I watched that, too, a couple of nights ago and truly enjoyed it! I also watched the add-on two-reeler "Knight of the Pines" with Edgar Jones, Edna May Sperl, Ben Hendricks, Jr., and Carlton Brickert. All three of the Edgar Jones directed and starring films that Ed Lorusso has put on his Kickstarter...

"An Act of Murder" was re-done in 1955 as an hour long segment of "Lux Theater" with Thomas Mitchell and Ann Harding. I'd bet that was equally interesting.

The Beggar's Opera may be a "show from 300 years ago", but it was a major piece of satire and revived every year until the debut of H.M.S. Pinafore . May I interest you in some Aristophanes? Bob Eh, Aristophanes is so last year. I just finished off Terence a couple of weeks ago. Good stuff, better ...

I stayed for everything but Topper, but then again, I've never liked the "warhorse spot". Next year, the tribute star is....mild drum roll... Robert Armstrong??? Yes, Robert Armstrong. Okay, he's a dependable presence, reads his lines okay, does snappy dialogue. But, I've never seen one of his film...

A film I really enjoy! I wrote this review of it back in 2013: "...I ran a show that I wasn't so sure about - and it ended up being the hit of the evening! I watched "The Shiralee" (1957) with Peter Finch and Dana Wilson. Also in the film are Elizabeth Sellars, George Rose, Rosemary Harris, Niall Ma...

Really enjoyed Will Rogers' little satire/cum surreal combination Western/modern day (1924) silent short "Two Wagons: Both Covered" . Others known in this little gem are Marie Mosquini, Earl Mohan, Charles Lloyd, Elmo Billings, and Lillian Lawrence. Mosquini made several short silents with Rogers in...

Last night I decided to re-visit an early drama/Western, "The Struggle" (1913), a Thomas Ince produced and directed film with Elmer Morrow, Richard Stanton, E. H. Allen, and others, including an unnamed lead female whose name seems not to be known. This became the stuff of potboilers for decades, bu...

I think I had more fun watching those eight silent shorts than I've had in a very long time. I have the sound short from the next year, "Ask Dad", which I've always thought was very funny. At first I thought the silent "Dad's Choice" was the same short, just the silent version, then I realized that ...

"Zander the Great" (1925) is a recent restored release through a Kickstarter campaign by Ed Lorusso and Library of Congress which stars Marion Davies, Harrison Ford, Harry Watson, Harry Myers, George Siegmann, Jack Huff, Hobart Bosworth, Emily Fitzroy, Hedda Hopper, and others. Davies at the beginn...

That's a great interview, Bob. Thank you!

Bob, that's such a good review I want to see that one. Thanks!

Definitely in! Go, Joe!!

I think the brush stuck to it...

Great story...

This is questionable, but could it be Roland Totheroh, the cinematographer? It's not Roland Young.

Bertie & Elizabeth (2002) predates The King's Speech by eight years and covers more background since it does not concentrate on the speech angle. ...good old Robert Hardy even shows up in a small role but not as Churchill. He plays FDR! "...good old Robert Hardy" could play a dog and his bark would...

I taught at the college level for 12 years, and a few times I used allusions to James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. Didn't think much of it till one night one of the students said, "Never heard of him..." She was quizzical, and I asked how many people knew who one or the other of those two was. Of the...

I agree that Schickel's biography is a very good read. There have been several criticisms of the book, too, which may have good bearing, but overall the book is a fine introduction on a grand scale. Schickel can be obstreperous in his critiques. Be aware. D. W. Griffith and the Origins of American N...

boblipton wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 22, 2021 9:19 am

I like ‘em, Bill.

Bob

So do I. I think they only add to the anticipation.

Anything British. Yes, thanks, I'm very interested!

Very much interested. Yes, I'm in. Thank you!

"Dick Barton at Bay" (1950) is the last of three films made that were based on the popular "Dick Barton" radio series on the BBC in Britain. Starring a lackluster, rather bad actor named Don Stannard as Dick Barton, this one also has Tamara Desni as a baddie (but who definitely hands down turns in ...

"The Great Divide" (1915), based on the very popular play by William Vaughn Moody, was the first of three feature film versions. Starring Ethel Clayton and House Peters, this Lubin produced film has recently been "restored" and released in Blu-Ray format by Grapevine Video. There are several missin...

"Dick Barton, Special Agent" (1948) is a British cheapie based on a very popular British radio program that ran from 1946 to 1951. Three films were made based on the character of Dick Barton. This first one is obviously aimed not necessarily at the adult audience as much as the kiddies. It nearly p...

Oh, yeah...I'm in. Looks as if you're almost there already! Congrats. Looking forward to another...and another...and...

"Thunderbolt" (1929) was the fourth of four films where George Bancroft starred for director Joseph von Sternberg. It also earned Bancroft an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor (George Arliss came away with that one for "Disraeli"). This film has just been released in Blu-Ray with a perfect so...

"The Hidden Way" (1926) is a spiritual driven drama that is beautifully realized for putting across its message with an extremely well-acted drama wrapped around it. If there's hokum at all, it's wrapped up wholly in the character played by Ned Sparks - Mulligan - a slick and unreformed pickpocket ...

"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" (2020) starring Viola Davis (as Ma Rainey) and Chadwick Boseman is based on August Wilson's 1984 play. Rainey was called "The Mother of the Blues" during her career. She married Will "Pa" Rainey in 1904 when she was 18, and then she toured in minstrel shows and Vaudeville...

Definitely interested! Thank you.

"Let Them All Talk" (2020) stars Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, Gemma Chan, Dianne Wiest, Christopher Fitzgerald, and several others. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, here he lets the cast ad lib all the lines. Either you like it or you don't. I tended toward the latter; my wife tended toward the form...

"No Sudden Move" (2021) is a somewhat muddled, but still interesting crime drama situated in Detroit, 1954. Starring Don Cheadle, Brendan Fraser, Craig muMs Grant, Benicio Del Toro, Julia Fox, Kieran Culkin, and several others, this one eventually - and that's a key word for those who are reading t...