Clik here to view.
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
I recently saw Kiss Me Deadly on Criterion and contemplated purchasing it, sight unseen because I love anything Criterion. Unfortunately I didn’t have the money for it and decided to just watch it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011)
The final Academy Award nominee for Best Picture makes me frustrated. I don’t want to end on a sore note (not counting the wrap-up on Sunday when the award is actually given out), but this movie...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Old Hollywood Book Reviews: Shock Value
I’ve been off the blogging scene for two days and that’s all due to my damn need for higher education. I’m in the home stretch, only three weeks left of school and I’ll be free to watch whatever I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Client (1994)
The Client You all voted for a mix of old and new reviews so here’s a more contemporary film for you, the 1994 Joel Schumacher directed adaptation of John Grisham‘s novel The Client. I’d seen bits and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Did I Mention There’s a Contest….
**This is the last call for the contest. If you’d like to win either of these books now’s the time to get your entries in. Contest closes June 29th** Yes there is a contest going on and this time I’m...
View ArticleClik here to view.
High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic
Part of the reason I read film books is to have an outsider entice me to check out a movie. Where some of you come here to have me tell you whether a certain film is worth your time or not – and if...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Natalie Wood: Reflections on a Legendary Life
Natalie Wood was like looking at the sun. Just staring at her in photographs the luminosity burns out of her. Her daughter Natasha has described her as tough when necessary, but always present and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Warner Bros: Hollywood’s Ultimate Backlot
I’ve been fortunate to visit at least two movie studios in my life: Universal (where I’ve been in the theme park, on the backlot, and in a screening room) and the Warner Bros. lot. You can even read...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Michael Curtiz Biographer Alan Rode Talks Everything But Casablanca
It’s always the biographies I don’t think will grip me that affect me the most. When I told Michael Curtiz biographer Alan K. Rode that I compared his book to Scott Eyman’s absolutely wonderful...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Book Review: Michael Curtiz – A Life in Film
If you read my extensive interview with Michael Curtiz biographer, Alan K. Rode, then you know Curtiz was a director with a mania for filmmaking. The famed Hungarian helmer of such works as Casablanca...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Other Side of Ethel Mertz: The Life Story of Vivian Vance
It’s amazing to go to your local library and discover a biography you never knew existed; so it was that I pulled out Frank Castellucio and Alvin Walker’s The Other Side of Ethel Mertz. As a die-hard...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hollywood Heyday: 75 Candid Interviews with Golden Age Legends
It’s amazing how many interviews with classic era stars are finally being given the opportunity to engage with fans. It’s hard not to be jealous upon reading David Fantle and Tom Johnson’s Hollywood...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jeremy Arnold Talks TCM, the Holidays, and His Latest Book
Jeremy Arnold is a jack of all trade. Author, classic film expert, awesome guy. When I attended my first TCM Classic Film Festival, Jeremy was a fellow social producer for TCM, so we’ve always taken...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Author David Thomson Discusses Classic Films and ‘Sleeping With Strangers’
Author David Thomson is one of the most prolific writers on classic film and Hollywood history. His past works, including Moments That Made the Movies, The Big Screen, and Beneath Mulholland, blend...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir
He was a successful Hollywood screenwriter whose words shaped several of Frank Capra’s classic features. She was the actress whose beauty (and powerful set of lungs) captured the heart of a giant ape...
View ArticleClik here to view.
1939: Hollywood’s Greatest Year
This year marks the 80th anniversary of 1939, considered the greatest year in film history. (Shameless plug: I was fortunate to interview several TCM personalities about their tribute to the era...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I Lost My Girlish Laughter
There have been several fictionalized “exposes” of Hollywood, from Day of the Locust to The Carpetbaggers. But none have been properly contextualized through the lens of women, many of who had were...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind...
With the global pandemic keeping us all in our homes now is a great time to take up a book! I’d been hearing about Christina Lane’s biography on Hitchcock’s collaborator Joan Harrison for awhile. As...
View ArticleClik here to view.
CONTEST: Win a Copy of ‘Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise’
If you follow the world of classic film biographies you probably know that acclaimed author Scott Eyman — author of the brilliant John Wayne: The Life and Legend — has a new book on Cary Grant. We’ll...
View ArticleClik here to view.
He’s Got Rhythm: The Life and Career of Gene Kelly
I’ve had Cynthia and Sara Brideson’s biography of Gene Kelly on my shelf for way too long, and if this pandemic has done anything it’s that I have no excuse not to sit down and read it. Kelly’s an...
View Article
