Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until August 1st):
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) has Humphrey Bogart portraying perhaps his darkest and most psychologically troubled character.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until July 24th):
“Imagine a dish like this married to a mug like Benny McBride... the naked and the dead.”
Next up is Richard Fleischer’s little powder keg of a film noir Armored Car Robbery (1950), previously recommended here.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Monday, July 21, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until August 11th):
TCM is having a rare showing of The Gangster (1947).
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Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Friday, July 18, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until July 21st):
One of Sidney Poitier’s most persuasive film roles occurs in the lesser known but exceptional cold war thriller The Bedford Incident: Hidden Gem #32 and previously recommended here.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Monday, July 14, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until July 15th):
… is David Lean’s magnificent 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until July 13th):
In 1966, one of the more challenging films to face off against the Production Code (mentioned in Exploring the Artefacts #3: Code Breakers) was that year’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (reviewed here) remarkably delivering all of the guttural force of its theatrical origin while creating a more intimate, and cinema appropriate, dynamic all its own.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until June 29th):
From the same director who brought us Citizen Kane comes another kind of cinematic hero (of sorts). Michael O'Hara, like the deeply flawed Kane, is flawlessly played by his creator Orson Welles. Unlike Citizen Kane however, this film fell under its producer Harry Cohn's butchery with considerable footage lost and destroyed forever. Nevertheless, what survives is vastly entertaining and not to be missed. The Lady from Shanghai (1947) was previously recommended here.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Monday, June 16, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until July 12th):
"Complaining about the far-fetched circumstances in films noir is like objecting to the lack of realism in a Picasso painting. What I mean is that lovers of these criminally rich cinematic delights oughtn’t to bother picking out the implausibilities, since they are practically a hallmark of noir's style."
I've written this before when introducing Split Second (1953), a film noir that presents some rather unlikely occurring, but fascinating, situations.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Monday, June 9, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until July 6th):
A pre-code charmer sure to delight fans is Blonde Crazy (1931) with Jimmy Cagney and Joan Blondell enchanting as a couple of cons.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Friday, June 6, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until June 17th):
“I love this dirty town.”
New York City’s vernacular never smelled sweeter than it does in 1957’s Sweet Smell of Success.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Thursday, June 5, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until June 21st):
It's back to westerns with another Top Ten (#3) and Hidden Gem #19, Devil's Doorway.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until June 10th):
Rarely does an atmosphere of such overpowering dread subsume a cinematic story so completely as it does 1943's The Seventh Victim.
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Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until June 28th):
Next is Top Ten Western #1, the explosively confrontational The Wild Bunch (1969).
Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Monday, June 2, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until June 17th):
A CC Hidden Gem (#30) rarely shown on TCM is Nagisa Oshima's 1969 feature Boy a.k.a. Shonen previously cited here.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until May 24th):
“I love this dirty town.”
New York City’s vernacular never smelled sweeter than it does in 1957’s Sweet Smell of Success.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Monday, May 12, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until May 17th):
Dark Passage (1947) is a wildly engrossing film noir that combines the best of romance with the best of noir in the best location for both: San Francisco.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until May 27th):
TCM is presenting an unequivocal masterpiece and one of Cinema's greatest artistic achievements: Marcel Carne's Children of Paradise (Les enfants du paradis) (1945).
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Monday, May 5, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until May 10th):
In the U.K. town of Midwich, strange children with mysterious origins are behaving badly. Find out just how bad when viewing the chilling Village of the Damned (1960), previously reviewed here.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Thursday, April 17, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until April 21st):
This must-see TCM film recommendation is Italian director Vittorio De Sica's 1948 neo-realist masterpiece The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette), one of the most emotionally devastating films of all time (See: Top Ten: World Cinema Treasures).
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