Colleen Moore. Excellent comedienne from the silent era. Why Be Good? 1929. Rom Com. Colleen's love interest? Neil Hamilton. Who? Most know him better as Commissioner Gordon from the campy 1960s Batman TV show. Ms. Moore is lovely as Pert Miller, fun loving Jazz Baby. Ella Cinders. 1926. Basically a retelling of the age old Cinderella fairy tale. T
Godzilla vs Kong... Great movie and Kong was as strong as ever.. Since a young boy I Loved King Kong...... Image Unavailable, Please Login
Baby Face. 1933. Barbara Stanwyck. Sexy Stanny is a girl from a depressing mill town who works her way up the corporate ladder in NYC from filing room to boardroom one man at a time. Chewing them up and spitting them out! Including a young John Wayne. Sorry Duke, you're too low on the totem pole at this stage in your career for Stanny. If you want to see classic Pre-code Hollywood, this movie is the straw that broke the camel's back. Some have claimed that this movie ended the racy pre-code Hollywood days. T
We get a chance to see a "free" movie every month through the USA Film Festival group in Dallas. Been around for 40+ years. We just saw one that ranks in our 2 worst films of all time, right behind Kundun. French Exit, with Michelle Pffeifer, was just a downer the whole way through. About a woman who's rich husband died 12 years earlier, and the money has now run out. She moves to Paris, with her son, and mooches an apartment off her close friend. As much as we love Paris, even those scenes were few and far between for any cinematic interest. Don't waste your time or money on this one.
Sunset Boulevard, 1950. Classic tale of a fallen film idol longing for a come back, and her descent into madness. Gloria Swanson in one of the great acting exhibitions of all time. Really need to watch more of her silents. T
Just finished reading her autobiography. Amazing woman, amazing life. Arguably, one of the most famous women on Earth 100 years ago. After watching Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, and reading her autobiography, I felt the need to watch her silents. Male and Female, 1919 - OK. Worth watching for the scene in the lion's den, which she did and not a stunt double. Major cajones! This is why DeMille called her "young fellow" - she's 20 in this film. Beyond the Rocks, 1922 - melodrama. Notable mostly in that it's the only on film pairing of Swanson & Rudolph Valentino. Teddy at the Throttle, 1917 - typical Keystone / Mack Sennet two-reeler. Zaza, 1923 - plays a French chanteuse. The Love of Sunya, 1924 - romance. Both are OK. Manhandled, 1924 & Stage Struck, 1925 - light romantic comedies. Her best silents IMO. The Trespasser, 1929 - her first talkie. Brilliant performance. Shows off her singing chops too. T
Kiss Me Kate, 1953 It's a musical about a former husband and wife acting team putting on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. As you'd expect, they eventually fall back in love by the time the movie is over. I don't typically watch musicals, or movies much later than the early 40s. But, I made an exception for this one for three simple reasons. 1. Kathryn Grayson 2. Kathryn Grayson as a blonde. 3. Kathryn Grayson, as Kate in Shrew, getting a good spanking! Image Unavailable, Please Login Music by Cole Porter, Choreography by Hermes Pan, Cinematography by Charles Rosher, yada yada - an all star lineup - and very nice work by Texas' own Ann Miller, including her jazzy rendition of Too Darn Hot. Highly recommended...T
One of my favs because it has one of my favs in it: Ann Miller. Imagine this in 1953! Guys eyes must have popped out. Ann must have been one of the reasons for the baby boom. Its too darn hot! Image Unavailable, Please Login
One of the interesting things about this movie is the cameo of other silent film actors in it including Buster Keaton as they play bridge together. William Holden is also terrific.
Yes, in addition to the bridge contingent, several minor bits by other Swanson silent film contemporaries - Gertrude Astor, Julia Faye, Creighton Hale, etc...T
She's great. Until I was reading the IMDB entry on this film recently, I did not know she was born in Texas. Growing up in NYC, I remember Ann Miller as a much more mature lady on Broadway (Sugar Babies w/ Mickey Rooney!); still had nice legs though. In Kiss Me Kate, she is a young hottie! Too Darn Hot is perfect for her. Her rendition of Tom, Dick & Harry is deliciously naughty. I didn't realize until recentlythat one of the dancers in that scene is a young Bob Fosse! T
The Eagle, 1925 Rudolph Valentino at the height of his fame. Vilma Banky, super lovely. Alas, her heavy Hungarian did her in with the advent of talkies. More or less, Zorro or Robin Hood with a Russian vibe. If you've seen the video for Queen's Under Pressure, there's a clip from this picture in it. T
Saw Dream Horse this weekend and all 4 of us thought it was a great, feel good movie. Based on a true story, about a small town in England, and a gal that decides she wants to go horse racing. Gets a lot of the little town involved in the funding. Good for the whole family.
Without remorse on Amazon Prime. Tom Clancy story about John Kelly/Clark. It was pretty boring. Nothing new. Seen it all before. It did start well but then it's the same old path of the soldier being ****ed by some DC suit.
Blade Runner 2049, several times lately as it is re-running in my neck of the woods. Today is Ana's birthday & Raquel's death 6.10.21
ice road trucker with liam neisen. current on netflix. silly but fun action thriller. good way to waste time on a hot summer night.
The Pleasure Garden, 1925 Alfred Hitchcock's feature length directorial debut. You see small glimpses of the future genius on display here. It's a story about two show girls, one who falls for a cad. The other, looses her innocence in her drive for fame and wealth. https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/The_Pleasure_Garden_(1925) Some interesting behind the scenes info about the making of this and some of Hitch's earliest movies by the man himself. https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/News_Chronicle_(1937)_-_Life_among_the_Stars T