Movie Diary 2023 (4/6-5/31): Let’s Just Get Through May to Start
Two sentences per movie. The last time I did a retro movie diary, I had three weeks to catch up on. Now I have…more than that. No sweat!
Tag: Mervyn LeRoy
2023 Movie Diary (1/6-1/10): Meet the Gladneys
January 6th In English, you’ll sometimes see this given the name of the novel it’s based on, A Judgment in Stone. If I were naming the movie, I would probably default to something a little less grand than its French title or its English one. At the risk of jacking up the comedy factor a… Read More 2023 Movie Diary (1/6-1/10): Meet the Gladneys
“We Can Begin to Live Again” – Portraits of Adjustment in Post-World War II American Cinema
Main Street on the March!, a short movie by Edward Cahn, is a forerunner for what has become, beyond the postwar years, a significant mode in World War II filmmaking. Cahn’s picture depicts an American public which is blissfully unaware that war will come to their territorial borders, and that they will send out so… Read More “We Can Begin to Live Again” – Portraits of Adjustment in Post-World War II American Cinema
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Dir. Mervyn LeRoy. Starring Paul Muni, Edward Ellis, Glenda Farrell There’s a lot that doesn’t make sense about the last half-hour of Fugitive. James Allen (Muni) is a sucker, and apparently so is his lawyer, who has the foresight to tell him not to return to the Southern state he’s escaped from but doesn’t have the… Read More I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Mister Roberts (1955)
Dir. John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy. Starring Henry Fonda, William Powell, Jack Lemmon Roberts (Fonda) has just traded his chance to get into the war and away from the dyspeptic tyranny of his commanding officer, Morton (James Cagney). Roberts, a onetime medical student who volunteered for the war instead of finishing his degree, is an… Read More Mister Roberts (1955)
Seeing Things Secondhand 