CMBA Hidden Classics Blogathon: The Mad Miss Manton (1938)

Directed by Leigh Jason, The Mad Miss Manton is a screwball mystery film, starring Barbara Stanwyck as Melsa Manton – a socialite on the hunt for a murderer – and Henry Fonda as Peter Ames, the newspaper editor trailing in her wake. This post is part of the CMBA Hidden Classics blogathon The Mad Miss Manton […]

Giornate del Cinema Muto: Penrod and Sam (1923)

A beautifully restored print from the Library of Congress, this heartwarming (and at times heartbreaking) film follows the misadventures of a boy named Penrod, accompanied by his best friend/second-in-command Sam, and his loyal dog Duke. This was the second film in the Penrod series, based on the novels by Booth Tarkington; the first, directed by Marshall Neilan, […]

Giornate del Cinema Muto: The Urge To Travel (1911 – 1939)

The first screening of the 2020 Giornate del Cinema Muto was an enchanting series of short travelogues, each offering a unique opportunity to travel beyond our lockdown walls to visit destinations far and wide. As festival director Jay Weissberg notes in the festival programme, “the urge to travel isn’t just the pull of new sights […]

Mantrap (1926)

Directed by Victor Fleming, Mantrap is a silent comedy starring Clara Bow as Alverna, a manicurist whose flirtatiousness is apparently untameable. The film is based on the novel of the same name, written by Sinclair Lewis and originally serialised in Collier’s magazine February – May 1926. Lewis would win the Nobel Prize for Literature just four years later, but Mantrap wasn’t a success upon […]

The Carole Lombard Memorial Blogathon: No Man Of Her Own (1932)

Directed by Wesley Ruggles, No Man Of Her Own is a fantastic and often overlooked pre-code about the unlikely romance between Clark Gable’s unscrupulous cardsharp Babe Stewart, and small-town librarian Connie Randall, played by Carole Lombard. It has no relation to the 1950 Barbara Stanwyck film of the same name. This post is part of the Carole Lombard Memorial Blogathon hosted by In […]

The Second Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Blogathon: Top Hat (1935)

Directed by Mark Sandrich, Top Hat is a screwball musical comedy starring Fred Astaire as Jerry Travers, a dancer newly arrived in London to star in a major show, and Ginger Rogers as Dale Tremont, the woman who Jerry falls desperately in love with. This post is part of The Second Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Blogathon hosted by Love Letters To Old Hollywood and In The […]

The Third Annual Lauren Bacall Blogathon: Woman’s World (1954)

Directed by Jean Negulesco, Woman’s World is a corporate drama featuring Clifford Webb as automobile tycoon Ernest Gifford, who is searching for a new second-in-command after the recent death of his company’s general manager. In order to fill the role he brings three of the best men in the company to Gifford Motors’ New York headquarters, with a […]

The Fifth Wonderful Grace Kelly Blogathon: To Catch A Thief (1955)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, To Catch A Thief stars Cary Grant as former cat burglar John Robie, now retired in the French Riviera, who comes under suspicion when a thief impersonating his modus operandi begins stealing the jewels of wealthy tourists. Grace Kelly is Frances Stevens, a nouveau riche American heiress, in her third and final collaboration […]

BFI Cary Grant Season: Part Two

And that’s a wrap! Much like the previous month, September was largely spent in NFT1-3 at the BFI, ignoring all the big releases at the end of summer in favour of more of Grant’s back catalogue. The second half of the BFI’s Cary Grant season features films from the mid-1940s until the end of his […]

CMBA 10th Anniversary Blogathon: 100 Years of United Artists

On February 5th 1919, four of the most powerful players in the movie business officially joined together to form the United Artists Corporation. D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were unparalleled in terms of their creative and financial successes, and they’d decided that the time had finally come for them to seize control of their own creative destinies. […]