Most of Marilyn Monroe's films rank quit high on my list of favorite movies, but if I had to pick just one, I suppose it would have to be Some Like it Hot. Sure, the …
Of the string of early 1930s Universal Studios horror films for which director James Whale is best known, my easy favorite is The Old Dark House. Not to take anything away from the brilliant Invisible …
It's a Gift is one hell of a depressing comedy. It's like just being on the edge of going to sleep with a mosquito buzzing in your ear, and no matter how many times you …
For someone who has always been a silent comedy fan, it took me a while to give the humor of the Marx brothers a chance. Sure, the visual gags were still there, especially with Harpo …
For the uninitiated, film noir can be a disappointing thing. The colorful dialog often veers dangerously close to camp Calvin and Hobbes "Tracer Bullet" self-parody, while the B-movie visuals sometimes aren't quite as stylish as …
Man do I love heist movies. I'm not talking about wacky romps like the Ocean's 11 movies (though they are fine for what they are), I'm talking about the old school heist movies where EVERYBODY fucking …
As one of the first, and most famous, "pacifist westerns," it is tempting to discuss Destry Rides Again in terms of the fascinatingly contradictory tenants of that genre. However, because I've already discussed pacifist westerns, I figured …
Few directors dominated the early 1940s like Preston Sturges. While not the first writer-director, Sturges was the most famous early example of a screenwriter who also directed his own films, paving the way for Orson …
Because the Sunday mornings of my childhood usually involved me sleeping in and then eating blueberry pancakes while watching Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies with my family, I have quite a few holes in my …
If Hollywood films are all merely bits of magical mythmaking, then the musicals of the 1930s are their apotheosis. In a world of romantic comedies and westerns, it is not to much of a reach …