In the early days of the film industry, the fledgling production studios had not yet established the massive industrial complex of Hollywood movie-making. Films were created almost piecemeal, thrown together in a matter of days in order to keep fresh material in front of fickle audiences. There was little room in the budget for an…
A fresh-faced young beauty sporting a killer sense of comedic timing from an early age, Diana Lynn was a fixture in some of the funniest comedies of the 1940s and 50s. Lynn was born Dolores “Dolly” Loehr, but like so many of her contemporaries, the actress’ name was changed when she became a contract player…
This post is our contribution to the final CMBA blogathon of the year, a veritable feast of guilty pleasures ranging from pre-Code flicks through the fabulous excesses of the 1980s. To see the wonderful contributions from other CMBA members, check out the list on their site! The celebration starts today and continues through Tuesday. For this…
My second contribution to the ongoing countdown of the “Top 70 Musicals of All Time” has been posted over at Wonders in the Dark. This time, the focus is on the wonderful 1953 Cole Porter musical Kiss Me Kate, which was ranked at number 48. Head on over to Wonders in the Dark to check out…
By 1940, Margaret Lockwood had become one of the most popular British actresses in film, having made a splash two years prior in The Lady Vanishes for director Alfred Hitchcock. She had tried to follow in the footsteps of fellow India-born Brit Vivien Leigh by moving to Hollywood, with the intent of solidifying her newfound…
Today, we’re wrapping up our week-long celebration of the 70th anniversary of The Maltese Falcon with a little irreverence. And where better to turn for irreverence than the Animaniacs? God, how I adored this cartoon in my callow and misspent youth. But it’s watching the show as an adult that really brings the greatest pleasure,…
Chapter Three of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon is titled, appropriately enough, “Three Women.” It opens with Sam Spade chastising his exhausted secretary, Effie Perine, for allowing Iva Archer, his dead partner’s widow, into the office. Spade is impatient with the woman–his secret lover–and extricates himself from her clutches as soon as possible. He later…
As part of our week-long celebration of the 70th anniversary of The Maltese Falcon (1941), today we are taking a look at the third and final film version of Dashiell Hammett’s pulp crime novel. For a brief introduction to this movie, check out our post on Falcon from last year. For a more in-depth synopsis of the film’s plot, we recommend…
True Classics 