Welcome back, Miss Ingrid... I don't know about anyone else, but my parents and I watched a lot of movies when I was growing up, and they were the ones to introduce me to classic Hollywood. They were both born in the early forties and remembered a lot of these movies from their childhood and … Continue reading Dial “O” For O’Malley
Faithful Emilie
Welcome back, Ms. Bergman... After Intermezzo, Bergman made her final Swedish film, June Night before making today's film, Adam Had Four Sons, a slow-burn 1941 piece with some surprises and more than a few fireworks, plus we see Fay Wray not screaming her head off. The film starts in 1907, and the Stoddard family of Canada are waiting for their … Continue reading Faithful Emilie
During World War Two: My Little Pin-Up Girl
Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth weren't the only stars who sat for pin-ups during the war; their photos were simply the most popular. The idea of pin-ups (technically, they were just photos of women) were nothing new by the Second World War. Victorians and Edwardians, of course, had French postcards, which ranged from fully-clothed women … Continue reading During World War Two: My Little Pin-Up Girl
Leslie and Ingrid’s Bargaining Chips
Intermezzo is famous for a couple of reasons. Leslie Howard agreed to play Ashley Wilkes if David O. Selznik would agree to greenlight Intermezzo, plus the film marks Ingrid Bergman's Hollywood debut. As it turned out, the 1939 film was advantageous for everyone, although the movie itself is a quiet one. It opens at the … Continue reading Leslie and Ingrid’s Bargaining Chips
Page To Screen: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Few YA books are as daring as E.L. Koningsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. It's a thinking book. It's also an unthinking book. For those who aren't familiar with the story, Claudia Kincaid is an upstate New York girl with three brothers who feels like there's nothing to set her apart from … Continue reading Page To Screen: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
This Train Is Bound For Murder
Nice to see Ms. Bergman again... In the seventies, studios liked a lot of star wattage in their prestige films. Maybe it was because their output was so much smaller than it was in past decades, or maybe they were desperate to get audiences away from their TVs and back into theaters. It was probably … Continue reading This Train Is Bound For Murder
Ingrid’s Casablanca
Welcome back, Ms. Bergman! What hasn't been said about Casablanca? What hasn't been asked about Casablanca? This is a film that's been parsed, analyzed, memorialized, quoted, parodied, and collected more homage than most films in history, with the exception of Citizen Kane and The Wizard of Oz, of course. What's left to be said? Plenty. It's a classic film that we … Continue reading Ingrid’s Casablanca
Taking Up Room 