Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton) has a slight problem. Our unlikely-named heroine is a young, pretty, slightly empty-headed girl, and all the handsome young men are headed off to war. They invite her to a dance; she accepts. But her stern father, the town constable (William Demarest), forbids her to go. Undeterred, Trudy calls up her…
Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) is one of several films to feature Gene Kelly partnered with Frank Sinatra. I am a huge fan of both performers, so I love these movies. On the Town (1949) and Anchors Aweigh (1945) are on my list of favorite Gene Kelly films, and the Gene Kelly…
Clara, of Via Margutta 51 fame, recently reviewed Ernst Lubitsch’s 1943 fantasy-romance Heaven Can Wait, and her post on the film prompted me to re-watch that movie for the first time in years. It’s a delightful movie, awash with the magic of the famed “Lubitsch touch” and marked by a fabulous cast, with particularly fine…
A version of this post originally appeared as a part of our series of Summer Under the Stars recommendations in August 2010. It’s being reprinted here as part of the LAMB’s “Acting School 101” tribute to Elizabeth Taylor. Elizabeth Taylor: one of the most gorgeous, appealingly talented actresses to emerge from classic Hollywood … the…
Throughout her long and varied career, Bette Davis excelled at playing complicated women. From the slatternly waitress in Of Human Bondage (1934) to the spoiled Southern belle in 1938’s Jezebel to the grand dame of the theater, Margo Channing, in 1950’s All About Eve, Davis’ filmography is stacked with a series of unparalleled performances. Part of the…
Alfred Hitchcock’s oeuvre is so filled with victimized women that it seems to indicate an almost uncontrollable fetish on the part of the prolific director. Feminists have long had a field day with interpretations of feminine behavior and characterizations within Hitchcock’s work, and it’s little wonder why. Think about some of the most famous montages in…
If Santa didn’t slide enough classic movies under your tree last month, give yourself a treat and grab the new Blu-Ray edition of The Bridge on the River Kwai. Taking place in 1943 in the jungles of Burma, the film deftly juggles the parallel stories of a cadre of British POWs forced to build a…
I am so excited to post about one of my absolute favorite Christmas classics: White Christmas. Starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye as two former soldiers who met during WWII, this film has everything that makes the classics (and Christmas movies) great–comedy, music, very talented cast, quotable script, misunderstandings, and of course, a happy…
True Classics 