The Birth of an Actress: Marilyn Monroe in Don't Bother to Knock

August 4, 2012.Reading time 19 minutes.

Perhaps one of the many reasons I have such a deep admiration and respect for Marilyn is due to the fact that the first film I saw of hers, or rather, the first film I remember watching start to finish ( Marilyn’s films are so rooted in our cultural subconscious that someone can feel as […]

For Your Consideration: The Year Classic Film Made a Comeback

December 17, 2011.Reading time 14 minutes.

“Awards! All this town does is give awards! Best Fascist Dictator, Adolf Hitler!” – Woody Allen, Annie Hall If by chance you are unfamiliar with how the Awards season works, here’s a brief outline: Studios tend to release their real Oscar contenders (i.e., films with any sort of non-mainstream artistic merit) until the year’s final […]

The Misfits and the End of an Era

December 17, 2011.Reading time 14 minutes.

By 1961, the Hollywood Studio System had begun a slow rot from the inside out which would, by decade’s end, see to its total collapse thus ending the Golden Age of classical Hollywood. The Misfits, directed by John Huston and penned by Arthur Miller, is a fascinating relic from those years in flux that bewildered […]

Pictorial Palette: Gene Tierney

June 19, 2011.Reading time 2 minutes.

When it comes to Technicolor, there are some names that are inextricably linked with that definitive Classic Hollywood process. Marilyn Monroe and her flaming pink Niagara dress? Vivien Leigh and her crimson negligee in Gone With the Wind? Classic. But while most people equate Gene Tierney with the sultry, smoky, definitively film noir shadows of […]

The Jean Harlow Blogathon – Day 5

March 5, 2011.Reading time 7 minutes.

Day Five of the Jean Harlow Blogathon Here we are already on Day 5 of the Jean Harlow Blogathon, and judging by today’s entries there’s no sign of slowing down! You guys are on fire! Lots of goodies to choose from today, from a highly intelligent social essay to a gallery of glamorous stills, there’s […]

The Jean Harlow Blogathon – Day 5

March 5, 2011.Reading time 7 minutes.

Marilyn En Francais

January 16, 2011.Reading time 2 minutes.

I’ve taken to regularly visiting Le Figaro online in a sad attempt to keep up on my increasingly embarrassing handle on the French language. Yesterday, I stumbled upon a review for a new film with a funny title: Poupoupidou. The premise? Novelist David Rosseau (Jean-Paul Rove) is desperate for inspiration and travels to the Jura […]

Pictorial Palette – Marilyn Monroe

December 15, 2010.Reading time 4 minutes.

There is a moment in the 1956 film Bus Stop that is a striking testament to the worth of Marilyn Monroe as a serious actress. It doesn’t last long–a few seconds at most–but like all great screen moments, it seeds itself into your subconscious, rendering it impossible to forget. Having been relentlessly chased down and […]

Marilyn Monroe’s 84th

June 1, 2010.Reading time 5 minutes.

Marilyn Monroe was, is and always will be the definitive Hollywood legend. That legend, marred and twisted beyond recognition, belied the human being beneath it all: an envelope-pushing businesswoman, a hell of a good actress, and an emotionally troubled, tragic figure whose inner demons were often as vicious as those that occupied the world around […]