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- “One day I hope I can write happier poems, but most of the things I think about aren’t very cheerful.” — poet Philip Larkin
- “I gave my eardrums to MGM. And it’s true: I really did.” — Esther Williams
- On This Day: August 7, 1934: “It must always be remembered that his locale was Celtic and his season Spring.”
- “These kids only want to talk about acting method and motivation. in my day all we talked about was screwing and overtime.” — Robert Mitchum
- “I wrote as much as seventy lines at one time, and used to go shouting them about the fields after dark.” — Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- Podcast: Jen Johans and I discuss Dana Andrews
- “Poets, the best of them, are a very chameleonic race.” — Percy Bysshe Shelley
- “There is one Metallica. We have many styles, it’s called Metallica.” — James Hetfield
- “The trouble with Hollywood is everybody is crazy for money.” — Ann Dvorak
- “He who has never felt, momentarily, what madness is has but a mouthful of brains.” — Herman Melville
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- sheila on “I think something once broken and put back together is even stronger.” — Jared Padalecki
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- Lyrie on “I think something once broken and put back together is even stronger.” — Jared Padalecki
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- Lyrie on “I think something once broken and put back together is even stronger.” — Jared Padalecki
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Tag Archives: Pre-Code
April 2016 Viewing Diary
The Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016; d. Taika Waititi) My favorite thing I saw at Tribeca. It hasn’t opened yet but this is one you want to see. My review here. Midsummer in Newtown (2016; d. Lloyd Kramer) I was … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged AFME, Al Pacino, Brian De Palma, Claude Chabrol, Denmark, documentary, drama, France, Guillermo del Toro, historical drama, Howard Hawks, Jean-Paul Belmondo, July and Half of August, Lily Tomlin, Mervyn LeRoy, Michael Mann, New Zealand, Pre-Code, Preston Sturges, romantic drama, silent films, Supernatural, war movies
81 Comments
The Great Escape (1963), Possessed (1947), Three on a Match (1932)
The Great Escape Directed by John Sturges I saw this for the first time on the big screen, at a packed showing at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. It’s meant to be seen large. It’s meant to be seen … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis, drama, Humphrey Bogart, Joan Blondell, Joan Crawford, John Sturges, Mervyn LeRoy, Pre-Code, reviews, war movies
11 Comments
Seen Recently: A Free Soul (1931), Whirlpool (1949), The Women (1939)
A Free Soul directed by Clarence Brown A daring (to say the least) pre-Code film, starring Norma Shearer (very good, for the most part, here), a ferocious and sexy Clark Gable, a sympathetic and noble Leslie Howard, and a masterful … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Clark Gable, film noir, George Cukor, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Otto Preminger, Pre-Code, reviews, Rosalind Russell, screwball comedy
15 Comments
In Honor of Fredric March
… whose birthday it is today, here is a review I wrote of the pre-Code film Merrily We Go to Hell where I discuss one of his moments in great detail. While Fredric March is probably most famous for The … Continue reading
Red-Headed Woman (1932); Dir. Jack Conway
Jean Harlow is unforgettable as the amoral ruthless “Lil” in this Pre-Code film, unclassifiable as drama, comedy or romance. There is a lightness to the tone, an insouciant devil-may-care quality, that makes one think one is watching a comedy, but … Continue reading
Other Men’s Women (1931); Dir. William Wellman
The romantic-triangle set against an environment of machines and technology was territory William Wellman had covered before (in Wings, most notably), and here, in Other Men’s Women, instead of planes, like in Wings, we’ve got trains. Male friendship and work … Continue reading
Female (1933); Dir. Michael Curtiz
Alice Drake (Ruth Chatterton) inherited her father’s automobile manufacturing business, a behemoth if you judge from the panorama outside her office window of a factory as far as the eye can see. She is just a “female”, but she has … Continue reading
Heroes For Sale (1933); Dir. William Wellman
“It takes more than one sock in the jaw to lick 120 million people.” So says Tom Holmes, played by Richard Barthelmess, in William Wellmann’s pre-Code drama Heroes for Sale, a terrific film, and included in TCM’s Forbidden Hollywood Collection, … Continue reading