Category: Saturday Night Cinema

  Tonight's epic presentation is D.W. Griffith's Spectacular, "Intolerance." Vincent Canby said of it in 1971: D. W. Griffith's "Intolerance" had its world premiere at the Liberty Theater on the evening of Sept. 5, 1916. It had cost a mind-bending $2-million to produce, starred just about everyone who was ever connected with Griffith, featured dozens…

Vezi mai multe din Cinema, movie trailers pe 220.ro Ah, where to begin. Tonight's Saturday night feature, A Streetcar Named Desire, is American cinema at its most brilliant, poignant, painful, and emotionally violent. I have seen this film so many times, and each time is as moving and jarring as the first. It shakes me…

Tonight's feature film is a film noir classic (my favorite genre, as you well know) — a drop dead killer flick. If you haven't seen The Letter, watch it; you can thank me later. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Indeed. I love the women in this film — the roles were so…

None But the Lonely Heart (1944). Cary Grant gives  an extraordinary performance in this remarkable film. Grant plays against type here, neither confident nor debonair. It is jarring to watch Grant employ his signature savoire faire as a mask  for uncertainty and fear. "A desperate Cary Grant violates the natural order of things." Ethel Barrymore…

Fresh from Paris, also known as "Paris Follies of 1956," is practically wall-to-wall music. Not a classic, but if you love the genre, the music and era, you'll enjoy. Forrest Tucker — Dan Bradley — Dick Wesson — Chuck Russell — Martha Hyer — Ruth Harmon — Margaret Whiting — Barbara Walton This jerry-built Allied…

Tonight's Saturday night feature, Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959), is a fitting tribute to the left and their exploitation of the horror in Arizona. Starring: Ken Clark, Yvette Vickers, Jan Shepard, Michael Emmet, Tyler McVey, Bruno VeSota, Gene Roth. Tagline: "Crawling horror… Rising from the depths of Hell to kill and conquer!"

It's A Wonderful Life is a wonderful movie and one of the most popular and endearing films ever made by director Frank Capra. Frank Capra considered this film his own personal favorite — as did James Stewart. What can be said about this priceless Capra film that hasn't already been said? From the moment the…

Royal Wedding (1951), starring the incomparable Fred Astaire and Jane Powell. You know I couldn’t resist ….. after the royal snub of the Obamas 🙂 Way go, O. The dancing is spectacular. Excerpt of The NY Times review (1951): Playing a brother-sister dance team that goes to London at royal wedding-time, there to be occupied…

A film by Carl Laemlle…founder of Universal Pictures. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1923 American film starring Lon Chaney as Quasimodo and Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda, and is directed by Wallace Worsley. The film is the most famous adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel. The film was Universal's "Super Jewel" of 1923 and…

  Swing High, Swing Low is a 1937 American romantic musical film starring the incredibly fabulous Carole Lombard. Lombard and Fred MacMurray “meet cute” as Lombard’s ship passes through a lock of the canal that the soon-to-be-discharged soldier MacMurray is guarding.  

I love musicals. Tonight's feature is  Something to Sing About (1936), starring James Cagney, Evelyn Daw and William Frawley. Atlas gives this low-budget musical a high rating, because Cagney is spectacular. The dance sequences are wonderful. It is one of the few films that showcase his singing and dancing talent. If it was with any…

  Tonight's feature film, "The Outlaw" is a 1943 classic Western directed by Howard Hughes and starring Jane Russell. The supporting cast includes Walter Huston as Doc Holliday. Hughes also produced the film, while Howard Hawks served as an uncredited co-director. The film is notable as Russell's breakthrough role, turning the young actress into a…

  Tonight's feature is a Halloween favorite, Carnival of Souls, a cult classic made for the ridiculous sum of $30,000. "But despite its flaws, 'Carnival of Souls' is more than just a mere curiosity. Its portrait of a lonely, intrepid rationalist besieged by spirits carries an eerie chill." What has earned ''Carnival of Souls'' its…

Tonight’s Saturday Night Cinema feature is Pride and Prejudice. My kingdom for a great love story! You know they destroy me. And this is one of the very best. I am a huge Austen fan. If you still haven’t read this book, stop depriving yourself of this rare jewel. I have yet to see a…

Here is Germany (1945) was made to prepare soldiers who had not seen combat to go to Germany for the US occupation after the May 8, 1945 unconditional surrender. The film was, however, never used for its intended purpose. Here is Germany was a 1945 documentary film directed by Frank Capra. Like its companion film,…

Music swells …………… The File on Thelma Jordan (1949), starring Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Paul Kelly, Joan Tetzel, Stanley Ridges. No one is as good as Stanwyck when she's bad. Time Out film guide notes, "A fine film noir which works an ingenious, intricate variation on the situation in Double Indemnity, but which takes its…

