagger forward – turn back – turn the other way – be shot one last time and fall face first into the pool. One take. That takes not only acting chops and … Continue reading
“It’s the pictures that got small.”
Smoky-eyed photo of Gloria Swanson. I’m reading a book of Bogdonavich’s interviews with directors – and it starts off with Allan Dwan, one of the true creators of the whole business. He’s the type of guy who was like, in … Continue reading
Holden’s Death Scene in Sunset Boulevard: The “Bang Bang You’re Dead” School of Acting
It is the best kind of make-believe acting. The kind of acting that little kids do so brilliantly when they’re playing and making up games. The kind of belief in the imaginary circumstances that so many adult actors have to … Continue reading