Released: 1939 Dir.: Jules White The Christmas of 1987 was a special Christmas for me. For it was the year I gave my dad the ultimate Christmas gift. The gift of the The Three Stooges, on VHS. This release featured three of the Stooges short comedies, Playing the Ponies, An Ache in Every Stake, and Three Sappy People. All of them are gems, with the Stooges in their prime. Every Christmas dinner was at my Aunt Virginia and Uncle Ted’s…
Released: 1931 Dir.: Josef von Sternberg Vienna. On a rainy night in 1915, a prostitute committed suicide and her body is being removed from her apartment. With neighbors looking on, Marie Kolerer (Marlene Dietrich), a fellow lady of the evening, replies to a snarky remark about her facing the same fate. Marie replies, ‘No I am not. I am not afraid of life. Although I am not afraid of death, either.’ Marie’s remark is overheard by the Chief of the…
Released: 1942 Dir.: Curtis Bernhardt I have a weakness for classic Warner Brothers films. There is nothing overly extraordinary about Juke Girl, it was just another picture on the production rooster, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good film for your viewing pleasure. For an average run of the mill film, you still get caught up in its story, with a climax that can make your blood boil if you allow it to. By 1942, it’s the kind of…
Released: 1960 Dir.: Ronald Neame Acting Col. Jock Sinclair (Alec Guinness) is in command of a Scottish Highland Regiment in the peacetime years following the Second World War. He took command when the regiments Colonel was killed during the Battle of El Alamein in North Africa and saw the battalion through to the wars end and beyond. Jock is a hard drinking career man who worked his way up the ranks the hard way, beginning as a regimental piper. If…
Released: 1950 Dir.: Jules Dassin First time viewing reaction. When you mix Hollywood Noir with British Noir, add Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, and a healthy dose of Herbert Lom, you get Night and the City. A gripping non-stop story of ambition exceeding one’s grasp. Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) is a hustler on the loose in London. He works hard and talks fast for what amounts to peanuts, but there is big money to be had in London and that comes…
Released: 1955 Dir.: Phil Karlson Once upon a time there was a town called Phenix City, located on the Alabama side of the Chattahoochee River, and for a very long time Phenix City was ruled by vice and corruption. Politicians, the police force, lawyers, judges, juries all bought and paid for by the Syndicate. Anyone who apposed the rulers of Phenix City ended up in the river, with a couple of extra holes, cause of death: accidental drowning. It had…
Released: 1945 Dir.: Anthony Asquith We’ve all seen films and documentaries showing B-17 and Lancaster bombers peppered by AA fire, attacked by FW-190 fighters, and crippled aircraft limping back home to make a miraculous landing, or tragically falling short. The Way to the Stars is the flipside of those films, about life, love and loss, told poetically and with heart. In 1940 RAF Station Halfpenny Field, home of No. 720 Squadron, flying Bristol Blenheim bombers, is a constant target of…
Released: 1947 Dir.: Anthony Mann While working in home video distribution for 8 years, then another 15 years working at a video store, one thing remained constant; what almost everybody wanted was the newest releases. Anything older than three weeks was completely unacceptable, no matter how good the film was, it was old news. End of story. So, the very thought of something in black and white, from a bygone era, was unthinkable. It’s old, artificial, corny and…boring. Oh, they…
Released: 1953 Dir.: Maxwell Shane The Glass Wall is a hard-to-find film. I have it in my collection as part of Columbia Pictures Bad Girls of Film Noir Collection Vol. 1, which unfortunately is now also hard to come by, at least in Canada anyway. I found a couple of uploads to YouTube, but the quality was sketchy, and I hesitate to recommend streaming services I don’t recognize. However, The Glass Wall is well worth keeping your eyes peeled for,…
Released: 1970 Dir. George Seaton It was always exciting when the new copy of TV Guide arrived in the mail. The November 10-16, 1973 edition was no exception, however, this particular volume featured an article that would have an enormous impact on me. The headline heralded ‘A Very Special Week’, loaded with specials, premieres, and big movies. Images of Bob Hope, Julie Andrews, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis jr., William Holden, The Waltons, and the King himself, Elvis Presley splashed across…
