This post is part of the Vive la France! Blogathon, hosted by Lady Eve’s Reel Life and Silver Screen Modes. See the other posts here. Jacques Demy’s Les Demoiselles de Rochefort or The Young Girls of Rochefort is the essence of euphoria. A carnival of colour and sound, it looks at the world through a […]
Fancy Free: ‘Top Hat’ (1935)
This post is part of the TCM Summer Under the Stars Blogathon, hosted by Journeys in Classic Film and Musings of a Classic Film Addict. See the other posts here. Top Hat opens on two pairs of dancing feet. The man wears a tailcoat; the woman an evening gown. As they twirl across the screen, […]
Far Out: ‘The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension’ (1984)
This post is part of the Jeff Goldblum Blogathon, hosted by Realweemidget Reviews and Emma K Wall Explains It All. See the other posts here. Faced with an indecipherable plot, I am occasionally tempted to cry, “It’s not rocket science!” In The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, it really is—and brain surgery […]
Crooked House: ‘Gaslight’ (1940)
This post is part of the 6th Annual Rule Britannia Blogathon, hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts. See the other posts here. In Gaslight, objects have a peculiar habit of going missing. A picture, a pocket-watch, a brooch—all seem to disappear into the bowels of the house and reappear where they ought not to be. […]
Rocket Men: ‘From the Earth to the Moon’ (1958) and ‘First Men in the Moon’ (1964)
Fifty years ago today, humanity first set foot on the moon. TCM has been celebrating with a month-long sci-fi festival, beginning with George Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon: one of the first science-fiction films ever made and over a century later, still one of the best. Alongside the robots, metropolises and things from another […]
No People Like Show People: ‘The Muppets Take Manhattan’ (1984)
Part of my ‘New York State of Mind’ series. Since he first appeared on screen in 1955, Kermit the Frog has had a prolific career. Discovered playing banjo in the swamp, Kermit (created and voiced by Jim Henson) has been a reporter on Sesame Street, the long-suffering MC and stage manager of the Muppet Theatre, the […]
Cat’s-paw: ‘My Cousin Rachel’ (1952)
This post is part of The Calls of Cornwall: The Daphne du Maurier blogathon, hosted by Pale Writer. See the other posts here. Poor Philip Ashley. He falls in love, suddenly and irrevocably, with a woman beyond compare. He makes no secret of his devotion, defends his lady’s honour, worships her beauty and grace, and […]
Boiling Point: Thoughts on ‘Do the Right Thing’ (1989)
Back after a brief hiatus: my ‘New York State of Mind’ series. When it was released in July 1989, Do the Right Thing was a grenade thrown from the front line: the system isn’t working; America is a pressure cooker, not a melting pot. Spike Lee’s film, about two days in the life of a […]
Love and Larceny: ‘Jewel Robbery’ (1932)
Jewel Robbery is like a lattice of spun sugar: intricate, elegant, beautiful to look at and delicious when devoured. It’s morning in Vienna and a high-end jeweller’s is opening its doors. The grill goes up, the safe opens and reverent hands extract dozens of necklaces and bracelets, the camera closing in to caress each glistening […]
Unmade Movies: ‘The Blind Man’ and ‘The Unquenchable Thirst of Dracula’
There are films I long to see and know I never will: Michael Powell’s Prospero; Orson Welles’ Heart of Darkness; Martin Scorsese’s Gershwin; Max Opühl’s The Duchess of Langeais. Film history is haunted by the spectres of unmade movies, films which for whatever reason—cast reshuffles, vagaries of financing—never saw the light of a projection booth. […]
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