Guest blogger presents this captivating look at the life and death of a true Hollywood original: Most people believe Alan Ladd committed suicide, but the details surrounding his death are so convoluted no one can be sure what really happened….
Read more →Articles by: Mark Fertig
Drive: Movie Review
Drive the 2011 neo-noir film starring Ryan Gosling is reviewed. It isn’t often that such a classicly rendered film noir hits the mainstream. Make no mistake about what Drive is and isn’t: it isn’t an L.A. Confidential-style period piece, nor is…
Read more →Classic Noir: Crime Wave
Noir 101. The Essentials. Crime Wave. Really? If this little policier from Warner Bros. (filmed in 1952, released in ’54) isn’t part of your vocabulary then it needs to be; and considering it was finally released on DVD a few…
Read more →I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951)
In 1945 John E. Rankin, the long serving, bombastic, and racist congressman from Mississippi stated “one of the most dangerous plots ever instigated for the overthrow of this government has its headquarters in Hollywood … the greatest hotbed of subversive…
Read more →Deanna Durbin & Christmas Holiday
I became interested in classic film early in my teens. Able to stay up late during summer vacations I passed the time with American Movie Classics. (TCM was still more than a decade away). Despite being weaned in a house…
Read more →Champion (1949): A Classic Movie Review
Director: Mark Robson. (Significant films as director: The Bridges at Toko-Ri, The Trial, The Harder They Fall, Peyton Place, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Von Ryan’s Express) Cinematographer: Franz Planer (Golden Globe winner for this film, Academy Award nominee.)…
Read more →