Today is James Cagney day on Turner Classic Movies and over at Sitting on a Backyard Fence, bloggers worldwide have rallied together to tip their hat to one of the biggest bad-asses ever to grace the screen. I love bad-asses. No, not this newfangled generation’s overinflated sense of importance that has managed to give every … Continue reading James Cagney: The Ultimate Bad-Ass
Movie Stars, as we’ve come to know them, no longer exist. They simply no longer exist. Oh sure, movie stars are still alive, from Debbie Reynolds to Robert Redford to Brad Pitt, but they are the last of an entire civilization that has since gone with the wind. 15-minute celebrity culture has gouged this once … Continue reading The Summer Under the Stars Blogathon!
Welcome Back Bob has generated a flurry of activity over on Twitter and Tumblr– thanks to any and all who have turned out to voice their support of Mr. Robert Osborne’s return to TCM. Since today is the big day, The Pictorial is letting its readers know that at 8PM Eastern Standard Time, when Osborne … Continue reading Welcome Robert Osborne Back December 1st — Be There or Be Square!
Dear Turner Classic Movie Fans Everywhere: As all of you are very well aware, this week marks the return of the one, the only, wonderful Mr. Robert Osborne who, after a five-month hiatus, resumes his primetime hosting duties on the TCM stage this week, December 1st. “Welcome Back Bob” is a week-long celebration brought to … Continue reading Welcome Back, Bob!
Wow. So the best cinematic experiences I’ve had in recent memory tend to have the same thing in common: silence. First with the TCM Festival’s triumphant screening of Buster Keaton‘s The Cameraman in April. And now two months later, with the Los Angeles Conservancy’s closing night film of their 25th Annual “Last Remaining Seats” series, … Continue reading Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last and the Triumph of Silent Film
Wow. So the best cinematic experiences I’ve had in recent memory tend to have the same thing in common: silence. First with the TCM Festival’s triumphant screening of Buster Keaton‘s The Cameraman in April. And now two months later, with the Los Angeles Conservancy’s closing night film of their 25th Annual “Last Remaining Seats” series, … Continue reading Harold Lloyd's Safety Last and the Triumph of Silent Film
Three on a Match is a sharp, street smart 1932 melodrama starring Ann Dvorak and Joan Blondell, under the always socially conscious direction of Mervyn LeRoy. You’ve got a very young Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart in supporting roles, saucy, fast-talkin’ dames, and plenty of gritty precode slumming. It’s a film so gloriously unrefined that … Continue reading Indie Rock Meets… Bette Davis?
Last night, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre was aglow with Beethoven and Bach and elegance, and tonight … it’s Thor. See what happens when you leave town, TCM? Last year’s was fun… this year’s festival was special. Building on last year’s framework, what was noticeable this year was a close-knit sense of community. This shared, communal experience … Continue reading Kitty Packard Pictorial of the Month: The TCM Classic Film Festival
From the very beginning, motion pictures were… magic. Of course, the medium has evolved to become one of the most important means of artistic expression that we’ve ever had– complex, subjective and ever-evolving. But sometimes all we want– indeed, all we need– is a little magic. Perhaps the magic of cinema is found, in its … Continue reading Magic at the TCM Film Festival: The Cameraman
So it’s 12:15 in the morning and I’ve just fallen in the door from today’s first full day of the 2011 TCM Film Festival. I am overtired–operating on only 3 hours of sleep thanks to last night’s all night Royal Wedding watch. And you know what? That’s OK because so was Jane Powell. In a … Continue reading TCM Film Festival: Jane Powell and Royal Wedding
The Kitty Packard Pictorial 