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About Chuck Rothman
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Blog post(1924)
Directed by F.W. Murnau
Screenplay by Carl Meyer
Starring Emil Jannings
IMDB Entry Interest in silent films is fading and younger audiences don’t have a lot of regard for them. If there is anything still relevant, it’s usually silent comedies from Chaplin and Keaton. But there were plenty of good dramas, too, and one of the classics is The Last Laugh.
The story is a simple one. A hotel doorman (Emil Jannings) is happy in his job, which is quite prestigiou -
Blog post(1933)
Directed by Alfred E. Green
Written by Gene Markey, Kathryn Scola (screenplay), Darryl F. Zanuck (Story)
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, John Wayne, Theresa Harris, Alphonse Ethier
IMDB Entry Movies always attracted the attention of bluenoses, and the introduction of sound made it worse. Eventually, a code of censorship – the Hays Code – was set up in 1930, but not rigorously enforced until 1934.* During that short period, files did not shy away f -
Blog post(1972)
Directed by Peter Medak
Written by Pete Barnes, from his play
Starring Peter O’Toole, Alastair Sim, Arthur Lowe, Harry Andrews, Carolyn Seymour, William Mervyn,
IMDB Entry Audiences sometimes had trouble thinking of Peter O’Toole as a great actor. O’Toole thought it was because he was considered so handsome that critics only saw him as a pretty boy, but I think it’s at least partly because his roles often had a quirkiness that some did not t -
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Blog post(1961-1963)
by Mort Walker and Jerry Dumas
Wikipedia Entry
Sam’s Strip was a comic book that was ahead of its time – and possibly too far behind it.
It was the brainchild of Mort Walker and Jerry Dumas. The two worked together on Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois in the fifties and both were avid comic strip fans and historians. The idea came to them to write a strip about comics, where the characters interacted with both the greats and the conventions of the genre. -
Blog post(1965-1968)
Ron Prince, Michael Mislove, Peter Lee
Wikipedia Entry
IMDB Entry
History of the Pickle Brothers
Everyone remembers their first rock concert. Mine was the Beach Boys.
This was around 1967. You have to remember that this was the low point of their careers. Brian Wilson stopped touring, their albums were getting poor reviews, and it was looking like they were washed up.The concert was outdoors at Nassau County Community College, and it was fre -
Blog post(2019- 22)
Created by Corrine Kingsbury
Starring Perry Mattfeld, Brooke Markham, Morgan Krantz, Casey Diedrick, Rich Sommer, Nicki Micheaux, Calle Riley, Matt Murray
IMDB Entry
The CW has an audience in mind: fans of Superheroes and teen dramas.* But there is an occasional show that breaks out of the mold and works as straight drama. And one of their best shows is In the Dark. It’s the story of Murphy Mason (Perry Mattfeld), who went blind in her early teens. She ha -
Blog post(1989)
Written and Directed by Peter Greenaway
Starring Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, Alan Howard.
IMDB Entry Peter Greenaway is not for everyone.* Originally a painter, he brings an artist’s sensibility to the screen, very stylized. He’s also not afraid of taboo concepts, especially sex, violence, and cannibalism. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover. Is a fascinating portrayal of his interests.
Richard Borst’s (Richard Bohringer – th -
Blog post(1974)
Directed by Burt Kennedy
Written by Larry Cohen (Story and Screenplay), Dick Nelson (screenplay)
Starring Richard Crenna, Jack Elam, Richard Egan, Stefanie Powers, Michael Ansara, Dub Taylor, Arthur O’Connell
IMDB Entry
Back in the day, directors specialized. Some were known for comedies, others for dramas. Burt Kennedy was known for comic westerns like the classic Support Your Local Sheriff! But he could also show his dramatic chops in the made-for-TV -
Blog post1968-1974
Dave Stewart (Hammond organ, piano, Mellotron), Mont Campbell (bass, vocals), Clive Brooks (drums).
Wikipedia Entry There have been several attempts to label a group of musicians after the area they performed in. The San Francisco Sound was the most well known, with several groups from that area becoming major stars. The Boss-Town Sound was far less successful.* And in England, there was the Canterbury Sound.
The name is misleading. It didn’t have much to do -
Blog post(UK Title: Seven Waves Away,
Alternate Title: Seven Days from Now)
(1957)
Written and Directed by Richard Sale
Starring Tyrone Power, Mai Zetterling, Lloyd Nolan, Stephen Boyd, John Stratton
IMDB Entry I read a lot about movies, especially in my younger days. As a result, I’ve at least heard of the top films of the era. But when Adam-Troy Castro, a friend of mine who runs a movie blog on Patreon, mentioned Abandon Ship, I had never heard of it, and he spoke -
Blog post1943
Directed by Vincente Minnelli
Written by Sig Herzig, Fred Saidy
Starring Red Skelton, Eleanor Powell, Richard Ainley,Patricia Dane, John Hodiak, Hazel Scott, Lena Horne
IMDB Entry Eleanor Powell was one of the great dancers of film. I had seen very little of her, especially not on her own.* So I happened to stumble upon I Dood It** with Red Skelton, a favorite comedian of mine from his TV days, and finally got a chance to see her in a feature.
S -
Blog post(2014)
Directed by Rob Minkoff
Written by Craig Wright. Additional dialog by Robert Ben Garant
Starring (voice): Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Ariel Winter, Stephen Colbert, Leslie Mann, Allison Janney
IMDB Entry When I was growing up, I had a clear favorite cartoon show: Rocky and Bullwinkle* and my favorite part of them was “Peabody’s Improbable History.” It had everything I liked and it was always a treat.** When I heard they were making Mr. Peabody and -
Blog post(1918-1986)
IMDB Entry Actors are usually noticed. But some actors can have long careers in small roles and still remain anonymous. And one actor who fits this category is Virginia Gregg.
