Frank Capra had a unique ability to change horses in midstream. He made exceptional comedies like It Happened One Night and Mr. Deeds goes to Town. He had success with these movies. The former winning best picture. Comedy wasn’t enough for the director. He wanted to deal with the human condition. He made Mr. Smith […]

This movie makes you wonder about the central characters. Are they motivated to a central goal?That would be moving up in status. Are they just naive? It would require an in depth analysis of this film. That would probably give a divided opinion. C. C. Baxter, (Jack Lemmon) is a middle of the road accountant,

Dick Van Dyke was a well known actor at the time of this movie. He was a year removed from his tv show, and and a few years from Mary Poppins. He has a screen presence as Claude R. Fitzwilliam, AKA Fitzwilly. His presence doesn’t make this movie click. The presence of Judith Anderson doesn’t

Christmas movies are enjoyable to watch. They can revolve around the holiday, have nothing to do with it that is essential to the plot, or use it as a plot device. It takes thinking and a critical eye to make a list of films. A Christmas top ten movie list is different from a regular

There have been many films about men in war. There aren’t as many depicting women in war. There is probably an even smaller number that depicts a woman and a dog going to war. That is the case with the movie Megan Leavey. It stars Kate Mara in the title role. She is essentially starring

Lon Chaney with his presence, could make any film better. His brief life was filled with acting success. He should be considered among the great silent film stars. He did everything and was an innovator in makeup technique. The name of Lon Chaney should be as revered as Chaplin and Keaton. It is a mystery

  This movie is the first adaptation  of the Richard Matheson novel, I am Legend. It was a low budget horror movie. Despite this it is still effective. Vincent Price became a star doing these types of movies. He plays the title role of Dr. Robert Morgan. It is an unusual role for him. He

Hollywood has had many pairings of their stars. There was John  Gilbert and Greta Garbo, Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda and Barbara  Stanwyck. There was in this movie, the dream pairing of the two biggest comedy stars of the 1930’s. That was Cary Grant and Carole Lombard. They both made it to

This movie is the fourth in Hammer Studio’s Dracula series. Its catchy title and Christopher Lee’s return, would seem to be a good exercise in horror. This isn’t the case. The movie never has the look or feel of the three previous films. Its major distinction is its rating. The movie earned a R rating

There have been many directors who encountered problems in production. Alfred Hitchcock and Victor Fleming are notable among them. James Cameron gets on the list. He overcame them on the set of Aliens. He was a young hotshot director, fresh off the success of The Terminator. He made it on a shoestring budget and it