Well, this was not what I expected. The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934) is the film adaptation of the Broadway hit production by the same name, and should not be confused with the 1957 version, which was word-for-word, scene for scene, the exact same film with a different cast. This film is a rather creative…
Zachary Scott: Hollywood’s Sophisticated Cad Ronald L. Davis Release Date: July 24, 2013 (Reprint); February 27, 2006 (Original printing) University Press of Mississippi Softcover, 238 pages Last summer, the University Press of Mississippi reprinted Ronald L. Davis’ biography of character actor Zachary Scott, subtitled Hollywood’s Sophisticated Cad, in paperback. As today marks the centennial of Scott’s…
Connie Fuller (Ann Sheridan) has a fondness for antiques that her husband, Bill (Jack Benny), begrudgingly accepts (albeit with an air of exasperation). Connie longs to get out of the city and away from apartment living, so without telling Bill—a dedicated New Yorker if there ever was one—she purchases a dilapidated old farmhouse in the…
It is 1884 in Yonkers, NY and Horace Vandergelder (Paul Ford), owner of a large general store and the wealthiest man in town, has hired Dolly Gallagher Levi (Shirley Booth), a widow who makes her living through various pursuits–but primarily as a matchmaker–to find him a suitable second wife. Dolly wants to marry Horace, but…
When I was ten years old, my parents gave me a long-awaited Christmas gift: a small television for my bedroom. A TV of my very own? I was thrilled. I could finally watch what I wanted without having to fight with my younger brothers for control of the remote. For a budding pop-culture junkie, there…
On February 7, 1914, one of the most iconic characters in the history of film made his first appearance onscreen: an odd, unnamed figure who was initially introduced to the world in the Mack Sennett-produced Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice. The creator of the “Tramp” persona, Charlie Chaplin, was as green a film performer…
Roughly a decade before the Civil War, Reverend Ethan Wilkins (Walter Huston) accepts a position ministering to an isolated, poverty-stricken town in Ohio called Pine Hill. Though the townspeople had promised to pay Ethan an annual salary of $400, he is informed upon his arrival that they cannot afford to pay him that much, and…
85 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards Robert Osborne Release Date: October 29, 2013 Abbeville Press Hardcover, 472 pages Turner Classic Movies’ annual tribute to Academy Award-winning film gets underway tomorrow with this year’s celebration of “31 Days of Oscar.” The network is kicking things off with quite a bang,…
