Category Archives: Older Films

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

Tombstone (1993)

Posted on December 12, 2020 by Mark DuPré

I was speaking with one of my sons the other day, and he made a Tombstone reference. I confessed that I hadn’t seen the film, and he humorously dropped his phone and generally expressed his horror and disappointment. The gauntlet … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Billy Zane, Charlton Heston, Cobra, Dana Delaney, Doc Holliday, George Cosmatos, Jason Priestly, John Corbett, Jon Tenney, Kevin Jarre, Kurt Russell, Leviathan, Michael Biehn, Michael Rooker, Powers Boothe, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Sam Elliott, Stephen Lang, Thomas Haden Church, Tombstone, Val Kilmer, Wyatt Earp | Leave a comment

Two ’50s Films That “Shouldn’t Have Won” Best Picture

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Mark DuPré

(Note: It’s been a while since I’ve written. There was some pandemic going around that seems to have messed things up a while. Plus I’ve been busier than usual. But I hope that retiring from teaching, which I’ve just done, … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Anastasia, Argosy Pictures, Around the World in 80 Days, Baby Doll, Betty Hutton, Bus Stop, Cantinflas, Cary Grant, Cecil B. DeMille, Charlton Heston, Come Back, Cornel Wilde, David Niven, Dorothy Lamour, Fred Zinnemann, Friendly Persuasion, George Barnes, Giant, Gloria Grahame, Golden Globes, High Noon, I Vitelloni, Ivanhoe, James Stesart, Jean Hagen, John Ford, Joseph McCarthy, La Strada, Little Sheba, Lust for Life, Michael Todd, Moby Dick, My Cousin Rachel, Pia Zadora, Republic Pictures, Richard III, Seven Samurai, Shirley MacLaine, singin' in the rain, Technicolor, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Greatest Show on Earth, The King and I, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, The Ten Commandments, War and Peace, Written on the Wind | Leave a comment

Tough Films, Great Performances: The Informer (1935) and The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)

Posted on August 20, 2020 by Mark DuPré

I’m not sure exactly what I imagined The Informer to be, but it wasn’t what I expected. This is the film that gave John Ford his first of four Best Director Oscars (still unmatched) and gave an Oscar to lead … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Battle Cry, Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance, Caged, Casablanca, Charles Laughton, Clark Cable, Dark Victory, Detective Story, Eleanor Powell, Elmer Bernstein, Ernest Borgnine, Franchot Tone, Frank Sinatra, From Here to Eternity, Gone with the Wind, Interrupted Melody, Jezebel, John Ford, Johnny Belinda, Kim Novak, Life with Father, Marlon Brando, Marty, Max Steiner, Mutiny on the County, Now Voyager, Otto Preminger, Sergeant York, Since You Went Away, The Caine Mutiny, The Garden of Allah, The Gay Divorcee, The Informer, The Letter, The Man with the Golden Arm, The Moon is Blue, The Sound of Music, Victor McLaughlin | Leave a comment