Each September, the life and career of renowned playwright Tennessee Williams is celebrated in his birthplace, Columbus, Mississippi. As I’ve mentioned multiple times on this blog, Carrie, Nikki, and I are proud alumnae of Mississippi University for Women, which is located in Columbus and has an active hand in this event every year. In the wake…
Let me preface this post by saying that this movie—1959’s North by Northwest, one of my very favorite films from the erstwhile Master of Suspense—has been on my mind ever since Caroline over at Garbo Laughs announced her Queer Blogathon (which, incidentally, is next month—and if you haven’t already signed up to participate, you definitely should!).…
By the late 1980s, it seems that the studio Mickey Mouse built had reached a crossroads. The Walt Disney animation legacy was in danger of being shuttered forever after a series of critical and commercial flops, while simultaneously undergoing an upheaval in its animation department as the revered “Nine Old Men” retired and were gradually…
Note: you can find the first part of this entry here. Joseph Breen’s second caveat in adapting Streetcar revolved around the character of Blanche, whose more sexually predatory side could not be fully explicated on the screen per Production Code regulations. The faded Southern belle’s lack of sexual satisfaction in her marriage and her guilt over Allan’s suicide…
We’ve previously touched on issues of censorship here at True Classics, but our next two entries this week will take a more in-depth look at the Hays Code, particularly in regards to the struggle to adapt the controversial source material of A Streetcar Named Desire for the big screen. By 1950, Hollywood had reached an impasse. For nearly twenty…
One of my favorite stories of all time is the tale of Alice and her journey down the rabbit hole. I’ve read the Lewis Carroll Alice books (1865’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the 1871 sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There) more times than I can remember over the years, and every…
The much-parodied and endlessly dissected Strangers on a Train (1951) marks a return to form for director Alfred Hitchcock. His four previous films over the four previous years–The Paradine Case, Rope, Under Capricorn, and Stage Fright, each more lackluster than the last–had not met with quite the same success and acclaim as some of his…
Frank Capra’s indelible brand of feel-good morality tales, sprinkled with romance and humor, has led to his films being labeled as “Capra-corn” by some critics. And it’s true that some of his most beloved and well-known movies tend toward the sentimental. But to deride Capra’s work as mere schmaltz is to ignore the sheer talent…
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