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Hot Little American Dream: Jean Harlow in The Girl from Missouri
1930s movies have a lot to recommend them. Tight pacing. Earthy subject matter. Rapid-fire dialogue. But I particularly love 30’s movies because their women embrace the money-hungry, social-climbing American dream so honestly. Onscreen, working class dames likes Joan Crawford, and … Continue reading
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Tagged 1930s, classic hollywood, jean harlow, pre-code movies, the girl from missouri, the great depression
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Three Faces of Lizabeth Scott: Queen of the Noirs
This post is part of the Classic Movie History Blogathon Project. It’s hosted by the splendid Movies Silently (the silent era), Once Upon a Screen (the golden age) , and Silver Screenings (the modern era). And sponsored by classic movie specialists, Flicker Alley. Click on … Continue reading
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No Way to Treat a Lady: Loretta Young
This post is part of the Classic Movie History Project Blogathon. Be sure to check out other entries here, and here, and here! Despite a fair obsession with old Hollywood, I’ve ignored Loretta Young for most of my movie-watching life. … Continue reading
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The Girl From Manhattan (1948)
Best known as the love-interest/straight woman in a series of Bing Crosby-Bob Hope “Road” movies, Dorothy Lamour gracefully held her own as the level-headed beauty in the midst of the two corny, hyper-kinetic showman. Lamour also had a lovely, romantic … Continue reading
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Ginger & Jimmy: Fresh & Sexy Americana
Vivacious Lady is Hollywood Americana at its best. It stars Jimmy Stewart and Ginger Rogers at the height of their youthful beauty and adorability–Stewart lean and gangly, his face all elongated sensual planes, and Rogers lithe and streetwise, with soft … Continue reading
Working Class Heroine- Linda Darnell in No Way Out (1951)
No Way Out (1950, Joseph L. Mankiewicz) is an unsubtle parable of age-old class and race tensions. But it’s executed so energetically and directly that it feels fresh and urgent. We sometimes assume that an old movie is no more germane … Continue reading
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Tagged classic hollywood, Classism, Feminism, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Linda Darnell, No Way Out, racism, Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier
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EVERYDAY NOIR
In Anthony Mann’s Side Street (1949), Farley Granger plays a part-time letter-carrier in a tough spot. He is without a career or business– his attempt to run a gas station failed. Now his young wife (Cathy O’Donnell) is pregnant, and … Continue reading
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Tagged anthony mann, cathy o'donnell, classic hollywood, Farley Granger, film noir, Gender Roles, jean hagen, post-war movies
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Technicolor Zen: The Gang’s All Here
Set during World War II, Busby Berkeley’s The Gang’s All Here (1943) has a plot so flimsy you barely notice it. There’s a love triangle between Alice Faye and two much less charismatic actors (Sheila Ryan and James Ellison). … Continue reading
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Tagged Alice Faye, Busby Berkeley, Carmen Miranda, Classic Film, Movie Reviews, Musicals, Technicolor, The Gang's All Here
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