Summer in New York and the streets are baking. Luckily, the Quad has been offering film buffs air-conditioned refuge, plus chills of a different kind: a series dedicated to Hammer, the British studio synonymous with Gothic horror. Founded in 1934, Hammer Film Productions churned out mysteries and adaptations of radio serials before finding its niche […]
Life with Fathers: Nine Fathers for Father’s Day
Happy Father’s Day! As we celebrate fathers of all shapes and sizes, here are a handful of cinematic ones who run the gamut of paternal devotion. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) When Scout Finch (Mary Badham) comes home weeping after a disastrous first day at school, her father comforts her with the following advice: “You […]
Blogathons Ahoy!
July is blogathon month on Retro Movie Buff. I enjoyed writing for Moon in Gemini’s Outer Space on Film blogathon so much, I’ve signed up to write for a few more. They are: the Second Annual Alfred Hitchcock blogathon, hosted by Maddy Loves Her Classic Films; the Winter in July blogathon, hosted by Moon in […]
The Walk to the Paradise Garden: ‘A Month in the Country’ (1987)
As the hundredth anniversary of the Armistice approaches the First World War slips further away. The last veterans are gone. A collective memory of trenches, poppies, lions led by donkeys, and Rupert Brooke giving way to Wilfred Owen remains. Yet the Great War, fought by those who never imagined there would be a greater one, […]
A Few Words on Anthony Bourdain
Yesterday I awoke to the news that Anthony Bourdain had died at the age of 61—he had apparently committed suicide. This was inexplicable. How could a man so wonderfully alive possibly be dead? I was a latecomer to Bourdain’s world; it helped that he was a film buff. A few years ago, I bumped into […]
Songs of Enchantment: ‘The Tales of Hoffmann’ (1951)
The Tales of Hoffmann exists in defiance of the commonplace. Steeped in magic, bright with beauty, it explodes like a flare, dazzling you with colour and sound. You emerge dazed and longing to see it all over again. Only Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger could have made it. In the 1940s and ‘50s Powell and […]
The Riddle Called Married Life: ‘Two for the Road’ (1967)
Two for the Road begins with a love affair gone sour then cycles back to when it began, skipping back and forth in time and through different phases: flirtation, rancour, complacency and newly-wedded bliss. The film is a non-linear slide into heartache. Driving through a small town, Mark (Albert Finney) and Joanna Wallace (Audrey Hepburn) […]
In the Mouth of Madness: ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’ (1961)
How does a man go mad? In The Pit and the Pendulum the answer is inch by inch, like shadows creeping up a stair. A disintegrating mind is as terrifying as a haunted house. Francis Barnard (John Kerr) isn’t interested in ghosts. They interfere with facts. Sent word that his sister Elizabeth (Barbara Steele) has […]
The Debonair Fred Astaire
It’s impossible to love musicals and not revere Fred Astaire. The epitome of elegance, Astaire was an actor, singer, choreographer, fashion icon and one of the greatest dancers in film history, whose 76 year-career encompassed 10 Broadway and West End shows, 31 musical films and dozens of recordings and TV appearances. He entered show business […]
To Boldly Spoof: ‘Galaxy Quest’ (1999)
This post is part of the Outer Space on Film Blogathon, hosted by Moon in Gemini. See the other posts here. Resistance is futile. Live long and prosper. By Grabthar’s hammer. The last of these is not like the others. Grabthar hails from Galaxy Quest, a cinematic love letter to Star Trek that boldly parodies […]
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