Monthly Archives: February 2012

Vote for Huggett

Part 2 of the so-called Huggett’s Trilogy, “Vote for Huggett,” came out in 1949 and features Jack Warner as Joe Huggett.  Huggett  runs for the city council elections in Streatham, London, on a platform that proposes building a war memorial … Continue reading

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The Horse’s Mouth

“The Horse’s Mouth,” directed by Ronald Neame in 1958, stars Alec Guinness as Gully Jimson, a pushy and determined artist who plays con games to achieve his artistic vision.  The movie begins as Jimson leaves a prison after spending a … Continue reading

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Virtue

The great Carole Lombard’s career ended too soon, but she left some magical and incomparable performances for us to see.  She played characters with the perfect combination of awareness, beauty and trustworthiness in the turbulent depression and gangster era of the 1930’s … Continue reading

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The Divorcee

Norma Shearer made “The Divorcee” in 1930, a movie that explores what happens when men and women live by the same rules.  Shearer plays Jerry, a rich socialite who falls madly in love with Ted Martin (Chester Morris) and marries … Continue reading

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The Little American

Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Little American,” made in 1917, stars Mary Pickford as Angela Moore, an American caught up in World War 1.  A Prussian named Karl Von Austreim proposes marriage to Angela  before leaving to join his German regiment … Continue reading

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Street Scene

“Street Scene,” basically a filmed play from 1931, features a rather static camera trained on the front steps of a tenement apartment building as neighbors interact with each other for gossip, dreams and news of the day.  The numerous characters include a … Continue reading

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Ivan the Terrible, Part 2

“Ivan the Terrible, Part 2,” from 1958, follows the career of Ivan as he continues to unify Russia despite interference from the boyars (noblemen).  Ivan’s repressive efforts against the boyars leads to intrigue involving Prince Vladimir, Ivan’s nephew and the … Continue reading

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Ivan the Terrible, Part 1

Director Sergei Eisenstein’s 1944 masterpiece “Ivan the Terrible, Part 1,” presents a strong but brooding protagonist as Ivan, who unifies feuding principalities in Russia’s 16th century to fight the Kazans, Germans and other enemies.  But as Czar Ivan struggles to … Continue reading

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Kiki

“Kiki,” a movie made in 1926, stars Norma Talmadge as an ambitious singer who crashes a stage review, makes a nuisance of herself, and ends up falling in love with Monsieur Victor Renal, the theater manager (Ronald Coleman).  One normally … Continue reading

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Paid to Love

Howard Hawks made a silent film in 1927 called “Paid to Love,” in which the king of a small Balkin country and an American businessman pay a cabaret dancer (Virginia Valli) to woo bashful Crown Prince Michael.  The prince, played … Continue reading

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