A Date And A Movie Which Live In Infamy

The attack on Pearl Harbor happened eighty years ago today. Eighty years ago, America discarded its temporary neutrality and entered the war in a dramatic fashion, although we weren't exactly prepared. And yet few movies have been made about the actual event, beyond Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) and Michael Bay's awkwardly inaccurate 2001 boom-fest. Most of …

Five Reasons To See “The Day the Earth Stood Still”

Hello, Mr. Herrmann... OK, I know I just did one of these "Reasons" posts, but 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still is another classic movie that deserves to be discovered or re-discovered. The film starts out pretty basic, with a flying saucer, a Cylon-ish robot named Gort, and a spaceman in a silver suit saying he …

Hammer Tries Singing the Blues

Hammer, meet Amicus. Amicus, meet Hammer... Hammer and Amicus films might seem like they're mostly pulpy horror movies, but they managed to work in quite a variety of subjects. Naturally, there has to be blood somewhere, and in the case of 1954's The Black Glove, the blood belongs to a doomed blues singer named Maxine. American …

Five Reasons To See “Them!”

I don't know about anyone else, but 1950s sci-fi and horror have really grown on me lately, especially sci-fi, and 1954's Them! is pretty infamous. It feels quick, it's just creepy enough, and it's fun. For those who aren't familiar with the plot, it's simply this: Giant ants are attacking mankind, and it's all the fault of …

A Matter of Hormone Activity

Mr. Lawford's back... It's always nice to unearth a treasure or two in the movie blogging business, and it can be fun to find some turkeys, too. Then there are those movies that straddle both sides, like 1952's You For Me. A straight-ahead rom com, it's nothing if not ambitious. The tone of this movie is set …

Too Many Mikes

Van's back, y'all... Who else thinks air travel is fascinating? I do. I like learning about the history of commercial travel because it's interesting to see how things have changed or not changed over the years. Add in a fun romantic story, though, and it's even better. 1951's Three Guys Named Mike is that kind of movie. …

That’s Entertainment

One of the distinctive things about the Freed Unit at MGM was that they didn't just mine Broadway for film material; Arthur Freed brought Broadway talent to Hollywood. One of these was Tony-winning actor, dancer, and choreographer Michael Kidd. Born Milton Greenwald to Russian Jewish refugees on August 12, 1915, Brooklynite Kidd briefly studied engineering …

A Woman’s Touch

Ms. Day is back... Doris Day was, of course, typically cast as a plucky, elegant songstress or would-be songstress, but few roles she played were as unique as 1953's Calamity Jane, a musical very loosely based on the life of the famous Wild West figure. Well, unique to Doris Day, anyway. The movie opens with Calamity …

Five Reasons To See “White Christmas”

Few holiday movies are as iconic as 1954's White Christmas. Even those who haven't seen it all the way through have probably glimpsed it while channel-surfing. It's always somewhere. The film came about because Paramount felt it was time for another Berlin tour-de-force, and the prestigious songwriter was happy to comply. Conveniently enough, he was able …

Home Sweet Haunt

Mwahahaha... Even the dark house subgenre has its cliches. The jumpscare. The dark and stormy night. The literal skeletons (and maybe various body parts) falling out of closets. Lots of screaming. Oh, and let's not forget the Spend-the-Night-In-the-House-And-Win-Something trope. 1958's House On Haunted Hill ticks all these boxes, adding in a bit of camp and the …

Everybody’s Habitual

Hello, Miss Parker... Eleanor Parker certainly got around in terms of the roles she played, and in my opinion one of the more unusual ones was that of Zosh in the 1955 film, The Man With the Golden Arm. Oh golly, it's a doozy. It's a little bit beatnik. It's a little bit Requiem For A Dream. In the …

Into the Habit

One thing that's not often talked about when it comes to Audrey Hepburn's career is how varied her filmography really wasn't--she mostly played romantic leads or maybe women who were unconventional. There's nothing wrong with that, but as they say, variety is the spice of life, and like many actors, Hepburn enjoyed playing against type …

Seven Reasons To See “Singin’ In the Rain”

I have seen 1952's Singin' In the Rain more times than I can count. I grew up on this movie. However, as blogging would have it, I never thought I would review it because everyone and their brother reviews it. Yet here I am. It's been a lonnnnng time since I've watched the film, and I …

Proud Olivia

Ms. de Havilland is back... In the nineteen-fifties, Olivia de Havilland was married and living in Paris with her husband and two children, but she still made films now and then. In 1958 she starred in The Proud Rebel opposite Alan Ladd. A somewhat gentle story for a western, the film follows a Confederate veteran as …

Stage To Screen: Gigi

The 1958 film, Gigi, is commonly thought to herald the end of the Golden Age of Musicals. Before that, however, it was a Broadway hit. Before that, it was a French film. And even before that, it was a novella by Colette. The story of wandering eyes and changing impressions is as light and airy …

Page to Screen: The Diary of Anne Frank

If she had lived, Anne Frank would be ninety-one this year. Her diary, technically known in English as Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl, was first published in the Netherlands in 1947. The diary has been translated into sixty-five languages, sold over thirty-five million copies and is one of the most widely-read books outside …

The Terrible Miss Dove

Today is my son's last day of seventh grade. One more year and he'll be in high school. He's over the moon about it (and about summer vacation, of course), but I'm not ready for this. My kid is growing up too fast. Wow. Wow. Wow. In that spirit, I thought it would be cool …