Back to Golden Days

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 with you. 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 one of the 80 reasons w...

This week on "Film Friday," I bring you a steamy little tale of divorce and infidelity that gave Miss Norma Shearer her only Academy Award for Best Actress. Theatrical release poster Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, The Divorcee (1930) tells the story of Jerry Bernard (Norma Shearer) and Ted Martin (Chester Morris), a young couple blissfully in love, much to the chagrin of their New York socialite friends, including Paul ( Conrad) and Don (Robert Montgomery) . Paul, who is in love with Jerry, is so distraught when the two announce their engagement that he gets drunk and ends up cr ashing his car, permanently disf iguring their friend Dorothy (Helen Johnson). Ou t of pit y, Pa ul marries Dorothy in her hospital bed, while Jerry and Ted spen d the next three years happily married. On the night of their third weddi ng anniversar y , however, Jerry discovers that Ted has had an aff a ir with a woman na med Janice Me redith ( Mary Doran). After Jerry confronts T...