One of the most visible and beloved supporting players of the 1950s was a middle-aged, theater-trained actress from Brooklyn, Thelma Ritter. You may not know her name, but if you’re a classic movie fan, you know her face. Ritter appeared in supporting roles in a series of big-name films opposite some big-name stars—Bette Davis, Marilyn…
Note: you can find the first part of this entry here. Joseph Breen’s second caveat in adapting Streetcar revolved around the character of Blanche, whose more sexually predatory side could not be fully explicated on the screen per Production Code regulations. The faded Southern belle’s lack of sexual satisfaction in her marriage and her guilt over Allan’s suicide…
We’ve previously touched on issues of censorship here at True Classics, but our next two entries this week will take a more in-depth look at the Hays Code, particularly in regards to the struggle to adapt the controversial source material of A Streetcar Named Desire for the big screen. By 1950, Hollywood had reached an impasse. For nearly twenty…
For Christmas, a friend of mine scored a copy of the new Wii game Epic Mickey. If you haven’t heard of this game, it’s an attempt to turn Disney’s signature character into a bad-ass of the umpteenth degree while reacquainting folks with some former Disney animation stars like Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. And though it…
Merry Christmas! I hope you were very good this year so that Santa brought you what you wanted. Here are a few Christmas treats from Saturday Morning Cartoons to get you through the day: Because it’s not Christmas without the Grinch, here’s the complete How the Grinch Stole Christmas as told by Boris Karloff:…
I adore The Shop Around the Corner. I say that mainly to warn you that this post will feature much fawning and adoration for one of the best films I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. And the fact that it has become a holiday classic over the years is merely a bonus, meaning more…
Though our humble blog tends to focus on the classics (which we generally categorize as pre-1970s movies, with a few notable exceptions), this does not mean we thumb our nose at so-called “modern” film. Quite the opposite, in fact. Well, except for crap like Transformers. Or The A-Team. Or Jackass 3-D. And so on. I,…
Susan Slept Here (1954) is a delightful, if somewhat creepy (by today’s standards, anyway) bit of holiday fluff. Starring Debbie Reynolds and Dick Powell, the film played with the censors at a time when it seemed everyone in Hollywood was determined to give the Hays Office its share of hell. Reynolds stars as the titular…
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