Journal

Binging on Movies—And Loving It

George O'Brien and a young Humphrey Bogart in A Holy Terror.

Great Films You Can't Find on DVD

With the long-awaited release of The African Queen on DVD this week, film buffs can check another prominent title off their want lists. That’s the good news…but there are still a surprising number of movies from every decade of the 20th century that aren’t commercially availabl...

R. I. P., Fess Parker

Like millions of other kids, I idolized Davy Crockett and the man who played him, Fess Parker…so this is a sad day for me and other lifelong fans, even though I know he lived a good life for more than 85 years.

Errol Flynn Redux

After my holiday trip to Australia and New Zealand I wrote about Errol Flynn’s home town of Hobart, Tasmania and printed some photos of the newly-named Errol Flynn Reserve. But it seems I was under-informed about local interest in the swashbuckling star. Here’s an e-mail I received ...

A Gold Mine For Film Research

Like anyone who’s spent much of his life in libraries and archives, hearing a young person claim that you can find “everything you need” to do research online is upsetting, to put it mildly. One can easily find simple information, and misinformation, but if you’ve devoted hours and days digging through vintage film publications or studio production files you know that acres of primary research materials don’t exist on the Internet. Even if you’re lucky enough to have access to great collections like the ones held by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Margaret Herrick Library in B...

A Tale of Two Critics

The fact that film critics are losing their jobs is no longer considered breaking news; rather, it’s become a protracted process of mourning over the last few years. But when Variety, the trade journal once known as “the Bible of show business,” fired Todd McCarthy on Monday, after thirty-one years,...

Oscar's Music Masters

The gifted and prolific Alexandre Desplat, whose scores this year alone include Fantastic Mr. Fox, A Prophet, Coco Before Chanel, Julie & Julia, and The Twilight Saga: New Moon, poses with Academy music branch governor Arthur Hamilton, whose many songs include the standard “Cry Me a River.”

Famous Voices For "Alice"—Now And Then

Hollywood's All-Star 'Alice'

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland has always held great appeal for Hollywood. Johnny Depp is a big lure, but back in 1933 Paramount put almost all of the studio’s star-power into its production, including Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, and virtually every actor it had under contract—including W.C. Fiel...