Classic Film Journal

The original 1925 silent film version of The Phantom of the Opera is the most famous version of the Gaston Leroux story of the disfigured and deranged Phantom who haunts … Continue reading The Phantom of the Opera: The Classic 1925 Version

Harvey is one of the most beloved Hollywood pictures ever made. This whimsical fantasy about a local drunk and his six-foot-tall 3.5 inches invisible rabbit caught the public imagination and … Continue reading Everybody Still Needs Harvey

Gilda is one of the most famous film noirs from Hollywood’s Golden Age. The moment when Rita Hayworth, in her signature role as Gilda Mundson Farrell, performs “Put the blame … Continue reading Gloriously Unforgettable Gilda

The depression-weary US cinema audiences of the thirties craved escapist pictures, especially romantic comedies with a touch of screwball. Released in 1934, the widely acclaimed It Happened One Night fitted … Continue reading It Happened One Night: The Perfect Romantic Screwball Comedy

Gone With The Wind is the most successful movie in Hollywood box office history. When adjusted for monetary inflation, the box office takings for Gone With The Wind currently stands … Continue reading Revisiting Gone With The Wind

Eve, the Golden Girl. The cover girl, the girl next door, the girl on the moon… Time has been good to Eve… So says Addison DeWitt, the supercilious writer and … Continue reading The Dazzling and Devastating All About Eve

Tony Richardson’s acclaimed 1961 film version of A Taste of Honey is a notable cinematic example of Kitchen Sink Realism, the British cultural movement which depicted domestic situations of ordinary … Continue reading The Groundbreaking A Taste of Honey

“Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II” reviewed by Paul J. Bradley. The public image of the legendary film star and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn, with her radiant smile, elegance … Continue reading Audrey Hepburn’s Painful Story

A likeable young woman lives with her family in a small American town, has fallen in love with the boy next door, has a death-obsessed kid sister and dreads a … Continue reading Meet Me in St. Louis: A Timeless Hollywood Musical

It was a cold dark night in 1990 when I attended a screening of Vertigo was shown at the Dalston Rio Cinema in London. Hitchcock’s tale of death and obsession … Continue reading Vertigo at the Rio on a Cold, Dark Night

Manhattan by night is when the newspaper low life prowl in the American film noir Sweet Smell of Success, made by Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions and released by United Artists in 1957. … Continue reading Sweet Smell of Success: A Very Memorable Film Noir

Don’t give them what you think they want. Give them what they never thought was possible. — Orson Welles A monumental figure in the development of cinema, George Orson Welles … Continue reading The Essential Films of Orson Welles