Our Favorite Vintage Holiday Movie List

Every holiday, usually the day after Halloween, we dust off the Christmas movies and move them to the living room. Much like how we retrieve that box of sweaters we know we’ll need during the coming cold months, the ritual of “getting ready” for the holidays usually means taking stock of all the movies we’ll…

Favorite Classic Christmas Movies: Part Two

Rochellemariah is correct her Christmas movie list does not have the typical must-see films on it and neither does mine. MEET JOHN DOE (1941) Frank Capra hits the nail on the head with this Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck 1941 platitude ridden film. Every year by Thanksgiving we have had a whole year of doom, gloom…

Favorite Classic Christmas Movies: Part One

As I stare down a very long week of cooking and baking as my family prepares for the Thanksgiving holiday, with Black Friday close behind, a small cabin mini-break the weekend after and a mid-December vacation to get through ( not to mention the actual Christmas holiday and New Years plans at years end) all…

Have a little Holiday Affair

“Anything Can Change a Life that’s Ready to be Changed”. This pearl of wisdom comes oddly from what I consider to be a second tier Christmas Film, starring Robert Mitchum. I never really had a Robert Mitchum phase, and actually tried to watch this movie a few times before. This time, however, was different. My…

How to Survive the Holidays Vintage Style

In case you haven’t been smitten by the world of Classic Hollywood yet there are really only a couple things we use to take care of ALL life’s trials and tribulations. From sickness, to breakups, to revenge, to an overabundance of family time here is our Classic Hollywood Guide to getting through it all. Cocktails Dose: With…

Lady on a Train

Nothing says Christmas to me more this year than the Deanna Durbin Christmas Noir movie Lady on a Train, directed in 1945 by French Director Charles David, Durbin’s future husband: December 21, 1950. The original story Lady on a Train was by Leslie Charteris author of ‘The Saint’ series of books. Lady on a Train…

I’ll Be Seeing You

I’ll Be Seeing You…Leonard Maltin describes this movie as ‘schmaltz’ I have to disagree. I have a tendency to compare this movie with the Barbara Stanwyck and Fred McMurray 1940 Christmas movie Remember the Night. The Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple movie made in 1944 is more thought-provoking. As in the opening scene Ginger’s…

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

If you’ve gotten this far in the holiday season you’ve probably come to appreciate “silver and gold” just as much as Cornelius in Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. And if you’re trying to hold onto as much money as you have left for that last holiday sale, or Christmas dinner, stay in tonight and watch…

We’re No Angels

‘Sentimental Moments, Moments that you shared with me, they will last forever and ever and ever, In my Memory’ This is the opening verse of the featured song written by Fredrick Hollander with Lyrics by Ralph Freed in the holiday classic movie ‘We’re No Angels’. So in honor of Humphrey Bogart’s 113th Birthdate we’re remembering…

Christmas Holiday

Oh My Goodness…A Deanna Durbin Film Festival in Palo Alto, CA from December 1st until January 7th. Finally the public will be able to watch Christmas Holiday at the time of year it was meant to be watched. I’m not sure what the Studio was thinking by releasing this movie on June 28th of 1944…

“and a Fat Man…”

‘Christmas in Connecticut’ is also on my must see list for watching over the holiday’s. Not only for the reasons stated by Rochellelynn but particularly for the performances of the great Character actors, Sydney Greenstreet, Una O’Connor, S.Z. Sakall, and Reginald Gardiner whom I wonder if he ever got tired of playing the smarmy boyfriend…

“He’s sending me a sailor for Christmas”

Christmas in Connecticut. 1945. Barbara Stanwyk. Dennis Morgan. A wonderful christmas film set during the prime of WWII. My favorite, to be honest. Loosley based on a Family Circle magazine writer from the 1940’s Ms. Stanwyk, plays the perfect homemaker, Elizabeth Lane. She’s married, owns a country farm, is a new mother, and an exquisite…

