The Life of Emile Zola (review)
The Life of Emile Zola is a curiously uninvolving biopic — curious because the second half of the film operates at a distance from its professed subject, exchanging his for another man’s story.
Oscar best pictures
The Great Ziegfeld (review)
Get past the set pieces that date the movie and make it twice as long as it might be, and The Great Ziegfeld — a biopic of theatrical impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. — is a moving story of how the weaknesses and obsessions that ironically made one man a powerful entertainment mogul inevitably brought about his downfall.
Mutiny on the Bounty (review)
It’s well over two hours long, it’s full of inappropriate accents, and it was filmed almost entirely on the ocean. No, it’s not the latest Kevin Costner epic — it’s Mutiny on the Bounty, a thrilling classic that remains surprisingly modern.
It Happened One Night (review)
The ultimate dizzy, romantic, screwball comedy, It Happened One Night is not to be missed.
Cavalcade (review)
As we approach another century’s turn, it’s educational to look back at how society dealt with the last big rollover. Cavalcade follows the fortunes and misfortunes of two Victorian families — the prosperous Marryots and the working-classes Bridgeses — from New Year’s Eve 1899 to New Year’s Eve 1932.
Grand Hotel (review)
It’s all very silly, the ultimate in Depression-era escapism: a piece of Hollywood magic that’s impossibly romantic filled with people who are impossibly elegant, bantering and wisecracking constantly. Its fascinating and diverse characters and a rather dark ending, however, give Grand Hotel more heft than any of its hellish spawn such as The Love Boat or Fantasy Island.
Cimarron (review)
Wichita just ain’t far enough west for Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix). He longs for the untamed frontier. So when the 1889 Oklahoma land rush puts 2 million acres up for grabs, he packs up the wife, Sabra (Irene Dunne), and the kid, Cimarron (which means ‘wild,’ we’re told), and heads off to help build a new world, or, more specifically, the boomtown of Osage, Oklahoma.
All Quiet on the Western Front (review)
From a contemporary point of view, All Quiet on the Western Front is more ironic than its makers could have intended. Its audience is now as toughened as Paul became, mostly because his War to End All Wars didn’t.
The Broadway Melody (review)
The Broadway Melody’s snarky, wiseacre humor and effervescent charm save it from being completely dated, though the dance production numbers — pure padding, all — may try your patience.
Wings movie review: that’s two you owe me, junior
Anyone who doubts that silent films can be just as engrossing as those newfangled talkies needs to see Wings, an early buddies-go-to-war story that still echoes in today’s movies.
