Happy birthday to Miss Lupino! This seems to be the weekend for hairpin plots. Yesterday's movie started with newsreel cameras and ended with a South American rescue. Today, well, you'll see... I've reviewed 1940's They Drive By Night before when my blog was a newborn, but it was such a short take that I have no problem … Continue reading The Doors Made Me Do It
My First Lon Chaney Movie
It. Is. Time. I'll admit, until this blogathon came around, I hadn't seen any Lon Chaney movies, although I'd seen clips of him. I knew he was a pioneer of both film makeup and horror films, which inspire industry professionals such as Rick Baker to this day. During his life, Chaney was so iconic and … Continue reading My First Lon Chaney Movie
The Broadway Bound Blogathon Is One Month Away
The calendar never lies, friends. Come June first, the curtain will rise on the blogging world's look at the Great White Way. Allow me to offer a great big thank you in advance to those of you who have already signed up. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support and enthusiasm (not … Continue reading The Broadway Bound Blogathon Is One Month Away
Unintended Consequences
And now we present Mr. William Holden... William Holden worked with Billy Wilder five times, whether Wilder was directing or writing, and one of the most classic is the 1954 film, Sabrina. Costarring Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, the film is a sweet, graceful story with a healthy amount of Wilder's trademark bite. The Larrabees live on … Continue reading Unintended Consequences
Charlie Goes To Niles
Time for a walk down Memory Lane... Before I moved to Placer County, one of the places I lived in was the city of Fremont, California. It's a patchwork of five little towns that were incorporated into one big town in 1956, and each of those towns-turned-districts has its own distinct flavor. While they're all … Continue reading Charlie Goes To Niles
Who Really Shot Liberty Valance?
Looks like it's high noon... My dad used to rent a lot of westerns when I was growing up, and I remember I felt pretty blah about them after a while. Westerns can be like sci-fi in that they have their own archetype. There are gallops on horseback, shootouts (at high noon or otherwise), peppery women, saloons … Continue reading Who Really Shot Liberty Valance?
The Successful Failure
Greetings, Earthlings... Forty-eight years ago as of April eleventh, Apollo 13 blasted off for the moon's Fra Mauro highlands. The public was ho-hum about it, until things started going wrong. Captain Jim Lovell, Apollo 13's commander, wrote a book about his experiences, formerly titled Lost Moon, and Ron Howard used that as his source material for … Continue reading The Successful Failure
Amarillo Or Bust
Miss Bette's back, y'all... We all know how studios liked certain stars in certain roles. It streamlined the whole casting process to know who could play gangsters, or high society types, or ingenues. Every once in a while, though, studios did color outside the lines, and one example of that is 1941's The Bride Came C.O.D. A … Continue reading Amarillo Or Bust
Announcing the Broadway Bound Blogathon!
Yep. This is big. Really big. First, I've never hosted a blogathon before, and second, the Great White Way has been the pinnacle of so many performers' careers for almost one-hundred fifty years. I know I delve into Broadway at least every other month on Taking Up Room, but it's such a massive subject that I wanted … Continue reading Announcing the Broadway Bound Blogathon!
They Really Lived
We're still in Texas, only our hero now has the accent and a shotgun on his knee. I give you Michael Caine in 2003's Secondhand Lions. The film opens with two old men flying a biplane around a wide stretch of Texas prairie. Actually, it's more like joyriding than flying. They even barnstorm an overpass … Continue reading They Really Lived
Victor’s Pageant Tips
The man, the myth, the legend... Michael Caine is nothing if not versatile, and among his many memorable roles, he played pageant consultant Victor Melling in 2000's Miss Congeniality. The film, of course, revolves around FBI agent Grace Hart (Sandra Bullock), who is as rough around the edges as they come. She dresses like a man. … Continue reading Victor’s Pageant Tips
Taking a Leap
There's one thing that pretty much all time travel films have in common: Gadgetry. Whenever characters hop across time periods, they step into a car, or a phone booth, or turn a dial on a necklace...you get my point. There's always a vehicle by which they travel. It's very few films that have time travel … Continue reading Taking a Leap
Whales of Star Trek
The time, it must be traveled. Little side note: Because Star Trek is so well-known, I won't be including the names of the principal cast. Supporting actors are a different story, though. Although I like Star Trek, I'm not a Trekkie by any stretch of the imagination. Or maybe I am--I've seen most of the movies, and … Continue reading Whales of Star Trek
Close Quarters
Today we've got a free-for-all movie for CineMaven's Free For All Blogathon, and it's a doozy. We're back in Washington D.C., people. The war is still on, folks are still crammed into the city like sardines, and there's more craziness to be had. Only instead of an apartment building, we're checking in at the fanciest … Continue reading Close Quarters
A Lady And Her Jewels
Elizabeth Taylor was just as famous for her jewelry as she was for her beauty and acting ability (Who else remembers White Diamonds?). Her collection was such a phenomenon that it was immortalized in a gorgeous, highly detailed book called Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair With Jewelry. This coffee table book is chock-full of high-definition photos. … Continue reading A Lady And Her Jewels
Then Comes Baby
We're back at the Banks house, and the stork is circling the area. A year after MGM released Father of the Bride, Father's Little Dividend came along. While not as strong as the first film, it's another sweet family story, and united a cast and crew that had become a family away from the cameras. Stanley Banks … Continue reading Then Comes Baby
Then Comes Marriage
Here comes Elizabeth... Okay, so we've visited the Banks family once before, only this time we get to see more than their gorgeous house. In 1950, Elizabeth Taylor turned eighteen, so MGM began transitioning her into more adult roles, and one of her first was Father of the Bride. Based on the best-selling novel by then-popular author … Continue reading Then Comes Marriage
Taking Up Room 