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Ford's Cinematic Send Off: THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE

(The following was included as part of my John Ford Film Study course which I taught in the winter/early spring semester of 2023. This is the last film featured in this Ford series. Please enjoy…) For our last film of this John Ford study, it seems rather fitting to end with the film that many consider to be Ford’s last great film, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE. A somber story with heavy…

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#Character actors #Classic Film #JohnFord #JohnWayne #LeeMarvin #theDuke #Westerns #WoodyStrode

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Christmas in Connecticut – Holiday Classic or Feminist Screwball?

For classic film fans, the holiday season represents a time to wax nostalgic over those classic films that pop up this time of year. Everyone has his or her own must-see favorites. Perhaps you prefer a mainstream flavor like WHITE CHRISTMAS or IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, or perhaps you go for something a bit under the mainstream radar like HOLIDAY AFFAIR or IT HAPPENED ON FIFTH AVENUE. Personally, I…

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#Character actors #Christmas movies #Classic Film #Comedy #screwball comedies

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Surviving Holiday MayhemWith These Ladies of Screwball Comedy

Dan (Ralph Bellamy): “I certainly learned about women from you.”Aunt Patsy (Cecil Cunningham): “Here’s your diploma.” (As she hands him Lucy’s break-up letter) In The Awful Truth (1937), Ralph Bellamy as wealthy cowpoke Dan does indeed learn a great deal about the risks and foibles of falling for a glamorous socialite (Irene Dunne), still in love with her soon-to-be-ex husband (Cary Grant). In…

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#CarolLombard #IreneDunne #KatharineHepburn #RosalindRussell #ScrewballComedies

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A Christmas Miracle Comes for Trudy Kockenlocker

Many a cinephile enjoy debating what films merit the definition for a holiday movie. Ever since Preston Sturges directed THE MIRACLE of MORGAN’S CREEK (1944), the controversy surrounding the film was less focused on whether it’s a Christmas movie, but more on the shock that it ever passed the production code under Breen’s watchful eyes. Written and directed by the king of screwball comedies,…

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#Character actors #ChristmasMovies #Classic Film #Slapstick

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A Western Rarity: SERGEANT RUTLEDGE (1960)

With this Ford film, we’ll continue the themes from rugged wilderness and racism as discussed in my coverage of THE SEARCHERS, into similar territory in SERGEANT RUTLEDGE. We will take a closer look at the ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ of the U.S. Cavalry history, but with the suspense of a courtroom drama. For discussion of this film’s story, it’s important to note the historical relevance of Black…

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#westerns #BlackWesterns #Character actors #Classic Film #JeffreyHunter #JohnFord #JuanoHernandez #WoodyStrode

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WEREWOLF OF LONDON (1935)

We’ve reached the end of our cinematic journey of Universal Classic Monsters. As we focused on Universal Pictures’ transition into sound production films and their successes in the genre of horror, we finish appropriately enough at the end of the Laemmle empire. Even with the financial and critical success of SHOW BOAT (1936), the too many flops and debts from over-spending added up. Carl Laemmle…

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#ClassicFilm #UniversalHorror #WerewolfFilms

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Falling For a Psychopath: ANGEL FACE (1953)

There’s something engrossing in the character study of a beautiful psychopath. In Otto Preminger’s ANGEL FACE (1953), we get up close with an alluring monster. Don’t be too disappointed that only few spoilers and not much plot details are coming your way. This film is not a whodunnit murder mystery. Oh sure there will be murder. But there’s no mystery of this particular killer… and all her…

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#CMBA #FemmeFatale #FilmNoir #JeanSimmons #OttoPreminger #RobertMitchum

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A Case for Campy or Creepy-THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935)

We’re in for a real treat. Many consider, and I’m in full agreement, that James Whale’s THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) to be the best of the Universal classic monster films. The question is WHY? We’ll discuss that, and perhaps you’ll have your own opinions on this. We have studied several Universal horrors up to this point, along with the details of what was transpiring behind the scenes with…

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#BorisKarloff #Classic Film #ElsaLanchester #JackPierce #JamesWhale #Universal Horror

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A Sinister Study: THE BLACK CAT (1934)

