My aunt Marilyn Granas, who was Shirley Temple’s first “stand-in”, a co-star in some of Shirley’s “Baby Burlesque” shorts, the star of avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger’s first publicly shown film Escape Episode (1947), and later a casting agent, has passed away at age 98.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Friday, December 12, 2025
This weekend on TCM:
‘Noiristas’, seeking a slick and twisty British Neo-noir from Hammer Studios, need look no further than Hidden Gem #35 Cash on Demand, released in 1961.
Read MoreThese are some of Cinema's sad departures of 2023 taken from my personal notes soon after the events took place:
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Thursday, December 11, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until December 16th):
“The mattress is soft and there're hangers in the closet and stationary with ‘Bates' Motel’ printed on it in case you want to make your friends back home envious.”
Still another Hitchcock artistic triumph was, at the time (including throughout its primary creator’s career), the most audacious cinematic assault ever perpetrated on the movie going public or the Motion Picture Production Code for that matter. 1960's Psycho was previously reviewed here.
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Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Today on TCM:
The next TCM recommendation has been reviewed in Opening Up a Treasure: The Night of the Hunter.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Monday, December 8, 2025
Today on TCM:
Next up, is a WW II film that can only be defined by its setting. There are just too many dispersed ideas regarding tone and perspective to communicate what kind of film Kelly’s Heroes (1970) is, let alone how any of its numerous genre types are successfully represented.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Friday, December 5, 2025
Tomorrow on TCM:
After her breakthrough role in Joseph von Sternberg's The Blue Angel made in Germany, Marlene Dietrich made six more films with the autocratic director in the U.S. The Scarlet Empress (1934), previously reviewed here, is arguably the duo’s most accomplished.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Thursday, December 4, 2025
Tomorrow on TCM:
Next is a sterling example of how to present complex and enthralling characters, all of whom develop naturally while still holding our intense fascination: Citizen Kane (1941).
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Wednesday, December 3, 2025
Tomorrow on TCM:
Few biopics are as inspirational as Michael Curtiz’ Jim Thorpe - All American (1951), a previous TCM recommendation here, and one that can be appreciated again Thursday, December 4 at 11:15 am PST.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Today on TCM:
John Huston's Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) is a film I have mixed feelings about.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Monday, December 1, 2025
Today on TCM:
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:
Thursday, November 27, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until December 2nd):
Viewers who dare to have their imaginations stretched considerably should be rewarded Where Eagles Dare (1968), previously reviewed here.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Friday, November 21, 2025
This weekend on TCM:
If I was in charge of choosing a single film noir for someone only willing to see one in the entire canon, I would select Double Indemnity (1944) as its most fulfilling and accomplished representative.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Thursday, November 20, 2025
Currently available at Watch TCM (until December 2nd):
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), previously reviewed here, is loaded with multi-faceted insights and hidden rumination on human relationships providing viewers with much to ponder long after this tale of romantic obsession ends.
Read MoreJust some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Tomorrow on TCM:
Lee Marvin stars in the explosive and stylish thriller Point Blank (1967).
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