11 ~ 11 ~ 11

The eleventh month, the eleventh day, the eleventh hour, today is the 100th year Anniversary when Armistice was declared for the ending of WW I. In the U.S. it is called Veterans Day where we honor all soldiers that have served time in the military. TCM will be featuring WWII movies throughout the day on…

Hot Saturday (1932)

Hot Saturday is one of those films you need to watch, because it’s the epitome of everything that was wrong with popular culture in the 1930’s. I’m not talking about the film of course, which is spectacular, but instead the mindset that ran rampant across the country in that holier-than-thou fashion we all despise. Here it’s…

Mad About Musicals

I can’t believe 2018 is half over…how did I miss May and June, it seems like the TCM Film Festival was just yesterday. Due to circumstances beyond my control I neglected signing up for the online free Mad About Musicals course offered by TCM. I believe I procrastinated signing up because I didn’t want to…

TCM FILM FESTIVAL 2018

Rochellelynn and I would like to give a shout out to all of our TCM Backlot peeps and classic movie fans from around the world that will be in L.A. April 26-29th attending the 2018 TCM Film Festival. Hope someone will make it to Bob Koster’s discussion about Deanna Durbin’s first movie Three Smart Girls…

The Great O’Malley

What better movie to post about on St. Patrick’s Day than Warner Brother’s 1937 movie starring Pat O’Brien part of the legendary Warner Brothers Irish Mafia. Pat O’Brian plays James Aloysius O’Malley an overzealous patrolman, a stickler for the law, that even threatens to arrest his own muther played by Mary Gordon for throwing bread…

ST. LOUIS BLUES

What better way to start off the month of February on Movies! TV network than to watch a film I’d never seen or heard of before. It was a pleasant surprise during Black History month to watch the Biography of the songwriter William Handy who wrote one of my favorite classic songs; St. Louis Blues….

Bombshell Jean Harlow

By the time Jean Harlow starred in Bombshell she had already been in 12 movies within the last 4 years. Among them Red Dust, The Public Enemy, Platinum Blonde and Red Headed Woman.  She had crafted herself as a siren starlet, reckless, oversexed, and yet somehow…very enduring. Like any good actress in the 30’s she…

TCM Summer Under the Stars

Elizabeth Taylor: What better star to honor on the last day of TCM’s Summer Under the Stars 2017 than Elizabeth Taylor. My goal this past August on TCM was to find and watch movies I had never seen before. Looking for some I would consider as a keeper (meaning I’d buy them to watch over…

Under Eighteen Forbidden Hollywood Review

Okay, so I have to admit I am in a massive Warren William phase. It started when I finally got the chance to watch The Gold Diggers of 1933 and was absolutely smitten with the relationship between his and Joan Blondell’s characters. Mind you, had my first run in with Warren been in the depression tragedy…

Actors of Forbidden Hollywood

Forbidden Hollywood is one of those Risqué topics only whispered about after everyone else has gone home. Why? Well before the “Hays Code” set up the rules, films were on the verge of going to the dark side. Clothes got skimpier, decision making got more lax, and divorce was running rampant as was sex, drugs,…

Actresses of Forbidden Hollywood

I’ve been in a Kay Francis and George Brent phase lately. This usually warrants long periods of Forbidden Hollywood film watching. So I realized it was about time to make this list. AnnStj and I watch these films a lot, mainly because it’s terribly intriguing to see what people put in films before censorship. Lots…

Personal Property

Personal Property with bombshell Jean Harlow and heartthrob Robert Taylor is slapstick comedy at its best. Enter a jealous fiancee, a slew of money troubles, a girl with a plan and a man who is got a wild card up his sleeve.

Patriotic Films from Classic Hollywood For Fourth of July

If you’re looking for a few old films to remind you of why you should be truly, truly grateful that you live in a free country this Independence Day, check out the films below. Happy Fourth of July. Pollyanna- Hayley Mills Yankee Doodle Dandee- James Cagney Pride of the Yankees Drums along the Mohawk- Henry…

Waterloo Bridge A War Travesty

Waterloo Bridge opens with the ending; a man in despair looking out over the bridge. As a story telling device this can be compelling and effective. For Waterloo Bridge this device pretty much spoiled the entire story for me and sort of pissed me off.

