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Tag Archives: Lucille Ball
“My philosophy is that to be a director you cannot be subject to anyone, even the head of the studio. I threatened to quit each time I didn’t get my way, but no one ever let me walk out.” — Dorothy Arzner
It’s her birthday today. I have written quite a bit about her films here, mainly one of my favorites, Merrily We Go to Hell, a superb drama about a marriage gone terribly wrong, starring Sylvia Sidney and Fredric March in … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Clara Bow, Dorothy Arzner, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Maureen O'Hara, Rosalind Russell, women directors
4 Comments
Things that got me through 2020. In no particular order.
Elvis mask, made for me by Jill Blake who was like “I just happened to have this Elvis 68 Comeback Special fabric lying around … do you want a mask?” Do you have to ask? There were so many great … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Directors, Founding Fathers, Movies, Music, Personal, Television, Theatre
Tagged Alexander Hamilton, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, Eminem, family, friends, George Orwell, H.D., Hannah Arendt, Hope, Jackass, Jean Arthur, John Garfield, John Sturges, Johnny Flynn, Lucille Ball, Marcel Proust, Martha Coolidge, Nick Tosches, poetry, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Steve McQueen, Supernatural, Twin Peaks, women directors, X-Files
30 Comments
Year in Review: Shooting My Mouth Off in 2020, Part 1
What a year. Hard to say “the worst” because I was at least somewhat mentally stable during 2020, but this year was an assault. An assault after a couple of years of exhausting assault. It was an assault on us … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Directors, Movies, RIP
Tagged Arizona Dream, Aubrey Plaza, Australia, Derek Mahon, Dorothy Arzner, Eavan Boland, England, Faye Dunaway, Germany, H.D., Iranian film, Jane Austen, Jean Arthur, Jerry Lewis, John Sturges, Johnny Depp, Jonathan Demme, Josephine Decker, Kurt Russell, Lili Taylor, Linda Manz, Little Richard, Lucille Ball, Martha Coolidge, Maureen O'Hara, miracle on ice, Nick Nolte, Patricia Bosworth, Shirley Jackson, Steve McQueen, Supernatural, women directors, year in writing
2 Comments
Dance, Girl, Dance (1940): Criterion release today 5/19
My second Criterion booklet essay to come out in one month. Taking a moment to be proud of this. First came The Great Escape (my essay here), and now my essay for the long-awaited release of Dorothy Arzner’s Dance, Girl, … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged dance, dance movies, Dorothy Arzner, Lucille Ball, Maureen O'Hara, Ralph Bellamy, women directors
3 Comments
Criterion May releases announced
I wrote booklet essays for two of Criterion’s May 2020 releases – Dorothy Arzner’s 1940 film Dance, Girl, Dance, and the 1963 beloved classic The Great Escape. There are multiple reasons these were very exciting assignments. Dance, Girl, Dance is … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged action movies, dance movies, Dorothy Arzner, John Sturges, Lucille Ball, Maureen O'Hara, Steve McQueen, war movies, women directors
1 Comment
January 2020 Viewing Diary
Hell Is for Heroes (1962; d. Don Siegel) A spare lean and mean war movie – pretty standard, actually – except Steve McQueen is actually presenting a character study here, a character he probably knows something about. He is eerie … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, children's movies, Colin Farrell, comedy, coming of age, crime movies, Dean Stockwell, documentary, Dorothy Arzner, drama, Dustin Hoffman, England, France, Ginger Rogers, heist, Iran, Iranian film, Jean Arthur, Joaquin Phoenix, Joel McCrea, John Sturges, Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lucille Ball, Martin Scorsese, Maureen O'Hara, musical, Nick Nolte, Quentin Tarantino, Robert De Niro, romantic comedy, screwball, Steve McQueen, Supernatural, true crime, war movies, women directors
3 Comments
The Dark Corner‘s Depth of Frame
The Dark Corner is a gritty and unforgiving noir, directed by Henry Hathaway, and starring Mark Stevens, Lucille Ball and Clifton Webb. Wonderful acting all around, and I loved the living-breathing feeling of New York City that pulsates through the … Continue reading
Because.
Lucille Ball, “The Dark Corner”, 1946 Because she’s so great. Because I love this movie. Because I can’t wait for baseball season.