Category Archives: Older Films

An Unfortunate Remake: High and Low (1963) / Highest 2 Lowest (2025)

Posted on January 17, 2026 by Mark DuPré

Remakes have a reputation of being inferior to the original. That’s not always true; there are many good-to-great films that are remakes. Some of the best include: The Maltese Falcon ((1941), a remake of the 1931 film of the same … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Film-Related Articles, Newer films, Older Films | Tagged A Star is Born, American Fiction, Anthony Ramos, Ben-Hur, David King, Denzel Washington, Diddy, Do the Right Thing, Fanfare d'Amour, film, Gondo, High and Low, Highest 2 Lowest, His Girl Friday, Hitchcock, Infernal Affairs, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Japan, Jay-Z, Jeffrey Wright, Liam Neeson, Love Affair, Manhattan, Mariah Carey, Marlon Brando, movies, Oceans 11, Psycho, Rashoman, Rosie Perez, Samuel L. Jackson, Satan Met a Lady, Sean Combs, Seven Samourai, Some Like it Hot, Spike Lee, The Blob, The Departed, The Fly, The Front Page, The Godfather, The Maltese Falcon, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Ten Commandments, The Thomas Crown Affair, Throne of Blood, Tom Cruise, Toshiro Mifune, True Grit, Westworld, Whitney Houston, Yojimbo, Yutaka Sada | Leave a comment

The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)

Posted on June 25, 2025 by Mark DuPré

Don’t let the date of the film put you off. This is a delightful dramedy about England’s most notorious king and his six wives. While creaky and primitive by today’s standards, the film itself is a riot and very enjoyable. … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Alexander Korda, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Best Actor, Binne Barnes, Brief Encounter, Broadway Melody of 1938, Charles Laughton, Come to the Stable, David Lean, Elsa Lanchester, Emeric Pressburger, Everley Gregg, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Great Expectations, Jane Seymour, Katherine Howard, Katherine of Aragon, Katherine Parr, Maria Corda, Merle Oberon, Michael Powell, Oscar, Pygmalion, Robert Donat, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Last of the Mohicans, The Private Life of Henry VIII, The Trouble with Angels, Thomas Culpepper, Wendy Barrie, Witness for the Prosecution | Leave a comment

Yentl

Posted on April 17, 2025 by Mark DuPré

My head is still spinning after my recent rewatch of 1983’s Yentl after originally seeing it in the theater when it was released. Spinning because so much of it was so very good, spinning because much of it was so … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Alan Bergman, Amy Irving, Barbra Streisand, Citizen Kane, David Watkin, Fanny Brice, film, Funny Girl, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Mandy Patinkin, Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand, movies, music, Orson Welles, Out of Africa, reviews, Richard Gere, Summer of '42, The Thomas Crown Affair, Windmills of Your Mind, Yentl, Yentl the Yeshiva Boy | Leave a comment

Ryan’s Daughter

Posted on April 13, 2025 by Mark DuPré

Fifty-five years after its release, 1970’s Ryan’s Daughter surely needs another look. The reputation of this David Lean-directed film has suffered over the years for a couple of key reasons: its own genuine weaknesses plus the breadth of its scope. … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged 49th Parallel, A Passage to India, Academy Awards, awards, Blithe Spirit, Brief Encounter, Christopher Jones, David Lean, Doctor Zhivago, film, Freddie Young, Great Expectations, Hayley Mills, Hobson's Choice, In Which We Serve, It Was a Good Time, John Mills, Julie Cristie, Lawrence of Arabia, Maurice Jarre, movies, Noel Coward, Oliver Twist, Omar Sharif, One of Our Aircraft is Missing, Oscars, Peggy Ashcroft, Pygmalion, Robert Mitchum, Ryan’s Daughter, Sarah Miles, Summertime, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Sound Barrier, Trevor Howard | Leave a comment

Two and a Half Flicks: The Narrow Margin, Manhattan Melodrama, and Return to Glennascaul

Posted on January 29, 2025 by Mark DuPré

Narrow Margin, 1952 Manhattan Melodrama (1934) Return to Glennascaaul (1952, a short with Orson Welles) Having spent the long weekend with best friend Clint Morgan and his wife, I knew that I would be treated to a series of classic … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Barabbas, Charles McGraw, Clark Gable, Conan the Barbarian, David O. Selznick, Design for Death, Donald Ogden Stewart, Fantastic Voyage, George Cukor, Hilton Edwards, Jack Conway, James Wong Howe, John Dillinger, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Manhattan Melodrama, Marie Windson, Mickey Rooney, Myrna Loy, Orson Welles, Return to Glennascaul, Slavko Vorkapich, Soylent Green, William Powell | 1 Comment

