This post is a (belated!) entry to the Pre-Code Blogathon, hosted by Pre-Code.com and Shadows & Satin! Check this post for links to all the punctual entries. A lot of times when I’m thinking about the Code, I tend to oversimplify it into a distinct “before” and “after;” the befores all exposition scenes in lingerie, the …
This post is part of the Cinemascope Blogathon, hosted by Wide Screen World and Classic Becky Brain Food. More widescreen goodness continues through March 16th—check out the whole schedule here! The Long, Hot Summer is a sticky Southern drama based on a combination of works by William Faulkner. It’s very much in the vein of Cat …
This post is part of the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon, hosted by Paula’s Cinema Club, Outspoken & Freckled, and Once Upon A Screen. Check out all the posts here! Women have been a part of the film industry since the very beginning, yet looking at the list of Oscar nominees throughout history can feel a little… monolithic. Women make …
Although the legend of Wyatt Earp and his gunfight at the O.K. Corral seem like a familiar piece of American folklore to us now, the story wasn’t actually common knowledge until decades after it happened—and even then, it only entered the public imagination through the magic of media. Stuart Lake’s 1931 book, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshall, was monumental in introducing the public to the story of the Western lawman, who had passed away just two years prior. From the pages of that book came three direct cinematic adaptations, the last of which, John Ford’s My Darling Clementine (1946), was an especially popular and an essential component in establishing the myth of the man and his legendary shootout.
Few other performers can claim the title of “triple threat” so handily as Gene Kelly did with MGM in the 1940s and ’50s as an actor, a singer, and, of course, a dancer. But his career wasn’t limited to only those three titles; throughout the course of his professional life, he was also a producer, a director, a writer, a choreographer, and, all the while, an athlete. For a studio that claimed “more stars than there are in heaven,” Kelly was one of their brightest, an indelible association with the genre MGM took to new heights: the movie musical.
When it comes to 1950s pop culture, you don’t find many pairs more iconic than Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. As stars of the beloved TV comedy I Love Lucy, which ran from 1951 to 1957, they were responsible for depicting consistent and relatable comedy about the all-American lifestyle to an audience of millions, while also juggling their real-life relationship …