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Out, out, brief candle: Jon Finch 1942-2012
Jon Finch in Roman Polanski’s MACBETH (1971) “… Out, out, brief candle. Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more …” – Macbeth,...
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This is a Time for Ghosts
I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, horror is my favorite film genre. But that doesn’t stop me from occasionally getting aggravated by some of the female stereotypes that populate it. From...
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All Love is Mad
When I first saw Karl Freund’s MAD LOVE (1935) 20 odd years ago I was somewhat disappointed by it. I had spent decades looking at still photos from the movie in various books I came across and I had...
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Does Oscar gold come with an Oscar curse?
In the weeks leading up to the 85th Academy Awards the usual flood of articles about the so-called “Oscar Curse” or “Oscar Jinx” have started to appear. Journalists who write these superstitious...
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Telefilm Time Machine: Daughter of the Mind (1969)
Ray Milland and Gene Tierney in DAUGHTER OF THE MIND (1969) Ray Milland sees dead people. Or to be more precise, Ray Milland begins seeing the ghost of his dead daughter in the made-for-TV movie...
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Clarence Sinclair Bull & His Magic Camera
Ava Gardner with photographer Clarence Sinclair Bull (1945) Photographer Clarence Sinclair Bull is probably best remembered today as “The Man Who Shot Garbo.” And while it’s true that his publicity...
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Tracing My Irish Roots Through the Movies
John Wayne & Maureen O’Hara in The Quiet Man (1942) When I was a child my family regularly celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day on March 17th. My parents and grandparents encouraged me to wear green and...
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The Pulp Adventures of Lee Marvin
Illustration by Robert Foster “Lee Marvin in a room is the best storyteller I know. Lee Marvin brings me to tears laughing when he starts talking about fishing tournaments he’s been in and this, that...
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Telefilm Time Machine: That Certain Summer (1972)
Just three short years after the Stonewall riots took place in New York ABC made television history when they aired THAT CERTAIN SUMMER (1972), the first gay-themed made-for-TV movie. This landmark...
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In Memoriam: Jesús “Jess” Franco (1930-2013)
If you tuned into TCM Underground on March 15th you may have had the pleasure of seeing Jesús “Jess” Franco’s eerie and atmospheric horror film THE AWFUL DOCTOR ORLOF (1964). When the movie aired I...
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Lon Chaney Jr. – Lady Killer
I recently set aside some time to watch all six of Universal’s Inner Sanctum Mystery films starring Lon Chaney Jr. Seeing these relatively short (60-67 minute) B-movies back to back over a couple of...
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Comic Relief with Artists and Models (1955)
This has been a rough week. And when the bad news starts to outweigh the good I like to escape my worries with a great comedy that makes me laugh out loud and allows me to forget my troubles for a few...
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Telefilm Time Machine – Frankenstein: The True Story (1973)
Film buffs tend to have obsessions. We fuss and fawn over particular actors and directors while attempting to see everything they ever appeared in or produced. One of my own personal obsessions isn’t...
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GUN AND SWORD: An Encyclopedia of Japanese Gangster Films 1955-1980
I first became familiar with Chris D.’s (Dejardins) writing in the early 90s thanks to his work for a small-press magazine (or zine) called Asian Trash Cinema. At the time I was utterly obsessed with...
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Personal Passions: Alain Delon
Alain Delon visits the White House (from Life Magazine Feb. 1964) Today TCM in celebrating the French actor Alain Delon and showing a batch of films he appeared in so I thought I’d join in the fun and...
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Derelict Dancers: Gerard Depardieu vs. Roman Polanski
I’m fond of mysteries that evolve through conversation and unravel in small spaces such as Alfred Hitchcock’s ROPE (1948) and Robert Hosseins DOUBLE AGENTS (1959). The claustrophobia they evoke seems...
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Hail Cleopatra! Queen of the Nile & Queen of ’60s Style
Bold, brave and beautiful. Elizabeth Taylor in a promotional photo for CLEOPATRA (1963) This week the 50th Anniversary of CLEOPATRA (1963) is being celebrated at the Cannes Film Festival where a...
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Telefilm Time Machine: Death at Love House (1976)
It’s time for another installment of Telefilm Time Machine and this month I decided to revisit DEATH AT LOVE HOUSE (1976). This macabre love letter to old Hollywood suffers from the same production...
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Arsenic & Ambiguity in David Lean’s Madeleine (1950)
I planned on writing about a completely different film this week but something unexpected happened that caught me by surprise. I watched David Lean’s magnificent MADELEINE (1950) yesterday for the...
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Final Faces
Top: Madeleine (David Lean; 1950) Bottom: Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean; 1962) While watching David Lean’s MADELEINE last week I was struck by the film’s powerful final image of Ann Todd’s face. Her...
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