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CLAUDETTE COLBERT

Claudette Colbert

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Claudette Colbert Claudette Colbert was born Lily Claudette Chauchoin in Paris France in 1903; her family moved to the United States when she was three. Her first onscreen appearance was a starring role in her only silent film director Frank Capra’s (now lost) flop For the Love of Mike (1927) her last was a return to the big screen as Troy Donahue’s mother in Parrish (1961). Though she could be seen throughout the latter half of the [...]
Foreign Affair A (1948)

Foreign Affair A (1948)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Foreign Affair A (1948) Directed by Billy Wilder with a screenplay he co-wrote with Charles Brackett and Richard Breen (adapted by Robert Harari) that was based on David Shaw’s story this essential comedy drama romance stars Jean Arthur Marlene Dietrich and John Lund. The clever screenplay writing was nominated for an Oscar as was the film’s B&W Cinematography. Arthur plays Congresswoman Phoebe Frost who along with others (played [...]
Stalag 17 (1953)

Stalag 17 (1953)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Stalag 17 (1953) A film produced and directed by Billy Wilder who also co-wrote the screenplay with Edwin Blum that was based on the play by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski; it’s an essential war drama that earned William Holden (Sunset Blvd. (1950) also co-written and directed by Wilder) his Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role on his second of three such Oscar nominations. Director Wilder was also nominated as was Supporting [...]
TROUBLE IN PARADISE (1932)

Trouble in Paradise (1932)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Trouble in Paradise (1932) Produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch (The Love Parade (1929)) with an adaptation by Grover Jones (Lady and Gent (1932)) and a screenplay by Samson Raphaelson that were based on a play by Aladar Laszlo this essential romantic comedy was added to the National Film Registry in 1991. It stars Miriam Hopkins and Herbert Marshall as thieves who are ‘two peas in a pod’ and romantic soul mates who meet while trying to [...]
INHERIT THE WIND (1960)

Inherit the Wind (1960)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Inherit the Wind (1960) Produced and directed by Stanley Kramer (The Defiant Ones (1958)) this essential courtroom drama was based on the real events of (what’s come to be known as) the Scopes Monkey trial: John Scopes was a high school teacher in Tennessee that was arrested for teaching evolution in the classroom celebrated lawyer Clarence Darrow (and the ACLU) came to his defense whereas William Jennings Bryan a former Democratic [...]
TOPPER (1937)

Topper (1937)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Topper (1937) Directed by Norman McLeod with a screenplay co-written by Eric Hatch (My Man Godfrey (1936)) this essential screwball comedy features Roland Young in the title role; the role which would earn him his only Academy Award nomination (Supporting Actor). The film’s Sound Recording was also nominated. But the stars of this fantasy are Constance Bennett and Cary Grant; they play an irresponsible carefree younger couple named Marion [...]
Ox-Bow Incident The (1943)

Ox-Bow Incident The (1943)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Ox-Bow Incident The (1943) Directed by William Wellman (A Star is Born (1937)) and starring Henry Fonda this Oscar nominated Best Picture was added to the National Film Registry in 1998. It was written and produced by Lamar Trotti (Wilson (1944)). The film is over before you know it clocking just more than 75 minutes in length. One of many classic lynch mob films this one (perhaps the best ever) begins with Fonda and Harry Morgan two drifters [...]
Mildred Pierce (1945)

Mildred Pierce (1945)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Mildred Pierce (1945) Joan Crawford plays the title role a mother who will do anything for her selfish daughter Veda played by Ann Blyth. Mildred even goes into business becoming a successful restaurant owner but Veda is still ungrateful even as her mother has provided her opportunities in society. Jack Carson plays Wally Fay a man Mildred manipulates; Zachary Scott is Monte Beragon another who gets involved in a tragic love triangle of sorts [...]
Pygmalion (1938)

Pygmalion (1938)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Pygmalion (1938) Directed by Anthony Asquith and lead actor Leslie Howard this original screen version of the George Bernard Shaw play that was later made into the better known musical and Academy Award winning Best Picture My Fair Lady (1964) (with Rex Harrison & Audrey Hepburn) features Howard (Berkeley Square (1933)) in the role of the tremendously self confident linguist Professor Henry Higgins and Wendy Hiller in the role of the cockney [...]
SABRINA (1954)

Sabrina (1954)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Sabrina (1954) Directed and co-written (with Samuel Taylor & Ernest Lehman) by Billy Wilder this essential romantic comedy stars Humphrey Bogart William Holden and Audrey Hepburn in the title role. It’s a love triangle featuring the three leads which was later remade with Harrison Ford Greg Kinnear and Julia Ormond. This film which won an Oscar for Edith Head’s B&W Costume Design received five other Oscar nominations [...]
RAISIN IN THE SUN A (1961)