This marks the first of eight films that paired Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. Both big names in Hollywood coming off of their huge successes of DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN. But while Karloff would continue his success in the years that followed, Lugosi’s career struggled. DRACULA would be his first major Hollywood role, and his biggest. Lugosi didn’t seem the right fit for many roles that better…

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#Bela Lugosi #BorisKarloff #Classic Film #DavidManners #EdgarGUlmer #Universal Horror

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Deep Focus on THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933)

As we traverse into our latest Universal monster film, James Whale’s THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933), we feel a sense of familiarity with another examination into madness. But this tale goes deeper and more personal than our prior films. This time, the scientist is not just driven into insanity by his passionate pursuits, but could he be the monster, too? H.G. Wells published his novel, “The Invisible…

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#ClauseRains #JamesWhale #UnaOConnor #Universal Horror

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THE MUMMY (1932)

In our 3rd film in this Universal Horror series, we’re studying Karl Freund’s THE MUMMY (1932). While we travel to ancient Egypt via California and Universal City, this tale feels strangely familiar territory. Again, we see familiar faces. But have we been here before? One of the themes of THE MUMMY is reincarnation; but in many aspects, the story itself is a reincarnation of DRACULA (1931). This…

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#BorisKarloff #Classic Film #Universal Horror

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FRANKENSTEIN (1931): A Film Study

“How do you do? Mr. Carl Laemmle feels it would be a little unkind to present this picture without just a word of friendly warning: We are about to unfold the story of Frankenstein, a man of science who sought to create a man after his own image without reckoning upon God. It is one of the strangest tales ever told. It deals with the two great mysteries of creation; life and death. I think it…

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#BorisKarloff #Classic Film #HorrorClassics #JackPierce #JamesWhale

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THE SEARCHERS (1956), a Film Study

[The following was part of my John Ford film study course I taught in the winter of 2023. SPOILERS are included in this handout, so if you haven’t watched this film before, feel free to refrain until you do so.] As we transition to our next film, THE SEARCHERS (1956), we will experience a very different John Ford film, with a starkly darker role for John Wayne. Based on a novel of child…

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#Classic Film #JeffreyHunter #JohnFord #JohnWayne #NatalieWood #Westerns

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John Ford's SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON

The film we’ll be screening tonight is one of Ford’s ‘Calvary trilogy’ films, SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON. So called for the use of the United States Calvary at the center of these stories. FORT APACHE (1948), SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (1949), and RIO BRAVO (1950) … each film explored Ford’s passion for blending war and western themes in succession after World War II. Ford takes a romanticized and…

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#BenJohnson #Character actors #JohnWayne #MildredNatwick #VictorMcLaglen #Westerns

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THREE GODFATHERS- Is It a Christmas Movie?

John Ford’s THREE GODFATHERS (1948) (The following is my handout from the John Ford course I taught in the winter semester of 2023.) It’s no longer the holiday season. You might have too much holiday fatigue to appreciate the oft debated topic of just what prequalifies a film to be a “Christmas movie.” For example, you may or may not agree that DIE HARD (1983) is a Christmas film. But after…

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#HarryCareyJr #JohnFord #JohnWayne #MildredNatwick #PedroArmendariz #WardBond #westerns

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The Informer: a Ford Film Study

John Ford’s THE INFORMER (1935) By: Kellee Pratt Both haunting and tense, John Ford’s depiction of a day in 1922 Dublin in the struggles for an Irish independence would land him his first Oscar. THE INFORMER (1935) would go on to be unexpected box office hit, gaining rave reviews from both audiences and critics, and earning a total of six Academy Award nominations, winning four. Against all…

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BEN JOHNSON, a Real Reel Cowboy

Francis Benjamin Johnson was born in Foreacre, Oklahoma on June 13, 1918. Born of Irish, Osage and Cherokee Indigenous ancestry, and the son of ranchers Ollie Susan and Ben Johnson, Jr. Oklahoma-born Ben Johnson was a true cowboy and horse wrangler that first made his way into Hollywood via providing horses to Howard Hughes for THE OUTLAW (1943). He realized he could make more money by…

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#BenJohnson #characterActors #JohnFord #stunts #westerns