Today, November 30th, marks the fifth anniversary of True Classics! And though our posting has slowed down quite a bit this year (life, dahlings, life), we are still kicking–and still planning on hosting our annual anniversary contest as a “thank you” to our lovely, loyal readers. So let’s get down to the details: who wants…
Elsa: The Chinese say, it is difficult for love to last long. Therefore, one who loves passionately is cured of love, in the end. Michael: Sure, that’s a hard way of thinking. Elsa: There’s more to the proverb: Human nature is eternal. Therefore, one who follows his nature keeps his original nature, in the end.…
My fourth and final contribution to Wonders in the Dark’s romantic film countdown was posted earlier today. At #3, it’s Charlie Chaplin’s seminal masterwork City Lights (1931): There are ostensibly two romances at work in City Lights–both of which admittedly play backseat to the comedic elements that dominate the majority of the film (the movie is not…
My third post for the ongoing romantic films countdown at Wonders in the Dark is live. At number five, it’s F.W. Murnau’s lovely and deceptively simple silent allegory Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927): Out of context, the idea of ranking a film in which a man is seduced into plotting to kill his wife as one…
“I never told you I was anything but what I am. You just wanted to imagine I was.” That claim, uttered by Jane Greer as the devious Kathie Moffat in director Jacques Tourneur’s Out of the Past, is not entirely true. The character is an exercise in self-construction, spending much of the film behind an array of…
My second post for the ongoing romantic films countdown at Wonders in the Dark is up now. At number 32, it’s Frank Capra’s seminal sexy screwball classic, It Happened One Night (1934). Night has been cited as one of the founding pictures of the screwball genre, and indeed, many of the elements that would come to define…
It’s been a difficult week for film fans. First, we lost the immensely talented Robin Williams. And yesterday, we learned that the iconic, lovely Lauren Bacall has passed away at the age of 89. She was a model who parlayed arresting good looks and no short amount of talent into a storied career that lasted for more than…
Our friends at Wonders in the Dark are currently hosting their annual film countdown. This year, it’s all about the romance, with a wide selection of talented writers posting articles on the top one hundred romantic films as voted by the site’s contributors. This week, it’s my turn, with the first of my four pieces going live…
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