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Christmas has always been a source of inspiration to many artists, including those in the film industry. Over the years, filmmakers have created an array of Christmas movies and television specials, many of which have become beloved staples during the holiday season all over the world.    One of the earliest examples of Christmas-themed films is Santa Claus (1898), a British short directed by George Albert Smith, featuring Santa visiting a house on Christmas Eve. As a trick film, it was groundbreaking at the time for showcasing the use of parallel action. In the United States, A Christmas Carol (1910), produced by Edison Studios based on Charles Dickens' 1843 novella of the same name, further highlighted the sentimental value of Christmas themes. It was not until the 1940s, however, that Christmas movies truly cemented their place in cinematic history. With the horrors of World War II, audiences needed to be reminded that there was still good in the world, and ...

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. Yesterday I posted part one ; here i...

Christmas has always been a source of inspiration to many artists and writers. Over the years, filmmakers have adapted various Christmas stories into both movies and television specials, which have become staples during the holiday season all around the world. Even though Christmas is my favourite holiday, I haven't watched a lot of Christmas films. Still, I thought it would be fun to rank my top 10 favourites, based on the ones that I have indeed seen. Here they are.    10. Holiday Affair (1949) Directed by Don Hartman, Holiday Affair tells the story of a young widow (Janet Leigh) torn between a boring attorney (Wendell Corey) and a romantic drifter (Robert Mitchum). She's engaged to be married to the boring attorney, but her son (Gordon Gebert) likes the romantic drifter better. Who will she choose? Well, I think we all know who she will choose. Holiday Affair is not by any means the greatest Christmas film of all time, but it's still a very enjoyable Yule-tide comed...

A few days after I posted my « Top 10 Favorite James Stewart Films of the 1930s » last year, I finished watching all the films that James Stewart made in the 1940s. At the time, I immediately thought of doing a «Top 10 Favorite James Stewart Films of the 1940s», but I never really got around to do it — until now. I'm still not very good at ranking things, but here are my choices. 10. On Our Merry Way (1948) Directed by King Vidor and Leslie Fenton | Co-starring Henry Fonda and Paulette Goddard On Our Merry Way is an anthology film made up of several comedy vignettes linked by a single theme. Jimmy and his old pal Henry Fonda, in their first joint screen appearance, play a pair of jazz musicians called Slim and Lank. Can you think of two better names for them? Whoever thought of it deserves an award. The film as a whole is not spectacular, but it is still worth a watch because of Slim and Lank, I mean, Jimmy and Hank.     9. Malaya (1949)   Directed by Richard Tho...