“How do you do? Mr. Carl Laemmle feels it would be a little unkind to present this picture without just a word of friendly warning: We are about to unfold the story of Frankenstein, a man of science who sought to create a man after his own image without reckoning upon God. It is one of the strangest tales ever told. It deals with the two … Continue reading FRANKENSTEIN (1931): A Film Study
[The following was part of my John Ford film study course I taught in the winter of 2023. SPOILERS are included in this handout, so if you haven’t watched this film before, feel free to refrain until you do so.] As we transition to our next film, THE SEARCHERS (1956), we will experience a very different John Ford film, with a starkly darker role for … Continue reading THE SEARCHERS (1956), a Film Study
(The following is my handout from the John Ford course I taught in the winter semester of 2023.) The film we’ll be screening tonight is one of Ford’s ‘Calvary trilogy’ films, SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON. So called for the use of the United States Calvary at the center of these stories. FORT APACHE (1948), SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (1949), and RIO BRAVO (1950) … Continue reading John Ford’s SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON
John Ford’s THREE GODFATHERS (1948) (The following is my handout from the John Ford course I taught in the winter semester of 2023.) It’s no longer the holiday season. You might have too much holiday fatigue to appreciate the oft debated topic of just what prequalifies a film to be a “Christmas movie.” For example, you may or may not agree that DIE HARD (1983) … Continue reading THREE GODFATHERS- Is It a Christmas Movie?
John Ford’s THE INFORMER (1935) By: Kellee Pratt Both haunting and tense, John Ford’s depiction of a day in 1922 Dublin in the struggles for an Irish independence would land him his first Oscar. THE INFORMER (1935) would go on to be unexpected box office hit, gaining rave reviews from both audiences and critics, and earning a total of six Academy Award nominations, winning four. … Continue reading The Informer: a Ford Film Study
Francis Benjamin Johnson was born in Foreacre, Oklahoma on June 13, 1918. Born of Irish, Osage and Cherokee Indigenous ancestry, and the son of ranchers Ollie Susan and Ben Johnson, Jr. Oklahoma-born Ben Johnson was a true cowboy and horse wrangler that first made his way into Hollywood via providing horses to Howard Hughes for THE OUTLAW (1943). He realized he could make more money … Continue reading BEN JOHNSON, a Real Reel Cowboy
Whether you celebrate Valentines Day, or Galentines Day, or (UN)Valentines Day (hello heart breakers and heart-broken alike), or perhaps you’re just ready for tomorrow to arrive, there’s room for all persuasions of this love inspired day. I’ve been on the quest for a heart designed sweater/top for many years. Never found quite the right one. Then it dawned on me. Classic Hollywood has the answer! … Continue reading Ginger Rogers Stole My Valentine
In the Autumn of 2022, I instructed a film study course on a selected filmography of Universal Pictures. I’ve been teaching for many years in the college town in Lawrence, Kansas. As I have done so across many topics of classic film, I start with an overview of the film genre, director including signature elements, historical context and background. Then we screen and discuss the … Continue reading Universal Horrors: a Film Study
It’s difficult to say what role I first discovered Paul Lynde. I was born in the winter of 1966, and throughout my childhood in the late sixties and seventies, he was everywhere. Never a leading man, yet he was a standout in small roles in the most popular films, tv shows, and game shows. For a comedic actor who always got the minor roles, he … Continue reading PAUL LYNDE: Sardonic Clown
After an unusually cold April, May suddenly feels more like a scorching July and makes me yearn for the beach. Or, classic beach movies. When I nostalgically recall of summers of my youth, silly sex comedies of the 60s often filled my days. I wasn’t old enough to see them first-run so my screenings were likely a decade or two later, running in syndication on … Continue reading A Dog, a Dinosaur Bone, and a Delinquent… Go to the Beach with BACHELOR FLAT (1962)
Outspoken & Freckled 