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I started this blog six years ago as a way to share my passion for classic films and the Old Hollywood era. I used to watch dozens of classic films every month, and every time I discovered a new star I liked I would go and watch their entire filmography. But somewhere along the way, that passion dimmed down. For instance, I watched 73 classic films in 2016, and only 10 in 2020. The other day, I found this film with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. that I had never heard of, and for some reason it made me really excited about Old Hollywood again. It made me really miss the magic of that era and all the wonderful actors and actresses that graced the silver screen. And it also made me think of all the reasons why I fell in love with classic films in the first place. I came up with 80 reasons, which I thought would be fun to share. Most of them are just random little scenes or quirky little quotes, but put them together and they spell Old Hollywood to me. This is part four (the final one) of the 80 r...

The 1950s were an era of both prosperity and great conflict. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a series of conflicts collectively known as the Cold War. The Soviet Union began the Space Race with the launch of Sputnik 1, while Fidel Castro became the first Communist leader in the Western hemisphere. The landmark Brown v. Board of Education court decision ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, and the Civil Rights Movement was born. Joseph Stalin died, the Vietnam War began, and Elvis Presley turned rock 'n' roll into the most popular music genre in the world.   (from left to right) Replica of Sputnik 1; Fidel Castro; the Vietnam War; Elvis Presley.   The 1950s changed Hollywood as well. As a result of the introduction of television, studios were desperate to attract audiences back to the theatres and resorted to such exotic techniques as CinemaScope and 3D film. The Cold War era zeitgeist translated into a ren...

In honor of Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis, who both had birthdays this week, I thought that for this week's "Film Friday" I would bring you the only film they made together. Theatrical release poster Directed by Billy Wilder, Some Like It Hot (1959) follows the crazy adventures of Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), two hapless Chicago jazz musicians who accidentally witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in February 1929. In a desperate attempt to get out of town after being spotted by gang leader "Spats" Colombo (George Raft) while fleeing the scene of the crime, Joe and Jerry disguise themselves as women, "Josephine" and "Daphne," and take a job with an all-female band headed to Miami. During the train trip, they meet the beautiful Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Marilyn Monroe), the band's vocalist and ukulele player . Both J oe and J erry are immediately smitten with her, but keep their true identity a secret. Once ...