Selected images from “The Venture Bros” episode “The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together” from The Venture Bros: Season 3 DVD. This is ostensibly for the fabulously appointed art deco apartment series. Of course, this is not art deco; an exhaustive 3-minute search on the Internet informed me that these are fabulous examples of retro…
All posts in 2010
Marie Prevost Project: Party Girl (1930)
“Party Girl” is a 1930 social drama slash exploitation flick that was written, directed, and produced by Victor Halperin. It’s available on about a million public domain disks, even in the UK where it was banned until 2003. The film was notable as being the movie that spent the longest time between banned status and…
Happy 120th Birthday, El!
A mini El Brendel gallery to celebrate what would have been the Elster’s 120th birthday. El and a group of lovely ladies from “Phoney Cronies” (1942). Harry Langdon, Rebel Randall, and El in “Snooper Service” (1945). El and Fifi, the cutest couple ever, from “Mr. Lemon of Orange” (1931). I am not 100% sure, but…
Recently Watched: I Loved a Woman (1933) and Living on Velvet (1935)
Kay Francis made a lot of movies that should have been mediocre, but Kay’s presence and her influence at the studio meant she often had great costars and a decent director at her disposal, elevating what was supposed to be a woman’s weepy into a classic film. Unfortunately, neither of the two Kay movies I…
Random Encounters While Seeking Enlightenment
Before I blah blah about randomness, I want to mention that anyone who wants to send a note to Ivan of Thrilling Days of Yesteryear while he chases nurses a la Harpo Marx recuperates in hospital can find ways to do so here. A few months ago I posted about “Night Parade” (1929) and mentioned…
Get Well Soon, Ivan (of Thrilling Days of Yesteryear fame)
After several days of escalating worry about Ivan Shreve of Thrilling Days of Yesteryear (I’m a worrier; it’s my super power) I finally discovered today via Edward Copeland that Ivan is ill and in the hospital. Ivan’s blog and SBBN share several readers, and I thought you’d want to know. Ivan, if you’re reading this…
Bette Davis Project #8: The Dark Horse (1932)
The Dark Horse (1932), a goofy political satire, aired on TCM last November during their series of films about political elections. In Dark Horse, the Progressive Party of an unnamed state finds themselves deadlocked between two choices when nominating their gubernatorial candidate. The delegates who support one candidate get the brilliant idea to nominate a…
Camille (1921)
“Camille” is ridiculous, melodramatic, unbelievable, silly, amazing, wonderful, beautiful, and mesmerizing. This 1921 film is a thin version of the Dumas classic, mildly modified for a modern audience, used only as a means to showcase glamour, style, and expression. I first heard about “Camille” when shahn at sixmartinis mentioned it a couple of years ago.…
Marie Prevost Project: The Racket (1928)
This post contains spoilers for “The Racket” (1928), so if you want to wait until you see the movie for yourself, don’t read any further! Marie Prevost and Bette Davis are the objects of my two current movie projects, but unfortunately I’ve learned a tough lesson while trying to watch all of their films: Some…
Recently Watched: The World Is Yours Edition
There are a lot of classic and must-see films I haven’t seen yet. Time and life has its limits, and that’s the excuse I’m going to stand by when I’m asked why it took me until 2010 to watch “Scarface” (1983). I am quite chagrined by this fact, don’t get me wrong. As I was…