Fire over England (1937) Sir Laurence Olivier, Vivian Leigh, Leslie Howard (it doesn't get better than that). 16th century adventurer Michael Ingleby (Laurence Olivier) goes undercover as a dead traitor to foil a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson). Vivien Leigh plays Cynthia, an absent-minded lady-in-waiting who makes the aging monarch jealous when she…

After transcribing Imam Feisal Rauf’s audio and listening to him drone on all week (here and here and here), I thought we should screen a Peter Lorre film. Rauf sounds just like Peter Lorre. He must have studied Lorre’s elocution and inflection. The sacrifices new media makes to get the story out …………… Rauf’s voice…

Blood on the Sun (1945) James Cagney and Sylvia Sidney (hat tip Tom) In pre-World War II Tokyo the American newspaper editor Nick Condon (James Cagney) working for an English-language daily paper aimed at the American business community is given a document relating to Japan's foreign affairs which could have political ramifications if found. He…

In the unlikely event you don't have a "get out of jail free" card and were unable to attend tonight's event in Huntington, New York at Book Revue, 313 New York Avenue, Huntington, with Robert and me, then console yourself with the gem. A classic. Made For Each Other. 1939. A delicious classic. A David…

Hell's House stars Bette Davis (I'd watch her in anything) Pat O'Brien, Morgan Wallace ….. Frank Gebhardt. Hell's House is a 1932 American drama film directed by Howard Higgin. The screenplay by Paul Gangelin and B. Harrison Orkow, set during the waning days of the Prohibition era.

Too Late for Tears This is a real gem for film noir lovers. Lizabeth Scott (edgy, tough and gorgeous) is the scheming femme fatale at her best and Dan Duryea is magnificently sleazy. Lizabeth Scott and Arthur Kennedy are a couple who receive a satchel full of money that was intended for someone else (Dan…

The Battle of Midway directed by John Ford, provides a relatively brief account of the Japanese attack of American ships at Midway atoll. The film is comprised mostly of authentic footage from the battle, with dramatic narration by Henry Fonda. "Behind every cloud, there may be an enemy," he intones as American fighter pilots search…

Artie Shaw-Second Chorus Da best! The Second Chorus with the gorgeous Goddard (a personal fave), the genius of Shaw and a cavalcade of stars. The music is the joy; the plot, alas is not. Second Chorus (1940) is a Hollywood musical comedy film starring Fred Astaire, Burgess Meredith, Paulette Goddard, Artie Shaw, and Charles Butterworth,…

Sex Madness (1938) is an exploitation film directed by Dwain Esper, along the lines of Reefer Madness, supposedly to warn teenagers and young adults of the dangers of venereal diseases, specifically syphilis.The cultural mores could not be more opposite one hundred years later. Talk about another era, this is like life on another planet. Read…

Dementia 13 (1963) Dementia 13 was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and produced by Roger Corman. How cool for us that this rare collaboration is in the public domain?

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) John Barrymore stars in the renowned silent adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic about a Victorian scientist who turns himself into a murderous abomination. Brilliant Barrymore.

Tonight's extraordinary film, I Have Never Forgotten You, is a comprehensive look at the life and legacy of Simon Wiesenthal, the famed Nazi hunter and humanitarian. Narrated by Academy-Award®-winner Nicole Kidman, it features interviews with longtime Wiesenthal associates, government leaders from around the world, and friends and family members — many of whom have never…

Tonight’s feature is an exceptional film, The Stoning of Soraya M. It is an excellent film and should be shown in schools (instead of an Inconvenient Gore). It is a powerfully moving indictment of the Islamic practice of stoning adulterers and sharia. This is sharia (Islamic) Law. Click below the fold to view the film

1961 Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers 1961 I thought this a cool selection, especially since there was no Friday night music thread last night.

The File On Thelma Jordan (1950): You always intend when you have to… A married DA falls for a woman with a past Thelma Jordan, the last film noir by Robert Siodmak is under-rated, and not because of Siodmak, whose lacklustre direction disappoints, but for the intelligent script and a bravura performance from Barbara Stanwyck,…

Tonight’s feature: Freaks. The normals are the real freaks in this still gut-wrenching horror classic (sounds like Obama’s America). In mid-1931, MGM production head Irving Thalberg summoned scenarist Willis Goldbeck to tell him the time had come for the prestige studio to take heed of much-smaller Universal’s success with Tod Browning’s Dracula. Browning had done…

Tonight’s feature film is “The Hitch-Hiker.” This is the first film noir directed by a woman, the talented and enormously Ida Lupino. The film is based on the true story of Billy Cook, a psychopathic murderer. In 1998, The Hitch-Hiker was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically…

