In The Way of the Dragon, Bruce Lee fights in an alley behind a restaurant, in the restaurant itself, on a rooftop, in a park and at a World Heritage Site. The film exists so that we might have the pleasure of watching its hero dispatch thugs in increasingly imaginative ways. When the hero is […]
La Belle Dame sans Merci: ‘Baby Face’ (1933)
Baby Face has earned a reputation as one of the films that led to the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code—and it’s easy to see what gave censors the vapours. Not only does Alfred E. Green’s film dare to speak plainly about female exploitation, it depicts a woman ruthlessly exploiting men and celebrates her. (The story […]
My Favourite Discoveries of 2018
As 2018 ticks to a close, time for one more list. These are my favourite discoveries of the year—films that aren’t new, but were new to me. Bells Are Ringing (1960) A musical featuring the combined talents of Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Vincente Minnelli, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. This film is so easy to […]
David Niven Makes a Scene
Merry Christmas! Preparations have been well under way in the Retro Movie Buff household for several days. In between movie marathons and mince pies, I’ve been dipping into David Niven’s autobiography, The Moon’s a Balloon—a book practically brimming with good cheer. The star of Around the World in 80 Days, A Matter of Life and […]
Stranger in a Strange Land: ‘Local Hero’ (1983)
Local Hero is a fish-out-of-water comedy about an American oilman who travels to a tiny Scottish town and tries to do business with the locals. So far, so run-of-the-mill. But look again. Bill Forsyth’s film is also about the price we pay for progress, the emptiness lurking in seemingly full lives and the beauty of […]
FilmStruck – A Fond Farewell
There are disappointments in the life of a cinephile that cause her to sigh and shrug. Say the implosion of MoviePass and a film-a-day deal that always seemed too good to last. And then there are injustices so great they make her rail against the heavens like Howard Beale in Network: FilmStruck is shutting down […]
Adventures in Time and Space: ‘Dr. Who and the Daleks’ (1965) and ‘Daleks – Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.’ (1966)
At 5:16 PM on 23 November 1963, a new science fiction show premiered on the BBC. What started out as a mild curiosity in a junkyard has grown into the world’s longest-running science fiction series, a grand adventure spanning over 50 years across television, radio, comics, videogames and novels (plus a marvellous, fan-made stop-motion animation series). […]
The Measure of Love: ‘Pandora and the Flying Dutchman’ (1951)
This post is part of The James Mason Blogathon, hosted by Maddy Loves Her Classic Films. See the other posts here. Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is set in Spain in the 1930s. Much of it takes place by the sea. Its lead characters are the embodiment of a Dutch maritime legend and a woman […]
Coming Attractions: The James Mason Blogathon
Maddy over at Maddy Loves Her Classic Films is hosting a blogathon in honour of one of my favourite actors, James Mason, and I’m taking part. Stay tuned!
His Last Duchess: ‘Corridor of Mirrors’ (1948)
Corridor of Mirrors begins with a respectable British housewife sneaking out of the house to see her lover—or rather, the wax figure of her lover in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud’s. FilmStruck was made for oddities like this. How else would I have found a film so nonchalantly bizarre, so casually baroque? The […]
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