retromoviebuff

Musings of a movie buff

  • Home
  • Welcome to Retro Movie Buff
  • About Edirin

FilmStruck – A Fond Farewell

October 31, 2018 By retromoviebuff Leave a Comment

There are disappointments in the life of a cinephile that cause her to sigh and shrug. Say the implosion of MoviePass and a film-a-day deal that always seemed too good to last. And then there are injustices so great they make her rail against the heavens like Howard Beale in Network: FilmStruck is shutting down […]

Filed Under: Film Appreciation, Lists Tagged With: Animation, Classic Hollywood, Criterion Collection, Danny Kaye, FilmStruck, Fredric March, French Films, Harold Lloyd, Max von Sydow

Adventures in Time and Space: ‘Dr. Who and the Daleks’ (1965) and ‘Daleks – Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.’ (1966)

October 7, 2018 By retromoviebuff Leave a Comment

At 5:16 PM on 23 November 1963, a new science fiction show premiered on the BBC. What started out as a mild curiosity in a junkyard has grown into the world’s longest-running science fiction series, a grand adventure spanning over 50 years across television, radio, comics, videogames and novels (plus a marvellous, fan-made stop-motion animation series). […]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: BBC, British Films, Doctor Who, Gordon Flemyng, Milton Subotsky, Peter Cushing, Science Fiction, TV, William Hartnell, William Russell

The Measure of Love: ‘Pandora and the Flying Dutchman’ (1951)

October 6, 2018 By retromoviebuff 7 Comments

This post is part of The James Mason Blogathon, hosted by Maddy Loves Her Classic Films. See the other posts here. Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is set in Spain in the 1930s. Much of it takes place by the sea. Its lead characters are the embodiment of a Dutch maritime legend and a woman […]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Albert Lewin, Ava Gardner, Blogathon, British Films, Fantasy, George Sanders, Jack Cardiff, James Mason, Romance

Coming Attractions: The James Mason Blogathon

September 30, 2018 By retromoviebuff Leave a Comment

Maddy over at Maddy Loves Her Classic Films is hosting a blogathon in honour of one of my favourite actors, James Mason, and I’m taking part. Stay tuned!

Filed Under: Notices Tagged With: Blogathon

His Last Duchess: ‘Corridor of Mirrors’ (1948)

September 26, 2018 By retromoviebuff Leave a Comment

Corridor of Mirrors begins with a respectable British housewife sneaking out of the house to see her lover—or rather, the wax figure of her lover in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud’s. FilmStruck was made for oddities like this. How else would I have found a film so nonchalantly bizarre, so casually baroque? The […]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: British Films, Drama, Edana Romney, Emeric Pressburger, Eric Portman, FilmStruck, Michael Powell, Terence Young

Everyday Wonders: ‘Miracle in the Rain’ (1956)

August 27, 2018 By retromoviebuff 6 Comments

This post is part of the Second Van Johnson blogathon, hosted by Love Letters To Old Hollywood. See the other posts here. “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” -‘Anthem’, Leonard Cohen In Miracle in the Rain, two strangers meet during a New York City downpour and fall in love. […]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Ben Hecht, Blogathon, Classic Hollywood, Jane Wyman, Melodrama, Robert Walker, Romance, Van Johnson, World War Two

A Very English Haunting: ‘Blithe Spirit’ (1945)

July 21, 2018 By retromoviebuff 3 Comments

This post is part of the David Lean blogathon, hosted by Maddy Loves Her Classic Films. See the other posts here. When the ouija board made its commercial debut in the 1890s it was marketed as a parlour game. Charles Condomine takes a similarly playful approach to the supernatural in Blithe Spirit and unleashes havoc. […]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Blogathon, British Films, Comedy, Constance Cummings, Criterion Collection, David Lean, Fantasy, Kay Hammond, Margaret Rutherford, Noel Coward, Rex Harrison

Death in the Snow: ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ (1974)

July 15, 2018 By retromoviebuff 8 Comments

This post is part of the Winter in July blogathon, hosted by Moon in Gemini. See the other posts here. The phrase ‘all-star cast’ can seem hackneyed these days, done to death alongside trailers that begin “in a world” and posters with faces overlaid with text. Yet Sidney Lumet’s Murder on the Orient Express is […]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Agatha Christie, Albert Finney, Anthony Perkins, Blogathon, British Films, Crime, Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Mystery, Sidney Lumet, Wendy Hiller

La Belle Josephine: ‘Siren of the Tropics’ (1927), ‘Zouzou’ (1934) and ‘Princess Tam Tam’ (1935)

July 9, 2018 By retromoviebuff Leave a Comment

What I remember best about The Triplets of Belleville, Sylvain Chomet’s eccentric, inscrutable animated comedy is its opening: a flashback showing the titular triplets performing on stage in the 1930s. There’s Charles Trenet and Django Reinhardt jamming in the orchestra pit, Fred Astaire inexplicably being devoured by his own shoes and, for reasons best known […]

Filed Under: Actors and Acting Tagged With: Dance, French Films, Jean Gabin, Josephine Baker, Musicals, Silent Film

The Good Fight: ‘Foreign Correspondent’ (1940)

July 7, 2018 By retromoviebuff 1 Comment

The post is part of the Second Annual Alfred Hitchcock blogathon, hosted by Maddy Loves Her Classic Films. See the other posts here. When it was released in August 1940, Foreign Correspondent was the most topical film Alfred Hitchcock had ever made. British troops had evacuated Dunkirk in May and early June.  France and Norway […]

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Alfred Hitchcock, Blogathon, Classic Hollywood, Criterion Collection, George Sanders, Herbert Marshall, Joel McCrea, Journalism, Thriller, World War Two

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • …
  • 13
  • Next Page »

Tags

Albert Finney Alfred Hitchcock Audrey Hepburn Blogathon British Films Classic Hollywood Claude Rains Comedy Crime Criterion Collection Dance Drama Emeric Pressburger Fantasy Film Music Film Noir Fred Astaire Fredric March French Films Gene Kelly George Sanders Greta Garbo Horror Humphrey Bogart Ingrid Bergman MGM Michael Powell Movies Musicals New York Oscars Pre-Code Hollywood Richard Burton RKO Romance Romantic Comedy Science Fiction Screwball Comedy Silent Film Thriller TV Valentines Warner Bros. Westerns World War Two

Contact

Retro Movie Contact Us

"*" indicates required fields

Loading
\

Copyright © 2025