Continuing our weekly trip down Disney memory lane, today’s Saturday Morning Cartoons entry will focus on the studio’s two trips south of the border: 1942’s Saludos Amigos and 1944’s The Three Caballeros. These two films were elicited by the United States government during World War II to support President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ongoing Good Neighbor…
It’s been a while since my last Feminist Fridays post, so I thought today I’d take a crack at one of my favorite minor Bette Davis dramas—1943’s Old Acquaintance, costarring Miriam Hopkins, Gig Young, John Loder, and Dolores Moran. Davis plays Kit Marlowe, a celebrated author who returns to her hometown to give a lecture.…
If there is one movie that I really wish TCM would play sometime in the near future, it’s The Farmer’s Daughter, an absolutely delightful comedy starring Loretta Young, Joseph Cotten, and Ethel Barrymore. The movie’s never been released on DVD as far as I can tell (drats!), and I’m seriously jonesing for a fresh viewing.…
To kick off our Maudlin Mondays series, which looks at some of the biggest, most manipulative tearjerkers ever to grace a screen, I want to begin with a look at a relatively recent film–one that many down here in the South (well, many women, anyway) consider a modern classic–1989’s Steel Magnolias. Let me insert a…
I cannot tell you how much I adore this week’s Saturday Morning Cartoon. This is one video that I practically wore out as a kid from repeated viewings. I can quote this movie verbatim while watching. It has one of my favorite animal characters of all time: Thumper, the adorable, smart-assed rabbit. As a child,…
I recently received a copy of Saul Austerlitz’s Another Fine Mess: A History of American Film Comedy, which was released last month. It is, in a word, engrossing. But a pithy, single-word review won’t do, will it? Nor is that single word sufficient, really, to explain to you how wonderful this compendium of film comedy…
One of my guilty-pleasure shows is Glee. It’s not the best show on television (not by a long shot), but it’s an enjoyable distraction nonetheless. I like the musical numbers and the interaction between the too-adorable-for-reality cast members, particularly Chris Colfer’s deliciously snarky Kurt Hummel. But after watching last night’s episode, I’m a little ashamed…
We love comedy here at True Classics–the silent shenanigans of Chaplin and Keaton; the romantic sparring of Hepburn and Tracy; the subtle zingers of a good Wilder or Lubitsch script; even the absurdist spoofs of Mel Brooks and Monty Python–in their own unique, hilarious ways, we love them all. But perhaps most of all, we…
