Category Archives: Older Films

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

Johnny Belinda (1948)

Posted on June 10, 2023 by Mark DuPré

This film nearly dropped from my “I really should see this movie sometime” list, as it has seemed to drop from the film-goer’s consciousness over time. I remembered that lead actress Jane Wyman (Mrs. Ronald Reagan at the time) won … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged A Patch of Blue, Agnes Moorehead, Alan Arkin, Audrey Hepburn, Billy Boy Thornton, Born on the Fourth of July, Brad Pitt, Charles Bickford, Charly, Citizen Kane, Cliff Robertson, Coming Home, Daniel Day-Lewis, East of Eden, Eddie Redmayne, Edward Norton, Elizabeth Hartman, Emmanuelle Riva, Forrest Gump, Gary Sinise, Gregg Toland, Holly Hunter, Jamie Foxx, Jane Wyman, Jarid Leto, Jessica Lange, Joanne Woodward, Jodie Foster, John Malkovich, John Mills, Johnny Belinda, Jon Voight, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lew Ayres, Marlee Matlin, Matthew McConaughey, My Left Foot, Ray, Rembrandt, Rinko Kikuchi, Robin Williams, Ryan's Daughter, Samantha Morton, Sandra Bullock, Sean Penn, Stage Fright, The Blind Side, The Long Voyage Home, The Lost Weekend, The Miracle Worker, The Piano, The Sound of Music, The Theory of Everything, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Tom Cruise, Wait Until Dark, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, Wuthering Heights | Leave a comment

Show People (1928)

Posted on January 23, 2023 by Mark DuPré

Silent and early sound film star Marion Davies was a wonderful comedienne when given the chance, and perhaps there was no greater opportunity for her to show her talents than in 1928’s Show People, her last major role in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged A Star is Born, Bill Gates, Blazing Saddles, Charles Chaplin, Charles Foster Kane, Citizen Kane, Claire Windsor, Dorothy Comingore, Dorothy Sebastian, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Eileen Pringle, Elon Musk, Estelle Taylor, George K. Arthur, Jeff Bezos, John Gilbert, Karl Dane, King Vidor, Louella Parsons, Mank, Marianne, Marion Davies, Norma Talmadge, Renée Adorée, San Luis Obispo, San Simeon, Show People, singin' in the rain, What Price Hollywood?, William Hart, William Randolph Hearst | Leave a comment

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Mark DuPré

In the wake of the death of the legendary Angela Lansbury, I thought I’d take another look at her third Oscar-nominated performance in the 1962 version of The Manchurian Candidate. It’s a film that disappeared for a while, so it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Angela Lansbury, Beauty and the Beast, Blow-Out, Blow-Up, China, Cold War, Edgar Wright, Frank Sinatra, Gaslight, James Brooks, John Frankenheimer, Joss Whedon, Laurence Harvey, Marathon Man, Murder She Wrote, Patty Duke, political thriller, Psycho, Ridley Scott, Robert Altman, Sidley Lumet, Soviet Union, The Conversation, The Manchurian Candidate, The Miracle Worker, The Parallax View, The Picture of Dorian Gray | Leave a comment

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les parapluies de Cherbourg) (French, 1964)

Posted on September 6, 2021 by Mark DuPré

DNow is probably the right time to take a first or second look at The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. There is nothing else like it, not even writer-director Jacques Demy’s next film, The Young Girls of Rochefort, and that one starred … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Agnes Varda, Annette, Brigitte Bardot, Danielle Darrieux, Dr. Zhivago, Edith Piaf, Francoise Dorléac, gene kelly, George Chakiris, I Will Wait for You, Jacques Demy, Jane Fonda, Jeanette MacDonald, Judy Garland, La Vie en Rose, Les Miserables, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, Marion Cotillard, Michel Legrand, Michel Piccoli, New Wave, Phantom of the Opera, Roger Vadim, singin' in the rain, Summer of '42, The Sound of Music, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Windmills of Your Mind, Vittoria De Sica, Yentl, Yesterday Today and Tomorrow | Leave a comment

Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935)

Posted on June 30, 2021 by Mark DuPré

Broadway Melody of 1936 is the second of four Broadway Melody films. The first, simply called The Broadway Melody (1929) is likely the most famous, as it was the first musical and first sound film to win Best Picture. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged A Midsummer Night's Dream, Broadway Melody, Broadway Melody of 1936, Broadway Melody of 1940, Buddy Ebsen, Eleanor Powell, Errol Flynn, For Me and My Gal, Fred Astaire, George White's 1935 Scandals, Ginger Rogers, Jack Benny, Jimmy Stewart, Katharine Hepburn, Morning Glory, Robert Taylor, Sid Silvers, Sing Before Breakfast, singin' in the rain, The Broadway Melody, The Wizard of Oz, Una Merkel, Vilma Ebsen, Wedding of the Painted Doll, You Were Meant for Me, Zoolander | Leave a comment

San Francisco (1936)

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Mark DuPré

I had always thought of 1936’s San Francisco as the ultimate early studio disaster movie I hadn’t seen yet, with then-groundbreaking effects dominating the film. Actually, the amount of film covering the devastating 1906 earthquake is relatively small, but the … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Barbary Coast, Clark Gable, Dancing Lady, earthquake, Jeanette MacDonald, King of Hollywood, M-G-M, Paul Muni, San Francisco, Spencer Tracy, The Story of Louis Pasteur | Leave a comment

Dancing Lady (1933)

Posted on April 7, 2021 by Mark DuPré

For a film historian and even for just a film buff, there is almost too much going on in 1933’s Dancing Lady. It’s pre-Code, coming at the end of 1933, which already makes it worthy of special attention, i.e., what … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged 42nd Street, Busby Berkeley, Clark Gable, Dance Fool Dance, Dancing Lady, Dick Powell, Eve Arden, Footlight Parade, Franchot Tone, Fred Astaire, Gold Diggers of 1933, Gone with the Wind, It Happened One Night, jazz baby, Jeanette MacDonald, Jeanine Basinger, Joan Crawford, May Robson, MGM, Nelson Eddy, Our Dancing Daughters, Robert Benchley, Ruby Keeler, Sterling Holloway, The Great Zeigfeld, Warner Brothers | Leave a comment