Clik here to view.
Paranormal Police Procedural: Nothing But the Night (1972)
Christopher Lee and co-star Diana Dors sharing a laugh behind-the-scenes of Nothing But the Night (1972) To celebrate the season of scaring TCM has made Christopher Lee their Star of the Month....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Amazing, Amazing Mr. X (1948)
As a lifelong classic film fan who has seen more movies than she cares to remember, it’s easy to become a little jaded. However, every year I manage to come across an old film that becomes a new...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Angry Cinema: The British New Wave
In the late 1950s, Britain was a country in transition. The destruction caused by two world wars remained evident but the economy was booming and unemployment was at an all-time low. Popular music was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Devil Made Me Do It: La main du diable (1943)
Cinephiles and film aficionados come in all stripes. Some of us are drawn to the star quality of performers while others may obsess over scriptwriting, set designs or a director’s unique skill set....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Surveying the Red Desert (1964)
“There’s something terrible about reality and I don’t know what it is.” – Giuliana (Monica Vitti) Modern malaise and alienation are two themes that Michelangelo Antonioni (L’Avventura [1960], La notte...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nippon Noir: Celebrate #Noirvember with FilmStruck
Thanks to Turner Classic Movies’ Social Media Specialist Marya Gates (@oldfilmsflicker) November is now known as Noirvember among many classic film fans who enjoy watching Film Noir throughout the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Screen Sorcery: Belladonna of Sadness (1973)
Belladonna of Sadness (1973) begins with a joyful wedding. We first meet the lovely Jeanne, our guide through this strange fairy tale, and her beau Jim as they exchange marriage vows. When the couple...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Adventure in Istanbul: Topkapi (1964)
Today (Dec. 8) is Maximilian Schell’s birthday. The handsome Swiss actor is one of my favorite screen performers and he would have been 85 today if he hadn’t passed away in 2014 after abruptly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Venomous Snakes & Poison Ants: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
“What we see and what we seem are but a dream, a dream within a dream.” – Miranda in Picnic at Hanging Rock (a variation of A Dream Within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe) In Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Stranger Than Fiction: The Baron of Arizona (1949)
“In the movie business, a good ending must sometimes hold sway over the truth.” – Samuel Fuller, A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking Before Samuel Fuller wrote and directed his...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Strokes of Genius: Moulin Rouge (1952)
Biopics can be predictable and formulaic affairs. They often rely on a checklist of theatrical high points and low points, which restrict the scope of the drama and transform the rich panorama of life...
View ArticleClik here to view.
There Are No Safe Spaces: An Arturo Ripstein Double Feature
Of late, I’ve been exploring the work of director Arturo Ripstein after coming across El castillo de la pureza aka The Castle of Purity (1972) and Foxtrot (1975) streaming on FilmStruck. Ripstein was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Joan Bennett: Fritz Lang’s Muse
Joan Bennett got her start in Hollywood as a lovely, demure, fair-haired ingénue but made her mark as a sexy, feisty, dark-haired femme fatale. Her transformation was atypical in Tinseltown where many...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Search for Common Ground: A Separation (2011)
When the U.S. government decided to abruptly impose a travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen) last week it caused pandemonium in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My Melancholy Valentine: Dans Paris (2006)
Love is complicated. Some see it as a priceless gift or blessing while others describe it as an unshakeable disease. It can be comforting, enriching, elevating, thrilling and divine. It can also be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Everyone’s Gone Crazy: Violent Cop (1989)
“Beat” Takeshi Kitano has been making headlines recently. Late last year the 70-year-old Japanese filmmaker, actor, author and entertainer was awarded France’s coveted Legion of Honor for his...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Double Dose of Boris Karloff
Life has been throwing me lots of curveballs lately and when I’m feeling low, I tend to gravitate towards what I like to call “comfort food films” and my comfort food tends to be classic horror films....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Creative Collaboration: Jane B. par Agnès V. (1988)
When Jane Birkin (Blow-Up [1966], Wonderwall [1968], La Piscine [1968], Don Juan (or If Don Juan Were a Woman) [1973], Je t’aime moi non plus [1976], Death on the Nile [1978], Evil Under the Sun...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Devil’s Advocate: Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968), which is streaming on The Criterion Channel at FilmStruck throughout the month of March, is rightly hailed as one of the best American horror films of the 1960s. It begins and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Losey Let Loose: The Criminal (1960)
To view The Criminal click here. Joseph Losey is one of my favorite directors so I was thrilled to discover that his work is currently being spotlighted at FilmStruck. While looking through the...
View Article