Directed by John McTiernan. Screenplay by Jeb Stuart & Steven E. de Souza, based on the novel by Roderick Thorp. This is a re-watch. Okay so – extant within the movie DIE HARD is a very important, very bothersome issue that – while I’m going about my business in my everyday, non-film-blog life – pops […]
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian. Screenplay by Jo Swerling, based on the novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez. Fun fact: the first film iteration of this novel was a silent made in 1922 starring Rudolph Valentino, directed by Fred Niblo & featuring a screenplay written by the great (Valentino-crypt-sharing!) June Mathis. Rex Downing is (for now) Juan […]
Directed by Sam Wood. Screenplay by John Meehan, from the play by Alexandre Bisson. This film opens in an impressively grabby way: a woman named Jacqueline (Gladys George) & a man named Jean (Phillip Reed) are having a lovey-dovey hangout session late one night, which is ended/interrupted by an angry, gun-toting woman named Annette (Ruth […]
Directed by Autumn de Wilde. Screenplay by Eleanor Catton, based on the novel by (duh) Jane Austen. Right from the start, it’s apparent that the set designer, costume designer, and production designer nailed their respective tasks. The color palette is both beautiful & appropriate – and the attention to detail is also clearly marvelous. (Further – […]
Directed by Charles Brabin. Story by W.R. Burnett, dialogue continuity by John L. Mahin. One more fun credit on this film: it was edited by Anne Bauchens – one of the only female film editors working in Hollywood in the 1930s. Bauchens worked on such films as UNION PACIFIC (1939), REAP THE WILD WIND (1942), […]
Directed by E. Mason Hopper. Screenplay by Frances Marion, dialogue adaptation by James Forbes, from the novel by Sarita Fuller. Lally (pronounced like “Allie,” with an L) Marlett (Norma Shearer) is the sunshinily happy, richling only child of Henry “Hal” Marlett (Lewis Stone) & Harriet Marlett (Belle Bennett). (Let’s be sure & note that though […]
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Screenplay by Samson Raphaelson, from the play “Angyal” by Melchior Lengyel. (English play adaptation by Guy Bolten & Russell G. Medcraft.) Marlene Dietrich is Lady Maria Barker…although we aren’t supposed to know that yet – as she signs “Mrs. Brown” on the hotel log when she arrives in Paris, to begin […]
Directed by Spike Lee. (Oscar-winning!!!) Screenplay by Spike Lee, Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, & Kevin Willmott, based on the (autobiographical) book by Ron Stallworth. The intro strikes an immediately impactful tone, featuring (in?)famous clips from GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) & BIRTH OF A NATION (1915), segueing into Alec Baldwin – as (fictional character) Dr. […]
Directed by Tay Garnett. (Though perhaps not a super well-remembered name these days – Tay Garnett directed a number of significant films during the ’30s and ’40s, including ONE WAY PASSAGE (1932), CHINA SEAS (1935), & THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946). Just, you know…as a quick little FYI.) Screenplay by Sonya Levien & John […]
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