Tonight's feature is Our Town — a 1940 film adaptation of a play of the same name by Thornton Wilder, starring William Holden, Martha Scott, Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi, Thomas Mitchell, Guy Kibbee and Frank Craven. It was directed by Sam Wood. The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Scott, who…

Elvis Presley would have turned 75 yesterday. What better way to celebrate than to run the one film that Elvis liked, was most proud of.  Most of his other Hollywood properties were exploitative vehicles for musical numbers. King Creole is an American motion picture directed by Michael Curtiz, released by Paramount Pictures on July 2,…

The film that brought international fame to both Pabst and Greta Garbo, The Joyless Street is a stinging indictment of the soulessness of Weimar-era Vienna. In the wake of World War I, the newly impoverished middle class becomes the prey of both black marketeers and the decadent upper classes. This whirlpool of economic ruin and…

Alright, Atlas lightens up. I figured after the relentless stream of O-bad news, it was time for a chuckle. And who better than Minnie's boys? Small bit of film trivia: Groucho played the guitar, but he only displayed this talent in one film, tonight's feature, 'Horse Feathers' (1932). It's a hoot.

Tonight's feature: SHOCKThis post-World War II suspense thriller sets off an emotional roller coaster after the psychologically fragile wife of a POW (Anabel Shaw) witnesses a brutal murder from a hotel window while waiting to be reunited with her husband (Frank Latimer). By the time he arrives, she's nearly comatose with shock. The hotel's psychiatrist…

The House on Haunted Hill, Vincent Price Perfect flick for all hallows eve, it's good stuff. Good enough to take your mind off the real monsters and terrifying ghouls on the Hill and in the White House: A perennial favorite of the "Shock Theatre" TV circuit, House on Haunted Hill stars Vincent Price as sinister…

The Omega Man Charlton Heston In March 1975, biological warfare between the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union kills most of the world’s human population. U.S. Army Colonel Robert Neville, M.D. (Charlton Heston) — a military scientist — begins to succumb to the plague, but vaccinates himself just in time, rendering himself immune….

Tonight's feature: Duel. First Spielberg film. Gripping. Brilliantly executed. Superb nail biter. Spielberg defines the characteristics of his prolific oeuvre in this early work. Through tightly wound cinematic narration, Speiberg effectively conveys the sudden and shocking horror that develops over the course of the film in the most ordinary and mundane schema.

There is an Elia Kazan film festival downtown at the Film Forum. I have been enjoying it enormously and wanted my readers to share in my delight. It’s not the same as seeing it on the big screen, but Kazan is Kazan. Magnificent, gripping, unmatched. Panic In The Streets (1950) One night in the New…

Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. The best of early Hitchcock, starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael RedgraveThe film was named "Best Picture of 1938" by the New York Times,[5] and Alfred Hitchcock received the 1939 New York Film Critics Circle Award for "Best Director". Camp, precious, winning and absurd.  The Lady Vanishes was one of Hitchcock's…

Escape from Sobibor (1987) Alan Arkin and Rutger Hauer star in this award winning movie about the successful mass escape of 300 prisoners from the Sobibor Nazi death camp. Click link below to view this film………….

Sabotage, Hitchcock It's  theme of our age. Sabotage is a dark and shocking early Hitchcock movie. Hitchcock lovers will enjoy it enormously. Here's video of Hitchcock talking about film making: here and here. And if you like it, here's more.

9/11 Originally broadcast on CBS in March 2002, 9/11 is an extraordinary record of that fateful day in New York City. This one-of-a-kind documentary was originally conceived as a portrait of 21-year-old Tony Benetatos, a firefighter trainee at Manhattan's Duane Street firehouse, located seven blocks from the World Trade Center. By the time filming was…

Beat the Devil: Directed in 1953 by John Huston. Screenplay by Truman Capote and John Huston. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley and Peter Lorre. The village band pounds out an oompah-pah tune, as police march four disreputable characters across the square. Already we're smiling. One is tall and round, one is…

The Stranger 1946  Orson and Edward G – da best! Set Connecticut after World War II, The Stranger is a cat and mouse game between Wilson (Edward G. Robinson), a member of the Allied War Crimes Commission and Franz Kindler (Orson Welles), a Nazi who has assumed the false identity of Dr. Charles Rankin. To…

He walked By Night 1948 Gripping film noir crime drama about a manhunt for a ruthless killer who plays a deadly cat and mouse game with the police. Starring Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Whit Bissell, and Jack Webb, this movie was the basis for "Dragnet". Watch for Whit Bissell, the unsung but solid bit player…

Jamaica Inn (Hitchcock, 1939)  Alfred Hitchcock's 1939 movie about Cornwall smugglers starring Charles Laughton (whom we adore) based on the  Daphne du Maurier novel. Vintage Hitchcock  ………..