We need more silent films on Blu-ray, especially from the Turner Entertainment library. The 2013 release of The Big Parade was thought to be the start, but only a few have trickled out since then. The Warner Archive Collection may have finally hit upon a good idea to quicken the pace. In April 2024, WAC… Read More Warner Archive Review: Silent Classics – ‘The Boob’ & ‘Why Be Good?’
It should be argued that All That Money Can Buy, William Dieterle‘s 1941 film adaptation of Stephen Vincent Benet’s short story The Devil and Daniel Webster, is the great film about the U.S. and what Americans will do to achieve the so-called American Dream we felt we were promised. Set in 1840, All That Money… Read More ‘All That Money Can Buy’ or ‘The Devil and Daniel Webster’: Criterion Blu-Ray Review
The final films of Gary Cooper see directors making the most of their last chance to work with him. Delmer Daves did just that with The Hanging Tree (1959), the first time the 3:10 to Yuma filmmaker worked with Coop in a decade. At this point in his career, Daves was nearing the end of… Read More Seeing the Light: Delmer Daves’ ‘The Hanging Tree’ starring Gary Cooper
William Wyler might not have seemed like the obvious choice to direct Roman Holiday. If anyone else directed the film though, it’s hard to imagine the same warm, welcoming, and touching result. Wyler’s unparalleled talent for bringing out exacting performances from his cast that hit the perfect note would have been sorely missing if a… Read More William Wyler’s ‘Roman Holiday’ Review: A Classic Hits 4K
Writing about a movie a week after you’ve seen it is generally ill-advised at a time when outlets race to get their reviews up as soon as possible. No one wants to post a review of the new blockbuster late, or it gets lost in the glut of takes. This isn’t great. It doesn’t give… Read More ‘Past Lives’: Mending Your Broken Heart
Warner Archive‘s three Tex Avery Screwball Classics volumes on Blu-ray are about as comprehensive a look at Avery’s MGM career as possible. Before 2020, the idea that over 430 minutes of cartoon insanity by the greatest animated shorts director who ever lived being released in high definition felt like a pipe dream. Fifteen Droopy shorts… Read More Cartoons for All You Happy People: Tex Avery’s Droopy on DVD and Blu-ray
There’s nothing wrong with the motion picture business, it’s just really difficult. Bombshell is an interesting time capsule of how the public felt about the people who made movies.… Read More ‘What’s Wrong with Pictures?’: Jean Harlow in ‘Bombshell’
In the same year Cary Grant had to decide between two wives, Jean Arthur had to choose between two husbands in Too Many Husbands (1940). Although much less well-known today, Too Many Husbands is tighter, wittier, and funnier than My Favorite Wife (1940). The two movies have the same story DNA and even run just… Read More Jean Arthur in ‘Too Many Husbands’: Or ‘My Favorite Wife’ in Reverse
The 2022 TCM Classic Film Festival wrapped up on April 24, but it’s hard to get back to reality after an astonishing weekend. It was the first time many of us had gathered together to celebrate movies in three years or four, in my case. While movies brought us to Los Angeles, it was more… Read More TCM Classic Film Festival 2022: Together Again
My picks for the 2022 TCM Classic Film Festival.… Read More TCM Classic Film Festival 2022 Picks: Long Time Gone
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