About two weeks ago, I found myself thinking of Stanley Donen. In the latest debacle surrounding this year’s Oscar ceremony, the Academy had just announced it would be dropping the presentation of four awards, including Best Editing and Best Cinematography, from the telecast—a decision so manifestly absurd and greeted with such derision that it was […]
Death in the Snow: ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ (1974)
This post is part of the Winter in July blogathon, hosted by Moon in Gemini. See the other posts here. The phrase ‘all-star cast’ can seem hackneyed these days, done to death alongside trailers that begin “in a world” and posters with faces overlaid with text. Yet Sidney Lumet’s Murder on the Orient Express is […]
Strike a Pose: Women’s Fashion at the Movies
Fashion Week recently descended on New York, which got me thinking about women’s clothes in film. The best costumes reveal a character’s tastes and temperament, the way she sees herself and the world sees her, before a single word is spoken. In The Blue Angel, cabaret singer Lola Lola’s top hat and tights embody Weimar […]
We’ll Always Have Paris: ‘Casablanca’ (1942)
Occupied French Morocco. Stolen letters of transit. A smoky café. An airport shrouded in fog. Everybody comes to Rick’s. This Valentine’s Day, curl up with Casablanca, one of the most beloved and (mis)quoted films of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Its plot is deceptively simple. Relentlessly cynical Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) presides over ‘Rick’s Café Americain’, Casablanca’s […]