Melody Cruise (1933)

Posted on January 6, 2025 by Mark DuPré

Melody Cruise is a delightful, one-of-a-kind film that’s not quite a musical (but is), not quite a romantic comedy (but is, sort of), a very Pre-Code film (which is definitely is), and a crazy blend of cinematic experimentation and sheer … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Alice Faye, Astaire, Charles Ruggles, Chick Chandler, Holiday Inn, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Love Me Tonight, Mae West, Mark Sandrich, Melody Cruise, Phil Harris, RKO, Rogers, She Done HIm Wrong, Soldiers of Fortune | Leave a comment

La Bohème

Posted on December 4, 2024 by Mark DuPré

La Bohème is a silent film from 1926 starring the luminous Lillian Gish and the overactive John Gilbert, and is directed by King Vidor (Oscar nominations for directing The Crowd, Hallelujah, The Champ, The Citadel, and War and Peace). Note: … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged books, film, Lillian Gish, movies, reviews | Leave a comment

Stars Are Born: A Comparison of the Five “A Star is Born” Films

Posted on June 21, 2024 by Mark DuPré

There isn’t much of any interest in movie theaters these days, so it’s a good time to remind everyone of all the classics available to enjoy. In fact, it’s always a good time to view the classics. So here is … Continue reading →

Posted in Film-Related Articles, Newer films, Older Films | Tagged 1932, 1937, 1954, 1976, 2018, A Star is Born, Adela Rogers St. Johns, Adolphe Menjou, Andy Devine, Barbara Bennett, Barbra Streisand, Bat, Batman, Bing Crosby, Bradley Cooper, Climb Every Mountain, Constance Bennett, D.W. Griffith, Eddie Rochester Anderson, Evergreen, Frank Pierson, Frederic March, Gene Fowler, George Cukor, Gone with the Wind, Humphrey Bogart, James Mason, Jane Murfin, Janet Gaynor, Joan Bennett, Judy Garland, Kris Kristofferson, Lady Gaga, Lionel Stander, Louise Beavers, Lowell Sherman, Maestro, Marlon Brando, May Robson, Meet Me in St. Louis, On the Waterfront, Owen Moore, Paul Williams, Peggy Wood, Rebecca, RKO Pathé, Robert Carson, Sunrise, Sunset Boulevard, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Caine Mutiny, The Country Girl, The High and the Mighty, The Ox-Bow Indcident, The Wizard of Oz, William Wellman | Leave a comment

Tiger Bay (1959) and Hayley Mills

Posted on April 17, 2024 by Mark DuPré

My first celebrity crush was blonde ingenue Hayley Mills. If you are older or have seen old Disney movies, you may remember her from 1960’s Pollyanna and/or 1961’s The Parent Trap—the original one. Those were probably the first two films … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged A Fistful of Dollars, Anton Yelchin, BAFTA, Brittany Murphy, Chadwick Boseman, Clint Eastwood, David Lean, entertainment, film, Great Expectations, Hayley Mills, Heath Ledger, Hollywood, Horst Buchholz, In Which We Serve, J. Lee Thompson, James Dean, John Mills, kitchen-sink drama, Life is Beautiful, Liza Minnelli, movies, New Wave, news, Noel Coward, Omar Shariff, Pollyanna, River Phoenix, Roy Boulting, Ryan's Daughter, So Well Remembered, The Guns of Navarone, The Magnificent Seven, The Parent Trap, West Side Story, Whistle Down the Wind | Leave a comment

Since You Went Away (1944)

Posted on October 21, 2023 by Mark DuPré

I thought for years that I had been missing a “must see” film, one produced by Gone with the Wind producer David O. Selznick, nominated for nine Oscars, and featuring, as the trailer tells us, “The Most Distinguished Cast of … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Claudette Colbert, David O. Selznick, deep focus, Duel in the Son, Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel, It Happened One Night, It's a Wonderful Life, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotton, Lee Garmes, Lionel Barrymore, Monty Woolley, Mr. Potter, Mrs. Miniver, Portrait of Jennie, Rebecca, Robert Walker, Scarface, Shanghai Express, Shirley Temple, Since You Went Away, Stanley Cortez, Strangers on a Train, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Paradine Case, The Song of Bernadette | Leave a comment