Throughout the next four weeks I’ll be reviewing various musicals in support of TCM’s newest interactive online course, Mad About Musicals. Any classic film lover will tell you mitigation is … Continue Reading Mad About Musicals: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
There’s a disconnect to the 1950s best exemplified through media. One the one hand you have the Donna Reed world of mom, dad, and apple pie. And on the other … Continue Reading Gun Crazy (1950)
Guest Lauren Humphries-Brooks is back to finish out May’s Centennial Celebrant John Dall by discussing his turn as one half of a murderous couple (again) in Gun Crazy.
Gene Kelly is responsible for crafting two of the most enduring musicals of the 1950s, 1951’s An American in Paris and 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain. But by 1957 Kelly … Continue Reading Les Girls (1957)
Fritz Lang is a director whose work, even at its silliest, can entertain, and that’s how one must approach Beyond a Reasonable Doubt – now available in a beautiful Blu-ray … Continue Reading Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)
Lauren Humphries-Brooks joins me once again as we honor February’s Centennial Celebrant, Ida Lupino. This episode we look at Lupino as director with her 1950 drama Outrage.
My Leonard Bernstein tribute comes to a close as Kaci Kielmar and I discuss Bernstein’s only original film composition, 1954’s On the Waterfront.
The year before we found out “Gidget is the one for me,” Sandra Dee was playing in this rom-com with quite the polished pedigree. Vincente Minnelli’s The Reluctant Debutante may … Continue Reading The Reluctant Debutante (1958)
Esther Williams always knew her career wasn’t permanent. So when the quality of her films hit a certain level she walked away, and it’s all Jupiter’s Darling’s fault. The film … Continue Reading Jupiter’s Darling (1955)
Originally published December 8th, 2014 I was wary of watching any versions of A Christmas Carol this year after I did an entire month of various adaptations for my old … Continue Reading 25 Days of Christmas: A Christmas Carol (1951)
How appropriate that our 31st episode comes out on Halloween night. In the last of four special Halloween episodes I talk to writer Kimberly Pierce about William Castle’s House on Haunted Hill (1959).
A camera points to the ground, gliding along to show the chaos of a recent event, the ground littered in detritus. Has the house been looted? Is this the scene … Continue Reading Father of the Bride (1950)
Flicker Alley debuts two brand-new restorations this week with the DVD/Blu-ray combo release of Too Late for Tears (1949) and Woman on the Run (1950). Public domain victims whose copies … Continue Reading Woman on the Run (1950)
The 1950s is easily the decade where the Western thrived. Captured in expansive CinemaScope, the Wild West never looked wilder. But with so many cowpokes roaming the range it was … Continue Reading Johnny Guitar (1954)
Oft-considered one of the greatest film noirs ever made, John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle is a story about the perils of city life…with the added bonus of a jewel heist. John … Continue Reading The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Despite the ingrained conventions of film noir some films can leave you surprised. So it is with director Phil Karlson’s Kansas City Confidential. What starts as a typical heist film … Continue Reading Kansas City Confidential (1952)
