Category Archives: Classic Film

Rarely Seen Jack Benny Film Makes DVD Debut

Posted on May 20, 2013 by willmckinley

The title character in Sidney Lanfield’s comedy THE MEANEST MAN IN THE WORLD (1943) is not particularly mean, nor is he particularly funny. But he is portrayed by the otherwise hilarious Jack Benny, with support from radio sidekick Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, Fox Cinema Archives | Tagged BUCK BENNY RIDES AGAIN, CHARLEY’S AUNT, Dennis Day, Don Wilson, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Jack Benny, Phil Harris, Priscilla Lane, THE MEANEST MAN IN THE WORLD | 4 Comments

Screening Report: THE KID (1921) at Film Forum + Chaplin Look-Alike Contest

Posted on May 5, 2013 by willmckinley

It was just after noon on a spring Sunday, and I was chatting with a fellow cineaste outside Film Forum, the Downtown Manhattan movie mecca. “KID AUTO RACES? That’s Chaplin’s first short,” I said. “Well, it’s the first one where … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, Film Forum, Screening Report | Tagged Alfalfa, Bruce Goldstein, Buckwheat, Charlie Chaplin, Darla, EASTER PARADE, Film Forum, Film Forum Jr, Hal Roach, IRON MAN 3, Jackie Coogan, Jane Scovall, John Martello, KID AUTO RACES, Kiera Chaplin, KING KONG, MAKING A LIVING, Melvin van Peebles, New York City, Oona Living in the Shadows: a Biography of Oona O’Neill Chaplin, PAY AS YOU EXIT, Porky, Romyo and Jullet, Shane Fleming, Spanky, Steve Sterner, SWEET SWEETBACK’S BAADASSSSS SONG, THE DONOVAN AFFAIR, THE KID, Uncle Fester, WPIX Channel 11 | 11 Comments

Screening Report: The 1933 Pre-Code Festival

Posted on May 1, 2013 by willmckinley

On a recent Friday night, I struggled to find an empty seat at Film Forum, the Downtown Manhattan movie mecca where I spend most of my free time and discretionary dollars. Sold out shows are not uncommon at the cinema, … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, Film Forum, Pre-Code Film, Screening Report | Tagged 1933, BABY FACE, Barbara Stanwyck, Betty Boop, Busby Berkeley, Casey LaLonde, Charles McCabe, Columbia, CONVENTION CITY, DANCING LADY, Film Forum, Film Forum Junior, First National, Fleischer Studios, Greg Ford, Hal Wallis, Jack Warner, Joan Crawford, John Gallagher, KING KONG, MGM, Motion Picture Production Code, Paramount Pictures, Pre-Code Film, RKO, THE DONOVAN AFFAIR, The Little Rascals, THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE, Twentieth Century, United Artists, Warner Bros, WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD, William Wellman | 9 Comments

Henry Koster’s FRAULEIN (1958)

Posted on April 12, 2013 by willmckinley

Watching the DVD of Henry Koster’s FRAULEIN (1958) from 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives was one of my most frustrating classic film viewing experiences in recent memory. You can read all about it in my review at Cinema Sentries. In the meantime, … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, Fox Cinema Archives | Tagged 20th Century Fox, CinemaScope, Dana Wynter, Dolores Michaels, Fox Cinema Archives, FRAULEIN, Henry Koster, James Edwards, Maggie Hayes, Mel Ferrer, Theodore Bikel | 2 Comments

UPDATE #4: My Obsessive-Compulsive Guide to the TCM Classic Film Festival

Posted on April 8, 2013 by willmckinley

(UPDATES are in italics.) This is something I look forward to – and dread – all year long. Now that the schedule for the upcoming TCM Classic Film Festival has finally been released, the impossible choices must begin. And, with … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, TCM, TCM Classic Film Festival | Tagged A FOREIGN AFFAIR, A ROOM WITH A VIEW, AIRPLANE!, Alloy Orchestra, BADLANDS, Ben mankiewicz, BEN-HUR, Bill Hader, BONNIE AND CLYDE, Bruce Goldstein, Bugs Bunny, CAPE FEAR, CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS, Cari Beauchamp, Carl Davis, Chad McQueen, Chinese Multiplex, Cinerama Dome, CINERAMA HOLIDAY, CLUNY BROWN, Colleen Gray, COME SEPTEMBER, Conversation with Max Von Sydow, Conversation with Tippi Hedren, DELIVERANCE, DIAL M FOR MURDER, Disney’s El Capitan Theater, DON’T SAY NO UNTIL I FINISH TALKING, ED WOOD, Egyptian Theater, Eva Marie Saint: Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival, FLYING DOWN TO RIO, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, FUNNY GIRL, GIANT, GILDA, GIMME SHELTER, GUYS AND DOLLS, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood’s Silent Echoes, HONDO, I AM SUZANNE, I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING, ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, IT, IT ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD, IT’S SPRING, Jane Fonda, John Bengtson, Katie Trainor, Kevin Brownlow, KISMET, LA TRAVERSEE DE PARIS, LADY AND THE TRAMP, LE MANS, LE MANS: Behind the Scenes, LIBELED LADY, MILDRED PIERCE, Musso and Frank, MY FAIR LADY, NINOTCHKA, NOTORIOUS, ON GOLDEN POND, ON THE TOWN, ON THE WATERFRONT, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, RIVER OF NO RETURN, ROAD TO UTOPIA, RUGGLES OF RED GAP, Safe in Hell, SALESMAN, SCARECROW, Scott McGee, SHANE, So You Think You Know The Movies, SOUTH PACIFIC, SUDDENLY, SUMMERTIME, Taking the Fall Panel, TARZAN FINDS A SON, TCL Chinese Theatre, TCM, TCM Classic Film Festival, TCMFF, THE AFRICAN QUEEN, THE BIG PARADE, THE BIRDS, THE DESERT SONG, THE DONOVAN AFFAIR, The General, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE KILLING, THE LADY EVE, THE LADY VANISHES, THE LADYKILLERS, THE NARROW MARGIN, THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, THE RAZOR'S EDGE, THE SEVENTH SEAL, THE SWIMMER, THE TALL TARGET, THE TRAIN, THE TWELVE CHAIRS, THEY LIVE BY NIGHT, THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, TO SIR, TRY AND GET ME, Turner Classic Movies, VOYAGE TO ITALY, WITH LOVE, Women of Early Hollywood, YANKEE DOODLE DANDY | 44 Comments