The Courtship of Eddie’s Father

  The Courtship of Eddies Father Glenn Ford, Ron Howard, Shirley Jones, Connie Stevens, Jerry Van Dyke   The Courtship of Eddies Father was one of those films I had heard a lot about, but had never really gotten all the way through. Sacrilege, I know but I must admit the glamour of the 30’s…

Happy Fathers Day

To all of those Dad’s out there that go the extra mile (I’m sure those British Dad’s are now thanking Queen Elizabeth for putting the kibosh on the Debutante seasons after 1958) like Rex did for his American daughter in The Reluctant Debutante. Thank goodness Sandra Dee had John Saxon to save her from her…

Top 5 Song and Dance Men from Classic Hollywood Movies

As musicals begin to make a little bit of a comeback we decided to reflect on what it takes to make an amazing song and dance man. This is a little bit of a modge podge of men… all with different strengths.If you want a good classic hollywood musical education, try one flick from each fella…

Song and Dance Actresses in Classic Hollywood

  These are our top 5 song and dance women in classic films. Believe me, we deliberated over this list for quite some time! We joke, alongside most classic film followers, that back in the day men and women actually had to have talent ( in addition to looks) to get somewhere in Hollywood. And…

A Guy Named Joe

I finally watched this MGM film released in March of 1944. I’ve put off watching it because…well it was going to be a tear jerker and I have to be in a certain mood to watch a movie I know I will need a box of tissue to get through. But recently after finding letters…

Pillow to Post

A special Birthday shout out for Willie Best one of my favorite character actors. In the 1945 Warner Bros. Romantic Comedy Pillow to Post the world is at war and on the home front in this movie everything is topsy turvy. Ida Lupino’s character Jean Howard wants to help the war effort but has been…

Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima

Sunday May 13, 1917 three children Lucia 10, Francisco 9, and Jacinta 7, cousins from the small village of Fatima, Portugal are visited in a small cove in the countryside by Mary the Mother of Jesus. In 1916 Germany had declared war on Portugal. Democrats, Centrists, Sectarianism, Evolutionists and Atheists abound in 1917 Portugal, and…

How Gary Cooper saved Hollywood.

Gary Cooper as a man embodied “honor and decency” ( Smith, The Film 100), along with an unaffected manner that made him appear strong in the face of danger. His dream to draw newspaper cartoons for a living was put on hold when he made a trip to California in 1924 and landed a role…

Al St. John

TCM’s Star of the Month for April features Character Actors. I would like to give a shout out for my favorite Silent Era Character Actor… Cousin Al St. John. 100 years ago in 1917 cousin Al St. John starred or co-starred in 11 shorts, some with Paramount’s Famous Players ~ Lasky Corporation with his Uncle…

The Fighting 69th

On yesterday’s date one hundred years ago April 6, 1917 the United States entered WW I. In The Fighting 69th this 1940 Warner Brothers film remembers three real life heroes during the U.S. involvement on the front lines in France: Journalist and Poet Joyce Kilmer, Catholic Priest, Army Chaplain Father Francis Duffy and Major William…

Happy Land

TCM’s NOW PLAYING guide for April lists tonight as Frances Dee night. However the TCM website lists tonight as Faye Dunaway night and if you do a Happy Land search it lists May 17 as Frances Dee night, well whichever night this movie is premiered it is well worth watching. Rochellelynn this is not a…

Oscar ~ America America

The only nominated film for Best Oscar in 1963 that I had seen at the local theatre was How the West Was Won and at the time I was very disappointed that this film featuring Debbie Reynolds, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart, Carroll Baker, and a cast of thousands did not win Best Picture. However fifty…

Oscar ~ Best Picture 1963

Frank Sinatra, introduced as a Producer/Director from Warner Brothers handed out the Oscar for the Best Picture, the nominees were: America America, Cleopatra, How the West Was Won, Lilies of the Field and Tom Jones. As Frank read the Best Picture nominee titles the picture of a fake movie marquee with the title of the…