Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until August 22nd):
Unlike the hardened criminals Sterling Hayden portrays in both The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and The Killing (1956), 1953’s Crime Wave has Hayden playing hardened cop Detective Lt. Sims. Previously reviewed here, this is one wave you’ll be glad you caught.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Monday, August 11, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until August 16th):
James Garner, Rod Taylor and Eva Marie Saint star in the intriguing “Mission Impossible” prototype espionage thriller 36 Hours (1964), previously reviewed here.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Friday, August 8, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until September 4th):
Some cinephiles take aim at those films identified as film noir if their stories’ setting occur during an earlier time than the classic period (1940 - 1959) in which they were made. They insist that this alone would disqualify a film from being categorised as such, even though the dark criminal surroundings and emphasis on character motive are present and accounted for. The Tall Target is such an example and for myself, joins other so called “period noirs” that are rightfully embraced in the film noir canon.
Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Thursday, August 7, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until September 4th):
In my review of 1942’s Casablanca, I made some criticism regarding its emotionally underwhelming Parisian flashback. Prior to this film Casablanca's producer Hal Wallis and one of its contributing writers, Casey Robinson, made Now, Voyager (1942), previously reviewed here, where the romance witnessed from start to finish comes alive with fervour, maturity and elegance.
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Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until August 9th):
MGM contract player Robert Taylor appeared in a startling number of excellent films. Johnny Eager (1941), a previous recommendation here, is one of them.
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Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Friday, August 1, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until August 10th):
Both tension and fear are at their zenith in Cape Fear (1962) with Robert Mitchum once again playing southern bred evil incarnate as he did in 1955’s The Night of the Hunter.
Read MoreJust 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.
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