A deep dive into Hollywood's early years
A Bill of Divorcement is a pre-code drama following a day in the life of a dysfunctional English family at Christmastime, starring Katharine Hepburn in her big-screen debut as Sydney Fairfield, Billie Burke as her mother Meg, and John Barrymore as her father Hilary, who escapes the mental hospital he has spent twenty years in due to shell shock.
This post is part of the Fifth Annual Barrymore Trilogy Blogathon, hosted by In The Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood and Pale Writer
Barbara Stanwyck was not only one of classic Hollywood’s most prolific actresses, but also one of its most versatile. Throughout the 1940s and 50s she starred in a number of noir pictures and, despite the heavy conventions of the genre, turned in remarkably different performances in each. In this post I’ll be looking at three of her noir films from the 1940s, and how they demonstrate her unique and chameleon-like talent for the genre.
This post is part of the Noirathon
Directed by James Tinling, Arizona To Broadway is a pre-code romantic crime drama starring James Dunn as prolific conman Smiley Wells, and Joan Bennett as Lynn Martin, who becomes embroiled in his schemes.
This post is part of the Joan Bennett Blogathon hosted by In The Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood
Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir is a fascinating and moving memoir of the actress and screenwriter by their daughter, Victoria Riskin. Alongside the insights into their personal and professional lives is an intriguing glimpse into the world of classic Hollywood, a place made tumultuous by war and political uncertainty.
It’s Love I’m After is a screwball comedy directed by Archie Mayo, starring Leslie Howard and Bette Davis as Basil Underwood and Joyce Arden, the constantly bickering Shakespearean actors with a highly dysfunctional relationship who are starring in Romeo and Juliet, and Olivia de Havilland as Marcia West, a debutante who becomes infatuated with Basil after seeing him perform.
This post is part of the Olivia de Havilland blogathon hosted by In The Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood
Rebecca, the classic thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, stars Laurence Olivier as the brooding and mysterious Maxim de Winter, and Joan Fontaine as his second wife, haunted and tormented by the lingering presence of the first Mrs de Winter, who seems to haunt every inch of the grand Manderley Hall which the de Winters call home.
This post is part of the Daphne du Maurier blogathon hosted by Pale Writer
Directed by Clarence Brown, Possessed is a romantic drama starring Joan Crawford as Marian Martin, a factory girl determined to make a better life for herself in the big city, and Clark Gable as Mark Whitney, her mentor in high-class living and the object of her affections.
This post is part of the Clark Gable blogathon hosted by Love Letters To Old Hollywood
Directed by Michael Curtiz, Four’s A Crowd is a romantic comedy starring Rosalind Russell as reporter Jean Christy, Errol Flynn as editor-in-chief Robert Lansford, Patric Knowles as the newspaper’s owner Pat Buckley, and Olivia de Havilland as his fiancée Lorri.
This post is part of the Rosalind Russell Blogathon hosted by In The Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood
Directed by Josef von Sternberg, The Blue Angel is a German tragicomedy starring Marlene Dietrich as the beautiful and alluring cabaret singer Lola Lola, and Emil Jannings as Professor Immanuel Rath, whose infatuation with her drives him to ruin.
In 1916, a young girl named Lucille LeSueur cooked meals and scrubbed dishes for her fellow students at St. Agnes Academy, a Catholic boarding school in Kansas City where she was enrolled as a work student in exchange for her board and education. She would grow up to become Joan Crawford, the ultimate movie star, for whom glamour was a way of life.
This post is part of the Joan Crawford: Queen of the Silver Screen Blogathon