Over at Wonders in the Dark today, I’ve posted another entry in the sci-fi countdown, and this one was a particular joy to revisit. At #47, it’s Daffy Duck’s bravura turn as the daring do-er of the future skies in that masterful Chuck Jones joint, Duck Dodgers of the 24 1/2th Century (1953): 1953 also saw Daffy, along…
It is time yet again for another genre countdown hosted by our friends at Wonders in the Dark! This year, they are tackling sci-fi films, and I am honored to be contributing four essays for this year’s event. First up, at number 66, it’s Brad Bird’s fantastical directorial debut, the 1999 animated sci-fi masterpiece The Iron…
A belated link to my final contribution to the Childhood Films countdown at Wonders in the Dark–at number four, it’s one of my favorite movies of all time, adapted from one of my favorite books, 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird: I don’t think it’s too far off the mark to label To Kill a Mockingbird one…
My fourth and final contribution to Wonders in the Dark’s romantic film countdown was posted earlier today. At #3, it’s Charlie Chaplin’s seminal masterwork City Lights (1931): There are ostensibly two romances at work in City Lights–both of which admittedly play backseat to the comedic elements that dominate the majority of the film (the movie is not…
My third post for the ongoing romantic films countdown at Wonders in the Dark is live. At number five, it’s F.W. Murnau’s lovely and deceptively simple silent allegory Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927): Out of context, the idea of ranking a film in which a man is seduced into plotting to kill his wife as one…
Peter Morgan (James Stewart) has been sent to New York City to retrieve his womanizing cousin, Keith (James Ellison), and bring him back to their small college town of Old Sharon. He finds Keith in a nightclub, but is unable to convince his love-struck cousin to come with him. However, when Peter meets the object…
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…
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…
True Classics 