The Good, the Bad, and the Old Movie Weirdos

Posted on March 14, 2013 by willmckinley

“You’re an Old Movie Weirdo,” my girlfriend said to me. “I know you don’t think you are, but you are.” Before we go any further, you need to know something about Maggie: she’s honest to a fault, particularly when it … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, Film Forum, IFC Center, Screening Report | Tagged Classic film, Film Forum, Old Movie Weirdos, Repertory house, Revival House | 37 Comments

GOD’S GIFT TO WOMEN (1931) from Warner Archive: One Kiss and You Die!

Posted on January 2, 2013 by willmckinley

The year is 1931. Three undressed women catfight over the lover they share – wrestling in his bed, tearing at each other’s skimpy negligees. One of them is Louise Brooks, pansexual star of some of the sultriest silent films ever … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, Pre-Code Film, Warner Archive Collection | Tagged "Raymond Griffith", 1931, A STAR IS BORN, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Barbara Stanwyck, Billy House, Charles Winniger, DIARY OF A LOST GIRL, Eleanor Gutchrlein, Frank Fay, Frederick Hazlitt Brennan, G.W. Pabst, GOD'S GIFT TO WOMEN, Hays Code, Joan Blondell, Joseph Jackson, Karla Gutchrlein, Laura La Plante, Louise Brooks, Margaret Livingston, Michael Curtiz, Motion Picture Production Code, Norman Maine, PANDORA’S BOX, Pre-Code Film, Safe in Hell, Sisters G, The Code, The Devil Was Sick, Warner Archive Collection, Warner Bros, Yola d’Avril | 5 Comments

Here’s to a Classic 2013!

Image | Posted on December 31, 2012 by willmckinley | Tagged Cary Grant, Sylvia Sidney, THIRTY DAY PRINCESS | 4 Comments

How I Almost Ruined IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Posted on December 23, 2012 by willmckinley

There I was at the IFC Center in New York, about to see a 35mm print of Frank Capra’s IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE in a theater filled with excited fans. Even better, Donna Reed’s daughter was on hand to introduce … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, IFC Center, Screening Report | Tagged Buster Keaton, Clarence Oddbody, Donna Reed, Frank Capra, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, George Bailey, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, Jimmy Stewart, Mary Hatch, Mary Owen, MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, The Donna Reed Show, Why We Fight, YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU | 22 Comments

She Works Hard For the Money: The Columbia Pictures Pre-Code Collection on DVD from TCM

Posted on December 10, 2012 by willmckinley

Sex sells, the old saying goes. It also employs, or at least it did in movies made before enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code began in 1934. In the The Columbia Pictures Pre-Code Collection, a five-film DVD set from … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, Pre-Code Film, TCM | Tagged ARIZONA, Barbara Stanwyck, Carole Lombard, Columbia Pictures, Columbia Pictures Pre-Code Collection, Forbidden Hollywood, Great Depresson, Hays Office, Jean Harlow, Jo Swerling, John Wayne, Joseph Breen, Laura La Plante, Lionel Barrymore, Mae Clarke, Marie Prevost, Mayo Methot, Motion Picture Production Code, Pat O’Brien, Pre-Code Film, Regis Toomey, Robert Riskin, SHOPWORN, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, TEN CENTS A DANCE, THREE WISE GIRLS, VIRTUE, Will Hays | 19 Comments

Category Archives: Classic Film

Rarely Seen Jack Benny Film Makes DVD Debut

Screening Report: THE KID (1921) at Film Forum + Chaplin Look-Alike Contest

Screening Report: The 1933 Pre-Code Festival

Henry Koster’s FRAULEIN (1958)

UPDATE #4: My Obsessive-Compulsive Guide to the TCM Classic Film Festival

The Good, the Bad, and the Old Movie Weirdos

GOD’S GIFT TO WOMEN (1931) from Warner Archive: One Kiss and You Die!

Here’s to a Classic 2013!

How I Almost Ruined IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

She Works Hard For the Money: The Columbia Pictures Pre-Code Collection on DVD from TCM

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