Filmmaker and old-time radio enthusiast Michael James Kacey shares his memories of screening “A Mercury Production by Orson Welles” at the beautifully restored Los Angeles movie palace.
Read more →Grander Than Life: Citizen Kane at the Orpheum
1940s Movies
Classic 1940s movie reviews, movie articles and information. Movie reviews from classic movies from 1940 to 1949, the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Remember the Night (1940): A Movie Too Good to Show Only at Christmas
New York City D.A. Fred MacMurray heads home to Indiana for the holidays–with shoplifter Barbara Stanwyck in tow–in the charming Yuletide tale Remember the Night. As this classic review explains, the 1940 comedy is truly a year-round treat.
Read more →Happy Black Friday (1940) with Boris and Bela!
Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi went shopping for scares in the 1940 Universal thriller Black Friday, an odd tale of mad doctors, mobsters and brain transplants. Read on to see if the terror titans’ final team-up for the studio was a bargain or a bust.
Read more →Tyrone Power Makes the Mark of Zorro (1940)
Was Tyrone Power ever more dashing than as the masked swordsman of Old California in 1940’s The Mark of Zorro? Guest writer Laura Grieve offers her mark on the swashbuckler gem, which also starred Linda Darnell and Basil Rathbone.
Read more →The Clock: Judy Garland and Robert Walker Find Time for Love
With only 48 hours’ furlough in New York before he returns to combat, soldier Robert Walker meets and falls for secretary Judy Garland in The Clock. Guest writer Kristen Lopez takes a few minutes to review this 1945 MGM romance, directed by Vincente Minnelli.
Read more →Pitfall (1948): Suburban, Middle-Class Film Noir
Film Noir’s dark shadows weren’t confined to dim city streets, as suburban family man Dick Powell found out to his regret in Pitfall. Rick29 shines a light on the 1948 United Artists thriller, which co-starred Jane Wyman, Lizabeth Scott and Raymond Burr.
Read more →June Haver and Gordon MacRae Look for the Silver Lining
June Haver played popular ’20s Broadway star Marilyn Miller in the 1949 Warner Bros. musical Look for the Silver Lining. Guest writer Jessica Pickens reviews the biopic and how it compare to Miller’s trouble-filled real life.
Read more →Playmates (1941): The Undiscovered Country
So, what are John Barrymore’s only screen performance of Hamlet’s “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy–and Barrymore himself–doing in a musical comedy with bandleader Kay Kyser? Guest writer Mike Reid reviews The Great Profile’s final film, 1941’s Playmates.
Read more →The Major and the Minor: Billy Wilder Kids Around
Directorial debuts are rarely better–or funnier–than writer-turned-helmer Billy Wilder’s The Major and the Minor. Guest blogger Aurora reviews this 1942 comedy in which Ginger Rogers poses as a 12-year-old girl, only to fall for military school teacher Ray Milland.
Read more →The Inside Scoop on His Girl Friday
Machine gun-quick dialogue and a lively romantic triangle make His Girl Friday a landmark in the screwball comedy genre. Guest writer Kim Wilson offers a “front page” review of the 1940 Cary Grant/Rosalind Russell/Ralph Bellamy gem.
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