Author Archives: John Grant

“Dance, Girl, Dance,” a 1940 RKO Radio Pictures film directed by Dorothy Arzner, opens with a neon rooftop sign advertising tires, pans down to a club called the Palais Royale and then immediately fades to an 8-woman dance act that … Continue reading →

Despite the great acting ability of James Mason, I find it hard to believe he could play a retiree in the 1945 movie “A Place of One’s Own.” At the time, Mason was only 36 yet he played a man … Continue reading →

One of the reasons I like vintage Hollywood movies is that they often tell interesting stories about women. With all the buddy films and macho adventure flicks prevalent in today’s movie complexes, it’s nice to view a film from the … Continue reading →

“The House Across the Bay,” a 1940 film directed by Archie Mayo, sports a pretty good cast, including Joan Bennett, George Raft, Lloyd Nolan, Walter Pidgeon and Gladys George. It also gives us some scenes from the waterfront in San … Continue reading →

If you follow a deserting soldier as he hitchhikes down the road to a foggy port town named Le Havre, you might expect him to lay low and attempt to stay out of trouble until he can make his nifty … Continue reading →

Watching the adorable Carole Lombard and the hammy John Barrymore in “Twentieth Century,” I kept a smile on my face the entire time. What’s better than a screwy comedy about the backstage shenanigans at a Broadway theater run in despotic … Continue reading →

Since this review involves the 1964 version of “Angelique,” and not this year’s remake, I’ll use the full 1964 title, which is “Angélique, Marquise des Anges.” The title means “marquise of the angels,” although the film never fully explains the … Continue reading →

“American Hustle,” which opened today in theaters, spends a lot of time with voiceovers explaining the background of the 2 main characters, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sidney Prosser (Amy Adams). This helps to ground the film as it tells … Continue reading →

Summer holds a fascination with Swedes for three reasons: they have a short season up north, it stays lighter longer, and there is land to stretch and express freedom and uninhibitedness. For the young couple in Ingmar Bergman’s 1953 film … Continue reading →

Director Christian Carion grew up on a chicory farm in France, so I believe many of the characteristics of the farm in “The Girl From Paris (2001)” are authentic. The French language movie is set mostly on a goat farm … Continue reading →