Category Archives: Older Films

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

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Mark DuPré

How Green Was My Valley is now, and will continue to be, best remembered as the film that “stole” the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars from Citizen Kane. If I have to come down on one side or the … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Arthur C. Miller, Broken Blossoms, Citizen Kane, Donal Crisp, Drums Along the Mohawk, Gregg Toland, How Green Was My Valley, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Intolerance, Jezebel, John Ford, Maureen O'Hara, Mutiny on the Bounty, National Velvet, Pollyanna, Red Dust, Roddy McDowall, Spencer's Mountain, Stagecoach, The Birth of a Nation, The Grapes of Wrath, The Informer, The Life of Emile Zola, The Music Man, The Musketeers of Pig Alley, The Quiet Man, Tobacco Road, Walter Pidgeon, West Side Story, Wuthering Heights, Young Mr. Lincoln | Leave a comment

The Three to See: The Birth of a Nation, Gone with the Wind, and 12 Years a Slave

Posted on July 2, 2020 by Mark DuPré

The Three to See: Birth of a Nation, Gone with the Wind, and 12 Years Slave As I wade into where angels fear to tread, I want to make it clear that I am stepping outside the current social discussion … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films, Older Films | Tagged 12 Years a Slave, Benedict Cumberbatch, Broken Blossoms, Butterfly McQueen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Civil War, D.W. Griffith, Dark Victory, Dodge City, Gigi, Gone with the Wind, Green Book, Gunga Din, Hattie McDaniel, HBO Max, Hollywood, Intolerance, Jacqueline Stewart, Ku Klux Klan, Lillian Gish, Love Affair, Lupita Nyong'o, Max Steiner, Michael Fassbender, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, NAACP, Netflix, Ninotcha, Of Mice and Men, Olivia De Havilland, Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood, Oscars, Prissy, Reconstructionists, Sarah Paulson, Solomon Northup, Stagecoach, TCM, The Birth of a Nation, The Cheat, The Clansman, The Wizard of Oz, The Women, Viven Leigh, William Cameron Menzies, Woodrow Wilson, Wuthering Heights, YouTube | Leave a comment

Two Films from the Fifties: Niagara and Les Girls

Posted on June 23, 2020 by Mark DuPré

Note: It’s been a long time since I’ve had time to write for this space. The pandemic hit hard, as I was just getting accustomed to handling four college courses (two were new). Once we went online, I had to … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged A Star is Born, An American in Paris, cyd charisse, Debbie Reynolds, Don Wilson, gene kelly, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, George Cukor, Grace Kelly, Hello Dolly, Henry Hathaway, Hitchcock, How the West Was Won, it's always fair weather, Jack Cole, James Mason, Jean Peters, Joseph Cotton, Joseph MAcDonald, Kay Kendall, Les Girls, Leslie Caron, Lurene Tuttle, Marilyn Monroe, Max Showalter, MGM, Mitzi Gaynor, My Fair Lady, Niagara, Rashomon, Rex Harrison, Richard Allan. How to Marry a Millionaire, Robert Burks, singin' in the rain, South Pacific, Taina Elg, Technicolor, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, The Women, True Grit, Vera Ellen | Leave a comment

Quick Cuts: Winter Holiday Films

Posted on January 15, 2020 by Mark DuPré

To get personal for a minute, the reason I haven’t been writing here is because my life has been turned gloriously upside down, plus it’s been the holidays, plus we’ve had lots of company, plus I’ve been prepping for teaching … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films, Older Films | Tagged 1917, Adam Driver, Adam Sandlers, All Quiet on the Western Front, Anthony Hopkins, Bette Davis, Bombshell, Charlize Theron, Christian Bale, Daniel Craig, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Taylor, Errol Flynn, Ford v Ferrari, Golden Globes, Gretchen Carlsen, Hustlers, Idina Menzel, Janet Leigh, Jennifer Lopez, Jonathan Pryce, June Allyson, Knives Out, Laura Dern, Lewis Milestone, Little Women (1949), Lon Chaney Jr., Margaret O'Brien, Margot Robbie, Marriage Story, Matt Damon, Megyn Kelly, Michelle Williams, Nicole Kidman, Noah Baumbach, Of Mice and Men, Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood, Scarlett Johansson, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Front Page, The Irishman, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, The Two Popes, Uncut Gems | Leave a comment

The King of Kings (1927)

Posted on June 11, 2019 by Mark DuPré

First of all, apologies for how long it’s been. I’ve seen lots of movies, some old and a few new, but have been too busy with other activities. I hope this gets me back in the groove! So I stepped … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Bible, Cecil B. DeMille, Dorothy Cummings, H.B. Warner, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, It's a Wonderful Life, J. Peverell Marley, Jeffrey Hunter, Jesus, John Wayne, Judas, King James English, Mary Magdalene, Mel Gibson, Peter, Sunset Boulevard, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The King of Kings, The Passion of the Christ, The Ten Commandments, two-strip Technicolor, William Holden | Leave a comment