Raisin in the Sun A (1961)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Raisin in the Sun A (1961) Lorraine Hansberry’s Broadway play received a Tony nomination as did lead actress Claudia McNeil. Hansberry wrote the screenplay for this Daniel Petrie directed movie version that stars Sidney Poitier opposite McNeil Ruby Dee and more. It’s an essential drama that also features Louis Gossett’s film debut; Roy Glenn is among those who also appear. The film was added to the National Film Registry in [...]
PUBLIC ENEMY THE (1931)

Public Enemy The (1931)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Public Enemy The (1931) A star making vehicle for lead actor James Cagney whose tough guy "gangster" character Tom Powers pushes a grapefruit into the face of his moll Kitty’s (Mae Clarke uncredited) face. This essential crime drama features plenty of action including a dramatic ending. The original story by John Bright & Kubec Glasmon earned them their only Academy recognition when it was nominated for an Oscar. The film was [...]
SOUTHERNER THE (1945) – FULL REVIEW!

Southerner The (1945) – full review!

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Southerner The (1945) – full review! A slice of the farming life and the hardships that lie therein from director Jean Renoir who earned his only Academy Award nomination for his effort; he also wrote the screenplay from a Hugo Butler (Edison The Man (1940)) adaptation of George Sessions Perry’s novel Hold Autumn in Your Hand. This slightly above average drama also received Oscar nominations for Werner Janssen’s Score and Jack [...]
JULY 2005 – AUDREY HEPBURN

July 2005 – Audrey Hepburn

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

July 2005 – Audrey Hepburn Friday July 1 – Cars in the Movies (The Dawn of the Automobile Age) 6:00 AM It’s Love I’m After (1937) 8:00 AM The Charge Of The Light Brigade (1936) – Directed by Michael Curtiz this film features a Michael Jacoby (who co-wrote the screenplay) original story that was based on Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem. It stars Errol Flynn Olivia de Havilland David Niven Patric Knowles Henry [...]
GRADUATE THE (1967)

Graduate The (1967)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Graduate The (1967) A classic? Yes. An essential? Not in my book. I contend that it’s the film’s soundtrack & timing which has made others consider it one. Still it’s a comedy romance drama that’s received wide acclaim and features a terrific Best Actress Oscar nominated performance by Anne Bancroft. Fellow co-stars Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross were also nominated and director Mike Nichols won. The film its [...]
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Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Angels With Dirty Faces (1938) Directed by Michael Curtiz with a story by Rowland Brown (The Doorway to Hell (1930)) this essential crime drama features not only one of several James Cagney-Humphrey Bogart pairings but also one of several James Cagney-Pat O’Brien pairings as well. Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur are said to have been uncredited contributors to the John Wexley-Warren Duff script. Cagney received his first Best Actor Academy [...]
BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945)

Brief Encounter (1945)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Director David Lean earned the first Academy recognition for his career when he received a Best Director Oscar nomination and a Screenplay Writing nomination he shared with Anthony Havelock-Allan & Ronald Neame for this essential romance drama starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. Johnson received her only Oscar recognition a Best Actress nomination for her role as a British housewife in an unexciting marriage such that a “brief [...]
Dirty Harry (1971)

Dirty Harry (1971)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Dirty Harry (1971) Clint Eastwood’s (police) Inspector Harry Callahan was voted the American Film Institute’s #17 Hero and for good reason: tired of his department’s bureaucracy in dealing with violent criminals he becomes a vigilante of sorts with a (Smith & Wesson) .357 magnum revolver. His boss Police Lieutenant Bressler (played by Harry Guardino) while not happy is more tolerant of Callahan’s methods than his chief (John Larch) [...]
Dinner at Eight (1933)

Dinner at Eight (1933)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Dinner at Eight (1933) All the early 1930’s Hollywood stars are in this one which received NO awards of any type but is a very enjoyable couple of hours (an essential comedy drama)! Marie Dressler and Jean Harlow have perhaps the most memorable scene discussing a book and Harlow’s "profession". Oblivious to most everything else Billie Burke is planning the titled meal in order to improve her social standing. But her husband [...]
Manchurian Candidate The (1962)

Manchurian Candidate The (1962)

August 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Manchurian Candidate The (1962) Directed and co-produced by John Frankenheimer with a screenplay by George Axelrod (Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)) that was based on the novel by Richard Condon this essential political thriller stars Frank Sinatra Laurence Harvey Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury (among others). Notable for Lansbury’s evil mother portrayal (AFI’s #12 villain) the film was voted the #67 Greatest Movie of All Time by the [...]
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