My life at the movies.
Directed by William C. McGann. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Beverly Roberts, Linda Perry, Carlyle Moore Jr., and Henry O'Neill.
A remake of Five Star Final. Humphrey Bogart plays the manager of a struggling radio station whose boss pushes him to air a “Where are they now?” exposé on an old murder case “in the public interest.” Continue reading...
Directed by Ray Enright. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Frank McHugh, Louise Fazenda, and Nat Pendleton.
Humphrey Bogart plays a wrestling promoter who takes his flagging show to the Ozarks, where he arranges a match between his star and a she-hulk blacksmith. Complications arise when the would-be grapplers fall in love. Continue reading...
Directed by Ray Enright. Starring Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Beverly Roberts, Ross Alexander, and Marie Wilson.
Pat O’Brien plays an early aviation magnate who overcomes personal and professional setbacks to build the first trans-Pacific airline. Continue reading...
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Starring Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis, and Warren William.
Until a 1948 Supreme Court ruling, the five major Hollywood studios controlled the entire movie business, from production to distribution. The studios contracted performers and paid them a salary. The performers worked long days, five days a week. If a film wrapped at lunch, they ate then began another. Thus, films like Three on a Match came stock-piled with current and future stars. Continue reading...
Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, and Robert Hamer. Starring Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave, Roland Culver, and Mary Merrall.
Dead of Night opens with an architect arriving at an isolated country cottage for some consulting work. Upon entering, he’s confronted with an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Though he’s never met them, he recognizes the guests from a reoccurring dream. One guest, a psychiatrist, proves skeptical, prompting the others to share own tales of the unexplained. Continue reading...
Directed by Busby Berkeley. Starring Wayne Morris, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, and Hugh Herbert.
Sure, seeing Humphrey Bogart shed his terrycloth trench robe to reveal a two-piece bathing suit reminiscent of a strong-man singlet always elicits a chuckle, but I keep forgetting how getting there proves an ordeal. Continue reading...
Directed by Stuart Heisler. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Parker, Raymond Massey, and Richard Whorf.
The form-fitting flight suit is a bridge too far. Continue reading...
Directed by Fritz Lang. Starring Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern, and Raymond Burr.
Anne Baxter plays Norah Larkin, a Los Angeles telephone operator who wakes up after a drunken night to discover she killed a man in self-defense, but can’t prove it. Continue reading...
Directed by George Fitzmaurice. Starring Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone, Cary Grant, and Lewis Stone.
Jean Harlow plays Suzy, an American show girl in London who falls for inventor Franchot Tone, flees a murder accusation, marries a philandering French air ace played by Cary Grant, then helps foil an espionage ring. Continue reading...
Directed by George Marshall. Starring James Stewart, Paulette Goddard, Horace Heidt, and Charles Winninger.
Jimmy Stewart opens as the owner of a struggling music store who ends up having to give away one-thousand dollars of his wealthy uncle’s money every week on a nationwide radio show. Continue reading...
