Carrie [1952] – ★★★★ Scene: 1889; a charismatic and rich restauranteur catches sight of one shy and poorly dressed young woman who has just arrived to his upscale restaurant for a date she no longer wants. Another scene: a train is about to start its journey, a man is seen on the train, a girl is still…
Category: Classic Films
“Harvey” Review
Harvey [1950] – ★★★★ 🐇While perhaps trivialising some serious issues, Harvey still presents a sweet and delightful comedy-drama about one eccentric man who befriends an imaginary (or possibly just invisible!) giant rabbit. This play-based film focuses on a 42 year-old bachelor Elwood P. Dowd (James Stewart) who is in the habit of talking to his friend…
“Wings” Review
Wings [1966] – ★★★★★ Larisa Shepitko was a Soviet film-maker who made only four full-length films (her film Ascent won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival 1977) before her untimely death in a car accident at the age of 41 in 1979. Shepitko’s film Wings tells the story of a decorated…
Classic Courtroom Dramas: Witness for the Prosecution (1957), & Anatomy of A Murder (1959)
I am continuing the celebration of classic films this month with this double film review post. American legal dramas of the 1950s were in the league of their own, and, apart from the two films I will discuss below, there were also such films as Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men (1957), Edward Dmytryk’s The Caine…
Short Reviews: The Servant (1963), A Kiss Before Dying (1956), & Isle of the Dead (1945)
I. The Servant [1963] – ★★★★1/2 Directed by Joseph Losey, The Servant is considered by some to be one of the finest British films. It tells of Tony (James Fox), a flamboyant member of the upper class, who has just moved in to his central London residence after a period spent in Africa. He immediately…
Short Reviews: The Red Shoes (1948), West Side Story (1961), & Black Narcissus (1947)
I. The Red Shoes [1948] – ★★★★1/2 The Red Shoes is about the rise to stardom of a dancer Victoria Page (Moira Shearer) who falls under the strict control of one charismatic, but elusive and mysterious company director Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook). Page becomes truly famous after appearing in Lermontov’s ballet “The Red Shoes”, but…
The Greatest Film I’ve Never Seen Blogathon: Pickpocket (1959)
Debbie at Moon in Gemini is hosting The Greatest Film I’ve Never Seen Blogathon, which is a fabulous idea since it is an opportunity for everyone to discover or re-discover classic and “must-see” films, or even find hidden gems. I have chosen to write on Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket because it is considered one of the greatest…
Jean Renoir: “La Règle du Jeu” (1939) & “La Grande Illusion” (1937)
Yesterday was Jean Renoir’s 124th birthday, and, to pay tribute, I am reviewing two of this eminent French director’s most famous cinematic creations, which both influenced numerous films made after them and are now considered cinema classics – The Rules of the Game (1939) and La Grande Illusion (1937). La Règle du Jeu (The…
The 1961 Blogathon: La Notte
Movie Movie Blog Blog hosts a blogathon that celebrates movies originating in 1961, and Michelangelo Antonioni’s La Notte is one of those films. Like Antonioni L’Eclisse, which followed a year after, La Notte concerns itself with the existential theme of personal alienation in the world which becomes busier and more progressive. In such a place,…
The Horrorathon: Les Diaboliques (1955)
Maddy at Maddy Loves Her Classic Films is hosting the Horrorathon, celebrating horror movies in the light of the forthcoming Halloween, and I have decided to contribute with a review of one intelligent and highly influential film which some view to be one of the precursors to the modern psychological horror/thriller genre. Les Diaboliques [1955] –…
The Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn Blogathon: The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Crystal at In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood is hosting the Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn Blogathon, honouring the classic duo from the Hollywood’s brightest times, and my contribution is a short review of one of Hepburn’s most distinguished films: The Philadelphia Story [1940] – ★★★★★ George Cukor’s The Philadelphia Story is based on…
“The Lost Weekend” Review
The Lost Weekend [1945] – ★★★★★ “One drink’s too many, and a hundred’s not enough.” The Lost Weekend is a 1945 film directed by Billy Wilder, and telling a story of a failed writer Don Birnam (Ray Milland) who struggles to combat his chronic alcohol addiction in the course of a weekend. The winner of…
“Leave Her to Heaven” Review
Leave Her to Heaven [1945] – ★★★★★ In this noir drama, a successful fiction writer, Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde), meets a young beautiful socialite, Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney) on a train. After a short introduction, the pair fall in love. However, Ellen’s obsessive streak soon becomes evident when she unceremoniously ditches her politically successful fiancée…
Spotlight on Film 