“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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …
“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 …
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 …
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 …
Spoilers, adult concepts, and bad language abound. The Civilization of Maxwell Bright is a movie that tries hard to do the right thing, but it falls back on the old, lazy, entrenched bigotries so prevalent in Hollywood that, despite being an indie film, it might as well have been a …