Gregg was born in Harrisburg, PA, but moved to Hollywood as a child. She started getting parts as a voice actress in radio. There were few shows of the time where she didn’t appear. It seemed like whenever they needed a female actress, she showed up. She played all ages, from ingenues to o -
Blog post(1988)
Directed by Jack Gold
Written by Lee Langley, from a novel by Graham Greene
Starring Anthony Hopkins, Kristin Scott Thomas, Derek Jacobi, Timothy Watson
IMDB Entry Graham Greene had a long and successful career that straddled the genres of thriller and literary novels. The Tenth Man, one of his later novels, was made into a first-class TV movie.
Jean Louis Chavel (Anthony Hopkins) is a comfortable Paris lawyer during the Nazi occupation when -
Blog post(1980)
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Written by Dennis Hacklin
Starring Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, Scatman Crouthers
IMDB Entry Think of Clint Eastwood, and the word “western” immediately comes to mind. He developed a reputation as a taciturn man of action, a traditional western hero in the untraditional 60s. But Eastwood also had a lighter side, and showed far more depth in his characterizations as time went by. And one of the more interesting characte -
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Blog post(1924)
Directed by James Cruze, Roscoe Arbuckle
Written by Walter Woods, from a story by Sarah Y. Mason
Starring Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, Mary Thurman, Lucien Littlefield, John McKinnon, Harriet Hammond, Gertrude Short, Maude Wayne
IMDB Entry
I’ve been curious about this film for decades. Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle* was one of the bigger names of silent comedy. He gave Buster Keaton his start, and was one of Mack Sennett’s biggest stars. Few remember that. They mostly r -
Blog post(2017)
Directed by Richard Boden
Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Henry Shields
Starring Derek Jacobi, Diana Rigg, Henry Shields, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Nancy Zamit
IMDB Entry A Christmas Carol has been adapted hundreds of times. There are debates as to who played the best Scrooge. But there is nothing to match A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong.
It starts out as a standard adaptation, with Derek Jacobi as Scrooge. But as it gets started, the Cornle -
Blog post(1947)
Directed by Roy Del Ruth
Written by Everett Freeman (screenplay), Vick Knight (additional dialog), Herbert Lewis (original story)
Starring Don DeFore, Charles Ruggles, Victor Moore, Gale Storm, Ann Harding, Alan Hale, Jr., Dorothea Kent
IMDB Entry Titles are an art. You need to come up with something that’s both memorable and intriguing. It Happened on Fifth Avenue is not an inspiring name for a film, but the result on the screen is a charming little movie -
Blog post(1960-1966)
Written and performed by Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, Dudley Moore.
Wikipedia Page Beyond the Fringe may be the most influential thing I’ve talked about in this blog. It revolutionized British comedy. Without it, there would be no Monty Python, for instance.
The show is a sketch comedy written by the performers. It resembles Python with the absurdity and intellectual depth of the sketches, and also showed a penchant for discussing current ev -
Blog post(2021-2022)
Created and written by Valerie Armstrong
Starring Annie Murphy, Mary Hollis Inboden, Eric Peterson, Alex Bonifer, Brian Howe, Raymond Lee.
IMDB Entry Back in the 60s, the gimmick show was king with things like My Mother the Car, Bewitched, The Hathaways*, and others. The concept faded, as the gimmicks were more silly than actual humor. But any genre can be revived, if they know how to handle the genre, and Kevin Can F**k Himself** shows that you -
Blog post(1953)
Directed by Terence Fisher
Written by Paul Tabori (adaptation/screenplay), Terence Fisher (screenplay) from a novel from William F. Temple.
Starring Barbara Payton, James Hayter, Stephen Murray, John Van Eyssen
IMDB Entry Not all 50s science fiction involved monsters. There were some examples that dealt with the possibilities – good or bad – of technology. The Four-Sided Triangle is an example of this.
Bill Leggat (Stephen Murray) and Robin Gr -
Blog post(1990)
Written and Directed by Andrew Bergman
Starring Marlon Brando, Matthew Broderick, Bruno Kirby, Penelope Ann Miller, Bert Parks.
IMDB Entry
Marlon Brando was one of the greatest movie actors of his generation. He’s best known for his iconic dramatic roles, but he did have a penchant for comedy when he needed it. And one of his great comic turns was in The Freshman.* Clark Kellogg (Matthew Broderick) is a young man from Vermont who moves to New York City to att -
Blog post(1990)
Directed by Ivan Reitman
Written by Murry Salem (story & screenplay), Herschel Weingrod (screenplay), Timothy Harris (screenplay)
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Penelope Ann Miller, Pamela Reed, Linda Hunt, Carroll Baker, Richard Tyson
IMDB Entry Arnold Schwarzenegger made his name as an action-adventure hero. But, when given the chance, he showed a fine talent for comedy.* One of his better comic vehicles is Kindergarten Cop.
John -
Blog post(1945)
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
Screenplay by Muriel Roy Bolton, from a novel by Anthony Gilbert
Starrring Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready, Roland Varno, Anita Sharp-Bolster, Queenie Leonard
IMDB Entry These days, the term “to gaslight” is commonly known – an attempt by a manipulative man to make a woman doubt her sanity. It stems from a successful British play Gaslight, which was made into a movie in 1940* renamed in the US as Angel Street.
