As the year winds down, here are my favourite discoveries of 2024. Nine Queens (2000) No discovery filled me with as much exhilaration this year as Nine Queens. Fabian Bielinsky’s tale of con artistry and philately is a dazzling piece of cinematic legerdemain and best enjoyed knowing as little about it before viewing as possible. […]
Pilgrims’ Progress: ‘A Canterbury Tale’ (1944)
This post is part of The World War II Blogathon, hosted by Cinema Essentials and Maddy Loves Her Classic Films. See the other posts here. In A Canterbury Tale, Alison Smith (Sheila Sim), a Land Girl doing her bit in wartime Kent, goes for a walk on the Old Road pilgrims once travelled to Canterbury. […]
Coming Attractions: Blogathons
I’ll be taking part in a few blogathons next month and in September. First up is the Rule Britannia Blogathon, hosted by A Shroud of Thoughts. I’ll be writing about the British version of Gaslight, a more faithful adaptation of the original play and one MGM notoriously tried to bury. Next, I’ll be heading way, […]
Everyday Wonders: ‘Miracle in the Rain’ (1956)
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. […]
The Good Fight: ‘Foreign Correspondent’ (1940)
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 […]
A New York Story: ‘The Clock’ (1945)
Another hundred people just got off of the train And came up through the ground, While another hundred people just got off of the bus And are looking around – ‘Another Hundred People’, Company, Stephen Sondheim The Clock is a New York story, even though the actors never set foot there. Practically everything, from Penn […]